No Tears - Heart Shaped Eyes (Vinyl Edition)

 

I originally reviewed the album in November 2023. It is worth revisiting as the excellent Beluga Records released the album on Vinyl today. The original review was posted when IDHAS was on a trial of writing without embedding tracks to encourage listeners to visit the album and discover favourites themselves. I wasn't sure that that experiment worked.

It is refreshing to listen to an album that is unashamedly Power Pop. Retro vibe wise, indeed reminiscent of the great 80s Power Pop when keyboards became a part of the mix and No tears have such a lot in common with say Donnie Iris. 

No Tears is Kristianstad's Christoffer Karlsson and Heart Shaped Eyes is a wonderful joyous listen. If you like Power Pop, you will love this. There is also a side issue to be discussed about how a country like Sweden continues to produce so much great Guitar Pop.

Just listen to Electric Eyes and you will be hooked. The song has everything from the opening riff through the chorus and hooks that you can ever need. Even when Karlsson deviates from the template, it is to some other period of the genre.

Echo In My Head is pure UK New Wave with a big hint of Glam Rock. Get Away even gets close to The Glitter Band. Broken Mirror adds some great Sax to its 60s feel and the background could be Wizzard. It is left the two closing songs to really divert your attention.

The Silence Is Speaking is largely instrumental, 80s style and a little melancholic. Without Your Love is Grand Ole Opry fayre and a fine duet with Beatrice Rosdahl. But is the Power Pop that will grab listeners most, particularly as there has been so little like this lately.

You can buy the Vinyl Edition from Beluga here. You can listen the album here and buy the download.

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The Nines - Echoes Of Past Future

 

Another returning hero. I've been following The Nines since the 1998 debut album, which probably makes Steve Eggers feel as old as I. This is Eggers back in default mode, great Pop Rock. This revives the 1970s glory years of the genre. Real singalong stuff.

Yet again, Bill Majoros helps out, another hero of ours. It has been too long since we last had an album from The Foreign Films. Eggers raids the genre wonderfully. At times, the album sounds very Paul McCartney And Wings.

So you should expect big arrangements, singalong choruses and melody Morth, East South and West. The harmonies are extraordinarily good as with most great albums of the 70s. Fans of Raspberries, Badfinger, 10CC and ELO will love this.

Away From You has a real Deceptive Bends feel, right down to the keyboard sound. Don't Worry Susan is a fab Pop Song, almost Power Pop, but also a little West Coast with its Beach Boy harmonies. Mexico is again very McCartney 70s, with a little Andrew Gold and a splendid arrangement.

Summers Never Been The Same is prime time ELO. If only McCartney was writing ballads now as great as Song For Rachel, the lost decades would be long forgotten, another top notch arrangement. Give Your Heart Away still sounds great, the perfect lead single.

To keep it in period, the album was recorded on Vintage Tascam and Yahama Cassette without any drop in sound quality. Echoes Of Past Future may be Retro, but no one does Pop Rock and Power Pop as well as The Nines. It is great to have Steve Egger back.

You can listen to and buy the album here. The CD is already sold out in four days. Hopefully, there will be a reprint.

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The Feel Alrights - How Do You Feel?

 

Sometimes, I am so busy searching for something new that I forget how embracing a more Classic Rock listen can be. Well Perth's The Feel Alrights are here to remind you with the quartets's new album on the excellent Zero Hour Records label.

How Do You Feel offers up a mix of Classic Rock and UK Beat that ventures into the likes of Psych Pop, New Wave and Pop Rock. Relying heavily on the sounds of the 60s and 70s, it is a reminder of how great those decades are when performed by a band who know what they are doing.

The 11 original songs here completely engage you in a way that makes you sad when the album ends. Celebrate is a great example of 70s Rock with an opening that sounds a little Come Together-ish. It is the UK Beat that resonates most, particularly when it mixes it with Rhythm And Blues.

The Look On Your Face is a great example, very Dr Feelgood. I Feel Alright and the title track are two more great examples of how the genre grabs you, particularly when played this well. Yet, Forget About Me is wonderful 70s Pop Rock, makes you think of the likes of Liverpool Express.

The Psych Pop is ace too. Tomorrow Never Rains melts my heart, it is top notch and you know how I love that type of stuff.  Sun Goes Down gets close too with added Twang and Jangle. Fashionistas gets more UK New Wave, all rhythm driven,

Off The Hip is more jaunty, but works just as well, very early Stones, Manfred Mann even. Girl Down There even gets all Jangle Pop and very close to Power Pop. Beautifully arranged and performed, How Do You Feel? is a cracking listen.

You can listen to and buy the album here. It is available on Vinyl, CD and as a download.

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doublevee - Periscope At Midnight

 

Quite a lot of you will know Allan Vest, particularly from our Anything Should Happen days. He was the lead figure in Starlight Mints who offered up four outstanding albums up till 2009. doublevee began in 2012 with Barb, who became his wife in 2015.

A debut album arrived in 2017 and a second followed in 2022. This mini album features six new songs that are right up our street. The reaction to Submarine Number Three Vee has been great after its appearance on the current Listening To This Week.

This is varied Intelligent Guitar Pop, quirky and not afraid to tread into different genres at will. For instance, the closer, Everyone's Lonely Under The Sea, sung by Barb, is a heady mix of New Wave, Psych Pop and even a little B52s.

With the Starlight Mints connection, you'd expect some Power Pop and Diamond Thumb provides this with a killer riff and a slight spacey keyboard accompaniment. Natural Selection is more Bossa Nova, with  Spanish sounding Acoustic Guitar and a little Brass, wonderfully haunting.

Modern Times is built around a splendid arrangement, with sounds coming from everywhere and another corking riff. It sounds a little Nik Kershaw at times. Maybe Tonight (What's Inside Of Me?) is more straight ahead Pop Rock, Piano led with additional left field guitar.

Submarine Number Three Bee remains as great a listen as ever. The Baroque Pop arrangement is superb, this is definitely one of the singles of the year. Periscope is beautifully arranged and produced, a really special offering.

You can listen to and buy the album here.

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KEYS - Acid Communism

 

KEYS are back on the splendid Libertino label for their eighth album. Now into their third decade and having never released a mediocre note. I love them. The one frustration that I have is that I just don't understand how a band of this quality are not massive. Their social media following is pitiful in relation to the brilliance of their output. 

I suppose what you might label them Intelligent Indie these days, but I defy anyone to be able to produce two different songs such as What Flavour? and The Greatest Joke Of All. The former, all early XTC, the latter wonderful beautifully arranged melodic Pop Rock.

KEYS · The Greatest Joke of All

The Psych Pop is thankfully not forgotten. My Temporary Game is as great an example of the genre that you could wish for. Who Stands To Gain is a very 80s, bass guitar driven, a heady mix of Post Punk and the more interesting side of 80s Indie Guitar. It builds perfectly.

Your Shoes is great beat driven 1978 UK New Wave. What Do I Have To Do is a much heavier affair, a great album closer. Almost Cock Rock in parts, very different to what surrounds it, it may be my biggest surprise and my favourite song on the album. A real fist shaker.

KEYS · What Flavour?

KEYS are still known as Welsh wonders when a musical wider world is screaming out for this level of ability. If you want an anthem for now listen to There Is No I In Teams. Matthew Evans is at the top of his songwriting journey. This is, without doubt, Album Of The Year Material.

KEYS · What Do I Have to Do?

You can listen to and the album everywhere including here.

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Jupiter Radio Theater - On The Air

Prepare to be amazed. This is not what you expect to come out of New Jersey. Four years in the making, the project is the brainwave of Alex J. Weinstein and both he and Kevin Sasko add a host of musicians to offer up one of the albums of the year.

I'd love to know what is going on in Weinstein's head, because as well as being inspired, the album takes incredible twists and turns. The arrangements are astounding, particularly the added strings. It is a piece of work that moves around both the straight ahead and the bizarre.

I suppose you might call it Art Rock, but that is a loose description. At times, there is a feel of early Roxy Music, yet you are just as likely to hear Ragtime and Americana. The latter courtesy of a magnificent vocal from Louise Sullivan that is haunting and the Acoustic Arrangement is beautifully melancholic.

The 17 songs are across three different sections. The second section, In The Courtyard, is more instrumental and arranged and performed with a great deftness. The first section, On The Air, underlines the Art Rock, but Martinique sounds like something European.

You can hear Tori Adore opening up this week's Listening To This Week and this starts off the last section,  All In Time. It is a rockier affair than what else is on show. Minutes Still is like Saint Etienne without the synths, wonderfully hypnotic, wonderfully arranged.

Full Regalia is almost a troubadour sort of confessional. I've deliberately not gone into great detail about the songs. This is an album to be listened to from start to finish. The gentleness will move you, the instrumental part will hook you and the break out parts are weird and wacky, just as we like.

You can listen to and buy the album here.

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Listening To This Week Playlist 18 August

 

August is usually a quiet time for us with holidays and festivals that slow song releases. However, this August is very different. There's a larger than usual selection of 30 songs on LTTW this week. There could have been even more and we already have 8 songs for the next one that are released this week. This could be the strongest playlist that we have ever compiled. No way could we have narrowed it down to 25 ish.

As well as the traditional version, we have put the playlist on Spotify and you will see the link below. 

Remember this is early days on Spotify for us, so the following there is nowhere near our one here. The weekly playlist is largely for submissions, not just the usual stuff that we dig out ourselves. The song order is not about song preference, but how the playlist flows.  

All embeds open in new windows to aid scrolling. Links to the artists will also appear on I Don't Hear A Single Social Media sites over the next 24 hours. This will help you to discover more about the artists who appear here. 

The Spotify Version   (3 Songs as noted are not on Spotify)

Link To Spotify

Jupiter Radio Theater - Tori Adore

doublevee - Submarine Number Three Vee

Kula Shaker - Broke As Folk

Kula Shaker · Broke As Folk

This Little Badge - The Album Of The Year

KEYS - When Melody Was King

Octoberman - Harry Nilsson

The Cle Elum - Something In The Water

You Filthy Dog - Dagon

Make Believe Love - Delay Deny Depose

Cape Crush - Blank Wall

Force Model - All Expectations

Desert Tide - What Love Can Do

Vegas With Randolph - Perfect Silences (Not On Spotify)

The Feel Alrights - Forget About Me.  (Not On Spotify)

LUCKY - Friends

Modern Cults - Grid

Unicorn - Wonderful Wonderful

Born Ruffians - To Be Seen

Adam Awad - So Long

Borderlines - FREESELFSERVICE

Dulcet Days - Dry

The Sunday Scaries - Kill Time

He's Dead Jim - Anything Can Happen Day

Ogrom Circus - We Were Tonight

Duane Hoover - Just An Everyday Thing

Rude Tins - Trigger

Rhodosun - Where To Now..?

Doug Gatta - Endless Summer

Benkio - 1 Step

Benkio · 1 Step

The Lemon Clocks - Restricted Applications (Not On Spotify)

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