Quebec City band Los don’t appear to have gotten a lot of attention with the EP, double-sided single, and LP they released a decade ago. To my ears, that’s really hard to understand. Their one long-player Big Surf particularly is savagely good, bristling with a new romantic pop crispness but anchored by a whole load of killer lead guitar hooks. Just check out the excitement the opening strum gets going on “Harrison Slide” before adding in some pretty seductive harmony vocals. “Bellevue” has an acoustic guitar and layered vocals dreamy quality I associate with bands like Family of Year. Or listen closely to how “Seventeen On One” bends its minor chords in a heart rending way. But hey, the focus we’re here for is the album’s should-be hit-single IMHO: “Wonders.” As the LP’s opening cut, talk about starting out strong! Right out of the gate, the song says ‘don’t touch that dial’ with its striking lead guitar riffs and slightly melancholic guitar pop groove. As it goes on, the organ comes up in the background, buffeting and expanding the overall sound. Then in the instrumental break the lead guitar vibes a strong 1970s Wings urgency. By the song’s end the vocals overlap in a very sunny Beach Boys way.
The band appear to have changed their name more recently from Los to Lose while releasing two new singles, very much in the same dreamy atmospheric guitar pop style of their earlier work. And that’s fine by me.
Today’s post is all new. I mean, most of the stuff I write about is new but this is a crew of talent I’ve heard nary a whisper about.
Everything about Sergio Ceccanti’s new album Mysterious Journey is freighted with retro cool. The guitar tones are like selections from a guitar pedals buffet. The song styles run the gamut of 1960s melodic forms. And yet, somehow, the album’s sonic aura is timeless. Opening track “Mystery Girl” captures the broader elan of the album with its distinctive lead guitar lines and hushed vocals. Jangle comes to the fore on tracks like “On My Way” with a Searchers buoyant energy. Then “You Dropped Me Alone” lightens the mood with a boppy bubblegum feel. Despite a consistent overall sound, the album does branch out in terms of sixties genres. “From My Mysterious Journey” suggests an early 1960s Roy Orbison intrigue while “Without You” tips things in a more Stones direction (in their more melodic moments). There are real departures here too, like the Teenage Fanclubby “Waiting Outside.” Or listen to how the guitar work on “Forget Me” pretty much guarantees that won’t happen. Really, this album is a summer sleeper chart climber.
It’s hard to know just how seriously to take Terry Anderson and the Olympic Ass-Kicking Team on their new record Got To Be Strong. I mean, the name invites guffaws aplenty. And then there’s the choice of song themes: chainsaws, bandanas, box wine, etc. Not topics that say serious song-smithing. But here’s the thing – the more I listen to this album the more I’m convinced these are fine specimens of sophisticated song craft. Stylistically, there’s more than hint of the Allman Brothers in their poppier moments. Things even stretch into Bachman Turner Overdrive territory on the opening cut “Chainsaw Repair Shop” with its chugging rhythm guitars. “My Bandana” sounds more pub rock/Rockpile era Nick Lowe. Then comes “Best Day Ever,” just the kind of feel-good rock and roll we really need right now, sustained by some serious organ backing. The album changes tempos effortlessly – things slow down on “Dilapidated Heart,” a song that really gets its Americana blight on (both material and spiritual), while “Magnificent” takes a more Byrds-meets-The Band approach. Then comes the album’s secret weapon “Regret Avenue,” a song whose jangle and hooks scream should-be hit single. I could go on loving up every song here but you get the picture. Got To Be Strong is just a great album experience from some very serious talent.
It happens. Turns out sometime over the past few years I bought Mark Alan Lofgren’s first volume of his Black Moon Book project but I never wrote about it. And that’s a shame because the record and follow up Black Moon Book 2 have got some lovely performances. Like “We Don’t Leave the Yard” from the latter – that synth work is utterly captivating. Well, making up for lost time I’m turning to the latest installment in the series Black Moon Book 3 and I can report it’s fabulous too. Just lay your ears on “Ne’er Do Well” and tell me if this doesn’t sound like a misplaced deep cut from the recent Real Estate offering Daniel. Damn but that lead guitar sound is to die for! “Get Out or We’ll Stay” works up a positively meditative drone that is so different but also very pleasing. “Perennials” has a English folkish feel compositionally, reminding me of Vashti Bunyan despite its delightful jangle coating. “The End of the Novel in Your Head” balances dreamy lead guitar and vocals in a perfect balance. Then “Ocean Drive” kicks things into a new lane, sounding more latter day XTC. “Glass Half Full” even threatens to break out into come classic Chuck Berry riffs, before art rocking the hell out of the arrangement. With this Black Moon Book triple play it’s clear Lofgren is just getting better and better.
There’s too many new somethings for one post – look for something new II, coming your way soon.
I’ve always felt like I should like The Decemberists more. I mean, they’re folky, they’re kinda political at times. And lead vocalist Colin Meloy is the closest thing America is ever going to have to a Morrissey-like tortured artiste. But, for whatever reason, I’ve often found that a little Decemberists goes a long way for me. Like one or two songs an album. But that has ended abruptly with the release of the band’s ninth long-player, As It Ever Was, So It Will Be Again. The record’s song selections flow like a greatest hits of the band’s stylistic range over their whole career. There’s folk aplenty on cuts like “William Fitzwilliam” “Don’t Go Into the Woods,” and “Black Maria.” I love the delicious jangle and pedal steel draping “Long White Veil.” The band turn up the horns and a Latin rhythm to define “Oh No!” Meanwhile “Tell Me What’s On Your Mind” is just a magnificent pop anthem. And then on “All I Want Is You” Colin Meloy suddenly becomes Don McLean. It’s quite an astonishing transformation, really. But the album’s standout track is undoubtedly the majestic lead single “Burial Ground.” With help from The Shins James Mercer and R.E.M.’s bassist Mike Mills the song rings out with a Byrdsian jangle and overlapping vocal lines that will make your heart soar.
With As It Ever Was, So It Will Be Again The Decemberists confirm their status as a kind of American treasure. What a live show this album promises to be!
Clinking glasses beneath a dusky summer sky. You need music for that. Definitely. Here’s a curated list of party-approved poppy rock numbers suitable for friends, fading sunshine and a night full of stars.
LA’s The Dreambots thread some 1980s jangly guitar throughout their debut single “Tightrope” but that’s almost a distraction compared to the subtle earworm this melody turns out to be. The song’s main guitar tone reminds me of Steve Addabbo’s distinctive sound on Suzanne Vega’s self-titled debut LP back in 1985 but here it serves a totally different kind of tune. Repeated listening will just lead to further repeated listenings. Strange Neighbors were one of my fave finds of 2023. Their single (“Hotline Psychic”) and EP (Party of None) were number one on both my year-end singles and EP charts. They were that good. Some might say there’s nowhere to go from there but one listen to the band’s new single “Tell All Your Friends” and you’d know that’s wrong. The striking guitar lines, the harmony vocals, the build-up to a great killer chorus: this is the stuff of greatness. The internet is allowing a lot of old bands that didn’t quite make it to relaunch, if not for the big time then at least a smidgeon of the attention economy. The Hollywood Starsgot a few record deals in the 1970s but never took off. Now fifty years later they’ve got a new album Starstruck. I’m really digging the Stonesy/Springsteen swagger of “Walking With an Angel.” Montreal’s The Wesleys also present as a contradiction. So much of their self-titled debut album almost leaps out of the speakers with high degree of rock and roll ferocity and menace. And then there’s “A Lot To Lose,” a gentle, almost languid jangle affair that floats a dreamy vocal over everything. Ever reliable guitar pop-meister 65MPH is back again with “Again.” This time the crashing guitars have a Bond-esque intrigue and Jam-worthy Paul Weller vocal attack.
New Jersey’s Sad About Girls is having a very productive 2024, releasing their third EP of the year Sad To Go in May. There’s some slow meditative material here and then there are songs that really cook. Like “Expect To Lose” with its ripping lead guitar lines and magnetically hooky chorus. “We Didn’t Do Anything Last Year” is another winner with its Everything But The Girl flavour. Another band with two really hot tracks on their most recent album is Melbourne’s Lava Fangs. From Sub Auroram “Photograph” really lands in the Jayhawks ballpark while “Lost For Words” motors along shifting its melodic attack in the most delightful ways. Nick Piunti delivers his signature refreshingly old-fashioned poppy rock and roll on his new one-off single with The Complicated Men, “Bottle It.” Attractively packaged and performed with a Bryan Adams easygoing feel. Most of The Twins of Franklin album This Life is a folky Americana excursion, delivered with a First Aid Kit freshness. But “Life By Design” is something else. The propulsive acoustic rhythm guitar keeps things thrumming on this song, only to be elevated by the electric shock vocal harmonies in the chorus. The title track from George Marinelli’s recent hybrid greatest hits/new material mega-album Except Always has to vie for attention with 25 other songs. But it’s got some notable features, like a Stones rhythm guitar sound and chorus hook that really delivers.
Papa Schmapa main man Joe DelVecchio put me on to a new project he’s got going and the vibe is so NRBQ it could be mistaken for those Louisville sloggers. The new band is SidePlayand the song I can’t get enough of is “Hit the Road Mac.” It’s got boogie and an old man kind of cool. Little Roger has got a ticklish question to put in his recent single “Does Susie Like Boys?” It’s the kind of query that could easily go wrong fast but Roger’s whole delivery seems supportive. The guitars here are so 1970s AM radio while the vocal reminds me of Billy Bremner in his more tender moments. Out of the blue former Irish band The Fireflys frontman Barry J. Walsh pops up with his first solo effort in decades “Rescue Me.” The song is a distillation of essential 1960s sounds: swinging London, Merseybeat, some pop psychedelia, and more. Let there be more is all I can say. Everything about Gary Kaluza’s single “On the Waterfront” says ‘classic’ – from the Silencers/Simple Minds guitar tone, to the stentorian singing from what sounds like the back of an empty echoey church, to the video with its Bogey and Bergman imagery. It’s not a new song but a very worthy re-release for sure. Perennial 1990s throwback Richard Turgeonswore he would take some time off from the last half decade’s punishing schedule of constantly writing and releasing new singles, albums and covers. But just seven months after this last album he’s back with a new single “This is the Last Song (I Write For You).” What can I say? It’s reliably Turgeon great! And I highly doubt it won’t be followed by more good tunes to come in the days ahead.
SidePlay – Hit the Road Mac
Jon Hyde’s new album The Sad Lights is solidly in Americana territory, neither poppy nor rocky for the most part. But title track “The Sad Lights” swerves a bit into our lane with a very hum-able melody that ambles along with a peculiar but captivating charm. I love the mood that The Chris Vandalay Projectstrike on their new single “Better Than Before.” The synth suggests late night, a bit of indirect lighting, and some serious introspecting going on. The overall sound really reminds me of Liverpool’s Black from the 1980s. Cal Rifkin return with a single named for every power pop fan’s fave commercially unsuccessful supergroup, “Big Star.” The song’s connection to that Memphis combo is both lyrical and sonic, popping up in the tune’s narrative and overall jangly sound. And the song’s arrangement is outasight. Kurt Hagardorn has an exciting new project that concentrates his poppy rocky tendencies even more than his exemplary solo efforts. His new band is The High Elves and their debut single “Thirsty and Blue” is full of 1970s Steve Miller guitar tone and a killer rhythm guitar swing. It’s impossible not to hip sway within listening distance of this song. More please! The latest outing from The Bret Tobias Set is positively mercurial in its instrumental choices. “Fait Accompli” has got shoe-gazey vocals, slashes of reverby guitar, and an organ timbre straight out of a Vincent Price horror movie. And that is a very good combo.
When they’re not busy turning out great tunes for Starbelly Dennis Schocket and Cliff Hillis also like to put out duo numbers. Their newest is a sweet walk down melody lane boasting a title that gives away its inspiration. “For Everly” could be a certain brothers act circa 1965 or something more modern, say a nice deep cut from one of those Don Dixon and Marti Jones albums.
Your summer soiree is practically ready for guests with a song list like this on standby. You just have to strike up the bands.
As the sun hangs high in the summer sky roads spill over with those fleeing urban life for a bit of the country. And that needs some apropos musical accompaniment, of course. Enter our featured pair of bands. They can be enjoyed city or country, wherever you are, but their nom de plumes give me an excuse to slot them in here.
Whiltshire’s favourite jangle duo Rural France return with album #3 Exactomondo, still channeling their own unique interpretation of influences like Teenage Fanclub, Lemonheads, and Guided By Voices. Opening cut “Tag Along” has a sweet lofi charm, almost shoe-gazey. Other songs like “Sunslip” and “Guideropes” kick off with solid guitar hooks while the vocals ride a solid bed of jangle. “Ghost Dance” sounds like a single, launching with an alluring opening and crashing guitar chords. Though “Packhorse” is a solid second choice for chart action, a carefully calibrated assortment of sounds that swap out the spotlight. “Blabbermouth” deploys a pedal steel guitar to expertly add a country shade to everything. “Prize Goose” rides us out to the inner groove with an almost meditative Shins-like pop perfection, sliding into guitar god territory near the end. Looking back after hearing it all, Exactomondo is clearly full of great songs but it’s also a solid album experience.
On the new Valley Lodge LP Shadows in Paradise things open with a stunning should-be hit single: “Daylights.” From the relentless driving guitar work to the seductive interplay between the main and background vocals this song just never lets up on its addictive sonic attack. It’s a song that should be echoing out of car stereos all summer. From there the band showcase their amazing melodic dexterity, throwing hooks into multiple styles of poprock. Whether offering a Bruno Mars pop playfulness of “I Wrote a Song” or a more Vaccines-like party energy on “Trouble” there seems to be no subgenre they can’t excel at. You can find a new wave rock and roll attack on “After School,” a seventies disco and pop R&B flavour to “Secret Lover,” or even a 1980s Merseyside revival-style happening with “Dyin’.” The attention to song arrangements here is impressive. “Hanging Around” takes that classic “Latest Flame” guitar strum the Jam also used for “That’s Entertainment” and artfully arranges a kind of sonic tour, with a little acoustic guitar here, some keyboard shots there, all tied up with a very singable tune. Then there’s “Out Of Time,” my personal fave. So hummable – I love the lush background vocals and crashing guitar chords. Closing song “That Love” makes what could be a sitar sound almost upbeat with a tune and vocal hauntingly reminiscent of Ian Gomm.
Enjoy that country air with just the right mix to tunes. Like these ones. Hit those hyperlinks above to properly soundtrack your summer travels.
Photo ‘Tomorrow’s the Day my Bride’s Gonna Come’ courtesy Thomas Hawk Flikr collection.
What band variously sounds like American punk circa 1978, Frank Zappa, The Sweet, Cheap Trick, pop metal, with maybe with a touch of ELO? Only Redd Kross can pull all that off without skidding into incoherence. Of course, they don’t pour all those influences into every song, which means an album by Redd Kross can sound like multiple bands. That’s not to say their overall sound hasn’t changed over the years. This is a band that continues to move to adjacent genres without definitively leaving the old ones behind. Take the first EP and album: 1980’s debut Redd Kross and 1982’s Born Innocent. Good time, grinding, American punk and roll. By 1984’s album number two though things start to branch out, as Teen Babes From Monsanto shines a light on the band’s emerging power pop chops. I’ll confess, for the longest time Redd Kross was more a band I’d heard about rather than heard. To rectify that and catch me (and maybe you) up, this post scans every RK album for only the most hooky numbers IMHO. Redd Kross my heart!
Redd Kross got their start in the hot heat of America’s punk summers 1978 and 1979. But I wonder if it wasn’t just the manic in-your-face intensity of that genre that appealed to them because over the years they would also show a lot of love for over the top pop-metal excess, faux stadium rock, even a few tongue-in-cheek prog rock interludes. Yet for me their power pop tunes have always been a cut above in terms of craft and melodic ingenuity. The turn comes three cuts into Teen Babes From Monsanto when “Heaven Only Knows” pumps that fifties bubblegum pop nostalgia. Then “Don’t Turn Your Back On Me” has a seventies glam meets new wave feel. On 1987’s Neurotica “It’s the Little Things” reworks the disaster rock formula of The Crystals and Ronettes to good effect.
By 1990 the band had signed to a major label and released Third Eye, a more slick production. The power pop single here is certainly smooth. “Annie’s Gone” is carefully crafted with a Cars-like precision, resulting in the band’s only American chart hit. On 1993’s Phaseshifter “Saragon” is positively Beatlesque with a Live at the Hollywood Bowl kind of Lennon energy. RK rounded out the nineties with 1997’s Show World and, again, the power pop sound notably shifted. “Mess Around” sounds a bit Crowded House while “Get Out of Myself” reminds me of other strong 1990s power pop acts like Sloan.
As the twentieth century faded out so too did Redd Kross, or so it seemed. The first decade of the new millennium failed to deliver any new material. Then in 2012 Research the Blues arrived heralding Redd Kross 2.0 had finally arrived. Here I like some of the late-breaking album selections like “Winter Blues” with its winning Hoodoo Gurus vibe or “Hazel Eyes” which really has the makings of a Big Star single sound-alike. 2016’s Hot Issue was a compilation of sorts, bringing together rare and unreleased material. Like the 1970s pitch-perfect riff on The Sweet throughout “Insatiable Kind” or the unstoppable guitar pop of “Don’t Take Your Baby Downtown.” The band resurfaced again in the two-thousand-and-teens with 2019’s Beyond the Door, proving their 2012 comeback was no fluke. So many great tunes here. “There’s No One Like You” sounds like a great lost Odds single. Or get close to “Ice Cream (Strange and Pleasing)” where the band is doing a full-on sixties garage power pop vamp a la the Troggs or Monkees.
Fans waiting for a ticker tape parade return of Redd Kross got their wish this year with the release of a sprawling self-titled album of all new material. Redd Kross (The Red Album) offers up 18 cuts and an album design mimicking The Beatles (The White Album). My own choices for winning should-be singles seems to accord with the band, who’ve turned both tunes into early release videos and singles. “The Main Attraction” builds from a slow start to a real stunner of a showcase single. Then “I’ll Take Your Word For It” works a Merseybeat seam in a style similar to contemporary acts like The Tearaways. I’d also single out “Good Times Propaganda Band,” a track that sounds like a cross between Paul Collins and mid-period Beatles. Of course, “Born Innocent” is also pretty special and the name of a recent documentary on the band.
Redd Kross, where have I been all your life? Clearly wasting precious leisure time I could have spent with all your records. Don’t make my mistakes dear readers, complete your Redd Kross catalogue today!
Summer seems to come to different people at different times, depending on whether you’ve got kids in school or a job with a set vacation schedule or live in the United Kingdom. But July 1st is a definite dividing line on seasonal states of being. So let me say it, summer is now officially here.
To kick things off mood-wise, Sparkle*Jets U.K. have got the perfect single with “I Can’t Wait for Summer.” The band may not be from the UK but they certainly do sparkle on this new song, an homage to the Beach Boys that will appear on their first album of new material in two decades, to be called Box of Letters. The opening wash of background vocals on this song are just so California sixties pop, though the treatment drifts into a more modern sound as it goes along (and deliciously so in my view). The artwork for the single is itself a riff on the famous Beach Boys Endless Summer greatest hits cover design.
Now that summer has arrived you can just sit back and marvel at that big beautiful sunny blue sky. That’s what pop tunesmith Steven Wright-Mark advises on his brand new and oh-so-timely single “Summer Sky.” This one has got an earworm for a hook so sneaky you’ll be humming it long after your portable cassette player has run out of power. Shane Tutmarc gives the sun its due on his new Dolour long-player Daylight Upon Magic. Album deep-cut “Sun On My Brain” gives voice to that feeling of summer abandon where you’ve just got to break free from work and hit the beach. ‘Why am I working so hard?’ Tutmarc sings, ‘I can only get so far …’ Indeed. I’m pretty sure that the good people of Rapid City, South Dakota have no idea what indie power pop god resides within their midst. Friends of Cesar Romero have yet another fantastic EP out, the seasonally dubbed Last Summer A Year From Now. So many songs here just cook with a garage rock intensity that never fail to strike a strongly melodic chord. This could be your go-to summer party platter for this year. But make sure to hit replay on title track “Last Summer A Year From Now” to hear a master class in hard-hitting hooky poprock.
Of course for many summer means travel. I’m not recommending this locale as much as the EP and song about it. Ricky Rochelle serves up his signature punk pop vibe on this Cannibal Island Resort EP, particularly on the darkly poppy title track. I really appreciate all the extra sonic bits Rochelle mixes into his tunes that creates a complexity that belies their apparent punky simplicity. You’ll find four fun songs here but “Cannibal Island Resort” would be the single for sure.
No more waiting. Go to the front of the queue for your ration of summer-themed tune-age right now.
Poprock Record 