This visit to the Singles Bar brings some great music, ranging from a 90s influenced alternative pop tune, to a strange slice of prog that sounds like it should score a folk horror film, to a brilliant soul tune with a timeless quality and even a hard electronica number that marks the pinnacle of work from cult act. You’ll find a couple of names making their return to the SB this time around, but the selections are anything but predictable! As always, we hope you find something new to enjoy!
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This two track release from The Half-Cubes is, in power pop terms, pure gold. Its pedigree is assured thanks to two different aspects. Firstly, as their name suggests, this band are made up from half of power pop legends The Flashcubes and, secondly, the tracks featured are both re-workings of classics from the Eric Carmen catalogue. Although neither track has been drastically rethought, both sound great with a brighter production sound than Carmen’s original recordings were ever afforded. ‘My Girl’, in particular, plays like a genre classic for 2024, despite its mid 70s vintage.
Celebrating their thirty fifth year in the music business, Manchester’s The Speed of Sound have pulled out all the stops for the follow up for their critically acclaimed 2021 release ‘Museum of Tomorrow’. As it’s title suggests, ‘A Cornucopia’ offers fans a whole bounty of music, and the band have split that into three volumes. The first disc, ‘Minerva’ is a fourteen track indie-ish journey which explores a musical universe that takes in jangling retro guitar work, 60s fuzz, a bit of power pop and a few other styles.