I Don't Hear A Single Albums Of The Year 2022 : Top 10

So we arrive at the Top 10! As mentioned previously, it has been a really difficult task putting these albums in order. My choices may not be your choices, but I think we have a varied 100 and there is something in it for everyone.

Well done Bandicoot! It has been a great year for Wales with some fine albums emanating from a great country. Strangely, for a UK site, Bandicoot have the first British Album Of The Year on IDHAS on the 7th Occasion.

01 Bandicoot - Black After Dark       IDHAS Review

02 Richard Öhrn - Sounds In English       IDHAS Review

03 Dot Dash - Madman In The Rain       IDHAS Review





04 The Mommyheads - Genius Killer     IDHAS Review

05 The Beths - Expert In A Dying Field      IDHAS Review

06 Spygenius - Jobbernowl      IDHAS Review

07 Toni Tubna And The Stockholm Tuba Sect - When The Magic Went Wrong       IDHAS Review

08 Best Bets - On An Unhistoric Night         IDHAS Review

09 The Tambles - Scraping By        IDHAS Review

10 Outtacontroller - Come Alive        IDHAS Review

Finally, a mention for one album that didn't appear. The one main rule for the IDHAS100 is that an album has to have been reviewed on I Don't Hear A Single. Chris Church's Darling Please wasn't reviewed here, due to me reviewing it for a magazine that insisted that I did not review it elsewhere. I thought Chris would benefit from this bigger audience. There is a real possibility that the album would have been in this Top 10 if it had been reviewed.


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Outtacontroller - Come Alive

 

I loved Outtacontroller's third album, Sure Thing, in 2020. When I reviewed it, I described it as Cheap Trick meets Chinn and Chapman. You cab read that review here. Thankfully, this is more of the same to some extent, but the Halifax, Nova Scotia quartet also go further without ever losing the hooks.

Kicking in with the title track, there is a real come and join us vibe, a call to arms if you like and that Cheap Trick late 70s heyday springs to mind. It has the potential to be on Power Pop compilations for decades. To be fair, most of the album is like that.

Hanging Over You has a real "The Records" riff that completely disarms you. It dominates the song with a chorus that Sweet would be proud of. Let Me Out is pure Glitter band in sound and those handclaps make it even more so.

Hit And Run leaves the UK 70s behind and becomes more US New Wave of the 80s. It doesn't sound like The Cars, but certainly fits into that period. I Wanna Be Bored goes further and ramps up the pace, Garage Rock style. 

Parts Unknown even edges into a popped up version of Goth. You can imagine Billy Duffy playing that Lead. But Time To Crash even trends the Pop Rock of Squeeze. Gets Me Every Time manages to get into the territory of The Motors.

Come Alive is a splendid Pop Rock, the type that many threaten but can't fulfil bar a few front loaded singles. Anyone of these 11 songs could be released as such which reveals a real consistency. Hooks, Choruses, riffs and Zander like vocals. Highly Recommended!

You can listen to and buy the album here.

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Outtacontroller - Sure Thing

I've said this more than once, but Canada is proving the place to be for Melodic Guitar Pop lately and another example are the Halifax, Nova Scotia Quartet, Outtacontroller. It isn't that there is any reinventing of the wheel here, the band are just great at what they do.

Sure Thing is the Album Number Three and continues the Fuzz adventure. Coming out somewhere between The Ramones and early Cheap Trick, the call and response count is high. Although I hear a lot of The Stems and The Nerves, the band remind me a lot of The Speedways.







The band get even better when they get even looser, particularly on the Chinn And Chapman vibe of You For You which has a great guitar solo diversion, proving that these fellows can play. There will also be comparisons to The Replacements, but isn't there always?

Don't Need It is another song that has Glam Rock, Glitter Band overtones, but generally the aim is heads down, singalong joy. There is also a killer single in Glassy Eyes. 10 songs in 22 minutes. Say what you want to say and get off! Wonderful stuff!







You can listen to and buy the album here.


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