Category Archives: Poprock Themepark

Colouring outside the lines: Fortitude Valley, Gosh Diggity, Golden Apples, and West Coast Music Club

30 Tuesday Nov 2021

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Some bands break the mould. They may sound like they’re obeying the rules but in subtle ways they’re careening all over the road. Today’s artists tweak the formulas, game the genres, and do their own thing. All in all, a very good thing.

Forget Fortitude Valley, inner suburb of Brisbane, Australia. Now Fortitude Valley says pop-punk goodness in the form of the Durham UK band’s dynamic self-titled debut album. Band leader Laura Kovic may be channeling a bit of her Ozzie roots (Fortitude Valley is her home town) but the record is more than that, vibing a bit of Weezer, The Beths, even Juliana Hatfield’s smooth pop vocal stylings here and there. You can hear a whole lot of those influences on the dissonant but still hooky opening cut, “Baby, I’m Afraid.” I can’t decide what I like better here, the addictive melody-rich lead guitar work that threads through tracks like “It’s the Hope That Kills You” and “All Hail the Great Destroyer” or the light endearing vocals defining cuts like “What You Wanted” and “I Won’t Survive.” Then there’s songs like “The Right Thing (Part I)” and “Forget About Me” that launch from a punky space but can’t keep their innate poppiness from coming to the surface. In the end, it’s “Wreck” that’s the obvious should-be hit single material with its stunning lead guitar and very Primitives vocal work. The edgy guitar instrumental break just perfectly offsets the song’s winning hooks. On the whole, Fortitude Valley is a highly listenable long-player whether you put it on random or just let it play through.

What is Chicago band Gosh Diggity’s sound anyway? Lofi electronic? Kitchen techno? Bedroom pop? My gut says something like ‘Casio-drenched poprock’ would be a good label – that distinctive keyboard sound is layered in everywhere on their new album Runaway Rocketboy and it is just so cool. Opening cut “Wings” is a representative sample of what this band does: deft keyboard interplay, understated but alluring vocals, and a marquis instrumental focal point, in this case the addictive MGMT keyboard lead line. But then, surprise surprise, the very next tune “Rad Summer” breaks out some manic rhythm guitar, later swamped (of course) by a swirl of hooky keyboards. “Patch 1.0” even works in some classic 1980s video game keyboard sound effects. Yet this record is not just an homage to retro keyboard motifs, there’s some pretty clever music hiding behind the spare sonic landscape. Check out the Kenny Burrell jazzy guitar forms framing “Burnett’s and Diet Coke” or the Everything But the Girl sophistico-pop vibe on “True Crime.” And this is a band that knows how to throw in a head-turning instrumental break, like the 1980s video-game keyboard-freakout on “Lettering” or just the delicate bells adorning “A.B.B.” A needle-drop skate across this record will tell you Gosh Diggity probably hang with some pretty wild musical company on their own time. But with Runaway Rocketboy they’ve got a record that is eccentric, accessible and just plain fun.

Russell Edling’s Cherry was a going concern with a few EPs and a long-player on the musical resume. But too many bands with the Cherry moniker led to a rebrand this time out and – voila! – Cherry has become Golden Apples on the new LP Shadowland. The sound pretty much remains the same, a slow-burn, almost-Americana-at-times indie rock and roll. But what appeals to me here is Edling’s ability to subtly bury sweet melodic hooks in an otherwise indie rock musical landscape. You can hear it in the sweet dirge-like opener, “Theme from Shadowland,” though in so many ways that’s a misdirection. The next track “Garbage” is more in tune with the thrust of the record, a bit more discordant rock and roll with a Kevin Devine kind of acoustic-meets-electric drive. The album features a few atmospheric sketches like “Reggie” or “Jack” but on the whole delivers a raft of tunes –  “Forever Hollow,” “Banana,” “Tamara Lee” – that start with a bit of discord but eventually turn more luminescent, adding harmony vocals and other melodic adornments. “Futureperfect” sounds like a single to me with its rippling, hypnotic lead guitar work maintaining the song’s tension, only to resolve in the hooky chorus. Other songs like “Fun II” and “Wildflowers” are a broody mix, cutting dark musical textures with lighter melodic currents. The overall effect reminds me of Toronto’s Hayden at his melodic moodiest.

Back where the Mersey river flows Kirby’s West Coast Music Club bring together their recent drip released singles and a wide variety of new material on a just-released LP, Take a Deep Breath. Talk about variety! Sometimes the band just rocks out, like on “Human Vulture” and “Girl.” The rocking out gains considerable subtlety on cuts like “Long Goodbye,” which crashes in like the Beatles’ “Rain” but quickly shifts to a more psychedelic Bryds groove. The album’s mellower material accents the poppier side of the band’s songwriting, apparent on the acoustic guitar-based “Life of Lies” or bouncy “Jenny’s Still Got (What it Takes).” Love the subtle Rolling Stones flourishes on the latter. Then “The Jokes on You” rides a driving lead guitar line that anchors the tune while “Thinkin’” has an almost Moody Blues bit of guitar ring to it. Or check out how “Whatever It Takes” puts us into solidly 1970s jangle-folk rock territory. But possibly my fave here is the should-be hit single “Me and a Friend” with its almost Billy Bragg-ish, brash-yet-melodic lead-guitar hooks and endearing vocal intimacy. From the first guitar notes it radiates ‘classic’. Take a Deep Breath is truth in advertizing, a truly breathtaking affair.

Colour choices can be so subjective. Which crayon is the right one? Well, at least the music’s sorted. Post artwork provided by Swizzle Gallery’s Rob Elliott.

I get mail: Andrew Stonehome, The Orange Goodness, Not a Moment Too Soon, and more

22 Monday Nov 2021

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The autumn mailbag has brought a host of good things to my attention. There’s a bit of folk, straight up AM radio pop, some Americana and a solid blast of power pop. Let’s get sorting!

Andrew Stonehome’s self-titled debut album sounds like a loving homage to the soft rock sounds of the 1970s, whether leaning on the piano, acoustic guitar or some heavenly background vocals to set the scene. But occasionally he rocks out a bit more and the result is a pretty sweet poprock single in “Heartbreaker.” There’s something very Gilbert O’Sullivan meets the Bay City Rollers about this tune, with just a touch of glam. The song’s got swing and a strong sing-along quality. I can totally see the movie montage this tune is sound-tracking.

The Orange Goodness describe their sound as ‘groove-infused alt/indie music from Minneapolis’. There is definitely a hyper-kinetic and playful quality to the tunes on their new EP Flying Under the Radar of Chaos. The overall feel reminds me of The Happy Fits, with nod here and there to Queen or even Sparks. The track that has me hitting replay right now is “Settle Up Settle Down.” It’s a bit more subdued, but only compared to the rest of the EP. The vocals and instrumentation are in a kind of fine tension I haven’t heard since Nick Gilder was on the charts. The guitar work here is inventive and a bit hypnotic. Opening cut “Trust It’s Love” also demands attention with its unrelenting hooky percussive punch.

Settle Up Settle Down

The man in the one-man-band Not a Moment Too Soon is a political scientist. The writer of this blog is a political scientist. Coincidence? Well I’m here to say we are not some kind of secret brotherhood – NMTS got into this post entirely on his poprock merit. But, hey, I can’t deny his day job certainly caught my attention. I mean, with song titles like “Helmut Kohl and Mitterand,” “The Second Amendment and All That Jazz,” and “Love, Market and Morality” my two great interests (music and politics) are clearly in attendance here. As NMTS’s Pierre Englebert confesses in his liner notes, “I can’t help it, being a political scientist.’ Now if you’re not into politics, don’t worry, because Englebert knows his way around a tune, cast in a variety of styles. Over the course of three albums released since the beginning of 2020 he’s consistently turned out some lovely hooks. The latest is Wait, What?, an album that is constantly shifting between silly and serious, from the tender to the tendentious. Stand out tracks for me include the loping hook monster “In the Zoom Breakout Room” and the extremely brief but still delightful “Long Story Short.” “Virgin No More” is also a striking piano ballad instrumental. There are clearly many influences behind the album but the nods to Queen are clear and I’d add the Alan Parsons Projects at times. From previous releases, check out the ELO-ish “Self-Pity Party” and the sweet “When Carson Palmer Lived With Us” from Well.

Vancouver’s Johnny Payne seems to have something big coming down the pike. After a few years helming indie rockers The Shilohs through a few fine albums he’s taken the last few years a bit slower, offering up only the occasional single or uber cool video. His 2019 single “All Messed Up” was a delightful slice of 1970s pop R&B. I could practically hear the girly choruses coming. Or how about that fun video with his headless Margarita Machine band for “Man in the Mist”? But now the teasing is over. A new album King of Cups is just about here and, from the drip release singles, it promises to be pretty special. First up “Calle Easy” (or ‘easy street’ en Espanol) is classy bit of curio pop, like Fantasy Island meets those 1950s Hawaiian movie ballads. But it is “Someday” with its restrained 1970s melodrama – on piano of course – that says ‘ hello there’ should-be hit single. It’s like John Lennon and Eric Carmen got together to bang out a hit. Can’t wait to hear what else is in store on this long-player.

On From the Marrow Jon Arthur Schmidt steps away from the more directly spiritual themes pursued on prior works for a more open-ended exploration of what it means to be connected with the broader universe. The approach is a folkie pop songwriting style akin to a mellow acoustic guitar wielding Kenny Loggins or Dan Fogelberg. You can definitely hear it on “Daylight (Never Left)” with its lovely strings adding to the delicate tension created by the acoustic guitar and the more piano-based “Beautiful World.” By contrast “Library Land” captures that sense of fun and wonder that honours its theme. But the perfectly painted miniature on this album is undoubtedly the exquisite “Lovesong Lullaby,” a track deserving many cover versions. Particularly at bedtime, for this album’s listeners’ children everywhere. 

Beautiful World
Lovesong Lullaby

Anyone familiar with Scott Warren from his intimate Americana duo work in Wounded Bird might find the vibe on his solo album Shadow Bands more than a little jarring. There are fuzzed out electric guitars and a Marc Bolan glam shuffle all over this album. Of course, his previous two solo albums gave fair warning, Warren’s a rock and roll boy. “Press Reset” opens the album and sets the tone with a Beatles via Dukes of Stratosphere appreciation of psych rock. “Left Out on the Joke” is more poppy and glam in that T Rex sort of way. “Bury it Down” hides a delicate melody behind some big guitars and carefully modulated vocal. The record also takes a more mellow turn on a few cuts, sounding mildly Beck-ish on “Regret” and “In the Devil” or McCartney-esque on “Mountainside” and “See Feel.” “She Walked Away From It All” reminds me all those psych folk ballads that rocker bands like Led Zeppelin to Jethro Tull pursued in the early 1970s. And then there’s “Chemical Trails” which sounds a bit like Oasis, if the boys had been just a bit better socially adjusted.

I love getting surprises in the mail and I have to say most writers I hear from pay attention to our brief, which is essentially melody plus guitars. Click on the linked names to find out even more about these (thankfully) shameless self-promoters.

November spawned a single

15 Monday Nov 2021

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In between competing Canadian and American Thanksgivings is most of November, a month where nothing much really happens. What better time to shine a little light on some new singles? No time, my friends. Get ready to taste test twenty or so new tunes in between bites of leftover turkey.

There’s something very Bowie about Ward White. His delicate yet forceful delivery defies easy categorization. His new album, The Tender Age, is full of sophisticated tunes but I’m drawn to the more rootsy, almost pub rock “Don’t Let’s Die at the Stop Light.” The organ and lead guitar work are fabulous and the chorus takes a surprising melodic turn. The new Grip Weeds record Dig is a cover album tour-de-force. The band blast through an inspired collection of sixties psych rock classics and then some. But their treatment of The Byrds “Lady Friend” is epic, taking the song to new heights by amping the psych content and nailing the vocal arrangement (adding some Turtles’ ba ba ba’s to good effect). And don’t skimp on getting the deluxe double-album version because disc two has some real killers, like the wild cover of The Monkees “For Pete’s Sake” and the banjo-licious take on the Nightcrawlers’ “Little Black Egg.”  Another band working the sixties side of the street pretty hard is The On and Ons and they ace that garage-y yet poppy rock and roll sound with guitars that practically leap from the speakers. The new album is Back for More and you will be, guaranteed. But as a taster, check out “Your Kind of World.” What a fab hooky guitar lead line opener! And the rest is a pretty winning Bryds-meets-Beatles “Rain” era single. The minute I spotted that Tommy Scifres had played with Aaron Lee Tasjan I had a feeling his record would be pretty cool. And it is. The LP is Last Legs, a lovely collection of melody central tuneage, like the mellifluous “Thought You Knew” with its spacey vocals and trippy guitar. Like some very early 1970s Steve Miller Band. But I’m liking “What’s at the Bottom of Your Heart” even more with its retro 1950s swing. How many bands can take two decades off from recording and come back like they’d just slipped out to the store for a pack of smokes? Clearly The Connells can. Steadman’s Wake is their new album and it is a fantastic mélange of Americana and Tom Petty poprock. The whole album is a keeper but I’m presently grooving on “Fading In (Hardly)” with its Billy Bragg song-framing and shiver-inducing, gut-punch of a chorus. Get those lighters ready.

The Grip Weeds – Lady Friend

There’s something old and something new about Sydney, Australia band The Hard Ons’ new album, I’m Sorry Sir, That Riff’s Been Taken. Going on 40 years as a musical outfit (with a few times outs) obviously the band is something old. But The Hard Ons 2021 have a brand new lead vocalist, former You Am I singer Tim Rogers, and pretty punchy poprock sound, apparent on the driving “Hold Tight.” Love the band name, love the album title. Boston’s Scrimshanders get labelled with tags like alt country but I don’t get it from listening to “SXMS,” featured on their latest long-player Songs That Never Were. Just check out that rough chord-slashing guitar work and those John Doe vocals. This is rock and  roll baby. Ok, maybe tracks like “Restless Heart” have a bit of country in them, but, again, I hear more of the Jersey shore in those twin engine organ and guitar blasts. I totally loved Nashville band *repeat repeat’s 2019 album Glazed with its unique blend of contemporary and retro sounds. Since then they’ve been teasing us with a succession of tasty singles, practically a new album’s worth. The latest is “Trippin’ (I Know I Will)” and it is wonderfully otherworldly with hooky, winsome lead guitar work that frames a lovely little pop song. Chicago’s The Cut-Outs describe their sound as punk-powerpop-rock and roll. Ya, that about captures it, though not on every song. Take “Ordinary Man” from their latest collection Let’s Go! – it’s a late 1960s rocker all the way. Of course, there definitely a heavy dollop of poppy punk ambiance defining the album’s opening cut “Tuesday Night.” I love the manic clapping and the Dave Rave-like vocals. Washington D.C.’s The Buzz have got that spare 1979 guitar sound all over their most recent record Cut Loose! There are so many great songs here but overall I’m really grooving on “Stuck in the Cloud,” a bona fide should-be hit single. There are a load of subtle melodic change ups in this song, with the band regularly altering their attack and deftly layering interesting musical dynamics behind a glam era vocal.

Orlando Florida’s The BellTowers psych their jangle pretty thoroughly throughout Magnetic, both Reel One and Reel Two. The double EP is a whole lot of intensely sibilant guitar work. My recommendation is, start with “Erase Any Doubts.” The guitar is everywhere, hypnotically drawing you in, keeping you focused on it like a great montage sequence from any season one episode of The Monkees. Look I’m not saying it’s an Australia thing but I can’t help but hear a kind of punk rock Paul Kelly vibe embedded in Suburban Urchin’s “4000 Miles Away” from their Born in the Suburbs release. The cut charges along with such fist-waving intensity, you know this would be a dance hall stomper. Milan, Italy’s Radio Days just keep dropping exquisite singles. This time they draw from the British beat group era circa 1965 for the background sonic pallete. There’s an early Mersey feel to the guitar lead line kicking off “Walking Alone” but then the song branches out into a more timeless power pop sound. Buzzard Buzzard Buffalo are a mysterious band that leave a light footprint on the ole interweb. They hail from Manchester Tennessee but sound like they hang in that more famous version of the town. “Love Song for You” is a quirky, endearing bit of lofi pop. It’s a song that comes on in the background and before you know it you’re turning up the volume and hitting repeat. I’ve loved St. Paul Minnesota’s The Persian Leaps for a long time. I own two of their albums, an EP, and handful of singles. So how come I’ve never managed to write about them? Epic coverage fail! Well, let me make up for lost time – get the band’s newest release, Drone Etiquette: it’s great. I mean, check out how that banging guitar opener to “When This Gets Out” is cast against vocals that are so melodically refined, offset by some polite piano shots. Then for something different, there’s “The Company She Keeps” which has such a fab Andy Partridge/XTC chime.

I’ll admit I initially stopped at Växjö, Sweden musician Fredrik Solfors’s site because his band name was so intriguing: School Book Depository. And what’s not to like about a guy with a ‘Bob’ song on every album? Album number three is now out, Bob and the Eastern Beacon of Hope, collecting a host of drip pre-released singles and then some. I’m loving the gentle hooky charm of “Killer in the Mountains,” a carefully crafted bit of poprock portraiture. There are so many delightful details here, from the Owl City meets Good Old War vocals to a captivating musical arrangement. With “Lipstick Queens” Rocket Bureau bolt out of the singles gate with a track that sounds like a mix of some mad off-off-Broadway show and a new wave revival album. They claim to be Wisconsin’s ‘basement-rock and roll-one man-studio band’ but to my ears they are ready to take the stage. The song is from the album Middle Angst, and its got a lot more 1970s guitars and hooky tunes for you. For a while it seemed like the name Andy Bopp was everywhere. “Bopp’s a genius,” they’d say. “Bopp’s got a killer album,” proclaimed the reviews. Who is this guy, said I? Well after a stroll through his latest LP AB, I caught a bad case of ‘reviewer meets genius.’ Everything you’ve heard is true. Just test drive “Uncommon Disaster,” it’s a thing of sonic beauty. It kicks off with some 1966 Beatles rock guitar chords before resolving into a new wave era Kinks kind of number, with some outta-sight background vocals and a bridge to die for. Tacoma Washington’s Vanilla are curio poprock all stars, no genre can stump them. Their most recent collection Sideshow makes my case, with a bit of alt country, old timey pop, XTC-infused new wave and more. But “I Shall Be Re-released” is the standout here for me. Listen closely for those subtle vocal shifts in melody and harmonies, the almost buried retro lead guitar. It’s both familiar and different at the same time. As the world shut down these past few years music collective Orbis Max decided to get some socially distanced jamming going, the results emerging now on The Covid Collaborations 2020-21. There’s a rotating cavalcade of indie starts included here – Danny Wilkerson, Lanny Flowers, Ed Ryan, etc. – as well as great cuts just featuring the essential members of the band. Like “You Sold Tomorrow” with some super ‘woo hoos’ and pumping piano and a Harrisonian sheen to it all.

Track 21 in this monster collection of November tunes is something very Autumn, Chicago indie production legend Andy Reed’s lofi treatment of Simon and Garfunkel’s “The Only Living Boy in New York.” I’ve always had a soft spot for Simon’s acoustic-y soft rock numbers but Reed manages to strip the MOR production values out of the original to give the track some added indie allure. The heavenly background vocals are still there, even if the church organ isn’t. Altogether a fresh take on a deep cut classic.

While no alternative artists were forced to dance awkwardly through a background desert motif, here’s hoping that our November singles mediation has spawned some listening pleasure. Click those hyper-linked artist names to signal yes.

Hits for All Hallow’s Eve

29 Friday Oct 2021

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Welcome to Poprock Record’s first-ever hook-filled Halloween special post! I mean, why should some 2000+ year old’s birthday get all the holiday music attention? To rectify that unhappy state of affairs we’ve assembled a guitar-wielding crew of scary monsters and super freaks to haunt your All Hallow’s Eve with some seasonally appropriate tune-age. Get ready to mash!

Normally I’d say Detroit’s Kickstand Band offer up heavenly vocal harmonies but this time they’re drawing from their darker angels for a Halloween Special double-sided single. “Under a Bad Sign” sets the tone for our horror-accented musical proceedings with its eerie, otherworldly ambience. It’s a song that wouldn’t be out of place in a Russ Meyer film circa Beyond the Valley of the Dolls. Then we get right into substance of fright night with Freedom Fry’s wonderfully eccentric “Monster,” complete with distant church bells and a xylophone right out of B-movie sound-effects central-casting. Did you know things get scary in Edmonton? They do, if The Lad Mags’ “Dig My Grave” is anything to go by. It’s a 45 where festive moaning and groaning gives way to a groovy go go dance beat that will have you snapping your fingers and shaking your groove thing. Nashville’s fave pop punkers Vista Blue go all out for this holiday with a new EP New Nightmares that celebrates all that slasher movie mayhem. The four contributions are maximum fun but just a bit more maximum-er for me is “Where Do You Want to Sleep?” with its Beach Boys-meets-The Ramones vibe. Ok, these next two numbers come completely out of left field. Drew Beskin’s double-barreled contribution to the season is the swinging poppy “Lisa Simpson Fangs” backed with the more mellow “Horror Movie Plot.” The two sides blow hot and cold, one boppy and catchy, the other languid and serene. Former My Chemical Romance lead singer Gerard Way strips things back to their hooky essentials on “Baby You’re a Haunted House.” Besides providing our ever-so-appropriate mast graphic, his ‘skeleton’ crew really deliver the goods with a great noisy – yet still melodic – wonder.

Now that we’re in the mood, it’s time to turn to the creatures of the night, the real stars of this holiday. They’re probably coming to your door right now, eager for candy, itching to unleash some tricks. Ken Sharp welcomes a “Hellcat” to the usual menagerie of Halloween’s ghoulish guest stars. Ok, maybe his use is more metaphoric than literal but I couldn’t help adding it to the playlist with its captivating bubblegum-glam shuffle sound and Sharp’s beguiling vocals. The Embrooks welcome one of the evening’s usual suspects, a 1960s garage-psych “Human Living Vampire.” Think Christopher Lee as the mod, mod prince of darkness put in charge of the Hi-Fi. Boston’s Amplifier Heads have got a thing about ghosts, with three different songs titled for those otherworldly apparitions. “Ghost Song” from Music for Abandoned Amusement Parks invokes October’s chill and a night so still over a hooky “Needles and Pins” ish set of chords. LA’s Allah-Las have got that spooky desert vibe going strong with their killer instrumental “No Werewolf” from 2014’s Worship the Sun. This is definitely music to not ‘open that door’ or ‘go down into the basement’ to. Glaswegians U.S. Highball do a jangle makeover on a classic holiday monster with “My Frankenstein” and you won’t recognize the results. Can you say well-adjusted much? This time the brutish creation is a happy go lucky tune that will have you humming with contented delight. Pop iconoclasts Someone Still Loves You Boris Yeltsin round out the cast of scary characters with “All Hail Dracula.” It’s a pro-vampire kind of take on demon/non-demon relationships, delivered with a slew of cool indie hooks.

And now for something not quite completely different, one of our fave poprockers has expanded into filmmaking. If you’re looking for something seasonally appropriate in terms of scary things to watch, check out the original popmonster Greg Pope’s new movie, There’s Something in the Lake. He did the music (duh!) but also wrote and directed it. It’s scary how talented that guy is. You can watch the short film it was based on and rent the full feature here.

Hey, thanks for making this Hallo-scene, our inaugural celebration of the candy-laden dark holiday. Now it wouldn’t be complete without a closing anthem of sorts and Tampa’s The Easy Button have conveniently supplied one, a ringing chordy number appropriately titled “Happy Halloscene.”  Click on the band hyperlinks to complete your Halloween hits collection or just check out these bands’ many other musical treats on offer.

Welcome back: David Brookings, Mo Troper, Lolas, and Nick Frater

25 Monday Oct 2021

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Today’s featured artists have done the rounds on this blog many times. At some point I stumbled across them and I’ve kept stumbling over each new release since then. They’re just that reliable. So get ready to take a fall with me, all over again.

David Brookings is a nice guy’s nice guy. And he makes smoking good records, with or without his Average Lookings band. On Mania at the Talent Show Brookings strikes a minor key on many of the songs, exploring a more 1970s melodic soft rock vibe than previous, more rocking releases. The album kicks off with the acoustic guitar up front in the mix on the first three tracks, interposed between an eerie synth and timely pandemic-reflecting lyrics on “Hard Times,” buoying up the beat during “Keep It Real,” and casting a bright counterpoint to the otherwise somber feel of “Driving to Ojai.” The end of the 1970s witnessed the singer/songwriter folk thing shapeshift into a more hooky soft rock direction – think Al Stewart or Gerry Rafferty – and tracks like “One of Us Is Crazy (the Other One is Me)” and “Mystery of Time” take me there. Brookings throws a few surprises into the mix as well. There’s a great neo-1950s influence vamped up on “Women of L.A.” or more subtly felt in “Words Come Back to Haunt You.” Or there’s the more Hall and Oates feel lurking in the background to “Killshot.” He certainly nails the cover of Tom Petty’s “Magnolia” and does so without giving in to just doing a Petty impersonation (which is hard to avoid – the song is sooo Petty). But the undeniable show stopper for me here is the manic bubblegum fun that is “Mania at the Talent Show.” Perhaps a bit of Brookings autobiography? As the story unfolds it is hard not to see a miniature DB as the star of song’s show. And check out those blistering rock and roll solos!

Mania at the Talent Show

If Mo Troper’s 2020 Natural Beauty was a perfectionist’s carefully-crafted poprock record then his new long-player Dilettante is a return to a rougher DIY/punky sensibility. But with Troper’s instincts for melody and hooks still intact. And at 28 tracks the record is a sprawling double album of White Album breadth, depth and eccentricity. First, the could-be hits. As the production style here is akin to a rehearsal-level Nick Lowe ‘basher’ approach (i.e. turn on tape, make beautiful noise) the finished product is not really AM radio friendly. But there are songs here that could top any playlist if 1977 punk had only triumphed over disco. “The Expendables Ride Again” is classic hooky Mo Troper. “Better Than Nothing” is all driving guitars floating under a divine Matthew Sweet melody. Another slow burn hooky winner is “My Master’s Voice,” aided by some lovely jangly guitar. Or there’s “Armpit” exuding a FOW sense of desperation and euphoria over a supremely catchy tune. Some of the tracks here seem little more than idea sketches but they still manage to flash serious brilliance, from the psych Beatles instrumental album opener “Total Eurphoria” to a Rubber Soul rehearsal session-like feel on “New King” and “Blake and Lanny.” Clocking in at less than a minute, both “Skyscraper Sized Bong” and “A Girl Like Andy” sound incomplete but I still love’em. Beyond the obvious hooks, Dilettante also features songs brimming with complexity.  Give “American Dad,” “Velvet Scholars Line” and “Winged Commander” more than a cursory spin to uncover some rather unusual twists of melody. Personally, I think “Tears on my Dockers” is the star of this album, with a sound and structure of any bona fide classic of the 1960s-derived power pop genre. There’s also examples of Troper’s penchant for a McCartney-esque sweet simplicity on “Caleb” and “I Would Dance With You.” The album also includes Troper’s previously-released, aptly-named “The Perfect Song.” One listen to Dilettante and you’ll know the LP was misnamed – Virtuoso would have been closer to the mark.

Another Lolas album, another slice of poprock perfection. On All Rise, bandleader and songwriter Tim Boykin delivers the goods with 13 glorious gems that run both hot and cold, sometimes amping up the power pop, sometimes soothing us with delicate acoustic guitar flourishes. Album opener “Never To Be Mine” is a perfect distillation of the classic Lolas vibe with its out-of-the-gate rhythm guitar attack and seductively sweet vocal melody. Then “Storm the Heavens” tweaks the formula by adding a way cool instrumental break that features some distinctive sounding lead guitar and keyboards. I love the guitar hook opening “My Thoughts Have Been Replaced” and how it melds perfectly with Boykin’s Lennon in psychedelia mode vocals. The album shifts gears on “I Can Hear Your Beard Through the Phone” and “You and Me Will Always Be” by putting an acoustic guitar at the front of the mix and slowing the tempo. Clearly, Boykin’s not just a chord basher. Another shift can be found with the jaunty “Louise Michel” and easygoing pop of “General Assembly,” the latter feeling very Wings circa Venus and Mars. But I’ll save my poprock hero worship for “Pain in My Heart.” Everything about this should-be hit single works, from the catchy guitar work to the eminently hummable melody. It reminds me a bit of Screen Test’s superior single “Notes From Trevor” and a lot of great work from The Smithereens. Do yourself a favour, Lolas All Rise is a full album treat you really owe yourself. Now.

One can imagine Croydon’s Nick Frater rolling his trolly down the aisles of an imaginary 1970s rock supermarket looking for ideas after just one listen to his fabulous new record, Earworms. The ten tracks here are like a love letter to that oft-maligned decade of music. Because beyond the flash of disco, the fug of prog rock, and the full-on aural assault of punk, the 1970s were really much more about pop music. Think of the superstar chart dominance and stratospheric sales of the acts like the Carpenters or ABBA. Yet, at the same time, hooky melodies were also central to the success of more rock and roll outfits like ELO, 10cc and Queen. Opening cut “It’s All Rumours” gives the game away with its distorted glam guitar and Leo Sayer falsetto vocals in the chorus. Frater’s thrown down the gauntlet, he’s going seventies and doesn’t care who knows it. “Buggin’ Out” initially sounds kinda Abbey Road, particularly the guitar work, but then shifts into that 1970s neo-fifties aura that everybody was doing then, with a flash of Buddy Holly’s “Raining in my Heart” buried deep in the song. “What’s With Your Heavy Heart” is one of my faves on this LP with its gently rollicking Wings-ian feel. From there the album goes very English, vibing 1970s UK pop acts like 10cc on “Not Born Again,” Gilbert O’ Sullivan on “Lucky Strike” and even Queen on “How to Survive Somebody.”  Things veer near yacht rock with a dab of Carpenters on “Star Crossed” while I could hear ABBA easily covering “The Unbroken.” Aside from the faithful rendering of the 1970s sonic palette, Frater also manages to capture the histrionic over-the-top lyrics of the time, for instance, on “Who Says I Need a Plan At All.” If you’ve been longing for simpler musical times sans the sticky polyester, get Earworms. Your ears will thank you.

Nothing says welcome like a wad of cash. Slip on over to the web locations of these artists and get friendly with their latest releases.

Banner photo: Fred Herzog

We’ve been waiting for you, Mr. Bond

10 Sunday Oct 2021

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With No Time to Die finally in theatres it seems timely to revisit the exquisite pleasures of 1960s-derivative spy music. The genre and its distinctive vibe was arguably invented when British session guitar player Vic Flick was invited to add some ‘punch’ to Monty Norman’s “James Bond Theme” before the release of the first Bond film, 1962’s Dr. No. With the addition of John Barry’s horn arrangement and Flick’s instantly recognizable rumbly guitar hooks, the track is as much a brand for the franchise as Moneypenny and the Walther PPK. Since then the song has appeared in all 25 official Bond films and, according to the website SecondHandSongs, been covered more than 153 times. Lanny Flowers produced a killer version for the superb Curry Cuts powerpop collection of Bond covers, Songs, Bond Songs, reviewed in detail here. But we won’t limit ourselves to just the double-O ranks in taking up our spy music theme. Flick’s guitar sound became synonymous with spy music more generally in the 1960s, which means it’s all pretty groovy.

Of course, we have to begin with the Bond theme, this time from Boston’s premier twang band The Weisstronauts. The take is pretty traditional, except when it’s not. Check out the intriguing guitar counterpoint that surfaces early in the tune or the brief Hawaiian guitar flourishes. It’s from the fab wiaiwya Bond songs covers album, A Girl and a Gun. Next up, the inspiration for this spy-themed post, The Outta Sites stunning spy song EP, Shaken Not Stirred: The Secret Agent Sessions. The band offer up covers of classics like “The Man from U.N.C.L.E.” and “You Only Live Twice” as well as more off-the-beaten-track – but still great – material like the “Theme from Our Man Flint,” James Coburn’s satiric take on Bond from 1966. But the price of admission is paid entirely with their “Secret Agent Medley” combining elements of Johnny Rivers’ “Secret Agent Man,” “The James Bond Theme,” “Goldfinger,” and “Live and Let Die.” “Double Agent” is also a treat with its relentless organ-driven sense of panic and excitement. Sticking to the instrumental side of spy music, San Diego’s The Shambles serve up a rare non-vocal track with “A Girl to Kill For,” the b-side to their 1995 single “(We’ve Got a) Groovy Thing” and deep cut on their 1996 album Clouds All Day. The song packs the requisite degree of guitar-driven ominous dread in a concise 2 minute workout.

The Shambles – A Girl to Kill For

Sometimes people like to sing about spies and spying. Like when Starbelly admit to some on-the-side employment in “I Am a Spy,” one of a load of bonus cuts that appear on the 2012 reboot of their 1998 album Lemon Fresh. The song has the cool melodic bite of any of The Odds 1990s material, with the spy guitar shots just an added benefit. Santa Barbara’s The Tearaways tell Bond’s story in musical form on their “James Bond.” The track is a supremely pleasant poprock tune with maximum Bond film-title name-dropping exposition. Now if you want to dig back into more historical spy song treatments, check out Ace Records fantastic collection of 1960s tunes, Come Spy With Us: The Secret Agent Songbook, featuring John Barry, Dusty Springfield, the Supremes, Nancy Sinatra, and many more. As you leave this post and the credits roll, taking us out are The Surf Trio’s “Cocktails with Bond,” basically a languid cocktail interpretation of the Bond theme, from the Exotic Guitars compilation.

Starbelly – I Am a Spy
The Tearaways – James Bond
The Surf Trio – Cocktails with Bond

The Cold War may be over but our nostalgia for the combination of international people of mystery and rumbly guitar lives on. Bond will return, undoubtedly inspiring another wave of cool tunes and covers.

Late September singles

28 Tuesday Sep 2021

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The rush of fall is upon us with nary a wayward summer breeze to distract us. I guess we’ll just have to turn to this rash of singles to get us through. Here are acts old and new, famous and not so well known, in a variety of poprock styles. Something to tickle every fancy.

Besides having an election, Norway is in my newsfeed because Oslo’s I Was a King have got a new album out. Entitled Grand Hotel, the record steers between spare Brydsian folk numbers and good old fashioned Teenage Fanclub guitar pop songs. The latter spirit strongly guides “Song for the Dead,” the obvious stand out single for me. Former Lucksmiths member Mark Monnone’s latest vehicle is Monnone Alone, though he does get help from a rotating cast of musical characters. His latest release Stay Foggy has a looser feel than this previous longplayer, the more raucus Summer of the Mosquito. It hits me with a summer beach party kinda vibe. I love the early 1960s throwback shuffle of “The Silos.” But my feature track is “Pepper Jar” with its lovely low key jangle and subtle vocals hooks. The long wait for a new album from the fabulously talented Bleu is finally over with the arrival of Six Tape. The record brings together songs released over the past year (like the fantastic “I Want to Write You a Symphony”) as well as tunes originally intended for other projects. The end result does not disappoint. Listeners looking for his trademark larger-than-life ELO-meets-Queen reinvented sound, look no further than the wonderfully over the top “Baby By Your Side.” But I’m featuring something from the more subtle side of Bleu, the playfully acoustic-ish “Kid Someday.” Now I know I highlighted The Orion Experience recently but I can’t resist their brand new single, “Lemon Boy.” The song is a cover of indie artist Cavetown but in TOE’s clutches the track becomes a perfect slice of “Teddy Boy” era McCartney, with just a hint of Chumbawumba’s softer acoustic wistfulness, particularly in the combination of male and female voices. It’s a teaser from a promised new album from the band – I can’t wait! Champaign Illinois’ Nectar are often described as pop-punk but I just hear a great bunch of guitars and some beguilingly melodic vocal turns. As a single “Fishy” has a great driving, droney guitar sound, sometimes drifting into Swervedriver territory but then correcting back to some strong hooks in the chorus. Ok, the song was actually a 2020 release but it has been a 2021 experience for me.

The Orion Experience – Lemon Boy

“For a Moment” is the second advance single from Chicago band The Webstirs soon-to-be-released self-titled sixth album. It’s a solid piece of poprock, in line with their glorious past efforts but with a few new twists, like the engaging and original keyboard sound. Despite taking a long break in the middle of their career this song suggest they are back better than ever. Also from Chicago, Dan Rico and I go way back. He was one of the first truly independent artists I wrote about. Then as now I appreciate his artistic dexterity, his ability to mix styles but somehow always remain unmistakably Rico. Over the past year he’s been working up singles for a new album and right now I’m digging “Rose Gold,” a lightly swinging bit of old rock and roll/indie pastiche with slight punky delivery. Sydney Australia’s The Forresters are also working their way towards a new album, dropping singles on a regular basis. “The Tightrope” has all the magical elements this band excels at: plenty of guitar jangle, an endearing Americana vocal style, and those oh so uplifting hooks. I love the spooky ‘ah’ background vocals filling in the sound as well as the late arrival horn section. The Mommyheads are a smart person’s smart band. “Amnesia Collective” from their recent album Age of Isolation is no exception to this rule. Biting social commentary is delivered with a smooth late Beatles pop sheen, melodically buoyant amid carefully calibrated instrumental surprises and a vocal reminiscent of Freddie Mercury in his more subdued playful moods. Boston’s Ward Hayden and the Outliers (formerly Girls, Guns and Glory) sound geographically misplaced, offering up a more southern Americana feel on their releases, like “Nothing to Do (For Real This Time)” from their recent record Free County. There’s more than a little of that 1980s western feel I recall from bands like True West and Rank and File and that’s why I like’em.

Am I only one who hears a bit of Tracy Thorn with Lydia Loveless? There’s something in her heartfelt, urgent delivery that really hits me like Everything but the Girl’s songstress. Check out “Let’s Make Out” to see if I’m on to something or just lost it. This song is also evidence of how labels like ‘alt country’ just don’t capture the exquisite synthesis that is Loveless’ oeuvre.  The recent revival of The Suncharms is confirmed as a undeniably good thing with “Dream of a Time Machine” from their recent LP Distant Lights. It’s all the usual shoe-gazey goodness you’ve come to expect, disciplined by a solid hooky guitar lead line threaded throughout the tune. Nashville’s Keats offer up a bunch of great rollicking rock and roll tunes on The Saturday Night Shocker. My choice selection from the record is “Look At Us Now,” a track that brims with chord changes sounding somewhat like BTO meets Bad Company. Detroit’s Nick Piunti is back with uber cool new single, a driving bit of new wave retro with a vocal that is acid-drenched like Bryan Adams or Tom Cochrane entitled “Heart Inside Your Head.” The keyboards on this baby are outasite, expertly running up against a wall of chugging rhythm guitars. All of which leads me to say, where is the new album? I was into The Vaccines long before they became pandemic cool and they have never failed me. The new album is entitled Back in Love City and I am definitely feeling the love for my choice of single, “Heart Land.” The track is a chord-filled re-declaration of love for all things America, e.g. ‘milkshakes and fries,’ ‘favourite bands and Spiderman,’ ‘Easy Rider and Kerouac,’ etc. Post-Trump America may have some worldwide making up to do but not with this band. With rumbly lead guitar lines and dreamy vocals, this is a 5 star enjoyable single.

The Vaccines – Heart Land

On Rich Arithmetic’s new stand-alone single “You Are Always Right” there so many hints of rock and roll’s glory days, like the very Beatles-y song structure covered over with light jangle and a shoe-gazey folk rock vocal. It’s a sound that a whole lot of 1980s indie artists spent much time imitating. But Rich makes it his own. And check out B-side “Up To You,” it’s pretty sweet too. Jim Basnight has pulled a full album out of his musical bag of tricks, remixing tracks to freshen their appeal. Altogether Makin’ Bacon is 17 tracks full, with plenty of straight-up, unadorned rock and roll. I’m really liking “Ho Chi Minh” with its tasty guitar lead line and unrelenting background vocal ‘ah’s buffeting the lead vocal. The Ruen Brothers sound so retro country meets early rock and roll, except when they don’t. Case in point, recent single “Cookies and Cream” is a full on melody blast, where a contemporary production vibe accents their usual Blue Velvet sonic palate. The single is a bouncy bit of fun, like combining Johnny Rivers with Wham! From London to New Jersey we return to The Front Bottoms who have been drip releasing some singles lately, like the trippy “Voodoo Magic.” It sounds like classic TFB, with a soaring guitar lead line and slick melodic vocal. Somehow I missed the band’s 2020 album, In Sickeness & In Flames – check out the fab “Montgomery Forever” as homework. Dave Nachmanoff and Richard Rossi recently worked together on the superb John Wicks tribute album. Now they’re back at it, collaborating on a new project called Rumble Strip and an accompanying EP, Let’s Roll. As the liner notes suggest, the effort walks a line between Americana and power pop with an easy, well worn confidence. My choice cut is the organ-drenched “Checkin’ Out,” a breezy number with flashes of Dire Straits and pub rock. But frankly, I’m also partial to Rockpile-ish “Adam West” and the amusing vamp that is “Uber Driver.”  Really, the whole EP is a winner.

Ruen Brothers – Cookies and Cream
The Front Bottoms – Voodoo Magic

Twenty tunes to cap off your September. Now you’ve got a playlist to gather those leaves by. Click on the artist names indulge yourself just a little bit more.

Poprock record revival: Steve Rosenbaum, Sorrows, Bruce Moody, and Doublepluspop

10 Friday Sep 2021

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From the 1960s through to the 1980s a lot of young people tried their hand at forming a rock and roll band. Not every act made it. Sometimes they just didn’t have what it takes but more often than not they just couldn’t dedicate their lives to the mission in the obsessed, manic way that is often required to succeed. Here’s how the story typically fizzled out: life intervened, marriage and/or kids happened, and suddenly the landlord/mortgage company demanded a more regular paycheque than rock and roll could provide. Well lately we’ve seen a lot of those deferred rockers making up for lost time, digging out their old recordings, polishing them up and turning them loose in the new, anything-goes internet form of music distribution. And the results are sometimes pretty special. Here we salute just a few of the more notable recent poprock record revivals.

Steve Rosenbaum’s monumental collection Have a Cool Summer! is like a message in a bottle that’s suddenly washed ashore. The album contains 23 songs recorded on his home 4-track between 1979-89 that never saw the light of day at the time. After spinning these tunes a few times all I can say is, what a shame. Get ready for a ‘great lost album’ experience because Rosenbaum’s songs are tight hooky little masterpieces, combining bits of the Raspberries, the Beach Boys and Marshall Crenshaw. Honestly, there are just too many highlights on this record to really sum the total effect. You can drop the needle anywhere and find something delightful. There’s a touch of the Plimsouls on “Tearing Up the Town,” some of that 1965 Beach Boys wistful ennui with “Me Alone,” a slight XTC feel to “72 Days,” and a whole lot of Costello circa Get Happy! in “Candyland” and “Confidential Love.” Then there’s the Marshal Crenshaw vibe on “Turn Out the Light” and “Girl from Seventeen,” neither of which would go amiss on MC’s debut album. I’d also nominate “These Girls Fly By” and “Come On Over” as the obvious should-be hit singles with their rollicking bouncy guitar and strong melodic hooks. Right now Have a Cool Summer! is only available on 8-track, with a digital download included, but come the new year it busts out into new formats. Trust me, it’s worth digging out your old tech for.

The legend of the Sorrows failed second album is right out rock and roll cinema’s central casting. The band’s debut Teenage Heartbreak had wowed fans and critics alike with its muscular power pop sound and sweet sweet melodic hooks. It was like The Plimsouls had joined the revived Searchers. Then early The Who producer Shel Talmy joined up to oversee the band’s second record. What could go wrong? Apparently, everything. When Love Too Late came out in 1981 it was like the original band had been mugged by some AM corporate rock ringers. Talmy had ignored the band’s production ideas and style of playing, indeed replacing most of them with session players on various tracks. End result? The band badmouthed the final product and then broke up. Fast forward forty years and the group has finally managed to reclaim legal control over their songs and performances. But instead of just remixing and tweaking the existing album they’ve produced an almost entirely new recording. Love Too Late, the real album is a shocker. You’d swear it’s the band in their early 1980s heyday, they sound that good. The songs were always great but now they lean into their early 1980s style, with “Love Too Late” matching the manic sound and energy of their then-contemporary rivals The Plimsouls, “Crying” offering a bit of Madness ska, and “Rita” conjuring up memories of the Paul Collins Beat. The Beatles influence is definitely present on “Breaking My Heart” and “It’s Not Love Anymore while the band’s own distinctive dreamy pop instincts define the lovely opening cut “Christabelle” and “So Much Love.” The cover of the Kinks’ “Tired of Waiting For You” is pretty special too. My own choice for single would the exquisitely hooky “What I Used to Know.” Love Too Late, the real album is a revelation, both a time capsule resurrection and contemporary renewal of a truly great band. You’re definitely gonna want this.

Another historic missed opportunity is the collected recorded works from Bruce Moody. Forever Fresh! features 23 cuts from tracks recorded between 1979 and 1986 that either fall into the Nick Lowe bubblegum style he perfected in mid-to-late 1970s or a Phil Seymour power pop register. A few of the songs here did see a contemporary release (on the 1982 EP Fresh Out!) while others were drip released on EPs much later in 2016 (Still Fresh!) and 2018 (Get Fresh!). Forever Fresh! doubles that past output and brings these mostly studio-quality AM radio-friendly poprock tunes all together in one attractively designed and modestly priced package. And the songs! Moody knows how to throw a solid hook into any kind of tune. “This Is It” opens the collection perfectly, a song seemingly caught between a 1970s bubblegum pop and early 1980s new wave vibe. Then “At the Rock Club” is so Nick Lowe circa Jesus of Cool. “Above Suspicion” moves more decidedly into 1980s territory, with shades of Squeeze’s kitchen sink narrative style. And so on – so many great tunes here. Personally, I love the Searchers-ish melodic simplicity on tracks like “Simple Love,” “Right to Know,” “The Closer I Get to You” and “You Do.” Then there’s the occasional departure from Moody’s relentlessly upbeat tone, like the  somewhat ominous melodic turns that appear in the verses to “Find Ourselves” (though the chorus quickly auto-corrects back to punchy positivity). Or check out how Moody builds the jangle-delicious “Gotta Move Away,” with its creative juxtaposition of attack and subtle Beach Boys influences (both in terms of song structure and low-key humour). Both charts and listeners lost out when these songs didn’t get released back in early 1980s. And yet Moody is on to something with his collection title – there really is something ‘forever fresh’ about these concise blasts of innocent poppy goodness.

Here’s another Hollywood happy ending sort of musical story. A band records some tunes but before anything can come of them they break up. Twenty years later a recording engineer at the studio stumbles across the recordings and voila! here is Doublepluspop’s should-have-been 2002 debut album Too Loud, Too Fast, Too Much magically resurrected. Definitely better late than never. The record is equal parts Matthew Sweet/Fountains of Wayne in terms of influences, with tasty guitar hooks and sophisticated melodies galore. Opening cut “Stumbling Back” really sets the tone with a buzzing wall of guitars and a classic FOW guitar solo. “The Dark Inside” has a very Matthew Sweet vocal and some guitar hooks reminiscent of Jackie DeShannon’s “When You Walk in the Room.” Things continue in this vein with more ear wormy tracks like “My Verona,” “Here’s to the Losers” and particularly “Everyone” with its cool vocal harmonies. There are few deviations from the basic script, like “If I Wasn’t In Love,” with its faint echoes of Gordon Lightfoot’s “If You Could Read My Mind” popping up here and there, and the rollicking good time feel of “What a Wonderful Time.” The juiced up cover of Todd Rundgren’s “Couldn’t I Just Tell You” also really works. I’m just gonna say it, Doublepluspop are definitely doubleplusgood.

Stumbling Back
The Dark Inside
If I Wasn’t In Love

In today’s virtual world there is no yesterday, no past, no gone-for-good. It seems everything can be revived if there’s an audience to give it life. Today’s acts definitely deserve a turn on the poprock record revival circuit. Click on the links above to help make their misspent youth pay in the here and now.

Photo credit: Dale Stewart. Physical copies of the new releases from Bruce Moody and Doublepluspop can be ordered from Kool Kat Musik, Big Stir Records for Sorrows, and Dead Media Tapes for an 8-track version of Steve Rosenbaum‘s album.

Life at 45 rpm II

21 Saturday Aug 2021

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For The Smiths guitar slinger Johnny Marr the 45 is a “short burst [that] is going to explain where we’re at, right here and right now” from “artists who are taking that three, four minute moment really seriously.” Forget the album as artist statement – for Marr, the single is where an artist can really say something. He also makes an interesting observation about the class dimensions of the form, arguing that in the sixties and seventies (when 45s were at their peak popularity in the UK) their brightly coloured sleeves and concise musical content served as a kind of working class art for the “young women who were working in Woolworths, and young men who were working in shops and warehouses and bus stations.” It’s in that spirit of love for the 45 that we continue with our second post of fab new late-summer singles.

Franco-American duo Freedom Fry just can’t help themselves. They’d barely gotten their French-language album L’Invitation out the door last April when two EPs of covers followed just one month later and now this summer three more original songs have hit their Bandcamp page. Productive much? Not that I’m complaining. There is always something so fresh and positive about a new Freedom Fry record. Like “Colors,” with its saucy keyboard lick opening and buoyant melody. Let this light and breezy single colour your listening time with a hit of audio sunshine. Another bit of fun pressed into 3 minutes or so comes from the Barenaked Ladies new album, Detour de Force. “Bylaw” is a goofy yet still melodious mediation on a topic I’m fairly certain has largely evaded musical attention up to now. But leave it to BNL to make it sing! The rest of the album is pretty catchy too, particularly the topical “New Disaster.” Indie power pop supergroup The Legal Matters are back with their third album, entitled Chapter Three. On the whole, its another reliably hooky installment in their ongoing musical saga but the song that leaps out at me is “Please Make a Sound.” I love the low-key jangle and the lighter-than-air harmony vocals. Stylistically it really stands out from the rest of the album, underlining how these guys can pull off just about anything. Have you been missing that tight, almost chrome-coated seventies rock and roll sound perfected by Nick Lowe and Dave Edmunds across a series of great albums, both solo and with Rockpile? Well relax, you can get your fix with Geoff Palmer’s new record, Charts and Graphs. Hey, this shouldn’t be news. Palmer’s been acing the Lowe/Edmunds sound for years with his band The Connection. I’m just letting you know he’s done it again. I’m singling out two tracks as my preferred double A-sided 45, “Tomorrow” and “The Apartment Song.” The former comes off like new wave as if the Beach Boys had gone that route in 1979 (instead of doing that disco album) while the latter is a rollicking, hooky stomper (and, as Ralph points out in the comments, a Tom Petty cover). I’ve been on a bit of Los Lobos bender for the past month, really getting to know their Spanish language recordings (e.g. Del Este de Los Angeles and La Pistola y el Corazon). You don’t need to speak Spanish to understand these records are telling you to kick up your heels! For 2021 the party continues on Native Sons with the band covering a host of their favourite radio hits, songs like Buffalo Springfield’s “For What It’s Worth” and the Beach Boys “Sail On, Sailor.” But I’m keen on the album’s only original cut, the title track. It’s a lovely Americana slow dance supported with a beautiful horn section that is all about the band themselves and their relationship to their home town.

The Barenaked Ladies – Bylaw

Is it wrong to like a band’s cast-offs album more than the main release? I mean, don’t misunderstand me, I think Scottish band The Eisenhowers’ third album Judge a Man by the Company He Keeps is a bonny collection of sophisticated tunes. But somehow I’m more drawn to the tracks that didn’t quite make the official album but did get released a few months later on the aptly named Too Much Music. For instance, “Suffer” is lovely lilting poppy tune, a little bit Crowded House, a smattering of Barenaked Ladies. And that’s just the first of many winners that got cut from the main LP but manage to appear here. Dave Strong tries to hide his classic sixties melodic instincts behind a punky veneer but “Little Girl” can’t be denied. This single is a blasting two and half minutes of gloriously amped up poppy fun. B-side “I Would” is pretty cool too. Detroit’s basement pop exemplars The Kickstand Band have been holding out on us. Just one single since 2017 and nary an LP or EP since 2016! Well the wait is over because a double A-sided single is out, “Cube” and “Hey Julianne.” The former is a neat if somewhat ominous low-key number that breaks out melodically briefly – but spectacularly – in the chorus. The latter is a killer should-be hit, in the mould of the band’s amazing synthesis of early 1960s and late 1970s AM radio hits. Those harmonies! Let’s have a new TKB album please. From the northern US to the deep south, The Blips hail from Birmingham Alabama and they deliver that wonderfully messy country rock sound we might associate with Titus Andronicus or the Band. “Inside Out” is the featured single from their self-titled debut LP and I’m loving it. If this style is your thing, I think you will too. Tampa Florida’s The Easy Button have an astonishing collection of 22 tunes out right now for the price for a regular album. The record is Lost On Purpose and it runs the gamut of clever poprock: a bit of Beach Boys, a lot of Fountains of Wayne, and plenty of fun. There are just so many great tunes here but I’ll draw your attention to the playful, generationally-focused “ReRun.” Though I’m more a seventies television guy I know a lot of the name-checked references here.

I came upon Kimon Kirk via a link to a duet he did with Aimee Mann in 2017. So I thought, ok, I’ll bite, let’s check out this guy. There’s wasn’t a lot to find, just a handful of releases since 2009. But what an interesting range of material! Like Mann, there’s a great American songbook feel to some of his stuff, like the cabaret feel to “The Road to No Regret” from 2011’s Songs for Society. Other releases are crazy good guitar poprock like stand alone 2017 single “Powerstroke.” His new record is Altitude and the song I’d single out is “The Girl I Used to Know” which cooks along like a Lindsay Buckingham track with just a tad more enthusiasm in the chorus. Richard Turgeon is back with a seasonally appropriate new EP of cool tunes, Campfire Songs. Once again he mixes a slightly discordant element into otherwise reliably poppy rock tunes. The timely “Goodbye to Summer” has the feel of an uber cool summer single, its cinematic potential fueled by classic sounding guitar embellishments and Turgeon’s own minor key vocal. But I also really like the easygoing rock and roll songbook feel to “Never Good Enough” and “Promised Land.” Chicago’s Kerosene Stars often sound like some 1980s English guitar band (and I like that!) but their new batch of singles seems to mark a new direction for the outfit. Ok, maybe there’s still an English feel to “Where Have You Been?” with its wordy but eloquent lyric delivery, but I like it, and it clips along with a somehow both reserved but still manic tempo. Recently I wrote about Pearl Charles’ eerie 1970s throwback material and that moved someone dropped me a line about Toronto-based Stacey. Wow. Also very 1970s. Like a Tardis time-travel good recreation. Check out “Strange (But I Like It)” from her latest LP Saturn Return. It’s got a minor key feel in places that reminds me of Sniff ‘n’ the Tears “Driver’s Seat” or any mid-period Little River Band. At this point it’s hard to believe that anyone could do anything new with Bob Dylan material, it’s all been covered by so many people and in so many ways. But Australian Emma Swift manages to add a new twist to the Dylan’s classic “Queen Jane Approximately.” With its light jangle and Rumours-era Fleetwood Mac rhythm section feel, the song sounds more like a radio hit than ever. It can be found with a host of other Dylan songs on her just released Blonde on the Tracks album.

Continuing in Dylanesque vein, Brisbane Australia’s Full Power Happy Hour give us a fresh dose of melodious folky-country guitar noodling on “Old Mind of Mind.” The song is the opening cut on their self-titled debut long-player and it combines keen guitar work with an inspired vocal. Heading back to the UK 65MPH anchor their sound with a striking mix of acoustic and electric guitars and tunes that mine a new neo-folk rock sound that I associate with acts like The Fronteers. “Cruel World” is just one of a host of peppy, winning singles the band has put out over the past few months. Rounding things out on this singles extravaganza, a deep cut from the latest album by Toronto band Harkness. The songs on The Occasion run a gamut of styles, featuring unusual instrumental choices and some complicated vocal arrangements. Personally I’m taken with “Tornado” and its solid mid-1980s Brit band mix of moody guitars and vocals.

Well, there it is, another colossal mix of singles, all mini musical manifestos from a wide array of acts. Think of them as ever so brief introductions to people with much more to say. Click the hyperlinks to continue the conversation.

Life at 45 rpm I

18 Wednesday Aug 2021

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If there is someone who understands the power of the 45 rpm single, it’s Smiths’ guitar man Johnny Marr. In an interview with Clash magazine in 2019 he was quoted saying “the seven inch single for me has always held a mystical position because it’s such a brilliant format.” Why? In a word: impact.  For Marr, the single format forces artists to “pack the message, the hooks and everything into a shorter space.” Citing examples like The Beatles “Paperback Writer” or even his own “Panic” Marr argues that with a single “you get pulled into a world for three and a half minutes, exploring art or philosophy …” But, he adds, “it also has to be wildly entertaining.” Here at Poprock Record we couldn’t agree more. In the first of two posts, we explore the magic and concision of some recent glorious 45s.

We get things started with a solid ‘hitting the road’ tune, Dan Israel’s latest single “The Hang of It.” The song has a 1970s FM radio feel with his reliably Dylanesque vocals, Harrisonian pedal steel and party jam band vibe. The lyrics are so of our time: “I’m getting out of the house, I been crazy as a loon, I’ve been quiet as a mouse …” Here here brother. Next we step on the pop punk pedal with Edmonton’s Real Sickies. These guys are graduates of the Ramones school of rock, blasting power chords but always with an accessible melody line threaded in somewhere. “Communications Breakdown” is from their latest long-player, Love is for Lovers, and it’s a breakneck party tune, a surefire get-them-dancing number. The Skullers front man Jack Skuller has returned with a new solo EP, the more somber My Disappearing Act. It has the carefully curated guitar sounds we might associate with his past work but, on the whole, the project is more introspective than his full band work. All five songs here are winners but I’m drawn to “Antibodies (Buy You Time),” with its timely sentiments and a subtle hookiness that reminds me of early Josh Rouse. Slipping down-under for a moment, Adelaide Australia’s Teenage Joans describe their sunny guitar-heavy tunes as juice-box pop punk, a fresh take on the punk-meets-pop genre. Their new EP is Taste of Me and it is definitely a strong sampler of what this duo of teen gals can do. The first single “Something About Being Sixteen” has been getting plenty of attention but personally I think opening cut “Ice Cream” really showcases the breadth of their talent. The punk feel takes a back seat to seductively layered background vocals, droning hooky guitars, and melody accentuated by a lead vocal that reminds me just a bit of The Sundays at times. Another band exuding a strong punky vibe is Friends of Cesar Romero. But punky more in sentiment than sound. The ‘band’ is really just one guy, North Cheyenne/Lakota garage rocker J. Waylon Miller, but you’d never know it from his voluminous bandcamp collection of singles, EPs and albums. Some tracks are driving, noisy sixties garage rock verging on punk. Others draw from the melodic side of the 1960s, more like carefully crafted musical sketches. “Summer Boyfriend” is the Miller’s latest single and it’s a real treat, combining an urgent propulsive energy with melodic hooks worthy of any Mighty Lemon Drops song. B-side “I Just Wanted to See You So Bad” is pretty special too, with a hypnotic drone and catchy guitar line in the chorus. I can’t wait to dig into FCR’s back catalogue.

Oslo Norway’s Beachheads brought out a killer self-titled debut album in 2017. Mixing elements of Weezer with Oasis and Husker Du the album is explosion of guitars and earwormy tunes. But somehow I managed to not write about them. I don’t know what happened as I bought the album and remember thinking it was pretty amazing. Well, suffice to say, check it out. It’s a no brainer purchase. And you can add their brand new single to your shopping as well. “Jupiter” has a slightly more sweet melodic flavour, reminding me a little of the melodies I recall from Et Tu Bruce’s early work. Boston’s Kid Gulliver offer up a stylized old school new wave single with “Stupid Little Girl” from their latest EP Gimme Some Go! The vocals are so reminiscent of a load of early 1980s indie girl groups and girl-led bands. Speaking of old school, the Automatics have something in their DNA that allows them to effortlessly synthesize a host of 1960s influences. It’s there in how the vocals meld with the guitars on their great new single, “Black Velvet Elvis.” This is a should-be hit single. I hear just a hint of Freedy Johnston in the vocals, particularly in the chorus. Santa Monica’s The Popravinas continue to develop their unique blend of poppy Americana on their new single “Do the Creep.” It comes in advance of their new LP Goons West and breaks new ground songwriting-wise for the band, with its sleek guitar lines and rather dark moody aura and lyrics. Pitchfork called Quivers’ “Gutters of Love” an ‘instant anthem,’ the sound of 1980s bedsit indie college rock. I’d have to agree. As the opener to the band’s new album Golden Doubt it’s a marvelous ‘welcome home’ for fans and a hearty ‘hey, hello’ to new listeners. The light jangle, alternating vocals, group singing and soaring choruses are very Grouplove or The Smittens on a particularly tidy day. You’ll come for this single but stay for the rest, for sure.

The Italian rock scene is holding its own these days. We reviewed Vicenza’s Hearts Apart’s recent single “Waste Time” and now the rest of its accompanying EP is out, Number One to No One. The five songs alternate between punk pop and more straight up rock and roll. I’m digging the rollicking “It’s All the Same” with its cheeky guitar licks and hint of Americana in the chorus. Though “Lonely Days” is a pretty close runner up with a vibe reminiscent of The Vaccines. London’s The Speedways have delivered a neat little EP entitled Borrowed and Blue, featuring covers tunes from bands as diverse as Hanoi Rocks, ABBA and Kirsty MacColl. But the track that knocked me over was the cover of Billy Ocean’s 1976 single “Love Really Hurts Without You.” The band really crank the Motown feel, driving the hooks home like The Jam might do. The other covers here are equally inspired, a very fun collection. One look at The Sheepdogs website and you know these guys are heavily into the 1970s. Their music is clearly inspired by the poppy boogie rock of that decade. Being from Canada, they remind me of bands like The Stampeders or even mid-period Chilliwack. Their latest single is “Keep On Loving You” from their No Simple Thing EP and it’s pure AM radio 1974. Its got the swing, its got pumping piano action, its got those guitars with chorus effects that go on for days. Mostly its got that countryfied vocal sound that bands as disparate as the Doobies, the Eagles, and Band went in for in the mid-seventies. Remember Sports are the band formerly known as just Sports. They’re also the band formerly known for ‘basement rock’ but their new LP Like a Stone has come upstairs. The sophistication of the album has drawn comparisons to Sleater Kinney and Rilo Kiley. There’s plenty of variety here but I’ve fastened myself onto the almost Buddy Holly punk title track, “Like a Stone.” There’s an edge to the song that belies but somehow intensifies it melodic content. I’m also partial to the very Rilo “Out Loud” and the country-ish “Odds Are.” Spain is a land full of power pop lovers. One day I plan to go there to see some kick ass Spanish power pop band. Perhaps like Madrid’s Macarrones. The band’s latest album is emblazoned with XX across its low-key cover. But inside is a blistering collection guitar-slashing, very danceable tunes. I’m just going to focus on one that has a bit of a new wave groove and some sweet background vocals, “Más Que Una Idea.”

Wilding’s compilation album Hello My Name Is … is described as ‘folk pop’ but there are more than a few departures from that script on this fabulously diverse collection of his tunes from the past decade. Like “Swipe Right.” A bit of 1960s pop psychedelia, a dab of XTC, even a hint of The Vaccines, it’s a delightful dose of manicured indie poprock. And the other 19 songs are worth checking out too. On their prior records The Mergers sounded like they’d got lost on Merseyside around 1964 and somehow just resurfaced with their setlist intact. But the band is actually from Germany and with their new record Three Apples in an Orange Grove they are striking out for new musical territory as well. They’ve expanded their sound for a broader neo-psychedelia meets Britpop, kinda like Love meets Oasis. You can really hear that hybrid on “Seekin’ for the Light” but I’m more drawn to guitar hook anchoring “Right as Rain.” We wrap up this instalment of Life at 45 rpm with a pair of teen brothers from Ohio who have got their jangle down. As The Laughing Chimes their debut record In This Town is proof these guys know their way around those early REM and Smiths records. The jangle is off the charts and the songwriting is strong. My current fave is “Back to My House.” I love the ways it builds with plinky piano, reverbed-up guitar and vocals that remind me of early Grapes of Wrath.

The Mergers – Right as Rain

Well there you have it, a whole lot of 45s to take in – and there’s more on the way. Needle drop your way through these selections and click on the hyperlinked names of the ones that grab you to learn more.

The top photo is actually of a collection of paintings by Morgan Howell. He paints very large versions of classic rock and roll 45s. You can check out the range of his work here.