The Webstirs - High Up In The Trees

 

There is a point when Pop Rock and Indie Rock meet when the results are just spot on. Chicago's The Webstirs reach that place with their second. You might term the album Pop Rock, but it is much more than that and the five piece have the energy and gusto of a much younger Indie Rock band.

In a way, they are veterans. Preston Pisellni and Mark Winkler are joined  by The Redwalls' Jordan Kozer, The Slugs' Gregg Juhlin and Doug Bobenhouse from our beloved The Sun Sawed In 1/2. At times, the feel is Rocked up Power Pop, at others, a little more AOR, but they also show they can be whatever they want to be.

You'll have heard When It's Gone on a recent Listening To This Week Playlist and it still sounds as great here. There is an ability to change direction in the one song, Roulette being the best example, a song that sounds like Andrew Gold fronting a crack band.

Throw Away is Rockabilly at a furious pace. Reached An Understanding matches 80s IRS with 90s College Rock with added vocal harmony and a mouth organ solo. King Of Distortion is top notch UK New Wave built around a killer riff.

The Guy For You heads towards Rock and Roll territory. Dancing In The Sky is ace Power Pop with a vocal akin to Dave Edmunds. Here We Stood is a little Cheap Trick with another killer riff of which there are many.

High Up In The Trees is a beautifully produced album. Wonderfully loud and without the distortion that digital mixes can provide. The Webstirs have it made, the Guitar kids may get it, the Power Pop crowd certainly and the Dad Rockers can show they are hip. A splendid listen!

You can listen to and buy the album here.

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Jumbo Chords - Throw Away (Buy Another One)

 

We covered Jumbo Chords debut album, 2023's Saturday Night, Sunday Morning. It made our 100 Best Albums Of The Year. You can read the review here. Since then they have been regularly releasing singles and at last we have the follow up album.

I love them. I think many know that our forte is Intelligent Indie, but throw in Psych Pop, Indie Rock, a touch of 90s Indie, Brit Pop and variety and I melt. Four of the singles have appeared on Listening To This Week Playlists, not out of favouritism, but because of the ultra consistency that the band come up with.

This Leeds quartet are largely a collaboration of friends from 90s band and if I look at all the Indie that I fall for, these seem to throw in bits of all. At times they can be like West Coast Music Club and the vocal is similarly laconic, but they add a simplicity mixed with some wonderful harmonies.

The mellotron on All I Want is hypnotic, a very 60s sounding affair. Sleep is 6 minutes of magnificence, it just overwhelms you, drags you in. The vocal is part Guy Garvey, part Danny McNamara. Rollercoaster is jaunty 80s Jangle Pop.

Dennis Wilson, as you might imagine, is great West Coast Pop Rock, beautifully arranged both instrumentally and vocally. Twilight offers up my beloved Psych Pop with a riff that just sticks in your head and adds a solo that mesmerises. Very 60s in feel.

Throw Away (Buy Another One) adds a social message in the style of UK Beat. The whole album is a great listen. Deliciously Lo-Fi as is the current trend. Inventive and laidback, the songs are allowed the space to breathe whilst gently gnawing at your musical brain.

You can buy the CD here and here. You can listen to the album here and on other Streaming Sites that I avoid.

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The Medium - Sports EP

 

Quite a few mine 70s Pop Rock, but few do it as splendidly as Nashville's The Medium on this short, but incredibly sweet 4 Track EP. It does sound very Retro and is a nod to American Boyhood and the connection that Sport provides to it.

We've Got A Winner is wonderfully mellow, very 10CC, but with a slight Psych Pop feel. It demonstrates the joy that the genre brings. The Guitar solo fits those years perfectly, essentially Piano Pop and very smooth. A really easy listen.

Me And My Glove is fine Bubblegum Pop and is like a jaunt though a Monkees show, trumpets, easy listening and a slight raiding of the Instrument cupboard. A jaunty march through Smalltown America, you don't get to see the marching band and cheerleaders.

Feel The Dream is very Andrew Gold with almost Barrel Piano with a Sports commentary part way through, which is probably obligatory. Tap your feet, swing your pants, sing along and marvel at the joy. An Easy Listening joy of an EP.

You can listen to and buy the EP here.

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Eye Eye

Just taking a break for a couple of days after a second eye Op. It is nice not looking at screens. Both are now done and dusted, so I can stop walking into doors and see everything that you are all up to. Back tomorrow evening and cracking on through the rest of the week. There is a lot to Review.

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Listening To This Week Playlist 17 November

 

28 songs this week  Another example of how we can be eclectic and yet serve what we are known for. That is the value of independence. No one tells us what to cover and we don't march to anyone's tune. We support the new artists that we like and hope that you'll like them too. Our growth was in the time before we gave Spotify a try. We will delete the Spotify account at the end of the month.

This week is the last of our dalliance with Spotify which has lasted around 8 months. It was included solely for the artists and have come to realise that no artist that no Artist that we traditionally cover benefits from that platform.  Great music falls down a big black hole. Spotify is not about new music, nor Indie, it is solely about the dollars. It also doesn't distinguish what is AI.

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. 

The Spotify Version  (3 songs are not on the Spotify Version)

Link To Spotify

Buddie - Antartica, 2005

Log Flume - Get The Picture

The Wind Ups - Ants On The Table

Credits - thiscityisadeathtrap

credits · thiscityisadeathtrap

The Family Club - Mushie Season

Norman Bisley And The Trousers Of Satan - Being Beastly To Terence

Endless Talking - Waste My Time

Drew Friel - High Class Fugitives (Don't Spin The Wheel)

The Lucky Shots - Jump Start

The Whips - Together In Agony

My Life As A Moth - Time Thief

Ms. Cool - Beacon

Cynthia Sadler · Beacon

Cashell - Said And Done

Me & Munich - Drainings Of Your Tree

Me & Munich · Drainings Of Your Tree

Soft On Crime - Summer Fix (Not On Spotify)

The Successful Failures - Guts

Your New Parents - Gone For The Holidays

I Love My Friends - Ginny Starpepper And The Great White Gibbon

Unburnt Green - Skies Of The Tatacoa

Mark Tovey · Skies of the Tatacoa - Unburnt Green (Debut single – 14 Nov)

Failed Auditing - I'm Not Sure If I'm A Loser Or A Modern-Day Philosopher  (Not On Spotify)

Strange Men - Under The Compass Rose (Not On Spotify)

Thief Motif - Bones

Sam Wood - Comfortably Falling (Reimagined)

WEREME - August

Idle Ray - Airport

Phil Bonanno - No Direction (Revisited)

Clamsterdam - Solitary Song

Hollow Star - Seconds

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Winterpills - This Is How We Dance.

 

Our connection with Winterpills has been throughout the two decades of their career. In fact, it goes beyond that to Price's The Maggies with their ace Power Pop.  I personally think Philip Price is a musical genius. Mick covered his career to 2019 in a lengthy interview here. 

Nine years on, it is as though they have never been away. The five piece are in outstanding condition. Superb songwriting, wonderful arrangements and a sustained laidback gentleness that id totally affecting. Proof that you don't have to blow the bloody doors off to be completely engaging. 

Hi is a song that just completely draws you in, the combined vocal of Price and Flora Reed matches perfectly in a song that is essentially Acoustic Folk, but very affecting. How We Dance reveals that the band are not the ethereal.

It is much more Pop Rock, built around a killer riff that bursts into something more Psych Pop without ever losing sight of the song. Black Fly continues that Pop Rock, a little Fleetwood Mac in places, Price and Reed become Buckingham and Nicks.

I Am The Defect is darker, almost gentle Psych Folk, mesmerising and haunting. Predelugian is almost Americana until the chorus which gets a little Fleetwood Mac again, Tusk this time adding wonderful wistful Guitar.

It really is great to have them back. I can think of no other band that can draw you in so well. This Is How We Dance is an atmospheric joy revealing a band totally connected and at ease with itself. Please please don't make it nine years to the next one. Splendid stuff!

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

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Citrus Citrus - In The Belly Of The Eternal Draw

 

Citrus Citrus are a five piece from Padua, Italy and the review of this wondrous album is a testament to why we value our utter independence. We can cover what we want, when we want, no genre holds us back if we like it and think you will.

It is fairly well known that I adore both Prog and Psych, but I only ever introduce it when I think that you will get why. In The Belly Of The Eternal Draw is a master of the hypnotic and the melodic. Beautifully arranged and played, it travels in many directions with inventive arrangements that can change throughout any particular song.

I understand why the mention of Prog can put people off, some bands do get wanky and many that are lauded, especially King Gizzard, appear more mellow Pop Rock or release three albums a year that gives the impression of a lack of quality control, plenty to be fair is.

This lot are the real thing. These songs are soundscapes, but don't fall into the trap of being too long. The band are not frightened of showing their influences, but largely stick to originality. The whole album is totally engaging. I've picked two selections, but this is an album to be listened to in one go. Dispatch your prejudices and have your musical mind nourished.

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

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