Category Archives: Poprock Themepark

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.

Time machine hits: The Mike Bell Cartel, The Burkharts, Pixy Jones, and more

29 Thursday Jun 2023

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There’s a fine line between imitation and inspiration, between a sixties cover band playing for beer and an act that can make the past live again. In the latter case the effect can be eerie. You know the record is new but you’d swear you heard it before. Today’s acts all reincarnate past eras of poprock like they just arrived by time machine.

From Finland The Mike Bell Cartel take us back to a psychedelic San Francisco full of fuzz box and chiming guitars on The Cartel and I. All twelve cuts are so late 1960s period perfect. “(I Can’t Live up to Your) Hallucinations” leads with psych rock lead guitar. “Wait” shifts to jangle guitars that burst in with a Searchers-like jauntiness. Or listen to how “Nothing to Give” rides its organ riff for all it’s worth. Then there’s the Bond-esque dread shrouding “No Turning Back” that is so 1966. It’s like the Electric Prunes got a come-back record. Albany New York’s Pony in the Pancake have a more dreamy sixties thing going on, where the David Byrne-ish mannered vocals offset the languid, ethereal pop melodies. This is perfectly captured on “In Dreams” and “We’ll Go Walking.” Speed up the formula on “The Rules of Love” and things sound a bit more Jonathan Richman in DIY party mode. “Mountain Dead Girl” defies its moniker, sounding sprightly in a poppy Velvets style. “There Goes Your Girl” and “There She Goes Again” have a hypnotic quality, with the latter a particularly classic-sounding bit of yearn rock. The album is In Dreams and it’s the real thing.

Who are The Burkharts you ask? A finely calibrated Beach Boys-inspired ensemble, at least on their latest EP outing. Who are The Burkharts? opens with the peppy “To Be Your Lover” and it immediately establishes the framework for what follows with breathless harmony vocals, good timey handclaps, and a lead guitar line that bounces with boundless energy. “With a Friend Like You” takes things in a more mature direction as the vocal swoops sound more poignant and tentative. From there songs shift from uptempo to ballad but never waver in their 1965 ambience. Except for the closing track “Wonderful Things,” which has a more timeless poprock quality. Really, the Wilson brothers vibe is impressive here but ultimately it’s the songs that carry this EP. Former El Goodo member Pixy Jones has released a solo album entitled Bits and Bobs that delves into late 1960s psych rock territory, minus the 20 minute guitar solos. The first three cuts on the album set the tone with their low key pop psych quality and killer hooks. The organ is a special guest star on this record, defining tracks like “Maureen Dreams No More.” But there are departures, like the decidedly Kinks-ian “The Fool,” the poppy acoustic “There’s Something Wrong,” and the country charmer “I’m Coming Home.”

Dutch band The Small Breed marry elements of sunshine pop with 1960s British pop psychedelia on Remember a Dream. Opening cut and title tack “Remember a Dream” conjures up a scene like the Turtles jamming with the Moody Blues. “Picturesque Pictures” carries this forward, leaning on flute and haunting harmony vocals. Other tracks are bit more straight up sixties poppy, like “She’s So Lovely.” “To Another Land” even sounds like a bit of Merseyside has slipped into the psychedelic mix. “Wanda Your Angel” reminds me of the kind of retro workout Andy Partridge excelled at. But the album stand-out track is undoubtedly “Mirror Man” with its knock-out chorus. This one is more in should-be hit single territory and less anchored to the broader sixties influences that define the rest of the record. Working the party side of the sixties street The Jack Cades evoke a sweaty underground club vibe on Something New. You can definitely put on your dancing shoes for the band’s electric remake of the Velvet’s “Temptation Inside Your Heart” and the rollicking “Tommy” and “Candy Cane.” There’s a garage rock feel to what’s going on here but it’s just a feeling because the band can clearly play some pretty smooth, sophisticated material too. “Chasing You” and “Angelica” are wonderfully evocative, atmospheric sixties psych pop. Title track “Something New” is something special too. The lead guitar work is captivating while the vocal is pure Lou Reed cool.

You don’t need to warm up the Tardis to get that authentic sixties feeling music-wise. You can just click on the acts featured above. They know how to put the past into your present.

Photo courtesy Mark Amsterdam Flikr collection.

Another shot of The Ruen Brothers, Bombadil, and The Rallies

18 Sunday Jun 2023

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Today’s post features three of my absolute fave acts. I’ve gushed over their past efforts and I can’t imagine they’ll disappoint me with anything new. Bartender, line me up for another shot from these performers.

What Morricone was to the 1960s spaghetti western The Ruen Brothers are to our contemporary cinematic sense of the American west. Their music conjures up imagery of a desperate urban landscape and a foreboding sense of betrayal at every turn. The opening bars of “Slow Draw” kicks off their third long player Ten Paces in a way that immediately sets of the mood of what is to come. And that mood is dark, played very vintage rock and roll tinged with western and contemporary pop touches. “The Fear” captures this mix beautifully, sometimes conjuring up a dance beat, then shifting to an aching country lament. So too “Hi-Yo” starts all western movie vista only to get a danceable beat going. Then comes the album’s moody masterpiece, “Don’t Know What’s Come Over You.” The song is an intense aural assault, all the sonic elements perfectly balanced to ride the tune’s melodic tension. The boys favour their country side on a number cuts here, like the haunting ballad “Bullet Blues,” the more up-tempo “Free as the Birds” and “Long Road.” Sometimes the country tips toward western whimsy, like on “Silver to Gold,” a song that skips and lopes in a way that will have you wanting to kick up your heels. Another stand out track is “The Good Surely Die.” There is something uplifting going here with a vocal that strikes a divine note in the chorus that is both moving and other-worldly. Mark my words, the genius of these two song-writing and performing talents is only just getting started.

I love folk music. I love it’s seriousness, it’s depth, it’s capacity to move us with words and music. But I might love folk pop even more. There is lightness to folk pop that helps us take flight from this harsh world, just when we need to.  Bombadil excel at staging just such take-offs. Their new album is Colors and it takes that theme into 12 variations over the course of the record. The songs are really more mood sketches than conventional tunes. Having said that, opening cut “Brown Pennies” certainly sounds like the radio-friendly single. At other points, each song draws out some particular sound to develop more. “Orange Planets” leans into the bass to move song forward with some delightful harmony vocal work. “Green Feelings” hits the folk marks, both on the acoustic guitar sound and vocal mix. “Purple Architecture” has some lovely acoustic guitar trills draping a classic folk pop tune. “Indigo Seamstress” is a departure, vibing a kind of New Pornographers indie pop sound. Overall the songs here blend their visual and musical shading together to create a variety of moods – “Grey Space” really nails this. I’d recommend letting Colors fall across you like a warm blanket, comforting and intriguing you at the same time.

Tacoma Washington’s The Rallies are a band with heart. Their melodies seldom fail to catch your ear and hit you in the gut. Album number three It Must be The Rallies delivers their trademark melody-plus-heart-wrenching lyrics formula. Opening cut “Must Be Love” is sweet and relentless in rolling out the hooks. The backbone of the record is a host of singles-worthy material, solid poprock tracks like “All I Ever Knew,” “Never a Doubt” and “Give Me The Truth.” But the value-added are the wonderfully off-kilter pop numbers like “Out of the Blue” with its fab jangle notes or the wistful, jangle and harmony-vocal laden “As Long As.” There’s a darker pop feel to some of the songs, like “Are You Hearing Me?” with its ominous background vocals and earthy lead guitar lines or “No Other Road” with its more sombre demeanor. Or there’s “Turn It Up” which sounds like a lost classic 1970s AM radio single. Fittingly the record ends with “No Matter,” a touching understated ballad delivered in that stark, distinctive Rallies style. Hit play and there’s no mistaking this band for anyone else, it must be The Rallies.

Reliable is one word for today’s featured acts. They deliver on past promise and then some. But don’t take my word for it, check them out for yourselves.

Photo courtesy Anonymous Account on Flikr.

Sunshine singles

11 Sunday Jun 2023

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The sun is finally here and it needs a playlist. What you want is something strummy with a bit of jangle and hooks that linger over those long walks on the beach. To that end, here are 21 singles for your beach playlist consideration. It’s summer music fun made easy.

Our first track so fits the bill of summertime songs – very strummy with a touch of pop psychedelia. 65MPH soften their usual monster mod attack on “Another Time” to a more dreamy vibe. The Paul Weller Jam inflections are still there but now they’re cast in a slightly different register. Sweden’s  Råttanson take us back into a very 1970s mode with their new single “Fighting the Good Fight.” The compressed poppy AM sound reminds of seventies releases from Nick Lowe in his Jesus of Cool guise. Then again there’s something 1980s indie about the band sound here too. The most recent EP from The Happy Somethings is Kickin’ The Balls and it works a soccer/football theme into its first cut “Ruddy Vile.” The rhythm guitar drives this song along while the vocal melody is all sweetness and light. The song’s message is more oblique. As Ruddy is a player both on the field and in love his life game appears to be denial. On “Where We Go Home Again” The Amplifier Heads manage that ever so tricky balance, blending nostalgia for one’s past with a reckoning of loss. Of course, you can’t ever really go home again to what existed before in your past. But you can want to. This song is sweet and wistful with a Jonathan Richman sense of wonder and longing. Another new EP just out comes from Chicago’s Gosh Diggity under the plain title of EP 3. All four songs are the usual electro-pop fun that are the band’s trademark sound but “Blast Off” is the obvious stand-out track. The hooky lead guitar work is seductive and hypnotic while the group vocals are sing-along good.

Fort Wayne, Indiana is where you can find Shawn Browning. Veteran of the local music scene and multiple bands over the past three decades, he’s now throwing us the occasional single when the mood strikes him. Like “Let Go, Hold On,” a tasty bit of tuneage in the late seventies melodic rock and roll mode. Very new wave with a touch of Americana. By contrast Quinton Flynn draws from the Mersey side of things on his one-off single “Hey Girl.” The song has a rollicking tempo, up front jumping guitar work and smooth harmonies reminiscent of that 1965 British beat group sound, though perhaps with a cleaner mix, particularly on the vocal. More singles like this would definitely not go amiss. One scribe described Germany’s Moon Mates as channeling Fleetwood Mac and I can sort of see/hear the point listening to their new song “Not Today” but you’d have to imagine the Macs absorbing a lot of other seventies influences to make it stick. Certainly this track represents a dynamic shift from the material on their debut EP Random Dad Barbeque Music with this version of the band vibing a strong Grouplove or Portugal the Man party style. The Well Wishers are back with a single that reminds us how much we miss that grinding guitar Matthew Sweet-defined version of power pop. Main man Jeff Shelton eases us into “So Important” with a pretty low key intro verse before really letting loose the hooks in the chorus. The song just builds from there, adding more and more mad guitar goodness. The B-side is a pretty fine too, a cover of Husker Du’s “Flip Your Wig.”  Chicago’s Crickle rounded out 2022 with the release of their long-player Have You Heard the Word? The record has a distinctive 1970s power pop feel. My song choice for maximum rotation radio play is “Nothing in Your Eyes.” This one really reminds me of a load of great Canadian melodic rock bands from seventies like April Wine and Chilliwack. The guitar hooks and tender vocals are so the period.

Quinton Flynn – Hey Girl

I really know next to nothing about Turkish band Palmiyeler except that they’ve got a number of albums available on the various streaming and download services. But I know what I like in a single. “Yaz Bitti​ğ​inde” (translated “When Summer’s Over”) has got the enigmatic allure that any great single has, from the slightly ominous surf guitar hooks the open the tune and snake through the whole thing to the ghostly group vocals that seem to hover just out of the spotlight. I loved Corvair’s moody, atmospheric self-titled debut album. It managed to ride the line between urgent poppiness and more uneasy, quiet introspection. So I was intrigued to see where their new, soon-to-be released follow up Bound To Be would go. If “Right Hook” is any indication, it’ll be more of the good same. This song’s got it all: spooky keyboards, an enduring melody, and a vocal arrangement that reminds me of Django and Django and Everything Everything. A while back we touted James Holt’s single “Mystery Girl” as a ‘a masterful bit of production disguised as a breezy pop confection’ worthy of comparison to Crowded House and Gilbert O’Sullivan. His new single proves our enthusiasm was not misplaced. “Do I Ever Cross Your Mind?” has a deceptively easygoing, almost breezy demeanor that masks quite a sophisticated piece of song-writing. Just check out the subtle melodic hook that wraps around the chorus. Meanwhile everything else in the song artfully builds the tension to get back there. An album of songs in this vein would surely find itself stuck on repeat play. Prolific Glaswegian janglers U.S. Highball return with a new record very soon. No Thievery, Just Cool promises lots of special guests and a few covers but right now I’m digging early-release single “Irresponsible Holiday.” The keyboard work is delightful and adds so much character to the song. Ok, I’m also loving “Paris 2019” with its spot-on 1980 English Beat sax solos! There’s a Boston in the UK and it’s where jangle poppers Fine. hail from. On their most recent LP love, death, dreams, and the sleep between there is song – “Forgive Me” – that runs a mellifluous cacophony of voices together in the most artful way. It makes my brain buzz with pleasant after effects. Very Elephant 6.

Late 2022 Drain County released a very short EP entitled Sucked Out full of dissonant poppy tunes like “Hard to Hide” and “Buoys.” But I found myself drawn to the slow march chord belting “Stay Where You Are.” At just 51 seconds it starts and stops pretty quickly but what happens in between is some grungy pop bliss. Another album full of brief bits of pop brilliance can be found on LMNOP’s third album LMNO3. So many great choices here but “Wanna Write You a Letter” will give you a super snapshot of what to expect from this bargain 22 song package. Indie eighties stripped down poppy rock with fab organ fills. The Radio Field is a side project of Lars Schmidt from German band Subterfuge. The sound is bit more jangly and boldly pop on “The Version” with a killer horn section. On the other hand, you could definitely hear where this project originated by listening to Subterfuge’s 29 second song “The Teenage Fanclub Appreciation Society” from 2021. Belfast’s Jet Black Tulips have got a brand new song out and it’s a rocker. “Car in a Box” kicks like an arena rock Who number but quickly segues into something more Oasisy. While there’s plenty of blistering guitar work the song’s melodic hook keeps everything in check. Michael Maloney is artist who defies categorization. One minute it’s piano-based pop, another it’s an Irish-ish sort of shanty. His 2021 album January Hopeful features 21 songs covering this gamut and more. But he returns now with a one-off single to celebrate Paul McCartney’s birthday that is something altogether different. “Rock and Roll” is big and bold in a stadium chant sort of way. It sounds classic in a 1970s rocking register.

Jet Black Tulips – Car In A Box
Michael Maloney – Rock and Roll

It’s a wrap this time with a selection from Jenny O’s fabulous recent LP Spectra. There are so many possible fab choices here for your playlist: the seductive “Prism,” the sweeping grandeur of “The Big Cheese,” the rocking lurch propelling “Solitary Girl,” or the lush pop hooks of “Make It A Plan.” But I’m settling on the psych pop delight that is “You Are Loved Eternally,” a song that easily fit on a Magnetic Fields or Primitives album.

These days you don’t even have to worry about getting sand in your portable record player, your devices have no moving parts! Just hit play and let your summer soundtrack work its magic.

Banner photo courtesy Joe Haupt Flikr page.

Recycled rock stars: Those Pretty Wrongs, The Tearaways, Anyway Gang, and The No Ones

19 Friday May 2023

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Once upon a time yesterday’s chart heroes might have been relegated to playing the motel bar circuit. But the millennial explosion of niche music spaces has changed all that, effectively reviving more than few stalled careers. Along with your used plastics and carboard you can now expect to recycle all your favourite rock stars too. Today’s post makes the case, featuring a load of stars from yesteryear who’ve still got a bit more sparkle and shine to share.

When you’re the drummer from a band with more indie press headlines than chart hits the future can look dire when things hit the skids. And skid-hitting pretty much sums up what happened to legendary 1970s indie darlings Big Star. So that makes Jody Stephens’ recent project with Luther Russell look pretty ‘triumphing-over-adversity’ phenomenal. The new band is Those Pretty Wrongs and Stephens is not merely drumming but singing and co-writing all the tunes. Their new LP Holiday Camp is just out and it’s their third long-player to come out since Stephens and Russell hooked up after the making of the 2012 documentary Big Star: Nothing Can Hurt Me. I think it’s their best yet. The sound is, not surprisingly, pretty Big Star-ish. Or perhaps it should be a surprise, given that Stephens did not sing on Big Star recordings. And yet opening cut “New September Song” has the vocal vulnerability that was emblematic of his old band. Of course, one can also hear a lot of the Byrds or even REM here and there, on tracks like “Always the  Rainbow” for the former and “This Painted Sky” for the latter. “Brother, My Brother” has got some classic Big Star acoustic lead guitar runs. The guitars really sparkle all over this album, whether in folky mode on “The Way” or working up a delightful lead guitar rumble for “Paper Cup.” “Ride Along” is another highlight, the light acoustic guitar treatment perfectly offsetting the tender vocal. The Big Star lineage might bring you here but the quality of Holiday Camp will have you setting up your tent for a spell.

On album number six Santa Barbara’s The Tearaways rinse/repeat their timeless rock and roll formula with good effect. The new record is And For Our Next Trick and it brings together a number of cool pre-release singles they’ve put out recently, like the rock and roll drummer’s homage “Charlie, Keith, and Ringo.” The song seems pretty apropos given the band’s drummer is the legendary Clem Burke of Blondie, Romantics and The Empty Hearts fame. The other ten tunes are also relentlessly good. The sixties nods are there but the overall sound is that dynamite eighties fusion of old and new rock and roll honed by Petty’s Heartbreakers, the Romantics and many others. “Not Good Enough For Me” captures this synthesis perfectly, mixing Norman Petty Texas rock elements with straight-up 1980s FM rock radio. Pumping piano and sweet harmony vocals define “Come On Jaan” while “No Love Lost” is carried by a buoyant lead guitar solo. “Let Me Be The Last,” “Goodnight Nurse” and “Emotional Distance” really lean in to the 1960s, very Beatles Revolver/Rubber Soul era. Then “Saturday Everyday” and “Easier Done Than Said” punch a more 1980s weight. But the should-be hit single for me is “Married and Single” with its earwormy guitar work and candy-coated vocals. And For Our Next Trick is another winning collection from a band that never gets old.

The notion of a ‘supergroup’ and Canada don’t naturally fit together. Maybe if Gordon Lightfoot, Randy Bachman and Anne Murray had gotten together at some point. But when you bring members of Hollerado, Sloan, Sam Roberts Band and Tokyo Police Club together to record you’ve definitely got something pretty super going on. The band is Anyway Gang and they’ve got two albums – the most recent being 2022’s Still Anyways – and the results are consistently stellar. Of course, it’s hard not to hear the constituent bands in the songs. “Reckless Reckless” sounds pretty Hollerado. “What’s Left of My Love” has got a solid Sloan vibe. And there is no mistaking the Sam Roberts stamp on “Out of Nowhere.” But at other points things just groove along melding the different influences together. “Alternative View” feels very Zolas to me while “Real Thing” bops along with great rock hooks. “Don’t Give Up On Your Dreams” harkens back to a breezy 1980s Men At Work style of poprock. There’s even some folk pop (“Love is Here”) and alt country (“Call on Me”). Personal fave: “Remember To Forget” – this one’s got a light AM bounce to it that insists ‘play me again.’

It’s hard to go wrong with a band consisting of members of REM, The Young Fresh Fellows and I Was King. In fact, things go very right as The No Ones move into the concept album zone on their second outing, My Evil Best Friend. Largely conceived and directed by Scott McCaughey and featuring guest appearances from members of the Bangles, Death Cab for Cutie, Camper Van Beethoven and Teenage Fanclub, the record is a loving homage to all the great LPs and artists that inspired the band members. Opening cut “KLIV” name drops its way through a load of great sixties musical icons and sets the scene for this imagined musical time capsule. Some tributes are direct, like “Phil Ochs is Dead” and “Song for George,” while others are more muted, like the Tom Petty-ish “Throwdown in Whispertown.” If you had to boil it all down, the whole package is clearly most inspired by The Byrds, with REM and Teenage Fanclub vibes here and there. You can hear it pretty clearly on “304 Molina Way” – this is some quality retro jangle. There are few surprises, like The Smiths-ian echoes on “Band With No Head.” Then by the time you get to “The After Party” the jaunty 1960s poppy-ness of it all will send you right back to the start. It really is a joy to hear people who know what they’re doing hit all the marks. If The No Ones are your kind of people, then My Evil Best Friend will be yours too.

Doing our part for a zero waste society, you can pick up these recycled rock stars at your favourite e-music emporium (though appropriately re-purposed physical product is cool too).

Photo courtesy of Swizzle Studios.

Melody miscellany

15 Monday May 2023

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In the absence of any big idea today we offer up melody miscellany, a grab bag, a mixture of somewhat random hooky tunes, collected over time but never put to blog purpose. Until now.

Before Dave Merritt got his Golden Seals thing going he put out an EP with a band called Adam West. “Ernie’s Stiped Shirt” is a lofi gem in a You Won’t register. The Paul and John are working a more slick poprock vein, a bit of Elvis Costello and whole lot of Porter Block.  “When I Lost My Way” is just one of ten winning tracks from their 2014 album Inner Sunset. Sometimes a remake really brings out the sweetness of a song. I feel that way about Motion City Soundtrack’s more acoustic rendition of “Fell In Love Without You” from their tenth anniversary edition of Even If It Kills Me. Slowing things down, winnowing out most of the accompaniment reveals a simple, stark bit of beauty. Melbourne’s The Smallgoods offer up a neat hooky treat on “Capricorn” that ambles with an Elephant 6/Apples in Stereo ambience. Sometime Guided By Voices collaborator Tobin Sprout is no slouch in the solo album releasing category. 2010’s The Bluebirds of Happiness Tried to Land on My Shoulder has a moody vibe reminiscent of Hayden. I like particularly the droney, hypnotic “You Make My World Go Down.”

Tobin Sprout – You Make My World Go Down

Something from out of left field, that’s today selection. Tunes you may have missed but now, thankfully, can follow up on.

Photo courtesy James Vaughn Flikr collection.

Extended play-time: Joe Dilillo, The Friends of Cesar Romero, and Papa Schmapa

08 Monday May 2023

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The extended play format or ‘EP’ nearly expired with the twentieth century, only to be revived of late amid the chaos of a declining commercial music scene. It would now appear many artists see EPs as a cost-effective way to put out a clutch of songs without all the hoopla of a conventional long-player. Personally I’m loving these concentrated splashes of artistic flavour. They can be fun or experimental or just a great couple of songs. Today’s EPs make that point each in their own way, with a unique stylistic stamp.

Studio veteran Joe Dilillo comes out from behind the console to deliver a stunning debut EP on Superhero Star. The five songs here are superbly crafted gems from the Aimee Mann, Jon Brion, and Fountains of Wayne school of pop-singles perfection. “Loser Girl” opens the EP so low-key, slowly building an atmosphere of exquisite musical tension between guitar and vocals. By the time the Aimee Mann keyboards kick in it’s way too late, you’re completely seduced. Backing band The Lickerish Quartet provide astonishing accompaniment on this tune, so subdued and yet strongly present. Title track “Superhero Star” shifts focus, evoking a more Mike Viola-working-with-Adam Schlesinger style. And then things get tender. The guest vocals from A Girl Called Eddy on “Boulevard” are striking, so achingly on display. A Mark Oliver Everett feel here for sure. Both “Mend You Heart” and “I’m Sorry” remind me of Adam Daniel with their combination of melodic sophistication and spare rock and roll simplicity. Superhero Star is so easy to listen to again and again. Hey, I’ve been doing it for weeks! This year’s ‘must have’ EPs list just got a front runner.

America’s hardest-working punky power-pop band The Friends of Cesar Romero return with installment #35 in their Doomed Babe series, Gameboy America. Combining lyrical themes of lost love and gaming disappointment over a relentless rock and roll beat, this latest EP gets it all done in a brisk 7 minutes. But what a ride! Title track “Gameboy America” is seemingly unstoppable, driven by a poppy rock attack that hammers a new waved-up Velvet Underground vibe. “Somebody’s Somebody” is equally intense, defined by a lively lead guitar line and FCR’s trademark compressed vocals. And then there’s “Punching Ian Sharp.” Though just 54 seconds long it’s a pretty neat slice of a wall-of-chords hooky goodness. No need for a reminder here, we’re permanently tuned to The Friends of Cesar Romero station.

Rochester NY’s fabulous retro music scene has space for a bit of late 1970s/early 1980s smooth pop songcraft from Papa Schmapa. The new EP What You Gonna Do aces a melodic AM radio sound I associate with the 1980s Moody Blues on the comeback trail, the Alan Parsons Project in hit mode, or mid-to-late period Wings. EP opener “If I Knew” is so McCartney, with Abbey Road-era psychedelic guitars and a melody straight from Macca’s late 1970s playbook. “I’ve Been There Before” and “Take Me As I Am” remind me of prior work by the band, very much in the Alan Parsons finely-crafted pop style. “You” reflects more 1980s Moody Blues sonic shifts with hints of The Outfield at times. Despite offering just four songs What You Gonna Do is impressive, a slick AM radio-worthy product with a still-beating melodic heart.

If I Knew
I’ve Been There Before

Why not make space in your calendar for extended play-time? Today’s EPs show you how. Just hit play and you get a glimpse of a load of talent without having to commit to a whole LP.

Springing for singles II

28 Friday Apr 2023

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We are springing into action as winter finally ebbs away, returning with our second seasonal installment of singles. Here are another 21 songs, playlist-tested and ready for maximum musical enjoyment as you and yours contemplate heading outside.

New Jersey’s The Anderson Council have got a heaping helping of sixties-inspired tune-age ready with new LP The Devil, The Tower, The Star, The Moon, due out shortly. While we for wait we can enjoy the teaser single “Alone With You,” a guitar-centric slice of the band’s distinctive brand of power pop. Birmingham’s Lolas never fail to please. Every release is sibilant guitars aplenty and buzzy, harmony-drenched vocals working the melody hard. “Trick Myself” is hooky pleasantness itself, with some nice 1970s chorused lead guitars in the instrumental break. Recently ads for Lexington Kentucky have been interrupting my TV shows. If they’d featured Lexingtonian Scott Whiddon I might have paused the mute function. Taking a gander at his bandcamp pages you’ll find some nice acoustic guitar pop and indie-ish poprock. But his most recent single “I Can’t Remember the Things I Love” is decidedly more quirky, employing a swirl of 1980s computer noises and some harder edged guitar backing. I like where this is going. When “Trout Fishing in America” opens Speckled Bird’s new EP the Bryds vibes are pretty serious. And yet there’s a fresh feel to the proceedings, particularly on the vocals. The longer it goes on, the more it sounds like its own very original thing. When McFly got going they could have easily morphed into a guitar-slinging One Direction. And yet there was always something more to this band of rosy-cheeked boys. They could write songs, they could harmonize with a Beatlesque ease. Now two decades on from their commercial heyday they are still producing AM-worthy tunes in the best sense. Like “Corner of My Mind,” a track from 2020’s The Lost Songs, an album of demos from aborted recording sessions. Hard to believe a band could sit on songs this good.

McFly – Corner of My Mind

On “A Sailor’s Song” Brian Troester marries an early 1980s AM pop sophistication with a laid back country vocal. The result should be gold, as in, gold record. The lead guitar hook and the song’s alluring steadfast pacing sounds so John Waite. Meanwhile the song’s lyrical narrative begs for 1984 MTV video treatment. Trim, Ireland – population 9000 – hardly seems like it would be a hotbed of rock and roll. But local lads Spearside are going to change your mind. They’ve got a handful of singles and an EP of psych-rock that make a mark. The opening title cut on their EP Remember, No Regrets charges into your consciousness with big guitars and a load of sneaky pop hooks while stand-alone single “Not Up to Much” steps on the melody pedal with jangly guitars and sweet harmony vocals. I am sure this is just the start of a beautiful thing with this band. Getting into the swing of our theme Ohioans Librarians with Hickeys just “Can’t Wait ‘Till Summer.” The jangly guitars and ethereal vocals make this track something special. There’s an air of late 1960s Moody Blues in the song’s melancholic demeanor. What happens when you put half the members of the Flashcubes and Screen Test into a studio with one of the Pernice Brothers? Freakin’ 45rpm magic, that’s what. Gary Frenay, Tommy Allen, Randy Klawon and Bob Pernice are The Half Cubes for this session, recording a remake of The Pernice Brothers’ 2003 song “The Weakest Shade of Blue.” And the results are a tantalizingly fresh reinvention of a pretty solid tune. Frankly, it sounds like a Screen Test recording to me, which I consider a thing of poprock beauty. Brooklyn’s Worriers have recorded what should really be my theme song, “Power Pop Mixtape.” Happily name-checking Nick Lowe, the Undertones and song titles from the Jam and Style Council, the song is defined by stark, striking guitar chords cast against a cool vocal delivery.

Brian Troester – A Sailor’s Song

Norway’s The Armchair Oracles are working up to something, as “Time to Realise” is their fifth stand-alone single since 2019’s Caught by Light album. As with previous releases, the mood is a sophisticated, very much polished pop performance in line with Alan Parsons Project or 1980s Moodies. And yet there’s just a hint of Rogue Wave in there somewhere. On “Norman 4” Vancouver’s The Sylvia Platters sound like they’re working the streets of Glasgow somewhere near where Teenage Fanclub hang out. Perhaps that’s not surprising – this sometime bonus track to the band’s 2022 EP Youth Without Virtue is dedicated to Norman Blake after all. It departs from the overall sound there, with an extra helping of jangle. J. Matthews is Mr. Mellow, swanning into the room on orchestral keyboards and light airy acoustic guitar strumming. Then “Wanderlust” hits the chorus and the hook just grabs you like a stranger’s unexpected smile. What a perfect little pop song. Another slow burn delight is “Lose” from Lachlan Denton’s new album Furnishings. The whole record settles lightly on the stereo, the instrumentation sparse and low key. But “Lose” stands out as the obvious radio single with its bare bones lead guitar licks and subtle melodic hooks. Valencia, Spain’s Lisasinson return with “Cuchillos,” a driving bit of rocky pop. The vocals are sweet but the guitar hits you somewhere below the gut, pushing your dancing machinery into gear. Just try to remain still.

The On and Ons are Australia’s most reliable sixties-inspired party band. Their records have a freewheeling Hoodoo Gurus energy delivered in a dead-on swinging-1960s register. Close your eyes and it’s 1966 on “Let Ya Hair Down,” just add go-go gals and dancing teens. It’s one of 12 winning cuts on the band’s new album of the same name. San Francisco’s Richard Turgeon is the hardest working guy on the indie rock/power pop scene. His ouvre is one part classic rock, two parts 1990s dissonant indie, and one part whatever he’s been grooving on lately. This time he serves up another super-charged power pop single with “All Alone,” a four on the floor rocker worthy of Matthew Sweet. On Kicking Bird’s debut LP Original Motion Picture Soundtrack you hear a band that is having fun, not taking themselves too seriously. There’s a Titus Andronicus shambolic feel to things sometimes (“Hickory River”), but a more measured sixties girl group pacing at others (“Just To Be Here With You”). Personally, I’m taken with the topical, jaunty “Talking to Girls (On the Internet).” New York City’s Tchotchke have fashioned an album full of attractive musically decorative objects we call songs, like “Ronnie.” The track has a great guitar sound, both on rhythm and the hooky lead lines. This band is 1960s sunshine pop reborn, with slightly louder guitars and a bit more urban street attitude. Who is Danny Patrick? I don’t know. He’s a guy on bandcamp giving his music away. There you can find 16 singles, some repeated on an album entitled sometimes I, all for free. Still, I know what I like, and Patrick’s spot on early 1980s new wavey sound works for me. Just click on “Blue Jean Champagne Girl” and you’re back in 1981 when you could hear this kind of stuff on AM radio. Those were the days. You can relive them here.

Kicking Bird – Talking to Girls on the Internet

Last year I went nuts for Dazy’s addictive single “Rollercoaster Ride.” Now I’m grooving on “Always in Between” from his more recent (extremely short) album Otherbody. Slashing guitar chords, hooky lead guitar work, and neat little melodic turns around every corner – it’s the whole package.

You’re stocked and ready to face spring with four score and some odd songs that will make your heart sing. Click on the hyperlinks to visit these music makers and find out they’re more than just a pretty single.

Top image courtesy Mark Amsterdam Flikr collection: ‘Citroen car dealer brochure 1963’

Springing for singles I

23 Sunday Apr 2023

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Sunshine and blooming buds can no longer be contained. Time to spring a new load poppy rock and roll singles on you. Whether you’re clearing the garden or chasing new love right now, you’ll need some tunes. Here’s your first instalment of 21 seasonally-approved spring singles.

Let’s get started with what one wag called the ‘savage pop’ of North Carolina’s Paint Fumes on “Starting Over.” It’s got a rough and ready veneer hiding more than a glimmer of pop goodness. These are rock and roll hooks par excellence. And there’s more of the good same all over the band’s just released fourth album Real Romancer. From the delightful surprise file, a new single from Vancouver’s Odds. The band broke out big in the 1990s, then went on hiatus for a while, returning post-2007 with a series of unjustly over-looked new releases. The latest single “Crash the Time Machine” sounds like vintage Odds, all striking lead guitar lines and deadpan Northey vocals. Time to let your Odds flag fly, the band website promises a whole new album soon. It’s funny how labels stick. Scranton’s The Menzingers are regularly described as a punk band but you’d be hard pressed to single out the punk element of their new single “Bad Actors.” Ok, maybe it’s there in the vocal delivery but, on the whole, this new single is just solid poprock, the melody guiding the rocking backdrop into solid potential audience sing-along territory. How does one capture what Eytan Mirsky is? Is he just a magisterial vocalist? Seriously, I could listen to this guy sing the New York Times crossword. Lately he’s proven to be a crack song-writing collaborator too, taking lyrics from friends and acquaintances and cooking up up dynamite material like “Lost in the Jet Stream.” In some ways it’s signature Mirksy – those organ trills! But the guitar work is pretty special too. Vienna’s Good Wilson offer us some very jazzy guitar vibes on “Undecided Changes.” Think Steely Dan in space mode. Or a bit like The School Book Depository and The Golden Seals.

My blogging friend Eclectic Music Lover introduced me to Copenhagen’s Thomas Charlie Pederson, specifically “Yesterdays and Silly Ways” from his latest LP Employees Must Wash Hands. He describes the sound as chamber pop (read EML’s detailed breakdown of the album here) and that nails it, the song is very like The Zombies on tracks like “Care of Cell 44” from Odyssey and Oracle. Philadelphia’s Canadian Invasion are hiding in plain sight, releasing music with seeming impunity. Perhaps they hope to seduce the American empire from within with song? Their latest Your Favorite Lies EP might just do that with killer tracks like “Catch a Falling Knife.” Who marries an addictive violin solo and echoes of FOW’s song-writing? Geniuses, that’s who. Speaking of genius marriages, everybody’s fave Beatlemaniac TexMex combo The Krayolas have a bit of old and new out on their new EP King of Pop. There’s a great cover of The Monkees (“Pleasant Valley Sunday”), some totally new material, and a remix of “Catherine,” originally featured on 2008’s La Conquistadora. The latter is pretty stunning, a perfect distillation of all that this great band can do and has done over its decades-long history. Just catching “In Flames” from Roller Disco Combo on my phone shuffle I had to stop short, thinking it was a new single from Farrah. No joy on the Farrah reunion but plenty of smiles for RDC’s new EP The Sun After the Rain. Cleveland music legend Randy Klawon has cooked up a magic bit of 45rpm popcraft on “Marlo Maybe,” with help from former Raspberries drummer Jim Bonfanti. The style reminds me of tracks like Paul Davis’ early 1980s hit “65 Love Affair” in that it reinvents nostalgic pop motifs for a new era.

Thomas Charlie Pederson – Yesterdays and Silly Ways

Every since J.D. McPherson relaunched the neo-1950s sound for a new millennium a host of acts have been trying to tread the same boards. But few nail the atmosphere quite like The McCharmlys. “Love Me Too” breaks out of the speaker like the soundtrack to a classic 1950s movie montage sequence. The fine balance between rapier-quick lead guitar lines and the band’s commanding lead vocalist gives this tune its particular charge of excitement. This is doo wop on steroids, with a dab of Debbie Harry and Amy Macdonald thrown in. We’ve featured Floridian guitar virtuoso Kurt Lanham and his inventive covers of classic pop hits a few times (“I Want To Hold Your Hand,” “Jenny 867-5309”) but he also writes and sings on his own original material. Like “Pallas” from last year’s LP Lanham. The song has got a languid bit of swing in the playing, buffeting the melodic vocal lines and varied guitar tones. Mellow but definitely ear-wormy. Back to Denmark for a moment, it was such a hard choice to decide on a cut from Mansfield’s repertoire. Both “Tell It Like It Is” and “Please, Shine a Light” from their 2020 debut album Star Crossed Lovers are a special blend of Merseybeat and Oasis influences but “Chasing After You” from their new EP Come Rain or Shine brings a decidedly Jake Bugg swagger into the mix. How about a dose of both? Today’s artists like to spread themselves over multiple projects, undoubtedly to satisfy their creativity and increase the chances that something will land with the public. See Benji Tranter’s resume for exhibit A. He’s a member of psych-folk group The All Night Chemist and power pop trio Ski Lift while also a collaborator with Show Boy. His recent solo effort Songs to Make You Happy is a definite departure from his group work, going for a more full-on folk effect. I really get a sense of Elliott Smith déjà vu from “Speed Camera.” Husband and wife duo Skoopski add to their continuing inventory of inventive stand-alone singles with “Double.” The song shifts from a stark, stripped-down, almost off-Broadway feel to a more full blown indie workout. I love the lead guitar tone that threads its way through the tune.

The McCharmlys – Love Me Too
Kurt Lanham – Pallas

Live fast, die young might sound romantic to aspiring artists but the reality is just loss, for a whole lot of people. What might have been won’t be. Zev was an up-and-coming indie artist still finding his own unique sound when he died in a car accident earlier this year at just 16. But just listen to his promise. On “Parachute” he owns a Velvet Underground groove like he’s camped out at Lexington Avenue and 125th Street. It’s got a touch of psychedelia in the chorus and some prophetic lyrics:

‘that young boy with no parachute looks a lot like me’
‘that young boy’s gonna die’
‘someone save him’

Still, my fave from his handful of songs is “4th of July.” What a neat slice of cool guitar pop. It’s hard not hear a Ben Kweller influence here. Vicenza, Italy’s Hearts Apart shift between spare verses and a combustable poprock sound in the choruses of “You’re All Around.” They’re clearly building up to something, an album perchance? There is something going on in Rochester, New York these days. The range of bands putting out amazing sixties inspired new material is incredible. The Low Spirits have got the garage angle covered. It’s like the Leaves or the Troggs time-travelled and got into a modern studio to cut a few tunes. “Outta Sight” is so the 1966 garage rock brief. What a party band these guys must be. Speaking of partying, the Teenage Tom Petties are back with a great double-sided single. A-side is “Posters” and I like it. But I like the B-side more, “My First Beer.” It’s strummy and, as the band say “95 seconds of pure first-beer-buzz, all climaxing in a messy-as-hell solo before passing out in the garden.” Really, couldn’t have summed it better. Heading now to the American Pacific northwest we pull a few tracks from Patty and Oh’s debut album Out of Everything. The record’s first single “Useless Love” is pretty cool. Like Jonathan Richman if he’d focused on getting a hit single. But I’m skipping over that for “Heard Some Kind of Light.” I love the computer-ish keyboard work. It’s got a sprightly pop feel, yet with some eclectic David Byrne notes. B-side? I’d choose “New Flavor of Gum.” It’s great guitar pop elevated with endearing keyboard tones and layered background vocals.

https://safesuburbanhomerecords.bandcamp.com/track/my-first-beer

I was going to call a wrap on this instalment of spring singles sampling with K. Campbell’s recent song “Smoke.” And it is a great track. But then I stumbled across Campbell’s even more recent release “Neil and Joni” and I had to shift gears. Two iconic Canadian songsters celebrated in one song? What’s not to love? And the additional accent vocals here from Mandy Kim Clinton really add something consequential.

Spring singles are a thing and this is just phase one. Return here for more seasonally-attuned songs soon.

Top image courtesy Mark Amsterdam Flikr collection: ‘Citroen car dealer brochure 1963’

“Your call is important to us …”

27 Monday Mar 2023

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The phone used to be something that hung on the wall. Now it’s a friend depository, an entertainment centre, an information lifeline, and more. People almost seem to be in a relationship with their phone – they can’t stand to be separated from it and mourn its loss if it goes astray. Everywhere you look it’s a sea of bowed heads. A lot of people don’t even talk on their phones, they’re so busy doing other things. Today’s artists have got a strong connection to their devices for sure, though the link here does appear to come back to an actual human being.

Gavin Bowles and the Distractions are all over our phone theme. Their soon-to-be released album is entitled Phoning It In while their pre-release single is “On the Telephone (I Used to Call You).” The setting lyrically and stylistically is 1979 modish power pop. I definitely get a pre-Parallel Lines Blondie feeling taking this in. By contrast The All Night Chemist brings the banjo out front for “I’m In Love With My Phone.” No, this is not a paean to some AI-driven device but someone replaying a lost love’s phone message over and over. The song is a great shambolic mix of folk and new wavey keyboard riffs. The indomitable Fernando Perdomo has yet another vehicle to showcase his formidable talents with his new duo Broken Sound. “Fiero” is taken from their new self-titled album and it’s working our phone theme hard. As the video and lyrics for the song demonstrate, it’s all about car phones. The video pastiche of 1970s movie and TV car phone clips perfectly captures how cool/not cool the car phone was at the time. Last up a band literally living our focus, The Telephone Numbers. Ok, the song is not about phones but I’m giving them a pass because this single is so good. “Weird Sisters” has a Anglo-folk pop sound I associate with Roddy Frame or The Lilac Time. A poppy delight.

Being ‘on the phone’ appears to mean something very different today compared to days of yore. And people are gonna write songs about it. You can dial up these should-be new faves by clicking the hot-linked names you see above.

Top photo featuring Poprock Record exclusive model Rob Elliott courtesy Swizzle Studio.