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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The High Strung - Address Unknown

 

I was a late convert to Detroit's The High Strung as my 2019 review of Quiet Riots explains and I then embarked on a mission to grab everything. It is fair to say that few bands have touched me in that manner. You can read that review here. 

You only have to listen to the opening title track to understand why I became so obsessed. It is a thing of great beauty that just sends you into a a magnificent dream world, washing over you and then allows you to realise the delight that there are 11 songs to follow.

The band deliver beautifully played and arranged arrangements in their advanced Indie Pop that are pastoral at times, but cross into Piano Pop, Pop Rock, Psych Pop and even Americana. Yet they remain lyrically adept with arrangements that are very different in a musical world where so much is musically the same and trend led.

Although there isn't an XTC comparison here, the vibe is similar to the one you feel when listen to Skylarking. The absolute magnificence of a song like Telescope mixes Village Green type lyrics and verges on Toytown whilst remaining great Piano Pop.

Then there is the feel of 70s Classic Pop Rock on So Lonely, Basement Lear's Housemartins' nod and Yr Brother's 70s Country Rock feel. Lazy Days is almost 60s UK Beat, but could easily be West Coast Summer Pop. Run It Back is Ben Folds like Piano Pop with a killer chorus. 

Overcoat And Skies is beautifully put together Pop, yet Northern Pygmy Owl is splendid Americana. Just as Address Unknown opens the album wonderfully, there is similar strength in the closing Baroque Pop of The Pop which may be the best song on here, certainly atmospherically.

I've embedded three songs, but to be honest, I could have easily embedded all 12. This is an album that lots promise, but few deliver. It is everything that is great about I Don't Hear A Single. An album that all should listen to. Complex, yet simple to listen to. Intricate, yet full of hooks. Pop doesn't get any better. Truly Superb!

You can listen to the album on all the streaming sites. You can buy the album here and on the likes of Amazon. You listen to the full album song by song here. You can find out more about the band here. I am hoping that the band open up the listening part of Bandcamp and have more places to buy the album including the band's website shop. 

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The High Strung - HannaH

 

Despite being a fan of The High Strung for most of their two decade existence, I had no idea that HannaH existed. Never short of melody and originality, the return of Mark Owen in 2016 and the last album in 2019, Quiet Riots, reinforced that message. It is an absolute gem of an album.

HannaH, however goes back to 2002, before the sessions for the band's debut album, These Are The Good Times. Whilst waiting to go into the studio for those sessions, The High Strung found themselves with 2 weeks free and decided to use the time to record songs to a Teac 80-8 Reel To Reel.

The debut album sessions began and no more was thought of these recordings, until the lockdown. Bass Player, Chad Stocker discovered the tapes and drew them to the attention of the rest of the band and all agreed there was something special about the recordings. 

The band have always been prolific recorders for no other reason than fun and when the tapes were passed to Producer Zach Shipps, all agreed that the end results of his work made a valid release. So we have the official release, 19 years on.

When something like this is generally mentioned, you expect scrappy lo fi outtakes with the odd gem amongst the mediocre. That is certainly not the case here. The recordings were approached differently to the upcoming sessions. There was no pressure and the band recorded them for themselves. 

The result is a really inventive album. Not necessarily as commercial as what was to come, but the trademark melody and wit are combined with real Indie inventiveness. It isn't a long album, 26 minutes, but the 10 songs offer such variety.

Turned It Away is UK Beat that really wants to be Psych and Cored Out Apple is great Noise Pop. Tip Of The Iceberg enters into the territory of The Sugarplastic, yet Beautiful Summer is splendid Psych Pop. That Is All I Want From You could be Merseybeat. 

God Is Good is slashing Garage Pop, but the real gem is Whatever He Wanted, featured on the current IDHAS 10 Song Mix. It is a wonderful slice of Toytown Psych. I respectively suggest that you treat HannaH as a new release. It is exceptional. The fact it was thrown down underlines what a great band The High Strung are. Highly Recommended!

You can listen to and buy the album here. You can find out more about The High Strung here.

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I Don't Hear A Single Albums Of The Year 2019 : 51 - 60

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.



51 Erk - When Night Meets Day       IDHAS Review








52 Big Nothing - Chris       IDHAS Review









53 Berwanger - Watching A Garden Die       IDHAS Review









54 Cabana Wear - Cabana Wear       IDHAS Review









55 Onesie - Umpteenth       IDHAS Review








56 Mike Adams At His Honest Weight - There Is No Feeling Better      IDHAS Review









57 Matthew Milia - Alone At St. Hugo      IDHAS Review









58 The Warhawks - Never Felt So Good       IDHAS Review








59 The High Strung - Quiet Riots       IDHAS Review







60 Wrinkles - Other Days       IDHAS Review







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The High Strung - Quiet Riots

I like to think that I have my ear to the ground, but I was gobsmacked to only just discover The High Strung. So much so, that I had to ask my great friend Keith Klingensmith of Futureman Records, who filled me in with the details.

To discover that this is the ninth album from the Detroit five piece, leaves me plenty to catch up on and I intend to do that sharpish. Quiet Riots is one of the best Psych Pop albums that I've heard in a long time and it's not stuck in that genre.






If You Wanna Roll is Grade A Power Pop, Summer Of Night is Campfire Jangle and Eavesdropped On Again is Merseybeat through and through. But it's the Psych Pop, with the emphasis on Pop, that appeals most. This really is wonderful stuff.

For those who haven't heard it on the Radio Show, Riots Of The Mind is an absolute gem of Sgt Pepper-esque Psych. Then there are joys like When I Lay My Egg with it's Relics like feel and Legion is like something from Head.






You'd expect a song like Goffin & King to be some sing along ballad, not a bit of it, it's li8ke something straight from Toytown, very Keith West, with a great instrumental break out. The whole thing sounds so Carnaby Street.

Quiet Riots is beautifully played, full of unexpected hooks and chord and tempo changes. It's only March, but this is one of the best things thus far this year. If ever you look at the label Psych Pop and think it's gonna be some weird shit, you should play this album, it's full of melodic greatness.






You can listen to and buy the album here. You can find out more about the band here.


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