This Is Not Happening - An Album Of The Month Podcast

Part 1 - Album of the Month This Is Not Happening kicks off the New Year with a great album from the end of 2021, Joy Crookes' debut release 'Skin'. We discuss our expectations and reactions, similarities between this album and a certain other soul singer from London and get deep into our favourite tracks from the album. There's lovely point of pod-synergy when Nolan predicts w...

This Is Not Happening 's 2021 comes to an end with a look back at the many musical highs of a memorable 2021 and count down our top ten  albums of the year. Despite the many challenges musicians have been facing in making music in a pandemic, it's been a truly exceptional year,  from the likes of Wolf Alice , Japanese Breakfast , Arlo Parks , Billie Eilish , The Weather Station and many...

Episode 17 of This Is Not Happening follows Billie Eilish's memorable new album with a slice of classy electronic music from Irishman Mano Le Tough. Dubliner turned Zurich resident Niall Mannion's third album At The Moment  saw him expand his musical horizons in lockdown, and we all got to stand back and say what it meant to us. Nolan was at the tiller this month. In the second half of t...

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 intro...

Episode 15 of This Is Not Happening heads to the north west of England with Manchester artist Lonelady's third album, Former Things. After the heart-on-sleeve shogazey pop of Japanese Breakfast 's Jubilee , Julie Campbell's solo guitar/drums/synth template brings 8 tracks of post-punk, electronic fusion, with Guy at the helm! In the second half of the episode, we stay in Manchester,...

Episode 14 of This Is Not Happening heads from hip-hop to pop with Japanese Breakfast 's Jubilee . The creation of Korean-American Michelle Zauner, this is her 3rd album and sees her move from a more shoegazey, loose style into the full pop universe. Joey comes at us with it, but do we feel the same way he does? Find out!  In the second half of the episode, we head back to new music, with a f...

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...

Welcome to Season 2 of This Is Not Happening , an Album of the Month podcast from four of us: Guy , Joey , Nolan and David . We choose an album: we digest it, we praise it, we question it. And we bring tracks to the table. Every month. And you get to listen. Think of this as a highlights package.  A year into it, we've been lucky enough to cover some amazing albums, right from the start. From...

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&a...

Episode 11 of This Is Not Happening departs from the ethereal Weather Station to a debut album of rare and mighty impact from Genesis Owusu . Smiling With No Teeth comes from an Australian-Ghanaian whose melting-pot influences have created one of the most fascinating and memorable albums of the year for an artist capturing lived experience in the starkest and brutally honest way . Guy's at th...

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...

Episode 9 of This Is Not Happening lands on another massively hyped album from the last year: Arlo Parks : Collapsed In Sunbeams . From being crowned BBC's 'Sound of 2020' and labelled 'the voice of a generation', the pressure on a debut album hasn't been this heavy in a long time. We dissect it to see it lived up to the expectation, with Nolan at the helm. In the sec...

Episode 8 of This Is Not Happening finds one of the most hotly-anticipated electronic music albums of the last year: Bicep's Isles . Made mostly before lockdown, and held back as music came to terms with the pandemic, Isles comes after their monster self-titled debut in 2017. Guy is at the helm to ask if you can dance to an album with no dancefloors and whether genres matter. In the second pa...

Episode 7 of This Is Not Happening returns to new albums, from one of music's demi-gods: Paul McCartney. For January, we dive into the ex-Beatles' unexpected McCartney III . Made in lockdown, its the third in his series of completely solo projects, following 1980's McCartney II. So how will it match up to its two legendary predecessors? Lifetime Macca acolyte David is at the control...

This Is Not Happening 's 2020 comes to an end with a look back a tumultuous 2020 and count down our top ten  (ok, eleven) albums of the year.  It's been an incredible year for music, from the likes of Roisin Murphy , Sault , Caribou , Run The Jewels , Phoebe Bridgers and many others, but who will come out top with us in our 6th episode? We'll also be nominating our tracks of the yea...

In episode 5 of This Is Not Happening , we wade through blog favourite  Sufjan Stevens ' much-awaited new album, The Ascension. It's the first album we've picked for an episode before its release, following 2015's Carrie and Lowell , a deeply personal album that we all loved on its release. The Ascension is a departure into electronica, and it truly split opinion. We'll al...

This Is Not Happening sees our fourth episode in October talk about mysterious  US/UK collective Sault 's 3rd album, Untitled [Black Is ]. It's an album we've had on our radar for a few months, so much so they released their 4th before we recorded! It's a shimmering work of  modern soul, playing with the genres, and we loved digging into it. We'll also each be bringing our...

This Is Not Happening 's third episode in September encounters  Yves Tumor's monstrous Heaven To A Tortured Mind . Tumor's 4th album lands on Warp, and it's a melting pot of soul, funk and noise. A big listen that hit us all in different ways.  We'll also each be bringing a disco killer to the table, and deciding if we spin it, or bin it. The four dancefloor favourites are...

For our second episode of This Is Not Happening   in August we encounter Jessie Ware 's glittering What's Your Pleasure ? It's Jessie's 4th album and sees her move from soul into the land of modern disco-tinged pop. We'll also be chatting about tracks that have chilled us out over the past month, and selecting our track of the month from that quartet. These can be found he...

This Is Not Happening : a podcast that brings you a brand new album - and fresh new tracks - every month from four lifelong music fans. This first episode in July sees us take on the hip-hop duo Run The Jewels ' devastating new album RTJ4. Head to the RTJ site to listen to it .  We'll also be talking about our favourite lockdown tracks and choosing our track of the month (or trying to)....

Welcome to This Is Not Happening: a podcast that brings you a brand new album - and fresh new tracks - every month, with four massive music fans that have been talking and blogging about their favourite records for the last ten years together. An exiled Londoner in the North (Guy), a Leeds scriptwriter (David), ex-housemates in Leeds Joey and Nolan whose paths all crossed through music, be it fest...