Author Archives: Dennis Pilon

Dance the apocalypso

21 Thursday Nov 2024

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America really is my favourite reality show. Just when you think things can’t get any more ‘out there’ a new season launches and all the rules get broken. In the latest plot development an aging patriarch returns promising to unleash a torrent of personal vengeance and vilification, doled out via social media posts and executive orders. And that’s just the promo reel. As the USA now seemingly embraces its inner apocalypse, we might as well let hell break out musically too. To that end, we present a load of hooky tunes all about mayhem, devilry, and less than optimal outcomes.

To hear some American commentators talk, you’d think the devil himself was running for office. But listening to Paul Gilbert’s “I am Satan” he doesn’t seem so scary. Besides presenting the dark lord as an affable, devil-may-care guy, the tune is hilarious and eminently hummable, vibing goofball rockers like Rupert Holmes, Jonathan Coulton and Weird Al. By way of background, Gilbert is an honest-to-god guitar hero with countless instrumental albums where he pyro-techniques his way through every imaginable songbook. Yet it’s when he sits down to write more accessible pop tunes that I’m gobsmacked. Moving on, Quincy tell us about a “Get Well Card from the Devil” and I get the feeling they just don’t trust the sentiment. Over a boppy track that has a definite Eels-meets-The Kinks vibe to it, the takeaway is some characters talk nice but do nasty so best beware. Then there’s Fireproof Sam and the Networks Stars who turn the camera back on us on “The Devil in your own Detail.” I mean, how much of the ugly in the world may be reflected in our good selves? Or, to put it differently, could we be pushing against the darkness just a little bit more?

Paul Gilbert – I am Satan
Quincy – Get Well Card from the Devil
Fireproof Sam and the Network Stars – The Devil in your own Detail

Next topic: hell. Let’s pause to consider America’s obsession with Manichean good and evil, heaven and hell. At any given moment somebody in America is going to hell, if you can believe all those TV preachers. Canadian band Hollerado give a Great White North take on the situation with a load of ‘sorry’ asides on “Straight to Hell.” By contrast Glaswegians U.S. Highball are less deferential, preferring to just “See You In Hell” at some unspecified future date. Or you could just give in and resign yourself to being “Best Dressed Man in Hell” as Emperor Penguin elect to do. Not a great group of options but if these songs make the soundtrack in hell count me in.

A strong theme in the recent race for glorious leader was disaster. Sure, you’ve got tornadoes ripping up the American south – nothing new there – but now that chaos is being exported to every other corner of the continental USA. I think the Chesterfield Kings “Crazy Days and Wild Nights” effectively captures what may lie ahead. Catch the six-o-clock news for your crazy days update and then lock up your house to steer clear of those wild nights. Looked at positively maybe Greg Ieronimo is right and we’re in for some “Beautiful Disaster.” But my bet is with Cheap Star that things will just be plain old “Disaster.” Both are supremely cool tunes so go ahead and enjoy them as Paris (Texas) is burning.

Another great debate in the headlines is about war: who’s for it and who’s agin it. Despite claims that the new America will down weapons I can’t help but feel the Preoccupied Pipers have got a better grasp on reality with “We Go to War.” It’s just too predictable that when shady characters get desperate flags get waved and somebody’s kids get war fatigues. This can lead to a related development ably sketched out by Beachheads on “Death of a Nation.” There’s something old school UK punk about this tune, at least until the chorus when things get particularly poppy (and I’m lovin’ it). Or, conversely, perhaps The Magnetic Fields are on to something with their alternative history prophecy “The Day the Politicians Died.” I usually have quite a bit of sympathy for people who stand for political office, it’s a thankless job. But I get the sentiment behind this song, particularly in the US where you really have to be millionaire or friends with one to join the politician club.

I want to be an optimist but often I feel The Call called it back in 1984 with their dour cover of Moby Grape’s “The Apocalypse.” Their version is just so moody and dark, perfect for our moment. As they sing “Apocalypse is now, mankind. The time has come to die” we can cue any number of destruction montage sequences.

The Call – Apocalypse

Or maybe not. People could get their act together and pull us back from the abyss. I’m leaving that door open. Luckily there’s plenty more great music to distract me (and you) in the meantime. So let’s get dancing, apocalypso style.

Photo copyright Max Scheler, Hamburg Germany, ‘Fall out shelter for sale,’ Los Angeles 1961, as featured on the James Vaughn Flikr collection.

Fall singles fire barrel

16 Saturday Nov 2024

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As autumn slowly cuts off any hope of retreat to summer we are left with little choice but to spark up some inner warmth, by whatever means necessary. So doff your wool and cotton and get close to our fire of combustible hooky tunes.

This past summer Charleston South Carolina’s Band of Jays came to the defence of your anywhere town with a song dubbed “Bill Murray.” There’s actually a surprising number of songs named for my fave SNL alumnus but few seem to heft a guitar or a hummable melody. By contrast, this track is an ear-pleasing winner with great guitar backing, an easygoing tune, and a nice sentiment. As the lyrics note, maybe Bill Murray doesn’t live in your town but everybody’s got something special going on close to home. Further south New Orleans band Video Age get us “Away from the Castle” with a song from an album of the same name that deploys a mixture of snappy guitar tones and keyboard runs to buffet its super fine vocals. Right next door Birmingham Alabama’s Lolas turn on the power pop charm on “From the Start” with chime-y guitars and shimmery harmony vocals. What a slice of ear candy! Leaving the south for the icy north, Norway’s I Do You Do Karate do not bury the lead on their single “Peanut Carter.” The lead guitar, that is. I love how the main guitar lick just rings out over the pulsing beat of the band. I’d like to count myself as one of many Friends of Cesar Romero, the guy just never lets me down. Check out his latest dance stomper “Quick Wrath,” specifically for how he combines a swamp-worthy bit of lead guitar with some ace power-pop background vocals. Flipside “Her Lipstick Dedication” is a pretty sweet bit of 1962 rocked-up Phil Spector.

Milwaukee, Wisconsin’s Newski is some kind of old soul. He’s got the mellow ‘live and let live’ vibe of a 1960s hippie, with just a touch of punk around the edges. And his sound is littered with bits of vintage sixties and seventies rock and roll motifs that he just throws on like a comfy sweater. His latest in a series of winning singles is “Get It Figured Out” and I love its languid, loping rhythm, especially combined with a spot-on Tom Petty vocal. Weymouth, UK’s Garfield’s Birthday crank up the British beat group sound on the opening cut of their latest album Next Stop Mars. Just listen to the finely-calibrated close-harmony vocals guiding “The Other Side of the Wind.” It’s as if Peter and Gordon had come up with a rock and roll backing. Get ready for some jangle from The Tisburys on their new one-off single “The Anniversaries” and a whole lot more too. There’s some sweet organ and harmony vocals and a tune that will get in your head and refuse to move out. Oakland California’s Hidden Pictures return in full-on country regalia with “Hayward Hall of Justice.” The song leans hard on the pedal steel to set the hard living, hard drinking country scene, with a winning dose of FOW subtle hookiness. London UK’s Ex-Vöid give the people what they want on their new release “Swansea.” Is it folk? Is it indie? I just know it’s effing great. Pairs well with anything from Mary Lou Lord.

Time to crank this party up a bit. Liquid Mike flash their punk vocals and grinding big-guitar sound but that can’t obscure the hooky genius at the centre of “Crop Circles.” Played loud or soft this one’s a winner (but play LOUD for full effect). Seattle’s The Oh Wells work a pop country seam on their latest single “Mad Honey.” Ok, things do get to rocking in the lead guitar break but those vocals are just so pop smooth. Kelowna BC’s Stephen Schijnes is putting out singles so fast I can’t keep up with them. He’s got two recent releases that sound so simple but are ultimately bewitching in their impact. “Carry On (The Way It Has To Be)” contrasts Schijnes Gordon Lightfoot deadpan vocals with a rollicking musical backing while “It’s All About Love” is an anthem made just for our times. Get those children’s choirs ready for this one. Is it just me or is Pony perfectly incarnating Juliana Hatfield on her recent killer single “Freezer”? The guitars, the perfectly calibrated sibilant vocals, the subtle hook driving the song – it’s all wonderfully Hatfield-esque. I mean, she’s doing her own thing for sure but wow. We’ve featured Ottawa native Robby Miller and his tight brand of crunchy poprock a few times but listen to what he’s got going with Danny Young on “Take Me As I Am.” Young adds a Beck-like chameleon vocal style to a monster of a song, particularly in the chorus. Anthemic for sure.

On their new album Studio 3 New York duo Rogers and Butler explore our present hard times over a range of songs – with titles like “Poverty Line,” “Teddy Boys,” and “Poor Little Rich Girl” you quickly get the picture. But give the whole album a listen and you’d swear these two come from York minus the New, so well do they capture a particularly English beat group sound. Here we’ll just feature one of their timely tunes, “Agree to Disagree.” The sentiment is solid but the jangle is outa-sight. Belgian poprock purveyors CMON CMON pick up where they left off, cranking out another slickly produced ear-catching new single “All the Other Kids.” Really, this is one smooth piece of 1980s AM radio should-be hit single-age. Poprock workaholic Richard Turgeon has slowed the pace of his one-man song machine this past year but his new track “I Won’t Cry” shows he’s not losing any of his hooky shine. There are so many endearing melodic twists in this song. Just when you think he’s established the form he throws in another hooky departure. Jared McLoud is all in on Americana on his new album Vacancy. The sound has the emotional resonance of all those fabulous New Jersey acts, great (Springsteen) and small (Soul Engines), particularly on cuts like “A Kind of Love That Will Tear You Apart.” But “Tramp Like Me” and “Hello, My Name is Standing Joke” are pretty sweet too. Mossy Ledge take me back to all those dreamy British guitar bands from the 1980s like The Silencers. Their new song “All You Need To Know” starts off all minor key and doom-pop but then breaks out in the chorus with a bit of melodic sunshine.

Mossy Ledge – All You Need to Know

If anyone sounds like they’re cut from ‘absolute classic entertainer’ cloth it’s Atlanta Georgia’s Mattiel. With a great big voice like Patsy Cline or Neko Case and charisma to match, she could sing the bus schedule and we’d all be glued to our seats. Now she takes on Terri Gibbs’ country chart hit “Somebody’s Knocking” and definitely makes it her own. She adds smoke and a bit of grit to the vocals while the accompaniment is a rich melange of pedal steel, harmonica and delectable guitar work. Side B is a treat too, a cover of Dylan’s “Tonight I’ll Be Staying Here with You.”

Don’t get too close to these sizzling tunes, you’ll singe your dance shoes. Crowd in just close enough to feel their should-be Hot 100 heat.

Photo ‘Campfire Nights’ courtesy Thomas Hawk Flikr collection.

Breaking news: Steve Robinson, Be Like Pablo, Scoopski, and Ed Ryan

10 Sunday Nov 2024

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Let’s break with the usual news cycle for something a bit more uplifting. Whether it’s folk rock or punk pop or just melodious rock and roll, trust me, these are the top stories we need right now.

Like Paul Simon or Al Stewart Steve Robinson drifts back and forth between folk and poprock motifs, effortlessly amplifying or stripping down his melodies. Over the 11 tracks on his new album Window Seat you’ll hear echoes of the Beatles, solo McCartney, Neil Finn and, of course, XTC. “Unnecessary War” opens the record as the obvious single. The message and swagger is very John Lennon but the melody combines elements reminiscent of XTC and Crowded House song structures. Robinson is often tagged with XTC comparisons but it can hardly be avoided when Dave Gregory is playing lead guitar on “The King of Scatterbrain.” I also get a very Andy Partridge in dour folk mode from “Hollow Man.” By contrast, “Are We There Yet?” evokes Neil Finn’s distinctive melodic turns with guitar work that reminds me of Band on the Run era Wings. A number of tracks also have a strong Beatles ’66 feel, like “Hesitation Blues” (though the keyboards are more ’69 Preston good). On the folk front there’s real variety too. “Room With a View” strikes me as very much in the Suzanne Vega’s brand of sophistico-pop. There’s a more discordant English folk ambience to “Word to the Wise” while “Who Knew” is sunny folk pop all the way through. Robinson then wraps with a pastoral, Mummer-worthy folk mediation with “Treasure.”

From the small Scottish town of Forres four-piece ensemble Be Like Pablo spring like a blast of pure energy on their first new album in a decade, A World Apart. Their sound is a curious amalgam of nineties dissonant poprock and new millenium indie rock, sprinkled with a variety of 1960s and 1970s adornments. People compare them to Weezer and Fountains of Wayne – and perhaps it’s just the Scottish angle – but I hear Spook School. Sure “There Goes the Sunshine” vibes FOW pretty hard but there’s so much more going on here. I mean, check out those super-charged, chorused guitars fueling “Find a Way to You.” They are just so 1974. Or get your sixties fix on “Amy” or “I’ll Never Be Your Man” where old song forms come up against a wall of rhythm guitar distortion. This is an LP that maintains an impressive intensity throughout its 12 songs and 33 minutes. “There She Is” will grab you with its seductive background vocals, alluring keyboard lines and a main vocal so electrically insistent and present. “Crazy Without You” is just a great pop song, nicely punched up with stylized organ shots, tasty lead guitar, and what sounds like a violin instrumental solo. “My Kind of Girl” sounds like the unstoppable single to me, so relentless in its mixed aural assault, while “Do You Want to Go Surfin’?” delivers punky pop with some killer retro guitar solos. The band can gear down effectively too, as evident on the lovely acoustic guitar-led “I Don’t Know What I Do Without Your Love.” They even tease us on “Do It All Over Again,” leading with spot-on Beach Boys keyboard licks only to duck into a Cars new wave guitar crunchiness moments later.

The new Scoopski album Time Is a Thief is a real family affair, with hubby, wife and even baby Scoopski taking vocal turns. You’ll need to get yourself ready for a highly melodic outing, accent on fun. Album opener “Everyone’s Guessing” will definitely let everyone get their ya ya’s out. I love the guitar sound kicking off this tune, like an engine about to roar to life. Parenting and growing up define a lot of material here. “Little Ball of Energy” and “Babble” capture the joy of having a small new being in your life while “Dad Bod” makes light of every male’s inevitable physical decline in a boppy rocking time. But the secret star of this record is undoubtedly the keyboard work. I tend to think of Scoopski as a guitar band but check out the artful keyboard contributions to “I Agree, Marie,” “Seasonal,” and “Nocturnally Yours,” the latter an ace bit 1970s rock and roll melodrama. Serious radio-ready singles include “Pinata” and “Double,” both offering hooks for days. Modern comparisons abound but I’m really getting an early Squeeze feel from this record, like a Cool for Cats kind of madcap fun, particularly on “Double” and “The Inattentive Twist.”

On solo album #6 Along for the Ride veteran indie rock and roller Ed Ryan ruminates on a life lived amid great American musical inspirations. The lyrical themes here are literally experience-talking on “Fine Art to Letting It Go,” “Along for the Ride,” and “Imperfect Life.” Musically Ryan’s long career means he continues to churn out well-crafted hooky tunes from a Tom Petty meets Greg Kihn playbook, with a few intriguing departures. First off “Fine Art to Letting It Go” lays down a low-key Bo Diddley beat but before you know it you’ll be joining in on the ‘oh oh’s’ in the chorus. “Along for the Ride” pushes off with an early Wings lead guitar tone but check the subtle vocal harmony work here that really elevates the tune. Petty-isms litter the record, tucked into tunes like “Better Than That,” “Looking for Something” and “Make It Happen.” Other tracks amp up a harder 1980s poprock edge, like “It’s Alright With You” and “Find Me a Girl.” I love how “Solitary Man” changes up the tempo and leans on the piano to add some great melodic shading to the chorus. And then there’s outlier tracks like “Unspoken” and “Follow You Down” that are more in the style of song storytellers like John Hiatt or the bluegrassy “Poppees Garden.”

Finally some breaking news where the byline is in musical notation. You can follow up on these stories with hyperlinked ease – just click and go.

Photo courtesy Thomas Hawk Flikr collection.

America spins the big wheel

04 Monday Nov 2024

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Election day in the United States this year appears to offer a stark choice between Tweedle-dum and Tweedle-dumber. What I mean is that both parties’ corporate-sponsored candidates really offer little by way of substantive economic relief to the country’s working people. Nevertheless, millions of Americans are going to spin that big wheel of electoral plutocracy, er, I mean democracy, anyway. Regardless of who wins I predict there will be bitterness for many, guaranteed. That’s why we need to crank a carefully curated batch of timely electoral tunes now. Don’t eat your ballot!

We open this election-themed post with The Submarines‘ simple, plaintive, jangly “Vote.” It just seemed apropos. This gem from the band’s 2006 debut Declare a New State! is so hipster-TV-show-montage good it hurts. Like a warm hug shielding you from bad news. Next up, a shameless musical appeal for support from The Stiff Joints urging you to “Vote For Me.” Do we need more Madness-like English Ska with horns aplenty? You bet we do. This gets my vote, for sure.

The Submarines – Vote

People have views on electoral processes, how they work and why they don’t add up to a very good democratic experience. London UK band Project Culture manage to name-check a number of different voting systems as well as bemoan strategic voting on their rollicking onslaught of guitar pop, “Polling Day.” I really didn’t see anyone pulling that off – but they do. John Wesley Harding blows up what typically goes on in American politics on “Hostile Two-Party System” in a protest folk-meets-rockabilly tune. David Hodgman gets a bluesy pop groove going on his talk/sing must-play-every-electoral-cycle classic “Talking Post-Millennial Electoral College Blues.” The song never loses its relevance, unfortunately. The off-Broadway musical Soft Power is not power pop or poprock. But it is just too of-our-present-moment to overlook. The show is a reverse King and I, one where America is exotified rather than some nameless Asian country and actors of Asian descent play everyone, including white characters in white-face. The cast performs “Election Night” as a key song in the show, laying out America’s electoral process – but not quite.

Really though, what are Americans fighting over in this election? If you follow the minutiae of the legislative process you can find a great many important things that should be fueling political debate. But at the headline level the contest is just a slugfest of competing insults. One side decries the ignorance and unsuitability of a former President returning to office while the other plays patriot games about who loves American more. Amy Rigby works up a Brydsian jangle with help from partner Wreckless Eric on “The President Can’t Read,” carefully detailing a litany of Trumpian faults. She’s not wrong but logic and facts won’t reach an audience that has chosen to ‘identify’ with their chosen one. Meanwhile Aaron Lee Tasjan also parses America’s many political travails on “I Love America Better Than You” in his best Tom Petty style but it is the song title that really captures what is going for so many across the U.S.A. With so little to show, money and career-wise, all they’ve really got to hold on to is that tattered, out-of-reach American dream.

Hey America, good luck with that election thing (and whatever chaos comes after). Actually, luck is probably something we’re all gonna need soon.

Photo courtesy Rob Elliott, Swizzle Gallery.

That’s what J.D. McPherson does to you

01 Friday Nov 2024

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J.D. McPherson has the pulse of rock and roll, old school. But he’s not just working the oldies circuit. Where other people try to lift sounds from the past in derivative ways, McPherson breathes new life into classic, recognizable rock motifs. His new album Nite Owls, his first of new (non-holiday) material since 2017, is one part primordial rock and roll dance record, one part spooky scene setter. Tracks like “Sunshine Getaway” and “Baby Blues” throw out a groove that won’t let you sit still. By the time “Rock and Roll Girls” ends you’ll be covered in sweat and ready to hit the bar but “I Can’t Get Anywhere With You” will keep you swaying as you wait in line. Other songs stoke the excitement in a more meditative fashion. Take “Just Like Summer,” a track that bristles with rogue rockabilly guitar. “Don’t Travel Through the Night Alone” is made for strolling in the late night streetlight along wet pavement. “Shining Like Gold” is the midtempo should-be radio hit, matching rumble guitar with a disarmingly seductive vocal. As an album Nite Owls refuses to settle down, switching things up on tempo amidst a flurry of striking guitar tones. Just check out McPherson’s spot-on revival of Al Caiola’s distinctive Magnificent Seven guitar attack that appears on the record’s lone instrumental “The Phantom Lover of New Rochelle.” And then there’s the magnificent sign-off “That’s What a Love Song Does to You,” a lush, lilting effort that falls somewhere between the Ink Spots and the Beach Boys. People, I have seen the future of rock and roll’s past and it is in safe hands with J.D. McPherson.

Find out what J.D. McPherson can do to you at his website.

Little monsters night

28 Monday Oct 2024

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It’s nearly time for the annual march of little monsters through your neighbourhood, lusting for candy and mischief in roughly equal measure. It’s an event that begs for an appropriately festive soundtrack. To fill that void, we’ve prepared a little-monsters-night music playlist. We’ve got monsters and ghosts and aliens. And hooks, of course.

Tokyo’s Hazy Sour Cherry get things started with a wonderfully off-kilter, 1950-resonant lurch that animates “Hazy Halloween,” a selection from their freak holiday-themed EP Hazy Horror Party. The verses are a kind of stable chaos but the chorus turns on the melodic hooks. It’s a scene-setter that says ‘hang on, this could be a melodically bumpy thrill ride!’

Halloween has to be the most cinematic holiday, with fright baked in to the slasher, horror, haunted and alien film genres. Fascinations Grand Chorus pay tribute to the slasher-horror flick with their themed album Terror in the Night. “Pandemonium” perfectly captures the 1970s Quinn Martin production values for maximum cheese effect. The reliably holiday perfect punk pop outfit Vista Blue never fail to provide us with relevant releases. They Came Back combines their punk rhythm section with host of killer synth lines (accent on ‘killer’). “Everyday is Halloween” is fueled by some serious keyboard genius while “Haunted House on my Street” is a sweet should-be single. On They Came to Rock The Amplifier Heads work up a fabulous 1950s-meets-aliens movie script but the individual songs have so many wonderful nuances. “They Heard My Radio” has aliens moved by the work of those all-night DJs. And with tunes like these, who can blame them?

Halloween is also a time for instrumentalists to fill the gap in our imaginations with some spooky instrumentalizing. Listening to the Black Flamingos Asbury Park NJ is clearly a spooky place. The band’s recent double-A sided single “Tales from the Crypt” and “Are You Afraid of the Dark” work up the seasonal organ and lead guitar motifs, with holiday-rific effects. By contrast Greg Townson delivers a more Chet Atkins country gentleman vibe on his exquisite single “Hired to Haunt.” That guy is just class personified. For a different twist Poland’s I. Jeziak and The Surfers turn up the b-movie organ on “Mummy Walk” while the festively appropriate Satan’s Pilgrim’s make space on the dance floor with “Monster Surfing Time.”

All things fright night eventually head for the cemetery. Oakland’s The Bye Bye Blackbirds offer up some “Graveyard Tunes” as part of the special, time-limited Timber Trout Spirit release (get your free copy now!). Surprisingly light for a cemetery song but featuring triple B’s reliably hooky vocals. We wrap up this little monsters playlist with a selection from Elefant Records Halloween release Viernes 13 from Nosoträsh entitled “Mi Pequeño Frankenstein.” Dr. Frank’s monster seldom gets such a melody-drenched treatment.

Restock those candy bowls now and, while you’re at it, have this Halloween monster kiddie playlist ready to go. Music doth soothe savage beasts you know.

Top image “Little Monsters” designed by Rob Elliott, Swizzle Studios.

Jangle Thursday: Slack Times, Stuart Pearce, EggS, and Kevin Robertson

24 Thursday Oct 2024

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The jangle-o-meter says we’re running low and that means we need a super-charged dose of trebly guitars and spooky shoe-gazey vocals to fill the tank. Luckily we can fill up right here with this instalment of Jangle Thursday!

Birmingham Alabama’s Slack Times provide another great slab of indie jangle on their new EP Gone Things. The effort is just four songs long but each one is a real treat. Kick off song “Gone Things” has the band delivering their most Byrdsian opener ever, only to have the mix transform into a more 1980s English guitar band sound when the vocals kick in. “Hatchback” is a jaunty and droney number with the pep of The Primitives giving their rehearsal space a good workout. Things dip into a more punky jangle vibe on “In the Way” while “Coattails” dials into a more 1960s atmosphere and pacing. At the end of the four tunes you’ve only clocked in roughly eleven minutes of music, it’s true. That might seem slight but trust me, with this outfit, that’s quality time.

Next up, a new single from the ever opinionated Stuart Pearce. Because he’s not a guy to bury the lead “Fuck No, I Jangle” gets right to the point with its in-your-face title and surging jangle guitars. Pearce makes smart music meant to shake his audience out of their political and musical complacency (see his previous single “The Bosses Are Stealing Your Days” for the full monty on this approach). This new song is, thankfully, no exception. Over to Paris, France for EggS who have a new album on the way, Crafted Achievement. The range of promised song titles are intriguing, from “High Waisted Jeans” to “Angry Silence.” But on the listening front we have only the pre-release single “Head In Flames.” So far, I’m loving what this album promises to be, if this song is anything to go by. The opening slide guitar is reminiscent of the faux Hawaiian style of the Spongebob opening song, a very promising start for me. But as things carry on the slide and jangle guitars meld with the Everything Everything-like vocals to create something completely different. And the trumpet solo is just an added bonus.

Vapour Trails head honcho Kevin Robertson is back with another stellar contribution to his already impressive solo career, The Call of the Sea. The record contains eleven reliably hooky tunes saturated in his own inimitable jangle style. “Ghosting” gets things started with a surge of ringing guitars, leavened with a layered vocal mix that is definitely uplifting. Next “The Guilt Trip” offers up a more mannered guitar pop song, with the guitar lead line popping in like punctuation. From there the record moves effortlessly across and between genres. “Windows on the Sun” sounds a bit CSN&Y, “Just Give Me Time” echoes an old time folk ballad, “Search for Replies” has a more country undercurrent (propelled by some pretty pedal steel playing), while “Ode to Stephen” adds a strong psychedelic feel to the proceedings. Personally I’m really digging “Rain Again.” The track is a confectionary of cool sounds, from the enigmatic solo lead guitar opener, to the organ shots, to the slightly menacing take on California pop vocals. And for maximum jangle, you can tune into “The Fortune Teller Lied.” For a less intense sonic assault, you can also partake of a stripped version of the LP, which alters the song order, adds a few surprises (like the lovely live version of Big Star’s “Thirteen”), but is no less captivating.

Nothing like jangle to give your day that added boost of musical sunshine. And let’s face it, Thursday really needs that. Don’t fail to visit these artists on every other day of the week too with the conveniently embedded hyperlinks above.

Photo courtesy Thomas Hawk Flikr collection.

I get mail: Mark Bacino, Brother Dynamite, Richard Restaino, and more

17 Thursday Oct 2024

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Mail comes in pretty regularly around here. Few come typed or neatly written but nevertheless I get a veritable load of missives pleading their poprock case. That’s today’s reality: artists have got to wield their creativity to sell as well produce fine music. So let’s get on with rewarding that initiative shall we?

Over the past quarter century the arc of Mark Bacino’s musical stylings have branched out from the focused power pop of 1998’s Pop Job .. The Long Player and 2003’s The Million Dollar Milkshake to the sophistico-pop sound of his latest LP Top of the World. Bacino’s got a McCartney-esque facility with song styles and the selections here range from the swinging AM pop of “Kaylee Hughes” to the breezy Linus of Hollywood-like “Not That Guy” to the music hall-ish “Why Does This Woman Love Me?” My fave though is the spot-on seventies soft rock ballad “Young Heart.” Brother Dynamite’s new single “The Girl’s In Love” is a luscious eighties FM radio throwback. It’s a great song but the vocal arrangement is positively hair-raising, in a good way. Can album number 2 be far off? Let’s hope not. Poppy Robbie returns with a cover of outsider/lofi pioneer Daniel Johnston’s “Mind Contorted.” Drawing on his folk rock predilections, Robbie delivers a touching performance of a song that reflects Johnston’s mental health struggles. Chatteris UK’s 65MPH is practically a singles machine, pumping out e-equivalents of 45s seemingly like clockwork. His latest “Gene” sounds like Billy Bragg joined a britpop band. The harmonica solo is just an extra special bonus!

I love the driving guitar sound Rob Moss gets on his new album with The Skin Tight, simply entitled Records. Kick-off track “We Just Don’t Know” sets the tone of what you can expect, chugging rhythm guitars and somewhat ethereal, voice-of-god talk-singing from Moss. Standout track for me here is “You and Time.” Love the soaring Steely Dan lead guitar lines and the album’s hookiest melodic twists and turns. Superior song-smith Ben Patton wrote me a while back about something, something called The Something Review. Patton’s unique cleverly structured song style is everywhere here, from the show opener “The Something Revue” to “I Hope My Therapist Likes Me.” Along the way he writes songs about bugs, the darkest part of the night, and a doctor’s routine procedure. Basically, nothing is off limits for a song with this guy. Think Randy Newman, but without all the darkness. I’d particularly recommend “Before I Fall In Love” as a pretty gorgeous tune. Randy Klawon has been on a bit of a singles tear lately but his new song “Tonight” is really something else. There’s a madcap, careening feel to the song that is so endearing. Stylistically, the track balances Merseybeat and Wings influences in an impressive way. You can dip in just about anywhere with Rich Restaino ’s catalogue and find yourself a real gem. His latest EP Mixtape has got a smoking instrumental called “Earworm.” Such wicked guitar tones on both the tasty lead licks and chugging rhythm work. Then “In My Dreams” cooks along with a honky-tonk meets rockabilly vibe. Or you can dial up a dose of Restaino’s signature ‘grown up folk’ sound on “The Back Nine” and “Nothing Add.” The former is an Arlo Guthrie-esque social commentary on getting old while the latter spends two folky minutes telling us he has nothing to say. From the catalogue check out the Replacements-ish “Don’t the Stars Look Big Tonight?” from his 2022 EP Lucky and “Civil War” from the 2016 LP It’s a Golden Age for Creeps.

Have you got a poprock song that needs some blog love? Get that stationary out, drop me a line, and tell me all about it.

Photo courtesy Thomas Hawk Flikr page.

The final frontier: Velvet Attack, Star Trip, and Dallas Orbiter

11 Friday Oct 2024

Posted by in Poprock Themepark

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Today’s post gets spacey with acts reaching for the stars or at least evoking a cool science fiction vibe. We had to go pretty far out to find these acts, from Dortmund Germany to Valencia Spain to downtown Minneapolis Minnesota. But you’ll hear why it was worth it when you beam aboard.

Velvet Attack nail the psch/garage sound of the late 1960s on their recent LP Visions from Inner Space. It’s like a time travel movie where you’ve landed in some smoky psychedelic club in some rundown part of some town somewhere. There’s a moment of disorientation on opening cut “The Double Cylinder Man” but pretty quickly you’re into the groove. “House of Correction” has a go go dancing kick-off that keeps the beat going throughout. “Kill the Weekend” is another killer dance number. “You Know Everything Better” is the should-be hit single. Listening to these cuts I kept thinking ‘who does this remind me of’? Hoodoo Gurus, definitely. Though the band do strike a different pose here and there. “I Cannot See A Forest Without Trees” is straight up jangle bliss. “Drinkin’ Water, Prayin’ Wine” adds a country twist to the mix. The movie connection also remains strong over a number of cuts. Both “Sound of Tomorrow” and “(It’s the) Dawn of Summer” have that cinematic title sequence feel while the pristine electric lead guitar on “Electric Chair” reminds of all those great Morricone soundtracks.

Star Trip might hail from Spain but listening to Velocidad you’d be forgiven for thinking you’ve hit the hard streets of Glasgow. “Disimular” sets the scene with a dreamy Teenage Fanclub drone. The rest of the album is pretty much lather, rinse and repeat on that winning formula. Where things do change up is in the pacing and attack. “A veces” picks up the pacing a little while “Tu peor enemigo” softens up the lead guitar work. Should-be hit-single is definitely the title track “Velocidad.” The song echoes the structure of The La’s “There She Goes” but takes the inspiration in new directions. Another strong single contender would be “Todos lo saben pero nadie dice nada.” Then “Cuando estás lejos de aquí” moves into more Brydsian territory. Though up next “Como los demás” almost out Teenage Fanclubs the original. The band do mix things up, turning on the rock filter for“Al amanecer” or adding a country flavour to “Algo especial.”

Dallas Orbiter are far out there in more ways than one. Their new record Spaceman Things vibes 1970s prog rock with the occasional jazzy freak out. So not really in our part of the galaxy, musically speaking. But one track – “Avenge Me” – comes pretty close while another – “Let’s Go Out” – hits the mark. The former song rides a cool lead guitar lick to a dissonant melodic twist in the chorus. The latter ambles along with very Teenage Fanclub-adjacent sound and some sweet organ vamping. And the art work on this LP is definitely outasite!

The final frontier or just the first outpost? You decide. Check out where these acts are going on the hyperlinked star charts above.

Photo  of Syd Mead’s ‘… fixing the lights on The Highway of Tomorrow!’ courtesy James Vaughan Flikr collection.

Welcome to Octoberland

04 Friday Oct 2024

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America 2024 is a land roiled by division and an air of impending doom. The Armoires’ new record Octoberland simultaneously reflects and pushes against that state of being with wit, wisdom and a playful mix of musical hues. Only a deep dive into its contents can tell you why.

Album opener “We Absolutely Mean It” embodies America’s contradictory trends, holding its tension like a clenched fist. But four-fifths of the way through they declare ‘this is where we go big’ and the song suddenly takes on a brighter, more positive tone. The message here seems to be – dark and light, rage and love: it’s all America – so things could go either way, depending on who does what. Not surprisingly then social commentary abounds on this album. Tracks like “Green Hellfire At The 7-11,” “Ridley & Me After the Apocalypse,” and “You Oughta Be Cut in Half” are pointed in their critique. But never at the expense of great tune. “Ridley & Me After the Apocalypse” has the clever lyrical polish and sunny disposition of The Lilac Time. Lines like ‘end times are so boring’ and ‘fighting for the future of the artistocracy’ are gold. Or check out the sing-along goodness and jangle accompanying the stinging lyrics on “You Oughta Be Cut in Half.” The ‘oh my my my’ chorus is simply irresistible, reminiscent of the sophisticated curio pop of Overlord. Despite these serious themes, a chipper sense of fun dominates this LP. I love “This One’s For the Swedes” with its marriage of spacey synth runs and percussive group vocal interjections. Early 1980s sci-fi movie montage sequence for sure. Stylistically there’s plenty of variety too, with nods toward country (“Ouroboros Blues (Crow Whisperer),” folk rock (“Snake Island Thirteen”) and even Irish drinking songs (“It’s A Good Time To Come Back Down From The Cold”). “Sickening Thud” gets my vote for should-be hit-single with its delightful jangle guitar, though “Music and Animals” is pretty close second with its Everything But The Girl pop smoothness.

Octoberland is a record with something to say, reflecting the dread of our times but also kicking at it to let a little light get in. Get yours from the source – Big Stir Records – or your favourite e-retailer.