It's Karma, It's Cool - Homesick For Our Future Destinations

 

I first started talking to Jim Styring, pre I Don't Hear A Single, in the Popdogs days. The Popdogs were a great Power Pop band at a time when there seemed many great Power Pop bands around, but not especially from the UK. 

Witnessing his development from then, around 2015 I think, has been delightful. It's Karma, It's Cool is still Lincoln based, but the quartet are a very different affair. Their debut album promised much and showed a variety that would appeal to many more than the three chords brigade.

The follow up reveals even more layers. It is a slightly more restrained, even a little darker, album than Woke Up In Hollywood. Homesick For Our Future Directions is even more of a Pop Rock album and shows a great maturity that I never expected all those years ago.

The band are very much a sum of their parts, venturing into all areas, almost Modern Prog on Absent Transient, Universe Of Us edges towards AOR. Future Destinations is a fine and bombastic instrumental closer and Holy Toledo smooches and oozes West Coast Rock.

There's even a nod to the Power Pop Days with the rifftastic Coffee Cup Circles. Many will point out She Slept With The Radio On as the standout here, it is a beautifully arranged song, but I have to go with the splendid Wild Fire Flames. It has everything that you could wish for in a Modern Pop Rock song.

Styring's vocals have always reminded me of Mental As Anything. But he dispels a lot of that here. There's variance in tones and the expertly produced material allows him to demonstrate this. The album is less hectic and really works because of that. It is a corking affair. Highly Recommended!

You can listen to and buy the album here. You really should.

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David Brookings - Mania At The Talent Show

 

After two excellent largely Power Pop albums with the Average Lookings, David Brookings returns to his solo career. Those two band albums sparkled and shined, indeed the second, Scorpio Monologue, was in IDHAS's Best Of 2019 list. You can read the review here.

That riff led period is fine and dandy, but it does have its limitations and Brookings solo provides a much wider canvas to paint on. Thus Mania At The Talent Show is a much more varied affair and reveals layers not seen or noticed in the band albums.

The pace is slowed down allowing Brookings melodic laid back vocals to be appreciated more. His Singer Songwriter excellence has the air to breathe. The melody is as great as ever, the songs are as well written, but they have a much wider soundscape.

He can still do Jangle Guitar Pop as proven by One Of Us Is Crazy (The Other One Is Me). Get Off (My Mind) has a real 60's bouncy studio pop feel and Kill Shot is reminiscent of those great second half of the 70s Pop Rock with its hypnotic guitar. 

The title track fairly bounces along splendidly and the cover of Tom Petty's Magnolia is wonderful. There is also a venture into Psych Pop with the moody Hide Your Crazy. Driving To Ojai is very Middle Of The Road West Coast Rock.

Mania At The Talent Show provides some great harmony moments. It is an album that will Rock you but gently. These 12 songs cover so many bases and the calmness of the songs and the arrangements allows THAT voice to shine. It is a very fine offering that deserves mass attention.

You can buy the album everywhere including David's website here. You can also listen at the streaming sites or on You Tube here.

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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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IDHAS Ten Songs Mix 14

We reach Number 14 and this week there are 10 songs in just over 32 minutes. A hint of Psych Pop at times, but that wasn't intentional and this week is certainly Poptastic.

The Mixcloud link is below and at the foot of the page is the Mixcloud Player which takes you directly to the music. Here is the playlist of the ten songs this week :

01 Livingmore - Sharp

02 Dan Vapid & The Cheats - Burning Questions

03 The Verve Pipe - The Witching Hour

04 Fur - The Fine Line Of A Quiet Life

05 Vegetarians & Carnivores - Crippled Dreams

06 The High Strung - Whatever He Wanted

07 The Green Pajamas - Hello, Hello

08 The John Sally Ride - She Doesn't Do Nostalgia

09 The Summer Holiday - What Happens When You Lose

10 Anatomy Class - Reflector Shield

IDHAS Ten Songs Mix 14

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RW Hedges - Year After Year

 

Year After Year is another splendid affair. Gentle, atmospheric, almost Folk at times, but never ever losing its pop sensibility. It does feel very 60s. but is never stuck there and covers a range of genres without ever having to turn the amp up.

Whether the song is weeping like the melancholic Ice In August or the jaunty Baroque Pop of Far And Wide, Hedges voice just washes your aches away. Piece Of String even edges towards a pastoral type of Psych Pop.

She Calls Through The Night is wonderful, Harrison-esque at times and Who's To Care goes all Country, bordering on Americana, not Big Hats thankfully. Travelling Road also has hints of Americana, but the vocal harmonies take it nearer to Pop. 

Hedges masters the high notes with aplomb without ever affecting or forcing the song. Year After Year is a beautiful affair that never gets mawkish. Weathervane may be the best thing on the album and yet it is the quietest.

Producer Luca Nieri co-writes the album and there is a lyrical depth of the album is commendable. The pace of the album, brings out those words and makes you pick them out. This may be RW Hedges fourth album, but the quality doesn't let up. You could even say he gets better and better.

You can listen and buy the album here.

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Dan Vapid & The Cheats - Escape Velocity

 

I'm not gonna venture into the what and what isn't Punk pit again. Nor bang on about how more people should listen to Pop Punk and not be put off by the label. The genre isn't all about automated vocals, there is some great Pop Rock in there.

Dan Vapid has been involved in noisier, nearer Punk bands, but this isn't one of them. Indeed, Escape Velocity is much much nearer Power Pop if anything. On the likes of Cyber World and Guilt & Relief, there are real justified Green Day comparisons.

There are also examples where the band go even more mainstream, Runaway Jane is a perfect example and Robots edges towards Glam Rock. But for the pace, Tears Are Falling compares even further back to somewhere near Rock n Roll.

Bitter And Soul could even be UK New Wave, it is wonderfully anthemic. Midnight Blue is almost a Campfire song and the only time the band slow down. It is an unexpected close to a fine example of a melodic Guitar Pop album.

Songs Like Burning Question and the superb Come Find Me are Power Pop gems that should appeal to a much wider and older audience. Escape Velocity is a great listen. Big choruses, killer riffs and a band that appears to really enjoy what they are doing. More of this sort of thing please!

You can listen to and buy the album here.

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Vegetarians & Carnivores - A Day Of Rainbows

 

Simon Carbery is the Vocalist, Guitarist and Songwriter for the excellent The Wood Demons, a band that doesn't get the credit it deserves. They tread the middle ground between Prog and Psych, but there is very much a Folk slant in what they do.

Vegetarians & Carnivores is Carbery's solo project and whether alone or collaborating, the sound isn't quite as expansive, but takes as many, if not more chances adding even greater variety. This doesn't sound like a debut album, probably helped by the skills honed in The Wood Demons.

Where Do Friends Go is a great piano led affair, fine Pop Rock in the mould of John Howard and even warrants an even more stripped down closing reprise. The song is charm personified, but you shouldn't be lulled into your armchair as the album takes on many directions. 

Crippled Dreams is as fine a slice of Toytown you could wish to hear, wonderfully wacky, yet Option C is an opener that is very Modern Prog. Dubrovnik Rooftiles is cinematic Space Rock and Nation Of Us is like a World Vocal that is similar to Russell Mael's spoken verses. 

Well.... is one of two epics, a song that just builds and builds and ends somewhere near Jazz Rock. Beautiful Tuesday is an absolute Psych masterpiece, but also contains parts that edge towards Pop Rock. It shows that Psych doesn't have to be brutal.

I thought The Wood Demons offered great variety, well there is even more here and the inventiveness shines through. A Day Of Rainbows isn't an album that will suit everyone, but if you want to expand your horizons and taste, you will find it surprisingly soothing and fulfilling. 

It is also worth the admission alone for Crippled Dreams.

You can listen to and buy the album here. 

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