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Adam Levy, Animal House, English Girls, Flooded with Light, Luke Potter, Portuguese Subtitles, There it Goes Again
… I started this blog, with some trepidation, excitement, and a strong sense of purpose – to let anyone who might stumble across it know about all the great music I’d been finding, particularly those who might think that all the best music was in the past. My point, repeatedly stated over the past year, is that if you love music from 1950s through to the 1990s, people are taking up those influences today in wonderful, creative, and surprising ways. I have always loved all kinds of music, across a host of genres (e.g. rock and roll, country, jazz, etc.), but if I had to boil it all down, my favourite music is built out of a great song, something catchy you can sing on your own without accompaniment and still get a sense of the tune. For me, that has always been best represented in the broad category I call poprock.
In the pantheon of emblematic poprock I would start with Buddy Holly and the Everly Brothers, segue to the Beatles and the Byrds, and carry on into the 1970s from there. I got started with my parents’ record collection, which covered most of the classics from the 1950s and 1960s. I was a child of the 1970s and the swan song of top 40 radio. I came of age with New Wave and all the early 1980s alternative scene. My first big discoveries on my own were performers like Elvis Costello, Marshall Crenshaw and Joe Jackson, and bands like XTC, Squeeze and Split Enz. Music has always been a huge part of my life. I started collecting records as teenager and by my late 30s had amassed nearly 6000 pieces of vinyl: 5000 long players and a 1000 45s (I’ve since ‘focused’ the collection down to about 1700 units). There were a few years where I lost touch with a lot of the new music that coming out as I bore down on completing graduate school and getting a permanent job, but I still caught the occasional show or discovered some new band. Over the past few years, I’ve ramped up that process of music discovery with great results.
Since I started this blog a year ago I have managed to stay on target with roughly one blog post per week. I’ve also been in touch with a number of poprock bloggers, who’ve given great advice and suggestions for content. I’ve seen a bevy of live shows over the last twelve months featuring many of the bands I’ve been writing about, one advantage of living in Canada’s biggest city. But my biggest take-away from this experience has been grappling with the enormous surplus of talent out there. The world is full of talented people putting out great stuff, if you can just find it. Our humble efforts here at Poprock Record have been about supporting that process.
To mark one year as a blog I wanted some tunes that exuded fun, joy, and reverence for the music. Animal House are an Australian band (now based in the UK) that ooze a good time party vibe. Of their four pretty strong singles presently available for download or streaming “English Girls” is a blast, a fun, infectious table-thumper – just try to not tap something. The song screams ‘dance to me’ and do it now.
By contrast, youthful Luke Potter is a different kind of fun, distinctly more sweet and hooky. Potter is really more of a ballad guy of the swooning teenage girl variety but his 2014 album, So Sugar, was bit more indie rock band, with a number of catchy tracks. “There it Goes Again” has a nice vocal arrangement and solid acoustic guitar and band backing that allows the hooks to stand out.There it Goes Again
Last up is the superlatively talented Adam Levy. Levy built his career in the trenches with a vast number of studio sessions and tour hours logged backing up major acts. He is master of many guitar styles with recordings that run the gamut of blues, jazz, Americana and more. But in 2013 he decided to put out a poprock album, Portuguese Subtitles, a real departure from his larger body of work, and it is an amazing effort. “Flooded with Light” is a moving, carefully crafted poprock gem, with great vocals and lovely guitar flourishes. It leaves you feeling good, and that is what we’re all about at Poprock Record.
Catch up with Animal House, Luke Potter and Adam Levy on their band or Facebook pages.
In 2015 Declan McKenna broke out of nowhere as a 16-year-old with his homemade single, “Brazil,” a catchy song that is a scathing indictment of the corruption at the core of FIFA and international soccer. Comparisons to Jake Bugg are common, but only for me because they both attempt to give voice to voiceless and take up political themes in an effortless way. His second single and video, “Paracetamol,” took up transgender issues. Part of McKenna’s appeal is the obvious authenticity of his lyrics and performance: imagine a more political Jonathan Richman. His EP Liar contains his first three singles and one more song, “Howl.”
Dylan Gardner loves the Beatles and 1960s garage rock but only the former appears as influence on this first record. Recorded mostly in his bedroom, 2014’s Adventures in Real Time is chock full of poprock hits, if this blog were any arbiter of public consumption. “Let’s Get Started” and “Too Afraid to Love You” were the official videos and singles, and they are great, but my vote for AM radio top 40 perfection goes to “I Think I’m Falling for Something,” a track that kicks off with great keyboards and a nice horn section before settling into a super lurching poprock sound with interesting vocal arrangements. So too does “With a Kiss” bolt out of the gate on its acoustic strumming rhythm and a melodic hook that won’t let you go. “I’m Nothing Without You” has that Beatles majesty, nicely executed on the record but also charmingly performed in his bedroom in a video that has unfortunately disappeared from the internet. Gardner’s Facebook says he working on his second album.
Over to the UK where the Fronteers have been going from strength to strength. When I heard their first single in the summer of 2015, “Youth,” I was impressed with their harmony vocals and folksy rock sound. But that didn’t prepare for what came less than a year later. “Idol” was like a totally different band, though not in a bad way. Great acoustic opener, hypnotic electric lead riff, and more great harmonies, but watch for the surprise bridge which seems to be channeling some spooky Everly Brothers vibe. Then just last month they released an EP, Streets We Were Born In, which ups the rock quotient again with tracks like “Full Moon.”
Summer is slipping away before our very eyes. Time to reach for the beach one more time with tunes that celebrate the sand, sunscreen, and a summer love that probably won’t last much past Labour Day.
When I first heard “Baby Ran” from their 1986 album 5440 (aka the green album) I was hooked. There was something so simple and catchy about the chorus, I couldn’t get it out of my head. Over the years, I kept buying their albums and CDs but reviewing them now I’m surprised how much of their material has always been folky and acoustic as well as jangly alt rock. The contrast is brought together on their latest release, La Difference, subtitled A History Unplugged. Some might complain that an ‘unplugged’ album is the last refuge of the musical scoundrel, where artists go when they have run out of ideas. But this effort really is a creative reinvention of the band’s singles catalogue. The most stark example is probably “Baby Ran,” which shifts from rock to country in this iteration without losing any of its hooky charm. Both new and old version appear below for easy comparison. The whole record is strong but for me the highlights include “One Day in your Life,” “I Go Blind,” and “Casual Viewin’.”
Sometime between 2011 and 2015 I realized I loved Teenage Fanclub. There was something dreamy about their melodies, their Byrdsian retro charm, the general feel-good aura that radiated from their music. Songs from Northern Britain, Manmade, Howdy! – with so many amazing albums no wonder Kurt Cobain called them his favourite band. But just as I grasped their poprock brilliance, the albums dried up, with 2010’s Shadows the seeming end of the line. Then last fall the band’s Facebook page announced they were working on new material and lo and behold the new record is almost here, literally entitled Here, and due out at the beginning of September. In the meantime, check out their fabulous new single, “I’m in Love.” The song is so in the Teenage Fanclub groove, it’s like they never left.
The music biz is an increasingly DIY affair, with everyone doing the McCartney I thing, i.e. writing, playing and producing everything or nearly everything on their records. Of course, today’s technology allows artists without a Beatlesque past to make some pretty sweet recordings. Case in point: Red Cabin, the tidy and picturesque project of Long Island, New York’s Jonathan Foster. Red Cabin ranges from the amplified home recording sound of his first album, Right This Way, and EP Wander in 2014, to the more complex and professional-sounding Camp Fire and White Morning, both released simultaneously in 2016. In the middle are some key transition singles, namely “The Pull” and “Patterns.” Linking all the changes is a keen attention to unusual vocal arrangements, amid fairly rapid shifts in musical attack – singular acoustic guitars suddenly flooded by electric instruments, or a full on band drops out to reveal just a guitar or keyboard part.
But they did not prepare me the double blast of Red Cabin albums early in 2016. Both Camp Fire and White Morning are stellar efforts. Camp Fire runs a gamut of styles, with electronic keyboards, acoustic and electric guitars, and tightly arranged vocals. “The Darkest Relief” reminds me a bit of Todd Rungdren, “I Want To” has a great soaring chorus melody line, “Secret Stories” exudes a lovely wistful quality with its acoustic guitar and arranged vocals, while “I Can’t Wait” has a more conventional poprock feel.
White Morning has the ambiance of a concept album, right down to the cover art. “Stuck” sounds a bit Weezer at times (in a good way), with a Beatles melody wash over the vocals, “All the Years” is a bit more indie poprock with great keyboards, guitar, and stronger, edgier vocals than Red Cabin typical, and “Juliet” has a nice swing with vocals that remind me of Tally Hall. Also, don’t miss Foster’s previous band, Snowday, whose 2013 single “Prickerbush” is a catchy number, again vibing on Weezer just a little.
Twins were a first for me. Their publicist sent me a blurb and link to their latest release in advance of its drop date, asking me to have a listen. I’m glad I did. Hailing from the bustling burb of Waterloo Iowa, Twins have a great pockrock feel, channeling a super new wave vibe on their first album, 2014’s Tomboys on Parade, particularly on “Tomboy.” By 2016 their Kiss of Life EP had a sweet melodic 1960s pop single in “This Time.” But their new album Square America takes all these various influences and kicks it up a notch on such great songs as “Breakin’ Up” and “Take That Gurl.”
A casual and inattentive listen might have you thinking that Chris Staples is just another LoFi drifter, with a few more hooks to offer. But there is some serious genius going on in his multiple releases over the past decade. Staples spent a number of years rocking out with bands like TwoThirtyEight and Grand Canyon before embarking on his present, more mellow solo career. What I love about Staples’ work is the casual poetry of his arrangements. His songs are deceptively simple in conception and execution.
“Relatively Permanent” from his most recent Golden Age combines a distinctive electric guitar line, acoustic guitar, haunting background vocals, and Staples own dry folky vocal delivery. “Cindy, Diana, Janet and Wanda” from the 2015 EP Cheap Shades demonstrates Staples’ talent for imaginative lyrics that gel with his music in a way that appears completely free of artifice. The guitar lick opening is so casually addictive, the distant harmonica so evocative, that when the lyrics come in they are surprisingly and similarly melodic. The lyrics really are brilliant for their ordinary complexity: “How could I forget Diana, she moved here from Gary, Indiana” or “She left me for a married professor, extra credit for letting him undress her.” “Dark Side of the Moon” from 2014’s American Soft has a lovely swinging acoustic guitar base and a sweet love sentiment. “Cincinnatti” from his 2011 EP Faces sees Staples shifting from a great swinging electric guitar line to lyrics that match the swing. And there is much more discover this Pensacola, Florida native on sites like Bandcamp.
Michael Goodman, who goes by just Goodman on his recordings, is one of those amazingly talented young men. Bandcamp features some pretty impressive and catchy demos from the 13-year-old version of Goodman, talent that only blossomed in later years. Things really start to come together on Goodman’s 2012’s release, What We Want, with the infectious single “Night Person” and the great title track. 2014’s Isn’t it Sad has many highlights but “Blue Eyed Girl” stands out for its killer chorus. Since then there has been a succession of quality singles like 2015’s “Telegram Girl” and 2016’s “Shallow.” Goodman has all the poprock chops, a solid foundation in 1950s and 1960s song structures, but funneled through late twentieth century sensibility.
When people think “Bryan Adams” it’s easy to visualize the rock swagger or call to mind the many, many power ballads that have dominated wedding receptions from the mid-1980s on. But Adams is also a master of the polished poprock gem. The list of infectious hook-laden tunes is so long we couldn’t possibly recount them all here. His most recent album, 2015’s Get Up, is more proof he’s still got the knack for pumping out catchy songs. Producer Jeff Lynne does an amazing job of tweaking and sweetening the pop tinge with his signature suite of production techniques. There’s more than a little ELO flavour to tracks like “That’s Rock and Roll,” “Do What You Gotta Do,” and “Don’t Even Try,” the latter featuring a great Beatlesque guitar sound circa Beatles for Sale. Adams also gets back to his 1980s poprock roots on tracks “You Belong to Me,” “Go Down Rockin’” and “Yesterday Was Just a Dream.” But the standout track is “Brand New Day” with its driving, propulsive rhythm guitar that recaptures some of the excitement of his early to mid-1980s poprock glory days.
I had discovered Adams on a bus going downtown in Vancouver sometime in 1981. I was listening to CFOX on some strange FM-only portable radio when “Lonely Nights” came on: I was floored. I loved the shimmery lead guitar, what would become Adam’s signature crunchy rhythm guitar, and the tune. I immediately went downtown and picked up You Want It, You Got It. Side One of the album still blows me away: “Lonely Nights,” “One Good Reason,” “Don’t Look Now,” “Coming Home,” and “Fits Ya Good” – I could (and did) play it over and over. It remains my favourite Adam’s album (and my 16-year-old self did find Adam’s cover shot pretty cute). Cuts Like a Knife also had so many great tunes, though I would single out “This Time” as a pretty perfect poprock single. Reckless would be Adams’ masterpiece with nary a false move. Its key single, “Run to You,” is as good as poprock gets, a remarkable bit of songwriting, production, and arrangement. The atmospheric keyboard backdrop and ringing guitar lines alone are worth the price of the album.
Virginia native and L.A. transplant David Brookings cut his teeth on the classics of the poprock. His sound melds the Beatles with the 1970s Beatles-influenced bands like ELO and Badfinger. His previous six albums channel these influences in a catchy DIY sort of way, with great album covers evoking the spirit of the 1960s, and some standout tracks like “Obsessed,” “Dead Battery,” and “If I Don’t Make it Back.” But his latest longplayer, David Brookings and the Average Lookings, represents a career peak, with his finest songs and most impressive performances. “Hearts” is a solid single, featuring an impressive layering of sonic effects in terms of instruments and vocals. I thought it was far and away the obvious track to feature from the album, but the more I listened to “Time to Go” I wasn’t so sure. So they both appear here. Honourable mention to the very catchy “Place We Can Go.”
The arrangements on this Gordy Garris Group album are so subtle, meant to complement and enrich what could essentially be a record of acoustic singer/songwriter tunes. For instance, “Nightfall” starts with a nice acoustic guitar finger roll, which is quickly augmented by a low impact organ undercurrent, and eventually joined by the full band and some nice ‘oohs’ background vocals. 
This unabashed love single to the Ramones by Propeller works at so many levels. It manages to be so Ramones without being just a derivative knock off of that band while also being a solid tune on its own merits. “Turn on the Radio” is featured on Propeller’s latest album, Fall Off the World, which features a cover that is a spot-on reincarnation of the many K-Tel compilation albums (that certainly did not feature the Ramones!) from the 1970s. Other strong tracks include “Wish I Had her Picture,” “She’s So Alive,” and “Can’t Feel These Things.”
Montreal’s Maybelleen have got a unique sound, a blend of 1960s musical motifs (great signature vintage guitars, harmony vocals) with various 1980s synth keyboards, a mix that defies easy categorization. “Bring to Light” is from their debut EP, Gold in Your Hands, a collection of very professional sounding demos. Their first official EP Stereotypes has refined the vocal sound with songs that continue to riff on and develop their hybrid 1960s/1980s sound with the catchy title track,“Models on TV,” and particularly on “To Know Me Better Now.” Their most recent EP In My World has brought the guitars up front and tweaked the vocals to create a more conventional (but still great) poprock sound, as is showcased in “When I’m Right.”
Sometimes a band says, “ya, we’re from Australia” with every line they sing. Perth’s Verge Collection ooze Australia, from their charmingly accented singing to the various Australianisms littered throughout their songs. “Our Place” is a swinging bit of fun that makes you want to hit replay as soon as it ends, with some languid sounding lead guitar and a subtle bed of organ anchoring the song. The single’s B-side “Feel Bad Songs” is also great.
Austin, Texas has so much great music going on, including The Blurries, who kick off their 2011 record Paper Cuts with a track that bolts out of the gate and doesn’t stop. “Little Marie” is driven by a combination of acoustic and electric guitar, with the acoustic anchoring the song and the electric providing its propulsive tension. You can watch the band perform a version of the song for the podcast 
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