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Showing posts with label Pantomime Horses. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Pantomime Horses. Show all posts

Tuesday, 28 January 2025

I Don't Hear A Single Albums Of The Year 2024 : 51-60

 



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.

We now reach the halfway point.


51 Gustavo Warnunk - Semi​-​Detached Tales Vol. I      IDHAS Review



52 8X8 - Life During Wartime      IDHAS Review



53 The Reflectors - Going Out Of Fashion     IDHAS Review



54 Lava Fangs - Sub Auroram      IDHAS Review




55 Dave Cope And The Sass - Hidden From The World     IDHAS Review



56 Hoaster - Everything Is Great        IDHAS Review




57 Brent Seavers - Exhibit B      Exhibit B by Brent Seavers



58 The Martial Arts - In There Like Swimwear      IDHAS Review



59 Pantomime Horses - Forever Polyester      IDHAS Review

  


60 The Drywall Heels - Today's Top Hits Playlist     IDHAS Review



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Tuesday, 18 June 2024

Pantomime Horses - Forever Polyester

 

I've had the album for a while awaiting release and struck up conversations with Guitarist, Tony Laming, who is bang on our wavelength and if ever there was an album that you could say gets close to what IDHAS does, it is this.

The trio were in a band from Portsmouth called Candystash in the early 90s. Rob Silber moved to South Africa thereafter and Tony has lived in Spain for the past 20 years. Drummer, Nigel Kirkby is the third member of the trio. The threesome made contact with each other again four years ago.

Thus Pantomime Horses were born and here is the resulting album. The three finally met up again over Christmas 2023. Darrin's Subjangle label is the perfect choice to release the album. The Physical CD is released next Monday. It can be pre-ordered now and the download is already available.



Forever Polyester really is right up our street. Silber's storytelling songwriting makes the album special, but all three provide a genre defying sound. Covering everything from Brit Pop to Psych Pop, Indie Rock to Pop Rock.

At times the band sounds like a laidback understated Big Big Train or even vocally a laidback Custard Flux, Silber certainly sounds Gabriel-esque at times. Pantomime Horses are equally at home with the great  intelligent gravitas Indie of the 80s, but equally are not afraid of 60s Beat Pop.



For Psych Pop lovers like myself, Paris Garden is as good an example of the genre as you are likely to hear. There's also the wonderful Dressed Like Elvis which is a cross between Glasgow late 80s and UK Beat Pop with a great keyboard run.

YLF borders on Electronica whilst Plastic Glasses mixes Jangle Pop with great Organ. Lily Molita underlines the great storytelling, very Brit Pop, wonderfully so. whilst Morning Star gets very Dropkick. The album is not to be missed, it is a stellar listen. The type you hear so infrequently these days.



You can listen to and buy the album here.


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Sunday, 19 May 2024

Here Is The News

 



Nada Surf - Moon Mirror




A new Nada Surf is something to celebrate and of course we will do just that.  Moon Mirror is released on 13 September and is available on Vinyl, CD and as a download. The Vinyl and CD releases have a bonus 11 Track Demo Disc included. You can Pre-order the album here.

A new single, In Front Of Me Now, has been released from the album and you can listen to that below and buy it for just 1 dollar here.



Bottlecap Mountain - Electric Love Spree




Austin Texas's Bottlecap Mountain return with their 7th album on 4 June and the band are long term favourites of ours. We have reviewed the last 3 albums and this will be the fourth. They mix what's essentially Indie Pop Rock into all sorts of directions. A great example is the new single below.

You can pre-order the album here and buy the single, Freedom! 24 here.



Quivers - Oyster Cuts




Melbourne's Quivers's last album, Golden Doubt, was No 21 in our Best 100 Albums Of 2021. You can read the review here. The new album is released on 9 August on Merge Records. The band offer up beautifully written, arranged and performed Indie Pop, but are not afraid to spread into other areas.

The real strength is the vocals, all four sing and this leads to jaw dropping vocal harmonies on songs that are not your everyday affairs. You can pre-order the album on Vinyl, CD or as a download here. There are some great variations. It is worth noting that some prices are in US dollars, others in Australian dollars.

The first track from the album, Apparition, can be bought for 1$ here. You can also listen to it below.



Dropkick - Dot The I Expanded Version


Scotland's finest have being zipping up their boots and going back to their roots. Following on from the Expanded Version of Patchwork, 2008's Dot The I gets similar treatment with a release on 21 June. 14 Bonus Tracks (count 'em) are added in what is the first physical release of the album for 16 years. 2008 was the most prolific time for the band's recordings.

Dropkick are one of those bands that get many comparisons in reviews of others, maybe second only to Teenage Fanclub maybe in that department. Their blend of great Pop Rock that leans towards both America and the more recent Scottish scene. Often compared to Crowded House and long term favourites here.

You can order the CD and the download here. My favourite track from the album is below.



Nick Piunti & The Complicated Men - Bottle It




I was only thinking of Nick Piunti when reviewing the new Extra Arms album, which has been really popular on here. I do feel that Ryan Allen's lot have got nearer to what Piunti is noted for lately. Lo and behold, Ryan adds backing vocals to the new Nick Piunti single.

It really is great to have Piunti back, you forget how much you miss his melodic Pop Rock built on big choruses and tasty riffs and this is a fantastic reminder of how damn catchy his songs are. You can buy the song here and listen to it below.



Charming Arson - Saving Chelsea




One of the unexpected delights of Listening To This Week has been adding a younger audience to what we cover and in turn discovering new artists. Maybe the best example id Boston's Charming Arson, a band who perhaps a little rockier than normal.

They have a new single out and it is a cracker. Saving Chelsea can be bought for 1$ here. Trust me, this lot are going places. You can listen to the single below.



Pantomime Horses - Forever Polyester



I've been fortunate to have the album for a while and have been dying to tell you all about it. That will come as a review when the album is released on the 31 May. I have bored people rigid telling people face to face and on the phone etc, remember kids you can still do this, rather then pretend you've got loads of mates because of Facebook.

People who have heard the singles thus far, compare the Portsmouth Trio to Elbow, which I don't really see. There isn't the big arrangements and the album is far more lyrically adept. It reminds me at times of the intelligent Indie of the 80s and even our beloved Derrero and you know how much we adore the Welsh wonders.

The album will appear here. But, you can listen to the singles off it thus far there. I've just Lily Molita from those singles but any of the three suffice. The trio says that the album is just about tying up loose ends. Here's hoping that there is more to come than this gem.



Finally, a reminder that Here Is The News will now become a fortnightly thing, but it will contain up to a dozen articles. I simply just can't fit in a weekly edition with everything else that goes on around IDHAS.


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