Listening To This Week Playlist

An absolute cracker this week as we bring 27 new songs for your aural attention. 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.

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Jumbo Chords - You Don't Belong

King Black Acid - Turning Off My Television

Jim Malloy - Sinners & Saints

Dream Pony - Tonight

The Hold Fast - Let's Burn It Down (And Start Again)

Babe Rainbow - Retrograde

Big Dopes - Moon Car

Peter Freebairn - I Got Lucky (I Got You)

No Parts - Burn the Breeze

Wanderlost - Carolina

Escape Goat - Old Books

Dead Phones & Dogs  - Bones In A Suit & Tie

Iain Mann With Sandy's - Magic Tracks 

S J Armstrong - One Of A Kind

Persistent Mimes - Here She Comes

Novelistme - Open Hearts (For Open Parks)

Great Hare - Death Is Cheap

naive nature - grow up!

Stephen Chopek - Come Back Soon

Log Flume - On The Spaceship

DIXON - On the Weekend

Hot Dress - Grave Robin

Noah Colton - Immaculate

Wilson Gretchell - Half Of ATX

The Mesmerists - Full Moon

Night Rites - Black Diamond

Pink Death - Step In To View

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King Black Acid - Victory For Mad Love

 

The Rainbow Lodge was in the Top20 albums in last years Best 100 and King Black Acid became my new favourite band. I love 'em. So to have a follow up within a year makes me very happy indeed. Again this feels very Brit Pop, but that doesn't do it justice at all and if it was just that it would wipe the floor with anything ever from that genre.

Brit Pop is only the base camp as the territory is much wider and Victory For Mad Love revels in all that space. King Black Acid can go in any direction and master it. This is Album Of The Year material and that opinion is not based on one listen.

I've been fortunate to have the album for a couple of months and had the benefit of repeated listens and adored it more on every listen. The album never loses its melody and sheer catchiness as it twists and turns in every song.

I Roasted My Heft for instance starts all Classic Rock, adds a little 80s smooth and then goes into Psych Rock aided by a jawdropping chorus. Turning On My Televison mixes 80s Rock with Australian Psych and delights. Now I What To Remember starts with a Beat Box and then becomes an intriguing 80s Jaunty Pop joy.

Come On People starts all Classic Rock then becomes a 90s Anthem. I Don't Want To Ever Hurt You Again is an unexpected modern love song. The Invisible Wars closes the album with a top notch gentle Pastoral Psych affair which is still as catchy as catchy can be.

The stand out song is You're Going Down / Wasting In The Zone, a song that sounds very 90s with a joint vocal and the You're Going Down is venemous, yet sang so sweetly. Fans of the outer edges of Brit Pop will adore this. I'm thinking of bands like Octopus and Straw. But the album should more than appeal to all Pop Rock fans.

You can listen to and buy the album here. There is also a RSD Vinyl Release, limited to 500, that you may still be able to get at all good record stores.

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Pulse Park - First Second

 

I loved Pulse Park's debut Phonac Music, so much so that it was one of the albums in our Best 100 Albums Of 2022. So it is ace to listen to the Dortmund Trio's follow up and this again demonstrates the band's versatility.

I may appear contradictory, but this sounds a bit Poppier at times, but at others, it feels heavier and louder than what has gone before. What seems to have largely taken an Exit Stage Left is the Shoegaze element and this really works making the songs even more accessible.

Instrumentally, Pulse Park seem to have moved to an even greater level and become a real Power Trio. Songs are built around a wonderfully locked Rhythm Section that enhances the driving riffs. But the key take here is melody.

They also raid the genres well. Verbatim is nearer Psych Rock and a little Goth. Yet Binary could be Brit Pop. Wide Array is great Pop Rock, whilst Briars mixes 90s Rock with Indie Rock. Marginal Gains instrumentally even gets close to Neil Young.

Union Jones is a reminder of the Shoegaze of the debut, but Dylan is more in tune with modern Indie Rock. Dark Empath even gets close to Mew. Then there is the splendid Pop Rock closer that is Inertia And Mass that may just be the song that grabs most listeners here. It isn't that far away from 90's Power Pop.

The variety is the real strength here. Too many of the bands that follow similar paths is make 3 minute songs into 5 minute songs with unnecessary repeats and extended outros. Songs are just the right length here making this an album that will appeal to those who like melody and those who like Rock. Excellent!

You can listen to and buy the album here. You can learn more about the band on their website here.

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The Violet Twilight - Cicada

 

I covered The Violet Twilight's superb Above The Clouds album here. Just six months later we graced with a follow up EP. New South Wales's Tim Butcher has fashioned up another splendid soundscape that is simply enchanting.

The vocal as ever is gentle and fits in beautifully with the arrangements. That vocal is reminiscent of the likes of Orgone Box, but rather than Rick Corcoran's addictive choruses, these songs are built more around the instrumental performances. 

The Pastoral Psych is still present, but this EP treads more into Modern Prog. Never straying from the melody, these five tunes rely much more on the vibe and the whole piece. Cicada is more about the complete piece and the arrangements wash over you in a very soothing way. 

There are none of the usual crashing chords and riffs that you might expect from IDHAS, but the EP is so well produced, themed and performed that you cannot help but be impressed. At times, there is a chilled out feel that allows you to sit back and enjoy the depth of the music.

You can listen to and buy the EP here.

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Rural France - Exactamondo!

 

RF was/is a fantastic album.  I did worry, well I didn't really, if RF could be followed, it was so good. Well fear ye not,  our Wiltshire friends Tom Brown and Rob Fawkes have lost none of their chops, in fact Exactomondo feels like their balls have grown, it certainly sounds noisier and meatier.

Released on Meritorio Records, one of our favourite labels, the vibe is very 90s Indie Rock orientated, but tells you little about what is on show. At times it feels very UK, Scottish probably and yet it also edges towards US Slacker Rock. Instrumentally, it is quite a racket, wonderfully so.

The two openers are very prime time Teenage Fanclub. I know that's a lazy comparison, but they are. But elsewhere, this could be Dinosaur Jr. In between, there is Fuzz, Jangle, Power Pop and even a little Country Guitar. The odd time, the album heads into the Garage territory of say Guided By Voices.

There is a real edge on occasion, but songs never lose the sight of the melody and catchiness. Prize Goose, which closes the album, is probably the most gentle thing here, but the pair still manage to finish on a maelstrom Guitar outro.

Sunsplit jangles with a great intro. Blabbermouth strums along and contains that weeping Country Guitar and yet Guideropes is all Slacker and 90s College wrong with a great addition of Twang. Stay Away From The Widow, Sidney is great Garage Power Pop.

The latter's song title demonstrates the sly wit across the album, sort of Half Man Half Biscuit like. Indeed, there is a real lyrical adeptness across the whole piece that adds to the enjoyment through repeated  listens. Exactomondo will chime with followers here and hopefully add a whole new set of fans to the retinue. This album certainly deserves that.

You can listen and buy the album here. Please also visit Meritorio when you get chance here. It is a beacon of light in a darkening world.

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Mythical Motors - Upside Down World

 

It seems to be a month of returning heroes and May is gonna continue the trend with albums at the ready awaiting their release dates. So we are catching up nicely due to the amount of albums that will be covered next month.

Matt Addison is certainly prolific, very much like his biggest comparison, Guided By Voices. Hot on the heels of revelling in being I Don't Hear A Single's Best Album Of 2023 with The Sunshine Registry, (Review here), we have another.

That album was reviewed towards the end of last December and within hours, Upside Down World appeared, so I have had a lot of time to get familiar with it and it again revels in its lo-fi glory. It will delight those who know and may his most accessible yet in welcoming new believers.

People have said to me what I think a big studio budget would bring to Mythical Motors, most thinking that the resulting album would be massive.But I'm not so sure if I'd want that. There is a home made charm that makes the material intimate and special and would you want to take that homeliness away?

There is an IRS vibe present on Upside Down World, a mid 80s UK Jangle and even a Psych tinge across the album. It is certainly less Power Pop, more Indie charm as Addison's gentle vocal compliments the inventive riffs and diversions.

I watched Teenage Superstars for the umpteenth time last night and a lot of what Mythical Motors do reminded me of that Glasgow 80s vibe. The album also revels in the say what you want and get off attitude There is no room for extended solos or repeat ad infinitum choruses.

I've deliberately not mentioned the songs here, but have chosen my three favourites. The hope is that you will head off and listen to the complete album. It will only take you 27 minutes or so and your life will be much richer. I'm still not convinced that the world needs cassettes again, but I am not the arbiter of taste.

You can listen to and buy the album here. It is also available on Cassette, so buy yourself a pencil.

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Your Academy - #2 Record

I loved Your Academy's debut album when I reviewed the 2021 Release. You can read that here. So I was really looking forward to the follow up from the Memphis 5 piece and I am not disappointed in the slightest.

#2 Record continues where the self titled album left off and nails the five piece's reputation. I suppose you would label this Pop Rock, but there are ventures into other directions. The base is very Posies at times, but this time, it is the mellower moments that also stand out.

Our Stars gets very close to Country Rock, yet also edges towards West Coast 70s vibes. Just A Little Time is part Classic Rock, but a big reminder of those great American 70s Pop Rock bands. Wasting Time is a jaunty all together now affair.

B 612 even ventures into a mix of Psych Pop and gentle melodic Prog whilst remaining in kilter with what is around, adding some corking understated guitar and Brass. But there is also plenty of Pace, particularly on the stand out Marilu.

The riff that opens Miss Amphetamine is a bit Pretty Vacant, but soon turns into The Posies territory. My Near Catastrophe puts big feet in modern day Teenage Fanclub land with a big solo. Overall, the album feels a little more restrained than the debut, a little gentler maybe.

However vocally and arrangement wise, the album is bang on. Songs are beautifully produced and performed with the melody washing over you and leaving you feel more content after every listen. #2 Record is a reminder that you don't have to blow the bloody doors off to engage an audience.

You can listen to and buy the album here. The CD is available on the Kool Kat label here.

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