The Shipbuilders - This Blue Earth

 

The second album from Liverpool's The Shipbuilders is an extraordinary listen. Now expanded to a five piece which has allowed the Brass to flourish, the band cross genres aided by a razor sharp production and lyrical sentiments that are adept, worldly and socially conscious.

Listening to the opener, you would be forgiven for thinking the album is Indie goodness. 95 Miles is all Jangle Pop and Hills Of Mexico follows suit with its Guitar Pop feel, built around a terrific riff. This suits Matty Loughlin-Day's vocals well.

The closer, Heavy Is The Weight is superb, epic light, brooding and beautifully played, hypnotic and mesmerising. Six minutes long, the last minute and a half being an instrumental when they get as rocky as they ever will.

The real strength though is courtesy of Trumpeter Pete Higham who turns the sound completely to part Tijuana, part early Denys, even a little Jazz. The Single, Daydreaming, sounds as great as ever, a little like a chirpier version of The Coral.

The River is another ace arrangement, almost Folk at times, it would make a great film soundtrack opener. You can imagine Polynesia being sung by Gene Pitney with its easy listening feel. Metempsychosis sounds very 60s European chilled and you think of Lee Van Cleef during Flagpole, a song beautifully written with sentiments I share. Never Trust A Man Flagpole In His Garden sums up where we are currently in the UK.

This Blue Earth is an inventive masterpiece. The sound of a band who knows exactly what they are about. An ability to mix Guitar Pop and Folk with Easy Listening mixed with big Brass arrangements and more than a little Scouse Scally Pop. Those Arrangements!!! Absolutely wonderful album!

You can listen to and buy the album here. It is available on Vinyl, CD and as a download. You can find out more about The Shipbuilders here.

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T Shirt Month Update

 

We are currently experiencing issues uploading the images for T Shirt Month. It is frustrating because the articles have been written. The posts will go up when the image will upload and the problem is fixed. However, there are potential reviews in draft that have already had the album covers uploaded. 

So I will concentrate on some of those until the image upload problem is fixed. Look out for them starting to appear tonight. Onwards and Upwards blah blah etc etc.

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Listening To This Week Playlist 14 July

 

Here's the new LTTW Playlist. 23 splendid songs. 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, so the following there is nowhere near our one here. Only 19 of the 23 songs are currently on Spotify.

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.   (4 Songs are currently not on Spotify)

Link To Spotify.      Link Now Active.

The Wind Ups - That's Just My Dream Girl

Supercobra - Nothing But Lies

Bass Drum Of Death - Do Nothing

Sour Ops - She's So Strange (Will be added to Spotify on 18 July)

Soft Hearted Scietists - Hello Hello

Late Cambrian - 28 Years Later

Witkin - Last Year's Ashes

Feedbacks - Telephone

Scoobert Doobert - Quiet Your Mind!!!

Bad Self Portraits - Pensive

Moletrap - Middle Of The Land

Ryan Loves Sports - Sun Queen Shining

Ryan Loves Sports · Sun Queen Shining

T J Felix - towering inferno

Cherry Fez - Happy Hour (Not On Spotify)

Paul Muldoon & Rogue Oliphant - Visible From Space

Winchester 7& The Runners - Just A Crush (Not On Spotify)

Beddy Rays - Red Lights

The Dirty Nil - Fail In Time

DD Island - Cherry Tongue

The Fishermen Three - Electricity (Not On Spotify)

Deep Sea Camels - Now I Think Maybe You Know

The Probies - My Paradise

Invisible Joe & The Mushroom Gorilla - In Between

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T Shirt Month - Splitsville

 

Here I am again, this time celebrating the return of Splitsville. When I started out with Anything Should Happen all those years ago, the focus was completely Retro, the exact opposite of what here does and so it looked backwards at what had been. I had spent the 90s immersed in the revitalisation of Power Pop and ASH took on that mantle initially. Many bands that were not around in 2007 were celebrated and introduced to a new set of listeners. One time, we talked and talked about our favourite Power Pop band and even revisited every album on John Borack's Best 200 Power Pop Albums. Splitsville came out top and rightly so. So the return of the Baltimore quartet  on the acclaimed Big Stir label is really exciting and having heard the new album before its release next Friday, I had ever reason feel to feel so.

Many people will rightly point you to The Complete Pet Soul as their masterpiece, but I was enamoured before and after. I missed out on their debut, U.S.A. which was largely the introductory demos, but I was a massive fan of the two albums by The Greenberry Woods, the band that became Splitsville. But the follow up, 1997's Ultrasound, gripped me thoroughly and led to the third album, Repeater, an album that is a Power Pop classic and one of my favourite albums ever. The Complete Pet Soul was released in 2001 and is a wonderful listen. It mixed originals that blended the harmony and orchestration of Pet Sounds and the more stripped down Guitar Pop of Rubber Soul. In that Top 200 albums, it was 45th.

2003's Incorporated is another fine listen. It slowed things down a little, less up and at 'em, more thoughtful, allowing more space than the melodic riffathons that had largely defined their career thus far. Now over two decades later comes Mobtown, an album that builds on the strengths of the past, but feels more modern, more now and will fight for space with the next generation as an album that will define Guitar Pop Rock in 2025.As they have matured, it is now not all about Guitar Riffs, there is space for keyboards and roots. My two embeds are the two singles from the new album.

The back catalogue is available on CD fairly cheaply on Discogs. Hopefully, the success of Mobtown will make these albums available for all again. You can find out more about Splitsville on their website here. The new album can be pre-ordered on Bandcamp here and the Big Stir Records site here It is available on CD or as a download. You can listen to the new album in full on Friday 18 July, the release date. It will be reviewed here just after release.

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T Shirt Month - It's Karma It's Cool

 

The second post of T Shirt Month features Bailey, our Lurcher, modelling the It's Karma It's Cool attire. Bailey will be making an appearance or two throughout the month. It was in 2013 that I was introduced to main man Jim Styring in our Anything Should Happen days. He was behind the Pop Dogs and starting out with an EP that I loved and I was so taken with his enthusiasm, that I just wanted to help. As he had grown through various ventures, that enthusiasm has never wavered. It is hard to make any impact in the UK these days, but that doesn't stop Jim and the band has grown well in the USA, supported admirably by the Kool Kat label.

Via B-Leaguers in 2016 and The Ego Ritual in 2019, Jim eventually settled into the established quartet that is It's Karma It's Cool. The quartet consists of Styring, Martyn Berwick, Mikey Barraclough and Danny Krash. The debut, 2019's Hipsters And Aeroplanes has been followed by three more albums, Woke Up In Hollywood, Homesick For Our Future Generations and Thrift Store Troubadours. There has also been a departure from their Guitar led Pop Rock with a side project in Solitary Bee that have released three recent singles. The return of IKIC has been marked by a great single, Crashability, released in May.

Initially built on big choruses, unexpected riffs and a real lyrical adeptness, the band's career developed as did their sound. The Power Pop roots were not as obvious. Ventures into AOR, Modern Rock and Classic Rock revealed that there was far more to the quartet than initially met the eye and ears. Thrift Store Troubadours continued the diversity adding Psych, Glam Rock, West Coast Rock and generally the sound was even bigger. It is a tremendous album and maybe the best place to start for newcomers.

Styring has come a long way in 12 years and It's Karma It's Cool is a tight unit, not one man trying to find a path through the mire. Instrumentally, the development has been magnificent, but the strength is also in his vocals. He has an ability to sing Pop or Rock, easily adapting to whatever he sings. As is the case with all of this series of posts, I am choosing my favourite track by the band and the most current. IKIC are a band that have all the tools to break through considerably, they will need a bit of luck, but they certainly have the talent.

You can read all our reviews by searching the band's name on here and clicking on the tag. The complete back catalogue of the band can be listened to and bought here.

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OMEGA THREE - POWER POP PUNK ROCK

 

You might expect an album released on the excellent Grow Your Own Label to be a little too In Your Face for us here. But Omega Tribe are a trio that have Anarcho Punk credentials but present them in a manner that appeals to followers of a Guitar Pop Persuasion.

Lyrically, their sentiments shine through at times, but the songs here are incredibly melodic. At times, I'm reminded a lot of the post punk UK New Wave period when it wasn't just about being to hold a guitar and pose in the correct manner.

Essential Workers is a good example of what the trio do well. The message is clear, but the arrangement and performance gets very close to Power Pop. Anti Government Forces has a hint of The Clash, but is primarily great UK Glam Rock.

The First Time reveals a much broader Pop Rock side and as a love song that shows not all about smashing the state with its melodic joy. Upside Down is wonderfully commercial and has more in common with 70s Pop Rock.

How I Love You is a monster of a song that goes over 6 minutes and crosses genres at will, unexpected violin and mouth organ and at times it gets close to Modern Prog. There are also three great bonus tracks including the magnificent Streets Of London, a song that sounds more Folk than anything, but the lyrical sentiments are something that I agree with fully. 

My town in the north is not a million miles away from this commentary. But the real lesson here is not to believe the label or the tag. Omega Three are a trio with beliefs, but also know how to write catchy, melodic Pop and deserve to be heard much further afield. This album is so good that I could have embedded most of the songs. I still don't quite get Animal though.

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

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The Brigadier - Sailing The Seven Neuroses

 

The last time that we heard from Matt Williams was in our first year and it has taken that long to follow up the excellent Wash Away The Day. That album reminded me a lot of City Boy's Dinner At The Ritz, a real fave of mine. You can read my review here.

It really is great to have him back as the world does not have enough great Pop Rock and this certainly is. Harmony laden, at times Sailing The Seven Neuroses sounds more than a little 70s Pop Rock, particularly with the Pilot like Guitar solos.

But the album isn't just that. Blessings is great gentle Jangle Pop and Man About The House moves into the prime time UK Glam Rock period. Heaven's In My Heart even gets into Electro 80's New Wave whilst It's You I Think About goes further into 80s synth laden very smooth Indie Pop.

Yet What About Tomorrow is very Nick Frater and Peace Within The Poison is a mix of West Coast Harmony and Andrew Gold 70s Pop Rock. The Title Track has a glorious arrangement, almost Modern Prog and as an instrumental breaks the album up nicely.

The opener, Bleak Companion rock things up considerably and Don't Go To Bed With A Bad Mind is a great closer and allows Williams to add in all the ingredients that he excels at across a 5 minute plus piece that allows the harmonies to excel across a fine arrangement.

The album feels a little different to Wash Away The Day The feel is more mellow, the sound more Commercial Pop, but it is so beautifully done that you just can't help yourself revelling in the mellowness. Wonderfully arranged and performed, this a cracking listen.

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

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