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Today’s trio is slightly more on the rock side of the poprock scale with noisier guitars, louder mixes and crashing drums. British band Vant kick things off with “Parking Lot” which begins with some seductive electric guitar that just hits the bass strings before crashing in with the full chord and band. The video shows a crowd dancing like mad and the energy in this song makes that totally believable. While the song has a strong rock feel the chorus of ‘wait a minute, wait a minute …’ is pure poprock. Other strong tracks from this politically-minded band include “Do You Know Me” and “Birth Certificate.”
Next up is the UK’s Magic Gang, with an ominous sounding yet still melodic “No Fun.” There is something very “How Soon is Now” about the way the main guitar motif swoops in between verses and choruses. The band creates an interesting kind of ‘wall of sound’ intensity with the instrumentation here. A very different sound from their brand new release EP, which has a decidedly lighter tone.
Titus Andronicus round things with the wonderfully sloppy sounding rave up, “Fatal Flaw.” My first reaction to Titus Andronicus was that they sounded like an American Pogues, with their aural assault of seemingly boundless energy and enthusiasm, just two or three rehearsals short of getting everything nailed down. But seeing them live in Toronto last Fall put that notion to rest – they are one helluva band with songs that really come out in new colours live. “Fatal Flaw” is the most poprock of the recordings on 2015’s The Most Lamentable Tragedy, with the rest of the material tending toward a more punky delivery.
Find out more about Vant, The Magic Gang, and Titus Andronicus on their band webpages or Facebook accounts.
I was out for a run and this song came up on the playlist and I knew I had to post it. “Reason to Love” is a masterpiece of a single, a perfectly crafted piece of poprock. From the opening harmonica, to the killer organ, to the ever so slightly harmonic vocal, everything comes together in this late 1970s new wave remelding of so many elements of previous decades’ popular music.
It should have been a huge hit single, but it wasn’t. The band had one more major label release before disappearing into obscurity. A shame but the period between 1979 and 1983 produced an amazing array of great poprock performers – people like Marshall Crenshaw, Nick Lowe and bands like Rockpile, only some of whom made it into the charts. But you can rediscover the Laughing Dogs and their music 
There is no particular theme to this post’s trio of songs, though each selection has a distinct sound that sets it apart. Starting with some Canadian content, Ontario native Matthew Barber typically runs the gamut of breathy guitar folk to straight up bar room rock and roll, but on “Blue Forever” it is the hypnotic piano hook that drives the song, later aided by some understated, echo-y electric guitar.
Simple Kid is the moniker for Irish multi-instrumentalist/producer Ciarán McFeely. After making some waves with his punk band, The Young Offenders, McFeely stripped things down to a solo project, initially recorded on a home multi-track cassette recorder. “Staring at the Sun,” from his 2004 album 1, kicks off with a distinctive guitar hook, with the rest of the song channeling a great Beck-like vibe. Sadly, after his equally interesting 2007 album 2, Simple Kid largely disappeared.
New Zealand’s Strange Babes round things out with a blissful, retro-sixties pop gem, “Come Back Around,” featuring chime-y guitars and killer organ fill that follows the chorus. They are not going to win any awards for lip-synching but the video here shows a band that is reverent without being derivative of the poprock psychedelic scene.
Poprock Record 