The Sugar - Somewhere To Go

 

I've been wanting to tell you more about this album for months and it underlines one of my biggest frustrations. With dealing with new bands, I don't expect to find information about them easily across the internet. But all too often, I can't find anything.

With not relying on submissions, finding out more can take much needed time away from actually writing about them and to be honest, I give up on some. I've tried all I can to get more info on The Sugar, evening trying to get in touch with the studio where the album was recorded.

Now I have to pass it over to you to find out more and will post links to where can you listen to the album. I have persevered because the album is right up our street, It is at the rockier end of Pop Rock, but wonderfully melodic.

At times it will remind you of great Pop Rock bands such as Cheap Trick, at others it gets more into the territory of Rush instrumentally, even a little vocally without ever getting near the Peart lyrical quality. Yet the album could easily appear on a 70s Classic Rock major label or a Not Lame or Big Stir.

It is beautifully performed and produced, melodic to the extreme and as catchy as catchy can be, but it does Rock. I'd love to find out more about the album and cover it deeper, so it may we have musical detectives around with greater skill or more time.

Like all recent reviews, I haven't embedded tracks, hoping that followers will go off and listen to the whole album themselves and discover their own favourites. Somewhere To Go definitely needs more attention if only we knew how to do that. Links to the streaming sites I've found are below.

Apple Music

You Tube Music

Amazon Music

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The Creepy Crawlies - Weeds

 

It has been a good while since 2012's debut album Get Buried from the then duo of Chris Donlon and Kate Mclean. The Creepy Crawlies have become a solo project for Donlon and the album is brimming with ideas.

Weeds inhabits a world somewhere between Indie Pop and Pop Rock offering up the sort of low key joy that we love. A little 80s in feel at times and a reminder of how great that decade was for Guitar based Indie Pop that has probably never been matched since.

There is also something quizzical about Los Angeles artists writing Guitar Pop that sounds so UK, but Donlon nails it. His vocal suits the laid back material and he has a knack of introducing unusual arrangements to songs that give them added interest.

For instance, Crown is magnificently enhanced by the arrangement. A mix of Jangle, laidback Psych Pop and Americana twang transforms what could be a Jonathan Richman song if left alone. There is so much packed into the 3 minutes 46 seconds that you need to come up for air after listening.

Virtually every song benefits from this approach including the slightly chaotic Pavement Pop of Deal Of The Century and the Indie Pop of Frozen Lake is enhanced by an intro and interlude of something that reminds me of a Bonanza Western theme.

Further From The Fairytale heads into Surf and the title track is aching, very melancholic. But the stand out is the magnificent Evil Twin is the stand out, one of the year's great Pop songs with a magnificent arrangement. 

It is the arrangements that make the album and transform it from your standard Indie Pop album into something far more engaging and surprising. There is obviously a lot going on in Chris Donlon's head and with an album as splendid as this, we should be thankful for that.

You can listen to and buy the album here.

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Justin Levinson - Collamer Circle

 

Justin Levinson's fifth album marks a return to Vermont after a spell in Los Angeles and a songwriting partnership with Ben Patton that brings out the best of both. Although Levinson is back home, the album still sounds very West Coast.

Collamer Circle sounds as though it was produced in the 60s, yet fits equally with the Not Lame of the 90s. This is great melodic harmonic Pop Rock, wonderfully produced and performed and the beauty of the genre is that you can play around with different styles.

From the bubblegum of Baby You've Arrived to the more rocked up 70s Pop Rock of I Need Somebody, a gentle chorus led joy washes over you. No One Can Be Your Everything is fine Soft Rock, almost lounge and Burn Your Whole World To The Ground even gets funky with some wonderful Brass.

There is a gentleness across the album whether the songs are mellow or popped up. So it is as pleasurable to listen to the jazzy, slightly Barber Shop feel of Mirabelle as it is to hear the superb New Wave of Madeline For The Win, one of the years great pop songs.

The album is at its best when it gets slightly Toy Town or Psych Pop, the best example being Lead Me To You, particularly when the Farfisa breaks in and that Psych-ish solo gets its space. Loads to admire here and another example that you don't have to rattle the windows to perform great music.

You can listen to and buy the album here.

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Somerdale - Let's Get Started

 

When I Don't Hear A Single started in July 2016, it was never meant to be what it has become and I mention this because Somerdale played a big part in our outreach. IDHAS was set up as a reaction to old timers droning on about all new music being crap, but it was only planned to be a weekly post sort of thing highlighting great albums.

Then at the end of the first year, I decided to choose an album of the year. The days of Best 100 Albums were well in the future. I chose two albums as joint Best Of Year, Nick Piunti's Trust Your Instincts and Somerdale's Shake It Maggie. You can read the original reviews here and here. From that point, IDHAS exploded with fans and artists constantly in touch and both defined where we were at that time. 

So I feel that I owe both albums and artists a lot and the return of Somerdale is particularly pleasing for me. The band have also come full circle, having been discovered by Ray Gianchetti at Kool Kat, there is something particularly pleasing to see them return to the label.

In truth, Let's Get Started makes you feel like they've never been away. This is 70s harmonic Pop Rock of the highest order, those original comparisons to 10CC, Jigsaw, Ace, Liverpool Express and Badfinger still stand true.

The band can still do Power Pop as Good Enough more than proves, but often they come across as say The Who if they were on the Not Lame label. Somerdale can also perform a Ballad as well as any Rock band, without it ever sounding forced or necessary as Time Speeds underlines with its mastery of mellowness and its wonderful Guitar track.

Taking You Back is pure UK Glam Rock, you can just envisage the Flares, Platform Boots and Butterfly Collars. There is always a Somerdale Anthem and this time it is saved for the end. Long Way To Go demonstrates how uplifting Pop Rock can be. Much maligned in the past, the genre has a way of lifting the mood with memorable moments.

This time there isn't a song as outstanding as Excuse Me, a song that defines Somerdale and is one of my favourite songs ever. But Lulu comes pretty close to trumping it and is the type of song that band excel at. Great to have this lot back and they had better not leave it so long next time. Let's Get Started can only be denoted as splendid from start to finish.

You can listen to and buy the album here. The CD can be ordered directly from Kool Kat here.

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The 1981 - Move On

 

It would be easy to say that The 1981 are very 1981 and to some extent that is true, but there is much more on show here. But let's talk about 1981 first. There is a common consent that the year signalled the end of New Wave and the scene was dominated by either Electro Pop or heavens above, the raiding the clothes box that was the New Romantic scene.

Those from the Indie Scene know that this was never the case, the guitar never died and Revisionists seem to catching up on this now. Indie wasn't necessarily on Top Of The Pops, but it was a thriving thing and there was a thriving live scene.

It mixed the Dream Pop of say a Candy Opera, the fuzz of The Jesus And Mary Chain and the Dream and Jangle Pop of the Glasgow scene, particularly the Postcard label. All of that appears here, but there are also further distractions.

Easy is one of the best Power Pop songs that you will hear from any generation and Notebox wouldn't be out of place on Blur's self titled album. Expiration Date even has big hints of Psych Pop and particularly, lit up my eyes.

Breathing Room starts like something played by Bolan and Took and then breaks into a wonderful Indie anthem with a wonderful organ run included. It is splendid Lo-Fi attitude. The Bassline on I Love You (But I Hate You) is absolutely killer complementing the mournful vocal.

The album does feel very UK, marvellously so. I don't see anyone approaching this period with the same intelligence and love. Move On is a corker of an album that gets better and better on repeated listens and will also fill a large gap in your collection.

You can listen to and buy the album here.

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Listening To This Week Playlist

 

The latest Listening To This Week is here, running as usual from Monday to Sunday. 27 songs for your aural delight There is no song preference in track order, just what we think flows. I do hope that you can listen to all the songs across this week. The last listed is as great as the first.

This weekly playlist 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.

Portable Radio - Good News

Jeffrey Simmons - Unglued

The Amazing - Streetfighter

The Rockabyes - Somethings Missing

The House Of Jed - Watch Over Me

Dogpile On The Rabbit - When You See Her

Lost Apollo - Molly

Super Cassette - Continue?

Jonathan Feinberg - The Greatest Band in the World

The Plastic Youth - Wrong Crowd

Maybury - If We Could Go Anywhere

S.J. Armstrong - Silver Days

Calling Hours - Curtain Call

Pseudo Cool - Ask No Questions

The Toms - Someone I Never Knew

The Family Rain - Loud & Clear

The Kindest People - Faith

Anton Barbeau - Bop

Higher Education - Masquerade

Ceramic - Kingdoms

Dylan Seeger - Pretender

James Merlin - Fairytale Life 

Orange House - Ms. Vintage

Savaraga - Are You Alright?

Karyn Michaelson - Frankenstein Heart

The Deflators - Clever Girl

MRCH - Cherry Painted Eyes

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Ten Tonnes - Dancing, Alone

 

After a quieter September Review wise due to illness, (PM Me Babe, Blah Blah etc), there is a big backlog to catch up on. So fortunately, October is traditionally a 31 Reviews In 31 Days affair and so there is at least a chance to get back to what we are known for, particularly with how much attention Listening To This Week gets lately. We have certainly not gone Singles led!

So it makes sense to kick off the month with some big sounding commercial Pop Rock and the second album from Ten Tonnes certainly fits the bill. This is a big production and probably a little more commercial than we normally cover, but it is a cracking album.

We often speak about American Bands that sound British, this is therefore something a reverse. It feels very American, but Ethan Barnett is from Hertford in the heart of England but this big production does have more in common with the other side of the pond.

Dancing, Alone, is an album that equally comfortable in Indie Pop, Power Pop, AOR and the sound of the new wave of Guitar Pop that is satisfyingly bothering the airwaves. At times, you are reminded of The Killers or Butch Walker, but equally have the New Wave 70s groove of Out Of Here and the Power Pop of  Dreaming In The Deep End.

Monday Morning is very Brand Flowers in cracking 80s Pop Rock mode, yet When It Goes is splendid Indie Pop and Weight Of The World borders on Tom Petty Classic Rock. Waiting For The Sun is a corking slice of West Coast Rock that Brent Rademaker would be proud of.

Dancing, Alone radiates melody and although it may be a little more commercial than we normally pay attention to, it is more than worth the listening effort. It is such a well performed, arranged and produced LP that it craves your attention.

You can listen to and buy the album here.

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