I Don't Hear A Single Audio Extravaganza Volume 81

The Audio Extravaganza reaches Number 81 and is packed with 23 Tracks from the best New Albums. A reminder that these episodes are compiled with great care. The aim is to produce a sort of mix tape. Hopefully this will be the soundtrack to your day.

The playlist is below and will also be in the comments section of the Mixcloud page. Thanks as always to Jim Moody for his technical excellence

You can listen to the previous IDHAS Audio Extravaganzas on Mixcloud here.

01 The Jellybricks - Corner Of My Eye
02 Michael Carpenter - The Start Of Being Alone
03 TV Crime - Neo Waltz
04 GospelbeacH - Dark Angel
05 Drew Beskin - Pharmacy Girl
06 Jay Som - Superbike
07 Erk - Move On
08 Slumberjet - Salad Days
09 Ronny Tibbs - Breakout
10 Lucille Furs - Eventually
11 Western Settings - Big
12 Extra Arms - Hold Me (All The Time)
13 Mike Adams At His Honest Weight - So Faded
14 Paul McCann - Its Only A Fantasy
15 Clean Cut Kid - Carry You
16 The Menzingers - Farewell Youth
17 Bertling Noise Laboratories - You Told Me
18 Velveteen Rabbit - The Gunman
19 Raymond Meade - No Warnings
20 Chris Alvy - Walk With Me
21 Ezra Furman - Rated R Crusaders
22 The Greenhornes - Underestimator
23 Super Low - Along

IDHAS Volume 81 Mixcloud Link 





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The Empire Strikes - Charm

Charm marks a welcome return from Helsinki's The Empire Strikes. The quartet's third album is again jam packed with big Rock. The album is very similar to an 80's Rock band doing 70's songs. The beauty is that there are so few doing "Rock" now that this feels original.

There will be comparisons with The Darkness, but there are no histrionics or high voices. There is no Tongue In Cheek here, the album is here for your enjoyment and it works.  The vocals are more new wave than you'd expect and so comparisons with The Faces and any of the US Late 70's New Wavers are more apt at times.

Blinded By The Light is played at break neck speaks with a fantastic over the top guitar solo, Theme From Roky is a ballad that is almost Jigsaw. Blackheart is NWOBHM, think Saxon, even Scorpions. The key feature of all these songs are the big choruses, which are as catchy as hell.

Miss Margaret Collins could be Dr Feelgood, Leeches, Lies And A Mighty Hoax could be compared to a sped up Triumph. The End kicks off the album with an indication of what to expect, it's endearing air guitar material.

The Empire Strikes might be accused of a lack of originality, but Charm is so beautifully played and faithfully done that makes this accusation irrelevant. There are great guitar solos and keyboard runs. I can imagine this to be big in Europe, but it really deserves a wider audience. The whole album is great fun.

You can listen to and buy the album by following any of the links here. You can also discover the band's back catalogue here.


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Foggy Tapes - Cogito Ergo Fog

Foggy Tapes are a quartet from Toulouse and they specialise in wonderful 60's Psych Pop, a genre usually found more in Canterbury and Medway. There are some fine three part harmonies to accompany this splendid set of songs.

Cogiti Ergo Fog is lo-fi, but done in such an effective way that it seems this is deliberate and the result is pure charm. You can hear Surf and Beat Pop bursting to get out. Can't I Stay In Bed All Day is almost Everly Brothers.








Days To Come is a cross between Surf and Spaghetti Western. That Surf expands even further on Mist From Above. There's a Telstar Space Age feel to Here Comes The Fog. The poppiest that the album gets is Good Old Gods which borders on Herman's Hermits.

Cogito Ergo Fog sounds nothing like France, more like a ferry across the channel. The 60's sound is authentically done and Foggy Tapes bring a real charm to proceedings. This is Medway Pop at it's most apt, really enjoyable.







You can listen to and buy the album here.


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Pernice Brothers - Spread The Feeling

It's been nine long years since Goodbye, Killer, so it is more than about time for Spread The Feeling. Indeed, a follow up was recorded and mixed a few years ago, only for it to be abandoned when Joe just didn't like the songs.

Since the album was abandoned, Pernice has revisited the songs with little mind change, until it was decided that a couple were worth saving and the task was then to keep recording until there was an album that hit the required quality mark.








The result is here and Joe Pernice has lost none of his talent. This is a splendid offering, all the trademark lyrical depth and killer hooks are present. Stories are told, bitter sweet words disguised by big melodies and boy is this album melodic, at times it's almost Pop.

There is also a song that may be the best thing that you'll hear this year. The jingling venomous, The Devil And The Jinn, is a real ear worm. Featuring Neko Case on Backing Vocals and Ric Menck on Drums. it hits every spot possible.








Although the sound across the whole album feels much bigger than usual, the quieter moments are allowed their own space, particularly on the magnificent Queen Of California. For all the trademark jingling joy of Eric Saw Colors and Skinny Jeanne, the slower moments that strike most. Evidently So is suitably sad and I Came Back has a real Wreckless Eric feel.

Mint Condition has a Cars like riff and a Glam Rock riff. Always In All Ways could be The Proclaimers. Throw Me To The Lions feels very 80's with a Lightning Seeds vibe. The album as a whole could be Joe Pernice's Pop Opus, what ihasn't changed is his ability to write a song. The lyrics are as strong as ever and Spread The Feeling is a real contender for Album Of The Year.








You can listen to and buy the album here.


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Erk - When Night Meets Day

The first half of 2019 had less writing for me, but just as much listening. So with October being the second Review A Day month of the year, it's an ideal opportunity to catch up on things that I listened to, loved and didn't write about. One such example is Erk's album which was released in June.

This is Berlin's Erk Wiemer's third album and appears after a ten year gap. Wiemer stands up with those great piano playing singer songwriters of the 70's and although When Night Meets Day certainly offers up reminders of those great Pop Rock albums that graced the Seventies, there are indicators before and after that decade, in both style and content.









The arrangements are very up, but are equally Burt Bacharach and Brian Wilson as much as Gilbert O'Sullivan or John Howard. Indeed comparisons could be made to Ben Folds and there is definitely a Jellyfish vibe here and it's strong. There's a lot to compare to Roger Manning Jr.

There's something really showtime about the album, almost like a BBC Omnibus Special or ITV Variety Summer Showtime. The arrangements are great, the harmonies meticulous and the whole thing is just a joyful listen.








I Walk Like Charly Brown is Lounge Jazz, Living My Life Without You is 60's Revue big sounding Pop. Rhapsody Of You is a Skellern / O'Sullivan piano ballad that is beautifully arranged. Better Sad Than Dead has a Randy Newman beat that is almost Manilow. Hey Bro is Ska.

It's the jaunty Piano Pop that pleases these ears most, it gives off such a fantastic vibe. Chilly Winds Ahead and Malibu Beach's in Berlin are a great examples. Taking My Time is a poptastic duet with Diane Weigmann that works beautifully. When Night Meets Day is superb Piano Pop with a series of darts into other genres. It's a corking listen.







You can listen and buy the album here.


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Mike Adams At His Honest Weight - There Is No Feeling Better

I am NOT going to begin with the line, "There Is No Feeling Better Than Listening To This" as I can imagine it's already been cliched to death in other reviews. Fair to say, that Bloomington Indiana's Mike Adams At His Honest Weight offer up a splendid album.

What's more, Adams is another in the fantastic stable of artists that are on the Joyful Noises Recordings label. This is his fourth album and follows on from 2016's wonderful Casino Drone. The songs here sound as big as Casino Drone, but the arrangements seem fuller.









The collaborations on this album from those within the Honest Weight Circle make a big difference. It's not that previous offerings, that have been more solo affairs, are sparse, it just seems there is a harmonious feel to the whole album. That combined with the experience gained from being the fourth album in has provided an absolute winner.

There's a really laid back feel to the whole affair. At times, it's a bit like Bruce Hornsby without the piano, but there is far more here that. No Feeling Better includes an unexpected twee instrumental break to cover the Duane Eddy Guitar.








Datsun Dashes is a cracking Pop Song, a bit Michael Stipe with a Roy Orbison Backing Track Twang. Olivia is a big Ballad that again mixes the Sixties with IRS Indie. Do You One Better is pure Indie Pop. The general feel across these 11 songs is a more than pleasant Summer Jamboree. All this is Pretty, but the lyrics tell a different, political, story.

However, it's when the album steps away from the more mellow. Pressing Mesh is a biting wonder of a song and the magnificent closer, So Faded is one of the best things I've heard this year. It's almost like a US Pete Wylie with it's Big Chorus, it's a massive sounding joy.








There's so much to like here. There Is No Feeling Better will definitely be in IDHAS's End Of Year Best Of 2019. You can listen to and but the album here. You can find out more about Mike here. You can discover more about Joyful Noises's artists here.


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Albums That Have Been Gathering Dust : Rush - Power Windows

The biggest question that I used to get as a Rush fan was but how do you stand his voice? Then into the 80's, it was don't they do those side long Prog things? There was also those who accused the band of selling out from Permanent Waves onward. Well you get used to the voice, it's been rarely mentioned since the 90's, they were Prog, but haven't been since Hemispheres. It was also the complexity of that album, particularly playing it Live, that led to shorter less complex songs.

The structure of the songs wasn't any less enjoyable, indeed the side long affairs were made up of individual shorter parts. More of a problem in the 80's for some listeners, particularly those of a Rawk persuasion, was the embrace of technology which fought with the guitar. Permanent Waves and Moving Pictures were when Rush hit pay dirt, the songs would never be throwaway. Peart's lyrics wouldn't carry less meaning, it eventually became about those bloody synths.

Signals hinted at what was to come and Grace Under Pressure provided more evidence. Grace Under Pressure is a fantastic album, dated by that keyboard sound. Geddy Lee bought every synth in the shop and wanted to play them all. I had been asked to write a big piece on Rush in the 80's and the only album that I couldn't defend was Presto, it remains unloved, but it's still better than the mediocre Test For Echo. At least Presto was trying to do something different, Test For Echo was phoned in.

In between T4E and Presto were two albums that I used to play regularly, but hadn't for some time. Hold Your Fire was initially hard to get in the UK, but is a fantastic album, Rush at their most poptastic. I'd love to do a piece on that and may do for something like the next Big Stir Magazine. But 1985's Power Windows it is and it still sounds as great as it ever did. Yes there are still keyboards, but not quite as many and Alex Lifeson had finally decided that he wasn't Andy Summers.

The stand out song is Marathon with a Riff that hooks you, but that's a Bass Riff and one of the band's biggest ever choruses, although this was outdone by Mission on Hold Your Fire. The whole thing is so damn melodic and catchy. You still air drum to Peart, but the biggest plus is Lifeson's playing, oh how we missed you Alex and what about that solo on Marathon? Not forgetting Anne Dudley's String arrangement.

Power Windows isn't just about the arrangements, it's all about those choruses. Grand Designs and Manhattan Project are great examples, the latter's Jangling riff that leads up to the first line of the chorus, "A Big Bang Took And Shook The World".There's a slightly gentler approach to the old Side 2. There is an almost Chinese feel in Intros. Territories has a killer Peart Drum Beat on the chorus. Middletown Dreams is moodier and more straight ahead, but has another Big Chorus.

Emotion Detector, tinkles and jangles until a paint stripping Lifeson solo and yes there's a big chorus. Mystic Rhythms hits that Rhythm and it carries you home. Rush have usually opened up albums with simpler, more throwaway songs, a sort of Loosener. This time it's Big Money, next time it would be Force Ten.

So Power Windows may not be as talked about in Rush circles as it should be. It is probably the band's most commercial album, despite the lyrical depth. It is all about the choruses, but more importantly, it marked Alex's Lifeson's return to being the guitar extraordinaire that he is. You can pick the CD up for buttons, you really should. Over and Out!



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