Tag: new tunes

Posted in Album of the Month, New Albums, Uncategorized

AOTM | Honey | Caribou

Posted on by misterstory

I feel like I drew the short straw here. We have an artist that we all love and they have a new album out, easy right? Slam dunk. Everyone’s happy and we all have a 60 minute love-in on the pod about how amazing Dan Snaith (aka Caribou, aka Manitou, aka Daphni) is …

… wrong.

Dan goes and throws a curve ball (in some peoples opinion, in others, he follows an evolutionary path that he set out three albums ago) and release an album that I would argue not many people expected. I think a quick Caribou re-cap is in order;

  • Dan Snaith, Canadian dude who makes music and aligns these with 3 identities … but to keep this simple we’ll focus on 2 if thats ok?
  • Caribou is the identity that he tends to release hyper intelligent, elevated pop music with an electronic leaning (but TBF indulges many genres and sub-genres across it’s 6 albums). Caribou has traditionally been music for the headphones, the bedroom, the soul.
  • Daphni is where Dan embraces the elecronic more and specifically embraces the dancefloor, this has traditionally music for the club.
  • We all love Caribou.
  • We have different favourite Caribou albums.
  • This is important as I think what we expect or want from Caribou has a significant impact on our relationship with Honey.

Honey is Caribou’s 6th album. And it is different. But every Caribou album is pretty different. Andorra is 60’s Pysch Pop reinvented for the latter half of the naughties. Swim is my favourite Caribou album and is entirely different from Andorra in every way save for it’s inherent ‘Caribouness’. Anyone, any music fan especially, would be able to at least notice, if not describe the similarities between Andorra and Swim despite it’s significant differences. I resonated so strongly with Swim that I was almost in tears when Our Love was released. I was so disappointed. It literally took me years to come to terms with the album. I love it now. I don’t play it that often but I grew to love it and now recognise it’s inherent ‘Caribouness’ but I had a BIG, negative emotional response to it. I had a ‘mini-tanti’ as Hugh Grant calls it (basically he had a melt down on live US TV) … I had mine in Urmston, Trafford. ‘Suddenly’ was very much in line with ‘Our Love’ and was no surprise. It had ‘inherent Caribouness’ and followed a line from Our Love but was also a massive departure from Andorra in one direction and Swim from another.

Honey is another massive departure. It is 12 short tracks of very electronic music. They feel in one way, more Daphni than Caribou in that they feel more club focused … but they’re also all 3 min pop songs (more Caribou leaning?). There is pop brilliance and shine and it feels like it’s made for the radio as much as the club. I am not sure what radio but the tracks follow pop rules more than they follow dance floor rules (discuss)?

So, Dan is embracing the club. But he’s retaining the pop? For me, the album as a whole features much ‘inherent Caribouness’ but this is unevenly distributed across the tracks. With some feeling much less inherently Caribou, and in some people’s opinions, not Caribou at all.

We’ve already, mostly drawn our lines of battle.

On one side …

  • This is a great album.
  • If it was made by anyone else we’d be saying, it’s great, it makes me feel fucking old but it’s great.
  • It is inherently Caribou, you just have to work for that a little more than other albums.

On the other side …

  • … Well, some pretty uncomplimentary things.
  • ‘this is not for me’ vibes
  • Not a Caribou album.
  • ‘Like being attacked by toddlers with Protools’

I get both sides but align with the former.

Let’s touch briefly on AI cause it feels like I have to. Dan uses AI tools to alter his voice. This is freaking some people out. It isn’t freaking me out. I don’t care. Musicians have been altering their voices for as long as they could, with what ever tools they had access too. For me this is a distraction. I don’t care. But I also get that some feel very strongly about this so we will defo discuss it at some length on the blog. My side of that conversation will be short … unless I get drawn into it.

I thought it would be The Power Ballad Themed ‘Spin It or Bin It’ that might divide us … but it appears that it is one of our favourite artists (and AI) that might do that! I am half dreading, half looking forward to the chat on the pod.

Come at me bros.

Posted in Album of the Month, New Albums

October: My Method Actor – Nilufer Yanya

Posted on by David Allison

There was a moment when I watching Nilufer Yanya last week at the Brudenell in Leeds, when I was hit by a strong question – what am I watching? What is this music? Yanya has been doing a few in-store stripped back sets promoting her third album, My Method Actor, which dropped last Friday.

She had been expecting that the Leeds date, like the others, were a genuine in-store in a record store or similar – and seemed a bit bemused and slightly wrong-footed to start to realise it felt more like a proper gig. She had no drummer, with only two (very adept) musicians with her, one on sax and keys, the other on bass/guitar. I was expecting, as a result, to find the songs I already knew – four or five of them had already been slipping out the last few months – to feel a little underpowered. How wrong I was. If anything, they revealed themselves even more clearly – Yanya’s gosssamer light, murmured, throaty vocal hung in the air with surprising power, and the knotty construction of her clever, brilliant songs seemed so logical when you hear them live. But I was still nagging away at that question: what is this? Girl with guitar and vocals, quite angsty lyrics. Indie guitar music right? Not really. There’s a proggy-ness to the way she plays guitar at times, and her chord structures are angular and surprising in a way that feels more like jazz than pop music. Let’s throw post-rock into the mix too just for fun.She clearly plays with different tunings for different songs and was having to retune her guitar in between (she started to relax and displayed a lovely goofiness with her interactions with the audience that were wonderfully at odds with the intensity of her performance). I still don’t know what this is. Of course, in the post-Spotify era, why should this matter? Every artist is a jukebox of influences. But I think I want to know why because I want to understand why this is such a special album – because let’s be clear, I am completely blown away by this extraordinary record.

Nilufer Yanya burst onto the scene in 2019 with her much-lauded debut album Miss Universe. She seemed to arrive fully formed, comfortably living in a sound that seemed part confessional angular indie of early PJ Harvey, and part something less easy to categorise. I liked her immediately, though I found her follow-up Painless not quite as powerful and it didn’t quite stay with me.

Maybe it’s easy to say this when an artist finally delivers the perfect record in your own musical wheelhouse, but though I’ve really tracks of hers in the past, I’ve always had the feeling that her albums can feel a bit disjointed, and I like some tracks more than others. So when she released the first single from this album early this year, the astonishing Like I Say (I Runaway), I was pretty excited. It was, as they say, an absolute banger, and right now, I think it’s going to be my song of the year.

Every song that’s followed this one has been just as intriguing, and crucially, they’ve all felt part of a maturing and a broadening of Yanya’s sound. But nothing prepared me for what those songs would sound like in the context of a whole album. Even the songs I’ve smashed to death like Like I Say and My Method Actor sound fresh and new when you hear the sequencing of this record. And let’s talk about the sequencing. Is there a better opener than Keep on Dancing this year – crisp, taut, desperate, urgent – all the things this album is about, finding yourself in your late 20s, broken relationships, fears about yourself, about how you present yourself (hence Method Actor). Then onto Like I Say which now sounds like the things it was born to do – to take you into the album as a whole. To follow that with Method Actor feels almost rude – the disgustingly fantastic guitar on that song should be against the law.

You’d think the album might be front loading the goodies, and I did worry a little on first listens that the second half was a more languid, slow-burn affair. But as each song opens itself on repeated listens, it starts to dawn on you – or it did on me anyway – that there isn’t. bad moment on this tight, brilliant 11 songs, 44 minute masterpiece. I could go on about individual tracks, but we can do that on the pod. But I have to say that the Robert Fripp prog drone guitar on Call It Love almost makes me scream with joy every time I hear it!

Shout to Yanya’s collaborator Wilma Archer, about whom I know little – but he has clearly found a way to showcase Yanya’s brilliance to full effect, and Yanya has been very effusive about his role in the record. His background in electronic music is the key to this I think – there is openness and a simplicity about the songs’ arrangements that allow the songwriting and Yanya’s lovely vocals to shine. You hear every instrument, every line. It’s a triumph.

So yeah, I’m a fan. It’s in my top 3 for the year. It might even take the top spot. I might, in fact, need to take a break soon because I can’t get enough of it. How about you, brothers…?

Posted in Album of the Month, New Albums, podcast, Spin it or Bin It

Podcast Episode 48 | Linda Thompson | Proxy Music

Posted on by misterstory

EP. 65 | Zach Bryan | With Heaven On Top – This Is Not Happening – An Album Of The Month Podcast

Welcome to Episode 65 of This Is Not Happening. An Album of the Month podcast. In Part 1, we review our Album of the Month. This month Nolan brings a big chunk of country (or is Heartland Rock?) with Zach Bryan's latest release 'With Heaven On Top'.In Part 2, we play Spin It or Bin It, we pick a theme and all pick songs that represent that theme. This month the theme is 'New Music', tracks released since January 1st.__________Part 1 | Album of the Month | Zach Bryan | With Heave On Top ____________Zach Bryan is a relatively divisive, country artist who is HUGE in the states but can his latest album help him become (even more of) a global superstar? At 25 tracks and 1hr 18 mins he's giving the album every chance of making an impact.This album has genuine, authentic heart. It's length is a big talking point, so is it's genre, is it country? Americana? Something else?Listen to the original album here.Listen to the acoustic version released 3 days after the original here.Watch an interesting conversation with Bryan and Springsteen here.       ___________________Part 2 | Spin It or Bin It | New Music _____________________Every 3 months we pick the theme 'New Music' and each pick 4 tracks that have been released in the last 2 month. Listen to our 16 track play list that we created for the New Music theme.We then each pick select 1 track and ask the simple question 'Spin It Or Bin It'?Joey chose 'Aperture' by Harry Styles.David chose 'Miami' by Pigeon.Nolan chose 'Milk, Blue' by Pem.Guy chose 'Out of Phase' by Alexis Taylor and Lola KirkeWe've been writing the blog for years come and have a look – https://thisisnothappening.net/
  1. EP. 65 | Zach Bryan | With Heaven On Top
  2. EP. 64 | Rosalia | LUX
  3. EP. 63 | Our Top 10 Albums of 2025
  4. EP. 62 | Juniper | Joy Crookes
  5. EP.61 | Blood Orange | Essex Honey

Welcome to Episode 48 of This is Not Happening (TINH).  An Album of the Month (AOTM) Podcast where in Part 1 we deep dive into an Album that one of us has chosen and in Part 2 we play ‘Spin it or Bin it’.  This is where we pick a theme and each select a song that represents that theme. We judge each others selections by asking the question ‘Spin It or Bin It’?

This month, in Part 1, Guy has picked the an album that could not be further from last month’s Charli XCX outing. He’s also picked the best named TINH AOTM ever, Linda Thompson’s Proxy Music.

In Part 2, Spin It or Bin It, the theme is simple … ‘Long Songs’ no explanation of the theme required here apart from Guy’s completely arbitrary suggestion that all tracks had to be over 8 minutes.

Part 1 | Linda Thompson | Proxy Music

English Folk musician legend Linda Thompson has lived enough life for several people. The good, the bad and everything in between. She’s now a 72 year old songwriter force who has sadly lost her super-power to sing … so she’s written songs for other artists to perform. The album is an eclectic collection of songs and collaborators pulled together through the concept of performing through a proxy. The critics love it with a combined Metacritic Score of 86. There’s a lot of love on the pod but not without a few reservations along the way.

  • Listen to the album here.
  • Watch Linda on Jools Holland back in 2011 videos here.
  • Guy references a couple of articles in his introduction and conversation they’re worth a look and can be found here and here.


Part 2 | Spin It or Bin It | Long Songs.

We love a long song. Even our resident (but absent on this episode) pop being loves a long song. Guy defines a long song as anything over 8 mins, who are we to argue with that kind of logic. So them’s the rules. Who bought what to the table to judge in Spin It or Bin It?

See you on Episode 49 … 

Posted in Album of the Month, New Albums, Spin it or Bin It

Podcast Ep. 46 | St. Vincent | All Born Screaming

Posted on by misterstory

EP. 65 | Zach Bryan | With Heaven On Top – This Is Not Happening – An Album Of The Month Podcast

Welcome to Episode 65 of This Is Not Happening. An Album of the Month podcast. In Part 1, we review our Album of the Month. This month Nolan brings a big chunk of country (or is Heartland Rock?) with Zach Bryan's latest release 'With Heaven On Top'.In Part 2, we play Spin It or Bin It, we pick a theme and all pick songs that represent that theme. This month the theme is 'New Music', tracks released since January 1st.__________Part 1 | Album of the Month | Zach Bryan | With Heave On Top ____________Zach Bryan is a relatively divisive, country artist who is HUGE in the states but can his latest album help him become (even more of) a global superstar? At 25 tracks and 1hr 18 mins he's giving the album every chance of making an impact.This album has genuine, authentic heart. It's length is a big talking point, so is it's genre, is it country? Americana? Something else?Listen to the original album here.Listen to the acoustic version released 3 days after the original here.Watch an interesting conversation with Bryan and Springsteen here.       ___________________Part 2 | Spin It or Bin It | New Music _____________________Every 3 months we pick the theme 'New Music' and each pick 4 tracks that have been released in the last 2 month. Listen to our 16 track play list that we created for the New Music theme.We then each pick select 1 track and ask the simple question 'Spin It Or Bin It'?Joey chose 'Aperture' by Harry Styles.David chose 'Miami' by Pigeon.Nolan chose 'Milk, Blue' by Pem.Guy chose 'Out of Phase' by Alexis Taylor and Lola KirkeWe've been writing the blog for years come and have a look – https://thisisnothappening.net/
  1. EP. 65 | Zach Bryan | With Heaven On Top
  2. EP. 64 | Rosalia | LUX
  3. EP. 63 | Our Top 10 Albums of 2025
  4. EP. 62 | Juniper | Joy Crookes
  5. EP.61 | Blood Orange | Essex Honey

Welcome to Episode 45 of This is Not Happening.  An Album of the Month Podcast where in Part 1 we deep dive into an Album that one of us has chosen and in Part 2 we play ‘Spin it or Bin it’.  This is where we pick a theme and each select a song that represents that theme. We judge each others selections by asking the question ‘Spin It or Bin It’?

This month, in Part 1, David bravely returns to the scene a previous crime on our podcast. He brings the second St. Vincent album to a group of people who historically have not reacted well to St. Vincent. Wow. How might this one go? In all seriousness, this is a very different experience to ‘Daddy’s Home’ and a really good chat about the good, the not so good and our collective love of Pop Reggae.

This month, in Part 2, Spin It or Bin It, the theme is ‘Crying in Aldi’ or ‘music that makes you cry’. As the theme suggests, things got pretty emotional.

Part 1 | St. Vincent | All Born Screaming

I think the full continuum of emotions or lack of emotions is expressed in this review. David brings unconditional love for St. Vincent plus a thinly veiled threat that his wife might tell us off again if we say mean things. The rest of bring various thoughts and ideas to the table that range from the inquisitive to the annoyed.

  • Listen to the album here.
  • Watch some videos here including the Jimmy Kimmel live performance.
  • We reference the Tape Notes podcast (and also videos) which delve into the making of the album … this is seriously informative and entertaining discussion. Take a look at it here.

Part 2 | Spin It or Bin It | ‘Crying in Aldi’

The most ‘in’ of ‘in jokes’ is that Joey often cries to sad songs while doing the big shop in Aldi. He’s been banned from 3 stores now and is considering to switching to Lidl. In support of our brother, we’ve all been researching which songs make us cry and testing them out in various big-box supermarket chains.

See you on Episode 47 … where 4 old guys talk about Charlie XCX. What could go wrong?

Posted in Album of the Month, Music chat, New Albums, Spin it or Bin It

Podcast Ep. 45 | Vampire Weekend | Only God Was Above Us

Posted on by misterstory

Vampire Weekend - 'Only God Was Above Us' Tour - I.M.P.

Welcome to Episode 45 of This is Not Happening.  An Album of the Month Podcast where in Part 1 we deep dive into an Album that one of us has chosen and in Part 2 we play ‘Spin it or Bin it’.  This is where we pick a theme and each select a song that represents that theme. We judge each others selections by asking the question ‘Spin It or Bin It’?

This month, in Part 1, we dive right into the deep-end of ‘Only God Was Above Us’ the new album from TINH favourite (at least 3 of us) Vampire Weekend.  This month we’re in the capable hands of Nolan who has introduces the album and guides us through some key questions and an interesting conversation. In Part 2 we play Spin it or Bin It with songs that are all. ‘a little bit country’.

Part 1 | Vampire Weekend | Only God Was Above Us

My god Vampire Weekend can write a song! And this album really proves that. We answer (or at least attempt to answer) some big questions – is this best Vampire Weekend album? How do you pick a favourite track when they’re all so good and do such different things. 

  • Listen to the album here.
  • Watch some videos here.
  • Awesome interview by John Kennedy that we reference constantly … here
  • Buy some stuff  or some tickets here.

Part 2 | Spin It or Bin It | ‘A little bit country’

Country is massive in 2024 … and Guy hates it. So, what other theme could we choose? The clue is in the title, the tracks only have to be ‘a little bit country’. 4 Track playlist of our chosen tracks is here.

See you on Episode 46! 

Posted in Album of the Month, podcast, Spin it or Bin It

Podcast Ep. 42 | Aesop Rock | Integrated Tech Solutions

Posted on by misterstory

EP. 65 | Zach Bryan | With Heaven On Top – This Is Not Happening – An Album Of The Month Podcast

Welcome to Episode 65 of This Is Not Happening. An Album of the Month podcast. In Part 1, we review our Album of the Month. This month Nolan brings a big chunk of country (or is Heartland Rock?) with Zach Bryan's latest release 'With Heaven On Top'.In Part 2, we play Spin It or Bin It, we pick a theme and all pick songs that represent that theme. This month the theme is 'New Music', tracks released since January 1st.__________Part 1 | Album of the Month | Zach Bryan | With Heave On Top ____________Zach Bryan is a relatively divisive, country artist who is HUGE in the states but can his latest album help him become (even more of) a global superstar? At 25 tracks and 1hr 18 mins he's giving the album every chance of making an impact.This album has genuine, authentic heart. It's length is a big talking point, so is it's genre, is it country? Americana? Something else?Listen to the original album here.Listen to the acoustic version released 3 days after the original here.Watch an interesting conversation with Bryan and Springsteen here.       ___________________Part 2 | Spin It or Bin It | New Music _____________________Every 3 months we pick the theme 'New Music' and each pick 4 tracks that have been released in the last 2 month. Listen to our 16 track play list that we created for the New Music theme.We then each pick select 1 track and ask the simple question 'Spin It Or Bin It'?Joey chose 'Aperture' by Harry Styles.David chose 'Miami' by Pigeon.Nolan chose 'Milk, Blue' by Pem.Guy chose 'Out of Phase' by Alexis Taylor and Lola KirkeWe've been writing the blog for years come and have a look – https://thisisnothappening.net/
  1. EP. 65 | Zach Bryan | With Heaven On Top
  2. EP. 64 | Rosalia | LUX
  3. EP. 63 | Our Top 10 Albums of 2025
  4. EP. 62 | Juniper | Joy Crookes
  5. EP.61 | Blood Orange | Essex Honey

Welcome to Episode 42 of This is Not Happening. An Album of the Month Podcast where in Part 1 we deep dive into an Album that one of us has chosen and in Part 2 we play ‘Spin it or Bin it’.  This is where we pick a theme and each select a song that represents that theme. We judge each others selections by asking the question ‘Spin It or Bin It’?

This month, in Part 1, we get stuck right into Integrated Tech Solutions by Aesop Rock. Nolan and I (Joey) think this is one of 2023’s underrated albums and definitely a hidden hip hop gem. David is missing this month so we only have to convince Guy! In Part 2, the Spin it or Bin it theme is ‘Technology’ where we all chose a track that we think fits the theme and ask the others ‘Spin It or Bin It’.

Part 1 | Aesop Rock | Integrated Tech Solutions.

This one’s special (in my opinion). Nolan has always tried to sell Aesop Rock to me but there’s so much music and so little time that I never quite got it. That changed in the Autumn when Mindful Solutionism, the lead single from this album dropped. I chose it as a Spin It or Bin It track and won that month. There’s another 17 tracks on this album. It’s dense, intelligent, socially conciuous, amusing, moving and thought provoking hip hop. Get stuck in if you haven’t already.

  • Listen to the album here.
  • Watch some videos here.
  • Buy some stuff here.
  • Follow him on Instagram here.

Part 2 | Spin It or Bin It | ‘Technology’

Taking inspiration from the album of the month, a really interesting theme of ‘technology’. Interpretation was wide open on this one. Our chosen 4 tracks can be found on a play list here. In order to chose a track we each shortlist 4 tracks each, a combined 16 track playlist can be found here.

*** Enjoy the Episode ***

Posted in Album of the Month, Music chat, New Albums, podcast

AOTM | ‘Integrated Tech Solutions’ by Aesop Rock

Posted on by misterstory

January 2024 is another slow month for new music … well, actually, a slow month for New Albums. There’s a glut of interesting tracks being released as precursors to new albums but nothing that floated our boat from an album perspective. With this in mind, it is my absolute pleasure to bring an album to the table from Nov. ’23 – Interated

As this album, and to be fair this artist, was introduced to me (Joey) by Nolan, I thought it was best for him to introduce things …

You know when someone tells you a story, and starts with ‘bear with me, it’s worth it’. Or when you have to talk your partner into watching a film that their face says they don’t want to watch but you know they’ll love it by the end? Ladies and gentlemen; I give you Aesop Rock, and his latest release ‘Integrated Tech Solutions’ or ITS for short. Aesop was recently referred to by Kitty Empire of the Guardian as ‘dad rap’, the reference is fair. It’s accessible and unique. Arguably he’s one of the most interesting musicians and story tellers in modern times, which you need in your life, but you will need to give him some time to let his commentary fully sink in.

Aesop Rock isn’t new, he has been making exceptional underground hip hop for all the train spotting backpackers since 1997. Although a new name to most, over the last quarter of a century he has slowly been building a dedicated fanbase through not only unique beats and lyrics, but his unique delivery. Expect the unexpected, his lyrics and content are far from stereo typical hip hop. Aesop has been attributed to have the widest use of vocabulary in hip hop and content is spun with humour over ego. His self-awareness and an unique observations likens him more to John Cooper Clarke than Nas.

On his Spotify page, his wordplay is described as dense. A fair description. There’s an argument that to truly get a taste of what he’s lyrically putting across in each album you will need at least 20 listens. The ability to create music that keeps on giving and requires multiple listens is admirable is these times of throw away, on to the next music listening, but admittedly also could and has left him without the accolade that most of his albums deserve. 

The Guardian also pointed out that his last album Spirit World Field Guide had ‘late career rave reviews’. I’d argue he’s just getting started as with each album release there’s subtle evolution, Aesop Rock makes his best album to date with each release. 

Pitchfork described ITS as ‘an album loosely about life under technology. For me this is an album of stories, thoughts, and daydreams. The content ranges from the evolution of man (and himself), Mr. T, mental health, pigeons, even salt and pepper squid.. and skateboarding. He refers to skating a lot. 

On each Aesop Rock album, there is always a track that is a ‘gateway’ song, one I recommend to get someone to listen to the album. On ITS there is a plethora. 100 Feet Tall, Mindful Solutionalism, Kyanote Toothpick… in fairness I struggle to think of a track that I wouldn’t recommend. There is an ever so subtle evolution, where Aesop Rock finds himself making his best album yet with each release.

Thank you Nolan … let me drop some thoughts;

I’ve ‘known about’ Aesop Rock for years now but never really dived straight in and fully committed to the aforementioned density of his albums. To do this you need your gateway track and Mindful Solutionism is just that. It was my No.2 track of 2023 and is a stone cold classic. The beat is infectious, the lyrics burrow into your ears and then you’re mind.

Everything that Nolan has said about the album and Aesop is spot on. He is a great story teller. He layers meaning into all of his songs. I don’t mean there are little ‘in-jokes’ in his tracks that you have to google to understand. This is what I mean;

Pigeonometry – a track that is about setting a task to draw 1000 pigeons but is really about individualism, bigotry and the disenfranchised.

100 Feet Tall – is a track about meeting Mr. T in a restaurant in the 80’s but is really about the impact (and the lack of) black role models on TV. On one hand it makes you smile and laugh and on the other hand it makes you empathise with the little boy version of Aesop telling the story.

Aggressive Steven – is another great example of story telling that is basically about going home to smoke with a friend to find out your apartment has been broken into. But this track ends up being about underfunded mental health services and criminalisation of people in need.

These are only 3 examples but every track can be described in a very similar way. I am not sure if I can think of many … any other rappers who have this level of ‘writing’ capability. The thought process and skill sitting behind this output is incredible. But wow … then the delivery. Does it get much better than this? Ok, its not ‘banger hip hop’ this isn’t Superbowl Half Time Show hip hop. But if you like your music to say something, to say many things, to say them intelligently, with razor sharp word play, over super sharp beats and always with a smile on its face … this is for you.

Posted in Album of the Month, Music chat, New Albums, New Tunes, podcast, Spin it or Bin It

Podcast Episode 41 | Lana Del Rey | … Ocean Blvd.

Posted on by misterstory

EP. 65 | Zach Bryan | With Heaven On Top – This Is Not Happening – An Album Of The Month Podcast

Welcome to Episode 65 of This Is Not Happening. An Album of the Month podcast. In Part 1, we review our Album of the Month. This month Nolan brings a big chunk of country (or is Heartland Rock?) with Zach Bryan's latest release 'With Heaven On Top'.In Part 2, we play Spin It or Bin It, we pick a theme and all pick songs that represent that theme. This month the theme is 'New Music', tracks released since January 1st.__________Part 1 | Album of the Month | Zach Bryan | With Heave On Top ____________Zach Bryan is a relatively divisive, country artist who is HUGE in the states but can his latest album help him become (even more of) a global superstar? At 25 tracks and 1hr 18 mins he's giving the album every chance of making an impact.This album has genuine, authentic heart. It's length is a big talking point, so is it's genre, is it country? Americana? Something else?Listen to the original album here.Listen to the acoustic version released 3 days after the original here.Watch an interesting conversation with Bryan and Springsteen here.       ___________________Part 2 | Spin It or Bin It | New Music _____________________Every 3 months we pick the theme 'New Music' and each pick 4 tracks that have been released in the last 2 month. Listen to our 16 track play list that we created for the New Music theme.We then each pick select 1 track and ask the simple question 'Spin It Or Bin It'?Joey chose 'Aperture' by Harry Styles.David chose 'Miami' by Pigeon.Nolan chose 'Milk, Blue' by Pem.Guy chose 'Out of Phase' by Alexis Taylor and Lola KirkeWe've been writing the blog for years come and have a look – https://thisisnothappening.net/
  1. EP. 65 | Zach Bryan | With Heaven On Top
  2. EP. 64 | Rosalia | LUX
  3. EP. 63 | Our Top 10 Albums of 2025
  4. EP. 62 | Juniper | Joy Crookes
  5. EP.61 | Blood Orange | Essex Honey

Welcome to Episode 41 of This is Not Happening. An Album of the Month Podcast where in Part 1 we deep dive into an Album that one of us has chosen and in Part 2 we play ‘Spin it or Bin it’.  This is where we pick a theme and each select a song that represents that theme. We judge each others selections by asking the question ‘Spin It or Bin It’?

This month, in Part 1, we go deep with Lana Del Ray for the first time on TINH. LDR is one of the industry major players, few move units or split opinions like her. Find out what we think. In Part 2, the Spin it or Bin it theme is ‘A Song for January’ where we all chose a track that we think fits the theme and ask the others ‘Spin It or Bin It’.

Part 1 | Lana Del Rey | Did you know there’s a tunnel under Ocean Blvd.

This is album no.9 for LDR and its a whopper. It’s got a lot to say and says it across 16 tracks. There are common LDR tropes and new twists on what you might expect. We think it contains some of the best music released in 2023 but is it all good? Can a 78 minute be brilliant from start to finish?

  • Listen to the album here.
  • Watch some videos here.
  • Buy some stuff here.
  • A really interesting interview on Billboard can be found here.

Part 2 | Spin It or Bin It | ‘A song for January’

Well, that was an odd Episode of Spin It or Bin It! The usual structure goes to the wall this month and it all gets a bit loose. Nolan get’s the hump, Joey gets all serious but thankfully David and Guy clean up the mess and no blood was spilled.

*** Enjoy the Episode ***

We’ve been writing the blog for years come and have a look – https://thisisnothappening.net

Posted in Music chat, New Albums, New Tunes, podcast, Spin it or Bin It

Podcast Episode 40 | 2023 Top 10 Albums

Posted on by misterstory

EP. 65 | Zach Bryan | With Heaven On Top – This Is Not Happening – An Album Of The Month Podcast

Welcome to Episode 65 of This Is Not Happening. An Album of the Month podcast. In Part 1, we review our Album of the Month. This month Nolan brings a big chunk of country (or is Heartland Rock?) with Zach Bryan's latest release 'With Heaven On Top'.In Part 2, we play Spin It or Bin It, we pick a theme and all pick songs that represent that theme. This month the theme is 'New Music', tracks released since January 1st.__________Part 1 | Album of the Month | Zach Bryan | With Heave On Top ____________Zach Bryan is a relatively divisive, country artist who is HUGE in the states but can his latest album help him become (even more of) a global superstar? At 25 tracks and 1hr 18 mins he's giving the album every chance of making an impact.This album has genuine, authentic heart. It's length is a big talking point, so is it's genre, is it country? Americana? Something else?Listen to the original album here.Listen to the acoustic version released 3 days after the original here.Watch an interesting conversation with Bryan and Springsteen here.       ___________________Part 2 | Spin It or Bin It | New Music _____________________Every 3 months we pick the theme 'New Music' and each pick 4 tracks that have been released in the last 2 month. Listen to our 16 track play list that we created for the New Music theme.We then each pick select 1 track and ask the simple question 'Spin It Or Bin It'?Joey chose 'Aperture' by Harry Styles.David chose 'Miami' by Pigeon.Nolan chose 'Milk, Blue' by Pem.Guy chose 'Out of Phase' by Alexis Taylor and Lola KirkeWe've been writing the blog for years come and have a look – https://thisisnothappening.net/
  1. EP. 65 | Zach Bryan | With Heaven On Top
  2. EP. 64 | Rosalia | LUX
  3. EP. 63 | Our Top 10 Albums of 2025
  4. EP. 62 | Juniper | Joy Crookes
  5. EP.61 | Blood Orange | Essex Honey

Welcome to Episode 40 of This is Not Happening. An Album of the Month Podcast where we usually review an album in depth and play something called ‘Spin It or Bin It’ … but not this month.

We’re celebrating our big 4-0 in style. It’s end of year review time. We select our top 10 albums of 2023 and each pick our Track of 2023.

Part 1 – 2023 Top 10 Albums

We all independently picked our top 10s. We run those choices through a series of deep learning models commonly known as ‘Algo Dave’ and we create a mathematically generated combined Top 10. We made our selections and recorded this pod WAAAAAY ahead of any body else’s lists coming out so we are not influenced by the mainstream musical media (which is why our list looks SO different to everyone else’s). We’re super proud of our 10 and chuffed to bits that our No.1 is an album that we all love and one that we’ve loved since the start of the year. No recency bias here my friends.

Part 2- 2023 Tracks of the Year

We each select a track of the year. Simple as that. We explain why it’s our track of 2023 and have a little critique of each others choices.

*** Enjoy the Episode ***

Posted in Album of the Month, Music chat, New Albums, New Tunes, Spin it or Bin It

Podcast Episode 39 | Sufjan Stevens | Javelin

Posted on by misterstory

EP. 65 | Zach Bryan | With Heaven On Top – This Is Not Happening – An Album Of The Month Podcast

Welcome to Episode 65 of This Is Not Happening. An Album of the Month podcast. In Part 1, we review our Album of the Month. This month Nolan brings a big chunk of country (or is Heartland Rock?) with Zach Bryan's latest release 'With Heaven On Top'.In Part 2, we play Spin It or Bin It, we pick a theme and all pick songs that represent that theme. This month the theme is 'New Music', tracks released since January 1st.__________Part 1 | Album of the Month | Zach Bryan | With Heave On Top ____________Zach Bryan is a relatively divisive, country artist who is HUGE in the states but can his latest album help him become (even more of) a global superstar? At 25 tracks and 1hr 18 mins he's giving the album every chance of making an impact.This album has genuine, authentic heart. It's length is a big talking point, so is it's genre, is it country? Americana? Something else?Listen to the original album here.Listen to the acoustic version released 3 days after the original here.Watch an interesting conversation with Bryan and Springsteen here.       ___________________Part 2 | Spin It or Bin It | New Music _____________________Every 3 months we pick the theme 'New Music' and each pick 4 tracks that have been released in the last 2 month. Listen to our 16 track play list that we created for the New Music theme.We then each pick select 1 track and ask the simple question 'Spin It Or Bin It'?Joey chose 'Aperture' by Harry Styles.David chose 'Miami' by Pigeon.Nolan chose 'Milk, Blue' by Pem.Guy chose 'Out of Phase' by Alexis Taylor and Lola KirkeWe've been writing the blog for years come and have a look – https://thisisnothappening.net/
  1. EP. 65 | Zach Bryan | With Heaven On Top
  2. EP. 64 | Rosalia | LUX
  3. EP. 63 | Our Top 10 Albums of 2025
  4. EP. 62 | Juniper | Joy Crookes
  5. EP.61 | Blood Orange | Essex Honey

Welcome to Episode 39 of This is Not Happening. An Album of the Month Podcast where in Part 1 we deep dive into an Album that one of us has chosen and in Part 2 we play ‘Spin it or Bin it’.  This is where we pick a theme and each select a song that represents that theme. We judge each others selections by asking the question ‘Spin It or Bin It’?

This month, in Part 1, we get stuck in TINH favourite, Sufjan Steven’s latest release  ‘Javelin’. Wow. Is there a lot to talk about. I hope we do it justice. In Part 2, the Spin it or Bin it theme is ‘Unconventional Love Songs’ where we all chose a track that we think fits the theme and ask the others ‘Spin It or Bin It’.

Part 1 | Sufjan Stevens | Javelin

It’s David’s choice this month and a record 3rd time that we’ve reviewed an album by the same artist. On one hand this Sufjan doing Sufjan things … and then on the other, it’s a heart breaking, gut punch of an album that takes you to beautifully uncomfortable places. It’s genuinely spectacular. 

  • Listen to the album here.
  • Watch some videos here.
  • Buy some stuff here.
  • In the chat we reference Sufjan’s Instagram, that can be found here.
  • A rare and recent (ish) interview with Sufjan on his health condition is here.

Part 2 | Spin It or Bin It | Unconventional Love Songs

Who are we to judge what ‘conventional’ means, what ‘love’ means … what a ‘song’ is? The interpretation of ‘unconventional love songs’ was left wide open this month.

We all chose a 4 track shortlist to chose our track, you can here all 16 tracks on this playlist here.

*** Enjoy the Episode ***