Skittish - Ugly Makes Pretty EP

 

You are about to read words describing what will possibly be the best EP of 2025. This and some upcoming stuff that has yet to be released will reveal what rude health Indie Pop is currently in. There's also a cautionary tale for both reviewer and artist here.

I was initially sent a song for the Listening To This Week Playlist which I thought was a little mellow for it. I was wrong and would have discovered so if I had listened to it a bit more. But with so many weekly submissions for a 25 song playlist, decisions can be too quick.

Rather than going off feeling down or, as some do, telling me how wrong I was, I got a reply saying I think this song may suit your place more. That song was Kicking In and it opened last week's LTTW playlist. I wanted to listen to more and bizarrely discovered that I had reviewed the Skittish album from 2023 here. Blame my aging memory, but to be fair, I do listen to more music than I should do.

These five songs are all different. Again the male / female vocal split works wonderfully. The latter provides a more Pop feel, at times a little more commercial. There is also a bigger Electric Guitar vibe to the EP than previously, particularly on the songs sung by Jeff Noller.

Kicking In remains a wonderful listen. Beautifully arranged that sort of marches as it builds and builds, it is an absolute joy. Piece Of Heaven is much rockier and pacy, instrumentally a little Housemartins with a better arrangement, less simplistic than they would offer up. It is a reminder of those glorious Indie Guitar Pop days of the second half of the 80s.

Present Tense is more brooding, kind of epic, with a wonderful Brass arrangement. Mother Nature is a more straight ahead ballad, more Modern Melodic Pop built around Piano and Organ and yet still splendidly arranged.

My Day Of Revenge is built a mesmerising keyboard riff that is a little Toytown, but just wait for the poptastic chorus. Sassy and again beautifully arranged and written. Five great songs that sort of reinvigorate your faith in the magic that music brings into your life.

You can listen to and buy the EP here. You really really should give it a go.

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Muck And The Mires - Beat Revolution

 

Boston quartet, Muck And The Mires, have a reputation as a great Garage Rock band and to some extent, that is a little unfair, giving you an impression that they are noisy and lo-fi and they are neither. They are incredibly melodic and know what they are about. They can also play.

On approaching this review, I also came in from the wrong angle. After constantly being down a rabbit hole hole here, pulled into a variety of genres, I thought it would be refreshing to hear something more guitar led and straight ahead. There is nothing straight ahead about this lot and boy, can they play.

They can do it all without ever resorting to a ballad. At times, they can be a slightly noisier Merseybeat, but are equally adept at UK Beat. They can sound like something on the Stiff label and very UK New Wave, but they are equally comfortable with Rhythm And Blues.

They can edge into Power Pop and yet show the Indie Rock bands of today how to do things properly. They also do Jangle Pop really well. There is nothing meat and potatoes about the band, they are melodic, offer up killer riffs and memorable choruses.

You might think them Retro, but what is left to do that isn't such? Lemon And Lime is almost Surf, The World's Gone Mad crosses Beat with Psych Pop. She's Too Good For You is very Medway, but has a wonderful Jangle about it. 

Mary Ann Man is great US 60s Garage Rock, yet You Can't Try It (Before You Buy it) is a wonderful all together now with more excellent Jangle Pop. I also love the wit in reprising the opener, Beat Revolution, as Beat Revolution 9. There is much to like admire in a band that are versatile, but know how to get you moving. Great Stuff!

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

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Listening To This Week Playlist

Welcome to the new Listening To This Week Playlist. 31 songs this week, more than our usual maximum of 25. The reason for this is explained below.As well as the traditional version, we have put the playlist on Spotify and you will see the link below. Remember this is only the 4th version on Spotify, so the following there is nowhere near our one here.

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. 

You will note the increase in songs this week. This is because some of the songs that we embed only have Spotify links. So we decided to embed those, but also clear out the Spotify only songs. With us now doing a Spotify playlist, moving forward, we will not selecting song that does not allow us to embed via our traditional platforms of Bandcamp, Soundcloud or You Tube. Spotify is secondary and a service to artists.

The Spotify Version  

Corin Ashley - Empathy Centre

The Beths - Metal

Legs On Wheels - A.P.E.S.

The Gripweeds - Gene Clark (Broken Wing)

The Finest Hour - Brighter Day

Harvest Runes - String Theory

The Last Gray Wolf - Kentucky Telephone

Kaiser - Gloria

KAISER · GLORIA

The Goodbye Radio - Twisted Time Travellers

The Lightning Struck - In Her Dreams Tonight

The Vorgs - Scream If You Wanna Go Faster

The Family Battenberg - Anteater

Electric Penguins - When The World Is On Your Shoulder  

BüLA - Back from The Brink

Hooveriii - Tarantula Eye

Andy Alexander - Are You A Dreamer?

Dr. Rocket - Maybe It's Time

Hushtones - Fragments

Standard Sound Project - Demon Mind

Lina Cooper - DADDY ISSUES

Lina Cooper · DADDY ISSUES

Greater Vista - Out Of The City

The Insomnia Night - Cauldron

Sorry Marshal - Off The Wagon

Sorry Marshal · Off The Wagon

Plaster - Upswing

Visual Super Product - Scratch It Out

Doug Gatta - Bet On The Night

DARK SOCIAL - The Power Of Distractions

Belle Blue - Angeles

Angel Apricot - T4T

Caleb Nichols - Dark Age

Basement, PA - Space Race

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Janus 4-14 - Ghosts From Your Past (Bandcamp Name Your Price)

Janus 4-14 are a five piece from Mount Airy, North Carolina. We've been interested in what they do for a while now, largely through submissions for the Listening To This Week Playlist. We wanted to review something in the longer format, so have gone back to last year's six track release until the release of their next six track affair. Blue To Infinity, which is released on 14 May.

If you'd like to hear what they are currently up to, we featured the more recent single, I Never Wanna See You Again which is a cracking listen and can be heard here. Songs are built on killer riffs and big choruses with surprises thrown in.

The band inhabit a place somewhere between Indie Rock and Classic Rock, those riffs dictating the former and a mellow vocal and archive Organ sound that goes for the former. The arrangements and particularly, the guitar work is outstanding, yet the solos never lose sight of the song.

The best example of that riveting Guitar playing is on the outstanding She Deserves Love. There is great variety too. The Boy Who Bears The Weight Of The Whole World is something you might have heard on the defunct IRS label, part 80s US Indie, part 90s College Rock.

Teresa is almost Americana with a California Desert Guitar sound that makes you think of Cactus and dryness. That particular beloved by my other half whose own name bares the song title's name. Everything is in its place across the album which beautifully performed and produced.

A special mention has to be given to the opener, Redrum, which is part Psych Pop, part Alt Rock with a riff to die for. This is my particular favourite, but you know how I fall for melodic Psych. This is my gem in an album of gems. Expect to hear far more of this lot in future years.

You can listen to and buy the album here. It is at name your price, so what have you got to lose?

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Welcome To May!

 

Welcome to May! 

Firstly reflecting on April, it was a strange old month. IDHAS had its busiest month ever for views with almost 55,000, yet it was our quietest month review wise for quite some time as we were involved in lots of future planning. 

As we approach our 9th Year Anniversary, the interest in what we do has been significantly higher and we are receiving offers from all over the world. We are reluctant to take anything else on until we have got I Do Hear A Single up and running as it remains in development with two new members of the team to be added when we can.

Spotify wise has seen artists get greater coverage, but we are still incredibly wary of it. I'm not sure of much benefit that it gives new artists, but if it helps a little, that's only good. We do not plan to be on it apart from the LTTW playlist, we don't listen to stuff on there and our priority will always be other avenues.

We are well behind on Reviews, so expect plenty in May and we have set aside time for them. We don't tend to post on Bandcamp Fridays leaving the field open for listeners and buyers whilst that is on. So we return with Reviews tomorrow evening when the different country's timelines mean that the Friday is complete/

Onwards and Upwards.

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Listening To This Week Playlist

Welcome to the new Listening To This Week Playlist. A little fewer 22 songs this week, due to not having embeds in time. As well as the traditional version, we have put the playlist on Spotify and you will see the link below. Remember this is only the third version on Spotify, so the following there is nowhere near our one here.

After last week's noisier affair, this weeks feels a bit more mellow at times. Spotify has been added as a precursor for I Do Hear A Single and is simply and only started to help artists to get a further audience. 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  (NB : 2 of the songs below are not on Spotify)

Alex Lahey - Don't Wanna Know (Not On Spotify)

Skittish - Kicking In

Iain Hornal - Positive People

Tony Billings - Lost And Found

Only On Weekends - The Clock King

Stuart Lawrence - At Your Door

Fragile Creatures - Bad Smell

Devin Farney - Slow Sunday

The Gold Needles - I Don't Know About That

Anti-Corn League - It Won't Stop

Mary Middlefield - Will You Read My Mind

Forest National - Stuck On Repeat

Forest National · Stuck on Repeat

The Bankes Brothers - Bedroom Wall

Droze & The Drift - Trainwreck

Hobsons Bay Coast Guard - Earthquake (Not On Spotify)

Hyde Out - Caught In A Trap

Cabin Beat - There Goes Tomorrow

New Gaze - All We Can See

X Confidence - Useless Illusion

Victims Of The New Math - We Can Talk About It

Sound System - Blood On The Blade

Sound System · Blood On The Blade

Mildenhall - War Games

Mildenhall · War Games

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Strange Neighbors - People Pleasers Pleasing People

 

We first heard of New York City's Strange Neighbors at the start of 2023 and covered their mini album, Party Of None, which appeared in the Top 30 of our Best Albums Of 2023 (review here). 2024 found the quartet rightly picking up momentum and now we have People Pleasers Pleasing People.

The Power Pop is still as strong, but the band may just be the future of Indie Guitar Pop. There is real wit and depth lyrically, unusual in this type of genre, a quirkiness that is sassy, but aided by the arrangements.

They are at their best when the quirk is high, but they can also do straight ahead. You Got Love is prime time Kirsty MacColl and the magnificent Silk And Cyanide is top notch Power Pop with great pace and an engaging twang. The rockiest the band get and a great solo is added to close proceedings.

Beer At The Bar dallies with Jangle Pop and even gets a little Cranberries and the closer, Your Last opts for a surprise hoedown. The quartet even get more straight ahead Pop Rock on Wherever We Fall which reveals great maturity.

There is a lot of variety on display, but I have to admit that I really can't resist the sassiness. Crush is the best example, but Influencer remains a crackerjack single. This album shows a band at the height of their powers. Climb aboard, before the space has all been taken.

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

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Communicant - Harbor Song

 

We adored Communicant's debut album, Sun Goes Out, so much so that it was in the Top 20 of our Best 100 Albums Of 2022. You can read the review here. We were a little late with that review and we are a little late with the follow up.

So much new music comes into our orbit that we can lose sight of past celebrations unless we are reminded by the artist. But better late than never. Harbor Song does feel a little mellower than Sun Goes Out, less about Psych Pop, more about a soundscape, but what a soundscape it is.

There are still Psych overtones, but this much more reliant on the melody and the Pop. There are so many great arrangements, particularly on the likes of Falling Into One. The album has more in common with Pop Rock or gentle Neo Prog, but the vibe and melody are both captivating.

Dylan Gardner may be more restrained, but the beauty and touch of the songs is just as wonderful as what went before. The vocal arrangement on Dream State has to be heard to be believed. At times, you think of Radiohead's more delicate side, at others, you marvel at the almost classical sound and yet, you are still reminded of glorious restrained Pop Rock albums.

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

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