Author Archives: Dennis Pilon

Poprock masters: Dwight Twilley, Graham Parker, and The Flashcubes

09 Saturday Sep 2023

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There are artists whose work displays a mastery of form. I mean, they don’t just write a good tune or two, they really know how to craft the elements together in predictably hooky ways. Our trio of acts here have achieved legend status for doing just that – reliably delivering the goods.

Everyone knows a little about Dwight Twilley, if you run in power pop circles long enough. You might know how he and Phil Seymour were tipped for stardom in the late seventies as the creative force driving The Dwight Twilley Band and their hit single “Fire.” Or you might be familiar with his early 1980s solo work when he seemed on the verge of breaking big with his chart hit “Girls,” aided by a little help from Tom Petty. But for most people Twilley’s fate has been a mystery. Despite putting out plenty of solid material he has suffered from endless label problems and just plain bad luck. What didn’t suffer was the quality of the output. So if you’ve ever wondered ‘what ever happened to that Twilley guy?’ there’s good news. Now you can catch up on his unfairly overlooked career with the release of The Best of Dwight Twilley: The Tulsa Years 1999-2016 Vol. 1. There’s twenty tracks here and really no filler. Twilley 2.0 carries on the song-writing and performance style of his earlier work with remarkable consistency. Comparisons to Tom Petty, Walter Egan and Paul Collins would not be out of order. Personally I’m loving “Runnin,” “A Little Less Love,” “Oh Carrie” and “No Place Like Home” but you’ll have your own favourites.

Since 1975 Graham Parker has released more than 25 albums of original material and shows no signs of stopping. His new album with The Goldtops Last Chance to Learn the Twist mines so many seams of his past work but still sounds fresh. Opening cut “The Music of the Devil” sets the tone with a killer groove and some tasty organ work. The song seem to say ‘this party is just getting started.’ Then “The Grand Scheme of Things” has got a more pub rock feel, that unique English blend of soul and country and old school rock and roll. Geraint Watkins’ organ work is so stellar here. “Sun Valley” takes the soul groove forward, sprinkled with great keyboard shots and surprising melodic hooks. I’d mark this out as potential hit single material. Overall this is an album where so many songs here lean into the ‘roll’ side of rock and roll. Tracks like “It Mattered to Me,” “Cannabis” and “Wicked Wit” feature seriously good swing. It’s easy to credit Parker’s song-writing for all this but his performances bear the mark of a master’s touch. He can effortlessly dial up reggae inflections for “Them Bugs” or a blues vamp for “Since You Left Me Baby.” I even hear a bit of 1970s Van Morrison on tracks like “Last Stretch of Road.” And it wouldn’t be a Parker album without some withering political commentary, supplied by the incisive “We Did Nothing.” Last Chance to Learn the Twist is like a delightful stroll with an old friend, familiar but still open to discovering new things.

Cover albums are an ubiquitous part of the modern music scene. Seems everyone is putting out their versions of modern music’s greatest hits. But imagine a cover album that celebrates what might-have-been with selections from bands that should have broken big but didn’t. Enter power pop legends The Flashcubes with their amazing new album Pop Masters. You get 12 new wave era should-have-been hits, stylishly re-energized. And the band don’t just share the music, they share the stage with the original artists, inviting them to appear alongside them on the recordings. The results are a pumped up, adrenaline-fueled romp through a host of power pop classics. How do you begin to review a record where every cut is a highlight? Look, you’re all going to have your own favourites so I’ll just focus on a few that have really hit me in the melody solar plexus (in a good way). Album opener “Baby It’s Cold Outside” gets things off to a blistering start, featuring co-vocals from The Pezband’s singer Mimi Betinis. On The Paley Brothers’ “Come Out and Play” the duo join the band to add even more charm to their original. The keyboard work and harmony vocals here are positively seductive. Putting The Flashcubes together with The Spongetones to cover the latter’s “Have You Ever Been Torn Apart?” produces a predictably explosive mix. The track is a rollicking rush of power pop goodness. When the band turn their hand to covering The Motors’ classic “Forget About You” you’d swear it’s 1978 on Top of the Pops, they so nail the vibe. But undoubtedly the standout track for me on this collection is the collaboration with the Shoes on that band’s 1979 song “Tomorrow Night.” This track bristles with raw rocking excitement, leaving you swooning from the addictive guitar hooks and heavenly harmony vocals. This gets to very DNA of power pop. On this record you can really believe the hype, The Flashcubes and their friends truly are Pop Masters.

Join a master class in poprock performance by clicking on the hot links. Getting schooled was never so appealing as this.

Photo courtesy Swizzle Studios.

Should be a hit single: Good Shade “When Will You See”

04 Monday Sep 2023

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Some songs just gather you up and whisk you along wherever they might be going. There’s no getting off, if the artist knows what they’re doing. Ohio’s Good Shade have arrived at that level of song mastery with “When Will You See” from their recent LP Think Spring. The song bounds into action from the start, all guitars-to-the-front of the mix – that grabbed me. Then the chorused vocals come in with a magnetism I find irresistible. But the real magic happens 30 seconds along with the shift to the chorus – what a hook! Good Shade are primarily Shane Natalie’s one man band, working the pop punk scene hard over the course of now five albums. But what is interesting is how the sound has slowly tipped from the punk to pop side of that spectrum over time. Early albums are hard rocking affairs where the melodies get a bit buried. Now they’re up front, as you can hear on “When Will You See.” Even as the song is fading out under a heavenly bit of background vocals I’m already hitting replay. I think you might be too.

Tune in to the whole Good Shade catalogue on bandcamp. You can check out all the other tunes on their new album or just bask in the glow of this great single.

Around the dial: The Summertimes, Odds, Ratboys, and Cut Worms

01 Friday Sep 2023

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With autumn just around the corner it’s time to twist that radio dial for new music. Luckily there’s plenty of fab new releases to tune into.

In many ways The Summertimes self-titled debut LP has been the album of the summer. Reviewed positively everywhere, this is a record spilling over with good-time rock and roll tunes taking us back to that heyday of Ozzie indie chart magic you might associate with acts like the Hoodoo Gurus. It’s there in the loose party vibe of the opening cut and early release single “Inside” or the vocal snarl and rollicking hooks on “Password.” Then “White Pointer” is something a bit different, with a Lou Reed vocal directness amid carefully placed but somehow insistent guitar riffs. Things go jangle good on “Love (It’s the Word)” with its relentless lead guitar lines while “Athens, GA” is more REM, not surprisingly. But the album’s rocking flavour is tempered by lighter moments too: a Paul Kelly feel to “When the Lights Hit the Square,” some Crowded House style in  “Sky and the Sea,” and a hint of Teenage Fanclub lingering on “Wakes Up Shadows.” My favourite cut? Undoubtedly “My Beautiful Girl Harbour” with its faint echoes of Modern English’s “I Melt With You” in places. And don’t miss album closer, “The Perfect Wave.” Rarely can a band combine elements of the Yardbirds, the Monkees, and classic surf motifs and still come up with something new. The Summertimes is not just for summer, it’s one of this year’s must-have albums.

The return of legendary Vancouver band Odds is definitely an event worth marking with cake and fireworks. Central to the celebration – Crash the Time Machine, the third full album release from the band since they reunited with a new line-up in the early aughts. What we have here is more of that west coast cool sound Odds is known for. Opening cut and title track “Crash the Time Machine” assembles all the right poppy rock components. This song says ‘I’m the hit’ for sure. Runner-up should-be single would be “My Mind’s On Other Things” with its alluring guitar lead lines and captivating harmony vocals. Then there’s “Walk Among the Stars,” a track embodying a pop ennui that is unmistakeably Odds. The FM radio deep cuts would be “Staring at a Blank Page,” “Fairytale of Heaven,” or “Fall Guy,” the latter replete with secret agent guitar and more psychedelic chorus. For sonic departures, check out the more dire sound sketches featured in “The Traveling Light” or “Winning Is Everything,” the last a light ditty about how getting what you want may not be what you need. Personally, I’m loving the ELO-tinged “Revolution Singing” as well as the soulful album closer “Somehow in a Dream.” Listening to Crash the Time Machine a few times it’s clear, this is a band that knows its own playbook. But they still know how to throw a curve. Welcome back Odds, you’ve been missed.

I don’t know what I was thinking. Somewhere I picked up a copy of Ratboys 2020 album Printer’s Devil but I never wrote about it. I did review their poppy single “Down the River” but somehow that doesn’t cut it. Redemption time now that their brand new LP The Window is out. As a band that usually straddles folk pop and indie rock, opening cut “Making Noise for the Ones You Love” is a noisy, celebratory, yet fun outlier. “Morning Zoo” puts us right back into the melodic pop swing that band so aces. Very Weepies on caffeine. Should be the hit single. From there the album moves in multiple directions but without losing its thematic centre. “Crossed That Line” chugs along with a rocking inflection. This is where comparisons to Kississippi and Soccer Mommy come in. “It’s Alive” kicks off with a dramatic sonic build-out that has a particular grandeur. Vocally I hear Tristan but with a rocking backing band. Meanwhile the bending lead guitar tone is just exquisite. Another possible single is title track “The Window” with its subtle guitar hooks. For variety, “Black Earth, WI” sounds country-ish, almost Rilo Kiley in its alt-indie temperament while the folk side of the band covered with “Bad Reaction.” My deep cut fave is “Empty.” I love the perky drive and winning melody of this song. It’s got a Grouplove loose tightness.

A Cut Worms recording is often a snapshot of a particular corner of the history of popular music. Late 1960s folkie pop on Hollow Ground, more 1970s country rock on his 2020 single “Unnatural Disaster,” and so on. Now on the new self-titled Cut Worms I’m hearing that crafted pop sound I associate with the mid-1970s, with a few notable exceptions. From the first tantalizing spate of piano notes of opening cut “Don’t Fade Out” there’s a Captain and Tennille or Neil Sedaka or Gilbert O’Sullivan breezy swing in play. “Take It and Smile” has a more seventies singer/songwriter feel. “Living Inside” also has that intimate seventies pop feel. But just as you’re settling in “I’ll Never Make It” harkens back to a Patsy Cline ballad in more rockabilly days or “Is It Magic” utilizes a 1950s sparsely-arranged harmony group style. “Let’s Go Out on the Town” moves back into the sixties with its Cyrkle or The Young Veins vibe. “Too Bad” finishes the record with another strong nod to 1970s confessional pop, particularly the electric piano.

It’s a real mix of tune-age on this radio relay race. Click on the hot links to get more of the good same.

Photo courtesy Thomas Hawk Flikr collection.

Everybody hates IKEA

29 Tuesday Aug 2023

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I had no idea how many people have got it in for Swedish furniture store IKEA. Ok, maybe they are responsible for creating a whole lot of cheap, crappy, disposable furniture. But it’s more than just the environmental degradation. For many there seems to be something emotionally degrading about going to IKEA, buying from IKEA, and attempting to assemble IKEA. Now, on the upside, that means a whole lotta musical inspiration.

Reaching way back to 1997 everyone’s fave dour melodic grungers Pavement kick things off with a “Date With IKEA.” And why not? Cheap meatballs, plenty of places to sit. Three years later Svensk Pop offer up a more Merseybeat-ish guitar pop treatment on “IKEA,” in Swedish naturally. American comic popster Jonathan Coulton just slays every cheap furniture store stereotype on his tribute to those using the store from 2003, again simply entitled “IKEA.” Spain’s Los Autócratas add a little grit to their melodic rumination on our theme called – you guessed it – “IKEA.” It’s seems song titles about IKEA have to be as generic as the featured furniture. From Canada, Hamilton’s B.A. Johnston gives us a bit more product labelling, demystifying the food and the IKEA’s impact on masculinity with “IKEA Hotdog” and “IKEA, I Used To Be A Man.” And last up, a whole EP dedicated to our Swedish furniture behemoth and it too is called IKEA. But the band name is pretty cool and on point: Monster Furniture.

Pavement – Date With IKEA
Svensk Pop – IKEA
Jonathan Coulton – IKEA

You don’t have to hate IKEA to love this music. But it might help. At least there’s no assembly required.

Artwork courtesy Honest Slogans.

Life at 45rpm II

22 Tuesday Aug 2023

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In round II of our Life at 45rpm postings some old and more recent favourites make a re-appearance, along with some totally brand new acts. Let the spinning commence.

Any day there’s new material from Pugwash main man Thomas Walsh is a very good day indeed. Rumours abound that “A Good Day For Me” is the advance single from a Walsh ‘solo’ outing to be entitled The Rest Is History (thanks PowerPopSquare!) due later this year. But I’m getting ahead of myself. Hit play on this single and drink up all those Pugwash-isms you’ve been missing. This is first-rank wistful, spring-breeze-in-your-hair poprock. Walsh conjures elements of Brian Wilson and Jeff Lynne here but mostly you’re just going to hear that classic Pugwash sound. Walsh is finally back and in fine form. Another welcome returnee is Seattle’s Ruler. His 2018 LP Winning Star Champion ruled my playlist for months. His new album is Extra Blue and High and the tunes are still winning. I’d pitch a double a-sided single just to capture his many moods. “Price Tag” shifts between high and low melodic attack with plenty of buzzy guitar in the chorus and instrumental break while “I Thought You Were There” has a more low-key Aimee Mann tempo and subtle hooks. Another new album packed with strong material is the latest from Steve Marino, Too Late to Start Again. There’ll be more coverage of Marino to come but for now sink your teeth into the album’s opening cut “Satisfy You.” It all starts so innocent, just some simple psychedelic guitar. But before you know it Marino has cast a hypnotic spell as the whole band comes in and a bit of vocal call and response gets going. Simple yet so striking. A band I’m glad to see promoting new material is the energetic Indonesian pop trio Grrrl Gang. When I discovered “Pop Princess” a few years back it was serious replay time. Their new album Spunky is just about out so to tempt you, I’m focusing on “Blue Stained Lips.” I’m hearing a strong early Go Go’s sonic palette at work here. Also in the ‘missing you’ file for me is Sofa City Sweetheart – loved their 2019 long-player Super(b) Exitos. Now we have a new single “It Wasn’t You.” At first listen it seems breezy but there’s a complicated melodic undercurrent that gives the tune a unique and engaging character.

Victoria BC outfit The Origin were out and about in the first decade of the new millennium then broke up. But nothing like a pandemic to spark reunions. Since 2020 new material has been coming out and their latest single suggests there is no end in sight. “I Pour Myself Out” rocks the keyboard in a way that reminds me of Scouting for Girls, with a similar ear for good hooks. Long Island pop punkers Black Suit Youth sweeten their sound and soften their attack somewhat on “Outsiders,” their new stand-alone single. There’s an ever so slight hint of Green Day in the melodic mix and that is no bad thing. Sea Glass and Sky Adler’s song “Weekend” starts off so slacker pop but then builds into a bit of a party jam. I love the stripped down acoustic guitar opening and the contrast with the energy in the chorus makes everything take off. The vibe is very Front Bottoms meets Sugar Ray. The Feeders are a band I’ve meant to write about, usually after I’ve purchased some new release. But somehow I’ve overlooked them, which is no negative comment on their high quality tune-age. Really, you won’t go wrong with anything from their catalogue or Sam Vicari’s solo work. Now let’s end the coverage drought on this band by focusing on their new song “Congratulations, By The Way.” It’s a grinder, a rocked up re-invention of a classic mid-1960s song style not far different from the fine work of The Friends of Cesar Romero or The Blendours. Another sonic blast from the past can be found on Richard Snow and the Inlaws new single “Analogue Calls.” It’s not just the concept that conjures the technology of yester-year, the tune’s whole vibe is so late 1970s poppy rock, the kind the radio used to play. Radios? Like phones mounted to the wall, they’re just about gone too. Both the artwork and song here would make a killer physical 45.

On “Revenge Body” Athens native Drew Beskin conjures up an intimate atmosphere that sounds one part Peter Gabriel, another part Sam Weber. The keyboard and percussion mix are in a perfect tension here. Can’t wait to hear what else is lurking on his upcoming EP Garrett. Brighton UK’s The Evening Sons ride a wave of hooky distorted rhythm guitars on their power pop blast of a single “Superspreader.” Terms like driving, relentless, and onslaught come to mind in trying to describe this song, but all in a good way. This is the first single from a soon-to-be released LP entitled Tracks. The critics were all over the last Uni Boys last album Do It All Next Week and rightly so, it was an ace 1970s power pop reinvention. Well another LP is on the way (Buy This Now!) and if the promo single is any indication, get ready for a drive to accolade city. “I Want It Too” mines the same 1970s poppy rock and roll feel of previous releases, though this time I hear some 1977 Nick Lowe or those young Irish upstarts The Strypes. The Whiffs only just released their last album Scratch N’ Sniff last March but here they are with a new double a-sided single. I mean, bands usually milk an LP for a few singles before reaching for new material. Not that I’m complaining. “Satellite” b/w “As I Am” is a great 45 with the former cut reminding me of  the loose rock and roll fun of The Connection while flip lets the lead guitar really ring. Chicago native Matt Tiegler returns with a new song, anticipating his long awaited third album Hands Free Down Hill. The painted cover art really captures the album title sentiment. The album pre-release single is the jangly “Dream (Reason for Living),” a light poppy rumination on connection, sung with an Al Stewart folk rock intensity.

West Kirby’s West Coast Music Club crank up their jangle machine on a new single entitled “Sick and Tired.” But with a difference this time. The song so reminds me of the melancholy strains of Pugwash, with perhaps a strong dose of The Byrds coming in on the instrumental break. Strange Neighbors return after releasing one of the strongest EPs this year (Party of None) with a stand-alone single, a cover of the late Gin Blossoms co-founder Doug Hopkins track “Quiet Beat.” It’s a gorgeous tune, perfectly suited to the band’s unique guitar/vocals combo. Italian composer/guitar player Andrea Calvo is Grand Drifter and the songs on his new EP Paradise Window sound deceptively simple. But the magic is in the arrangements. As Subjangle records honcho Darrin Lee dubs it, this is Burt Bacharach-ian ‘sophistico-pop.’ Take “As the Days Change.” I love how the acoustic guitar anchors things, only to have a delicate single note piano riff float over everything. Captivating with a Josh Rouse kind of pop maturity. Speckled Bird offer EP #2 this year with Captain Maximus and it’s four songs are a quality quartet. But “Paint It” stands out with its saucy psych pop insouciance. It dabs in a variety of musical elements with an artist’s eye for detail. How much do I love Big Country? A lot. But not to the point where I won’t consider other versions of their songs. Like I love what Ted Leo and the Pharmacists do to BC’s “Inwards.” Early on it hews pretty close to the original but then innovates in the instrumental breaks.

West Coast Music Club – Sick and Tired

Wrapping up this second instalment of Life at 45rpm the irrepressible Exbats with their new single “Like It Like I Do.” I love the garagey feel of this band, though this song sounds a bit fuller than past releases. It’s got a hip-shaking sixties vibe that the Bangles would have owned. More to come with a whole new album called Song Machine.

Life at 45rpm is hard to maintain for long. With all these new tunes you can take a break, catch your breath, and then hit the links for more.

Photo courtesy Simon Collison Flikr collection.

Life at 45rpm I

17 Thursday Aug 2023

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Living life at 45rpm makes for a fast-paced and ever-changing existence. Brace yourself for the first of two installments, 21 tracks at a time.

We’re going to ease you in to this installment of our singles variety pack with the low-key lush acoustic rush of 22 Oceans. They normally lean in a more electronic direction but “Country Home” is a Fleetwood Mac kind of Americana, riding a wave of up-front acoustic guitars and an oh-so-good blend of harmony vocals. Scoopski are a Philly couple that have been cranking out the singles this year. I was going to write about “Seasonal,” a solid bit of melodic melodrama, but then they came out with a super contribution to an innovative project entitled Short Music for Even Shorter Attention Spans. “30 Seconds (I Love You)” is indeed half a minute long, reminding me a bit of George Harrison’s “Piggies” with some ELO tagged at the end. Heck, you might as well check out the whole album. It’s free and you can run through its 17 contributions in just eight minutes. Melbourne Australia’s Cold Irons Bound nail the scruffy Americana sound of the US midwest on their recent album No Place I Can’t Find You. I’m particularly fond of “Book Some Weekend Time” which sounds like a Cerny Brothers deep cut. Check out the lively lead guitar line that opens Sunken Planes new single “There’s a World.” They describe themselves as a ‘jangle-gaze power trio’ and the power part definitely kicks in on the chorus. The Mike Jacoby Electric Trio managed to make a lot of noise on “The Calm Before the Storm” from their new album The Long Haul. There’s a Dwight Yoakam/Steve Earle countryfied rock and roll sound all over the record but this particular song has something extra, a propulsive drive, subtle hooks, and some Eagles-worthy harmony vocals in the chorus.

The Parallax Project are practically an indie supergroup with participation from members of The Split Squad, Minus 5, and the Junior League. Autologous is their first album of original tunes in 14 years but they don’t miss a beat. Hard to choose just one featured tune. “Mary Houdini” is a delightful poppy swinging number that sounds like a mid-1980s Athens 45 while “You Were Never Here” has a more country twang. Power pop legends The Flashcubes have got a winning project going with their new Pop Masters album where they record classic song covers with the bands that made them famous. Get a load of the heavenly collab with The Spongetones on their fab-tastic “Have You Ever Been Torn Apart?” From the “Hard Days Night” opening chord to the omnipresent jangly guitars to the shiver-inducing harmony vocals, this is the stuff of poprock dreams. With “Don’t Go for the Money” Dan Kibler comes out swinging on his new album Idiomatic, exuding a Michael Hutchence or Tommy Tutone swagger with just a touch of Beatles 65 in the verses. I’m also partial to the stunning “Mystery Girl,” such a perfect two minutes of pop song-writing. The Kind Hills are truly an international band, with members located in the US, UK, Hong Kong, Switzerland and Australia. Their self-described brand of ‘slacker indie pop’ is mellow and meditative for most of their debut LP Clusterluck. Except for “Let Youth Take Over.” Here the band get almost anthemic with a slow-burning ‘sneak up on you’ ear-worm. Imagine Vashti Bunyan leading Chumbawumba and you sort of get where this is going. Caper Clowns lead vocalist Rick Kingo has gone solo with his new EP The Truth, The Lies, The Lot, unleashing various shades of soft rock. But it is the opening cut, “Confident in Time,” that really stands out for me. Accompanied by a McCartney-esque acoustic guitar, Kingo unleashes his inner Neil Finn to good effect. And anyone who can fit the word ‘paradigm’ into a song without sounding awkward deserves an award.

Dan Kibler – Mystery Girl
Rick Kingo – Confident in Time

If Springsteen did grunge it might sound a little like Vancouver’s Slip-Ons. Title track of their new EP Heavy Machinery will give you the gist of their sibilant, psych-rock sound. And what a joy it is. Now depending on when you read this post it may or may not actually be Bandcamp Friday. No matter, whether it is or isn’t I think we can all agree it deserves a theme song. Cue those perennial pop-punkers Vista Blue with “Bandcamp Friday is Here,” winning hearts 15 cents at a time. I wrote about New Jersey’s Sad About Girls once before and they were too polite to correct me when I miswrote their name as simply Sad Girls. Their fab new song is excuse enough to make amends. “Lonely One” delightfully channels a load of Merseybeat riffs and verse/chorus transition turnarounds but with a “That Thing You Do” freshness. Richard Turgeon is like money in the power pop bank. His new single “Friend Zone” is more of his reliable brand of melodic rock and roll. The lead guitar opening riff has a seventies Fleetwood Mac tone while his vocals pull between dissonance and rich harmony. Certainly suitable for summer beach playlists. Another utterly reliable power-pop singles factory can be found in Birmingham Alabama. Lolas have been releasing a single every few months now and they never fail to grab me. “Jacqui” has got a host of classic rock and roll motifs going on but somehow they come together in a unique way. The verses remind me of Abba’s “Does Your Mother Know” while the chorus hits the pop boogie marks of The Sweet.

Burlington Ontario’s big bold sound is presently coming from The Penske File. Their new long-player Half Glow is hard to peg stylistically, with a bit of four on the floor sing-along stomping and a whole lot of rock and roll heart. I’d dip in with the single-worthy “Chorus Girl.” This is a track that shimmers and lurches along with a sonic intensity that seldom lets up. In the early 1980s Milwauki’s The Shivvers were an up and coming outfit sporting vintage guitar sounds and vocals that melded Debbie Harry and Chrissie Hynde. But then they folded. Fast forward and today they’ve got a dynamite new song “My Love Calling” that sounds like a peak form Pretenders single. The musical build up in the song is inspired, from the jangle guitar to piano riffs to the tension between the main and background vocals. Another band mining the that killer early 1980s rock sound are Worriers. The title track from their upcoming LP Trust My Gut combines an eighties sonic ambience with a Bleachers pop polish in various key moments of the song. Meanwhile Lauren Denitzio’s vocals pull everything together in a tight poprock package. The Make Three bring together members of the Brixton Riot and The Anderson Council to make music they describe as ‘more power, less pop.’ The album is You, Me, and The Make Three and it has got some rock muscle behind it, but with a pop flavour you’d associate with the likes of The Smithereens or The Lemonheads. Whet your whistle with “Emily Strange” to get a sense of what they’re all about. Toronto’s Vicky von Vicky are a new outfit with, as far as I can tell, just two songs out. “Jealousy” is straight up melodic rock, full of chunky guitar chords and a simple chorus that really hooks you in. More please.

The Shivvers – My Love Calling

We wrap things up on this session of Life at 45rmp with the latest single from South Korean band Say Sue Me. “Mind is Light” is bit more shoe-gazey than some of the group’s previous releases, floating along over a pleasant guitar buzz that is regularly punctuated by other sonic interventions. Things do get a bit psychedelic at times.

21 down, 21 to go. Stay tuned for part II of Life at 45rpm, coming soon.

Photo courtesy Simon Collison Flikr collection.

Mood swinging: Chris Staples, The Heavy Heavy, Grant Lindberg, and Cal Rifkin

10 Thursday Aug 2023

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Sometimes my mood swings across a pretty wide of arc of the poprock-o-sphere, from harshly loud to hush-like precious. Today our mood swinging extends to folk pop, sunshine psychedelia, guitar distortion, and emo drone. Let’s get moody.

The cover of Cloud Souvenirs has Chris Staples walking somewhere. Behind him a neat boxy house on stilts holds up a pale blue sky. My gut sense says it’s morning and he’s just a guy out with his thoughts, humming a tune. Listening to Cloud Souvenirs is like deciding to join that stroll, with light and breeze reflected in the textured variety of inventive, hypnotic sounds. Just listen to how the quiet vocals and acoustic guitar work of opening cut “Nasty Habit” draws you in to something very intimate, only to slowly open things up with electric piano and guitar and synth motifs that add space and a different resonance. In a way, every song on the record sort of does the same thing, balancing simplicity with complexity like a folk pop Steely Dan. In “Take Your Time” Staples embeds one of his classic killer guitar licks but envelops it in a meditative yet hooky tune. For a straight-up folkie elan “Souvenirs” delivers gut-wrenching small-town melancholia while, alternatively, “Do Whatever I Want” quickens the record’s pulse with its buoyant 1960s English pop sheen. “Burnout Together” is a standout track here, a gorgeous tune rich in nuance yet seemingly masquerading as something simple. Or I could single out “Dreams Come True” with its New Orleans horn section and a stripped-down piano melody framing a simple message. Then again, album closer “I Want to Get Lost” has the dissonant ennui of David Sylvian in Brilliant Trees mode, and so few people can pull that off. Staples has been honing his textured folk pop sound for some time now, over five previous solo releases. But with Cloud Souvenirs he may just have perfected it.

On Life and Life Only Brighton UK’s The Heavy Heavy offer up the unlikely marriage of sixties psychedelia and sunshine pop. One minute it’s all bluesy electric guitar and Hammond B3 organ, the next we’re awash in tight Mamas and Papas vocal harmonies. And that’s all just in the opening track “All My Dreams.” From there the bluesy shade of this record is notable, leaning in a pop gospel direction on “Go Down River” or with a more boogie riff driving “Man of the Hills.” “Miles and Miles” is the LPs clear should-be hit single, flashing a blast of hooky lead guitar like an aural tractor beam, reeling you in. The juxtaposed variety of songs here is striking. There’s the beautifully slow hippy groove that defines “Sleeping on Grassy Ground” contrasting the very Mamas and Papas sunshine pop glow of “Why Don’t You Call?” All this was a pretty impressive collection when it came out as an six-song EP in 2022 but now it’s been expanded to a full LP with five more tunes. And the extras are no mere rough demos or cast-off b-sides. The covers – of Father John Misty’s “Real Love Baby” and Jonathan Wilson’s “Desert Raven – are inspired re-workings. Though the show-stopper addition is the breathtaking reimagining of David Crosby’s psych-folk masterpiece “Guinnevere.” The album denouement is pretty good too, an acoustic rendition of “Go Down River” that infuses the track with a very different spirit.

This summer I’ve found myself returning to Grant Lindberg’s recent Future Ghost LP again and again. There’s something comforting about the wall-of-hazy, distorted guitars and vocals that swathe just about everything here. Opening tracks “All the Time” and “My Dear” hit the Matthew Sweet and Weezer marks pretty hard but over the record as a whole I can hear a kinship with loads of more contemporary acts. Bands like Ruler, Invisible Rays, Taking Meds, and Jet Black Tulips are all over Lindberg’s kind of chunky, droney rhythm guitar work and dissonant vocals. In terms of listenability, Future Ghost is a total play kind of record, there’s no filler here. But if I were to single out a few tunes I’d vote “Anything But You” as the should-be hit with the Sugar Ray-ish “Every Now and Then” a close second. There are a few surprises too, like the subtle McCartney-isms animating “Lost On You.” And Lindberg closes the record with the killer Matthew Sweet-meets-Mike Viola drenched “There Isn’t Time.” Trust me on this one, if you spend time with Future Ghost it will come back to haunt you (but in a good way).

Washington D.C. band Cal Rifkin fall somewhere on the emo spectrum of power pop. They cite all the usual suspects as influences – Matthew Sweet, Teenage Fanclub, Sloan – but their own sound is somehow both dialled down and dialled up. In the end, the combination of cranked guitars and low-key vocals coats their new EP Better Luck Next Year with an alluring vibe. “Down South” kicks things off with big chords and breathy vocals, only to add an extra guitar riff 25 seconds in that is positively addictive. Then comes “Break My Heart,” the obvious hit single. When the chorus hits, the hook is drop dead good. “I Know I Can’t Stay” has a Fountains of Wayne kind of suburban loner intimacy. Title track “Better Luck Next Year” changes things up with a groove that grabs you and won’t let go. It’s sorta western, sorta not. The final cut “Skater Vidz” is just a lovely lilting tune in a Real Estate/Teenage Fanclub register. You can just add Better Luck Next Year to your summer playlist, it’s a faultless EP. And while you wait for a debut long-player from the band you can always double back and check out their previous self-titled extended play.

I hope you’ve found a mood here you can dig or maybe even a few different moods. Click on the hyperlinked names if you’d like to swing a bit more.

Top photo courtesy JD Hancock Flikr collection.

Hit machines: Eyelids, New Pornographers, Marc Jonson & Ramirez Exposure, and Mike Viola

04 Friday Aug 2023

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Today’s acts sound like hit machines to me, so reliable are they in putting out solid albums year after year. In this post we’ve got psychedelia, postmodern new wave, and a return to the sixties American-style.

Portland is some kind of magical indie music city, so many great artists seem to hang out there. Like Eyelids. On their recent LP A Colossal Waste of Light their reliably hooky tunes get a more sonorous, dissonant treatment. Don’t be fooled by opening cut “Crawling Off Your Pages.” It’s all Brydsian turns with hints of early U2 and New Pornographers. But from there things get more spacey and psychedelic. “Swinging in The Circus” leads with its affecting, unadorned vocal, giving way to a Rogue Wave feel as it gets going. Love the guitar effects gently driving “That’s Not Real At All (B. Midweek Pg. 207).” Then “Only So Much” kicks off sounding like a low-key hit single. It’s smouldering, atmospheric, and magnetic – like something Simple Minds might cook up. Many of the tracks here step hard on the moody pedal but without losing their sense of melodic direction.  “Colossal Waste of Light” comes on like a slow psychedelic mediation, “Runaway Yeah” colours the mood with an early U2 sort of vibe, while “Everything That I See You Better” has that textured Rogue Wave feel. “They Said No” and “I Can’t Be Told” do pick up the pace whereas “Misuse” goes in the opposite direction, working an acoustic guitar folk seam. A Colossal Waste of Light marks an interesting turn from a phenomenally talented bunch of players.

Album #9 from The New Pornographers Continue as Guest is a blast of sonic pop goodness. From the get go “Really Really Light” kicks things off sounding like a sophisticated hit single, the mesh of vocals and thrown-in bits of what sound like computer alerts and quirky keyboard shots giving everything a Peter Gabriel/Kate Bush elevation. Then “Pontius Pilate’s Home Movies” is a classic TNP hooky pop number crowned with a literary lyrical precision. Elsewhere it’s like the songs come from New Pornographers central casting. “Last and Beautiful” offers up an off-kilter rock and roll pace with a sweet hooky melodic turn in the chorus. “Bottle Episodes” plays up an essential trick in the TNP song-writing formula, adding just a little melodic uplift in the chorus to make the song soar. Meanwhile “Marie and the Undersea” lets the acoustic and electric guitars keep the song simmering with barely contained energy. I could go on. Continue as Guest is no striking creative departure for The New Pornographers. It’s just another damn fine example of what they do best.

On their second record together Turning on the Century Vol. 2 Marc Jonson & Ramirez Exposure pick up where they left off on Vol. 1, basically reinventing The Beach Boys Pet Sounds vibe for a new age. You can practically hear Carl, Mike and Brian lean into “Good Vibes Never Lie.” From there it’s an easy pivot to a seam of American sixties rock and roll that is less well travelled in our current era of nostalgic reinvention. Artists like Dion, who seems to haunt “Night Full of Dreams” with its invocation of 1963 emotional drama at the drive-in. Or I think The Four Seasons might be lurking somewhere in the mix of “Baby Gets Close.” By contrast, “Streetlight Boys” has the muscular rock and roll heft of a Mitch Ryder or Del Shannon, with the requisite killer organ fills. There is a bit of an English sixties feel to “I Don’t Wanna Go” with its arresting mix of instruments, particularly the strings and acoustic guitar. But the vocal is all-American. “When Worlds Collide” takes the sixties accents in a more modern direction, reminding me of The The and The Shins in places. Turning on the Century Vol. 2 opens and closes with “Happy Sparrow” and “In the Rain (Happy Sparrow)” which are essentially the same song but performed in two different distinct sunshine pop registers. With songs this good, perhaps a Vol. 3 is in order.

Mike Viola could easily crank out catchy hook-filled pop numbers like “That Thing You Do” and “Strawberry Blonde” for every release but he clearly prefers to challenge our expectations of what a conventional poprock song should be. His latest album Paul McCarthy is alternatively smooth and dissonant, hooky and dirge-like. Opening cut “Bill Viola” sets the scene, its spare opening electric guitar lines and isolated vocal coming to clash with a symphony-style rhythm guitar attack, all the while the song’s melodic hook struggles to surface – but it is definitely there. Next up “Water Makes Me Sick” resets everything to a more rough-edged Matthew Sweet melody and lurching pace. Then “Love Letters from a Childhood Friend” pulls back to a more recognizable Viola bittersweet commentary. And repeat throughout. As an album, Paul McCarthy repeatedly works the tension between the familiar and the jarring. “Scientist Alexis” starts with guitar reminiscent of Abbey Road-era Beatles but jams a talking blues vocal on top and a host of jazzy guitar and drum interludes throughout. “Paul McCarthy” reinvents Paul McCartney, not surprisingly, taking familiar Macca guitar sounds and vocal ticks but turns them on their head. The record has some classic Viola hooks too on tracks like “Torp,” the Private Eyes Hall and Oatesy “I Think I Thought Forever Proof,” and the Macca stomper “You Put the Light Back in My Face.” There’s even some gentle psychedelia to wrap things up on “2323.” You really should take the Paul McCarthy challenge. But remember, it’s more like Glenlivet than Pepsi or Coke.

Bill Viola
Paul McCarthy

This quartet of should-be hit records should keep you busy for a moment or two. Hit the hyperlinks to learn more about these hit machines.

Top photo courtesy Ryan Hickox Flikr page.

Sweet sweet Matthew

28 Friday Jul 2023

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The 1990s saviour of power pop was undeniably Matthew Sweet. While others indulged in the raw muscularity of grunge or the dissonant hooks of Weezer Sweet offered up album after album of supremely confident melodic rock tunes, successfully updating previous decades of the genre. Like many people I caught on to Sweet’s work via 1991’s Girlfriend and his damn near perfect poprock single “I’ve Been Waiting.” But as I continued to follow his career I discovered that Sweet didn’t just belong to the power pop crowd. He had an alter ego that vibed a rock god persona, complete with chunky power chords and blistering guitar solos. In fact, each of his post-Girlfriend albums showcased this dualism – poprock versus rock god – to some degree. Given our biases here at Poprock Record it won’t surprise you that we’ve scoured his catalogue for the hidden and not-so-hidden poppy rock gems you can find on every Matthew Sweet LP.

Sweet actually gets his start in eighties and listening to 1986’s Inside and 1989’s Earth it shows. The debut bears the production marks of that decade with its gated drum sound and punchy keyboards. Inside was Sweet’s only record for label behemoth Columbia and with ten different producers involved it’s pretty clear they weren’t sure what to do with him. Still, it’s a remarkably consistent-sounding the album. I’d single out the Don Dixon-produced “This Above All” and David Kahne-helmed “Blue Fools” for special mention, in part for the fabulous guest background vocals from Aimee Mann on the former and two of the Bangles on the latter. Three years later Earth turned in a more textured synth performance, enhanced by the arrival of Sweet’s own signature background vocal style, clearly evident on “Vixen.”

Blue Fools
Vixen

Yet it was the 1990s that marked the artistic arrival of Matthew Sweet. That decade witnessed him produce five solid albums, all full of hooky wonders and explosive guitar solos. Girlfriend practically blew a hole in 1991, its 15 tracks were so consistently good. It’s easy to declare “I’ve Been Waiting” the album’s master cut but which track would you rank second, or third? I’m torn between “Thought I Knew You” and “I Wanted to Tell You.” Two years later Altered Beast offered up a fatter, rockier sound compared to its more spare, acoustically-guitar driven predecessor but the hooks came through on cuts like “Time Capsule,” “The Ugly Truth” and the sixties jangled “Devil with the Green Eyes.” 1995’s 100% Fun stands second to Girlfriend in terms of commercial appeal and stark hit singles potential. “Opening cut “Sick of Myself” is an obvious monster hook machine. But there are other killer should-be hits here, like the exquisite “Get Older” and more subtle “We’re the Same.” And I love the eerie, spooky feel to “Walk Out.” Another two years gone and 1997’s Blue Sky on Mars continued to deliver both light and heavy poprock numbers like “Until You Break,” “Back to You” and “Where You Get Love.” “All Over My Head” even manages to combine a bit of both. Sweet rounded out the nineties with 1999’s In Reverse, tipping the sonic balance back to pop with numbers like “If Time Permits” and “Future Shock.”

Thought I Knew You
Devil with the Green Eyes
Get Older
All Over My Head
Future Shock

Into the new millennium Sweet’s focus shifted somewhat from strictly solo releases to include the folk rock Thorns album with Pete Droge and Shaun Mullins and his series of Under the Covers albums with Susanna Hoffs. His first two solo albums of the new decade were initially only available in Japan, 2003’s Kimi Ga Suki and 2004’s Living Things. From the former “I Don’t Want to Know” sounds like a Girlfriend deep cut and “Wait” is pretty jangle special. Meanwhile “Sunlight” is the go to cut from the latter. 2008’s Sunshine Lies was heralded by some as Sweet’s comeback album but it didn’t spawn any break out hits, though “Brydgirl” and “Around You Now” sound reliably hit-worthy. By 2011 Modern Art definitely sounds more experimental, though the Sweet formula hooks are in evidence on “She Walks the Night,” “Another Chance” and “Sleeping.” The long gap until Sweet’s pair of Tomorrow albums in 2017-18 was worth the wait, producing 29 tracks. Between Tomorrow Forever and Tomorrow’s Daughter the latter really delivered for me, particularly jangle perfect “I Belong To You.” Later the same year he released Wicked System of Things and here I’d point you to “Eternity Now.” 2021’s Catspaw is Sweet doing all the things both fans and critics laud him for, i.e. layering on loads of hooks and disharmony, like on “Challenge the Gods” and “Come Home.”

Sunlight
Around You Now
She Walks the Night
Come Home

In the 1990s we fans of Matthew Sweet patiently waited for the stratospheric take-off we were sure was coming for this artist. He consistently delivered but somehow never arrived, commercially that is. Instead, we’ve got a sweet sweet canon of melodic rock and roll to rediscover again and again.

Complete your Matthew Sweet hook library by visiting him online.

Words just get in the way

21 Friday Jul 2023

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Who need lyrics anyway? Some artists just want to get right to the musical point. Like this crew of topnotch poprock instrumentalizers. Without words you just need to get your hummer tuned and ready.

Toronto’s Cameronoise is Tim Cameron, one man band. He described his 2022 self-titled debut EP as ‘Booker T & The MGs meet The Smithereens in Paul McCartney’s attic.’ You can definitely feel the dynamic tension he creates between his Stax-Volt approved organ lines and power pop guitar chords. So far he’s got two EPs out in 2023. Racing to the Next Red Light has got a killer should-be single going with “I’m Not Bitter.” These are some serious 1965 Mersey-ish keyboard and guitar hooks. His more recent Henry Shade of Winkler definitely wins the cheeky album title award. And it’s a damn fine listen. Stand out track this time is “Alternative Batgirl.” Great hooks on both guitar and organ and such a fun arrangement evoking biff-bam-pow good times.

Freehold Township isn’t right on the Jersey shore but you wouldn’t know it listening to locals The Volcanics blast through their surf-drenched long-player Concrete Carver. Man do they nail the 1965 surf rock sound and do it with a kind of sophistication usually reserved for jazzier exploits. Title track “Concrete Carver” should get anyone dancing even in the toughest beach sand. “Whiplash” hits all the Ventures notes effortlessly. When “The Ripper” came on it took all my self-control not to grab a surf board and hit the waves. You’d swear every tune here was designed to float up behind a Hawaii 5-O set deck – the album’s cinematic quality is inescapable. My favourite cut here is probably “Lollygaggin’.” It has such a joyful lead guitar bounce, reminding me of those ace instrumental melody-makers Los Straightjackets. For contrast there’s even a few lovely slow dances for you and your baby, like “Surfer’s Melody” and “Scenic Route.” Basically people, if loving this is wrong I don’t want to be right.

This next record is really something special. Oita Japan band The Routes perform ten classic tracks from Kraftwerk but in a distinctive 1960s guitar instrumental style. If ever a concept  might be in danger of going too far you might think this would be it. But The Routes 2022 album The Twang Machine is a remarkable synthesis of seemingly antithetical styles that somehow works in spite of this tension. The guitar playing is deliriously good, the keyboards sly and subtle, while the overall song arrangements are inventive and brilliant. Opening cut “Computer Love” will get into your head with its rippling lead guitar lines and careful emphasis on the song’s heretofore obscured killer hooks. From there Kraftwerk fans can just take in the glorious, madcap, otherworldly character of these reinventions of Kraut rock.

On 14 Bullets from the Spaghetti West you get a mix of gunslinger-movie instrumental classics played with an exaggerated western aplomb. There’s electric and acoustic guitars, whistling, sombre vocal choruses, and plenty of sad, sonorous trumpet. The band is Melbourne Australia’s The Counterfeit and they have got the American west via Italian film biz chops. All 14 songs here are played beautifully – you can let the needle drop and have the record play through without skipping a beat. But the stand out tracks for me were the soulful, sad “Jerry’s Theme,” the arch, ceremonial “A Fistful of Dollars” (that trumpet player is earning his fee here), and the haunting, whistle-drenched “Spaghetti Time.” Fair warning: frequent listening will undoubtedly have you digging out your old Clint Eastwood DVDs for repeat movie nights.

Toronto’s Phono-Comb were a short-lived side project for members of The Sadies and Shadowy Men on a Shadowy Planet. Their one album is nearly all instrumental, offering up dirty surf and garage rock tunes. The songs are mostly just good fun, like watching a great bar band entertain the locals. But a few tunes really stand out. “Pummelled” starts slow but builds up a hooky melody, bending it into various shapes before returning to the main theme. “Clogs from the Crypt” and “Cliffhanger” both eventually rock out in a great party way. But the album’s exceptional track is undeniably “Marvin.” It’s rollicking easygoing pace is elevated with some signature SMOASP lead guitar work.

Think of instrumentals as lyrics-reduced tune-age. And you can make up your own song meanings without all those busy words getting in the way.

Image courtesy Brian Scott.