IDHAS Ten Songs Mix 54

The IDHAS Ten Songs Mix moves to a regular slot and will appear 3 in every 4 Thursdays. Ready to bother the five Mixcloud Global Charts that it qualifies for. 10 cracking songs in 33 minutes await your ears. The songs are not placed in the order of preference, just in a way that flows.

You can expect a glut of Album Reviews over the next three days. There are some splendid offerings to tell you about.

 Here is the playlist of the ten songs this week :

01 The Chase - Bonzo Bonanza

02 King Black Acid - Dont Want My LIfe To Be Like That

03 The Menzingers - Bad Actors

04 Pacific Avenue - Strawberry Daydream

05 Råttanson - Fighting The Good Fight

06 Desario - Eclipse

07 23 Days Break - Radio

08 Glowbox - Joke's On You

09 Tiny Sun - Ageless

10 Atomic Tide - The Tide

IDHAS Ten Songs Mix 54

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Dropkick - The Wireless Revolution

 

You know exactly what to expect from a Dropkick album and that's the beauty of what they do. You are never ever disappointed, every offering is spot on, beautifully sung and produced with a vocal ex with an added excellence and lots and lots of Jangle.

They are possibly as good at being Teenage Fanclub as TFC are and more recently, maybe even better. They stretch out here more and it adds to the enjoyment. There are reminders of their roots here with diversions into 80s Indie Guitar Pop. The Wireless Revolution also seems that bit more Power Pop than usual.

Yes there is plenty of Jangle Pop, but this is always supported by the sheer awe of the vocals. Here, the Jingle Jangle is embellished. For instance, Wouldn't Know Why has a Merseybeat feel to it and the drumming is Power Pop to a tee. There is also a completely surprise Guitar wig out.

Ahead Of My Time even has a big Psych Pop feel with the addition of an awesome Duane Eddy / Roy Orbison Twang, For such an upbeat band, Clouds catches you off guard with its atmospheric moodiness, a melodic cracker of a song that edges on Americana.

No Difference throws a real curveball, reaching far into Dave Edmunds's sphere of excellence, you can just imagine Rockpile playing the song. The Other Side has a similar feel, even a little bit Everly Brothers. Both are great additions to the Dropkick canon.

Long time fans will not be disappointed as Dropkick still demonstrate that they know what they are about. The best examples being Don't Give Yourself Away and Unwind. A famous singer songwriter once told me that it is relatively easy writing an album of misery songs, but just try writing an album of happy songs. Dropkick always achieve the latter and here might be by the biggest margin. The Wireless Revolution is an absolute joy!

You can listen to and buy the album here.

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Vanity Tapes - Hiatus

 

What a crackerjack of a debut from the London Trio, Vanity Tapes. It has a very UK 60s feel due to the wonderful organ sound. But there is a big dollop of Psych Pop, but also the album heads into the likes of Dream Pop and much more. 

There is a really splendid vibe due to excellent vocals of Jim Collett. Collett has a really unusual vocal in that he can adapt it to whatever the song requires. At times it can be Lloyd Cole, at others Al Stewart. It is always gentle, imagine the fruitiness of say Kevin Ayers and you get some idea.

Then there is the songs themselves and what a ride you are about to embark on. Portmanteau is pure Canterbury, yet 132 is Farfisa led UK Beat with a twist, yet Smoke On Mirrors is half way between XTC and Sparks.

Mercury is gentle Indie Pop, whilst Smoke And Mirrors is like an Indie version of Lounge, a little Bryan Ferry at times. Isolation is in Orange Juice territory with a Paisley Pop instrumental tint. Parade is pure Prog. 

The Illusionist is incredibly atmospheric and melancholic with a haunting riff, Wood For The Trees edges towards Psych Folk. Slow Motion even hints at a Morrissey direction with a completely surprising Guitar solo. You are in for quite a ride as the band take you gently through an almost pastoral album.

Tastefully done with some stunning arrangements. Beautifully played with unusual riffs and themes that completely engross you. The depth of the album is amazing. Vanity Tapes aren't gonna rock your socks off, but they will reach out for your senses and grab a hold of them. Oh and that vocal is a thing of such beauty. Highly Recommended!

You can listen to and buy the album here.

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Listening To This Week

 

An extended 22 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. 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.

 

Billy Tibbals - Hollywood Baby

Charming Arson - Alice Has A Metronome

Her Burden - She's On It

Tiny Sun - Ageless

DRAMALOVE - Sorry If I Love You

El Paso - For the First Time

Tucker Bingo - Lovve me 

Gringo Star - Hanging Around

The Hannah Barberas - You're So?!

Archair - Baby Doll

Gooseberry - Swindle

Taleen Kali - Crusher

Jaewon - Soothsayer

starfish64 - Yesterday's Favourite Smile

Casual Friday - Question Of Love

Mars Tourist - P.A.N. (Psychoactive Noise)

Spirits Republic - Brain Poke

MANTHERS - Beta Male

Blake Havard - You Make It Right

LB Beistad - Honey's Gone Bad

Cats From Alpha - Psyched up

Eruption Artistique - So Strange

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The City Lines - Analog Memories

 

I'm familiar with quite a few Michigan artists and you've read about them here. I also know of Big Sky Recording through their work with the likes of Nick Piunti. But Patrick Deneau is new to me and I get at his band. The City Lines second album. Recorded as a trio with Bob Zammit and Bryan Robert Kraan, this is a great Guitar Pop.

There are some similarities with the work of Piunti and Ryan Allen, but this album is much more Blue Collar and also at times takes a much more modern approach. There is also a splendid difference in the song writing. The verses are talky at times, more like a story narration.

There is also a couple of inspired choice of guests. The addition of Twin Deer on Seasons Won't Stay is inspired allowing the song to be half Americana and have Pop. The dual male / female vocal works beautifully. It is a cracking little song.

Better 'n' Worse goes full on Nashville Country and that works as antidote to the Guitar led songs elsewhere. Erased is a real noisy affair, gritty and pacey whilst Different This Year kicks in with what could be the sound of the new wave of UK Guitar bands and the chorus maintains this, yet the verse is almost AOR and the continual vocal additions make the song evem more interesting.

Where I Want To Be has a splendid jangle and a catch all chorus, but the verse really tells a story. Far Enough is the real sing along radio friendly affair. Deneau tells a great tale and sets his words to melodic Guitar Pop of the highest order. What a fine album this is!

You can listen to and buy the album here.

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Space Kitchen - Space Kitchen

 

If you search Google for Space Kitchen, you'll soon know how to achieve lots of room for your cooking, but you may also be fortunate enough to discover Cambridge Ontario's Rob Howell and Robbie Carvalho. This duo are Space Kitchen and they have offered a fine debut that has nothing to do with space or kitchens.

I was first turned on them earlier this year when hearing the excellent Zoo Keeper, which is present here. The song is a fine example of Pop Rock that is reminiscent of those great UK bands of the 70s, but it is more than that. 

There is a riff running through Zoo Keeper that hooks you, it is simple, a little like a light version of something Alex Lifeson would play in those early 80s Rush albums and then there is a keyboard run that is nearer Modern Prog or even Space Rock. I felt that there was more to the band than meets the eye and so there is.

Those first three songs are great Pop, a little Bubblegum, a little Soft Rock, an edge towards Pop Punk, but then everything changes. Moving Pictures is 6 minutes of space age Prog, keyboard led with big runs yet including a driving bassline and a splendid Guitar break. Again part of the song reminds you of Modern Prog, but than enough takes you back to the keyboard wizzards of the 70s and part of the vocal even sounds like Russell Mael.

The Squig even gets all Jazz Rock and Sun Tower starts a little Telstar, but then gets all Science Fiction whilst also employing a chorus that is really catchy and at the same time a little prime time Yes, that's the proper Yes not the nonsense projected as such over the past two or three decades.

Pain Goblin is a bit like The Alan Parsons Project have been locked in the keyboard cupboard until it gets very Mew. I'm not trying to convert the world to Prog, this is the best of both worlds. Great Guitar Melodic Pop mixed with catchy Modern Prog. What a great way to spend a half hour!

You can listen to and buy the album here.

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Custard Flux - Phosphorus

 

I don't often return to albums after I have reviewed them. But I've been listening a lot to Phosphorous again recently after its release as a Double LP. Released in September of last year, it is a wondrous listen. It was No 12 in IDHAS's Best Of 2022, an amazing result for a Progressive album on what is essentially a Guitar Pop dominated site.

People ask me how I can be such a lover of Pop Rock in the window of I Don't Hear A Single and yet at home be such a massive Psych and Prog fan. It really is rather easy if you have the patience. Through Secondary School, in fact smack bang in the middle around 1976 there was a lull.

Glam Rock had virtually ended and Punk had not properly started and that coincided with the time when albums came to my fore and all the seemingly greatest albums were Prog and you had a golden previous period to listen to and learn. Pop albums were still largely singles and load of "will this do" filler.

Through all my musical crystallising and genre hoping, I always returned to Prog and Psych, complex albums, but you could just let them wash over you. So new albums don't usually appear on IDHAS, because that's not what the audience necessarily appreciates. But there are artists who can be from either of those genres and still be accessible to a wider, dare I say it, Pop Rock audience?

This is where Gregory Curvey comes in, through both his The Luck Of Eden Hall and more recently, Custard Flux adventures. Curvey and Custard Flux compare to a band like Big Big Train, not as chorus led, but willing to take more chances. Both cross over and you would be surprised how many Pop Rock fans I know that are fans of Curvey.

Vocal wise, he comes in as very Peter Gabriel pre Lamb Lies Down On Broadway, say 1972 or 1973. However, he is a gobsmackingly great Guitarist. He can be plank spank with the best of them, but be equally understated or complex, riff driven at times. He is also an incredible arranger. 

Phosphorous is the third Custard Flux album and it is typically Prog as a double album. At almost 81 minutes, it is a long, but completely worthwhile listen. The variety holds your attention as do the moods. Two of the instrumentals add Sax and that instrument lights up The Gardener, which isn't an instrumental. Well done Mars Williams!

Likewise, Jay Tausig's flute on The Face Of Mankind is superb on a song that sounds so much like Big Big Train. Orbital Transport shows another side to Custard Flux, Acoustic Guitar led, almost classical and Roses And Wine gets as near to a Pop Song as could be, but still sounds very Adrian Belew.

What thrills me the most though are always the riff led songs that take on different avenues but rest on that riff and repetition both vocally and instrumentally. Station is a great example, but the tour de force is the opener The Pretender / Memory Ends. I could have spent the whole review extolling the wonders of this song.

Nine minutes in length and as expected with the title, two part, it is mesmerising without a wasted second. The Pretender is so damn melodic, you find yourself singing the hypnotic chorus. It is as urgent as Curvey has ever been. There is also a wig out Guitar Solo and before you know it, Memory Ends has begun.

This second part is very very Genesis 1973 and it could be Peter Gabriel himself, a complete change of pace, wonderfully so. My hope with the embedded songs is to attempt ro bring newcomers in. Everyone is welcome! Oh and the sleeve notes are written by our very own Mick Dillingham.

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

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I Don't Hear A Single Exclusive : New Single From the black watch Released Tomorrow

 

I Don't Hear A Single has often been asked if we would like exclusives. We only ever agree with long time favourites and that is rare and usually only via Social Media. With everything IDHAS does being free, we didn't want to appear to be favouring certain artists. 

But we thought about it and realised we were being daft. These are not planned to be that often unless the idea takes off. They will be appear on Thursdays as will the IDHAS 10 Song Mix. We are keeping to the set day as we don't want to detract from what we major on which are album reviews.

I think many of you know about our love of the black watch. We love John Andrew Frederick and we love his collaborators. No album has ever failed us and you can read some of our coverage here. The current album, future strangers could very well be their best. 

I know of few bands with such a long career whose recent albums have been as good, if not better, than what has gone before. They major on a more gentle melodic Psych Pop that heavily hints at the 80s. It is an incredibly addictive sound.

Recorded in Austin, Texas with producer/engineer/drummer Misha Bullock (ex-The Tennis System), More Lies From the Government finds the black watch's main man John Andrew Fredrick adventuring into a rather for-him atypical realm:  the political.  

The stand-alone single precedes the release of the band's 22nd LP, The Morning Papers Have Given Us the Vapours, later this year on Dell'Orso Records. The song has a driving Bassline, New Order-ish maybe. We especially like the tie up with Misha, who adds a UK element, coming from York.

It is available now in time for Bandcamp Friday and it also means that we are not in your hair tomorrow with all the melee of the First Friday Social Media. 

You can listen to and buy the song here.

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