I Don't Hear A Single Albums Of The Year 2024 : 41-50

 

For the last eight years We have compiled annual Best Of 's  because these posts seem so popular and the aim of this Blog is to get exposure (and Sales) for the artists. A reminder that anything reviewed on I Don't Hear A Single is highly recommended. A reminder that only new albums are included among these 100.

Narrowing things down to this 100 has been really difficult. The 100 albums are posted in reverse batches of 10. For each album, A song is embedded from the album and a link is provided to the IDHAS Review where you can find further details and how to listen or buy the album.

41 Gentlemen Rogues - Surface Noise     IDHAS Review

42 Macseal - Permanent Repeat       IDHAS Review

43 Mt. Misery - Love In Mind     IDHAS Review

44 I Do You Do Karate - III      IDHAS Review

45 Caddy - Caddy     IDHAS Review

46 The Junipers - Imaginary Friends        IDHAS Review

47 Steve Conte - The Concrete Jangle      IDHAS Review

48 Nick Frater - The Rebutles 1967-1970      IDHAS Review

49 The Resonars - Electricity Plus      IDHAS Review

  

50 Extra Arms - Radar     IDHAS Review

...............................................

Extra Arms - Radar

 

Those who have followed us for a while know that we like Ryan Allen a lot. From his Michigan solo and sideman days up to the excellence of Extra Arms that we have here, a band that generally frequents the noisier side of Guitar Pop.

The quartet link perfectly through a locked rhythm section, a riff driven way of gripping you through dual guitars and Allen's rock out vocal. But Radar feels slightly different than what has gone before. It feels more polished, less in your face and this should bring an even wider audience that the band certainly deserve.

This is no way a criticism, quite the reverse. The songs are great as ever and there is still the ability to blast off. The guitar solo on Inflatable Boys is as wonderful and aggressive as the band have ever been. But there is also new directions that can be taken which show off the talent that is around.

Space And Time for instance is splendid anthemic Pop Rock that adds some great Pedal Steel  Mad Dog Blue for instance nods towards the likes of Fountains Of Wayne and Your Highness kicks of with a big guitar intro that edges towards 80s Rock.

Sit Back Up even treads into 70s Classic Rock territory with its Thin Lizzy like Guitar sound. Then there is the Replacements like scuzz of Shut 'Em Down which also nods to past. But is the instrumental additions to the album that really work.

Brass on All Good Things Take Time and Sax on Sit Back Up confirm the slightly new direction. Radar is a really accessible album that deserves big attention. It certainly points to bigger times which Extra Arms deserve more than most. It also shows them to be a proper band.

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

..............................

Ryan Allen - The Last Rock Band

 

Before people run for the hills because of the words concept album, this is not Prog, it is a set of songs with a theme, but these songs stand up on their own and I'm not sure that listeners would notice it as a concept, story led, album if it didn't tell you so on the album cover.

I trust Ryan Allen more than enough to know his feet are on the ground and have watched and written about his career with great interest. The solo years as Ryan Allen And His Extra Arms,and I have compared him to being like Nick Piunti's noisy wayward son. 

Then there is Extra Arms which is still more than alive, indeed some of these were songs intended for the band, but lockdown intervened and the return to recording resulted in writing a different batch of songs for What Is Even Happening Right Now an album that appeared in the IDHAS Best 100 Albums of 2022.

Extra Arms, being a band, ironed out a lot of Allen's punkier efforts and became a little more Indie Rock, a bit less shouty, but just as melodic and seemed more cohesive. But these songs and the concept nagged away at Allen and he returned to them and recorded the album himself.

We Have Returned

It is a great album and to be honest, sounds like a band album which shows how much he has developed, It is also even more commercial than what has gone before, at times edging towards Classic Rock, but firmly in Pop Rock.

Indeed, We Have Returned could be on a Nick Piunti album. It is an ace offering, a little 70s with a killer riff and changes part way through to something a little more Townsend and then goes all Indie Melodic Rock. Three songs in one, but it really works.

The title track is another melodic winner and again reminiscent of latter day The Who. Discovery veers a little towards Rush, Like The Ramones has the pace of The Ramones, but sounds a bit more like Rockpile and has a great Glam Rock chorus.

Stop The Train

Stop The Train is probably the nearest that you will get to a Ryan Allen ballad and Second Act has a riff that is close to Heavy Metal, but remains as catchy as hell. Earlier fans who compare this to his early stuff will not believe it is the same musician.

Just wait till you hear the riff on Because I Have To, it is wonderful. The only thing that doesn't quite work is Bought A Computer. You can understand the reason with its Ditch The Guitar sentiments and how it fits the narrative, but it comes across as the Instrumental version of Human League's Dare album. But even that song is redeemed when the album kicks in.

The |Last Rock Band is a splendid album. Riff laden with killer choruses and beautifully produced, arranged and written. Allen's vocal is restrained resulting in a more mellow sound that suits the material perfectly. Once a shouty Guitar Punk, the man is nearer and nearer to becoming a Rock Star.

Because I Have To

You can listen to and buy the album here. Release date is tomorrow, so the embeds will be inserted as soon as the songs are up on Bandcamp. With the difference between UK and US Time, this may be in the morning.

..............................................

I Don't Hear A Single Albums Of The Year 2022 : 61-70

This year, the standard has been the highest since IDHAS began six and a half years ago. Narrowing things down to this 100 as been really difficult. For each album, I've posted a song from it and a link to the IDHAS Review where you can find further details and how to listen or buy the album. 

A reminder that anything reviewed on I Don't Hear A Single is highly recommended. 

No 61 : Karma Gambit - When Does Rock And Roll Start To Get Sad     IDHAS Review

No 62 : Extra Arms - What Is Even Happening Right Now        IDHAS Review





No 63 : Have You Ever Seen The Jane Fonda Aerobic VHS? - Maine Coon   IDHAS Review

No 64 : Ball Park Music - Weirder & Weirder             IDHAS Review

No 65 : Surf Curse - Magic Hour       IDHAS Review

Surf Curse · Arrow

No 66 : Bugs - Cooties      IDHAS Review





No 67 : Hans Pucket - No Drama     IDHAS Review

No 68 :  West Coast Music Club - Faded Scrapbook    IDHAS Review





No 69 : Collage - Over And Out     IDHAS Review

No 70 : Drew Beskin & The Sunshine - Somewhere Sideways Same As You     IDHAS Review
                    

................

Extra Arms - What Is Even Happening Right Now

During March's review of Ryan Allen's excellent solo EP (here) I mentioned that the excellent Pop on display was very different to his day job and here is that regular work. Extra Arms are a much louder proposition, wonderfully loud.

Starting out as Ryan Allen And His Extra Arms, the direction then was a little more Garage Punk Pop. Since morphing into Extra Arms, a proper band with an established line up, that punkishness has slightly mellowed into great Power Pop.

This is Power Pop at pace though. The songs are more in your face than a traditional Power Pop album, the band rarely come up for air, noisy upstarts in a world of jangling niceness maybe. It all works beautifully, every fist shaking moment.

The songs never lose their melody and are built on massive riffs and big choruses, designed to be played in sweaty venues. There are hints at times of Sugar at times, but it is just hints. Allen has never forgotten his Punk Roots, it is just that the songs have become even more accessible.

The riffs just drill through your head, the vocals are never shouty when it would be easy to be like peers who adopt that mode. A song like Life In A Cube just rocks your socks off and when it breaks out further, it is simply awesome.

I also note the increasing harmonies. What used to be a call and response, at times develops into more vocal play. Every Extra Arms album offers something more than the last. The band develops more each time. Just don't expect any ballads. What Is Even Happening Now is a splendid listen.

Pre-order here for the album's 3 June release and just wait until you hear I Don't Wanna Die on next week's IDHAS 10 Song Mix. I will add a couple more songs on release date and refresh this post.

.............................

Ryan Allen (Extra Arms) - Song Snacks Vol. 1

I got into a bit of trouble with my outspoken views on Lockdown Acoustic Sets. Some, including fellow writers felt that I was being really unfair and asked what are musicians supposed to do in these strange times. My statements were never against musicians, but on what the results were, even with the circumstances as they were / are. 

It was the supposed soulfulness of the sets, rooted in covers and the new songs were all about the lockdown. I just yearned for artists to plug their guitar in and write songs like they did pre Covid. Fortunately people like Ryan Allen had had similar ideas.. He learned how to learn some recording software on the fly, plugged in offered up this DIY gem.

In some ways it would have been a return to his solo beginnings. In the days of Ryan Allen And His Extra Arms, he played everything himself before the expansion into a group. But now, he was stuck at home, with no in studio expertise. However with the creative spark thriving, he had to get these songs down.

The result is very much in Guided By Voices territory. In sing your song and get off mode, these 20 songs last 35 minutes. Some feel fully fledged, others more sketches, but without exception, all work. Allen has always been able to provide riff after riff and developed solo wise from a noisier Nick Piunti to a much harder band sound. He's always been able to flit through both, so there's no surprise that there is a fair amount of genre hopping. 

The gentleness of Here Comes The Rain contrasts with the pure noise of Throw Your Shit In The Shoot. There are also moments of real reflective joy in the Lennon Pop of the likes of I'm A Wizard Now. Metal Youth is real 90's Indie College Rock and Alone In The Sick is splendid Psych Pop. Predict The Future is lo-fi New York Power Pop and Luke Warm has one of Allen's trademark killer riffs.

Two songs especially stand out for me. For all the variety, Inventive Sports is more like a trademark Ryan Allen song, wonderfully so. Airbrush The World is absolutely Top Notch with an extended wig out to close. Remember there is a reason why the album is titled Song Snacks. The album is like a buffet and demonstrates what Allen can do. Highly Recommended!

You can listen to and buy the album here. 

.......................

I Don't Hear A Single Albums Of The Year 2019 : 71- 80

It's been difficult to get these choices down to 100. I'm also not a believer in saying one album is better than another. Most of the time you are comparing Apples To Oranges. I'm not a List person, I just think what's the point.

However, for the last couple of years I have compiled Best Of 2019, normally I just said what my favourite album of the year is. I've done it again, because these posts seem so popular and the aim of this Blog is to get exposure (and Sales) for the artists.

There is no meaning or judgement on an album that is Number 1, Number 100 or not on the list. Anything that I review on here, mention on Social Media or play on the Radio Show is as highly recommended.

I would also add that the Top 100 includes albums available as Download Only. To suggest that they are anything less than equal to a Physical release is patently nonsense and omits many wonderful albums.

I will compile a Top 20 of Reissues and Compilations combined after all this is complete. For each album, I've posted a song from it and a link to the review, where you can find further details on how to listen or buy the album.


71 I Was A King - Slow Century        IDHAS Review 







72 James Clarke Five - Parlor Sounds       IDHAS Review 







73 Extra Arms - Up From Here       IDHAS Review 







74 Råttanson - I'd Much Rather Be With The Noise       IDHAS Review 







75 WarrenScottBand - The New Deal       IDHAS Review 







76 The Galileo 7 - There Is Only Now       IDHAS Review 

77 The Morning Line - North       IDHAS Review 







78 The Pozers - Crybaby Bridge       Review 

79 The Tor Guides - Backwards In Reverse       Review







80 Mothboxer - Time Capsule Volume 1        IDHAS Review 








.....

Extra Arms - Up From Here

I've always loved what Detroit's Ryan Allen does. Initially, I looked upon him as a sort of noisy pretend son of Nick Piunti, As Extra Arms developed into a stand alone band, he got noisier, exhilaratingly so and last year's Headacher was in the IDHAS Top 100 Albums of 2018.

Now we have the follow up, Up From Here and it's a 22 minute, 8 song concept album about his marriage break up. But before you all run for the hills on hearing the word concept and thinking downer, because it is neither.






The sound is upbeat, the album just doesn't come up for air, so don't expect any ballads. There is anger in the lyrics, but this is tempered and Up From Here is more about dealing with the change and coming out the other side. Also, you wouldn't know this was a concept album unless I told you, you'd just notice the lyrics as the thread.

The album may be short, but it packs in an awful lot. I often read Power Pop artists wanting to gain a younger audience, well this is the sort of thing that will appeal to that younger audience. I've often said that the best albums coming out lately are from Punk Pop and EMO bands stretching out as they grow older and this sounds like one of those.







There are some wonderful arrangements and riffs, all done at a lightning pace. The title track is a stunning upbeat closer, but what goes before is a real up and at 'em joy. It is very in your face, but melodically so and will appeal to those who like their Pop to have balls, whilst keeping hold of the Superchunk brigade.

Comes In Waves borders on Garage Rock, No Enemies could be Cheap Trick and Hold Me (All The Time)  is right in Classic Rock Territory, it is a crackerjack of a song. The 22 minutes fly by, but I  guarantee that you'll be playing it three times in the hour. The whole album is wonderfully noisy or let's just settle on wonderful.






You can listen to and buy the album here.


.....