Early in 2023 a curious new band hit the scene offering up a whole lot of 1960s beat-group shake and sizzle. The Plus 4 quickly issued 4 tunes, one a month, before disappearing just as mysteriously as they had arrived. But what a quartet of singles they left us! The tunes channeled a glammy Kinks/Beatles/Byrds melange (reviewed here) that definitely had me wanting more. Well, it would appear the wait is now over and the mystery of just who this band is can be solved.
Why am I not really surprised? Paul Ryan is a master of sixties stylings, deploying hints of all the great beat groups, right from the British invasion through their psychedelic reinventions and beyond to the sunshine pop that took them into the 1970s. His songs are littered with inventive reworkings of Kinks, Beatles, Beach Boys and Byrdsian motifs. But this Plus 4 project is something special. It’s like he’s put a particularly unique sixties filter on the stereo for these tunes. What I hear is a bit more stripped down affair, with greater prominence given to the jangly guitars, and a stronger to-the-front-of-the-mix on the vocals. Check out for yourself just what the differences amount to by hitting play on the just released The Plus 4 EP #1. You get – no surprise here – four songs. One track is a slightly revamped take on “Resolution (Happy New Year),” the project’s very first single that came out in early January. Glam Kinks was how I initially described it and I stand by that declaration. From there we segue into the new tunes, starting with the swinging Meet-the-Beatlesque “Take It From Me.” The guitar so nails the period. Dance-able? Oh yeah, yeah, yeah. “Every Word is True” breaks out the harmonica to good effect. Then things wrap up with the janglelicious “Tell It Like It Is.” The EPs overall effect is like a fresh blast of Merseyfied poprock at its finest.
Given the prior releases and now these new tunes my guess is that this is only the start of a fab new year for us and The Plus 4. Mystery solving never sounded so good.
I grew up immersed in popular music. My parents were barely adults themselves when they had me and my other brother and their enthusiasm for the 1960s music scene they were living through was palpable. If the TV was off the record player was on. Between them my parents covered a pretty wide swathe of the popular music scene. Dad was everything from Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis and Chuck Berry right through to Jimi Hendrix and Creedence Clearwater Revival. Mother filled in more of the pop content with Buddy Holly, Brenda Lee, and Gene Pitney as well as country like Patsy Cline and folk from Pete Seeger. And they both loved The Beatles. This was the musical universe I came from as I began exploring music on my own in the mid-to-late 1970s. I picked up a few things from AM radio – thank you LG73 for playing Rockpile and Squeeze! But for years I struggled just to find out about music. I wish I had something like S.W. Lauden’s fabulous music review site Remember the Lightning back then. It would have made getting where I am now a lot easier.
S.W. Lauden is a music book editor, essayist, novelist, and drummer with bands like Tsar and The Brothers Steve. He is also the driving force behind Remember the Lightning, a website and semi-annual music journal focusing on the micro sub-genre of rock and roll known as power pop. Subtitled ‘A Guitar Pop Journal,’ Remember the Lightning takes its name from a 1979 song by a band called 20/20. And that’s important because 1979 was arguably a seminal year for the power pop genre, witnessing an explosion of melodic rock bands that followed in the wake of punk’s destabilization of the era’s whole rock and roll scene. Since that early but brief high-point power pop has remained on the margins of the more commercially successful music world, occasionally producing a break-out hit (“Stacey’s Mom” anyone?) but mostly surviving as a niche amongst a strongly loyal fan base. Lauden hopes to contribute something to changing that with his journalistic efforts on Remember the Lightning. By bringing together a unique mix of musicians and fans in each issue, the point is to convey some of the excitement and joy that drives the genre and helps explain its staying power despite a failure to storm the charts. And perhaps bring about some chart-storming.
Let’s talk about what Remember the Lightening is not. Despite the subtitle describing it as a ‘journal’ it is not academic in its approach. For a long time, ever since the Frankfurt school dumped all over popular music back in the 1940s, academe had a strained relationship with what the young folks like. But that began changing as boomers moved from attending the concerts to writing about them. Now there are a host of academic spaces where one can dive into ‘Beatles Studies’ or publish in The Journal of Popular Music and Society. No, this journal is more immediate, less detached than the kind of stuff academics produce. It’s about what bands and fans are into now: what they’re doing, why they’re doing, who inspired them, and whether audiences will dig the whole thing. Issue #1 that came out earlier this year lays it all out with ruminations on the genre, reflections on influential songs, and plenty of writing by and about the artists, both newbies and veterans. The range of covered acts includes the Beths, Exploding Hearts, Whiffs, Sloan, Juniper, Popsicko and Tinted Windows. Issue #2 is just out and it’s even more ambitious, with coverage of historic power pop music scenes (Philadephia), a primer on southeast Asian guitar pop, classic bands (The Replacements) and albums (Welcome Interstate Managers), musician autobiography (Kurt Baker), and great new albums from the Uni Boys and Kate Clover.
I had to find my music resources the hard way, e.g. by hosting a college radio show at the crack of dawn on Saturday mornings in the 1980s or buying countless reference books like The Trouser Press Record Guide and Joel Whitburn’s Top Pop Singles. Today’s internet makes things much easier for power pop kids to find their peeps. Give yourself a break and ‘go all the way’ to the hyperlinked web address for Remember the Lightning. Your power pop community awaits.
As a confirmed Beatlemaniac I would remiss if I didn’t have something to say about the just released Beatles ‘final’ single “Now and Then.” I have to be honest, hearing rough bootleg versions of the track over the years the song struck me as somewhat slight, akin to a host of deep-cut confessional love songs John typically interspersed amongst his early to mid 1970s solo albums. Thus it didn’t surprise me that Paul, George and Ringo passed on fixing it up for the Anthology series in favour of “Free As A Bird” and “Real Love.” But the new, just officially-released Paul and Ringo fixed-up version definitely elevates the track from its more mundane demo takes. John’s new and improved vocal obviously dominates the proceedings but Paul and Giles Martin have done an expert job adding all the expected late period Beatle-isms e.g. Abbey Road-era background vocals, tasteful strings, some pedal steel guitar, and a psychedelic turn to the tune’s arrangement (particularly the ending). And yet the song is not merely a retread of past accomplishments stylistically as it incorporates the more forlorn melodic twists John developed as a solo artist. So altogether, while the song is certainly not Beatles hit-single material, it adds up to what could have been a strong album cut and respectable addition to the band’s canon.
Given the band’s stature it should not be surprising that cover versions of the new tune are already appearing. Here it is fascinating to see others interpret how to render the song in a suitably Beatles key. Moving through the different eras, Dreamer Jazz re-imagines the song as it might have been played on Ed Sullivan, complete with video. DJS’s David A. Rodriguez really nails a host of early era Beatle-isms, including John’s distinctive rhythm guitar work. Apple Jam move the sound closer to the Hard Day’s Night/Help period and their considerable experience recreating the Beatles’ sound really comes through here. Timmy Sean takes inspiration from the same period but his sound ends up coming off more late seventies poprock, begging the question as to whether that might have been where the Beatles sound would have developed. Lastly Super 8’s version (that we featured before) takes things in a wholly new direction, even adding an original bridge to the song. In many ways, Super 8’s version is really the most creative interpretation, bold in its choices but still successful in execution.
Apple Jam
The Beatles really don’t need any more money but these clever cover artists surely do. Give them a visit to check out where their fab influences have taken them in their own work.
If there’s a guy who deserves a bit more love and glory, it’s Dave Kuchler. As a member of the Soul Engines he played a major part in crafting the power pop perfect sound of their 2001 release Closer Still, taking lead vocal on the should-have-been hit “Just Another Day.” Then in 2020 he returned with a dynamite solo album entitled It’s Pronounced … that splashed jangle guitar and heavy doses of Hammond B3 organ over a solid collection to tunes. The record ranked #11 on our Poprock Record’s 25 must-have LPs for 2020 list while the single “Slave to Katy” clocked in at #3 out of the 50 Poprock Record should-be hit singles of 2020. In our review we declared It’s Pronounced … “… has the sound of a timeless classic, a paean to poprock songcraft and performance. It deserves a wide hearing.” But the likes of Rolling Stone and Billboard fail to heed our good advice.
Now Kuchler is back with Love + Glory and it’s another dynamite package of New Jersey’s special brand of janglicious, Americana-infused rock and roll. From the killer lick introducing opening cut “In It With You” you know you’re in for some no nonsense melodic rock along the lines of Fastball, Don Dixon, John Hiatt and Marshall Crenshaw. Developed from an unreleased Soul Engines song, the track has a distinctive lead guitar hook that keeps coming back in between Kuchler’s strong vocals. Then “Labor of Love” shows how Kuchler’s talent for seeding a melodic hook right from the start of a tune is no fluke. Stylistically Love + Glory has a more consistent sound than It’s Pronounced …, meeting at the crossroads of Americana and Merseybeat. Basically less Springsteen, more Rockpile this time around. “She’d Rather Be With You” is very Mersey, updated with a bit of Nick Lowe cheekiness. “All I Need” takes its jaunty electric guitar into Beatles-country-meets-early-Eagles territory. But with “Fine Wine” and “Slow Day” you can practically hear a John Hiatt growl coming in somewhere, the latter also reminiscent of Lowe’s Rose of England material. As with Hiatt, the organ work on these tunes adds a transcendent quality. Other songs showcase different variations of the Americana theme. There’s a sweet organ and mandolin charm to “This Old Car,” a Chuck Berry-fueled romp through “Lover’s Talk,” and storytelling about Maggie May before she met Rod on “Prequel (Maggie).” The record ends with a bit of blistering heartland jangle on “Chasing Glory,” a return to a more Jersey Springsteen aura.
They just don’t make records like Love + Glory anymore. Unless you’re Dave Kuchler. You can show him a bit of love at his bandcamp site, Kool Kat Musik record distribution page, or FB locale.
It must be hard times at Camp Pepper these days. The band’s last album No Thanks was described on bandcamp as ‘[t]he seventh and final album by Gregory Pepper & His Problems.’ Now Pepper offers up an Estate Sale, described as a grab bag of ‘B-sides, compilation tracks, covers, and alternate versions from the Camp Pepper Archives (2008-2023).’ So, like, what gives? Is this the end of Gregory Pepper and his Problems as a creative vehicle? Will they be replaced by something else? Or is Pepper forgoing music to finally commit to that snowplow job in his northern Ontario small town? You could tune in next week but I’m not confident we’d have any news.
What we do have is devilishly good serving of Pepper wit and whimsy over the 26 tracks of Estate Sale. Now let’s be clear, some of his estate items already went out in previous sales. A gander over at Camp Pepper reveals a host of b-sides, alternative versions, and demos appeared on expanded versions of previous releases of S/T, With Trumpets Flaring, Escape from Skull Mountain, and Demos! Demos! Demos! But there’s definitely still value for money here. There are covers of The Postal Service (“Natural Anthem”) and Ween (“Gabrielle”). There’s a rare teaser track from the Dad Year Recordings that didn’t make the final 52 song cut (“Back to the USA”). Other contributions will stand as repeats if you kept up with the flow of Pepper EPs over the years. For instance, the whole of the Ghost Town EP is included here as is “Secret Satan” from the ツンデレ (Tsundere) EP, and I don’t hear anything different about them. Personally I don’t begrudge Pepper a bit of double dipping. I mean, he’s not young anymore and probably needs the money. And, repetition or no, you’re still getting a nice retrospective of Pepper’s curio pop career.
There’s too much on Estate Sale to give a track by track breakdown. And that’s tough because, given that I love just about everything by Pepper, it’s hard for me to choose favourites. But if I were to draw attention to just a few things from this release I might highlight his manic 1950s reinventions like “LUV U 2 DETH” and “BFF,” or the driving macabre pop of “This Town” and “Home Alone,” or his hilarious self-deprecation on “Time For Plugs.” But Pepper can be serious and touching too, as can be heard on the holiday-themed “A Nice Thought” and “No Funeral.” Or I’d recommend hitting repeat on the 1970s hooky pop goodness of “It Gets Worse.” There’s a Mungo Jerry meets 1974 Wings thing going on here that I can really get behind. But hey, results may vary. Consult your doctor.
Like the rest of the world we live in, the fate of Gregory Pepper and his Problems remains uncertain. But you can quell your nervous mind with a few spins of this Estate Sale. Get thee over to Camp Pepper to check it out and all his other fabulous releases.
Let’s pretend you don’t know who Chris Stamey is and you’ve stumbled across his new album The Great Escape. Title track and opening cut “The Great Escape” sounds pretty laid back 1970s California country rock. But then “Realize” vibes a more poppy rock style with guitars carrying more of the song. Then Stamey lets loose the jangle with a Big Star take on Alex Chilton’s song “She Might Look My Way” before going full-on country with “Here’s How We Start Again.” If you can set aside how much the latter track reminds you of Eddie Arnold’s “You Don’t Know Me” you might be asking yourself, just who is this guy stylistically? Well, he’s Chris Stamey. Really you have to know a bit about his musical DNA to get what he’s doing here. What makes The Great Escape such a fabulous record is how it draws creatively on Stamey’s considerable musical legacy. “I Will Try” effortlessly reinvents Brydsian motifs, “Greensboro Days” does folky country like REM used to do, while “Back in New York” has a great American songbook feel. There’s not-so-serious, fun hero worship on “The One and Only (Van Dyke Parks)” and tender love for a friend on “Dear Friend.” “The Sweetheart of the Video” plays with a cinematic country ennui, you can practically see the montage. Stamey even provides his “Album Credits” over a music bed of the title track. You can love this record without knowing a thing about Stamey but digging a bit into his past helps you appreciate it even more.
Of course, Chris Stamey is best known as a key founding member of the legendary power pop band the dBs. Now I’m not going to assign any homework but if you did want to get caught up on his dBs origins, you can check out his recent album with the other key dBs member Peter Holsapple. The duo have played acoustic concerts over the years and honed very different takes on their original more rocking tunes. In 2021 they decided to commit these remakes to tape for an album entitled Our Back Pages. Not all early 1980s indie rock can survive turning down the amplifiers but the craft and sophistication of the Holsapple/Stamey songwriting thrives in this new, more acoustic milieu. From the fiddle-infused romp that is “Today Could Be the Day” to the folk-rock menace colouring “Happenstance” the ambience is very Peter Case from his first solo album. Other versions of the songs sound more poprock contemporary. “From a Window to a Screen” reminds me of Porter Block while “Dynamite” is a timeless juxtaposition of ear-catching lead guitar and swoon-worthy harmony vocals. I could go on as the whole record is solid but I’d have to single out “Picture Sleeve.” The duo cook up such amazing harmonies here that the results are poprock bliss.
Another recent Stamey effort worthy of attention is his collaboration with The Salt Collective. He and Peter Holsapple appear on a number of tracks from The Salt Collective LP Life but the standout choice for me is “Nursery Rhyme.” There something very 1960s baroque pop here, but updated with an indie rock intensity.
If you know Chris Stamey, you know escape is neither likely nor desirable. If you’re just discovering him, get ready for a truly great poprock escape. You can get caught up in his world on at his website and music pages.
There is something so wonderfully 1983 about Jose’s Bad Day. The clean guitar sound, the understated vocals, the everyman lyrical sentiment, occasionally punched up with a layer of winning vocal harmonies – it all comes rushing back to me. The great jangly guitar and snaky organ work just help to bring it all home. Hi! Let’s Eat is an EP with five fabulous cuts that re-animate the sound of that great year in poprock, for me anyway. Opening track “Just Good Friends” has the studied nonchalance of Don Dixon’s recordings, obscuring the complexity of the song’s arrangement to bring the hooks to the surface. “How Will You Know?” is a lovely bit of light poprock, with subtle Merseyside turnarounds. Then “So Pretty I Lie” dials back the 1980s to maybe the late seventies to hit some new wave marks – those rhythm guitar shots are really working overtime here. By contrast “Where Were You?” gives us a John Hiatt-style neo-1950s update, connecting with band leader Tim Reece’s other music project 40 Proof and its more Americana vibe. Yet when we hit the EP closer “Rushing In On Fool’s Day” the sound has shifted again, this time more reminiscent of Mark Everett’s A Man Called E project.
You can celebrate Jose’s Bad Day at their bandcamp page. Bad times never sounded so good.
Photo entitled ‘Knife’ courtesy Thomas Hawk Flikr collection.
Today’s artists don’t necessarily sound like Joni Mitchell or her much-heralded third album Ladies of the Canyon. But like Joni (and that record) their contributions here herald the arrival of a distinctive voice and vision. These are LPs with impact – get ready to love the blow.
From her opening cut “Midnite Heart Attack” Rachel Angel serves notice she is coming at us with a blistering array of guitars, organ runs and a vocal presence that is both kick-ass and tender. What an electric start to her debut album of the same name. From there the album oscillates between shades of hip country, indie rock and curio pop. The record’s second song “I Can’t Win” highlights these contrasts, shifting gears to a sophisticated country sound not unlike First Aid Kit. Then track three “Closer to Myself” changes again, this time to a modern country diva number sung like Jenny Lewis, with just a hint of Abba lurking somewhere in the mix. I hear a lot of Jenny Lewis or, more accurately, Rilo Kiley on this record actually, on tracks like “Daddy” and “Candle.” But then the beautiful, lilting ballad “Baby Can I Come To You” reminds me of Melanie while “I Need Love” gets me back in a First Aid Kit state of mind. For an album highlight, I love the organ and emotional vocal intensity of “Freedom Fighter.” Angel turns out an marquis performance. Then again, I could totally hear Dolly Parton doing this, differently but equally brilliantly. Mark my words, Midnite Heart Attack is just the beginning of something big.
There’s an interstice between country and folk where Jaimee Harris lives. Her new album Boomerang Town has all the dark menace of folk and exquisite heartbreak of country in ten desperate tunes. What can I say? Sometimes it just feels good to feel this bad. Album opener and title track “Boomerang Town” is a small-town working-class testimonial to disappointment. You can practically feel the weight of circumstances crushing hope as the song wends it 7 minute way. But what delicious guitar and organ work at the halfway point – I almost feel guilty enjoying it. Then Harris strips everything down to guitar and strings on “Sam’s” but it’s her voice that is the striking instrument here, with a timbre that could break a thousand hearts. From there it’s all downhill (socially, that is), with songs about grief and loss (“How Could You Be Gone”), intergenerational addiction (“The Fair and Dark Lad”), and political divisions (“On the Surface”). Harris is clearly a talented and sensitive story-teller but I’m astonished by her ability to turn a phrase into a solid hook, as she does on tracks “Like You” and “Missing Someone.” Boomerang Town is a record with the emotional heft of Tracey Chapman’s debut LP or Lee Ann Womack’s The Way I’m Livin’. But it’s also its own thing too.
Joni Mitchell ran through a lot of styles in her career but there was always something solidly Joni in everything. These artists remind me of her in that way. You can grab a ticket to their canyon by hitting the hotlinks.
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 FoolsVixen
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 YouDevil with the Green EyesGet OlderAll Over My HeadFuture 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.”
SunlightAround You NowShe Walks the NightCome 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.
Any day of the week, any time of the year, somebody somewhere is discovering the world is decidedly queer place. And where do they turn to get their bearings about our unevenly queer world? Music has often done the heavy lifting here. With Connie Francis or Donna Summer or Madonna ringing in their ears countless small town boys have long stumbled through dusty downtown bus stations searching for someplace where there isn’t any trouble. If only they’d had access to The Ballet’s superb album catalogue. This NYC duo offer up five LPs that act like an auditory orientation to the contemporary gay male scene. Curious about gay bars, rough trade, bath houses, and daddy fixations? The Ballet might just be the niche queer musical act you’ve been looking for.
The obvious musical reference points for this band are primarily The Magnetic Fields, with perhaps a dash of the Hidden Cameras, the Pet Shop Boys and The Smittens here and there. Their 2006 debut album Mattachine! name-checks the legendary 1950s American homophile organization and remains their most stylistically diverse offering, placing the band’s distinctive keyboard attack in a variety of indie poprock settings. Subsequent records, particularly 2009’s The Bear Life and 2013’s I Blame Society, are cast in a more distinctive musical tenor, leaning into the keys. The subject matter, meanwhile, is gay, gay, gay. Songs cover topics like boyfriends (“Cheating on Your Boyfriend” “Your Boyfriend” “Two Boyfriends”), relationship shortcuts (“Rough Trade” “Married Man”), subcultural identities (“But I’m a Top” “Daddy’s Boy” “CumDumpMike”), and various gay locales (“First Time in a Gay Bar” “At the Bathhouse”). Really though, everything by these guys is wonderfully drenched in queer sentiment and experience. “Looking” from 2019’s Matchy Matchy effortlessly captures our Grindr-era bloodless information exchange approach to hooking up. Or from the same record there’s a clearheaded rumination on boyfriend obsession on “Your Boyfriend.” The duo’s just released 2023 album Daddy Issues has worked all these various elements – the club keyboards, the indie pop hooks, the hushed in-your-ear vocals – into a finely sculpted art form. It’s truly a remarkable long-player as you rarely get coverage of drugs, daddys, married men, bathhouses and dancing all on one record.
You can start your lessons with The Ballet just about anywhere. All the albums offer great gay content set to fine indie pop tunes. I’ve pulled out a song from each record just to get you started but the tunes left behind are just itching to be heard. Don’t flake on them.
It doesn’t need to be Pride season to enjoy The Ballet. You’ll want to enjoy this queer content all year long.
Poprock Record 