Dewey - Summer On A Curb

I mentioned it last year and I'll mention it again, the French music scene is forging ahead at present. Previously known, wrongly, for Noisy Punk and chanteurs, they now seem to be taking over both the Indie and Guitar Pop scenes offering up exceptional albums and singles.

I've been dying to tell you about this for a while and now I can. The two singles have featured on Listening To This Week to great acclaim from listeners. Now you can hear them in all their full length glory on this splendid debut album.

Although you hear great melodic Guitar Pop and a little shoe gaze at certain times, Summer On A Curb sounds very Brit Pop, great Brit Pop, not the nonsense that gets associated with its heyday. The scene was always more notable for what was around the edges than all the monoliths that got all the coverage. 

Oasis are now noted as the be all and end all of Brit Pop despite having just one and a half decent albums. The better sounds were by artists with just two or three albums. Role Model is probably the best example of Brit Pop, but there are other examples.

However, Dewey are not scared to tread different paths.Jinx is a mix of gentle Psych and Madchester. Face Out is more Psych Pop and the title track has a real Shoegaze feel, but with more words and a clearer vocal than that genre is noted for. It also has an hypnotic riff.

Tough Crowd sounds more than a little C86 and Better Safe Than Sorry is completely engaging, probably my favourite song on the album. This is a melodic Guitar of the highest order. Having said that there are synth intrusions that come and go quickly and make the songs sound futuristic. One of the best debut albums that I've heard in a long while. Totally Ace!

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

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The Bret Tobias Set - The Bret Tobias Set EP

 

Philadelphia's Bret Tobias is always more than interesting. This 5 songs show off his variety despite being on the more laidback side. Happiness Writes White is almost Gentle Psych Pop, wonderfully melodic and houses a corking closing solo from the mighty Marty Willson Piper.

The stand out for me is the Power Pop of It Begins With A Lean, a song that Jangles superbly, yet also houses another killer Guitar break. Tuff Sleddin' gets noisier and ups the pace, a little more Indie Rock, yet also feeling a little California and adding a Telstar keyboard run courtesy of Krista Umile.

Sepviva Shuffle is jaunty Americana, yet has hints of 70s Pop Rock. Undo Undo Undo is storytelling of the highest order. Indeed, Tobias throughout underlines his lyrical adeptness and on this song in particular with its splendid way with words and ace arrangement.

You sometimes miss his songwriting strength and lyrical quality as it is housed in great choruses and top notch arrangements. I have often wondered why he doesn't get more attention as he pushes all the right buttons for any listener of quality Pop Rock.

You can listen to and buy the EP here.

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The 77's - 7

 

Wow, I never thought I'd hear a new album of original songs by The 77's. The last such beast was 2002's Direct and although there is an amazing back catalogue to listen to, back to 1983, hearing these songs are like finding a modern day Holy Grail.

The trio of Michael Roe, Bruce Spencer and Mark Harmon are in ridiculously great form all the wy from the almost Glam Rock of the opener, Out Of The Clouds, to the closer, Sonata, an instrumental that is hypnotic with a wonderful Twang.

The album is also released in intriguing Physical formats. The Bandcamp download adds a bonus track in Uncle Gene, which is a reminder of prime time Little Feat, the instrumental versions of the songs and a 52 minute commentary on the album by the band. Such attention to detail is really rare in these days of Spotify.

It is great to have them back. The album lands somewhere between Classic Rock and Pop Rock, but there is plenty of variation. From the Dave Edmunds Boogie feel of Weedzlers in which 6 minutes plus fly by to the restrained beauty of Shiloa. Wonderfully performed and produced, 7 is an absolute winner.

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

Submissions

 

The internet in the area is back up and now we can finally get Reviews up on here. They will begin this evening and we are also in the midst of preparing tomorrow's Listening To This Week Playlist. You can imagine that the downtime over the past few days has left a lot to catch up on.

I just wanted to mention a couple of things about Submissions. Submitters may not know that we don't do Spotify. When we get emails with only a Spotify link, we send a pleasant email to ask if the song can be submitted in an alternate way. 

That is all fine. However, we are noting the same people continue to send details of songs that only have a Spotify link. With it being busy here, we don't want to continue sending ignored replies. These emails are obviously just sending out to all in the hope of coverage. If they do this they should add multiple links. We have no option from now on, but to just block the sender if this happens continuously.

Secondly, we get a lot of messages asking if it is ok to submit a song on social media and we like this and encourage it. However, after saying yes, we get a follow up asking for a link to IDHAS. Such follow ups are ignored. We are a site that supports artists and have a following of artists and listeners that support each other. If someone can't be bothered to look up IDHAS themselves, they sort of prove that they are not as like minded as the community.

We are not being angsty in any way. Time is limited and we spend it on people who share the same goals.

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Listening To This Week Playlist 9 February

   

The floodgates have opened here as 2026 seems to have kicked in big style. The maximum 30 songs are present and we had to hold back a few for next week, having to close this week's LTTW on Friday night. A splendid mix of songs as always, one that was hard to tracklist and each deserves your attention.

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. 

Softjaw - Pleased With Me

Western Union Hall - The Right Way

Danny And The Darlings - Police On My Back

Popsonic - cine-parc

Howling Hawk - Nine Miles High

Half Shadow - Fruit

Flying Finish - Figure It Out

Late Cambrian - Together

The Format - Holy Roller

Ratboys - Know You Then

Tim Izzard - Alice Pearl

Gold Coast - Hi-Fi Receiver

Pepperhead - Northern Bitches

Mavis - Lot 6

Grant Morriss - Life Of Grind

Grant Morriss · Life of Grind

The Junior League - Sunset Park

Sam Behr - Bug Hunts (Rock & Stone)

Ghost Rebel Club - The Earthquake's Daughter (Mike Schmid Remix)

Mayzie - Rise

Mayzie · RISE

Royal Blunder - Sherlock Holmes

Catcase - A Ring

Crooked Fingers - Cold Waves (With Mac McCaughan)

Rude Tins - Nothing Brings Me Back

Neon Bird - River Under Burned Bridges

Beaming - Say Goodbye

beaming · say goodbye

Autumn Owls - Thick A Thieves

The Michigans - Show

Holden Ave - Elks

Tacoblaster - Jelly Field

Chromosome - Afrika

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It Is Bedlam Here.

 

After relaxing for a couple of days after the Best Of 2025, I was thinking how late January Releases were this year. Then KAPOW! IDHAS has been hit by an avalanche. As well as the albums that have forward release dates that are put aside for the future dates, there are plenty of albums to tell you about that have been released.

A couple more have gone up today, preceding this post and both are fantastic listens. There will be tagging of those albums that have been reviewed since the last update on Social media later. At least there won't be a shortage of material for March's 31 Reviews In 31 Days regular feature. 

I'm off to compile tomorrow's Listening To This Week Playlist now and that has had a similar big wave effect. After struggling to get to 25 in recent weeks, this week we have the maximum 30 and have done for  days, meaning some songs will be carried over to next week. It is as though everyone was waiting for the end of our 2025 celebration and said right, here is 2026.

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Joe Glass - Snakewards

 

Joe Glass is a member of Sharp Pins' Live band and Snakewards is released on Kai Slater's Hallogallo label. As you might expect, the album is deliciously lo-fi at times with nods to Guided By Voices, Elephant 6 and Sharp Pins themselves.

But it is not all intentionally scrappy and I'll mention such joys later. The album is experimental and scrappy at times, but the main change to Sharp Pins is that there seems to be far more of a Power Pop thread and that is mainly where the glory shows.

It really a wonderful listen that treads plenty of roads. Freight Train Woman gets a little Bolan and there is a slight Glam tint and a great chorus. Felicity Crunch is melodic Noise Rock and Oscar's Midnight is splendidly chaotic, but in essence sounds like the break out of 60s Rock. 

All About You sounds like a demo from The La's and Man Who Lost His Diamond as an ace Jangle to it. Buck Wild is even a Swamp Acoustic Country Blues thing. It's A Drag is splendid 60s Pop performed in a let's do the show right here way.

Dust On Your Halo is superb Power Pop and New Pose runs it close. Dandelion is another that sounds much more than lo-fi, wonderful sing along choruses feature in all three. If you are a Sharp Pins fan, you will adore this, if you have never heard of them, you will to. A Fascinating mix of the straight ahead and the experimental. Top Notch!

You can listen to and buy the album here.  The cassette has sadly sold out. Maybe there is a further chance of a physical release.

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