I Don't Hear A Single Albums Of The Year 2023 : 41-50

 

For the last few 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. 

Narrowing things down to this 100 has been really difficult. The countdown is 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 Soft Hearted Scientists - Waltz Of The Weekend      IDHAS Review

42 The Rallies - It Must Be Love      IDHAS Review

43 Sunfruits - One Degree      IDHAS Review

44 Real Terms - Vantage      IDHAS Review

45 Papernut Cambridge - Channel Suite      IDHAS Review

46 The High Strung - Address Unknown      IDHAS Review

47 French Alps Tiger - Switch Off All The Time      IDHAS Review

48 Dead Billionaires - Disaster Preparedness Coloring Book      IDHAS Review

49 Swive - Stereophonic Stylings Volume One      IDHAS Review

50 The Kynd - Timelines       IDHAS Review

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Papernut Cambridge - Cinderella Crazy Golf EP

 

Oh how we love Ian Button at IDHAS Towers. Following his Top 10 appearance in the IDHAS Best Of 2022 as Toni Tubna, he follows the splendid Channel Suite album earlier this year, we have a delightful EP to enjoy.

Button inhabits a world which doesn't appreciate his lo fi joyful pop nearly enough. His gentle voice suits the diversity of his material and he should be applauded regularly, both for his past and the present.

Here, he offers up great 80s Indie Pop with I Can't Take My Eyes Off Your Eyes, something very close to Power Pop with the title track and some great Pastoral Psych Pop, almost Toytown, with Bread. Add in the 60s Strumming Pop of I've Loved You The Longest and you have a crackerjack of an EP.

People rightly fete Martin Newell, but Ian Button is every bit as great. He ploughs similar territory. but with a deeper sense of variety and melody. The EP is available as a 7 Inch EP as well as a download. I'd say it is an absolutely essential purchase.

You can listen to and buy the EP here. 

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Papernut Cambridge - Channel Suite

 

After all the Toni Tubna excitement (Top 10 in the IDHAS Best Albums of 2022), Ian Button returns to one of his day jobs with Papernut Cambridge. The wonderful Pastoral Pop suits Button's gentle voice perfectly. although he has a rockier croak at times that certainly adds to the versatility.

You sense that Button lives in Toytown, but doesn't spend a lot of time there, Take for instance, the Latin catchiness of La Cucina and the Brass in the Indie Pop of Literally Cherrytown which makes the song swing with a Dexy's vibe.

This Brass also turns the 60s Piano Pop of Trip To America into a Bacharach affair. Grimston Green Hustle is almost a funk shuffle, a song seemingly about mastering an album. Look For The Highest Window is a splendid Melancholic harmonic Wonder of a soundscape.

See A Star is wonderful gentle Psych Pop. But it is the gentle catchiness of the Pop that grabs you most. There is a real Pop spring in the earworm that is End Of The Downs, it just draws you in.  That is never more underlined on the magnificent, Jump In Your Heart.

You just can't stop singing along to the song, A lovely little Guitar solo is added and there it is a long time since I heard whistling on a song. There is a DIY feel to the album, a feel similar to Martin Newell, although Papernut Cambridge are much more melodic.

I'd love to take a peak inside Button's mind. There's a lot going on in it. The lyrics at time seem very stream of thought, particularly when he takes on the banal and everyday. But the Pastoral Pop reveals an ability to add unusual arrangements to love songs and more general topics. Highly Recommended!

You can listen to and buy the album here. The album is also available on CD and Vinyl.

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Toni Tubna And The Stockholm Tuba Sect - When the Magic Went Wrong

 

I have The John Sally Ride's John Dunbar to thank for recommending this. John correctly describes it as the sort of album that Martin Newell should make and I feel a little guilty, as I've long been a fan of Folkstone's Ian Button through his many adventures, but I had no idea he was up to this.

Ex Death In Vegas and Thrashing Doves and currently Papernut Cambridge. Co- Founder of the superb Gare Du Nord Records label and Producer of Lawrence's Go-Kart Mozart, the man never stops. It was during a tour as drummer for The Catenary Wives that the story of Toni Tubna began.

I won't go into the whole story as you can read that on the Bandcamp site. Briefly, Button wrote emails to his bandmates during the tour about an ill fated magician called Toni Tubna, an anagram of his name. Those stories became a book and eventually a team up with art historian and lyricist, Scott Thomas Buckle. This album is the result.

What an album it is! Essentially a concept album, When The Magic Went Wrong is a wonderful slice of Toy Town Psych Pop mixed with Baroque Pop and Music Hall. Gentle but intriguing, at times it is Inspired Pop Music.

Clash Of Minds even treads into 60s Kinks territory. The Mayor Of Bridlington stands alone as a special song that would be lauded from the rooftops if written by Andy Partridge or Robyn Hitchcock. When The Magic Went Wrong, the opener, has an arrangement more in line with Alan Price or Peter Skellern.

This isn't a joke album, it is a quaint beautifully written and arranged affair. Having been through email, book and album, it would probably stand being a musical. A complete surprise to me, this album is getting played and played. Highly Recommended!

You can listen to and buy the album here. A reprint of the original book can also be bought here.

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