Listening To This Week Playlist

 

Here is the new Listening To This Week playlist. 23 songs this time.  There is no song preference in order, just what we think flows. So I do hope that you can listen to all the songs across this week. I really do believe that you will discover some new songs and artists that will float your boat.

This weekly fayre is solely for submissions, not the usual stuff that we dig out ourselves. 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.

Multi Ultra - Up All Night

The Radio Field - She Needs Therapy

Apartment 99 - Shelter In You

Licking Rainbows - Track 1

Davey Harris - Roles Roy

Gemm - World On Fire

Hammered Satin - Rock 'N' Roller

Caroline & The Treats - Become Undone

Pkew Pkew Pkew - The Dumbest Thing I Ever Done

Agenda 109 - The Constant Traveler

Living In Frames - Stored Away

Josh Gitman - Washer

Shall We Stand For - Again..

Eric Jafet - Anxiety

Pluto Saffron - Clouds

Mount Nemo - Huguenots

Marry Cherry - Won't Die Slow

the unwanted overtures - being there

Amphipolis - (It's) Better When I See You

Sharper Side - Hurts Like Hell

El Sancho - Island Fever

Wasabi Kick - Bicycle

Hookjaw - Petrichor

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Rick Kingo - The Truths, The Lies, The Lot

Caper Clowns  have always been incredibly close to I Don't Hear A Single's heart. Their debut album was close date wise to IDHAS's beginning and the bond is similar to the one I have with Big Stir as both were there for us in our very early days.

Three albums in, the band regularly bother the higher echelons of our Best Of Years, not because of my loyalty, but because they are great at what they do. Pop Rock of the highest quality and their constant touring at a time when bands don't tour that much anymore.

Rick Kingo is the vocalist of the band, so I was always going to be interested in it. His vocals have him as a sort of Neil Finn for a younger generation and although this EP allows him to stretch out a bit, that vocal is as addictive as ever. 

He's aided here by band mate Christian Hojgaard on Bass and Brazillian Drummer, Lucas Garbellini and the trio work well together. The sound is a little slimmed down and the stripped down effect allows the songs, particularly the vocals, to stand out more.

The wonderful Zephyr's Reign is a venture into Rockier territory, very Classic Rock with a blistering Guitar solo. The Sound Of A Neon Light is Brit Pop tinged with a killer chorus and hypnotic riff. The Perfect Taunt is mid 70s Piano led Pop Rock that catches the charm of that period perfectly.

Confident In Time starts as a moody gentle Acoustic affair with that Neil Finn comparison most prevalent, before bursting out into a rockathon with a killer riff. It really is a crackerjack of song and worthy of much wider attention.

There lies my frustration as I would love all things Caper Clowns to be massive. The touring reaction to the band is incredibly positive. I would love them to be on Bandcamp as I think that would attract a much wider audience and their songs fit that site well. But that would be me interfering and I'm a writer, not a musician.

You can listen and buy the album at one of these links.

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Råttanson - Trebled Region EP

 

I love Rattanson. I listen to so much melodic Pop Rock, that is always a treat to hear something more earthy. Henrik Aspeborg specialises in a sort of Garage Power Pop. His last album, I'd Much Rather Be With The Noise was in the IDHAS Best Of 2019, deservedly so. You can read that review here. 

That album was a solo affair, but the 2023 Rattanson is a 4 piece group and whereas the sound felt very 60s, the quartet have largely moved on a decade and the sound is more rounded without ever losing the charm. The group element are tight and connected and it makes for a splendid listen.

He Had It In Him is wonderful UK Glam Rock, all double denim and rocker dance. How Many Days is great UK late 1970s New Wave Power Pop with hints of the early 80s US version of it. Fighting The Good Fight is ace 70s Pop Rock with both a West Coast bent, but also reminiscent of the great UK Pop Rock bands of the mid 70s.

My Head Is A Troubled Mind is all Stooges Garage Rock, whilst Go Where You Feel The Most Alive is a cracking slab of R & B mixed with UK Beat. My only wish is that there was more to hear, because I could listen to this all day. Top Notch and Highly Recommended!

You can listen to and buy the EP here.

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The Wans - Magical Touch

 

Nashville's The Wans have been in a sort of hibernation for 7 years and their return is at just the right time as a new wave of Guitar bands have emerged to chastise those who gleefully told all that the instrument was dead. It was never so, it was just resting.

There has been great Guitar Rock over the past decade, but there has also been a lot of mediocrity. This is been largely from the subgenre Gallagher Rock. Bands who think Oasis invented music and worship a group that offered up one and a half ace albums and possibly the worse third album ever.

Someone new to the band might expect a Brit Pop extravaganza and there is a little bit of that, but the album ventures into classic 70s Pop Rock (Enough Of Your Love) and Classic Rock (Fire). Magical Touch is great UK Glam Rock.

She has a wonderful Twang to it and I'd Do Anything is big-ish 80s Rock. Like The Way You Used To is built a cracking riff that completely hooks you and has a real great bass driven drive.. This is an album of fine Indie Rock with a side order of Pop Rock and it works.

Magical Touch is beautifully produced without ever going kitchen sink. Wonderfully performed and arranged in a way that allows songs to breathe, You just admire the quality which is tastefully withdrawn. It doesn't need to hit you over the head, the spaces make the album.

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

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Snake Eyes - Health EP

 

Health is the fourth EP from Brighton Trio and their first for the excellent Alcopop label. It is more than a little different to the label's staple Indie Pop, but you do suspect that the union will be great for both and this 5 Track affair is certainly top notch.

It is chaotic, yet incredibly melodic and certainly difficult. There are hints of earlier Blur without the cockernee nonsense, but Snake Eyes can be harder sound wise, but also angular Indie. Blur's Modern Life Is Rubbish might have benefitted from some of this chaos. 

Crybaby is wonderful. It starts off all street with an added Coxon like riff, but the chorus just escalates into Pop Rock, Grungy Brit Pop at its best. 40 Winks goes all New York Garage Rock and Medicine continually wants to be Power Pop, but only if done by Pavement.

No One Is Truly Cool is a cross between UK Glam and 80s Noise Rock, again surprisingly harmonic and not too far away from New Wave. There is a real swagger about the band that never strays into over confidence. Snake Eyes continually build on their great promise. This is ace!

You can listen to and buy the EP here.

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Ethan K Bender - The Ground Floor (Name Your Price)

 

"More Joy From Canada" could be this years catchphrase on here. This is a little different from our usual blend of Guitar led Pop and Rock. Ethan K. Bender is from Saskatchewan and those Prairielands do provide a starting point for the album.

But this is far far more than Americana or Country Rock, it revels in adventures into Classic Rock and Modern Melodic Psych. Even a song as Country as The Birdwatcher's Waltz is enhanced by Guitar riffs and solos that are Psych tinted Classic Rock.

At times, he can go close to a band like The Successful Failures, but the Rock is more restrained Classic and the Psych much more pronounced. King, instrumentally, even contains a fair bit of UK Glam Rock Guitar and that is Bender's strength.

Songs develop into unexpected directions due largely to the strength of his Guitar playing. For instance Snakeskin, Baby! is thoroughly gentle until the Guitar explodes in and boy does it explode. The nearest comparison that I can think of is Bull Mallonee in his Vigilantes Of Love days. 

Elevator is probably the stand out song with its Doors like verse. The song has a late 60s feel and has some wonderful Psych wig outs. Caravan runs it close though, a much Rockier affair, part Classic Rock, part Blues Rock with a great vocal. 

The Ground Floor isn't something that you'd naturally see on here. My Classic Rock days are consigned to growing up and anything I hear these days seems to be of a similar mediocre template. This album, however, is a cracking listen with plenty of diversions and more than deserves your ears.

You can listen to and buy the album here.

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Listening To This Week Playlist

 

Here is the new Listening To This Week playlist. 24 songs this time. You would expect me to say that this selection is great, but this is a really fine assortment. There is no song preference in order, just what we think flows. So I do hope that you can listen to all the songs across this week. 

This weekly fayre is solely for submissions, not the usual stuff that we dig out ourselves. 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 Ever Flower Company - Celtic Candy

Lucifers Beard - Frog Class

Trademark Issues - Absurd

Happy Pill - Forever Tiger

Gregg Garvey- Flora Laine (Single Edit)

Velvet Fist - Sci-Fi Samurai

Oya Paya - Slow Slug

MANJA - Last Night's Kiss

Zilched - Earthly Delights

Mom Rock - Close Your Eyes

Pump5 - Make Me

Odds - Staring at a Blank Page

Helen Kelter Skelter - Best Friends

The Strange Ones - Down in a Hole

Hooveriii - The Tall Grass

Newgate Crowd - Scissors (EP Release)

Small Paul - Don't Wanna Die

Jerks! - Nowhere

INEGO - Somewhere in the Stars

Stranded - Aftermath

Start Together - Founder in Oddity

Decrepit Youths - Kill The Lights

Moose On The Roof - Watching The River Flow

Shaven Primates - Fade Away

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