Monthly Archives: February 2024

Let’s get political

28 Wednesday Feb 2024

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Is it 2024 or 2020? Seems like déjà vu all over again this politics season. And given what’s coming we might as well gear up with the equivalent of all the musical super-PACs we can muster. I mean, I’m not saying music can save us from the coming political intrigue but it can soundtrack that dumpster fire in a most enjoyable way.

Speaking of ‘been there before’ The Eisenhowers capture our present groundhog day politics with their ditty “President Again is President, Again” from their 2023 LP Nudge Unit Blues. The song works A Man Called E or 1981 Elvis Costello vibe with whipsmart lyrics. The message here is very much wake up now or sleepwalk into disaster later. Meanwhile The Mockers wonder what it might be like to just give in and embrace where things are going culturally and politically on the cutting, hilarious and oh-so on the mark “Republican Girl.” The song itself is a winner musically, sounding so 1980s poprock, while the lyrics are razor sharp and incisive.

A key ingredient of politics in the twenty-twenties is paranoia and conspiracy theories. Pierre Englebert sings about the latter on “Conspiracy” from his recent almost optimistically titled album Things Could Be Worse. I love the ELO wash on the tune, as it delicately parses the creeping impact of ideas run wild. Defoe and Pronai give voice to probably the greatest hit of slogans from the past decade with “Alternative Facts.” The song strikes a slow groove and talk/sing vocals that wouldn’t be out of place on a 1980s version of the Velvet Underground. No surprise the lyrics mock the unfalsifiable confidence of those for whom belief precedes evidence. Midwest Handshake try to provide some insights into our contemporary political animal on “Home Team” from their recent LP skittish. They blame a side-taking culture and performance of opposition that seems rooted in little more than belonging to one group over another. Musically the track uses strings to create an ominous tension that propels the song along and is so in keeping with its sentiment. Tom Wilson cranks up a Robbie Robertson-like jam about what is presently going down on “I’m In Love With the System” from his 2006 album Dog Years. He seems to ask how much can we chock up today’s political ennui to a sense of disorientation that keeps people drawing within the lines.

If we’re going to get political we gotta talk about now and just what is to be done. The Lovely Basements provide a whole lotta of insight, talking up the past to inform our present moment on “What I Like.” And the tune is pretty catchy too.

If only Olivia Newton John had called for flexing our political muscles way back when, who knows? But, more positively, politics a is project always waiting to get started. You can join in now. It’s really not too late.

Photo ‘It Came From Outer Space’ courtesy James Vaughn Flikr collection.

Around the dial: Cast, Rich Arithmetic, Paul Collins and Declan McKenna

23 Friday Feb 2024

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Today’s radio waves feature four stupendous releases from reliably melodic rockers that take up the mission from different strengths. Get ready to do some involuntary humming along.

I was definitely late to the Cast party, only showing up in 2016. But I quickly became a die-hard fan of their canon. There was something shivery good about John Power’s haunting vocals while the band’s musical vibe seemed to deliver on what The La’s had only promised. The band did pop up with a new album in 2017 but Kicking Up Dust sounded more like a Power solo album but for the very Cast-alicious “Baby Blue Eyes.” This time round though I’m in on the ground floor with their brand new LP Love Is the Call and I can report it is a concentrated blast of everything that once made Cast so exciting. The songs here are strong, really sing-along good. John Power has clearly got his song-writing mojo back and then some. As Cast fans might expect, the acoustic guitar features strongly in a few songs here, like “Bluebird” and “Tomorrow Call My Name.” Seductive vocal arrangements also get a look in on the cathedral haunting “First Smile Ever.” But that won’t prepare you for the stunning hooks of should-be hits like “The Rain That Falls” and “Faraway.” “Love You Like I Do” and “Love Is the Call” up the rock quotient but without moving the melody needle any distance from superb. Trust me on this one, Love is the Call is the one you’ll really want to take.

Rich Arithmetic is like a painter who colours his songs with shades of musical yesteryear. And his new album Pushbutton Romance offers a wide variety of sonic hues: new wave, jangle, baroque, and a whole load of sixties vibes. “When You Want Somebody (To Make Love To)” starts things off strong, vibing early 1980s retro with just a touch psychedelia in the vocals. The distinctive guitar riffing throughout really buffets the tune. Then “Carry You (Redux)” steps on the jangle pedal and harmony vocals to good effect. Really, the guitar tones and vocal arrangements on this record are something else. Listen to how “Battered and Broke” uses some jazzy guitar to set a different pace from the rest of the album, more American songbook as a contribution. Or there’s the fab rumble guitar giving the instrumental “Saving Sunset” a cool Shadowy Men on Shadowy Planet strut. For vocals “Moral Blight” lays on some pretty sweet harmonies that really launch the tune in the chorus while in “You Are Always Right” it is the vocal arrangement that really shines, beautifully supported by some distinctive jangle and rumbly guitar work. The tune sounds Mersey but like the non-mop top bands. Other highlights for me include the folk rock “Bend the Arc” and Beach Boys-ish “A Teenage Hymn, Pt. 1: Tan All Over.”

If there was a godfather of power pop it might be Paul Collins. Member of the legendary Nerves with Jack Lee and Peter Case in the late 1970s, later making waves with his own Paul Collins Beat throughout the 1980s, Collins always seemed to be just this side of making it. But like the Velvet Underground, everyone who caught his act started their own power pop band. On his brand new record Stand Back and Take a Good Look Collins has decided to revisit a range of songs from his many bands and solo records, with help from the likes of Dwight Twilley, Prairie Prince, Richard X Heyman, and many others. The results are a rollicking good time. Opening cut and title track “Stand Back and Take a Good Look” puts the Nerves song into a swinging, easygoing register. “In Another World” strips the Americana coating off a track initially covered by the more country-ish Paul Collins Band – and I like it. Some songs hit the jangle just so, like “Liverpool.” Others slip into a more country feel, as on “You Can’t Go Back.” All in all, 67 year old Collins sounds in fine form here. Tracks like “I’m the Only One For You” sound as fresh and full of energy as anything from his deep catalogue.

On What Happened to the Beach? kid wunderkind Declan McKenna stretches his musical range, offering up dance, power pop, English folk, and efforts the defy easy categorization. There is a Bowie-esque sense of daring and curiosity to what is going on here. Yet amidst all this adventure and experimentation the results are always recognizably Declan. “Wobble” showcases this playfulness, with a McCartney-worthy falsetto and a carefully staged, sometimes overlapping introduction of different sonic tones. “Elevator Hum” is another interesting collage of sounds, sparse and airy, then building to a dance floor groove. “I Write the News” nails the 1970s English folkie vibe of John Martyn and Roy Harper before it scales up into something else completely. But the heart of the album for me is the set of radio-ready singles, “Sympathy” and “Nothing Works.” Both are just fabulous instances of melodic single-age, masterfully put together. Given all this variety, it’s clear Declan’s not done exploring yet.

What a quartet for your listening pleasure. Don’t be afraid to dig deep and often into these releases. Repeated listenings are the charm.

Over at Don’s place

16 Friday Feb 2024

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The ever amiable Don Valentine runs the shop over at I Don’t Hear a Single. I’m often over there, trying to keep up with Don’s prodigious productivity given his penchant for almost daily album reviews and a regular offering of singles on his ‘Listening To This Week’ playlist. But, inevitably, I end up having to pay close attention to his annual Top 100 Albums listing because I miss so much. Now Don and I don’t have exactly the same tastes but there is a lot of overlap.  If I had to reduce things to Beatles albums I’d say we both love melodic rock but I’m a bit more Rubber Soul to Don’s Revolver. Not surprisingly then I found a whole lot to love on his list that I think warrants some attention here.

San Diego’s Swive tout their alt rock cred, layered with male/female harmony vocals. The vibe is eerie, like a clean stab at nineties grunge. “Something” starts things off with a dissonant edge while “Race Car” rides its psychedelic guitar right into 1969. But as an album Stereophonic Stylings Volume One is really a variety store of musical choice. I love how “Bad Tendencies” pivots into a very different world of sound, adding some sweet twee to the vocal mix. By contrast, “Wire” has the anguished vocal pull of any random Guster song. My take on “Dead But Free” is that it wouldn’t be out of place as a B52s deep cut while “Second Floor” radiates a bit of Neko Case in full Furnace Room Lullaby form. Swive are really doing some stylish rock and roll here. The Kynd are the kind of band you’re sure you’ve heard before. And maybe you did. Shining briefly in the 1990s the band were MIA for decades until they resurfaced with some new material a few years back. Last year they released a new long-player Timelines but the title really should have been Timeless, the sound is so simultaneously 1966, 1984, and 2010. Listen to how “Workshy” exudes such a glorious Oasis reverby drive or the way “Saturn Eyes” evokes a mid-period REM feel. I feel the organ is the subtle star of this album on tracks like “Whispers and Tones” and “Spitfire Summer.” And then there’s the Badfinger pop buoyancy on “Song For Baby.” Timelines confirms The Kynd as the great lost Britpop band, back to reclaim their place in the pantheon.

Cherry Fez may come from Abington Township, Pennsylvania but the atmosphere shrouding Honeycomb Tearoom seems more London circa 1979, with a dash of folk rock and light jangle sprinkled in places. The former is captured best in opening cut “Her Metro Card” where a new wave arrangement melds to some nice jangle with a vocal reminiscent of Ed Ryan. From there things go very 1965 on “It’s Not Me, It’s You” while “Something Died” ambles along with a Rubber Soul-like metre. Another nifty jaunt of melody and clever lyrics gets captured on “Books That No One Read.” By contrast “It Wasn’t Meant To Be” has that pastoral 1970s English folk scene feel. Another band on a return ticket from the 1980s is London’s Cult Figures. Their album of new material Between US and Heaven is a strong collection. “Mr. Producer” sounds so indie poprock smooth – the single definitely. But title track “Between and Us and Heaven” comes a close second for hookyness. Then “Devotion” spools out with a Cure-like melodic intrigue. I also really like “Sitting Target,” which reminds me a bit of Fastball.

I think I was initially drawn to The Housing Crisis for the name if only because it was refreshing to see pop culture admit it’s a thing. Lyrically the band go easy on social commentary but it’s there. “Enough to Take Me Home” has got some particularly tart asides for a hazy, easygoing pop melody:

I don’t want to be a rockstar
I’m standing still when I’m singing and playing guitar
And I don’t want a thrilling memoir
I’m not courageous and my parents aren’t famous so I’m not making it very far

Mostly the mood on Astral Apartments is poppy indie singer-songwriter with folk-ish touches. Imagine Ben Folds pouring his mournful energy into playing acoustic guitar. Opening track “Better Weather” alternates between a more rock demeanor and reducing everything to just guitar and voice. I love how “Changes in the Shape of the Earth” balances the light with more dire tones. “Wonders of the Station Wagon” adds some tasty Super Mario sound effects to good musical effect. But for a change “Every Day (There’s a New Day Coming)” has a slowly seductive, meditative quality. LA’s The World Famous are a rock band that know their way around a clever melodic hook and their album Totally Famous offers them up aplenty. “Everyday Fear” steps on the lead guitar hook pedal and launches the record in a great rocking register. “Nobody in LA” adds a sweet, hush-like quality to the vocals that changes the vibe. Changing things up, “Delinquents” combines banging rhythm guitar chords and tasty licks in a must-dance number, with a nice acoustic guitar drop out in the middle. “Heartburst” adds an almost country-ish wash over its basic power pop structure. “Candy Clouds” sounds like a single to me with its soaring FOW melody amid chugging rhythm guitar chords, though “Hollywood Pawn” is the song that really leapt out at me from this album as maximum rotation radio friendly.

Is it wrong to pick up a book because of its cover? Only if you never open it up. Turnstyle’s graphic design on their 2023 album Citizens’ Handbook made me pause. These guys know how to package their wares in an eye-catching way. And why not, given how stylish these 10 quirky tunes are? At base, this record is edgy guitar poprock. But each song offering adds some extra sly element that expands its impact. Opening song and current single “Robots Working” rumbles its rhythm guitar low in the gut before developing its tune in a way that rides the line between art rock and a catchy chart contribution. “Plain and Simple” is anything but, layering in hooks and dissonant asides in a very pleasant tension. Then you have a track like “East 21st Street” kicking off in experimental mode only to settle into a hypnotic groove. The rest of the record is replete with delightful pop song workouts. Personal fave: I love the dirty guitar pop simplicity of “Band Shirt.”

Don works hard so the rest of us don’t have to. Thanks Don for immeasurably broadening my circle of possible poprock gems. Get on over to I Don’t Hear a Single to see for yourself.

Photo courtesy Kevin Dooley Flikr collection.

Breaking news: The Maureens, Liquid Mike, The Second Summer, and The Bret Tobias Set

11 Sunday Feb 2024

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The news is out all over town. We’ve been seen running ‘round with a crew of melodic rocking wonders – some new, others old favourites. But you can get filled in on all the details right here.

The Netherlands appear to have a sizzling melodic rock scene if bands like The Maureens are anything to go by. Five years on from 2019’s stellar Something In the Air album, #4 is here and Everyone Smiles as a title pretty much captures the audience response. Equal parts 1966 Byrds and Rubber Soul Beatles, the songs here feature a mix of acoustic and jangly guitars, a load of harmony vocals, and hooks to spare. The band also name check later influences too like Big Star, The Posies, and I’d throw some mid-seventies Wings into the mix as well. So no change of course from previous efforts but no less enjoyable for their consistency. “Stand Up!” launches the record, throwing everything the band does so well at the audience seemingly all at once: hooky lead guitar, heavenly harmony vocals, and a moving sentiment. There’s even a Sgt. Pepper era backward sounding lead guitar instrumental break. I hear plenty of should-be hit single material on this release, from the brilliantly arranged “Alison” to the sublime melody carrying “Start Again” to the lead guitar hooks buffeting “Lost and Found.” Contrasts abound too, with a sombre Byrdsian quality haunting tracks like “Fell In Love” or “Do You” leaning into the vocal harmonies to pretty much carry the tune. “Morning Papers” even strips things down to just vocals and acoustic guitar with poignant effect.

Everyone is raving about Liquid Mike’s most recent LP Paul Bunyan’s Slingshot and with good reason. Its combination of grungy guitars and earwormy melodic hooks are sublime. I stumbled over the band last spring and have been playing catch up ever since. This time out the watchword is variety. “Drinking and Driving” opens things up with a whole lot of dissonant tension before settling into a driving groove and a some surprising hooks. “K2” elevates the rhythm guitar work to carry things forward with a propulsive energy. Then “Town Ease” gives off a more shambolic party feel. Looking for a banger? “Mouse Trap” leans on its dirty rhythm guitar chords with a seductive intensity while the vocals remind me a bit of The Front Bottoms. By contrast, “Drug Dealer” has a more harsh FOW buzz. I love how the light lead guitar lick on “American Caveman” gives way to a thudding pleasant droney grind. Surprise ending? Oh ya. Title track “Paul Bunyan’s Slingshot” springs into action like a should- be hit single with a more smooth poprock sheen.

What I find so striking about Chicago band The Second Summer’s debut album is how consistent it sounds. Undertow is basically a collection of singles released sporadically over the past three years but together they cohere into a clear musical statement here. This is a band that balances edgy with smooth, offsetting ripping guitar riffs with seductive harmony vocals. Opening track “The Reason” effortlessly presents the brief here, driving the hooks home with ease. “Something” tweaks a nineties guitar heavy tune with an almost Byrdsian vocal charm. Tunes like “Invisible” and “Adults” move in on a more even-tempo poprock style while I hear a more edgy Teenage Fanclub vibe on cuts like “Undefeated.” Hits? I think they’re here. “Bad Feeling” sounds AM radio ready as this album’s should-be hit, though “Wonder Why” has also got a pretty killer, hit-worthy chorus.

Former Bigger Lovers guitar player Bret Tobias strikes out on his own with The Bret Tobias Set and a debut EP Pleaser Vol. 1. Where the former conjured a good time Replacements rock and roll vibe BTS is more psychedelic and jangly in a Church doing “Under the Milky Way” register. “Good Morning, Sunshine” has got that dreamy hazy guitar thing going overlaid with nicely subdued vocals. “Avoid the Minefield” presses into a more 1980s Simple Minds sound. Then “Bit of a Dick” offers a cleaner guitar sound even as it edges more into the psych rock scene with some ace keyboard/organ flourishes. Compared to the rest of the set “It Never Hurts Any Less (But You Get Fast)” comes off with a positively jaunty pacing, akin to the new wave era of Squeeze. And the video is a pretty fun DIY effort. The EP wraps with a droney mediation on a “Better December,” broken up midway by an uber cool organ instrumental break.

Now you’ve got the headlines, it’s time to do your own research. Click on the links to get more background on these breaking stories.

Photo “TV War” courtesy Thomas Hawk Flikr collection.

Spotlight single: Steve Rosenbaum “Girl from Seventeen”

06 Tuesday Feb 2024

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I seldom circle back to cover something I’ve already written about once but when I wrote about Steve Rosenbaum’s amazing lost album collection of rough recordings from the 1980s Have A Cool Summer! Summer​-​Pop Demos And 4​-​Track Gems 1979​-​1989 it was only available on 8-track for fifty bucks. Now it’s out for much less on Big Stir Records, ready for digital download, and oh so worthy of your attention. You can read my original review here but I’m returning to the collection after seeing a young Rosembaum doing a live version of “Girl From Seventeen” and it reminded me what a superior track it is. I can’t really explain its effect on me. In 1983 I was finishing Grade 12 and starting broadcasting school and really didn’t have a clue what I was doing. But anchoring me was the rock and roll that hit me in the solar plexus: melodic and jangly, drawing from the 1960s but still marching into the future. It was then that I really connected with the music of Elvis Costello, Joe Jackson, the Jam, Squeeze and probably most of all, Marshall Crenshaw. To my ears “Girl From Seventeen” is just so Marshall. The guitar sound, the chord changes, the echo on the vocals, the vocal line that stretches into the instrumental break. The  Beach Boys organ trill kicking things off is just the frosting here.

A lot of the 1980s frankly sucked for me but the bright spots were definitely the music. So thank you Steve Rosenbaum for giving me a little bit more of the best of 1983 with this track.

You can hang with Steve here. And why not buy his whole album from Bandcamp? If you dig this track you won’t regret it.

The lighter side of poprock

02 Friday Feb 2024

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Sometimes we turn down the stereo, crank up the indirect lighting, and get mellow. As a genre, poprock has got that kind of flexibility. So today we shine our light on the lighter side of melody-rich tune-age. You can light up a Gauloises now.

Last year Bart Davenport re-released his 2003 LP Game Preserve. The whole enterprise was a deep dive into the sonic textures of the 1970s: singer-songwriter, light rock, a bit of yacht, veering into early Eagles territory here and there. But the track that really grabbed me was the flamenco-styled opening cut, “Sweetest Game.” Talk about light touch! The acoustic guitar backing is so elegant and spare, the vocal intimate and understated. On his 14th album Burlington Vermont’s Ben Patton demonstrates his mastery of decades of songwriting styles. Hyde’s Hill Henhouse covers so many bases, from straight up soft rock to mannered 1940s word play. For the former, there’s “Making The Most of Space” or “Does It Have to Hurt So Much,” both exhibiting that effortless easy-listening flow anchored with subtle hooks. By contrast “Don’t Mention Jane to Jim” has the clever pacing and arch commentary of a Noel Coward lyric. Musically the record puts its songs in various settings: samba (“Romantic to a Fault”), novelty (“My Own Monster”), jazz (“Put on a Tie”) and country (“Hyde’s Hill Henhouse”). Songs like “I Hear Good Things About Naples” strip things back to their most essential elements as Patton drapes his vocal over the tune with an exacting delivery. Or you can just bask in the simple sweetness of the tender “Cancel All My Plans.”

When I reviewed Grand Drifter’s “As the Days Change” last year I was struck by the dynamic tension established between the lush acoustic guitars and single note piano work. Andrea Calvo makes this sound central to his Grand Drifter project on the rest of his most recent EP Paradise Window. Opening cut “Drawing Happiness” is most similar to the previously featured tune, with a slightly more Latin flavour. “Beautiful Praise” adds drums and jangly guitars in a way that strikes a more 1980s indie British guitar band sound. On “Unrecorded Feelings” a more Bacharach feel surfaces while “Peaceful Season” turns back to the Latin themes. Then piano comes to fore on the title track “Paradise Window” floating over an atmospheric cloud-like backing. Final track “Memory and Dust” trades guitar and piano lead lines under an ethereal vocal. Another artist that can effectively paint a sonic picture is Jacob Slater. On Pinky, I Love You the sound is striking, echoing like a big, empty, dimly-lit room late at night. There’s not much more here than acoustic guitar and vocals but Slater shapes these two into a distinct ambience. “One For the Pigeons” falls into a solo John Lennon meets Elliott Smith register while “I Do” feels very Ben Watt in that early spartan EBTG period. But the album highlight for me is “Kissin’ Booth,” so reminiscent of the first Suzanne Vega album, with perhaps just a dash of Big Star. This is a mood album, whether making or reflecting it.

Generally Athens Georgia native Erin Lovett hangs with just a ukulele and her voice in the guise of her musical personality Four Eyes. She has a particular penchant for holiday tunes, accent on Halloween. Occasionally she breaks out a more full band performance, as on “Walk Me To My Door” from 2014’s Our Insides. Sometimes she offers up an inventive ‘live radio play and music event’ that runs to 20 minutes – Dead Girl. But her most recent EP The Freaky probably best captures her oeuvre. The songs sound like they emerge from a melody museum, fitted with bits of past musical glory, driven by plucky strings here, driving organ chords there. Opening cut “Vampires” reminds me of Vashti Bunyan. “The Dead Can’t Rest” lurches along fueled by bleating organ shots. “Never Change” is just straight up acoustic guitar folk. But through it all Lovett’s songwriting is lyrically evocative with tunes that get in your head. Well as we amble toward the exits on this post we can excerpt something from Sam Wilbur’s new record The Age. Here the stand out track for me is “South Carolina,” a bittersweet example of Americana that leverages piano, fiddle and competing vocals lines to fill out its aural landscape.

Light and easy can be good, as long as the hooks are strong. So make sure to set these suggestions aside somewhere for when the mood strikes.

Photo courtesy James Vaughn Flikr collection.