Jack and Eliza “Hold the Line” 
This Brooklyn duo have an eerie vocal presence and their songs largely consist of a great trebly guitar and their overlapping singing, which is sometimes harmony, sometimes countermelody. Jack sounds quite Shins-like on this track but there is also a Mamas and Papas feel, if that group had gotten into some darker material. This song is drawn from their solid 2014 debut EP No Wonders. Their new album is Gentle Warnings and features a few tracks from the EP. Another solid song featured on both is “Secrets.”
Jack and Eliza website
Don Dixon and Marti Jones “Why, Why, Why” 
If Don Dixon had only ever recorded the song “Most of the Girls Like to Dance (But Only Some of the Boys Do)” I would have been happy. But fortunately he has continued to record, sometimes with his very talented partner, Marti Jones. This song is from their joint 2011 album Living Stereo and features a great chorus that largely describes my marriage.
Don Dixon and Marti Jones Facebook
Chris Corney “America” 
Corney leads The Ravines, who have a great new album that I plan to write about soon. But this track is from his 2012 solo album, Airways Mansions. Though from Bedford, England, there is something very American to me about Corney’s sound. Too poppy to be Springsteen-esque and yet the song establishes its cinematic quality right from the start – you can see the montage rolling by: factories, dilapidated fences, old cars, etc.
Chris Corney website
I discovered Good Old War via the single “Broken Record,” released in advance of their most recent album Broken Into Better Shape. I loved it! It had a zany, somewhat frantic arrangement and a host of great melodic hooks, punctuated by background vocals right out of a Schoolhouse Rocks segment. Additionally, as someone often accused of being a ‘broken record,’ it was fun to revisit a term that has become increasingly anachronistic with the eclipse of vinyl. But the song left me wondering if the band might be little more than a novelty act. A perusal of their back catalogue suggested not.
Come of Age is a bit more stark, addressing Britain’s economic and social malaise in “No Hope,” “Weirdo,” “All in Vain,” and “Lonely World.” The album draws creatively from 1950s sources, particularly on the vocals for songs like “Lonely World” and “Teenage Icon”. In 2013 they released an EP, Melody Calling, marking a departure into a more dreamy pop style on the title track. This year’s English Graffiti takes all these previous elements but combines them into a more solid, confident sound, ranging from dreamy pop (“Denial”), to solid singalong fun (“Handsome”), to up front guitar riffing (“20/20”).
I wanted to kick off this blog with a song that would capture the fun, joy, and exhilaration of poprock music. This recent song from Family of the Year does the job. In my alternate universe poprock world this song would be a giant hit, blaring out of AM radios across the continent. Family of the Year have made much pleasant pop music on previous releases, gaining some attention for their contribution to the Boyhood soundtrack (“Hero”) and with the lush Beach Boys-esque “Summer Girl” from their first release. But nothing that takes off quite like “Make You Mine”. The song kicks off with a simple piano riff, which is immediately echoed by the rhythm guitar, drawing you in with a classic poprock hook. The lyrics pay tribute to summer love, even if they are somewhat ambiguous about the singer’s intentions. For instance, when he says “All the boys and all the pretty girls, summer time I’m going to make you mine” is he suggesting he’s just not that fussy about which gender he ends up with? Such a sentiment would not be out of sync with today’s youth. The best of poprock makes you feel good and this song definitely delivers on that promise.Make You Mine