Dead Billionaires - Disaster Preparedness Coloring Book

 

I've been bursting to tell you about this for a while and although it is only released on the 2nd June, I just can't hold on any longer for fear of self exploding. This is something that fits what I Don't Hear A Single does perfectly.

Songs change direction at will and essentially Pop Rock, but head in all directions from Beat Pop to Indie Guitar Pop and everything in between. There is a real urgency in what they do, sometimes it is a bit ramshackle, but most often not and overall, it is a real "all together now" vibe.

The Richmond, Virginia trio are rock solid tight playing wise and if you want something rougher, they can provide it. 15 Words is pure Garage Rock and purposely so, it is almost a jam with the rhythm section on fire. The same 15 words are repeated and you get the message of which I approve. It really is a gritty listen.

However Straight Shooter is somewhere between Power Pop and a Revue Band song. It is possibly the best thing on show here. However Checks runs it really close with its social message. It is very near to what The Successful Failures do in sound, but they major on history, whereas Dead Billionaires are much more about life now.

Stones is 70s R & B, but also has a foot in the New York sleaze of the period whilst Curb is just relentless catchiness with a chorus changes direction completely and a solo that is pure Rock and Roll. At no point do the trio come up for air. This is relentless shake your fist stuff that just grips you.

There is a rawness at times which is both endearing and engaging. The lyrics underline the struggle in the downtrodden communities admirably and wonderfully. The album is also riff laden and these riffs grab you and don't let it go. Highly Recommended!

You can listen to the two tracks that I've embedded in the review and pre order the album on vinyl or as a download here.

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IDHAS Ten Songs Mix 55

Volume 55 arrives a day late, but it has brought a note from its mum. An extended 12 song version this week. Normally I choose from 20 songs and narrow it down to 10, allowing for variance in the mix etc. I just couldn't narrow it down from 12 to 10.

So here a dozen musical gems in just under 40 minutes that reveal how buoyant the Indie scene is. Of course, you will note the return of The Supernaturals. The songs are not placed in the order of preference, just in a way that flows.

 Here is the playlist of the twelve songs this week :

01 The Supernaturals - Roy Wouldn't

02 Kind Beast - Highway Madness

03 Lane Steinberg - Headspace

04 The Reverberations - Dr Please

05 Yarmouth - Joyland

06 SheLoom - Cracked Glass

07 The Decrees - Matter Of Time

08 Lumari - Starlit

09 Joe Dilillo - Boulevard

10 The Telephone Numbers - Weird Sisters

11 Paul McCann - Tears From The Sky

12 Sunfruits - Better Off Dead

IDHAS Ten Songs Mix 55

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Doug Tuttle - Keeping Alive

 

I am a big admirer of what Doug Tuttle does. He writes and performs wonderfully atmospheric albums. His lazy vocal suits the material, laidback with the ability to stretch out if needed. He offers up great Pop Rock that would have been at home in both the 60s and the 70s. 

I suppose you might call his material Classic Rock, but that would be too simplistic. It is much more than that. Songs take you gently into a poppier direction, but it wasn't always such. When I first got into Tuttle, he was much more of a DIY Lo-Fi Psych Pop artist. 

But 2017's Peace Potato (IDHAS Review here) changed all that. The production went bigger and although the Psych Pop was still around, but there was more Jangle with more of a concentration om melody and harmony. 

2019's Dream Road headed even further into Guitar Pop and is a crackerjack of an album. So much so that it hit the I Don't Hear A Single Best Of Year. You can read that review here. So it was interesting to discover the developments four years on with this follow up.

There seems less of the Jangle Pop here, but it when it does appear, it is very welcoming. Something In The Sky is a great song and underlines the fact that Jangling doesn't necessarily need pace. Ratchet even sounds like something on a Ward White album.

There are also songs that you could imagine being recorded in a big 60s Studio setting. Parting Gifts is one such song, which is also a song that you can imagine Bernard Butler soloing on. Mutineers is another big 60s sounding affair, this time a little more ballad like and a cracking hypnotic keyboard riff.

For Tomorrow even heads into West Coast, almost Country, Rock. Enough Enough even puts one foot in the 80s and includes a great solo. The real stand out though is Planting Weeds which has a Traveling Wilburys' production feel, similar to a Petty solo, although the vocal is nearer Harrison. It all contains a great Psych Pop-ish Guitar solo that reminds you of past Tuttle Glories.

You can listen to and buy the album here. You can by the Vinyl Version here.

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Listening To This Week

 

20 songs this week, purely due to the volume of great songs in. Welcome to this week's LTTW playlist. Another wide variety that underlines how interesting and enjoyable the Indie scene is. Listening To This Week has now become more popular than the longstanding IDHAS 10 Song Mix on Mixcloud. New music is thriving.

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.

Doug Tuttle - Planting Weeds

Buddha Trixie - Semi-Pro

JULIETTE - Hear Me Out

The Itch - Next Best Girlfriend

Bealby Point - America

Multi Ultra - It's Not Summer Without You

Dagwood - I Am A Loser

Komparrison - He Doesn't Get It

Alpine Architecture - Salute

Ojay - I Don't Care

 DENZEITY - History

Denison & Friends - Itch Like That

Night Spins - Cereal

 

Dead Rituals - Sober

North Ghost - Good Luck Trying

Simple Stone - First Time

Trout Club - Stage Door

Honor Mountain - White House

Det Metra - Crazy Daisy

Starfire - Nothing Left To Lose

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Phantom Note - Out Of The Shadows (Name Your Price)

Portland Oregon's Phantom Note offer up an album that ticks every box of I Don't Hear A Single's checklist. Pop Rock is our starting point, we may wander as the mood takes us, but when we hear something as great as this, we are sort of reminded of home.

Songwriter Ben Sprague has a vocal that matches the material perfectly. Out Of The Shadows is catchy as catchy can be, performed and produced perfectly and a template for what great Pop Rock should sound and be like. The album is incredibly melodic. 

There is also great variety. I Should Know By Now just bursts out of the blocks in a Teenage Fanclub or Dropkick sort of way, yet it is the only song that could be really compared to both. It is a splendid opener, just the thing to get you interested, but everything around is comparably great.

Honestly I is pure Noise Rock, bordering on Psych Pop at times. Storybook edges well towards Americana, whilst Change is a riff driven West Coast Rock affair. Sorta Believed is driven by a cracking riff that just grabs you.

Lonely As Hell is all Crowded House with an ace arrangement, but Sleepwalker is driven by a top notch Bassline and an aching chorus. It is instrumentally when the band is most connected. There is a darkness in the song that Sprague's vocals hides.

My brief comparisons reveal that variety in the material. I don't hear as many albums of this type these days, they used to be ten a penny. The fact that it is Name Your Price on Bandcamp allows people to listen and then own it. Rewarding the band for their art at a price they can afford. Highly Recommended!

You can listen to and buy the album here. The album is also available to buy on Vinyl.

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Berries - How We Function

 

London Trio Berries offer up Indie Guitar Joy without abandon. The threesome are incredibly instrumentally linked and mine an area that relies on wonderful angular riffs, partially between early XTC and Franz Ferdinand.

Holly Carter has such a sweet vocal that is unusual for such a trio that has been labelled as Garage Rock and Grunge. They are neither and both, but this vocal takes them into less charted areas. They don't go for Power, they hook you hypnotically with the Guitar, Drums and Bass format.

I will admit that I love this sort of Riff driven material, always have, and some of them wouldn't disgrace King Crimson. You are hooked from the opening note and the twelve three minute songs all seem to be over too quickly.

But there is a second grab and that is the incredibly catchy sing along choruses. When you have this ability with a chorus and that guitar hook, why waste time with solos. But if you want a solo, just listen to the outstanding one on Copy.

At times, the album is like Susanna Hoffs fronting Talking Heads. Whilst indelibly Indie, the trio offer far more from the normal requirements. Songs are produced to a high standard, performed beautifully and lyrically adept. The band also has an awesome Live reputation.

There are times that Berries could be compared to Elastica or Sleeper, but this is a far more consistent set of songs. It is also heart warming to watch the return of Guitar bands in the UK. It really has been tumbleweed for too long. Berries offer great hope and How We Function is a splendid listen.

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

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The Chase - Bonzo Bonanza EP

Get yourself ready for something special. Nottingham quartet, The Chase are extra-ordinarily versatile as these 5 songs reveal. A sort of Council Estate Pop Rock, they mix Indie, Ska, Pop and Rock into urgent mayhem. It is a wonderful journey and I can only urge to listen.

They opened last night's IDHAS 10 Song Mix with the title track and it is amazing mix of Music Hall and Ska, equally at home in Indie Pop and Toytown. Yet Lara is all Scally Pop, very The Coral, very All Together Now.

You're The Encore No One Asked For has the beat of say Kaiser Chiefs, but the vocal is very Phil Lynott and the chorus is pure Brit Pop. There's also a Jerry Lee Lewis keyboard run. There is something for everyone contained within.

 Trumpet is splendid Ska, have a good time all the time, a lot like a happier version of The Specials. Ballon D'Or may be the best thing here with a chorus to die for and a great Guitar wig out to boot Bonzo Bonanza is a real tonic, a preparation for a bouncing Summer. Well done The Chase. This is great!

You can listen to the EP at the places here. You can buy the CD and other merch here. You can find out more about The Chase here.

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Mansfield - Come Rain Or Shine EP

 

Mansfield are from Denmark and so they will naturally be compared to Caper Clowns. They are musical friends and have shared the stage together, but there are slight differences in what they do. Both are Melodic Pop led and vocally they are not a million miles away from each other vocally.

But, as this EP demonstrates, Mansfield have a more 60s Pop slant, heading much more into Psych Pop. Where as Caper Clowns are more than a little in Crowded House territory, Mansfield have more in common with the great 60s UK Beat Bop and 70s Pop Rock giants.

The arrangements are superb, big sounding studio numbers that add some wonderful Brass accompaniment. Chasing After You is real UK Jangle Beat of the highest order. You can just imagine them on Ready Steady Go. It is a splendid nostalgic affair.

The Sky's In Love With You is like one of those big Tony Hatch numbers, it is really funky on the verse, with a massive chorus hook that is enhanced by the Brass. The Nature Of A Troubled Mind is a slightly darker affair. instrumentally it is part Psych Pop, part early Fleetwood Mac, yet vocally, it is engagingly moody.

London Riots is a strange thing for a Danish band to be singing about, but it may very well be the best thing here. The chorus is all happy clappy Indie Pop and the verse has that Bacharach Brass again. It mixes 60s Carnaby Street with something nearer 90s Pop Rock. 

You can listen to and buy the EP here. You can also listen to the whole thing here as well as a lot of the band's back catalogue. You can find out more about the band here, 

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