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Thursday 28 March 2024

Marc Valentine - Basement Sparks

 

When I reviewed last year's Future Obscura album, I mentioned how it was a rarity for British Power Pop artists to sound so American. You can read that review here. Valentine seems to have gone the whole hog with his deserved signing to Little Steven's Wicked Cool label.

This is great Power Pop and no song demonstrates that more than Skeleton Keys with its massive Butch Walker like riff. The song has everything that Power Pop requires including pace, a massive chorus and a killer solo. I'm convinced that it will be a future classic.



Have no doubt, this is a magnificent Power Pop album. The sort that many threaten but can't keep up the quality after the front loading ends. There are different strands of the genre, whether they be rocked up or built around killer chorus, big harmonies or solo vocals, everything works.

It works because of the lyrical adeptness and those catch all choruses. There are surprises. One is the balladic anthem that is Ballad Of Watt. The album doesn't come up for air, but this shows a different side to Valentine, part Pop Rock and even more UK 70s Glam Rock.



Repeat Offender is very UK New Wave and even as a cod reggae Police style guitar interruption. But it is the big chorus led guitar sounds that most will want and deserve. Eve Of Destraction adds the obligatory and big harmonies on another crackerjack of a song.

I Wanna Be Alone is more akin with the new breed of slightly noisier Power Pop, but largely this is a demonstration of how all encompassing the genre can be. Catchiness that rocks you and soon has you singing along. If anyone ever tells you that Power Pop has had its day, play them this and sit back revelling in your smugness.





You can buy the album everywhere. You can listen to the album here.


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Day Dreems - Day Dreems

 

Portland's Day Ricardo has fashioned up an outstanding Pop Rock album. The type that you used to hear in the 70s that everyone dissed and now say that they were always big fans. It isn't stuck in that decade, but it does remind you of it a lot.

In a long career, most notably with The Zags, it is as though everything has led to this. What is even remarkable is that everything is played by Ricardo. The album is so cohesive, bursting with melody, wonderfully arranged and performed.



F Natural is a great example of what makes the album special. On the surface, it appears to be a big easy listening song from 1975, but there are bursts of instrumentation that catch you surprise such as 60s Psych Pop Trumpets here.

The jauntier Easy similarly adds a spacey Telstar like organ. The Bad Old Days. with its dismay at the rise of the Right is great Piano Pop with a chorus to die for.and adds more of that wonderful trumpet song. Brain Drain is even rapid pace 60s Pop, a song that could appear on a TV cartoon show from the period.



Make That Go is perfect 60s UK Beat and Fountain Of Truth is built around a great Guitar Riff, part Glam Rock, part Surf. This is all set to a You Can't Hurry Love Rhythm track. Make That Go is more Beat Pop, but this time a little hand clap with a great Guitar sound.

The whole thing is splendid Guitar Pop on the whole. The songs feel very autobiographical without ever seeming to be " All About Me". The production is top notch too. This used to be the type of album reviewed by many of the numerous Blogs. One by one, those Blogs seemed to have disappeared which is as a shame as this an album that deserves masses of coverage.



You can listen to and buy the album here.


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Wednesday 27 March 2024

IDHAS Audio Extravaganza Pre Release Special Slight Delay

 


Awaiting the last two tracks to arrive from the States. The deadline was really tight on this one. It's bedtime here in the UK as I'm not allowed to be up much after 10, so it'll get posted in the morning. Trust me it is a good 'un.

This post will be replaced by the actual thing when done.

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Picturebox - Mobile Disco


 
The return of Picturebox for their first album in over five years is a reason to rejoice. The quartet are from Canterbury, so you would expect something Psych Pop or UK Beat and there is plenty of such here, but there is much more to them than that.

There is a real Street Pop vibe to what they do. Songs are about the everyday banality of neighbour hood life, past and present, almost like Half Man Half Biscuit in subject matter but accompanied by catchier arrangements than altogether now Folkish chorus singalongs.



Just listen to Office Of Compline and Lennie Godber and you realise that they come across as lost Brit Pop gems. Things wouldn't be the same without some Toytown and Nice Boys Mobile Disco (Versification) does that well.

Brightest & Best is pure early Syd Barrett and you can imagine Jarvis Cocker regaling Addendum, The Car Of A Man That Drives Alone reveals an inner Ray Davies and underlines how off beat the subject matter. It is wonderfully melodic, yet also melancholic.




(The World Of) Autumn Feelings should have been something on Blur's Modern Life Is Rubbish, whilst Utility Contractors is prime time Difford Vocal Squeeze set to a New Wave Beat that threatens to go Glam Rock.

There are also short vignettes reveal the off kilter of the band such as Quickfire Les and the short spoken world tale that is The Story Of The Biscuit Man. Mobile Disco is an album that appears simple on the face of it, but it has tons of ideas and a lyrical adeptness that you can admire and be bemused at simultaneously. An incredible listen. An absolute delight.



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


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Monday 25 March 2024

Savak - Flavors Of Paradise

 


Brooklyn's Savak have built up a collection of Genre labels across their previous five albums. I suppose Post Punk is the one you see most and many people seem to want them to be The Fall 2.0 which I'm not sure that ever have been.

These sixth album from the Trio is confuse the scribes even more, because it is even more varied than what has gone before if that was possible. They major on being Angular, but that jaggedness takes them in all directions and having two vocalists helps those adventures even more.



They appeal to me most because they are equally at home with intelligent Indie with the likes of Psych Pop which puts them right in my listening spotlight. Flavors Of Paradise is a wonderfully inventive affair that can be as straight ahead or complicated as you wish.

Living Will is great 80s Indie miserabalism, yet Paid Disappearance is top notch UK Late 70s New Wave and Let The Sunlight In is Psych Pop. What Is It Worth instrumentally gets close to The Len Price Three adding a lovely Jangle.



It Happen To You is all Noo Yawk attitude, yet Will Get Fooled Again is incredibly IRS. Only Attribution gets close to Post Punk. But the ability of the trio is best explained by Leash Biter. It may not be the best song here, but is a demonstration of what a great Trio they are instrumentally with its in your face riffs and  the wonderful locked rhythm section.

Save are a very unusual band in they can appeal in so many directions. Lyrically adept, arrangements that are unusual and the ability to be incredibly melodic, but also able to appeal to those that like their music a little left of the norm. Flavors Of Paradise is absolutely splendid.



You can listen to and buy the album here.


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Paul Collins - Stand Back And Take A Good Look

 


This is classic New Wave Power Pop and Paul Collins is a master at it. It was a scene that I was heavily involved in. I sort of left it behind, not because of the music or the artists, quite the reverse. It was a large section of fans who were sycophantic to the long established and took every opportunity to diss the new.

I just got tired of it all and moved to a world of the completely new and IDHAS successfully moved away to a more Indie following, much more engaged and largely a generation below where I was. But as I said, it was never ever about the artists.



Looking back at the genre now from a different angle, I can still recognise the joy of the genre and the mightiness of Paul Collins, a giant in the field and here he demonstrates his storytelling strength honed through years of seminal outfits like The Nerves and The Beat.

He is also aided by guest appearances from fellow luminaries such as Shoes, 20/20 and Dwight Twilley. His vocal has mellowed a little, but that perfectly suits the material and he also demonstrates his ability to step away from the Power Pop Template.




How Will I Know has a wonderful gentle twang and You Can't Go Back has a real Americana and Rock and Roll vibe that is a great listen. The arrangement on That's When I Think Of You is top notch, particularly the Guitar work. One Hill And I'm Home goes full on Country Troubadour.

There's even some great 12 bar and Barrel Piano On Westbound. The album does feel less Power Pop than past glories, more Pop Rock. But songs such as the title track and I'm The Only One For You are classic Paul Collins. The album is a great listen and reveals that there is far more to the man than just Power Pop.




You can buy the album in all formats everywhere. You can listen to the full album here.


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Sunday 24 March 2024

Listening To This Week Playlist



After the quieter week last time, we have a massive 31 songs for you. The offerings have been flooding in. I did think of splitting them into two parts, but thought that would confuse listeners and so the new LTTW is up a little earlier than usual.

There is no song preference in track order, just what we think flows.  I do hope that you can listen to all the songs across this week. The last listed is as great as the first and you have all week to listen. This weekly playlist 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. This will help you to discover more about the artists who appear here. Thank you for supporting the new music from Indie artists.


The Dirty Nil - Am I The Menace?




Charming To The Last - They Walk Among Us!




The Cle Elum - I Am A Robot (feat. Matthew Caws) (Radio Edit)




S.J. Armstrong - Orange And Gray





You Filthy Dog - Mind Twins




The Eargoggle - Write A Song




Mavis - Lonely Show




Ollie Lloyd - Rhubarb Hill




Velociraptor - Computer Future Part 1




William J Locker - Baby Likes To Rock And Roll




unsafe! - Paranoid




elephants and castles - 125





YANG - Madison (Oakland)





B. Hamilton - Hey Sunshine 





The Vaniers - Charlie




Limbonauts  Come 2 Where U R




First Day Of Spring - Operation




Lunde - Deja Vu




Janus 4-14 - RedRum




The Fourth Wall - No Daggers




The Bogmen - In My Kingdom




Safer Dead - Egotistic Love




Carrabelle - Let Me In



Cat Cork - Disappear




Marloes Van Asselt - Going To New York




Portside Dive - Stare Into The Water





Jamie Turner - Ordinary Song





gopublic - The Great Revelation




The Velvet Fuzz - What's On Your Mind?




Luke Meyn - When It's Over





Jay Valeyo With Ethan Nox - WHERE WOULD WE BE NOW





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