I Don't Hear A Single Albums Of The Year 2024 : 31-40

 

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.

31 Lunchbox - Pop And Circumstance     IDHAS Review

32 The Society Of Rockets - Tough Trip Through Paradise      IDHAS Review

33 The Smashing Times - Mrs Ladyships and the Cleanerhouse Boys     IDHAS Review

34 Sharp Class - Welcome To The Matinee Show (Of The End Of The World)     IDHAS Review

35 Alex Pester - Boy     IDHAS Review

36 Supermilk - High Precision Ghosts        IDHAS Review

37 Velvet Attack - Visions From Inner Space      IDHAS Review

38 Pulse Park - First Second      IDHAS Review

39 Rural France - Exactamondo!      IDHAS Review

  

40 The Special Pillow - Meets The Space Monster     IDHAS Review

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

The Special Pillow - Mind Wipe

 

Without a hint of wearing my Big Stir hat, The Armoires have been compared to The Special Pillow. I can see the similarity, male and female vocalists, violin and Katie Gentile and Christina Bulbenko's vocals are not a million miles away from each other. But that is where the similarity ends.

The Special Pillow reside in a magnificent cocoon of their own. The Hoboken quartet sound as though they have been time warped from the 60s into the present day and are a bit bemused about it all. The wit in the lyrics reveals a bemusement with what's going on, but who cares?

Essentially, the band master a sort of Psych Pop that encompasses, Pop, Beat and Folk. Yet on a song like Mind Wipe they almost become the B52s. That is their charm and the violin, viola and sax that jumps in only enhances their capabilities. 

Access Denied is a song about proving you are not a robot when you try to log in somewhere. But it is sung to an accompanying haunting string arrangement and a Brass addition that makes it swing. All this in what is essentially Beat Pop joy. 

Then there's Organic Panic which could be from a 60s film soundtrack with instruments coming from everywhere, one by one they are added as though someone has found something else in the music cupboard. It ends as a sort of space theme. All bizarre, but delightfully so. 

Another Tragic Chorus is a real moody venture in Psych, atmospheric to the point of scariness. The centrepiece though, in more ways than one, is the wonderful So Inclined. A 7 minute affair that you night normally see closing an album or even opening one.

But oh no, it is right here in the middle and it is amazing, moody and magnificent. The central instrumental theme is just haunting. Sung beautifully by Gentile who also adds strings that are mindblowing. You just allow the last three minutes to wash over you and clear your mind. 

You can listen to and buy the album here.

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

The Special Pillow - Mind Wipe

 

I rarely mention releases on IDHAS that are yet to be released. I'm a reviewer, not a PR person and with having albums to review up to 3 months before release, you can go too early and potential buyers have forgotten about them when the big day arrives.

Mind Wipe will be reviewed nearer to its 12 August release date, but I have been so taken with the six track mini album since Mike from the excellent Crash Through Publicity sent it to me. Now that the title track has been released, you have something to listen to and I can give you a heads up.

The Special Pillow · Mind Wipe

The New Jersey quartet specialise in the type of Indie Jangle Pop that is beloved on I Don't Hear A Single, but they add in wonderful diversions from the kooky to the way out weird. Mind Wipe is a splendid journey through inventive pop. When they venture into Psych Pop, it is magnificent.

Mind Wipe here is a little like B52's fronting a Jangle Pop band. I'll leave most of what I want to say to the review, but I will state that you will be blown away when you get to hear the nigh on 7 minutes of So Inclined, it is simply jaw dropping. 

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