Welcome to Episode 69 of This Is Not Happening, an Album of the Month podcast. In Part 1, we do a deep drive review of our Album of the Month. This month Nolan serves up Lykke Li's new record: 'The Afterparty'.In Part 2, we play Spin It or Bin It, we pick a theme and all pick songs that represent that theme. This month, we pick our favourite new music. —— Part 1 | Album of the Month | Lykke Li | The Afterparty ——Lykke Li is an adored and fascinating artist, having been releasing music since 2008. The Swedish artist has ploughed her own furrow of pop distinctly different to last month's Robyn, heavy on melancholy and referencing the 60s as much as the modern world and is a real pod favourite. Breaking out in the late 2000s with I Follow Rivers, she's the artist you never knew you loved. The Afterparty is the sixth studio album for Li, and reflects the uncertainty of the modern, chaotic work in its svelte 24-minute running time, packing so much emotion and dynamics into that short running time. The chat takes in her legacy, asks if this truly is her last album, and whether a famously reclusive artist can easily exist in the 'hyper-on' world of the music industry in 2026. Have a listen, tell us what you think.Listen to the original album here.Watch some of her videos here , particularly the singles from this album.Buy this album or some merch here. And listen to her talk about the album here. —————- Part 2 | Spin It or Bin It | Sad Bangers —————- For Spin It or Bin It this month, we return to new music, picking our favourite new tracks from May and June. The task is simple: pick a track that fits the theme, the objective, get more 'spins' than your friends. We each pick four tracks for a 16 track play list . We then each pick select 1 track and ask the simple question 'Spin It Or Bin It'?David chose 'the cure' by Olivia RodrigoGuy chose 'THE WORLDWIDE SCOURGE' by Genesis Owusu.Nolan chose 'Electric Revival' by Deante' Hitchcock.What new music would you have chosen? What's missing from our playlist?We've been writing the blog for years come and have a look – https://thisisnothappening.net/We've been writing the blog for years come and have a look – https://thisisnothappening.net/
It’s that time of year again, we dust off David’s scoring-algorithm for the end of year review. This is the one we look forward to and we hope you enjoy it.
This month, in Part 1 we run through our collective, This is Not Happening Top-10 albums. In Part 2 we all introduce our Track of the year.
Part 1 | 2022 This is Not Happening Top 10 Albums
So, there’s for of us. We all independently chose our Top 10 albums. This data is fed into deep learning algorithm that considers all of the knowns and most of the unknowns and create a singular, collective This is Not Happening Top 10. Its a controversial approach but its as fair as we can make it.
This year only 2 albums were chosen by all 4 of us. Only 3 albums were chosen by 3 of us. However, the Top 10 feels more ‘shared’ than we’ve ever done. I think it’s a really solid top 10 and we should be proud of it.
Our number one is an absolute belter! We can hold our heads high with this one.
Part 2 | Tracks of the Year
How do you sum up an entire year in one track? Is it even possible? Two, important questions, to which our answers are; ‘with difficulty’ and ‘yes’. We chose 4 tracks from 4 different genres. There’s more than a whiff of melancholy that links our Top tracks but we think is kind of fitting for one of the oddest of years.
Next Month
If we’re honest, we’re not 100% sure what we’ll be reviewing. Every year there are albums released later in the year that we miss or simply don’t have the time to get our teeth into. So Nolan will pick one of these albums and we’ll all spend the holidays getting stuck into that with our families (if it’s vaguely appropriate for very young or very old ears).
Welcome to Episode 69 of This Is Not Happening, an Album of the Month podcast. In Part 1, we do a deep drive review of our Album of the Month. This month Nolan serves up Lykke Li's new record: 'The Afterparty'.In Part 2, we play Spin It or Bin It, we pick a theme and all pick songs that represent that theme. This month, we pick our favourite new music. —— Part 1 | Album of the Month | Lykke Li | The Afterparty ——Lykke Li is an adored and fascinating artist, having been releasing music since 2008. The Swedish artist has ploughed her own furrow of pop distinctly different to last month's Robyn, heavy on melancholy and referencing the 60s as much as the modern world and is a real pod favourite. Breaking out in the late 2000s with I Follow Rivers, she's the artist you never knew you loved. The Afterparty is the sixth studio album for Li, and reflects the uncertainty of the modern, chaotic work in its svelte 24-minute running time, packing so much emotion and dynamics into that short running time. The chat takes in her legacy, asks if this truly is her last album, and whether a famously reclusive artist can easily exist in the 'hyper-on' world of the music industry in 2026. Have a listen, tell us what you think.Listen to the original album here.Watch some of her videos here , particularly the singles from this album.Buy this album or some merch here. And listen to her talk about the album here. —————- Part 2 | Spin It or Bin It | Sad Bangers —————- For Spin It or Bin It this month, we return to new music, picking our favourite new tracks from May and June. The task is simple: pick a track that fits the theme, the objective, get more 'spins' than your friends. We each pick four tracks for a 16 track play list . We then each pick select 1 track and ask the simple question 'Spin It Or Bin It'?David chose 'the cure' by Olivia RodrigoGuy chose 'THE WORLDWIDE SCOURGE' by Genesis Owusu.Nolan chose 'Electric Revival' by Deante' Hitchcock.What new music would you have chosen? What's missing from our playlist?We've been writing the blog for years come and have a look – https://thisisnothappening.net/We've been writing the blog for years come and have a look – https://thisisnothappening.net/
Guess who’s back. Back again. TINH’s back. Tell a friend.
This month, in Part 1 we go deep on this month’s Album of the Month by Sudan Archives. In Part 2 we play ‘Spin It or Bin It’, where we choose a theme and each bring our choice of tracks. This month the theme is ‘Our own personal entrance music’.
Part 1 | Album of the Month | Sudan Archives | Natural Brown Prom Queen
It’s my (Joey’s) choice this month and we’ve gone with a belter of a sophomore album by Sudan Archives that easily claims the best titled album of the year ‘Natural Brown Prom Queen’
(personally I’ve got my eye on the ‘I just wanna get my titties out’ t-shirt –here)
As always we kick off with what we expected from the album and what we got. Then we explore favorite tracks, sequencing of the album, why ‘OMG Britt’ nearly ruined the whole thing for Guy’, the creative process of making the album and the influences that we hear.
We mention a few things that we’d highly recommend checking out, so here are the links;
Part 2 | Spin It or Bin It | ‘Our own personal entrance music’
The theme for Spin It or Bin It is a bit different this month. We’re choosing our ‘Entrance Music’ and describing the event or circumstances that we’re entering. If that doesn’t make too much sense, just listen to the episode! This month, the 4 tracks were …
The big one! The end of year review. Hold on tight. We count down our 10 favourite albums of the year, featuring lots of moaning about David’s album scoring algorithm. We also present our tracks of the year. Can you sum up the year musically in one track? It’s a lot tougher than you’d think.
Other episodes of the pod and 10 years of the blog;
If you enjoyed this episode, please check out the others. If that’s not enough for you then there’s 10 years worth of music discussion on the blog at www.thisisnothappening.net, which runs alongside the podcast choices and much, much more.
… and the award for the best album title of 2022 goes to … Sudan Archives ‘Natural Brown Prom Queen’.
Sudan Archives, AKA Brittany Parks, is a 28 year old, musical force of nature from Cincinnati, Ohio but now based in LA. Natural Brown Prom Queen is her 2nd album and it’s getting significant and well deserved attention from the press, live audiences … and This Is Not Happening. This album is a rollercoaster ride, it’s wild, frenetic, original, chaotic, ridiculously high energy, high concept, totally individual, ambitious, and above all massive fun. It fuses Pop, R&B, Hip Hop, Dance, sounds of the 90s, early naughties, contemporary times … and perhaps even the future.
If you’ve not yet heard the album, have a listen here (other streaming platforms are available).
Two pods ago, David chose ‘Topless’, the first single off the album, as his selection for ‘Spin it or bin it’. I think we all ended up spinning it but we had an interesting discussion in getting there. Topless is a brave choice for the albums’ first single as it is so divisive, I can’t imagine anyone not having a pretty strong opinion about this track. I said something along the lines of ‘this is either the best or the worst track that anyone has chosen for Spin it or bin it’. Making your mind up about the track is a lot easier if you only listen to it, when you watch the video too, it’s close to sensory overload. Therefore, I’d recommend you first listen to the track here but you can also dive straight in to the video here …
There’s a lot going on isn’t there? While this track isn’t wholly representative of the album it does point you in the right direction.
The album is 18 tracks and 54 mins long. As Nolan has pointed out, this is pretty much standard Hip Hop / R&B album length these days. But also, this kind of length has caused problems before when we’re digesting previous albums of the month. It’s much easier to digest a tight 35-40 minute album if you’re tackling a new artist or something that’s not your natural musical tastes. Brother Guy, I’m thinking of you here. And the 54 mins of this album can hardly be described as ‘easy listening’. There is so much going on here that it asks quite a lot of the listener, even if this does fall into your natural wheel-house.
For me, the 18 tracks on the album fall into 3 different phases of the album. This is something that we’ve discussed quite a lot on Whats App and I am sure will be a central point of the pod. But here are the ‘phases’ as I hear the album.
Phase 1: Track 1 (Homemaker) to Track 8 (OMG Britt)
Phase 2: Track 9 (Chevy S10) to Track 13 (Do Your Thing)
Phase 3: Track 14 (Freakalizer) to Track 18 (#513)
With such a long album I often get interrupted when I listen and don’t get as many ‘all the way through’ runs with the album as I’d like. Therefore I tend to chop the album up and the above has begun to feel like a natural(ish) division. I don’t think for a second that Ms. Parks designed it like that but it’s the reality of my listening experience.
In short, the first 3rd contains all of the singles – Topless, Selfish Soul and OMG Britt. As with so many albums these days, it’s front loaded with the hook laden, immediate attention grabbing (perhaps not ‘radio friendly’) singles. Let’s take a quick minute to talk about Selfish Soul. This is a mega track. It’s got a similar attitude, vibe and bounce to ‘Beyonce’s ‘Single Ladies’ and like that track is close to impossible to sit still to. But, it’s also weird AF. Or perhaps ‘wonky’ as Brother David would put it. It also touches on subject matter that I’ve never heard covered like this before.
As we always do, we love to share brilliant content from other blogs, websites and pods … I MASSIVELY encourage you to listen to the Song Exploder episode on this track which you can listen to here. It’s fascinating listening to Brittany talk about the recording process – her working alone in her home recording studio and sending the track to producers and remixers who do their thing, totally independently and send it back to her. She then picks and chooses what she likes and what she doesn’t. Whilst I am sure it’s not a unique approach its certainly not a common form of ‘collaboration’ that I’ve come across. However, you can definitely hear the hand of many creatives in this album … but their input seems to be moderated and modulated by Sudan Archives to create the final product that we hear and is totally hers.
One more track to call out from this first third … only cause you’re going to hear us speak about this so much more on the Pod is OMG Britt. David and I love it but Guy hates it with a passion I’m not sure I’ve seen before (sorry Nolan not sure what you think about it yet). Sudan Archives is at her spikiest and most aggressive on this track but for me, it’s a total banger.
So what about the 2nd and 3rd ‘phases’ of this album?
Phase 2 turns to more ambitious tracks of greater scope and scale. Chevy S10 is the perfect example. At over 6 minutes it’s the longest track on the album by some way. This song itself has as many phases as the album, all quite unique, equally ambitious and intriguing. This track reminds me of some of the longer, more experimental College Dropout Tracks in its complete ignorance of the rules that govern so much music in the Hip Hop / R&B genre. Also, I hear shades of Pyramids by Frank Ocean here too?
For me, the second phase contains some of the strongest tracks on the album, ChevyS10, Copycat and Flue are super strong tracks and TDLY is sparkling in it’s oddness and is great example of the violin playing that Sudan Archives has become famous for. This phase ends with the only skit on the album which I can take or leave but its only 50 seconds long and feels like it fits.
The final phase of the album doesn’t let up in it’s vast array of styles and genre influences on display. Freakalizer marries a lovely early 90’s beat with nu-soul early 2000’s vocals in a catchy, funky track with a bunch of vocal hooks. We then move to two, perfectly crafted slow jams (Homesick and Milk Me) before we move to the final two tracks, Yellow Brick Road and #513 that both remind me of late 90’s early naughties R&B and perhaps even Trip Hop influences (particularly #513) but alway with a contemporary twist or nod.
If you can’t tell, I think this album isn’t far off being perfect. I wouldn’t lose a single track and I don’t think I’d change anything about the sequencing. I love the massive list of influences that I can hear here. I love how they’re blended so well. I love the zero fucks given to genre rules and tropes. I am not sure if I’ve heard such a confident presentation of someone doing exactly what they want to do since ‘Smiling with no teeth’ by Genesis Owusu. I think I’d argue that Sudan Archives has achieved an album with a greater level of consistency. But I also appreciate that this is less accessible than ‘Smiling’ and I know for a fact that for one of us on the Pod, this album has been a struggle.
It should be an interesting discussion. Look out for the Pod episode dropping mid November wherever you get your podcasts!
Welcome to Episode 69 of This Is Not Happening, an Album of the Month podcast. In Part 1, we do a deep drive review of our Album of the Month. This month Nolan serves up Lykke Li's new record: 'The Afterparty'.In Part 2, we play Spin It or Bin It, we pick a theme and all pick songs that represent that theme. This month, we pick our favourite new music. —— Part 1 | Album of the Month | Lykke Li | The Afterparty ——Lykke Li is an adored and fascinating artist, having been releasing music since 2008. The Swedish artist has ploughed her own furrow of pop distinctly different to last month's Robyn, heavy on melancholy and referencing the 60s as much as the modern world and is a real pod favourite. Breaking out in the late 2000s with I Follow Rivers, she's the artist you never knew you loved. The Afterparty is the sixth studio album for Li, and reflects the uncertainty of the modern, chaotic work in its svelte 24-minute running time, packing so much emotion and dynamics into that short running time. The chat takes in her legacy, asks if this truly is her last album, and whether a famously reclusive artist can easily exist in the 'hyper-on' world of the music industry in 2026. Have a listen, tell us what you think.Listen to the original album here.Watch some of her videos here , particularly the singles from this album.Buy this album or some merch here. And listen to her talk about the album here. —————- Part 2 | Spin It or Bin It | Sad Bangers —————- For Spin It or Bin It this month, we return to new music, picking our favourite new tracks from May and June. The task is simple: pick a track that fits the theme, the objective, get more 'spins' than your friends. We each pick four tracks for a 16 track play list . We then each pick select 1 track and ask the simple question 'Spin It Or Bin It'?David chose 'the cure' by Olivia RodrigoGuy chose 'THE WORLDWIDE SCOURGE' by Genesis Owusu.Nolan chose 'Electric Revival' by Deante' Hitchcock.What new music would you have chosen? What's missing from our playlist?We've been writing the blog for years come and have a look – https://thisisnothappening.net/We've been writing the blog for years come and have a look – https://thisisnothappening.net/
We’re back again this month with our usual format. In Part 1 we go deep on Hot Chip’s latest album, in Part 2 we play ‘Spin It or Bin It’, where we choose a theme and each bring our choice of tracks. This month the theme is ‘Dance-Pop’.
Part 1 | Album of the Month | Hot Chip | Freakout/Release
It’s Guy’s choice this month and he chooses the one of his favourite band’s latest release. It’s always interesting when one of us chooses a band that they love and have loads of history with.
The chat focuses around our initial impressions, favourite tracks, the difficulty of maintaining relevance and engagement on your 8th album … and we all have something to say on the sequencing of tracks on this album.
Guy has curated a 28 track playlist called ‘Hot Chip’s Hot Hits’ – have a listen to it here
During the chat there were loads of references to Hot Chip side projects, here are a few links for you to check out;
Part 2 | Spin It or Bin It | We all choose a Dance-Pop Track
In tribute to Hot Chip, the theme for Spin It or Bin It this month is Dance-Pop. Over the course of the month we all create a play list of our favourite Dance-Pop, a shortlist of 4 tracks and then choose a track to delight (or in my case annoy) the team. This month, the 4 tracks were …
The 16 track playlist of each of our 4 shortlisted tracks can be found here and it’s a belter!
Next Month
I (Joey) will be running the show and hosting the discussion on Sudan Archive’s 2nd album – Natural Brown Prom Queen
Other episodes of the pod and 10 years of the blog;
If you enjoyed this episode, please check out the others. If that’s not enough for you then there’s 10 years worth of music discussion on the blog at www.thisisnothappening.net, which runs alongside the podcast choices and much, much more. So check them out so to see what we like and where we clash, and comment if something catches your eye. We’d love to hear what you think
Welcome to Episode 69 of This Is Not Happening, an Album of the Month podcast. In Part 1, we do a deep drive review of our Album of the Month. This month Nolan serves up Lykke Li's new record: 'The Afterparty'.In Part 2, we play Spin It or Bin It, we pick a theme and all pick songs that represent that theme. This month, we pick our favourite new music. —— Part 1 | Album of the Month | Lykke Li | The Afterparty ——Lykke Li is an adored and fascinating artist, having been releasing music since 2008. The Swedish artist has ploughed her own furrow of pop distinctly different to last month's Robyn, heavy on melancholy and referencing the 60s as much as the modern world and is a real pod favourite. Breaking out in the late 2000s with I Follow Rivers, she's the artist you never knew you loved. The Afterparty is the sixth studio album for Li, and reflects the uncertainty of the modern, chaotic work in its svelte 24-minute running time, packing so much emotion and dynamics into that short running time. The chat takes in her legacy, asks if this truly is her last album, and whether a famously reclusive artist can easily exist in the 'hyper-on' world of the music industry in 2026. Have a listen, tell us what you think.Listen to the original album here.Watch some of her videos here , particularly the singles from this album.Buy this album or some merch here. And listen to her talk about the album here. —————- Part 2 | Spin It or Bin It | Sad Bangers —————- For Spin It or Bin It this month, we return to new music, picking our favourite new tracks from May and June. The task is simple: pick a track that fits the theme, the objective, get more 'spins' than your friends. We each pick four tracks for a 16 track play list . We then each pick select 1 track and ask the simple question 'Spin It Or Bin It'?David chose 'the cure' by Olivia RodrigoGuy chose 'THE WORLDWIDE SCOURGE' by Genesis Owusu.Nolan chose 'Electric Revival' by Deante' Hitchcock.What new music would you have chosen? What's missing from our playlist?We've been writing the blog for years come and have a look – https://thisisnothappening.net/We've been writing the blog for years come and have a look – https://thisisnothappening.net/
After a little summer break we’re back! We get deep into our Album of the Month, Steve Lacy’s Gemini Rights in Part 1. We dig a little deeper than most pods and make sure we’ve spent LOADS of time living with the album. In Part 2 we have one of the best ‘Spin It or Bin It’ that I can remember – we each bring a track and ask each other ‘Spin It or Bin It?’
Part 1: Album of the Month – Steve Lacy’s ‘Gemini Rights’
It’s David’s choice this month and he chooses the intriguing ‘Gemini Rights’. Its a tight, punchy album but gives us loads to discuss Tik Tok, the tension between joyous music and often bitter lyrics, the influence of gender and sexuality on this album and the age of massive change that we’re in.
The chat references loads of music and we highly recommend that you check out the following if you’re not familiar already;
… and my big shout out – Serpentwithfeet’s ‘Deacon’
Part 2: Spin It or Bin It – New Music (tracks from June 2022 onwards)
In Part 2 we get into one of the best Spin It or Bin It? that we’ve had. We each bring a track that meets a different brief every month. This month is simple – ‘New Music’. We then ask each other the binary question ‘Spin It or Bin It?’ and then choose a track of the month from the 4. Here’s our choices …
Guy will be running the show and hosting the discussion on Hot Chip’s ‘Freakout Release’.
Other episodes of the pod and 10 years of the blog;
If you enjoyed this episode, please check out the others. If that’s not enough for you then there’s 10 years worth of music discussion on the blog at www.thisisnothappening.net, which runs alongside the podcast choices and much, much more. So check them out so to see what we like and where we clash, and comment if something catches your eye. We’d love to hear what you think.
Welcome to Episode 69 of This Is Not Happening, an Album of the Month podcast. In Part 1, we do a deep drive review of our Album of the Month. This month Nolan serves up Lykke Li's new record: 'The Afterparty'.In Part 2, we play Spin It or Bin It, we pick a theme and all pick songs that represent that theme. This month, we pick our favourite new music. —— Part 1 | Album of the Month | Lykke Li | The Afterparty ——Lykke Li is an adored and fascinating artist, having been releasing music since 2008. The Swedish artist has ploughed her own furrow of pop distinctly different to last month's Robyn, heavy on melancholy and referencing the 60s as much as the modern world and is a real pod favourite. Breaking out in the late 2000s with I Follow Rivers, she's the artist you never knew you loved. The Afterparty is the sixth studio album for Li, and reflects the uncertainty of the modern, chaotic work in its svelte 24-minute running time, packing so much emotion and dynamics into that short running time. The chat takes in her legacy, asks if this truly is her last album, and whether a famously reclusive artist can easily exist in the 'hyper-on' world of the music industry in 2026. Have a listen, tell us what you think.Listen to the original album here.Watch some of her videos here , particularly the singles from this album.Buy this album or some merch here. And listen to her talk about the album here. —————- Part 2 | Spin It or Bin It | Sad Bangers —————- For Spin It or Bin It this month, we return to new music, picking our favourite new tracks from May and June. The task is simple: pick a track that fits the theme, the objective, get more 'spins' than your friends. We each pick four tracks for a 16 track play list . We then each pick select 1 track and ask the simple question 'Spin It Or Bin It'?David chose 'the cure' by Olivia RodrigoGuy chose 'THE WORLDWIDE SCOURGE' by Genesis Owusu.Nolan chose 'Electric Revival' by Deante' Hitchcock.What new music would you have chosen? What's missing from our playlist?We've been writing the blog for years come and have a look – https://thisisnothappening.net/We've been writing the blog for years come and have a look – https://thisisnothappening.net/
Our last Album of the Month (AOTM) was the beautiful ‘Life on Earth’ by Hurray for the Riff Raff. This month the This Is Not Happening crew tackle Kendrick Lamar’s ‘Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers’ head on! We get stuck right into this challenging album in Part 1 of the pod. In Part 2, we play ‘Spin It or Bin It?’ where we judge the tracks that we’ve chosen for this month’s theme.
Part 1 – Album of the Month
This month it’s Nolan’s choice, Kendrick Lamar’s ‘Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers’ . We discuss the album in length, favourite tracks and their impact on us and other music fans and if there is a missing track from this album.
We want you to have access to great conversations about great music – here are some links to some of the best content on this album that we’ve consumed;
A great ‘explainer’ article from Ambrosia for Heads – read here
NYT’s Popcast Podcast Episode (this one is great for a Kendrick Sceptic view) – listen here
Great Tempo Tribe Podcast conversation – listen here
A shorter listen at 22 mins – the NPR Pop Culture Happy Hour podcast – listen here
This was one of our toughest albums to think and to talk about … but we hope you enjoy it.
Part 2 – Spin it or Bin It
In the second part of this episode we get stuck into 4 tracks representing this months theme – ‘LA Tracks’ – or favourite tracks from LA based artists. We all pick a track, introduce our track and ask the others the painfully binary critical question; ‘spin it’ or ‘bin it?’
We try not to go super-obvious on our track selections each month … this is what we chose to represent LA;
Episode #25 will be with you soon – Guy will be guiding us through ‘We’ by Arcade Fire one of is favourite artists ever … what could go wrong? Have a listen to the album and share some thoughts with us on the blog or on our Insta.
Other episodes of the pod and 10 years of the blog;
If you enjoyed this episode, please check out the others. If that’s not enough for you then there’s 10 years worth of music discussion on the blog at www.thisisnothappening.net, which runs alongside the podcast choices and much, much more. So check them out so to see what we like and where we clash, and comment if something catches your eye. We’d love to see what you think.
Welcome to Episode 69 of This Is Not Happening, an Album of the Month podcast. In Part 1, we do a deep drive review of our Album of the Month. This month Nolan serves up Lykke Li's new record: 'The Afterparty'.In Part 2, we play Spin It or Bin It, we pick a theme and all pick songs that represent that theme. This month, we pick our favourite new music. —— Part 1 | Album of the Month | Lykke Li | The Afterparty ——Lykke Li is an adored and fascinating artist, having been releasing music since 2008. The Swedish artist has ploughed her own furrow of pop distinctly different to last month's Robyn, heavy on melancholy and referencing the 60s as much as the modern world and is a real pod favourite. Breaking out in the late 2000s with I Follow Rivers, she's the artist you never knew you loved. The Afterparty is the sixth studio album for Li, and reflects the uncertainty of the modern, chaotic work in its svelte 24-minute running time, packing so much emotion and dynamics into that short running time. The chat takes in her legacy, asks if this truly is her last album, and whether a famously reclusive artist can easily exist in the 'hyper-on' world of the music industry in 2026. Have a listen, tell us what you think.Listen to the original album here.Watch some of her videos here , particularly the singles from this album.Buy this album or some merch here. And listen to her talk about the album here. —————- Part 2 | Spin It or Bin It | Sad Bangers —————- For Spin It or Bin It this month, we return to new music, picking our favourite new tracks from May and June. The task is simple: pick a track that fits the theme, the objective, get more 'spins' than your friends. We each pick four tracks for a 16 track play list . We then each pick select 1 track and ask the simple question 'Spin It Or Bin It'?David chose 'the cure' by Olivia RodrigoGuy chose 'THE WORLDWIDE SCOURGE' by Genesis Owusu.Nolan chose 'Electric Revival' by Deante' Hitchcock.What new music would you have chosen? What's missing from our playlist?We've been writing the blog for years come and have a look – https://thisisnothappening.net/We've been writing the blog for years come and have a look – https://thisisnothappening.net/
Episode 16 of This Is Not Happening goes as big as it gets with Billie Eilish’s new album, Happier Than Ever. Following angular synth and guitars of Lonelady in episode 15, we take an album that’s already one of the most talked-about of the year, and delve into what it means for us, and the music world. David is bringing us this album.
In the second half of the episode, we go for intros, and pick out some of our favourite opening tracks of the albums we love. It’s a mighty list, and we’ve also had some cracking shortlists from Guy here. The tracks we chose were:
October’s album of the month and all our new tracks, playlists, and chat from the past decade or more can be found on our blog at www.thisisnothappening.net, which runs alongside the podcast choices and much, much more. Head down there and hopefully you’ll like what we’re talking about and if you do, we’d love to hear from you on the socials (links below).
Episode #17 arrives with a nod to the dancefloor from Nolan, who picks Dublin artist Mano Le Tough’s At The Moment. This next episode will be landing before the end of November ahead of our review of the year in December.
Welcome to Episode 69 of This Is Not Happening, an Album of the Month podcast. In Part 1, we do a deep drive review of our Album of the Month. This month Nolan serves up Lykke Li's new record: 'The Afterparty'.In Part 2, we play Spin It or Bin It, we pick a theme and all pick songs that represent that theme. This month, we pick our favourite new music. —— Part 1 | Album of the Month | Lykke Li | The Afterparty ——Lykke Li is an adored and fascinating artist, having been releasing music since 2008. The Swedish artist has ploughed her own furrow of pop distinctly different to last month's Robyn, heavy on melancholy and referencing the 60s as much as the modern world and is a real pod favourite. Breaking out in the late 2000s with I Follow Rivers, she's the artist you never knew you loved. The Afterparty is the sixth studio album for Li, and reflects the uncertainty of the modern, chaotic work in its svelte 24-minute running time, packing so much emotion and dynamics into that short running time. The chat takes in her legacy, asks if this truly is her last album, and whether a famously reclusive artist can easily exist in the 'hyper-on' world of the music industry in 2026. Have a listen, tell us what you think.Listen to the original album here.Watch some of her videos here , particularly the singles from this album.Buy this album or some merch here. And listen to her talk about the album here. —————- Part 2 | Spin It or Bin It | Sad Bangers —————- For Spin It or Bin It this month, we return to new music, picking our favourite new tracks from May and June. The task is simple: pick a track that fits the theme, the objective, get more 'spins' than your friends. We each pick four tracks for a 16 track play list . We then each pick select 1 track and ask the simple question 'Spin It Or Bin It'?David chose 'the cure' by Olivia RodrigoGuy chose 'THE WORLDWIDE SCOURGE' by Genesis Owusu.Nolan chose 'Electric Revival' by Deante' Hitchcock.What new music would you have chosen? What's missing from our playlist?We've been writing the blog for years come and have a look – https://thisisnothappening.net/We've been writing the blog for years come and have a look – https://thisisnothappening.net/
Episode 13 of This Is Not Happening stays in NYC with Skyzoo‘s new album All The Brilliant Things following up the 70s palette of St Vincent: Daddy’s Home. The much-respected Brooklyn MC‘s 7th album finds him writing a paen to his changing city, gentrification and history. It’s a beguiling work that Nolan brought to us get deep on as we move into season 2 of the podcast.
In the second half of the episode, we talk tracks of the summer, with a favourite from us that reminds of us the warm months. Our longlist is here, see what we thought of the picks:
July’s album of the month and all our new tracks, playlists, and chat from the past decade or more can be found on our blog at www.thisisnothappening.net, which runs alongside the podcast choices and much, much more. Head down there and hopefully you’ll like what we’re talking about and if you do, we’d love to hear from you on the socials (links below).
Episode #14 takes us into the summer and is Joey’s chance to bring us a classic slice of modern pop with Japanese Breakfast‘s Jubilee. The next episode will be landing before the end of August.
Welcome to Episode 69 of This Is Not Happening, an Album of the Month podcast. In Part 1, we do a deep drive review of our Album of the Month. This month Nolan serves up Lykke Li's new record: 'The Afterparty'.In Part 2, we play Spin It or Bin It, we pick a theme and all pick songs that represent that theme. This month, we pick our favourite new music. —— Part 1 | Album of the Month | Lykke Li | The Afterparty ——Lykke Li is an adored and fascinating artist, having been releasing music since 2008. The Swedish artist has ploughed her own furrow of pop distinctly different to last month's Robyn, heavy on melancholy and referencing the 60s as much as the modern world and is a real pod favourite. Breaking out in the late 2000s with I Follow Rivers, she's the artist you never knew you loved. The Afterparty is the sixth studio album for Li, and reflects the uncertainty of the modern, chaotic work in its svelte 24-minute running time, packing so much emotion and dynamics into that short running time. The chat takes in her legacy, asks if this truly is her last album, and whether a famously reclusive artist can easily exist in the 'hyper-on' world of the music industry in 2026. Have a listen, tell us what you think.Listen to the original album here.Watch some of her videos here , particularly the singles from this album.Buy this album or some merch here. And listen to her talk about the album here. —————- Part 2 | Spin It or Bin It | Sad Bangers —————- For Spin It or Bin It this month, we return to new music, picking our favourite new tracks from May and June. The task is simple: pick a track that fits the theme, the objective, get more 'spins' than your friends. We each pick four tracks for a 16 track play list . We then each pick select 1 track and ask the simple question 'Spin It Or Bin It'?David chose 'the cure' by Olivia RodrigoGuy chose 'THE WORLDWIDE SCOURGE' by Genesis Owusu.Nolan chose 'Electric Revival' by Deante' Hitchcock.What new music would you have chosen? What's missing from our playlist?We've been writing the blog for years come and have a look – https://thisisnothappening.net/We've been writing the blog for years come and have a look – https://thisisnothappening.net/
Episode 12 of This Is Not Happening strides from Genesis Owusu‘s Smiling With No Teeth to the much-anticipated new album from St Vincent: Daddy’s Home. The New York art-rock darling has embraced the underbelly of the 1970s with a new persona and some eye-catching tracks. Megafan David tries to convince us why we should all love it. It’s definitely a tug of war for an album that’s found reactions at both extremes. We also put together a playlist of music that makes us lean to Annie Clark.
In the second half of the episode, we set the seemingly impossible task of convincing each other to like a song from artists that they hate. What were we thinking?! Our longlist is here, see what we thought of the picks:
Episode #13 takes us into series 2 of the podcast, and sees Nolan bring some hip-hop to the table with Skyzoo‘s new album All The Brilliant Things. as the celebrated New Yorker takes us into his world. Skyzoo will be coming to you before the end of July.
June’s album of the month and all our new tracks, playlists, and chat from the past decade or more can be found on our blog at www.thisisnothappening.net, which runs alongside the podcast choices and much, much more. Swing by and you’ll hopefully enjoy what we’re talking about and if you like it, we’d love to hear from you on the socials (links below).
Welcome to Episode 69 of This Is Not Happening, an Album of the Month podcast. In Part 1, we do a deep drive review of our Album of the Month. This month Nolan serves up Lykke Li's new record: 'The Afterparty'.In Part 2, we play Spin It or Bin It, we pick a theme and all pick songs that represent that theme. This month, we pick our favourite new music. —— Part 1 | Album of the Month | Lykke Li | The Afterparty ——Lykke Li is an adored and fascinating artist, having been releasing music since 2008. The Swedish artist has ploughed her own furrow of pop distinctly different to last month's Robyn, heavy on melancholy and referencing the 60s as much as the modern world and is a real pod favourite. Breaking out in the late 2000s with I Follow Rivers, she's the artist you never knew you loved. The Afterparty is the sixth studio album for Li, and reflects the uncertainty of the modern, chaotic work in its svelte 24-minute running time, packing so much emotion and dynamics into that short running time. The chat takes in her legacy, asks if this truly is her last album, and whether a famously reclusive artist can easily exist in the 'hyper-on' world of the music industry in 2026. Have a listen, tell us what you think.Listen to the original album here.Watch some of her videos here , particularly the singles from this album.Buy this album or some merch here. And listen to her talk about the album here. —————- Part 2 | Spin It or Bin It | Sad Bangers —————- For Spin It or Bin It this month, we return to new music, picking our favourite new tracks from May and June. The task is simple: pick a track that fits the theme, the objective, get more 'spins' than your friends. We each pick four tracks for a 16 track play list . We then each pick select 1 track and ask the simple question 'Spin It Or Bin It'?David chose 'the cure' by Olivia RodrigoGuy chose 'THE WORLDWIDE SCOURGE' by Genesis Owusu.Nolan chose 'Electric Revival' by Deante' Hitchcock.What new music would you have chosen? What's missing from our playlist?We've been writing the blog for years come and have a look – https://thisisnothappening.net/We've been writing the blog for years come and have a look – https://thisisnothappening.net/
Episode 10 of This Is Not Happening finds us sticking with female artists but switching from the UK to Canada with the Weather Station’s Ignorance. Tamara Lindeman’s group released its 5th album in 2021, and it marks another progression from folk-tinged songwriting to full-blown grown-up pop that touched on so many of our big influences. We all went on a journey with this, with Joey at the helm. We also put together an ‘inspired by’ playlist to sit with the album.
In the second part of the show, we jumped off the deep end by picking a new track, secret santa-style for each other! Here’s the longlist, but the four we chose are:
April’s album of the month and all our playlists, new music and discussions from the past decade or more can be found on our blog at www.thisisnothappening.net, which runs alongside the podcast choices and much, much more. So check them out so to see what we ‘re talking about and if you like it, we’d love to hear from you. Socials are below.
Episode #11 will be digging into the kaleidoscopic debut from Genesis Owusu: Smiling With No Teeth . An Australian-Ghanaian whose melting-pot influences have created one of the most fascinating and memorable albums of the year. Coming to you before the end of May.
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