Crossed Wires - Ellipsis

 

Go online to discover more about this storming album and the constant problem occurs. Every write up seems the same as we seem to live in a world of copy and pasting the PR. I'm not sure if writers just got lazy, but there seems to be a real "will this do?" feel about things generally. If you like a band enough to write about them, at least do them justice. 

Crossed Wires are another example of Canadian joy, a country that seems to be excelling in all areas lately. They are a trio from Halifax, Nova Scotia, Sloan territory of course. People seem to want to label them as Pop Punk when there is far far more to them than that.

They are noisier and far more powerful and melodic than the Pop Punk template. Driven by a wonderfully tight rhythm section and some stunning Guitar playing from Kayla Stevens. There is some wonderful Fuzz that sits somewhere between melodic Grunge and Elastica. 

It is down and dirty at times, but the riffs are awesome and Heather Grant has a vocal that perfectly suits the material. Too many vocalists get shouty with this sort of material, but there is a real harmonic feel to her singing. People also know how much I bang on about how important drums are in the scheme of things. Well Jonny May does a fantastic job here, almost Phil "Philthy Animal" Taylor in style.

Looped just screams in and you know that you are in for quite a ride with the squally Guitar Intro. It really is up and at 'em. Yet Rain could be a rocked up version of The Go-Go's and although it may be a lazy comparison, Good Guy could be a pacier Hole.

I can only imagine how great these three are Live. Safe And Sound has the band connected in a way prime time Motorhead were. Ellipsis is a little noisier, even more chaotic, than the music we normally cover, but these six songs are so fist shaking great that I had to tell you about them.

/p>

You can listen to and buy the album here.

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IDHAS Ten Songs Mix 59

The IDHAS 10 Song Mix goes off for its summer break, returning on Friday 15 September. So Volume 59 consists largely of returning favourites who all have new songs for your aural delectation. 10 Songs in 38 minutes and it is an absolute cracker.

As well as revealing that new music continues to thrive, it demonstrates how buoyant the Indie scene is. The songs are not placed in the order of preference, just in a way that makes the mix flow.

 Here is the playlist of the ten songs this week :

01 Roger Joseph Manning Jr - Rockin' It Our Way

02 Tamar Berk - If You Know U Know

03 Circle Round A Sphere - Moon

04 Hurry - Something More

05 Soft Hearted Scientists - Gadzooks!

06 Nick Bertling - A New Day

07 Crocodyle - Rockstar

08 The Whiffs - Satellites

09 Meyerman - T Shirt

10 Govey - Matthew - Justice XXIII

IDHAS Ten Songs Mix 59

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SheLoom - Listen To Thieves

 

Many of you will know Jordon Zadorozny because of his Blinker The Star adventures. But less of you may know about SheLoom, his project with Filippo Gaetani. This is far more than a side project because this is their fifth album.

This Pop Rock, great Pop Rock in fact. Scaring Off The Bees for instance sounds like a cross between late 70s ELO or 10cc and is a great reminder of those great Pop Rock albums of the period that became uncool for a long while, but now are beloved and everyone pretends that they loved them at the time.

Yet, Serpentine Design could be something of George Harrison's Cloud Nine album. Vision is very 80s, but instrumentally has more than a hint of Mid 80s Rush, but It Scares Me is very melodic UK New Wave 79 and breaks into a chorus that isn't a million miles away from Modern Prog, think Alan Parsons Project. 

In The Blink Of The Night is great piano led Soft Rock, but Brown Eyes has a melodic soundscape that is more comparable to the West Coast 60s, it is a fantastic vocal arrangement. Friend Behind The Door is incredibly schmoozy before it moves into an Andrew Gold section, then its back to the lurve.

There is a stand out song. Cracked Glass is an absolute gem, a crackerjack pop song, wonderfully arranged and sung. In fact everything here benefits from big arrangements and vocal harmony excellence, it is a fantastic production.

This does feel different to previous Sheloom albums in that the Art Rock is less pronounced. It is very 70s, splendidly so, and reminds you of a time when big bucks were spent on producing something as well arranged. It does Easy Listening well, but it such a loveable album. Something that is of the now, but also takes you back to a time of Flares and cheap petrol.

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

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Happy As You Like - Happy As You Like

 

Another Subjangle triumph! I love The Happy Somethings. Their brand of irreverent jaunty 80s Indie Pop is a joy to listen to. So I was always going to be interested in the solo album from Happy, who is one third of the band as Happy As You Like is indeed him.

This is wonderfully different album. More serious in feel than his band, his vocal is fragile at times, so fragile that it might break. The sound is very late 60s to early 70s, almost folk at times, more than a little hippy, more than a little Bolan in Tyrannosaurus Rex mode.

There are variations, for instance Leaves Must Fall is superb Psych Pop, bordering on Toytown. Fall For Love is very 80s, but a million miles away from what The Happy Something do, at times it even gets a little bit Prog.

Little Wonders is all 60s Bacharach smooch and Dovetail Joint plants a foot in Americana, but is built on a wonderfully inventive gentle arrangement. Driver plays that vocal fragility to the max, yet Yo Yo Yo is splendid Psych.

The template though is the ace Pastoral Folk Pop, a bit like Martin Newell, if he paid more attention to a song instrumentally instead of wallowing in Lo Fi. In Another World is the song that best demonstrates this, but there is also sprinklings of The Happy Something's wit.

Now We Know is the best example of this and gets very close to Indie Pop, but the Baroque arrangement takes it beyond that. Solid Ground is melancholic and moody and adds another tick. All in All, Happy As You Like It is a tour de force and something that every home should have.

You can listen to and buy the album here. You can find out more about The Happy Somethings here.

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About Your Music

 

I have been reluctant to post this, but the situation hasn't improved, in fact it has got worse. I Don't Hear A Single marches to its own beat, it has no outside influences and is free for everyone, but people may not realise that I have a real life job, so time is limited that I can spend on IDHAS.

It has become incredibly popular in the limited genres that it covers and so takes a lot of work. I deal with artists, labels and PR daily. Most of the music that I select to review is discovered by me discovering it under my own steam. I listen to a lot of music, most unsuited, to get to the reviews that I do.

I also introduced Listening To This Week 9 months ago to aid artists who only recorded single songs and made it submission only, so there are a lot of submissions to go through too, as well as answering 200+ emails a day and messages via many other channels. Plus, some of you may know that I help out at a well known label. 

When I review an album, I mention it on the IDHAS Social Media and then it is left to the artist to build on any attention. Some do, some don't, but that is the artists choice. Constantly sending single after single is never gonna work for the site. This place is about opening a door for artists, it is up to them what they do after that.

Over 7 years, the site has got more and more popular, it is currently up for three awards, but it covers a very limited remit. I wish artists would look at what it does before submitting anything, because so much music that is sent is completely different to what is covered. 

I made the decision not to be on Spotify, Apple Music etc because I find them soulless places and the type of music and artist that we cover won't achieve much interest in the streaming melee. I made the decision earlier this year to stop replying to people who just sent me a Spotify link. If you want help with your music, then at least look at what IDHAS does. 

There is an even bigger problem. I understand that an artist's music is precious to them and that they will only be interested in what happens to their music. But multiply that interest many many times and you will get some idea of the amount of reminders I get and I have no problem with that.

What I will no longer accept are passive aggressive emails because I haven't yet covered an album. This happens much more frequently and I will now delete the album from the review folder if I receive such nonsense. IDHAS is not a business, it doesn't work for you and it is not a PR agency.

As I said, I march to my own beat. I won't review anything that I don't like and in a single month, I can cover around 25 album reviews, compile 4 Listening To This Weeks and 2 IDHAS 10 Song Mixes. There are currently 123 albums that I like that I would like to review and this rarely goes down. As 25 are reviewed, 25 more come in.

I tend to edge towards first time reviews, but I do have favourite bands etc and any album they release is gonna interest me, unless of course I don't like it as much as others that need to be reviewed. Most of my time is spent listening to music and so writing about it has even less time.

I love what I do and the people I know and meet. Most are wonderful people who share the love of music that I have and are grateful of any attention that IDHAS gives them. But people who are not patient and won't play nice will be given short shrift from now on. The one take I can provide is that IDHAS is not just about you, it is about everyone and most importantly, the music.

On with the show!

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Talking With Hands - New Public Domain

 

Welcome to Talking With Hands second album, ten years after the debut. and it is pleasing to report that Matt Smith has lost none of his pop sensibilities. If I Don't Hear A Single is known for anything, it is a love of intelligent Indie Pop Rock and New Public Domain will delight followers who concur with our taste.

Plastic In The Room is akin to Andy Partridge arranging a new Jellyfish song. Indeed the whole album has the feel of that Pop Rock explosion of the 90s. Michael Penn, Jason Falkner, Not Lame, The Sugarplastic et al would dominate the genre and this album is as good as any.

Axis Askew heads towards Andrew Gold, Axis Aligned is completely the opposite, a short instrumental piano piece, not a million miles away from Moby. Twilight Chatter treads into the great Pop Rock albums of the 70s, even gets a little McCartney at times.

The title track fairly races along 80s style like a Sci Fi soundtrack, like nothing else on show here and further demonstrates Smith's versatility. Yet, Born Amused is West Coast Harmonic Pop of the highest order. Catacombs is a splendid Psych Pop closer.

There are two covers, both very different. World Song is a 60s Bubblegum version of the Petula Clark song. Never My Love is The Association song and the Americana mixed with some great harmonies and a killer arrangement is awesome.

New Public Domain can move away from the Guitar without it ever seeming out of place. These sort of inventive joys used to be a regular event. Now artists that are still around tend to serve up what they think will keep hold of their fans. This is the type of album that should be treasured. Highly Recommended!

You can listen to and buy the album here. You can find out more about Talking With Hands here.

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Late Bloomers - Late Bloomers

 

I normally leave this sort of album to my great friend Darrin at JanglePopHub, only because he is the expert in the genre and I'm not. But I was incredibly taken with this self titled from the Oxnard California Trio.

I can admire Dream Pop / Jangle Pop albums in the way they offer up a mellow chilled out version of  Guitar Pop, but generally I lose interest part way through an album because every song sounds like an a rearranged version of the last. An EP is fine, but an album is way too much. There is none of that here, quite the reverse.

The vibe is very UK 80s, particularly Glasgow and C86, but Late Bloomers extend the genre. Just A Friend heads into the territory of The Housemartins, more Indie Pop and features a wonderful organ accompaniment.

My Love To Take Away adds a riff that is more Power Pop and Epiphany is outstanding, rocking things up to somewhere near Psych Pop. Inside Your Room is a wonderful acoustic instrumental that changes the mood considerably and deserves a massive round of applause.

Controller follows Inside Your Room's feel, but ventures into laidback Shoegaze. The Jangle Dream Pop is front loaded care of the first three songs, all of which are expertly done. What follows is splendid. Personally, I would have chosen a different track order, but this is an absolutely corking listen.

You can listen to and buy the album here.

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