Monthly Archives: December 2024

Record round-up II

30 Monday Dec 2024

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Back for round two of this year’s year-end record round-up. These misplaced but not forgotten submissions are now getting their due, just before the year times out.

Our first three contributors are not afraid to boost their signal to get the hooks across. Speed Circuit grind out some big chords on their LP Survey the Damage but lurking beneath all the distortion are some fine tunes. Take “Lucky Breaks” as an example. Appearing half way through the record, the song wears its hooks on its sleeve. “Maybe Another Time” even starts with just an acoustic guitar before fattening up the sound with a jangle rock backing. “Emotional Support Dog” perfectly marries the band’s grungy rock vibe with an unerring sense of melody. And then there’s the fab should-be hit single “Swept Away” which hits all the marks with its super-charged guitar hooks and handclaps. At first listen, Vancouver’s Jupiter Motel appear to exude a 1980s guitar rawk feel on their recent self-titled EP, offset by some power pop vocals. The mix of mad guitar riffing and vocal laying all over “Summer Kids” gives you the picture. Then “Fast Forward and Rewind” is more of a pop tune, overlaid with a Blue Oyster Cults sense of guitar menace. By the time we get to “Playing With Ghosts” we now hear a jangle band, effortlessly knocking out an AM radio hit. It’s an effective mix of pop and rawk touches throughout this all-too-brief EP. Moving a bit south Seattle Washington’s Sleeping Bag set the amps back to 11 on Beam Me Up. Opening cut “Jay’s Jam” has a Swervedriver kind of guitar dissonance going on but that gives way to something more stripped back on “Troll 3.” From there the band shifts back and forth, cranking distorted guitar chords on one track and then dropping them out in favour of a more vocal melody focus on the next. For instance, compare the simmering guitar dissonance of “Jokin’” with the laid-back acoustic guitar and chorused-vocal treatment on “Life.” Love the driving, almost propulsive feel of the instrumental “Splish.”

In the presser for the latest John Sally Ride LP Melomaniacs we learn that the album title is a real word meaning ‘an individual with an excessive or abnormal attraction to music.’ These days anyone still trying to make a go of making music (or writing about those who do) would probably fit that description. Taking a gander at the song titles here, this is a serious clever-bunny concept at work. Songwriter John Dunbar has gotten inside the head of every music super fan with lyrics that bring to life Nick Hornby’s characters from his novel High Fidelity. It’s all here – enmity towards bands you don’t love (“The Band I Can’t Stand”), the anticipation for your fave band’s new album (“Their New Album”), the ritual of sitting with the album’s inner sleeve lyrics sheet while listening (“The Lyric Sheet”), as well the omniscient observer shining light on the madness of record collecting (“His Record Collection”). But this isn’t just a gimmick concept because the songs stand up as compositions. “The Only Man She Ever Loved” has a late 1960s ominous pop vibe while “The Lyric Sheet” sounds like it marries the Moody Blues with Squeeze. But my fave is the driving, jaunty pop tune “Music(I/F)an.”

The cover of Pleased to Meet You from Joy Buzzer riffs on the Replacements but what appears on the inside draws strongly from the Beatles playbook. I mean, listen to how the band lean in to some pretty fab group vocals on “You’d Be Surprised.” I will grant that the beat group influence here might reflect more how 1980s indie bands took it up. Tracks like “Jeanette,” “All These Yesterdays” and “You Don’t Even Know My Name” step on the power pop pedal with an emphasis reminiscent of The Tearaways. “Vicki Loves a Garden” reminds me of how artists like Costello or Tilbrook wield Beatles influences. But for something more indie, both “Judy, Judy, Judy” and “Peggy’s House” have that 1980s ambience. Kingdom of Mustang offer up more than a hint of Lennon opening Glad Days with “More Than They Deserve.” From there the Mersey influences are more muted, held in abeyance to serve this great collection of songs. See how title track “Glad Days” throws out a low-key melody with the subtlety of someone like Marshall Crenshaw. “Say Hey to Blue” is an another example of this band’s understated approach to songwriting. Things start out pretty easy going, only to kick up a few gears in the chorus and bridge. “All You’ve Got To Do is Love” is another come-from-behind wonder, sneaking up on you with its winning hooks. On the other hand, “Not the Special Girl” wears its Merseybeat group influences a bit more on its sleeve. With 14 tracks, there’s a lot to love here.

The presser for The Lost Days debut album In the Store describes duo members Tony Molina and Sarah Rose Janko bonding over Bill Fox and the Bryds and you can really hear it on the opening tracks “Gonna Have to Tell You” and “Half the Time” respectively. Jangly DIY could be a shorthand to describe the ten songs here but there’s a sophistication to these deceptively low key and fleeting efforts (eight clock in at less than 90 seconds). Each contribution echoes some bright star of lofi pop, whether Elliott Smith or those acoustic numbers on the Beatles White Album. Or listen to how the duo work up a full band Abbey Road sound on title track “In The Store.” Personally I love the instrumental “Outro” with its Jon Brion keyboards and lovely guitar work. Drew Neely and the Heroes take us in a different direction with their recent long-player Inner State. “Quit Calling Me” is an epic pop romp, flashing a bit of Queen and a very timely sentiment. The song almost seems comic but cast against the rest of the material here it also fits with the album’s more serious themes of alienation and struggle. “Friday Afternoon” captures that moment of freedom from work, despite knowing it’ll be coming back around Monday morning. A lot of the record has an early 1980s soft rock sheen, though tracks often break out bit in the chorus, like “Find My Way Back Home.”

With Eager to Please Munster Germany act Neon Bone channel so many interesting, sometimes seemingly contradictory influences. There’s punk, a raft of 1950s derived song styles, plenty of Ramones for sure, and much more. Sometimes the songs are just classic pop punk ear candy, like “Girl I’m Getting Used to You,” “I Wanna Know,” and “Pull the Other One.” Others put a frenetic energy into what are essentially standard 1950s song structures. I mean, dial down the distortion and “Dreams” could easily be crooned by some brill-creamed heartthrob. It’s there again on “Sometimes” and definitely on the rollicking “Don’t Fall in Love with Her,” the latter taking a classic 1950s song style and punking it up just a little. Yet I think I like the songs where the band don’t quite sound so much like anyone else, as on “But When You’re Alone.” Back to the Bryds and a load of ringing guitars on this year’s LP from The Junior League, Our Broadcast Day. This band takes the influences and makes them their own, as evident on the soaring opening cut “Two Ways to Go.” Part of it is the strength of the songwriting. “Let’s Hear It for the Dead” sets out a country motif but then moves in different directions. “The Whiskey Talking” sounds like an mid-1980s English guitar band. Or check out that alluring low rumble guitar opening “The Me and Them.” Talk about drawing you in. There are departures too, like the soulful, name-dropping piano ballad “1973 Nervous Breakdown.” Love the jangle closer ”This Concludes Our Broadcast Day.”

Have I missed somebody? Absolutely. And for that, apologies to all the great acts I somehow overlooked this year. Just put me on your radar for the coming 365 days.

Top photo is a drawing by Kasiq Jungwoo Lee, a Seoul Korea-based artist, designer and illustrator who has worked extensively in fashion and commercial media projects. This image is taken from their KasiQ Junwoo Flikr collection.

Record round-up I

27 Friday Dec 2024

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In what is increasingly becoming a yearly ritual, I present instalment I of my end-of-year record round-up. Appearing here is no reflection on the quality of the artists. As any given year progresses I collect and file new songs and albums as they come in, juggling themes and ongoing features with some semblance of a regular posting schedule, and invariably a host of great releases fall off my priority pile. So just before the year elapses, here they are, getting their due attention.

Seattle’s power pop kings Shake Some Action returned in 2024 with not one but two fine EPs. Both Trip Into Yesterday and Chase the Light hit their mod marks effortlessly. From the first collection “Doesn’t Matter” stands out as the obvious single with its gorgeous mix of chiming guitars and reverby vocals. Sounding like they’ve time tripped right out of London circa 1966, there’s a touch of Oasis here and there too. From the second EP I could definitely hear Liam belting out “I Don’t Know Where She Goes” and “Chasing Time.” The former track is a pretty majestic romper with killer Rickenbacker lead guitar and winning organ shots. Toronto has a lively guitar rock scene, strongly in evidence on the Motorists LP Touched By the Stuff. You can hear elements of the nineties dissonant poppy rock on album opener “Decider” and “L.O.W.” But at other points you hear the glossy guitar sheen of early 1980s era Cars on tracks like “Barking at the Gates” and “Call Control.” There’s also a touch psych rock here and there, particularly “Forced Perspective” and “Back to the Q.” Single material is definitely “Phone Booth in the Desert of the Mind.” Bit of Jagger in the vocal delivery while the lead guitar just keeps on ringing (in a good way).

So low-key has been the release of the self-titled album from Caddy this year that any hopes it might become  a ‘sleeper’ hit have been swapped for a ‘coma’ status. And that is a shame because this is one solid slab of buzzy guitar melodic rock. Obviously Weezer comes to mind just a few seconds into the opening cut “In a Heartbeat” but I’d expand that to include any of those bands that ride the divide between rawk and power pop, like say Redd Kross. By the way, this song is a masterclass in guitar poprock arrangement. The layering of the guitar parts alone expertly shows how to build sonic depth and dynamic tension. All the songs here are pretty consistent, though “Someone Like You” and “25 Ways” change things up in different ways that say should-be strong radio play. Nottingham’s Sharp Class hit you right between the eyes with their message of righteous class anger on Welcome to the Matinee Show (at the End of the World). The title track opens the show and definitely sets the scene for what is to come – a blistering attack on the complacency of our times. Some songs (like “Ivory Tower”) call out the usual superior subjects while others (“He Who Dares …”) underline the unequal starting line in today’s rat race. “Ordinary People” is the obvious single, ringing out with jangly guitars and a testimony of lived working class experience. There are times when the band threatens to become Jam 2.0, as on “Where I’d Rather Be” and “Fly By Night. Not that I’m complaining. On the other hand, “Lights Out” and “Catch My Breath” change things up stylistically in terms of song structure in solid poprock way.

A lot of Slippers sounds pretty twee lofi. Even when the guitars strike a menacing pose as on album opener “XTC 1000” there’s still a spartan quality to the goings on. “Pretend World” has a whole band treatment but the tune is really just vocals and guitar driving its spare yet charming hooks. So begins the band’s debut LP, So You Like the Slippers? Unassuming yet endearing. Though things are just about to break loose. “On the Line” steps up to an Apples in Stereo intensity, both in performance and stylish melodic hooks. Then “Nice Weather” has a groovy pop swing while “Lock You Out” lets the electric guitar climb higher in the mix with a nice shot of melodica. From there it’s lather, rinse and repeat on that winning formula. The Genuine Fakes have moved in reverse order with their series of EPs. Their new The Genuine Fakes Extended Play Vol. 1 is actually the third one to see daylight but it may just be the best one yet. Just four songs long but what a quartet! “Unhand Me” opens with a residual Beatlesque flourish before breaking out its own distinctive brand of powerpop. “Pay It No Mind” has a 1970s poppy AM hit vibe while “Alarming” slows things down to an Odds kind of hooky pitch. “Follow Me Now” starts off with a rougher edge before coming together with an enriched power pop melody in the chorus. Really, I think I’m ready for a whole album of these guys.

Oversight central this fall? Failing to attend to Nick Piunti and the Complicated Men when their most recent album Up and Out of It first came out last October. What was I thinking? It wasn’t like I didn’t have fair warning with great pre-release singles like “Bottle It” and “Mind Reader.” Digging into the whole package now I can attest that this is one solid listening experience. The tone this time out is a bit more restrained, less Bryan Adams, more Chris Collingswood. “Sea Sick” kicks things off with a solid blast of melodic rock and roll lead guitar, all in the service a good hooky tune. But the album also has a host of toned-down melodic wonders like “Long Way Down.” For worthy departures there’s the entrancing “Eyelids”(nice lead guitar opener) and Jersey rock flavoured “On the Ropes.” I was just sorting my 45s a few months back when I ran across my copy of Seattle band The Heats’1980 single “I Don’t Like Your Face.” I kept it all these years because it’s something special. Further proof can be found in the band’s reunion LP this year, simply self-titled The Heats. Definitely party vibe to opening cuts “I Hope You’re Wrong” and “You Know.” Dancing shoes material, for sure. A lot of this record has that eighties guitar crunch I associate with the early Romantics or Tommy Tutone, e.g. “For You” and “Where’s Your Love.”  Then again, I would agree with Richard over at Power Pop News that there’s a strong Beatlesque quality to so many tunes here, like “She Belongs With Me” and “As If,” the latter some Costello flavour to the mix. So many great tunes here but I’d single out the Marshall Crenshaw-ish “Heartbroken Past” and AM radio ready should be hit “Never Be the Same.”

I didn’t need to look to know that Jim Nothing comes from Australasia, New Zealand to be exact. There really is something to the musical vibe coming from down-under. The band’s presser names a lot of current acts as influences on the new album Grey Eyes, Grey Lynn but what I hear is Paul Kelly. It’s all over the should-be single “Wildflowers,” a song with an opening so big and bold you just have to know where it goes. This is how you reel them in. Album opener “Hourglass” is pretty striking too with its dissonant guitar work. Then “First Bite” lightens the mood with its rollicking pace. “Easter at RSC” has a more SMWRS aura, a bit spacey and languid. Alternatively the album has a few acoustic numbers like “Can’t Find It Now” that bring Darren Hanlon to mind. And there is jangle from “The Present.” In the ‘how did overlook this?’ file the ever debonair Ward White hit us with his latest Here Come the Dowsers last May. The cover art takes me back to those early 1980s Thomas Dolby records, something so English and Hollywood about them. Musically I hear a melange of David Bowie, Bryan Ferry and Dolby, one where White’s voice is the most distinctive instrument on display. But he has something to say with that instrument too. Rarely do pop artists wield historical and literary references as deftly as White, as in evidence on tracks like “Blimp Street.” Some songs are just great melodic compositions like “Slow Sickness.” Title track “Here Come the Dowsers” aces that sophisticated pop sound I associate with ABC. But my fave here is undoubtedly “Our Town.” It slipped into my running playlist over the summer and has remained there ever since. The song has an air of the Beatlesque channeled through Billy Joel’s piano sensibility.

The opening cut to Polite Company’s LP Please Go Wild almost sounds like a remake of a Schoolhouse Rocks number. Almost. “Circulation” captures a 1970s pop sound that extended from infectious commercials to top 10 singles. I mean, no sooner do we get started than we’re hit with a solid single on “No Time Like Tomorrow.” You’ll be humming this one involuntarily before long. From there the record runs through a host of baroque pop confections that could easily fit on the 1970s Cher variety show or the Midnight Special. Personal fave: “Empty Beach.” It’s got a very Difford and Tilbrook sense of lyrical play.

One round-up down, one more to go.

Photo courtesy KasiQ Junwoo Flikr collection.

Spotlight single: Susanna Hoffs and Elvis Costello “Connection”

23 Monday Dec 2024

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This one-off tribute collaboration to mark Keith Richards’ 81st birthday is an inspired bit of cover-age. Hoffs and Costello take a lesser known deep cut from the Rolling Stones 1967 LP Between the Buttons and elevate the duet aspects of the tune, bringing out something rather special in the process. For instance, on the original it’s hard to hear that it is actually both Jagger and Richards trading off the vocals and they tend to hit the ‘connection’ line so hard it’s pretty much all that stays with you. But the remake rebalances the emphasis between the chorus and everything else and the result is more of an actual song, now cast in a folk rock vein. Vocally both artists are in fine form here, sounding very much on top of the material. Albert Lee also adds some dynamite electric lead guitar runs that really underline the rock part of the folk rock feel.

Hoffs and Costello work up some real chemistry here. I’d love to hear them do more. On the other hand, this effort could also inspire some rooting around in the Stones back catalogue for more hidden gems just awaiting an indie reinvention.

December’s singles (for everybody)

20 Friday Dec 2024

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This round of singles is obviously riffing on a 1965 Rolling Stones album that was itself a collection of bits and pieces from the band’s early years. So here’s some bits and pieces that have landed in month twelve and need to be shared.

When you’ve been a member of bands like The Stems, The Someloves, and DM3 people are going to have pretty high expectations for your solo efforts. Dom Mariani meets them and then some with a fabulous genre-crossing new single “Jangleland.” It’s power pop with a dash of country and some Bowie thrown in too. Video Age pay tribute to working music retail on their new song “Record Shop.” It’s pleasant pop surfing some great jangly guitar and fun keyboard work. The lyrics are spot on too – I think we’d all be in for those employee discounts! Events take a moodier turn on Cloakroom’s recent 45 “Unbelonging.” Things sound spooky, a bit gloomy even, but the guitar tone is so reverb gorgeous it’s utterly captivating. Sticking with the spooky vibe, The ChrisVandalay Project really set a scene with their latest song “Your Favorite War.” The feel is very Roxy Music or Kate Bush. Rounding out our first five tunes Sharon is Karen almost turn into the punk lane with “I Hate It Here” but the strong melody just refuses to be pushed into the background.

“Walk on Water” started out as a possible Trip Wire song but when Covid intervened it fell off the playlist. Now power pop master Jeff Shelton takes it up with one of his other bands and the results are guitar-shimmery good. Of all his fine musical projects I love The Well Wishers best for their perfect balance of insistent guitar hooks and smooth vocals, fully in evidence here. Oh Momma, I’m loving the tension embedded in your “Ohio All the Time” track. Big and bold guitars meet a sweet vocal mix. Keen to see where this band goes next. New The False Positives single “Long Distance Romance” starts all guitars-ablazing before settling into something more ambling along in Replacements mode. From the start of “Penny” Will Stewart’s vocal puts the country vibe up front but as the reverby guitars kick in the feeling turns more to Tom Petty. With a very nice sibilant lead guitar solo too. Music reviewer Hayley Scott says Autocamper ‘make the everyday gorgeous’ and I’d have to agree. The band’s recent double-sided single is a delightful slab of C86 80s pop. “Blanche” jangles but bustles with busy keyboards too. “Budge” is a bit more doleful in a Rilo Kiley sort of way.

Daisy House main man Doug Hammond returns in the guise of his solo project Vaughn Trapp with a slew of recent songs. “Go Back to Sleep” mines his command of late 1960s baroque pop, a bit of Shocking Blue meets Fifth Dimension. The Bye Bye Blackbirds have a solid recent release with the meandering, soulful “Mending Time.” But somehow I missed their amazing 2022 b-side “Fold Up Your Maps.” The vocal arrangement alone gives this track a hooky rush. The jangly guitars are just a bonus. On “Cherry” the dt’s take a host of classic rock and roll motifs and mash them up with good tune. And there’s some standout organ work in the background. Pierre Englebert returned this fall with another collection of urbane pop songs that manage to traverse multiple genres with ease. “Well, Your Daddy Was Wrong” showcases this talent, combining a “Friends of Mr. Cairo” staginess with some killer melodic turns in the chorus. Vancouver’s Buddie are “Impatient” with a broken world, pointless work, and being stuck for options about what do about it. The tune is short on answers but its dissonant emo/grungy elan certainly makes waiting more worthwhile.

Put members of El Goodo, Los Blancos and Trecco Beis into a new outfit and the results are poppy psych fun. They are the Eggmen Whoooooo! and their debut album Fuzzy Eggs, Please is a party platter from start to finish. Just sample “It’s Just Your Mind” to see what you’re in for. Killer lead guitar lick, check. Groovy organ backing, check. Psychedelic vocals/lyrics, check. Get your dancing shoes off the shelf. Chicano Beatlemaniacs The Krayolas pay tribute to Canadian folk legend Gordon Lightfoot on “Gordon Lightfoot (O Canada Version).” The dynamite Brydsian 12-string electric guitar opener doesn’t really conjure Canada’s dour folk troubadour directly but who am I to cast shade on this winning tribute. Dazy continues to drop great singles at regular intervals. Earlier this fall “Big End” set off Beck alarms for me, and that is a very good thing. Now “I Get Lost” is out, bundled with other great songs, and it’s Beck-ishly good too. Bret Tobias sent me “Butter Valley Malcontent” and shortly thereafter an EP of the same name from his combo The Bret Tobias Set. The package is full of subtle poppy gems but the title track is a slightly higher blast of slow burn power pop.  Kurt Baker knows how to turn the amps up to eleven on his crunchy guitar-centric poprock but only so he can better frame his solid hooky chops. His new song “Inner Demons” has an ear-wormy quality that will settle into your frontal lobe and take up residence for a while.

A new album from Dropkick is always something special despite the familiar sonic themes – jangly guitar, lush vocal harmonies, and a Byrds-meeet-Teenage Fanclub songwriting talent. The new album set for release in the new year is Primary Colours and so far the title track flies the brand flag with a tart impact.

December’s a bit of a rush but not so busy that we can’t sling a load of cool singles your way. Click the links to add to your ‘end of the year’ new discoveries list.

Photo ‘Table Hockey’ courtesy Kevin Dooley Flikr collection.

Jangle all the way

15 Sunday Dec 2024

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Does anybody really know what Christmas is anymore? It’s a mixed-up, muddled-up kind of world out there with uncertainty lurking around every corner. We might as well embrace the ambiguity. To aid that effort we offer up our annual assortment of festive tunes, with an accent on hooks of course. Just hit play to jangle all the way.

To put us into an appropriately other-worldly frame of mind, check out the aliens’ perspective on The Old 97’s contribution to the Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special “I Don’t Know What Christmas Is (But Christmastime is Here).” Maybe they’ve got it all wrong but clearly they are having some serious fun. And it just can’t be Christmas here at Poprock Record without a return to the best holiday song shop on the interweb, Make Like Monkeys. Their latest seasonal album This Way to Christmas would perfectly accompany any wrapping-ripping frenzy on Christmas morning. Opening cut “Christmastime Is Everywhere Tonight” has a Michael Penn/Aimee Mann sheen to its melodic arc.

To get our holiday bearings, we might stop in for some traditional-ish seasonal song fare. Freedom Fry’s “Who’s That Walking On My Rooftop?” sounds so familiar, its theme and choice of instrumentation hitting all the right holiday notes. Stylistically it really reminds me of The Rosebuds and, well, Freedom Fry. For something even more traditional let’s stroll down the carols aisle with super janglers The Grip Weeds. Their take on “Hark the Herald Angels Sing” starts all church choir but hang in there because 30 seconds along the guitars kick in and its definitely ‘jangle all the way’ after that. 3 and Half Minutes or Less put me on to Dreams So Real and their jangleful holiday song “Red Lights (Merry Christmas).” It’s a killer tune and the inspiration for our theme this year. BTW you can’t get more trad at Xmas-time than a country tune so to meet that need Deerheart suitably country things up with their delightful “Sweetest Season.”

Dreams So Real “Red Lights (Merry Christmas)”

Despite the relentless promotional cheer of the season, not everyone can afford to be festive. The James Clarke Institute tell a tale of madcap holiday shopping desperation on “Orange Christmas” with  a Fountains of Wayne-like combo of lyrical cleverness and poprock punch. By contrast, Justin Kline infuses “Merry Christmas Katie” with a spare melody very much in the spirit of Elliott Smith. Ken Simpson’s “The Night We Saw Santa Claus” is something else again, more of a stark portrait of Christmas poverty, played with a suitably shambolic, underwhelming charm. Bringing up the mood we have The Smith Brothers’ power-poppy “Every Day is Like Christmas” declaring they only want their true love’s arrival as a present. The previous three tunes are all nicked from a variety of seasonally-themed collections put together by the Japan-based Powerpop Academy.

Rivaling a lack of money in the lousy Xmas sweepstakes is a lack of love. Yes, some people are getting heartbreak this yuletide season, again. Indie rock veteran Jean Caffeine makes feeling bad sound good on “Another Crying Christmas.” There’s a Chrissie Hynde-like no-nonsense kick to this tune, with a few well placed ‘bah bah bah’s and 12 string lead guitar. On “Here’s to the Lonely” Jared Lekites launches in with an enticing rumbly electric guitar, then adds some pace-setting piano shots amid a swirl of captivating vocals. Who can be down listening to this? Norway’s Sunturns are on Christmas III, yes that’s holiday album number 3. Song topics here range from turtleneck sweaters, new snow, and holiday social drama. “Back in Town” is warning someone that somebody named Klara is back in town and wants them to come around. Sounds holiday ominous. No Wayne are coming off the road and say as much on “This Christmas, I’m Coming Home” but whether that’s a good or bad thing is less unclear.

On the other hand, holidays are seldom all bad. The perennial family band The Cowsills resurfaced in 1990 with a nostalgic seasonal message on “Some Good Years” and a Fairlight synth-enhanced chipper demeanor. I almost included Helen Love and Ricardo Autobahn just for latter name alone but “And the Salvation Army Band Plays” tries to find a light amidst their struggles. Another poignant moment or two of yuletide sentiment can be found all over Ben Folds fabulous new Christmas album Sleigher. You want hope? “We Could Have This” is a duet (featuring Lindsey Craft) where two people wonder if they’re edging toward something special. My gut says yes. All we need now is something classy. I mean, it can’t be holiday glass-clinking time without a ballad cast in the 1950s American songbook style, preferably a duet in the “Baby It’s Cold Outside” mode. Luckily Graham Gouldman tucked one into his recent long-player I Have Notes entitled “A Christmas Affair” with Beth Nielson Chapman. Delightfully sing-along-able and just this side of naughty.

We draw this jangle-fest to a close with a piano rumination (surprisingly) from Gregory Pepper and his Problems. “A Nice Thought” cuts through the myths and materialism to put it out there – there’s no god and we’re all gonna die. So you might as well have a merry happy whatever. That’s our seasonal wish for you.

Photo ‘A Christmas delivery from Santa on the Death Star’ courtesy Kristina Alexanderson Flikr collection.

Babylon Beatles

12 Thursday Dec 2024

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The Beatles influence is like its own musical language, infusing a broad body of genres over the decades. All it takes is a particular guitar part, vocal harmony, or lyrical turn to evoke a distinct period of the band’s musical development. It’s impressive how people take those influences and make them their own in so many ways, despite differences in language and musical style. Today we feature acts with qualities that might be dubbed Beatlesque from around the world.

The most obvious triumph of Beatles influence is how it can transcend language. Beatles songs sung in other languages can retain the magic of the originals. Uruguay’s Los Shakers do a Spanish-language version of “Ticket to Ride” (retitled “Boleto para viajar”) that bristles with pure Merseybeat energy. They were the first among many sixties acts from Latin America covering the Beatles in English, Spanish and Portugese (see Blog de Rock en Mexico for many more). A more recent example is Argentina’s Los Ratones whose 2013 album Beatles En Espanol includes 14 early to mid-career moptop faves including a nicely restrained take on “I Feel Fine.” More recently UK retro power popper Super 8 offered up a version of “I Need You” in a language from the other side of the Pacific – Japanese.

Los Shakers “Boleto para viajar” (“Ticket to Ride”)

There are covers and then there are covers. Erk don’t just cover “It Won’t Be Long” on their LP Erk Plays the Beatles they add a kind of crazed manic energy to it. At other points on the album they change things up completely, for instance, reinventing “Blackbird” as a piano tune. Or for something even more ‘out there’ there’s the laser focus of The Boobles. On their The Pink Album they manage to refocus every Beatles cover on the same particular part of female anatomy, for a good cause. “Milk” is definitely “Help” but with a new lyrical purpose, this time in aid of breast cancer research. Other bands strive to really sound like the Fabs but with their own material. For example A see The Poppermost on their recent Merseylicious “I Don’t Want To Know” single. The Dodos UK go in a very different direction. The band is the creative brainchild of Tolly Gipson who uses AI like some kind of bionic mellotron to craft tunes that are spot-on sixties recreations, all the while producing an amazing parallel universe back-story for his would-be moptops. “Now You Don’t See” alleges to come from the band’s soundtrack to their film Danger! Stylistically it definitely falls into a Help! register, with a touch of The Hollies too.

Another kind of influence is a bit more distant from the originals, simply borrowing the broader musical milieu or sonic palate of the band for creative purposes. Adrian Gerard embodies this approach. His work screams Beatles but his songs are his own. I’m really digging his Sounds Like … Volume 2 album, particularly cuts like “Just Don’t Care” and “For You.” Korean group HOA were working a soft rock seam until they released their I Don’t Know Why EP earlier this year and suddenly were reborn as a full-blown Mersybeat group. The four tracks subtly mine a Beatles ambience here and there but also harken back to Dutch groups like Sunday Sun, particularly on selections like “All My Days” and “Sunday Girl.” More recent singles like “Push Man” step on Fabs pedal a bit harder, conjuring “Taxman” like guitar hooks. Brazilian band Banda AL9 have material that riffs on the mellow side of the Beatles street, vibing numbers like “Do You Want to Know a Secret” and “If I Fell.” But “Eu Quero Navegar” from their 2019 EP Isso É AL9 dials down the Beatle-isms to let their own original pop tune shine on. By contrast, this past year’s stand-alone single “She Calls Me Love” / “Chama de Amor” is pretty earnestly going with the Mersey flow.

Banda AL9 “Eu Quero Navegar”

Great music can break through a host of barriers, be they language or culture or style. No tower of Babel aftermath is going to stop Beatlemaniacs making those links.

Photo courtesy BBDO Düsseldorf, D&AD Awards Winners 2011.

Around the dial: The Rills, Wishy, 2nd Grade, and The High Elves

05 Thursday Dec 2024

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As 2024 inches towards a close there are still so many great releases that warrant the spotlight. Today we’ll be spinning the dial for these four radio-worthy acts.

The Rills debut LP Don’t Be A Stranger rips out from the starting gate and never lets up. “Seaside” starts the show, falling somewhere between a brash American SWMRS vibe and a more restrained English Fronteers sound. But next up the early release single “I Don’t Wanna Be” is more getting-up-and-going-somewhere rocking out. Get ready to get some airtime. The album cover sets up a car theme that gets expression on two tracks that couldn’t be more different, tempo-wise. “Drive” has got its lead foot on the gas while “Dad’s Car” is using cruise control. A lot of this album has got the youthful exuberance of acts like of Cage the Elephant or Catfish and the Bottlemen on tracks like “Mistake” and “Bones.” But others throttle things back. Both “Sirens” and “Dream of You” contain more structured evocative melodies, the latter very much should-be hit single material. Then there’s songs like “Stranger” with its spooky slow groove ambience and sliver of The Zombies’ Colin Blunstone in the vocals, or “Angel in the Snow” echoing a New Order guitar/bass line combo.

Some bands really know what they are about. Like when Wishy self-describe their sound as bringing “traces of shoegaze, grunge and power-pop swirling together” they nailed it. On their recent album Triple Seven it’s like all three elements are always there in mix but with each song one genre steps up to take the spotlight. Opening cut “Sick Sweet” marries a grungy drive with a bit of shoegazey dissonance. The same formula is working for “Spit” while “Game” and “Honey” lean into the grunge side. Then “Triple Seven” has a Sugar Ray skip-along rhythm going married to ever so dreamy vocals. “Persuasion” is bit more like Ivy, if they’d tipped in a more FOW direction. Powerpop definitely takes over on cuts like “Love On the Outside” and “Busted.” “Just Like Sunday” is a departure, slowing things down under a wash of layered vocals and a most subtle hook almost buried in the chorus.

Only 2nd Grade could deliver 23 songs in just 39 minutes and still leave the listener feeling like some kind of triple-album epic just went down. That’s what you can expect on their new long-ish player Scheduled Explosions. Now this is not the band’s first short-song rodeo so when they claim they’ll be “Uncontrollably Cool” in just a minute a half you better believe they’ll deliver. And do they ever – across at least four broad genre strokes. First there’s the garage punky stance holding up bashers like “Out of Hive,” and “68 Comeback.” At others times songs vibe a more indie slacker lurch, apparent on cuts like “Bureau of Autumn Sorrows” and “King of Marvin Gardens.”  All these efforts leak melody but the hooks sharpen on material that evokes a Mo Troper DIY sensibility e.g. “Airlift” and “Crybaby Semiconductor.” But it is the power pop tracks here that really deliver for me. “Live From Mission Command” and “Fashion Disease” tweak the guitars for maximum hook-age. Should-be radio hits? Definitely “Instant Nostalgia,” and “American Rhythm.” You may balk at sitting through a 23 song album at first but trust me, if you really like a few you’re going to want the whole crew.

I said ‘more please’ when Kurt Hagardorn’s The High Elves flipped us a pair of singles from his new combo last July. Now he returns with two more tunes to fill out an EP with those singles entitled Early Works. Of the new tunes, “Your Hat” has the austere tone of Hayden, Canada’s dour man of melody, while “Talk” couldn’t be more different, all peppy and musical theatrey.

Today’s tuneage definitely deserves radio play in an old school sort of way. Our dial may be imaginary but the talent is not.

Banner art courtesy kasiQ Jungwoo Flikr collection.