Tags
Cabin Life, Dropkick, Jeremy Messersmith, Late Stage Capitalism, Linus of Hollywood, Longwave, Someplace Better, The Sick Rose
This edition of Breaking News is all about new albums by artists with a strong track record. Hopes are high and possible disappointment is being held at bay. From Minnesota to Scotland to California to Italy, the poprock news is good. No, cancel that – great!
I can’t get enough of Jeremy Messersmith. I only just discovered last year’s ukulele masterpiece and then his back catalogue and now he has a new record out and it’s fantastic too. Late Stage Capitalism is the latest installment in Messersmith’s enigmatic, intellectual poprock quest. Any casual listen reveals this man has a way with a tune. What seem like deceptively simple songs at first reveal melodic depth on repeated plays. Listen to how “Purple Hearts” ebbs and flows, softly sneaking up on our melodic sensibilities and then letting the hooks spill out everywhere. This is sing-along, fist-pumping, feel-good masterpiece. But Messersmith’s lyrics are something else too: tender, bittersweet, droll, sometimes biting. This guy is a less acerbic Morrissey or Stephen Merritt, an intelligent guy’s intelligent guy but with plenty of heart. Check out the sad yet sympathetic portrait exhibited in “Fast Times in Minnesota” or the sweet, Cyrcle-esque bounce of “Monday, You’re Not So Bad” with its Fountains of Wayne wordplay. I don’t know whether capitalism really is in its late stage or not but I do know one thing – this record is a winner.
The new Dropkick album is out and the Teenage Fanclub and Jayhawk vibes are striking, particularly on radio-friendly “It’s Still Raining.” Longwave is the band’s fourteenth album since 2001 and it continues in the vein of low key acoustic guitar-based tunes that mark the group’s style. BBC Radio Scotland called them “Scotland’s finest alt-country power-pop band” but I think of them more as strummy, melodic poprock, in a low gear. Exhibit A: “All I Understand” is a sweetly swinging song, with subtle hooks. Oh there is country, sure. “Blue Skies” is a lovely slow country crawl. But there is so much more: the uptempo feel of “Fed Up Thinking of You,” the Byrdsian jangle of “Even When You’re Gone,” and the lovely spare acoustic treatment on “Turning of the Tide.” Altogether, this may be my favourite Dropkick album.
A new Linus of Hollywood album is something to savor. The songs are always tightly packed musical gems with strong hooks, sparkling instrumental performances, and surprising arrangements. Cabin Life is no exception, a lush-sounding assortment of hooky AM radio-friendly should-be hits. Title-track and opening cut “Cabin Life” makes my point. LOH lulls us with a spare opener and then adds successive melodic and musical elements to build up the song, constantly shifting the listener’s attention – in a good way! Other songs put their poprock blast up front, like “At All.” This is a tune whose lyrical bitterness acts as counterpoint to its buoyant pop melody. “Wasted and in Love” sounds like the hit single to me with distinctive guitars that sound like they’re popping out of the speakers and strong melodic hooks. And this album’s ‘sounds most like Glen Tillbrook’ award goes to very Squeeze-like “Won’t Let it Get Me Down.” Excuse me while I hit repeat on this super new album.
The Sick Rose are solid rock and roll outfit from Torino, Italy clocking thirty-five years together with the release of their seventh LP, Someplace Better. The evolution of this band is testament to the ability of great musicians to keep changing, taking their sound in new directions without repudiating what went before. Their early records are pure 1960s melodic garage rock, replete with killer organ fills and crunchy lead guitar lines. But a few records later the sound has shifted into more clean 1970s rock sound. Then on their more recent releases the turn has been to a more power pop sound. Check out their masterful remake of The Liverpool Echo’s “Girl on a Train” from the band’s 2014 EP Live in the Studio.
The new record completes the shift to a more poprock sound under the expert production of The Posies’ Ken Stringfellow. “How to be Your Friend” kicks things off with an edgy guitar teaser before settling into more melodic vein with some nice vocal arrangements. The killer riff that opens “Frustrated” harkens back to their mid-period rock sound but the chorus is pure poprock. “Milk and Honey” is the pick for single for me, with a very smooth AM radio-friendly set of hooks. The band digs out the organ for the swinging “Sweet as Punch” and caps off the record with the title track “Someplace Better,” a jaunty instrumental. The Sick Rose were always great but, given my tastes, I think they’re getting better with age.
Jeremy Messersmith, Dropkick, Linus of Hollywood and The Sick Rose have worked hard to bring you these poprock delicacies. All you have to do now is open your wallet. And with e-finance, even that’s just a metaphor – no actual physical wallet-opening is necessarily required. It just doesn’t get any easier to keep our musical friends from hocking their instruments or casting their children into the street. Really.
Forgive your intrepid musical reporter if some of the headlines aren’t exactly ‘breaking’ time-wise. Our foreign bureau is understaffed. And we have to make our own coffee. But I’m pretty confident that some of these artists will be breaking news to someone …
Halifax combo Monomyth sound like a nice 1960s beat group whose record has been messed with by some discordant indie interlopers. The effect is delightfully jarring, often surprising, and essentially disarming. Things start out sounding familiar but end up somewhere different. “Falling in Love” sounds like a hit single put into low gear, not quite taking off conventionally but really doing its own thing. Or “High on Sunshine” has a chorus worthy of all those great 1960s country-rock classics, set in a mess of fun melodic distractions. Some tracks are cast in more familiar registers, like the band’s eerie reincarnation of The Replacement’s on “Re: lease Life (Places to Go)” or the catchy, jangly “Drinking in Bed in E.” I love the vocal harmonies on “Cool Blue Hello” with its occasional conjuring of a Bernard Sumner/New Order vocal at times. Other tracks seem to contain a tension between straight up guitar pop and a discordant indie sound, particularly “Go Somewhere” and “Palpitations.” “New Year’s Review” has a great punked up 1970s pop feel. This is one of those fun, ‘out there’ records: hooks aplenty but not quite delivered how you might expect them.
Hamilton’s The Foreign Films have a major triple album project – The Record Collector – they have been getting out over the course of a number of years. The records appear under a number of names, in a manner that is bit confusing. No matter. The material is fantastic. Check out the crisp pop rock elegance of “Broken Dreamers” or the swinging hookiness of “Land of the 1000 Goodbyes.” Reaching back in their catalogue I love the Bowie-esque “Lucky Streak” with its killer lead line or chugging rhythm guitar-centric “Yesterday’s Girl,” both from 2011’s Fire from Spark. Or note the snaky lead guitar hook that stiches together the melodic “Another World Behind the Sun” from 2007, chock full of Magical Mystery Tour motifs.
Technically The Red Button’s recent Now It’s All This is a compilation/re-release, combining the duo’s two previous albums but adding an EP’s worth of new material. These guys have their Beatles’ chops down but they’re also talented and original songwriters, so the obvious John/Paul influences are worked up into exciting new material. If you missed the original releases, this is a fantastic collection. If you’ve got them already, there’s still some great new tunes here, like the collection’s title track “Now It’s All This.” Personally, from the whole collection I love the Costello-ish “Hopes Up,” “I Could Get Used to You,” and the wonderful “She About to Cross My Mind Again.”
San Francisco’s Pseudonym have a dreamy pop sound, a pleasant melodic drone that seeps into your brain with indelible effect. They remind me a bit of a more lofi version of The Mighty Lemon Drops, accent on a more acoustic vibe. Exhibit A: album opener “I’m Fine,” a slow burn, ear worm song if ever there was one. Things pick up tempo-wise with a more insistent, surging feel to the hooky “All the Little Things.” Other highlights include the very catchy “Victimless Crime” and the more spare, acoustic numbers like “Don’t Leave Me This Way” and “We Had a Deal.” Altogether Pack of Lies is a solid collection.
Talent is breaking out all over and it is relentlessly resynthesizing decades of poprock influences in these contributions, from slacker pop to repurposed 1960s-influenced singles to rehabilitated punk-infused melodies and rock and roll.
Variously described as ‘lesbian garage rock’ or ‘Sackville stoner chicks,’ East Coast-cum-Windsor, Ontario duo Partner actually defy easy categorization. Early songs like “Personal Weekend” and “Hot Knives” were rough, often hilarious, and definitely garage-y. So knock me down when I got wind of their just-released, super slick new record, In Search of Lost Time. This thing is a monster of exquisite playing, deft hooks, and whip-smart wordplay. I don’t even want to select a couple of songs to feature, it’s just too painful trying to choose! “Everybody Knows” is the first single, an obvious choice, and it’s a winner, chock full of great imagery of clueless stoners shopping their brains out in an oh-so straight world. But that would be obvious, wouldn’t it? I prefer to go with the songs that really highlight the duo’s musical subtlety and hooks. Like “Gross Secret,” a mellow number with a nice slow-burn guitar solo. “Angels from Ontario” sounds a bit like a certain kind of off Broadway musical number, before it takes off mid-tune. “Play the Field” and “Creature in the Sun” both have swell melodies while “Remember This” features a knock out guitar solo. There is something decidedly nineties about the overall sound, very Weezer in places, but the vocal blend of the two singers is totally unique. This whole record really is something special.
After featuring the Lund Bros. amazing back catalogue in August, imagine my delight to discover a new solo recording from chief songwriter and vocalist Chris Lund. Great Event Syndrome is self-produced and home-recorded, though you’d never know it from the Abbey Road-like production values. Content-wise the record is maximum ear candy with Lund slipping in all sorts of nods and winks to that classic mid-1960s British Invasion rock and roll sound. It’s all on display on the single-worthy “Tell Me,” from the chunky guitar hooks, to vocals that shift from sounding very Cheap Trick-Robin Zander early on, to something like Rush’s Geddy Lee in a mellow mood, to ever-so-Beatles on the stretched out ‘tonight-t-t-t’ in the chorus. Love the wobbly synth that crops up all over the tune. “What’s Her Name” is another highlight for me, showcasing Lund’s careful attention to vocal arrangements. Though the knee-jerk critics’ reaction is to connect Lund’s style with the Beatles (and on songwriting that is definitely true), vocally he reminds me a lot of Alan Clarke of the Hollies and the harmonies associated with that band. Also check out “The Juice,” where nice acoustic guitar picking combines with some 1960s American west coast vocal stylings to belie the song’s serious subject matter. And this just scratches the surface of this great album.Tell MeWhat’s Her Name?The Juice
The Safes follow a familiar trajectory in band development, from raucus rock and roll origins to a more refined sound as we get closer to the present. “Deception” from 2006’s Well Well Well showcases the fun, almost live feel of their early work. But fast forward to the 2013-16 period and the sound has shifted to more melody and harmony on tracks like “Live Life Like You Want to Live” with its almost plaintive single note piano solo. The basic elements are actually all still there, they’ve just been rejigged in importance, as can be seen from the great rock and roll guitar intro to “I Would Love You,” which also features a distinctive keyboard solo, this time on organ. Which brings us to the present and The Safes’ fabulous new record Tasty Waves. Sounding like a more punky version of Apples in Stereo, the band aces the first single and opening track “Hometown” with its chiming guitar and swinging hookiness. Here comes a serious ear worm infection! The whole album is pretty strong, though I’d single out “Streets and Sanitation” for special mention with its insistent strummy-ness, rumbly lead line and nice horn motifs.
Take some of the 1960s more melodic rock and roll and combine that with a 1990s punk esthetic and you might have Together PANGEA. 2014’s Badilac reinterpreted the Yardbirds’ pop sensibilities as if they were a garage rock act and the results were amazing on the title track and songs like “Offer” and “No Way Out.” Now they’re back with Bulls and Roosters and the creative reinvention of the 1960s continues, this time brilliantly mining Memphis soul on their swinging “Money On It,” though the ragged vocals stamps the tune as suitably garaged-up. Or things seem familiar with the in-your-face punky style on “Better Find Out” until the chorus explodes melodically like a Young Rascals’ single on speed. Run don’t walk to get tickets to these guys. Your dancing shoes will thank you.
New finds and fresh music from old favourites in this edition of breakings news, with an accent on unusual band names.
Freedom Fry keep turning out great singles. The combination of Parisian-born Marie Seyrat and American Bruce Driscoll produce a sophisticated brand of dreamy poprock, full of hooks. We previously highlighted “Stop, Stop, Stop” and their remake of Serge Gainsbourg and Brigitte Bardot’s “Bonnie and Clyde,” as well as their holiday single “Oh Santa (Bad World).” Now they’re back with a fresh, swinging slice of easy-going, car-driving, breeze-in-your-hair poprock called “Strange Attraction,” also the title track from their to-be-released EP. This song bodes well for what is to come.
Thrift Store Halo have a great name, great artwork and a great story. And their music is pretty good too. Dial back the time machine to 1998 and TSH appear on the verge of breaking with an album in the can, major label interest, and a possible national tour with an up and coming band called Train. A few bad decisions later and the band split, members heading for law school, a lucrative art career, and home renos. And that was a shame because their only full length album, World Gone Mad, is a lost treasure. Personal fave tracks include “Crashing In” and “With You Here.” But the lure of rock and roll proved too strong and now the band is back after a near 20 year absence with a snappy new EP, Pop-Rocket. The new album sound is a bit leaner, reminding me a bit of Ike in their prime. Stand out tracks: “Get Over You” and “I’m Not Through.”Get Over YouI’m Not Through
Sophie Allison is Soccer Mommy, a one-woman, bedroom-recording, Bandcamp phenomenon. Up to now her songs have been defined by their spare, stripped down intimacy, but on her new EP Collection Allison strikes up the band to give some old material more life and new material a decidedly more polished debut. “Out Worn” is new song that nonetheless adds to Allison’s litany of despairing lonely relationship songs but check out the languid guitar lines and sibilant hooky vocals, sometimes drifting to the dreamy side only to be righted with some great background vocals. Repeated plays definitely brings extra benefits.
This blog loves Dropkick so there is no surprise we think the new Andrew Taylor solo release, From the Outside Looking In, is pretty special. All the Dropkick strengths are here: driving rhythmic guitars, layered lead and background vocals, and hooks a-plenty. “Someone” takes off and never quits, propelled by a strong rhythm section and some pretty sweet vocal harmonies. “Who We Really Are” channels just a hint of Teenage Fanclub with its loping pace and earnest, sweet sounding vocal delivery. “Standing Still” is a swinging dollop of country poprock. Another should-be hit album from a key member of Scotland’s most under-appreciated melody makers.
Rounding out this entry is a band I just saw open for Declan Mckenna at his great recent debut on Canadian soil: Dan Luke and the Raid. Who? Exactly. I’d never heard of them and I don’t think most of the audience had either. But from the moment they got started, they had the audience in the palm of their hand. Bowling Green, Kentucky’s latest find played a strong set of catchy tunes, most of which are still not available anywhere. So for the time being, check out “Black Cat Heavy Metal,” an ever so slightly psych-poprock number. I do look forward to the EP release, if only to hear the wonderful “Tragic Symphony” again.
Dan Rico is back with Nobody Knows, proving with this dynamic 11 minute EP that he is much more than a one album wonder. The familiar elements are all there – the neo-1970s pastiche of glam and 1950s rock and roll – with a few new twists. Opening track “Love in Vain” gets the party started with its insistent boogie beat but Rico blows the doors off with a killer hook at the 40 second mark that will have you hitting rewind almost immediately. “Nobody Knows” captures that border line 1970s punk-cum-garage rock sound with a nice guitar line. Rounding out the EP is “Rock-a-bye” with its hints of pop psychedelia and the mild melodrama of “Roxy Goddamn.”
Coventry’s The Primitives also have a new EP out, New Thrills, and from the opening riff of “I’ll Trust the Wind” you know you’re about to get just what you came for: catchy melodies, ringing guitars, and Tracy Tracy’s cool but understated pop vocals. All four tracks are the high quality 1960s-inspired poprock fare you’ve come to expect from this combo but check out the distinctive echo-y guitar sound and hooks on “Same Stuff” and lead guitarist Paul Court’s nice vocal turn on the chirpy “Oh Honey Sweet.” I could write and write about how great this band is but, really, it’s all there in the recordings. Just hit play.
On the new discovery front, Richard Turgeon is a modern everyman: successful purveyor of image and communication skills, music business ‘how to’ book writer, novelist, multi-instrumentalist, and songwriter, as well as suburban husband and father. He put together his latest record, Between the Spaces, literally between the spaces of his busy work and home life, ‘mostly on nights and weekends’ as he says on his website. The album kicks off with the very fun “Bigfoot’s an Alien” but really gets into gear for me with pristine poprock of “Bad Seed,” a driving number that reminds me of Matthew Sweet. “I Don’t Need You” opens with a great guitar hook and has a super sing-a-long chorus. The whole album is pretty solid, full of well-crafted tunes but, if pressed, I find myself most partial to the above-mentioned selections as well as “Watch Me Now” and “Frostbites.”
Our last breaking new discovery is Cait Brennan. New to me, it appears, because there is a hell of lot written about her first record and unusual career path on the ole internet (thanks to 
While known largely for just two tunes – “The Breakup Song” and “Jeopardy” – Greg Kihn actually has an amazing catalogue of material. Pick out any of his albums from the 1970s or 1980s and you’ll find more than a few gems. Well twenty years after his chart heyday Kihn is back with a new album, Rekihndled, and the good news is that the magic is still there, particularly on the lead single, “The Life I Got.” Things open with that familiar Kihn crunchy guitar and a ‘whoo’ from somewhere, giving way to vocals with perhaps a bit more gravel than back in the day. But when the chorus kicks in with its catchy drone-like lead guitar line it might just be 1982 all over again. Nice to see a veteran pop rocker jump back in and show he’s still got it.The Life I Got
This new EP from Denmark’s Tommy and Rockets is a special treat with its fabulous artwork and blast of perfectly modulated 1970s poprock. Comparisons with early Ramones and Rockpile abound but the sound that really comes to mind is Dave Edmunds’ retro-1950s movie soundtrack work on Stardust and Porky’s Revenge. Edmunds had a talent for producing a very tight, almost squished sound, like the music was made to be heard through a transistor radio at the drive in, and Tommy and Rockets similarly feels very AM radio, in a good way. My featured cut from Rock ’n’ Roll Wrecking Machine is “Hey Daisy,” a wonderfully structured tune, from its early alluring guitar lines to its compressed vocals.
I discovered the Shins after wandering into a book store/coffee house in some remote college town and instantly fell in love. Oh, Inverted World, Chutes Too Narrow, and Wincing the Night Away were so chock full of inventive, quirky songs brimming with hooks that I just couldn’t get enough of them. Then came the Broken Bells experiment and the more subdued Shins release, Port of Morrow, neither of which grabbed me like the first three releases. Hey, artists have got to follow their muse – far be it from me to hold them to just what I prefer. But I will say that the new Shins album, Heartworms, is a bit of a return to form for those who really dig the early records. “Midenhall” harkens back to the Shins’ strengths in really bringing out hooky melodies from acoustic arrangements, title track “Heartworms” layers up the poprock sonic landscape, while “Dead Alive” has a nice loping Halloween aura.Heartworms
Chris Collingwood from Fountains of Wayne was reviewing the most recent Shins album with much more insight than I could ever hope to muster when he mentioned a few bands he was listening to. One was Brooklyn’s Miniature Tigers. I immediately flew to iTunes to check out their latest record, I Dreamt I was a Cowboy. I was not disappointed! They have a wonderfully textured sound that reminds me of Foster the People, particularly the keyboards and vocals on “Crying in the Sunshine.” Another great track is “Pictures of You” with its impressive range of character instruments (e.g. a Hawaiian-style guitar solo) popping in here and there. The music here is deceptively simple-sounding but in reality pretty sophisticated poprock.
It is great to see acts come out of the woodwork stronger than ever. The Feelies never raced up the charts when they originally hit the scene in the late 1970s and early 1980s but, like the Velvet Underground, they seemed to inspire just about every one of their fans to start their own band. Their original, laid back distinctive guitar sound still seems fresh today. Their soon to be released album, In Between, however, is a bit of departure, with stronger, heavier guitar sound on the pre-release single “Gone, Gone, Gone.”Gone, Gone, Gone 
Toronto’s Hidden Cameras continue to release curious reinventions of all manner of traditional poprock. Home on Native Land features a great hooky alt country sounding single in “Don’t Make Promises,” a song that wouldn’t sound out of place on any number of Dwight Yoakam releases. The most recent album also features a remake of “He is the Boss of Me,” a song from HC’s earliest release, 2001’s Ecce Homo. I remember buying an early release of the CD at one of their shows that contained felt marker writing on the disk and a colour photocopied sleeve. The original version of the song is great but stark in its DIY economism. The new version is rich and frankly, voluptuous, by comparison, which really showcases what a great song it is.
Aimee Mann is back with a new album, Mental Illness, one she claims will explore the acoustic pop sound of the 1960s, with back up from Jonathan Coulton no less. I say claim because at present we have just the one pre-release single to go by, the exquisite “Goose Snow Cone.” But if her track record recommends her, it’s going to be great. In another entry we featured her anti-Trump single “Can’t You Tell” as well as few tunes from her collaboration with Ted Leo in The Both. And her last solo album, Charmer, was solid, with nary a track that wasn’t worth paying 99 cents for. Mann has a distinctive songwriting and performance style, and her lyrics are smart though sometimes confounding (which is good – it gets you thinking). Check out the clever wordplay in her 2014 stand alone single, “I’m Cured,” with its low key acoustic guitar accompaniment that features some nice accordion and piano slipping in as it goes along.Goose Snow Cone
On the something new front, The Molochs are an outstanding 1960s re-invention from Los Angeles. Their just released new album, America’s Velvet Glory, is so cool you’re going to have to handle it with gloves. The transformation from their 2013 indie debut, Forgotten Blues, is pretty impressive. The latter is a enjoyable DIY affair but the latest release exudes a kind of uber confidence that says you won’t touch that dial. The influences are many but I hear Lou Reed in the Velvets in the vocal style while the sometimes spare accompaniment reminds me of a number of early 1980s indie bands. In a world of single song downloads, this is an album worth buying. If I have to single out a few songs, I’d note “That’s the Trouble with You,” “The One I Love,” and “No More Crying.”
Drop everything and focus your attention on these breaking tunes, hot off the musical presses! Get Inuit hail from the southeastern county of Kent, England where nary a real Inuit can be found. Undeterred, they have crafted a distinct, noisy kind of poprock. Give their latest single a chance to get through to the chorus and you will be rewarded with some solid hooks. “Teriyaki” kicks off with some cramped sounding vocals, which fatten up and take off into a soaring melody-drenched chorus.
Moving north, Birmingham, England’s Steve Ison defies easy labelling, melding folk, poprock, and indie sensibilities. Both “Boy” and “I’m Leaving” sound infused with a bit of Donovan 2.0, while “From the Morning” and “I Woke Up from the Dead This Morning” both are faintly reminiscent of the Lilac Time, vocally at least. Ison is a musical iconoclast whose songs never quite go where you expect them to, which is wonderfully liberating.
Over to New York City for the almost released debut album from the shamelessly rock and roll indie band Public Access T.V. who lament their musical genre’s end on their new single “End of an Era.” In fact, guitar rock and roll is clearly back with the success of bands like Vant, Catfish and the Bottlemen, and the Vaccines. So though the boys sing on this single that “the kids don’t like rock and roll anymore” don’t believe it. Never Enough is chock full of great new guitar poprock and drops in just three more days.
TUNS are a do-not-delay, go straight-to-download recommendation. From its opening chugging riff, “Mind Over Matter” grips you in an expectation of the power pop glory to come with some surprising departures from the genre, like the delicious drawn-out ‘ooh’ vocals and the measured but still raunchy solo guitar motif that appears briefly after the first chorus. This tiny nugget of poprock gold will have to do for the time being as a full album from this Canadian supergroup (which includes members of Sloan, Super Friendz, and Inbreds) won’t drop until the end of the summer. If their June show at the Garrison in Toronto was anything to go by, the album will be stunner.Mind Over Matter
Norway’s Family Values have some serious 1986 time-warp issues going on with their recently released single, “Paris Syndrome.” A bit of Athens, Georgia poprock, perhaps a splash of Kelowna’s Grapes of Wrath: I mean, what’s not to love? There’s not much else to find from this band, with this single featured on their four song EP Time Stands Still and a previous EP from 2015 (jokingly titled Greatest Hits) that has a charmingly less-polished, 1980s-Aztec-Camera sort-of sound.
Just in time for Father’s Day, the enormously talented Pete Yorn released this homage to fathering, perhaps his own, maybe anyone’s. This free-flowing poprock tune has shades of Teenage Fanclub or Sloan, in Yorn’s typically subtle style: tuneful, without hitting you over the head with it. This song does not appear on Yorn’s just released (and amazing) Arranging Time album.My Father
We interrupt our regularly scheduled blog postings to bring you these breaking recent releases that run the gamut of indie/alt rock, alt country, powerpop and nouveau folk.