Tags
Brad Peterson, Business of Dreams, Foxhall Stacks, Green Buzzard, Hanemoon, Paulusma, Shadow Show, Son Little, The Coolies, The Stroppies
Today’s single file is bulging with digital 45s just itching for an e-spin. There’s a bit blues and rock and roll and, of course, strummy poprock in the rotation.
Melbourne Australia’s The Stroppies give drive to their single “First Time Favourites” on a killer combo of addictive organ runs and jangly guitars. A breezy rush of fun from their 2019 LP Whoosh. Chicago’s one man wunderkind Brad Peterson is back with his trademark easygoing Steve Miller-esque panache on “Keepsakes in the Garbage,” a poppy remake of a track from his time in a full on rock and roll band. Back to Oz with Green Buzzard and I love the variety of guitar sounds on “I Just Don’t Want to Be Alone.” There’s a lovely swinging Primitives kind of joy here, mixing jangle and crunchy lead guitar work with some solid strummy rhythm backing. In the USA’s capitol city Foxhall Stacks crank up the punky elements of power pop on “The Old Me” from last year’s Coming Collapse long player. This baby says ‘dance now’! When I first heard Business of Dreams’ opening cut on Ripe for Anarchy, “Chasing That Feeling,” I could have sworn I was listening to a great lost track from The Silencers’ fantastic 1987 release, A Letter From St. Paul. Band leader Corey Cunningham has nailed the ambience with a song that really does justice to the era yet still sounds timeless.
Dutch melodian Jelle Paulusma defies categorization with “Crying Shame,” at times vibing a strong late 1960s California pop but then effortlessly shifting to 1980s indie poprock flavour. With a killer horn section at the three-quarter mark! On “Yeah I Don’t Know” LA’s The Coolies sounds like Lucinda Williams got herself a rock and roll band and that sound is amazingly good! Super melody-tinged rock and roll, with just a bit of grit in the mix. Berlin delivers some light and frothy acoustic-y Dropkick-like tracks from Hanemoon’s latest record Mammals, particularly the obvious single, “Sunday Afternoon.” The blend of acoustic guitars here are exquisite, with an nice punch in the chorus from the vocals (get the vinyl from Kool Kat Records here). Love how the song fades into an engine idling near the end! Son Little packs subtle but strong melody into his soul sound, kinda like a Sam Cooke-meets-Howlin’ Wolf mash-up. I remember being blown away by the cross-over brilliance of “Cross My Heart” from 2014’s EP Things I Forgot. Now he’s back with another striking single, “Mahalia” from his new album Aloha and it’s a winner! Why am I not surprised the electric Shadow Show hail from Detroit? This kick ass band kick out a jam like the B52’s garaged up to the nines and ready for a dance party. The guitar and vocals on “Things I Do” are so strobe light, mini skirt and somebody go go-ing into the wee hours. Skip the club and just turn this up loud.
What’s a single? 99 cents? A buck and bit? Click on the highlighted band names to check out what these acts have to offer a bit more closely and do your part to keep the new music wheel spinning.
So far, the end of world sounds more like “The Sounds of Silence” than the rumble and destruction of a Simpsons-esque apocalyptic crowd waving torches. But if this is the end of the world, what should our soundtrack sound like? Not the obvious choices, obviously (yes R.E.M., I mean you). At the very least the end of times should give struggling indie artists the spotlight for once.
Shamelessly exploit an emerging health crisis for some weak blog tie-in? Not our style friends. Think of this as a public service, designed to distract you from the impending end of the world as we know it. As someone once said, if we’re going to have to go, we might as well go out singing!
Melody central stands at the junction of pop and rock, with hooky guitar lines and heavenly background vocals to spare. It’s one stop shopping for your melody-coated rock and roll needs. Today’s melody-ers hit the beat with just the right balance between old time inspiration and a contemporary indie elan.
Bandcamp has this ‘if you liked’ feature that runs across the bottom of the page of any artist you might be checking out. I find so many great acts there! Like Chicago’s Batteries Not Included. Just looking at their website live show pics, these guys seem like the ultimate party band to me. Rockin’ together since 1980, sporadically releasing an LP and EP, BNI boast opening for a wide range of classic sixties bands (e.g. Spencer Davis, Lovin’ Spoonful) and more recent indie poprock outfits (e.g. The Smithereens) over the years. Still, while remaining active, they’ve never really broken out big. A quick spin through their latest long player, Hey Hey Hey, is proof their stick-to-it-ness is not misplaced. What fun, happy tunes! “Winning Ticket” shimmers with early Romantics hookyness. “Count on Me” is so early 1960s Buddy Holly meets Bobby Fuller. And then there’s tracks like “Fall for You,” “Bit by Bit,” and “I Knew” which vibe the fresh, crisp melodic rock and roll sound of the Paul Collins’ Beat. This is a no-risk purchase if you’re looking for a hooky no-nonsense poprock record.
Toronto-cum-Brooklyn’s Young Guv has a double album that practically lunges out of the speakers with its raucus, jangly opening cut, “Patterns Prevail,” vibing Teenage Fanclub on speed. Perhaps that’s not surprising as Young Guv’s main man is Ben Cook, sometime leader of punk bands Fucked Up and No Warning. Well, he has taken a turn down the melody mile on this latest release as things start out hooky and just don’t let up from there. “Roll with Me” sounds very uptempo Elliott Smith. Then “Every Flower You Meet” gets a solid Matthew Sweet groove on. “Luv Always” steps on the jangle pedal hard. And so on. Personally, I love the hooky lead guitar line anchoring “Exceptionally Ordinary” – very Primitives – and the Jayhawks aura lingering over “She’s a Fantasy.” The second half of the album turns down the amps and goes a bit pop-soul but remains divine. Guv I & II is available bundled together or sold separately. Is there anything Young Guv’s Ben Cook can’t do?
I can hear all sorts of classic influences on Travel Lanes’ new record ON: Tom Petty, the Replacements, a bit of Elvis Costello and, of course, the Beatles. Indeed, you can hear all those elements permeate the kick off track, “True and Tried.” Then things turn in a slightly different direction with the country, pub rock feel of “Answer My Prayers” and the dynamite pedal steel on “It’s Time.” It’s funny, while Frank Brown writes and sings the songs, there is a strong ‘band’ sound to this record. Songs like “Routine,” “Big Heart,” and “Lover’s Lane” are played with the ease and comfort of a Rockpile-esque sense of boozy togetherness. This is group that really knows how to play and they play together so well. ON is an album listener’s treasure: you’re gonna listen to it again and again.
The Overtures bill themselves as the ‘UK’s finest 60’s tribute act’ and the fact they’ve been hired by the likes Paul McCartney and Elton John kinda backs up their bona fides. But with their new album Once in a World they cast aside the ‘merely a cover band’ label to offer up a raft of original tunes – and the result is brilliant, and not just in the jangle sense of that term (though, yes, it is that too). Frankly, with this band’s back story and image, I was worried that taking a crack at more original material might just produce something that was too derivative. And, hey, the British invasion and Beatles influences are all over this record, for sure. But this album is a winner, chock full of simply great tunes performed by a band with killer chops. Exhibit A: album opener “Till Your Luck Runs Out” has guitar sounds that are very Searchers but in their comeback 1980 new wave guise. Then the obvious should-be hit single arrives with “Once in a World” and it’s a timeless slice of poprock. Seriously, it could 1980s Squeeze (if they’d picked up an electric 12 string!) or it could be any number of great melodic rock tracks released just this last year. Other songs harken back to the 1960s and 1970s: “The Hollow Bells” sounds very Hollies-Bryds-Turtles, “She Belongs to Yesterday” has a lovely, hooky British invasion lead guitar line, “Red Dolls House” could be a great lost Elvis Costello tune, “Find Out What You Mean to Me” is a Cavern-era Beatles workout – I could go on. Really, there are so many highlights on this album, you’re going to want the whole thing. My personal fave is “She Shines a Light” with its seductive lilting hooks. You can pick up a physical copy of the album from the good people at 
Today’s mailbag is brought to you by the letter S. I swear this happened totally by accident! Somehow everyone waiting in the queue had an S name.
Starting in the global south, Argentina’s Super Ratones (translation: Super Mice) are veterans of that country’s rock and roll scene, forming in 1985 and releasing eight albums over their decades-long career, even surviving the loss of founding member and lead singer José Luis Properzi to cancer in 2015. Yet their 2019 release, Carreras de Aviones (translation: Airplane Racing) sees the band back in top form with strong collection poppy rock and roll numbers. Title track “Carreras de Aviones” has all the key elements: a rollicking rhythm salted with strong melodic hooks. That vocal harmonies would be strongly in evidence is not that surprising for a band initially compared to the Beach Boys on their first few recordings and you hear it here on tracks like “Me Gusta La Lluvia” and “Si No Tuvieras Miedo.” On the whole, the album is a great addition to their catalogue. And, by the way, you wouldn’t go wrong dipping into any of the previous seven releases either.
Ok, back to our regular programming … A former member of pop punk pioneers 
Poor Myrtle. She’s only got Muzak® to keep her company through the long shift at work. If only she had access to this great new list of must-have LPs from 2019, helpfully assembled by Poprock Record, she might actually close that Henderson account and get off early. The lesson? You can take an oldies fixation too far. You don’t have to live in the past to love that retro sound. This year’s best-of round up of LPs from 2019 is definitive proof that everything old can be new again!
I really like the variety covered in this list. There’s everything from jangle (4, 11, 15, 25) and country (12) and Dylanesque stylings (21), to keyboard contemporary (8) and acerbic social commentary (10, 23) and straight-up Beatlesque poprock (17, 19). And there’s a lot of sweetness, like Mondello’s impressive 20 year labour of love (18). My number one album, Bombadil’s Beautiful Country, embodies this commitment to diversity. It’s got an overall indie-folk vibe but the songwriting and playing are so sophisticated that somehow the label fails to capture all of what’s going on. Believe me, it’s a 37 minute journey through a myriad of lyrical and musical delights. Close behind at #2 Matthew Milia’s Alone at St. Hugo represents an amazing synthesis of melodic rock influences, from the Beatles (obviously) to the more mellow Fountains of Wayne moments. It’s an tone setter – put it on and drift away! At #3 was #1. Confused? #1 was the name of the debut album from the power pop veterans behind The Brothers Steve and it did not disappoint. The record is like a veritable hit machine. I can only imagine that this was what it was like to get your hands on a new Beatles record in the 1960s: immediately engaging, inventive yet relatable, and with nary a bum track. And I could go on about every entry on this list … but instead just click on the links to go my original posts about the bands and you can judge them for yourself.
2019 had plenty of jangle, hooks, harmonies and melody to spare. From an initial list of over 200 songs I’ve managed to whittle my should-be hit single list to just 50 chart toppers for this year. Man, it was hard. Because I only post music I like this whole exercise is a bit like choosing your favourite child. Well, IMHO, the 50 songs featured here all have a strong earwormy quality to them. But let me know if you agree or disagree! Hit the links below to find each artist as featured in my original blog post this past year.
My vision for 2020 would be for a bit more truth, beauty and justice to come to light. It’s getting harder and harder for working class people to make ends meet, all the while a circus of obscene over-consumption by the 1% of the 1% is shoved down our throats culturally. So why don’t ‘the people’ revolt? Well, there are lots of reasons …
2019 has been a generous year for poprock. So many great songs! And yet here are a few more that I somehow didn’t manage to squeeze in before now.
So many albums to listen to! Welcome to the listening room session II where we carry on distracting you from any holiday malaise that might be afoot with melody, hooks, harmonies and some jangle guitar.
Oslo, Norway’s The Needs is just another example of Nordic superiority. They manage to combine driving guitars with sweet melodies that make you want to jump and sing at the same time. The album is entitled You Need the Needs and truer words were never spoken. The record kicks off with “Summerbore,” a song that blasts out of the gate with the band’s signature driving guitar, coated with a slick vocal that holds back just a bit, creating tension between the vocal and instrumental elements. Next up is the obvious single, “I Regret It,” with its early Rooney-esque demeanor. And so on. There are a cartful of great tunes here: the hooky “I’m Doing Fine,” the more mid-tempo “First to Go,” and the fabulous “Stay at Home Friend” with its crashing guitars and endearing melody. Guitar lovers rejoice! Your needs are answered with this latest Norwegian export.
I agree with Richard Rossi over at 
Bulletproof is album number two for Birmingham, Alabama’s The Lolas for 2019 and there is no evident dilution in the quality of offering the second time around. And that’s pretty impressive because The Lolas is only one of the many musical projects that Tim Boykin is regularly writing for and performing in. Opening cut “Deestroy” sets the tone for the fun to come, sounding like a power pop Ramones with lyrics about wanting to ‘destroy capitalism’ and ‘take away your desolate vision.’ Finally, a ‘peace on earth’ vision I can get behind! Then Boykin goes all Rubber Soul Beatles on us with the delightful “Fall Away” while “Oceans on the Moon” sounds like a great lost Hollies cut to me. But the real news with this record is how political it is compared with earlier releases. Titles like “Stand Up and Fight,” “Stop the War,” and “Gunshot Holes” advertise their sentiments pretty clearly. But others, like “Storm of Silence,” carry a message of worker solidarity and hope that requires more active listening. Going political is a risk for any performer and can go agitprop in a bad way pretty quickly in the wrong hands. But this effort is entirely in good hands with Boykin, who strikes the right balance between message and art. And I love the final cut, a Merseybeat rendition of “L’Internationale” that totally works!
In our one last EP file, here’s a release from 2018 that somehow missed my radar last year from Brooklyn’s Answering Machine – Color TV. Vocalist Samantha Campanile often comes off sounding like a edgier Neko Case meets Jenny Lewis on the epic tunes showcased here like title track “Color TV,” “Tri-State Kids,” and “Save the Date.” Though vocalist J.D. Fetcho also sounds great on backup or lead on tracks like “East of Eden.” The band did release a single in 2019 and “Bad Luck” bodes well for the group’s upcoming debut release due sometime in 2020, almost sounding an indie, slightly punk version of mid-period Fleetwood Mac.
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