It’s been snowing all day. Pretty, from my vantage point looking out the living room window. But not pleasant when the inevitable shoveling shift must begin. Winter has seriously got its hooks in us up here in North America’s more northern nation and so it seemed only fitting to feature the most winterish hooks on the blog!
These days Norway appears to be a hotbed of amazing poprock acts and Olso’s American Suitcase is no exception. The seasonally titled “Polar Nights” has a cool late 1960s indie vibe, with vocals that sound like a cross between Canned Heat’s Bob Hite and Neil Young, and super chimey guitar work. Who cares if we’re snowed in if this is on the stereo! Moving next door to another great winter nation, Sweden, the aptly named Swedish Polarbears exude a Brydsian aura on their ode to this season, “Winter.” Yes, there is definitely a Teenage Fanclub feel to the tempo and overall rhythm section of the song, producing an inspired performance. Shifting gears (and continents), Los Angeles’ Faded Paper Figures combine techno keyboard, acoustic guitar and breathy vocals on the exquisite “North By North,” a curious and engaging bit of songwriting and performance. Meanwhile on the American east coast, Real Estate frontman Martin Courtney puts an arpeggiated acoustic guitar upfront on the lovely “Northern Highway,” a killer track from his 2015 solo record, Many Moons. Rounding out our selection of melody rich winter tunes is “Wintertime Blues” from the now defunct Dallas band, The Blurries. A loss for sure as their 2011 album Paper Cuts is a wall of melody-drenched poprock. Meanwhile, “Wintertime Blues” has an eerie feel, sort of Moody Blues meets the more poppy side of psych rock.
American Suitcase – Polar NightsThe Blurries – Wintertime Blues
Winter’s on us bad but we can still feel the warmth of the sun listening to a good poprock song. Dial up these artists to get your shot of musical vitamin D.
Back in the eighties my day off usually involved doing a circuit of downtown Vancouver record stores, new and used. Ah, the excitement of new finds! Fast forward to the new millennium and the blogs on my blogroll have largely replaced physical record stores as the places to discover great new tunes. Their year-end, best-of lists are particularly helpful in filling in any great artists I’ve missed (and I miss a lot!). This year I got a lot of great tips from one of the leading powerpop blogs: Absolute Powerpop. He’s not the most prolific blogger – posts tend to come in quarterly installments these days – but what goes up is pretty pure on the quality side of things. Thus today’s tribute, my Absolute Poprock distillation of his site’s influence.
America’s The Cyrkle are often reduced to just one song, the earwormy uber-hit “Red Rubber Ball,” and perhaps “Turn Down Day” if you were really paying attention. Neither of the hits were written by the band, contributing to the view that they were a bit of a record company creation. But they were a real band. They opened live shows for Simon and Garfunkel and the Beatles. They were managed by the Beatles’ Brian Epstein. And they wrote most of their own material, as evident on two stellar albums, Red Rubber Ball and the tragically under-rated Neon, both released in 1966. They also had a sound that was unique. The Cyrkle reflected a distinctly American take on the British invasion influences, particularly with their vocal mix. It’s an influence I think you can hear across a range of great poprock acts today.
The Everly Brothers are part of the DNA of poprock. They didn’t rock like Elvis or Jerry Lee Lewis or Chuck Berry. They were just nice country boys whose vocal harmonies made the world swoon. The Everlys’ influence is all over everything that comes after them, from the Beatles and Crosby, Stills & Nash to Rockpile and the Proclaimers. And it remains a powerful influence on poprock today, as exhibited by today’s selections.
The Cactus Blossoms are brothers Page and Jack who hail from Minneapolis, Minnesota but sound more like Memphis with their eerie, almost reincarnated Everly/Louvin brothers sound. Close your eyes and listen to “You’re Dreaming” and it’s 1958 all over again. This is pure shiver city. “Clown Collector” captures the rollicking ‘party time’ vibe of so many uptempo Everly numbers while “If I Can’t Win” has the aching feel of the Everly’s slower material. Meanwhile “Mississippi” and “Stoplight Kisses” wouldn’t have gone amiss in Patsy Cline’s catalogue. The brothers have a new record on the horizon, Easy Way, featuring a more new wave, Nick Lowe/Dave Edmunds retro sound, sample-able right now on the preview single, “Please Don’t Call Me Crazy.”
I would not have picked Green Day lead vocalist Billie Joe Armstrong or Norah Jones as Everly-philes, but their Everlys tribute album, Foreverly, is full of delightful surprises. The record essentially rerecords the Everly Brothers’ 1958 album, Songs Our Daddy Taught Us and the modern duo manage to add new energy and a bit more swing to the material. The opening cut, “Roving Gambler” is a case in point: a bit more bright on the delivery compared with the Everlys’ more dirge-like performance. Moving to Memphis proper, Motel Mirrors have got a broad set of retro sounds to showcase on their new record. From the Johnny Horton rockabilly of title track “Gotta Lotta Rhythm” to the Elvis-ey quality of “Ooh Las Vegas” the band is firing on some pretty original rock and roll cylinders. But “Meet Me on the Corner” has the jaunty guitar work and hooks reminiscent of the Everly’s early Warner Brothers records.
There’s no immediate election on the horizon but that doesn’t mean we can’t mount the hustings in search of ever greater popular support for poprock! Over the years, our promises have remained the same and we’ve delivered: chiming guitars, heavenly harmonies, seductive melodies, and irresistible hooks. I promise you this: today’s post sees our poprockers taking up political themes but never at the expense of a great song.
I’m not really an album guy. Particularly now in our ‘download-any-song-you-want-era’. I grew up on compilation albums and AM radio. It was all singles, singles singles: a new sound every three minutes. A whole album is just a vinyl horizon for my needle dropping. But I have to say this year I got hooked on more than a few long players. What grabbed me? I could say it was the songwriting, a coherent sonic palette, the performative ingenuity, etc. But hey, who am I kidding? It was mostly the hooks. Fair warning: there is considerable overlap of artists here with my should-be hit singles list (duh) but not entirely. Bottom line: you won’t go wrong putting your cash down on these LPs in toto.
Edging out Daisy House’s fantastic Bon Voyage by a hair, my number one album for 2018 is Aaron Lee Tasjan’s Karma for Cheap. The more I listened to this record, the more I loved the songs and the performances. There is something extraordinary in just how Tasjan combines his elements. He’s got rumbly guitar, he’s got jangly guitar. His vocals run the gamut from Tom Petty-solid to Roy Orbison-aching tenderness. There’s not a weak cut here, but pay special attention to subtle hooky vocal interplay on “Heart Slows Down,” or the driving guitar hook behind “End of the Day,” or the touching “Dream Dreamer.” You won’t steer wrong with his back catalogue either, particularly 2016’s Silver Tears! There is so much I could say about all 20 albums but frankly the music speaks for itself. Click the links to go directly to the band’s bandcamp, Facebook or webpages.
One final word: I had to single out Super 8’s stupendous triple album accomplishment this year for special attention. After a two-decade career in rock and roll that can only be described as cinematic in its litany of seeming breakthroughs, bad luck, record company shenanigans and some bandmate’s bad faith, these albums are a vindication of his resolve to stick with music. Each record is finely crafted portrait of late 1960s summertime sunshine poprock. Your time machine back to 1968 is ready for boarding! Just hit play.
What awaits us in 2019? Well, if 2018 is anything to go by it’s gonna be a year full jangly guitars, blissed out harmony vocals, rocking rhythm sections, and hooks, hooks, hooks. Fads change but these essential elements combined together will always have an audience – thank goodness! On to the business at hand: I love timely themes so today is all about new year’s – in song, of course.
Christmas music gets a bad wrap (pun intended). Some people seem to think that you can take any old song and throw a seasonal reference in and – voila! – holiday classic. Hardly. Every year an ocean of new Christmas songs hit the holiday beach but few have any staying power. There is something inexplicably magical about the combination of tune, sentiment, and bells that maketh music genuinely seasonal. Kinda like if tinsel and marzipan had a soundtrack. Fortunately, there are a few tunesmiths who still understand how to work the formula, with some of the finest featured here on our now annual holiday music post!
Nine. I don’t why or how I settled on that number but my three previous holiday music posts have all featured nine artists. Weird. Well, I’m not one to needlessly buck tradition so here’s nine more … starting with the amazing Lannie Flowers. Flowers is a longtime veteran of the power pop/indie music scene, charming audiences with his consistently Beatlesque melodic hooks. He returns this year with a remixed version of his 2013 holiday release, “Christmas Without You,” a song that nicely combines jangle with just a hint of country. Next up is a very modern take on seasonal themes, namely, that surely Joseph would have had some doubts about just what was going on with Mary and their miracle baby. Only the New Pornographers could pull off such content and they do on “Joseph, Who Understood,” a new holiday, sing-along classic. Proving their recent comeback Good Times! album was no fluke, the Monkees return this year with a whole album of festive music, with a similar crew of indie pop royalty providing the tunes and musical direction. There’s plenty of good stuff here but “The House of Broken Gingerbread” stands out for me as a superior poprock tune, written by celebrated author Michael Chabon and FOW’s Adam Schlesinger. I’m kinda cheating a bit with this next contribution from Gregory Pepper who just released his holiday-themed four song EP Tsundere. I’m treating his effort like a double-A sided effort, but one with four songs. Pepper’s work sounds deceptively simple but melodically and lyrically he’s a master of so many genre styles and a brilliantly funny and smart lyricist. Spend some time with these tunes. Anybody who can song-check both Macca (“Secret Satan”) and the mopey one (“Home Alone”) knows what he’s doing!Lannie Flowers – Christmas Without YouThe New Pornographers – Joseph, Who UnderstoodThe Monkees – The House of Broken Gingerbread
Digging a bit deeper into our Christmas music bag, Pugwash prove they are the deserving inheritors of XTC’s brand of hooky, intelligent indie poprock with “Tinsel and Marzipan,” capped with a darling Irish-accented child at the end! Crossing the water to Liverpool Rob Clarke and the Wooltones Mersey up the Christmas music scene with a whole album of festiveness on Bring Me the Wooltones This Year! It’s a very Beatles-ish collection of serious and not so serious contributions, with new songs and old faves. The double-A single for me would be “Another Wooltones Xmas Record/Santa Claus.” It can’t be a Christmas tune-age roundup without a tender ballad of seasonal longing so now we head a bit north to Glasgow to hear from The Pooches and their simple song of needing to be with someone as the yuletide comes, “Christmas, With You.” Both stark and moving. Super poprock stars Fun. haven’t put out much in terms of albums but they did put out a holiday single shortly after their first album. “Believe in Me” bears all the hallmarks of that band’s winning formula: intriguing change ups in the song structure, toy piano solos, and plenty of hooks of course.Pugwash – Tinsel and MarzipanThe Pooches – Christmas (With You)Fun. – Believe in Me
Wrapping up this year’s holiday blog post (literally this time), something more traditional. Well, sort of. Quiet Company love the holidays and we’ve featured their stellar coverage of the traditional canon before. Now they’re back with a timely release that captures the distemper of the times with Baby It’s Cold War Outside. With song titles like “Merry Christmas, The President is Terrible” and “Alone on Christmas (You’re Going to Die)” the sense of seasonal dread really comes through. But the traditional themes of hope are there too with “Little Drummer Boy” and particularly on their original reworking of “Carol of the Bells/Setting the Trap.”
Time it was that the choice of an album’s single was both a serious artistic and financial decision. Putting out a single meant committing considerable resources to pressing them up and distributing them to radio stations, reviewers, and nightclubs. Today every cut on an album could theoretically be the single, depending on listener downloads and streams. But artists and record companies do still sometimes make a fuss about ‘the single’ as a way of drawing attention to a soon-to-be-released album. Or just as a way of maintaining interest in the product after its initial drop. For me, the single should be an album’s most potent hook vehicle, the song that will have listeners searching out the record for more. And it’s a way for me to highlight some great songs on the blog that just don’t fit anywhere else!
Poprock Record 