What We've Been Listening to This Week...The Suncharms, People Taking Pictures, Spider Noises, Alex Rave and the Sceptical, Perspex

By Jon Milton and Ian Smith

​What a difference a bit of sun makes! After a few dreary days this week a sunny weekend has seen us enjoying sounds that reflect the summer. Sheffield’s The Suncharms continue to drip-feed tracks ahead of their long-awaited debut long-player. Recently reformed, all the elements remain and retain the freshness of the first incarnation. This track features on the ‘Please Rain Fall’ Compilation which is out now on Shiny Happy Records. You will recognise the sounds….. Guitars twinkle and shimmer, cloaking the heartfelt, dreamy vocals. It’s really rather fine. Gorgeous, pristine, Pastel-pop with a sunny sundae smile. You can listen to '3 Billion Heartbeats' here.
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Elsewhere the debut album by People Taking Pictures got another dust off to accompany the barbecue. The side project of Psychedelic Porn Crumpets' guitarist Luke Parrish originally came out in January but its laid back jazzy hip hop beats seem to make much more sense now. 

On a lo fi summery tip, Spider Noises released a fine new single 'Warm Moon Residue' on Friday which will be followed by two albums from the them in a couple of weeks time, both on the fledgling Kitchen Practice Records. One is their proper debut album, and the other an assortment of bits and bobs. We'll have a review of both nearer the release date, but in the mean time have a listen to the quirky sounds of the band here.

Also out on Friday was the debut EP by Alex Rave and the Sceptical, and the latest single by Perspex 'A Horse Named Useless'. We featured Alex and the boys reflective EP (which contains Reasons and Itch), on the site on Friday, and you read about it here. York band Perspex have released a string of quality singles to date, all with wry lyrics and Velvet Underground-esque music and this more down tempo new single is a worthy addition to their portfolio. You can listen to it here.​