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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Dave Cope And The Sass - Hidden From The World

A Dave Cope And The Sass album is always something to look forward to and it is wonderful to see more people celebrating what they do. Cope first came into my orbit at the start of 2010s, but it was 2014's Davey Cope And The English Breakfast that really made a siren sound loudly in my ears.

I Don't Hear A Single only began in the middle of 2016 and so it was well on the way to being established when the self titled Dave Cope And The Sass album was released and what a debut it is. Since then no Genre has been safe. From Folk to Psych and everything in-between.

The base is somewhere between Classic Rock and 70s Pop Rock, but that doesn't tell half the story, Cope has been well covered here and the albums have constantly bothered the IDHAS Best Albums Of The Year has I have no doubt that this one will.

I was also delighted to preview One Hell Of A Ride and this is one of the highlights here, but in no way the only one. There is a splendid manner in the way songs change directions.Take for instance Crooked Picture which takes in comparisons to Pugwash, Marmalade and 60s UK Beat in under 3 minutes.

I Wish I Had A Garden edges towards Prog and yet Precious Heart is all Jangle and yet could be played at an Austin Powers party. Next To Nothing is top notch Power Pop, but All Alright is an ace Anthem, the sort that Cope comes up with at will.

Where Have I Been All My Life is a real Singer Songwriter Troubadour sort of thing and The Soldier is all eastern sounding tableau, a really special arrangement. Just A Dream I Had Of Lizzie is gentle and Acoustic, almost Folk, but also has an exceptional Baroque arrangement.

The album is dedicated to Cope's brother, Ian, and West Of The Setting Sun is a marvellous tribute. Suitably melancholic, but heartbreaking wrenching with an almost Country feel at times, but maybe more of a Desert Ballad. It is incredibly atmospheric.

But if you really want to know what Cope is about in one song, then the title track is the one to begin with. Harmonic Pop Rock of the highest order, but also gets both a little 60s and 80s with a Jangle bursting to get out.

I know, people say it all the time for every album release, but this really is Dave Cope And The Sass at their very best. 12 songs without a duffer. Come on world! Cope has been here all the time, where've you been? An album to be listened to from start to finish and then put on again.

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

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Listening To This Week Playlist

30 fine songs for your listening delight to get you through the next seven days.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.

Midnight Morning - The Interstate

T Is For Thomas Band - More Or Less A King

Lettuce Inn - I Am The Wizard, Said The Wizard

Three Lefts and A Right - Lovulator

Goodman - Only Testimony

The Wesleys - Radio Circus

(Martin) Draax - Pigeons & People

Roscoe Tripp - Big Dreams

Martyn Cuthbert - Time Machine

The Peawees - The Wolf

Aubrey Straw - Swarfega

Little Oil - I Wanna Know

Eric St-Cyr - Stars Align

The Everminds - 21 Grams of Insta

Square Wave - Too Far

Immortal Fish - Somebody Else

Spiders From Uranus - Glad You Came

James Haro In Storage - Verses

Nathanael Saposnikoff - Trail of Fools

bad wives - Lost and Found

BEHOR - Angel

You Fool! - Nock, Draw, Loose

Gold Stars For Everyone - Parallax

The New Attention!- Kick Out The Jams

Rum Jungle - Did The Morning Let You Down

The Dares - Call It In

Sammi Starlight - The End

Kitty-May - Take Me Back

Ted Bunny - Little Orange Time Machine

Fun While It Lasted - Your Face Could Light Up The Room

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The Reflectors - Going Out Of Fashion

Los Angeles's The Reflectors reach their third album. Their last, Faster Action featured in our Best Albums Of 2021. You can read the review here. The quartet know exactly what they are doing and when you are as good as this, why alter the format too much?

The new wave of Power Pop is a heavier scuzzier brand of the genre. The Reflectors want none of that. This is the classic late 70s UK New Wave / early 80s version that was adored by the more open to the new participants on Power Pop Facebook groups.

I have to say that my life become much less stressful when I stopped frequenting those groups, but there are still a couple of great ones around such as Power Pop Overdose and Power Pop Record and members of those particular groups will absolutely love this, just as I do.

The band are particularly great when the pace quickens. Silhouette and Going Out Of Fashion are great examples. The former gets a little Hey Hey Let's Go, the latter is very UK 1978, almost Punk and should translate wonderfully well live.

Living In A Dream gets all Rubinoos, Just Can't Get Enough Of It is in The Speedways territory and Space And Time even gets more than a little UK Glam Rock. Time Is All I Have opens with a crackerjack of a riff and has more in common with the Not Lame Days.

Both All The Way Down and I Gotta Run are more in line with the basic template, but both are great melodic catchy Guitar Pop. The band though are comfortable in whichever direction they head and Going Out Of Fashion is in now way 14 songs that are all similar. There is great variety and this is great Power Pop.

You can listen to and buy the album here.

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James Sullivan - Vital Signs

 

I loved More Kicks, you can read the review of 2022's Punch Drunk here, and so now that James Sullivan has gone solo, it is interesting to see which direction he takes. Not only the direction, but More Kicks were such a great Power Trio, it is also interesting to hear the sound and vibe,

Sullivan was the leader of that particular trio, so you expect the songs to be great and they are. There are a couple of songs that you can imagine More Kicks doing, but this album is much more Indie and stripped back. This allows Sullivan to venture much further than the trio format.

There is a real Indie 80s vibe, the inventiveness and Gravitas Pop of say a Robin Hitchcock. The major surprise is that such a previously electric anthemic artist excels most on the Acoustic songs. La Rochelle is magnificent Baroque Pop that edges towards Psych Pop.

All I Wanna Do (Is Nothing With You) is a wonderfully gentle Acoustic, almost Americana song. There are also numerous surprises. Guilty As Charged is a cracking story telling song with a talking vocal and a fantastic Noise Rock accompaniment.

Back To The Start goes all Folky Dylan. Dronify is great 60s Psych. But there are also moments that you might expect bearing in mind Sullivan's past. Day Late Dollar Start is the sort of up and at 'em Guitar Pop that jangles and fuzzes melodically.

My Best Friend is another that nods to what was his major songwriting strength. The album is a little sparse instrumentally, but that suits the material. Vital Signs is an outstanding listen, different to most that is currently around. A real Indie songwriter album with a side order of unexpected arrangements.

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

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The Dirty Nil - Free Range To Passions Deluxe Edition

 

Rather than tell you how great this album is all over again. My review from last year is below. The album sounds just as great as it did then. Now there is a link below of the newly released Deluxe Edition. The recent new single. Am I The Menace? and a rocked up cover of Total Eclipse Of The Heart. is added along with 9 Demos.

Incidentally, the band are in the UK for 5 dates from tomorrow and well worth opening your purse for. Should be a real Rock Out!

Ontario's The Dirty Nil offer up a raucous fourth album. Wonderful Pop Rock edging more towards Rock with a melodic swagger, the band are a perfect example of my preachy theme this year. The bands that are moving up the stairs most are Pop Punk bands that have matured.

Whereas, most progress is a move into a noisier Power Pop, The Dirty Nil have gone one step further, more akin towards potential Stadium Rock. Cheap Trick like in their appeal, if not exactly in their material, these four are a much rockier and noisier affair.

They haven't totally lost touch with their roots, Land Of Clover is wayward enough to remind you of past glories, but overall Free Rein To Passions is anthemic, riff laden joy, led by the top notch vocals of Luke Bentham. He has a voice that embraces the hooks, yet is equally at home with the loud.

Stupid Jobs gets all early Queen in shape and form and the title track even treads boldly into the Hair Rock of the 80s, all shouty attitude with an absolutely killer riff. Celebration also starts with some serious shredding, a little Extreme Pornograffiti in mood and more than a little Classic Rock.

Nicer Guy is a real "are you with us" anthem, pied piper like big Rock. Undefeated is well into Cheap Trick territory, splendid Pop Rock and the only time the band come up for air is on the closer, The Light, The Void And Everything when the Lighters come out for an Aerospace-ish corker of a song.

The Dirty Nil are a little noisier, a little rockier than you may be used to on here. But the album is a triumph and deserves a wider audience, hopefully appealing to people with a dozen cds to switch off Spotify. Beautifully produced, Free Rein is an absolute storm.

You can listen to and buy the the Deluxe Edition here.

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