My go-to source for breaking poprock should-be hits Sweet Sweet Music Blog featured Montana native Jacob Godbey’s pretty much one-man band Lo Fi Ho Hum back in July and since then “Never Been in Love” has been occupying a special set-aside corner of my new music mind space. I’ll admit, my initial engagement was with the hilarious video Godbey put together. His improv skills clearly come to fore as he visually portrays his song’s hapless protagonist on this quest for love. But make no mistake, this single is a killer song, combining Steve Miller-esque everyman sleek vocals with a slow burn melodic hook that just keep looping you back in. And the recurring bicycle bell shots are just a smile-inducing bonus.
The song is part of a short sharp shock of an extended play release Garage Pop, which really is apt description of the 19 minutes of music contained here. “Boundaries” is another strong cut, slightly dissonant and hooky, cut with the occasional buzzy guitar breakout and yelly punk vocals. “Open Mic Night” brings observation comedy to everyone’s mixed bag entertainment choice. But really the whole package is an enjoyable blast.
Lo Fi Ho Hum are high octane fun. Get over to their Mp3 distribution centre on bandcamp for more and then visit Godbey Creative to discover you’ve only just scratched the surface of Jacob Godbey’s considerable, multiple talents.
The EP is back baby and ready to extend its play. Perhaps not quite as far as the more ubiquitous LP but farther than a maxi-single for sure. To that end we’ve rounded up a bevy of new EPs to stack up on the record changer and let them have their way.
Henry Chadwick keeps on pushing the frontiers of his melodic journey. His latest EP Leaving sounds like it’s been put through a Beatles pop-psychedelia filter and come out the other side all dreamy and a bit shoe-gazey. Opening cut “I’ve Hate the Sound” is a sonic seductress, lulling your cares away. Then “Reruns Alone” has an off-kilter midnight movie ambience. “Leaving” sounds more Ben Kweller meets Apples in Stereo. The whole package of songs has a tentative, explorative, gentling vibe I’m digging. Derbyshire UK trio The Happy Somethings also sound contemplative but in both a lyrical and melodic way. Their new six song release Caught in the Web delivers more of their hooky social commentary, this time ruminating on all things social media. You can feel the tension animating “Is This Broken” and the unceasing uneasiness of “Prey.” This gives way to sunnier jangle sound on “Kiss of Life” but the message remains dire – basically, web life is a pretty shallow endeavor. Should be hit single “Smitten” has the band acting as reverse sirens, warning listeners away from the seductive allure of a life lived online. Pale Lights Phil Sutton revives his Love Burns project to give us another dose of his folky pop. Blue offers up seven songs that oscillate between earnest lamentations and more upbeat sentiments. The title track is a lowkey poppy number with a strong Lloyd Cole vibe. “To Say Goodbye” balances a recurring cool lead guitar with a piano rhythm section. Then “Hard to Fall’ harkens back to REM’s take on country rock. But perhaps saving the best for last “What To Do About Us” has got a riveting lead guitar and a tight overall band sound. This one is the radio-ready repeat-player.
Moving over to more rock side of street Justin Kerecz blends an Americana esthetic with a more stripped back rock and roll feel on Nobody Man. For instance, “Barking Dogs” has an almost stark simplicity but the pre-chorus builds tension that the chorus opens up nicely. By contrast, opening cut “Been Crying” reaches back to a neo-1960s melodrama sound. Toronto’s Vicky von Vicky lean into a more guitar pop rocking style on Broken Chairs. “Jealousy” kicks things off with a rough and ready feel only to have “Freak Me Out” smooth out the vocals in a most alluring way. Both “Goodbye My Love” and “Be Still My Heart” have a classic 1980s melodic FM rock sound while “Not The Man” drop a bit of pop anguish into the mix. Five strong cuts here. I wrote about The Feeders fantastic “Congratulations By The Way” a while back but now it is included on an equally good self-titled EP. Here you have more of group leader’s Sam Vicari’s dissonant melodic musings. “Sara You’re My Saviour” and “Mrs. Duluth News Anchor” are definitely highlights here. Somehow I missed The Pozers guitar poppy outing last year Something Pop. This album is not really an EP but as only three songs are up on bandcamp I’m treating it like one. “Alison With an Edge” ambles along with buzzy guitars and a vocal melody that turns out the hooks. “Save a Kiss For Me” works the 1970s layered vocals effect into the tune so well. Meanwhile “Missing You (Missing Me)” has a buoyant power pop that will have you beaming.
Speaking of smiles, my first listen to Cliff Hillis and Dennis Schocket’s “For Everly” had me grinning unstoppably, so successfully did it conjure key musical ages for me. I can now report that their subsequently released EP Pop, Girls, Etc. is equally magical, hitting the marks of a host great poprock eras. I mean, dial into “Violet Blue” and transport yourself back to AM radio 1979 with the sleek guitar and exquisitely shaped vocal work so of that period. The duo rock things up a bit on “The Girls Are Back in Town” and offer a variety of jangle with “Carrie, the One” and “Here Comes Joanna,” the latter a masterclass in Byrdsian songcraft. Toronto’s Drywall Heels have also super enriched their sound with a bit 1960s swagger and jangle on their new outing Today’s Top Hits Playlist. This is a sunny collection of winsome tunes, aided by interesting guitar tone shadings on “Screens” and “Little Critters.” “Any Hollow” adds some luscious vocal layering to the mix. And check the maximum jangle dressing “Caterina.” This EP is a breezy good time. Tampa’s The Easy Button add a good dose of distortion to the tunes on EP2 but that can’t obscure the hooks driving the songs. Their Weezer-meets-FOW melodic instincts are in full force on tunes like “Liberty Bell” and “Private Beach.” “Honor Roll” punks things up a bit but in a hummable way. “The Best Paths Are Never Clear” is an epic should-be hit single. And Halloween even gets a look in “Friday the 13th 2.”
Wifey’s debut EP Just A Tease was certainly highly anticipated by me. When I first heard their early release single “Mary Ann Leaves the Band” I was blown away by its lyrical cleverness and drop dead melodic hookiness. The four additional songs here do not disappoint, branching off in different power pop directions from their initial release. Opening cut “DiMaggio” kicks off in a totally different acoustic guitar register, only to scale up to a solid power pop assault when it gets going. “Playing Dead” is another winning tune though a more straightforward slice of guitar pop this time out. Greedy me might say I want a whole album of Wifey but this EP is a already a pretty full tilt blast of poppy goodness. Heading for the ‘best of’ lists for sure.
The lowly EP. Once upon a time it wasn’t even considered important enough to get listed in an artist’s official discography. Now it’s a regular thing, release-wise. And that’s a good thing.
Photo “The Party Makers” courtesy Thomas Hawk Flikr collection.
What kind of album is Nick Lowe’s new Indoor Safari? His recent LPs have ranged from rock and roll allsorts mixtures (At My Age) to more sonically consistent kinds of musical statements (That Old Magic) but his new release harkens back to his 1980s rockabilly-tinged variety shows like Nick Lowe and his Cowboy Outfit and Pinker and Prouder Than Previous. Contra the post title, not much on the new album is genuinely new, with most tracks seeing release sometime over the past decade on a variety of extended singles and EPs, though the versions here are freshly re-recorded for this release. The new takes are not that strikingly different – the changes are subtle, perhaps a slight shift in the vocal fit or the band’s swagger. But put together in one place like this the songs do cohere into an album rather than just a collection of tunes.
Lowe opens with a blast of rockabillied sixties garage rock on “Went to a Party,” from which he derives his album’s title when he suggests a party is akin to an indoor safari. This track and “Jet Pack Boomerang” are the only wholly new tunes here and, along with “Tokyo Bay,” set the pace for the album’s more rocking moments. Lowe’s backing band for the record are Los Straitjackets and their playing adds a welcome degree of surly abandon to the proceedings. Other songs like “Love Starvation” and “Lay It On Me Baby” draw on a post-1950s but pre-Beatles rock and roll vibe. Then there’s “Crying Inside,” the kind sixties rewrite Nick has has tossed off throughout his career with reliably good results. Nick does also draw on his Brentford Trilogy sound for “A Quiet Place” and “Different Kind of Blue,” the latter conjuring a distinctly jazzy crooner feel. “Blue On Blue” remains my fave song from Nick over this last decade. A band like Los Straitjackets could have stomped all over this tune with their wall-of-guitar sound but instead deftly pick their way through, delicately shaping its impact. And while album 14 for Nick might see a bit more gravel in his vocal there’s no discounting his talent for phrasing, as evident when he makes a cover of Ricky Nelson’s “Raincoat in the River” sound more like a great lost Sam Cooke 45. “Don’t Be Nice To Me” wraps things up in a classic Lowe style, going low key only to reveal surprising hooks.
Aging artists risk turning into a broken record, releasing faded versions of their former glory again and again. But with Indoor Safari Nick Lowe – with help from his able backing band Los Straitjackets – proves an old dog can even make old tricks sound fresh and exciting. Long may he growl.
Get Indoor Safari from Nick’s Bandcamp locale and visit his website for his seemingly never-ending tour news.
Today’s spotlight single is actually a b-side. Hailing from Salt Lake City, The Mellons combine psychedelic and baroque pop influences in a most delightful way, as showcased on their debut album Introducing … The Mellons. They return now with a new single but are holding off on revealing both sides of the 45. That’s ok because the b-side “Please Baby Please” is a dynamite tune in its own right. It kicks off with a mesmerizing drone attack of insistent guitar hooks and 1970s Chicago style vocals, before they went all soft rock. Overall the sound sounds very Sloan in the way it gels together into a cohesive aural attack. Then in the instrumental break the atmosphere suddenly becomes British beat group circa 1965, all rough and ready guitar and band party vibe. I can’t wait to see where this goes on a whole-album treatment of such themes. Alas we have to wait until November just to glimpse the a-side here, let alone a whole batch of new tunes. But I’ve got a feeling it will be worth the wait.
Get your latest Mellons b-side at the Earth Libraries bandcamp shop and catch up on all things Mellon at their own unique internet locale.
Time for another collection of 21 tunes populated from various sources over the past month. I think there’s something from every dark corner of the poprock-o-sphere here. And given the value for money, they’re all available for five and dime prices when you think about it.
Earlier this year Portland’s Blitzen Trapper brought out a monster of a new album 100’s of 1000’s, Millions of Billions. It’s pretty impressive how quickly they rivet out attention on their opening single “Hello Hallelujah” with just a few strums of the guitar. From there they just build the hooky tension till there’s no turning away. You are gonna hit replay on this one. Shifting north to Toronto The Celestophones nail a very particular seam of the Beatles sound, namely their love of the Everly Brothers and Buck Owens. They conjure both elements expertly on their light and frothy single “You and I Know.” Every time I notice Milwaukee’s Newski he seems to be on the road somewhere so I don’t where he gets time to lay down all these tracks. “Banking on Never Breaking Down Again” definitely has that ‘live on the road’ vibe. He manages to make his acoustic guitar sound like the quintessential rock instrument, one part Springsteen, another part Tom Petty. Askim Norway duo Herr Wade produce a lot of material, much of which skates outside of the zones set for this blog. But their “Theme From Chief Inspector Wade” is a wacky, inventive piece of work, reminding me of the Penguin Café Orchestra in its creative juxtaposition of instruments. Poprock legend Graham Gouldman has a new album out entitled I Have Notes and it rises to his usual standard of intense listenability. The most immediate hit single-ish tune to my ears is “It’s Time For Me To Go” but I’m also drawn to the finely structured ditty “Play Me (The Ukulele Song)” if only because the song’s sentiment is just so apropos of the fate of former school instruments.
On “Dashboard Jesus” Glenn Erb navigates a dead man’s curve with an alt country vibe but doesn’t quite make the turn. The effect creates a scene of eerie, low key desperation, despite the apparent wreckage. You’re going to want to add this to your disaster song playlist. A very different atmosphere is conjured up on Loose Buttons’ new single “I Saw Jon Hamm at the Beach.” Terms like languid, breezy, sun-stoked, and shameless name-dropping all come to mind. I am feeling more relaxed already. Rich Chance works up a sophisticated pop extravaganza on “Azalea Close.” The song has so many interesting melodic and lyrical twists and turns, where suburbia is pleasantly hooky but not all it seems. Rangiora, New Zealand’s Best Bets return in fine form on their new single “Spooky Signals.” Fuzzy hooky goodness is what this song provides in abundance, an advance release from their new album The Hollow Husk of Feeling. When he’s not donning a mask with his instrumental guitar super group Los Straitjackets Greg Townson flashes a Chet Atkins guitar gentleman pose for a host of great solo singles and albums. Just this week he’s got a a new double-sided single out and personally I’m loving the stylish classy-ness of the “Spinning Top” selection. You can’t fake this kind of cool ambience.
When he’s not hanging out with those cool dudes from The Half Cubes veteran poprocker Randy Klawon offers up the occasional jangly single. This time “She’s More Than I Want” comes on like the second coming of the second iteration of The Searchers. His somewhat plaintive vocal pairs nicely with the bright La’s-like lead guitar lick that defines the tune. Our next cut is a bit of a cheat because Jeff Gordon’s “Hard Promises” is a re-release from his 2021 album Local Boy. But man this song is just so good! The vocal hooks are utterly seductive, framed by striking lead and rhythm guitar work. Haunting is the word I’m looking for. This is a tune that stays with you long after the record ends. On “Kinda Lost” The Junior League have managed to mash together sonic hues from two different decades, combining a mid-1960s George Harrison guitar jangle with a lush 1970s soft rock vocal. The end product amounts to an exquisite synthesis. It’s one of three new tunes on their recent EP Nattering Nabobs. Sydney, Australia’s The Stormy Sea remind me of a host of 1980s folk rock revival acts, with a touch of Dionne Warwick style thrown in. “You Scare Me” would fit in nicely on a Lilac Time album given its light bouncy air. I’ve liked a number of Boston band The Fatal Flaw’s past releases but their new single is a co-write with Wyatt Funderburk and that gives it a bit more of a head-turning quality to my ears. The band expertly squeeze every melodic hook out of the song with chugging guitars and a sweet vocal treatment.
Jeff Gordon “Hard Promises”
The Newds drop singles now and then, focusing our attention on one song at a time, each one a carefully concentrated blast of melody. “God of Small Things” is no exception, a recent offering that has so many subtle sonic elements going on. The song builds and builds without ever really blowing up. It’s almost meditative. If ever there was a band whose name jarred with their musical output it would Young Scum. The moniker surely denotes screaming punk or hardcore will result from hitting play? But this Richmond Virginia combo have a 1980s Manchester jangle sound that is relentlessly smiley on their new single “Peach Ice Cream.” Part of a whole album experience dubbed Lighter Blue due out soon. Chicago native Kenny Michaels is on to something with his new single “Must Be This Love of Mine.” Buoyant and sunny in both melodic and lyrical content, the song has a unmistakable early 1970s pop vibe, with some Turtles shading on the ‘ba ba ba’s. Another time trip single comes from Dragon Inn 3 with the recently released “Clock Machine.” The intro guitar work is so jazzy 1970s, a period when it seemed every song had to feature some serious lead guitar motif. But then these sometime members of Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin do their indie creative thing and add vocals that push everything in a different direction, with a wonderful effect. I love the organized cacophony on Shiverlane’s new song “Little English Pleasures.” The competing vocals particularly have a shambolic quality until they come together with a dynamic precision.
Kenny Michaels “Must Be This Love of Mine”
Last up on our five and dime specials, a pop-enriched summer stinger from The Glad Machine, “So High.” There’s Beatles name-dropping, laconic acoustic guitar swing, and a concentrated blast of sing-along melodic energy in the chorus. This will have you whistling as you leave the store.
The five and dime had it all and then some. Those bargains may be gone but great value on songs is even more true today. Click the hyperlinks to fill your basket before the checkout.
Bummed at the thought of your mundane back-to-school choices? It’s not too late to enroll at the San Francisco area Chime Schooland takes classes on some A-levels jangle. Schoolmaster Andy Pastalaniec has put together an 11 song lesson plan entitled The Boy Who Ran The Paisley Hotel that will introduce students to the fine points of superior song-craft and Rickenbacker 12-string guitar technique. The Chime School music library gets a full workout here, drawing on myriad elements of 1960s and 1980s jangle texts in new and inventive ways. The lessons begin and end with some strong Cure vibes to my ears, with both “The End” and “Points of Lights” dropping some serious Robert Smith-like guitar lines. “Give Your Heart Away” has a Smithsian melancholy while I could hear REM doing “(I Hate) the Summer Sun.” Then “Words You Say” harkens further back to the 1960s folk rock scene. You won’t be drifting off to sleep in these classes because the pacing of so many of the songs here is just relentless. “Why Don’t You Come Out Tonight” adds impressive percussive elements amidst rapid fire jangle guitar licks. “Another Way Home,” “Desperate Days” and “Say Hello” all ride a river of jangle. The current video release “Wandering Song” is the obvious candidate for album valedictorian, leaping out from the start with an insurgent lead guitar lick that keeps looping back in throughout the song. Though “Negative Monday” is a pretty impressive jangle case study too, combining delicious guitar hooks with a decidedly melancholic melody.
Chime School is back in session and ready to take on pupils. Click the hyperlinks to register and download your course materials. Homework never sounded so good.
Poprock Record 