We Three Kings - The Ginger Quiff

Singles Round Up 2024 – Part 7 – July

August 16, 2024 By neilho27@sky.com

I love new music. Simple. New music from new bands. New music from old bands. It never ceases to amaze me when I come across people who don’t like music (at all?!?) or are determined to tell me, all the great music has already been made (really?1?)… Suffice to say, EVERY month there are dozens of quality new sounds and bands that blow my mind…

Top 10

I keep digging a hole for myself by rating things. How hard it is to have a favourite! it’s like, do I prefer eating, drinking or breathing? Anyway… here goes…

Single of the Month

Keeley – Inga Hauser

One of the Ginger Quiff’s 24 for ’24, the peerless Keeley Moss and her band Keeley, continue to go from strength to strength, having wowed me from the off with the songs on their Brave Warrior EP, and literally everything that has followed since, culminating in my finally getting to see this musical tour de force live last year.… Read the rest

Singles Round Up 2024 – Part 4 – April

June 15, 2024 By neilho27@sky.com

Life seems to have got in the way again, its now June and not only have I not got anywhere near publishing a May round up, April’s has been languishing incomplete and unpublished too…

But hey, its Singles Round Up Part 4! One third of the way through the year already and the great songs keep on coming.

I read something recently commenting on how bad the state of music is these days. I think this must have been written by a person who relies on the charts and certain radio stations for their daily dose of music, or should that be daily doze of muzak, as I’m inundated by brilliant music on a daily basis.… Read the rest

Singles Round Up 2024 – Part 1 – January

February 28, 2024 By neilho27@sky.com

A new year for music and (eventually) the first round up of 2024, and what a bumper crop already for January. A massive 62 songs (OK, so some might be from the end of 2023 as I posted end of year posts early…). Anyway, we’re certainly out of the traps and off running at speed, with this list containing some well-kent names, some new kids on the block, as well as the return of some legends. All told providing a wheen of top quality tunes which succeeded in lifting the January blues. If that was January, this is set to be another cracking year for music…

The hazard of deciding to do a monthly singles round up means also trying to find the time to write up the blog… I seem to be caught in a vicious circle of promising myself I’ll spend more time on writing, then disappearing in a world of work, or spending hours overthinking things and getting fuck all done…

I’ve therefore had to make an executive decision.… Read the rest

Singles Round Up 2023 – Part 4 – April

April 29, 2023 By neilho27@sky.com

Four months into 2023 and the new music keeps coming thick and fast, so much to listen to, so much to love. As usual, there is the evil Spotify playlist at the end, try then buy….

Lambrini Girls – Lads, Lads, Lads

Ahead of the release of their EP, You’re Welcome, comes single number three from feisty punks Lambrini Girls, this time tackling the subject of lad culture and toxic masculinity with great gusto, venting their spleen with impassioned fury. Be sure to catch them when they play The Hug and Pint in June, and if you’re going south for Iggy’s Dog Day Afternoon, get their early to see them.… Read the rest

Singles Round Up 2021 -Part 14

December 6, 2021 By neilho27@sky.com

Never say never, but I’m pretty sure this will be the last singles round up of 2021. Some fantastic songs have surfaced this year. And there are probably even more that have passed me by. Here’s a selection of some of the one’s that have hit my inbox recenty and caught my ear…

Billy Sinclair – The One For You

Billy Sinclair’s latest single is stonking romp of a tune, if there was such a genre as glam country then this would be it. Soulful backing vocals complement the riffing with a catchy singalong chorus which lays out the protagonists case to get the girl…

Stream on Spotify now

Dreamkids – Metamorphosis A/A

Dreamkids follow up the video for the powerfully affecting It Must Be Nice and its focus on mental health with the double A side of their single Metamorphosis We Are Young a compelling grunge tinged emo rock song with a hint of Dolores O’Riordan in the vocals.… Read the rest

Singles Round Up 2021 – Pt 8

August 16, 2021 By neilho27@sky.com

This is a singles round up of mammoth proportions. I spent some time scrolling through the wealth of e-mails I received over the last few months, and other singles I’ve been particularly enjoying. 2021 has been a treasure trove of new music across so many genres. Even though this is my biggest singles round up of the year so far, it still only scratches the surface of what is going on just now…

…and then there are all the albums, just recently, over and above the ones I’ve already featured/reviewed I’ve been enjoying the new albums from The Media Whores, monsterpop, The Hurricanes, Jackal Trades, Mickey 9s, Jeshua and The Strays to name but a few.… Read the rest

Pick of the Pops – Xmas songs 2020

December 14, 2020 By neilho27@sky.com

I’m hoping many of you won’t have been in the same position as me, having had the misfortune to hear three monumental fuck ups of Christmas singles. The words-fail-me-how-bad-it-is cover of the greatest Christmas song of all, Fairytale of New York by Jon Bon Jovi, talent vacuum Gemma Collins (I’m hoping most of you don’t actually know who she is, your life will be better for not knowing) duetting with Darren Day. Finally, the cheeky chappie that I wouldn’t tire of smacking in the face with a shovel, Robbie fucking Williams, and his Christmas song, the lyrics of which seem to have been written by a chimpanzee who has an extremely limited vocabulary and has learned most of their words and phrases from watching a succession of idiots on daily COVID 19 briefings, cobbling them together clumsily in a vain attempt to create a song.… Read the rest