The James Rocket - Seen

 

I've been helping The James Rocket a little more than time usually allows for the simple reason that I love what they are trying to do. After hearing stuff on Listening To This Week, the album is here for your delectation. I adore the care that has gone into it.

I know of no other band that send me an album and tag all the tracks with different genres. It shows that they won't be labelled, but also the variety that the quartet offer up. I was just blown away by the variety. I'd have to say that it was Even Our Closest Friends Are Distant which opens the album which drew me to them.

It is a song that is right up my street, noisy, interesting, all over the place and completely engaging. It isn't really representative of what they do, but it sucked me in completely. For instance, Autumn is late 60s UK Psych Beat and Chip is pure Brit Pop, so you'll understand that you are in for quite a journey.

Pharaohs is Noo Yawk Sleeze, Ugly Room is almost Classic Rock and Winter Flowers is wonderful Art Rock. Sea Of Dolls is slightly Garage Rock and Penny is the sound of my youth, top notch UK New Wave attitude beautifully presented.

Ripping Off The Mitchells was the second song that I fell off, splendidly spiteful both musically and lyrically. All street attitude. A little bit like the sound of Woking with an absolute corker of a solo which is almost experimental and unexpected.

Seen is a wonderful example of how time and patience provides excellence. Great variety, but not performed to seem so. Enough attitude to be meaningful, but with a willingness to experiment and not be content the norm. An absolute cracker!

You can listen to and buy the album here. It is available on Vinyl or as a download.

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Christmas Songs

 

Those who have been with us a while know that we don't do Christmas songs or albums. I may be seen as the biggest grouch, but we never have. I mention it now, because with the massive popularity of Listening To This Week this year, we have been inundated with Christmas IDHAS submissions and emails about potential Album Reviews.

Don't get me wrong, there are some great Christmas songs, some bitter, but most are not and are usually rhyming mistletoe with snow with a forced jolliness that becomes unbearable. We do listen to everything and if there is something that we particularly like, we will reply with a we don't do them message, but we love the song and if you have something more everyday, we'd love to hear it sort of thing.

The main reason though is that we set up I Don't Hear A Single, with particular concentration on Google Analytics, so that older reviews continually get read and listened to. You will have seen albums reviewed 6 or 7 years ago feature in our Top 10 most viewed monthly the Left Hand Side of the site. With this in mind, we don't see the point of any time spent on music that only interests people for 3 or 4 weeks a year.

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NONTHEWISER - Injustice For All EP

 

Gothenburg's NONTHEWISER have a reputation for great Punk, but as this EP proves they are much much more than that. There's an obvious link to Hard Rock, particularly on the 100mph 21 Down which is Motorhead pace.

But these five are so damn melodic. Taking in elements of 90s Rock, Prog and delivering really crunching riffs. Dire Hesitation is similarly fast and loud, but gets a little Pop Punk and is real shake your fist stuff. Prior to these two songs are a bit calmer.

Justice Undone is a little AOR times and carries a great chorus. We'll All Be Dead is brought to you by an earth shattering riff, a little Classic Rock, but still rocking your socks off. Yes this is really loud and in your face, but also incredibly listenable.

You can listen to and buy the EP here.

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Listening To This Week Playlist 1 December

 

29 songs this week  Diverse as always, whilst not forgetting what our strengths are. 

The weekly playlist is largely for submissions, not just the usual stuff that we dig out ourselves. The song order is not about song preference, but how the playlist flows.  All embeds open in new windows to aid scrolling. Links to the artists will also appear on I Don't Hear A Single Social Media sites over the next 24 hours. This will help you to discover more about the artists who appear here. 

Le Corbeau - Black Lightning In The Eyelid's Shade

Sweet Nobody - Making It Right

Pantomime Horses - Everyone's A Ghost

Lone Wolf - High All The Time

The Legal Matters - Everybody Knows

Hand Gestures - Why Try

Dodgy - Hello Beautiful

Ojahara - The Days. 

Vanilla.6 - LAST DANCE

Doing Juliet - W**

Doing Juliet · W**

Hospital Radio - L.A.

Hospital Radio. · L.A.

Livingmore - Away Away Away

Train Conductor - Sad Man In The Moon

Sunshine Lust - Mellow Blue

Sunshine Lust · Mellow Blue

Ted Morris - Wrong To Be Right

Mercy Kelly - Out In The Night

The Notwist - X-Ray

The Empty Page - When We Gonna Run?

SilverHorizon - Going Too Fast

Wesley David - Silent Rides

Alex Hellcat - Kids From Broken Homes

Jeremy & The Harlequins - Thunderbolt

Neil Soiland - Think It Twice

T. G. Shand - Levitating The Knife

T. G. Shand · Levitating The Knife

Bikini Test Failure - When Your Heart's Not In It Anymore

Video Store - Sleepless

Pocket Lint - It's Very Relaxing

Pocket Lint · It's Very Relaxing

First Day Of Spring - PARTYZEIT!

Invisible Joe & The Mushroom Gorilla - Fate

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December Calls

 

Bailey is our lurcher and like anyone who has a dog will tell you, he has an hilarious personality. The trouble is, he is frightened of his own shadow and so has been the mean reason that nowhere near as much as was needed has been posted here in November. He celebrates his 6th birthday on Tuesday.

November in the UK means dark nights and constant Fireworks. I have no problem with people celebrating Bonfire Night. Letting Fireworks off on 5 November or organised displays at the weekend are all part of the tradition. 

Trouble is, that there are idiots who let them off at all times of night for three weeks. Bailey's bionic hearing means he spends most of the month shaking and being consoled which means less time can be spent here.

That has to be remedied because the popular Best Albums Of The Year in early January only contains albums that we have reviewed and there is a backlog. So the catching up begins in earnest after tomorrow's Listening To This Week playlist. It is an absolute corker and was completely overwhelming to prepare. 

So much so that we are well on the way with the following week's offering. I've said it before, but the popularity of here gobsmacks me. It was set up as a small thing to react against those who said all new music was rubbish.

Likewise, Listening To This Week was started as a platform for singles and has gone ballistic. As our name suggested, we didn't intend to cover individual songs, but so many great songs that didn't appear on albums or EPs were getting missed. Our focus though as always remains on Album Reviews.

So as we approach our 10th Anniversary next year (something special is planned), it is remarkable that November's posts had over 125,000 views. We are not over celebratory, quite the reverse, we like to remain in the shadows and let the music speak for us. But there is something satisfying in showing critics of new music to be completely wrong.

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The Chemistry Set and Custard Flux

 

We don't normally write about single songs. The Listening To This Week Playlist handles the sounds and time constraints mean writing is dedicated to Albums and EPs. However, we make an exception for these videos. It is a one off we are not becoming MTV, although it would probably be VH1 if we were that way inclined.

With our love of Psych Pop, we had to tell you about them. On 15 December, the magnificent Fruits de Mer label release a limited coloured 7 Inch Double A Side from The Chemistry Set. The pair go all UK Beat on The Magic Fridge Magnet, but the Psych Pop takes over on STP. The songs are as hypnotic as ever. You can find further details of both songs and 7 Inch purchase details here.

Custard Flux - The Floating Chamber

Our adoration of Curvey's Custard Flux followed on from our fanboy tendencies with The Luck Of Eden Hall. Custard Flux mix Psych with Prog, but allow the melody and catchiness to flow. The Floating Chamber is the closing track on the splendid Enter Xenon album. It isn't that often that we get a Custard Flux video. Here is all 12 minutes of it.

You can read our review of the album here. You can listen to and buy the album here. It is available on Vinyl, CD and as a download.

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Lone Wolf - Dark Thoughts

 

Rotterdam quartet have a great back catalogue and Dark Thoughts may be their best album yet.  It sounds a little, dare I say it, Pop Rock at times, although that would be Rocked up Pop Rock. I hope I don't upset a band noted for being Punk.

They still have their Indie Punk credentials, most notably on Rip It Apart, Take Me Outta Here and Silence. But they are so damn melodic. The album is beautifully produced and arranged and in the days of drenching Indie and Punk in distortion, the instrumental track is sonically perfect.

Songs are built on massive riffs, Guitars at 11 and a rhythm section absolutely locked in, wonderfully so. They are also such catchy affairs that you find yourself singing along whilst shaking your fist furiously. Dark Thoughts is a real album to find release in.

People have compared them to Garbage, but they are far superior. None of the posing and preening, much more about the song and far more accessible. Newcomers may prefer to start with the likes of High All The Time with that cracking Intro Riff or the cranked up New Wave of I Don't Wanna Fight. 

But in truth, any of these 11 songs could be embedded. Lone Wolf don't come up for Air and you don't want them to. Any of the 10 songs could be embedded, but I've chosen my 3 faves. Inexcusably loud, but a real gripping listen, this is top notch. It is a long time since I've been to a Punk Festival, but Manchester in April sorely tests me.

You can listen to and buy the download here. You can buy it on Vinyl or CD from the label Stardumb Records in Europe here. In the UK here. In the US here. In Australia here.

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