Category Archives: Poprock Themepark

Poprock Record’s 25 must-have LPs for 2024

09 Thursday Jan 2025

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Another year, another load of really good albums. Creativity was off the charts in 2024, in both senses unfortunately. But banish despair, here at Poprock Record we make up our own charts, shining light on a deserving collection of should-be stars. Here’s our list of 25 must-have albums from the past year and, trust me, you’ll find plenty of variety within our self-imposed parameters of poppy rock. You’ve got jangle (Ducks Ltd.), gender (Day Dreams) and heartbreak (Tamar Berk). There’s retro (Terry Anderson), metro (Super 8) and fun (Scoopski). We’ve got artists singing in Spanish (Star Trip) and wide variety of accents from the British Isles (the list would be too long). And so much more.

The envelope please, here are Poprock Record’s 25 must have LPs from 2024:

1. Day Dreems Day Dreems
2. Tamar Berk Good Times For a Change
3. Brent Seavers Exhibit B
4. Wesley Fuller All Fuller, No Filler
5. Ducks Ltd. Harm’s Way
6. Aaron Pinto Aaron Pinto
7. Chris Milam Orchid South
8. The Martial Arts In There Like Swimwear
9. The Armoires Octoberland
10. Terry Anderson and the Olympic Ass-Kicking Team Got To Be Strong
11. Star Trip Velocidad
12. Bull Engines of Honey
13. Real Estate Daniel
14. Phil Thornalley Holly Would
15. The Trafalgars About Time
16. Super 8 Retro Metro
17. Be Like Pablo A World Apart
18. Nick Piunti and the Complicated Men Up and Out of It
19. Rich Arithmetic Pushbutton Romance
20. Owen Adamcik Owen Adamcik’s Power Pop Paradise
21. Steve Robinson Window Seat
22. Sergio Ceccanti Mysterious Journey
23. John Larson and the Silver Fields Constellation Prize
24. Scoopski Time is a Thief
25. David Woodard Get It Good

Day Ricardo’s Day Dreems project was groundbreaking in so many ways, lyrically touching on gender, the body, ADHD, oppressive nostalgia and more, while musically mashing up hints of Squeeze, Crowded House and the Beatles into their own distinctive voice. It’s a most worthy choice to sit at #1. But close behind Tamar Berk wowed us with yet another winning collection of introspective yet downright hooky numbers. Brent Seavers, now there’s a guy who knows how to pack an LP full of highly listenable tunes. I mean, he does it again and again. I could go on … and do in the original posts hyperlinked above.

The EP format continues to offer artists a creative outlet that falls somewhere between the noble single and a more herculean long-playing effort. True for some it may amount to little more than a glorified single with additional alternative versions, demos and live cuts (not that I’m complaining). But for others it’s a carefully curated musical statement in its own right. I think our cast of 6 must-have EPs from 2024 lean more in the latter direction:

1. Lo Fi Ho Hum Garage Pop
2. Cliff Hillis and Dennis Schocket Pop, Girls, Etc.
3. Sunken Planes Intersections
4. Shake Some Action! Trip to Yesterday / Chase the Light
5. The Genuine Fakes Extended Play Vol. 1
6. The High Elves Early Works

I deliberately leave legacy artists – i.e. those that gained conventional chart success and still benefit from that or have a major label sponsor – off my yearly lists. They don’t really need any push from me. But I do love a lot of those acts and it is great to see them still putting out solid creative works. So here’s a legacy artist shout out to some notable releases in 2024:

1. JD McPherson Nite Owls
2. The Decemberists As It Ever Was, So It Will Be Again
3. Fastball Sonic Ranch
4. Cast Love is the Call
5. Crowded House Gravity Stairs
6. Nick Lowe and Los  Straitjackets Indoor Safari

I’m a non-recovering Beatlemaniac, it’s true. I’m always on the lookout for some fun and creative riffs on the Fabs. This year Nick Frater blew away the competition with the further development of his Rutles project, a riff on a riff on the Beatles. So meta! Thus our best riff on the Beatles this year is:

Nick Frater Nick Frater presents The Rebutles 1967-70

Last year I singled out The Flashcubes for their amazing Pop Masters album. It was one where they covered a host of new wave era classics with members of the original bands. This year their spin-off band The Half Cubes produced their own version of that project with equally impressive results. You see where this is going. This year’s special award of awesome poprock merit goes to:

The Half-Cubes Pop Treasures

As I wrote in the original review, “Pop Treasures is a monster of a collection” that is ‘lovingly relentless’ in its coverage of 1970s and 1980s hit-makers and indie darlings. It’s a hits package worthy of K-Tel, and that is high praise coming from someone who lived through the seventies. So many great songs here, including our #1 most inventive cover for 2024 “Make You Cry.” Treat yourself, this is a guaranteed good time.

Album fans, the form is in safe hands if the releases from this past year are anything to go by. Sure the kids may not be into them the way their 1960s through 1990s peers were but they’ll have something to dip into when they get older.

Photo of John Baldessari’s art piece ‘Record Collector’ courtesy Thomas Hawk Flikr collection.

Record round-up II

30 Monday Dec 2024

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Back for round two of this year’s year-end record round-up. These misplaced but not forgotten submissions are now getting their due, just before the year times out.

Our first three contributors are not afraid to boost their signal to get the hooks across. Speed Circuit grind out some big chords on their LP Survey the Damage but lurking beneath all the distortion are some fine tunes. Take “Lucky Breaks” as an example. Appearing half way through the record, the song wears its hooks on its sleeve. “Maybe Another Time” even starts with just an acoustic guitar before fattening up the sound with a jangle rock backing. “Emotional Support Dog” perfectly marries the band’s grungy rock vibe with an unerring sense of melody. And then there’s the fab should-be hit single “Swept Away” which hits all the marks with its super-charged guitar hooks and handclaps. At first listen, Vancouver’s Jupiter Motel appear to exude a 1980s guitar rawk feel on their recent self-titled EP, offset by some power pop vocals. The mix of mad guitar riffing and vocal laying all over “Summer Kids” gives you the picture. Then “Fast Forward and Rewind” is more of a pop tune, overlaid with a Blue Oyster Cults sense of guitar menace. By the time we get to “Playing With Ghosts” we now hear a jangle band, effortlessly knocking out an AM radio hit. It’s an effective mix of pop and rawk touches throughout this all-too-brief EP. Moving a bit south Seattle Washington’s Sleeping Bag set the amps back to 11 on Beam Me Up. Opening cut “Jay’s Jam” has a Swervedriver kind of guitar dissonance going on but that gives way to something more stripped back on “Troll 3.” From there the band shifts back and forth, cranking distorted guitar chords on one track and then dropping them out in favour of a more vocal melody focus on the next. For instance, compare the simmering guitar dissonance of “Jokin’” with the laid-back acoustic guitar and chorused-vocal treatment on “Life.” Love the driving, almost propulsive feel of the instrumental “Splish.”

In the presser for the latest John Sally Ride LP Melomaniacs we learn that the album title is a real word meaning ‘an individual with an excessive or abnormal attraction to music.’ These days anyone still trying to make a go of making music (or writing about those who do) would probably fit that description. Taking a gander at the song titles here, this is a serious clever-bunny concept at work. Songwriter John Dunbar has gotten inside the head of every music super fan with lyrics that bring to life Nick Hornby’s characters from his novel High Fidelity. It’s all here – enmity towards bands you don’t love (“The Band I Can’t Stand”), the anticipation for your fave band’s new album (“Their New Album”), the ritual of sitting with the album’s inner sleeve lyrics sheet while listening (“The Lyric Sheet”), as well the omniscient observer shining light on the madness of record collecting (“His Record Collection”). But this isn’t just a gimmick concept because the songs stand up as compositions. “The Only Man She Ever Loved” has a late 1960s ominous pop vibe while “The Lyric Sheet” sounds like it marries the Moody Blues with Squeeze. But my fave is the driving, jaunty pop tune “Music(I/F)an.”

The cover of Pleased to Meet You from Joy Buzzer riffs on the Replacements but what appears on the inside draws strongly from the Beatles playbook. I mean, listen to how the band lean in to some pretty fab group vocals on “You’d Be Surprised.” I will grant that the beat group influence here might reflect more how 1980s indie bands took it up. Tracks like “Jeanette,” “All These Yesterdays” and “You Don’t Even Know My Name” step on the power pop pedal with an emphasis reminiscent of The Tearaways. “Vicki Loves a Garden” reminds me of how artists like Costello or Tilbrook wield Beatles influences. But for something more indie, both “Judy, Judy, Judy” and “Peggy’s House” have that 1980s ambience. Kingdom of Mustang offer up more than a hint of Lennon opening Glad Days with “More Than They Deserve.” From there the Mersey influences are more muted, held in abeyance to serve this great collection of songs. See how title track “Glad Days” throws out a low-key melody with the subtlety of someone like Marshall Crenshaw. “Say Hey to Blue” is an another example of this band’s understated approach to songwriting. Things start out pretty easy going, only to kick up a few gears in the chorus and bridge. “All You’ve Got To Do is Love” is another come-from-behind wonder, sneaking up on you with its winning hooks. On the other hand, “Not the Special Girl” wears its Merseybeat group influences a bit more on its sleeve. With 14 tracks, there’s a lot to love here.

The presser for The Lost Days debut album In the Store describes duo members Tony Molina and Sarah Rose Janko bonding over Bill Fox and the Bryds and you can really hear it on the opening tracks “Gonna Have to Tell You” and “Half the Time” respectively. Jangly DIY could be a shorthand to describe the ten songs here but there’s a sophistication to these deceptively low key and fleeting efforts (eight clock in at less than 90 seconds). Each contribution echoes some bright star of lofi pop, whether Elliott Smith or those acoustic numbers on the Beatles White Album. Or listen to how the duo work up a full band Abbey Road sound on title track “In The Store.” Personally I love the instrumental “Outro” with its Jon Brion keyboards and lovely guitar work. Drew Neely and the Heroes take us in a different direction with their recent long-player Inner State. “Quit Calling Me” is an epic pop romp, flashing a bit of Queen and a very timely sentiment. The song almost seems comic but cast against the rest of the material here it also fits with the album’s more serious themes of alienation and struggle. “Friday Afternoon” captures that moment of freedom from work, despite knowing it’ll be coming back around Monday morning. A lot of the record has an early 1980s soft rock sheen, though tracks often break out bit in the chorus, like “Find My Way Back Home.”

With Eager to Please Munster Germany act Neon Bone channel so many interesting, sometimes seemingly contradictory influences. There’s punk, a raft of 1950s derived song styles, plenty of Ramones for sure, and much more. Sometimes the songs are just classic pop punk ear candy, like “Girl I’m Getting Used to You,” “I Wanna Know,” and “Pull the Other One.” Others put a frenetic energy into what are essentially standard 1950s song structures. I mean, dial down the distortion and “Dreams” could easily be crooned by some brill-creamed heartthrob. It’s there again on “Sometimes” and definitely on the rollicking “Don’t Fall in Love with Her,” the latter taking a classic 1950s song style and punking it up just a little. Yet I think I like the songs where the band don’t quite sound so much like anyone else, as on “But When You’re Alone.” Back to the Bryds and a load of ringing guitars on this year’s LP from The Junior League, Our Broadcast Day. This band takes the influences and makes them their own, as evident on the soaring opening cut “Two Ways to Go.” Part of it is the strength of the songwriting. “Let’s Hear It for the Dead” sets out a country motif but then moves in different directions. “The Whiskey Talking” sounds like an mid-1980s English guitar band. Or check out that alluring low rumble guitar opening “The Me and Them.” Talk about drawing you in. There are departures too, like the soulful, name-dropping piano ballad “1973 Nervous Breakdown.” Love the jangle closer ”This Concludes Our Broadcast Day.”

Have I missed somebody? Absolutely. And for that, apologies to all the great acts I somehow overlooked this year. Just put me on your radar for the coming 365 days.

Top photo is a drawing by Kasiq Jungwoo Lee, a Seoul Korea-based artist, designer and illustrator who has worked extensively in fashion and commercial media projects. This image is taken from their KasiQ Junwoo Flikr collection.

Record round-up I

27 Friday Dec 2024

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In what is increasingly becoming a yearly ritual, I present instalment I of my end-of-year record round-up. Appearing here is no reflection on the quality of the artists. As any given year progresses I collect and file new songs and albums as they come in, juggling themes and ongoing features with some semblance of a regular posting schedule, and invariably a host of great releases fall off my priority pile. So just before the year elapses, here they are, getting their due attention.

Seattle’s power pop kings Shake Some Action returned in 2024 with not one but two fine EPs. Both Trip Into Yesterday and Chase the Light hit their mod marks effortlessly. From the first collection “Doesn’t Matter” stands out as the obvious single with its gorgeous mix of chiming guitars and reverby vocals. Sounding like they’ve time tripped right out of London circa 1966, there’s a touch of Oasis here and there too. From the second EP I could definitely hear Liam belting out “I Don’t Know Where She Goes” and “Chasing Time.” The former track is a pretty majestic romper with killer Rickenbacker lead guitar and winning organ shots. Toronto has a lively guitar rock scene, strongly in evidence on the Motorists LP Touched By the Stuff. You can hear elements of the nineties dissonant poppy rock on album opener “Decider” and “L.O.W.” But at other points you hear the glossy guitar sheen of early 1980s era Cars on tracks like “Barking at the Gates” and “Call Control.” There’s also a touch psych rock here and there, particularly “Forced Perspective” and “Back to the Q.” Single material is definitely “Phone Booth in the Desert of the Mind.” Bit of Jagger in the vocal delivery while the lead guitar just keeps on ringing (in a good way).

So low-key has been the release of the self-titled album from Caddy this year that any hopes it might become  a ‘sleeper’ hit have been swapped for a ‘coma’ status. And that is a shame because this is one solid slab of buzzy guitar melodic rock. Obviously Weezer comes to mind just a few seconds into the opening cut “In a Heartbeat” but I’d expand that to include any of those bands that ride the divide between rawk and power pop, like say Redd Kross. By the way, this song is a masterclass in guitar poprock arrangement. The layering of the guitar parts alone expertly shows how to build sonic depth and dynamic tension. All the songs here are pretty consistent, though “Someone Like You” and “25 Ways” change things up in different ways that say should-be strong radio play. Nottingham’s Sharp Class hit you right between the eyes with their message of righteous class anger on Welcome to the Matinee Show (at the End of the World). The title track opens the show and definitely sets the scene for what is to come – a blistering attack on the complacency of our times. Some songs (like “Ivory Tower”) call out the usual superior subjects while others (“He Who Dares …”) underline the unequal starting line in today’s rat race. “Ordinary People” is the obvious single, ringing out with jangly guitars and a testimony of lived working class experience. There are times when the band threatens to become Jam 2.0, as on “Where I’d Rather Be” and “Fly By Night. Not that I’m complaining. On the other hand, “Lights Out” and “Catch My Breath” change things up stylistically in terms of song structure in solid poprock way.

A lot of Slippers sounds pretty twee lofi. Even when the guitars strike a menacing pose as on album opener “XTC 1000” there’s still a spartan quality to the goings on. “Pretend World” has a whole band treatment but the tune is really just vocals and guitar driving its spare yet charming hooks. So begins the band’s debut LP, So You Like the Slippers? Unassuming yet endearing. Though things are just about to break loose. “On the Line” steps up to an Apples in Stereo intensity, both in performance and stylish melodic hooks. Then “Nice Weather” has a groovy pop swing while “Lock You Out” lets the electric guitar climb higher in the mix with a nice shot of melodica. From there it’s lather, rinse and repeat on that winning formula. The Genuine Fakes have moved in reverse order with their series of EPs. Their new The Genuine Fakes Extended Play Vol. 1 is actually the third one to see daylight but it may just be the best one yet. Just four songs long but what a quartet! “Unhand Me” opens with a residual Beatlesque flourish before breaking out its own distinctive brand of powerpop. “Pay It No Mind” has a 1970s poppy AM hit vibe while “Alarming” slows things down to an Odds kind of hooky pitch. “Follow Me Now” starts off with a rougher edge before coming together with an enriched power pop melody in the chorus. Really, I think I’m ready for a whole album of these guys.

Oversight central this fall? Failing to attend to Nick Piunti and the Complicated Men when their most recent album Up and Out of It first came out last October. What was I thinking? It wasn’t like I didn’t have fair warning with great pre-release singles like “Bottle It” and “Mind Reader.” Digging into the whole package now I can attest that this is one solid listening experience. The tone this time out is a bit more restrained, less Bryan Adams, more Chris Collingswood. “Sea Sick” kicks things off with a solid blast of melodic rock and roll lead guitar, all in the service a good hooky tune. But the album also has a host of toned-down melodic wonders like “Long Way Down.” For worthy departures there’s the entrancing “Eyelids”(nice lead guitar opener) and Jersey rock flavoured “On the Ropes.” I was just sorting my 45s a few months back when I ran across my copy of Seattle band The Heats’1980 single “I Don’t Like Your Face.” I kept it all these years because it’s something special. Further proof can be found in the band’s reunion LP this year, simply self-titled The Heats. Definitely party vibe to opening cuts “I Hope You’re Wrong” and “You Know.” Dancing shoes material, for sure. A lot of this record has that eighties guitar crunch I associate with the early Romantics or Tommy Tutone, e.g. “For You” and “Where’s Your Love.”  Then again, I would agree with Richard over at Power Pop News that there’s a strong Beatlesque quality to so many tunes here, like “She Belongs With Me” and “As If,” the latter some Costello flavour to the mix. So many great tunes here but I’d single out the Marshall Crenshaw-ish “Heartbroken Past” and AM radio ready should be hit “Never Be the Same.”

I didn’t need to look to know that Jim Nothing comes from Australasia, New Zealand to be exact. There really is something to the musical vibe coming from down-under. The band’s presser names a lot of current acts as influences on the new album Grey Eyes, Grey Lynn but what I hear is Paul Kelly. It’s all over the should-be single “Wildflowers,” a song with an opening so big and bold you just have to know where it goes. This is how you reel them in. Album opener “Hourglass” is pretty striking too with its dissonant guitar work. Then “First Bite” lightens the mood with its rollicking pace. “Easter at RSC” has a more SMWRS aura, a bit spacey and languid. Alternatively the album has a few acoustic numbers like “Can’t Find It Now” that bring Darren Hanlon to mind. And there is jangle from “The Present.” In the ‘how did overlook this?’ file the ever debonair Ward White hit us with his latest Here Come the Dowsers last May. The cover art takes me back to those early 1980s Thomas Dolby records, something so English and Hollywood about them. Musically I hear a melange of David Bowie, Bryan Ferry and Dolby, one where White’s voice is the most distinctive instrument on display. But he has something to say with that instrument too. Rarely do pop artists wield historical and literary references as deftly as White, as in evidence on tracks like “Blimp Street.” Some songs are just great melodic compositions like “Slow Sickness.” Title track “Here Come the Dowsers” aces that sophisticated pop sound I associate with ABC. But my fave here is undoubtedly “Our Town.” It slipped into my running playlist over the summer and has remained there ever since. The song has an air of the Beatlesque channeled through Billy Joel’s piano sensibility.

The opening cut to Polite Company’s LP Please Go Wild almost sounds like a remake of a Schoolhouse Rocks number. Almost. “Circulation” captures a 1970s pop sound that extended from infectious commercials to top 10 singles. I mean, no sooner do we get started than we’re hit with a solid single on “No Time Like Tomorrow.” You’ll be humming this one involuntarily before long. From there the record runs through a host of baroque pop confections that could easily fit on the 1970s Cher variety show or the Midnight Special. Personal fave: “Empty Beach.” It’s got a very Difford and Tilbrook sense of lyrical play.

One round-up down, one more to go.

Photo courtesy KasiQ Junwoo Flikr collection.

December’s singles (for everybody)

20 Friday Dec 2024

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This round of singles is obviously riffing on a 1965 Rolling Stones album that was itself a collection of bits and pieces from the band’s early years. So here’s some bits and pieces that have landed in month twelve and need to be shared.

When you’ve been a member of bands like The Stems, The Someloves, and DM3 people are going to have pretty high expectations for your solo efforts. Dom Mariani meets them and then some with a fabulous genre-crossing new single “Jangleland.” It’s power pop with a dash of country and some Bowie thrown in too. Video Age pay tribute to working music retail on their new song “Record Shop.” It’s pleasant pop surfing some great jangly guitar and fun keyboard work. The lyrics are spot on too – I think we’d all be in for those employee discounts! Events take a moodier turn on Cloakroom’s recent 45 “Unbelonging.” Things sound spooky, a bit gloomy even, but the guitar tone is so reverb gorgeous it’s utterly captivating. Sticking with the spooky vibe, The ChrisVandalay Project really set a scene with their latest song “Your Favorite War.” The feel is very Roxy Music or Kate Bush. Rounding out our first five tunes Sharon is Karen almost turn into the punk lane with “I Hate It Here” but the strong melody just refuses to be pushed into the background.

“Walk on Water” started out as a possible Trip Wire song but when Covid intervened it fell off the playlist. Now power pop master Jeff Shelton takes it up with one of his other bands and the results are guitar-shimmery good. Of all his fine musical projects I love The Well Wishers best for their perfect balance of insistent guitar hooks and smooth vocals, fully in evidence here. Oh Momma, I’m loving the tension embedded in your “Ohio All the Time” track. Big and bold guitars meet a sweet vocal mix. Keen to see where this band goes next. New The False Positives single “Long Distance Romance” starts all guitars-ablazing before settling into something more ambling along in Replacements mode. From the start of “Penny” Will Stewart’s vocal puts the country vibe up front but as the reverby guitars kick in the feeling turns more to Tom Petty. With a very nice sibilant lead guitar solo too. Music reviewer Hayley Scott says Autocamper ‘make the everyday gorgeous’ and I’d have to agree. The band’s recent double-sided single is a delightful slab of C86 80s pop. “Blanche” jangles but bustles with busy keyboards too. “Budge” is a bit more doleful in a Rilo Kiley sort of way.

Daisy House main man Doug Hammond returns in the guise of his solo project Vaughn Trapp with a slew of recent songs. “Go Back to Sleep” mines his command of late 1960s baroque pop, a bit of Shocking Blue meets Fifth Dimension. The Bye Bye Blackbirds have a solid recent release with the meandering, soulful “Mending Time.” But somehow I missed their amazing 2022 b-side “Fold Up Your Maps.” The vocal arrangement alone gives this track a hooky rush. The jangly guitars are just a bonus. On “Cherry” the dt’s take a host of classic rock and roll motifs and mash them up with good tune. And there’s some standout organ work in the background. Pierre Englebert returned this fall with another collection of urbane pop songs that manage to traverse multiple genres with ease. “Well, Your Daddy Was Wrong” showcases this talent, combining a “Friends of Mr. Cairo” staginess with some killer melodic turns in the chorus. Vancouver’s Buddie are “Impatient” with a broken world, pointless work, and being stuck for options about what do about it. The tune is short on answers but its dissonant emo/grungy elan certainly makes waiting more worthwhile.

Put members of El Goodo, Los Blancos and Trecco Beis into a new outfit and the results are poppy psych fun. They are the Eggmen Whoooooo! and their debut album Fuzzy Eggs, Please is a party platter from start to finish. Just sample “It’s Just Your Mind” to see what you’re in for. Killer lead guitar lick, check. Groovy organ backing, check. Psychedelic vocals/lyrics, check. Get your dancing shoes off the shelf. Chicano Beatlemaniacs The Krayolas pay tribute to Canadian folk legend Gordon Lightfoot on “Gordon Lightfoot (O Canada Version).” The dynamite Brydsian 12-string electric guitar opener doesn’t really conjure Canada’s dour folk troubadour directly but who am I to cast shade on this winning tribute. Dazy continues to drop great singles at regular intervals. Earlier this fall “Big End” set off Beck alarms for me, and that is a very good thing. Now “I Get Lost” is out, bundled with other great songs, and it’s Beck-ishly good too. Bret Tobias sent me “Butter Valley Malcontent” and shortly thereafter an EP of the same name from his combo The Bret Tobias Set. The package is full of subtle poppy gems but the title track is a slightly higher blast of slow burn power pop.  Kurt Baker knows how to turn the amps up to eleven on his crunchy guitar-centric poprock but only so he can better frame his solid hooky chops. His new song “Inner Demons” has an ear-wormy quality that will settle into your frontal lobe and take up residence for a while.

A new album from Dropkick is always something special despite the familiar sonic themes – jangly guitar, lush vocal harmonies, and a Byrds-meeet-Teenage Fanclub songwriting talent. The new album set for release in the new year is Primary Colours and so far the title track flies the brand flag with a tart impact.

December’s a bit of a rush but not so busy that we can’t sling a load of cool singles your way. Click the links to add to your ‘end of the year’ new discoveries list.

Photo ‘Table Hockey’ courtesy Kevin Dooley Flikr collection.

Jangle all the way

15 Sunday Dec 2024

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Does anybody really know what Christmas is anymore? It’s a mixed-up, muddled-up kind of world out there with uncertainty lurking around every corner. We might as well embrace the ambiguity. To aid that effort we offer up our annual assortment of festive tunes, with an accent on hooks of course. Just hit play to jangle all the way.

To put us into an appropriately other-worldly frame of mind, check out the aliens’ perspective on The Old 97’s contribution to the Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special “I Don’t Know What Christmas Is (But Christmastime is Here).” Maybe they’ve got it all wrong but clearly they are having some serious fun. And it just can’t be Christmas here at Poprock Record without a return to the best holiday song shop on the interweb, Make Like Monkeys. Their latest seasonal album This Way to Christmas would perfectly accompany any wrapping-ripping frenzy on Christmas morning. Opening cut “Christmastime Is Everywhere Tonight” has a Michael Penn/Aimee Mann sheen to its melodic arc.

To get our holiday bearings, we might stop in for some traditional-ish seasonal song fare. Freedom Fry’s “Who’s That Walking On My Rooftop?” sounds so familiar, its theme and choice of instrumentation hitting all the right holiday notes. Stylistically it really reminds me of The Rosebuds and, well, Freedom Fry. For something even more traditional let’s stroll down the carols aisle with super janglers The Grip Weeds. Their take on “Hark the Herald Angels Sing” starts all church choir but hang in there because 30 seconds along the guitars kick in and its definitely ‘jangle all the way’ after that. 3 and Half Minutes or Less put me on to Dreams So Real and their jangleful holiday song “Red Lights (Merry Christmas).” It’s a killer tune and the inspiration for our theme this year. BTW you can’t get more trad at Xmas-time than a country tune so to meet that need Deerheart suitably country things up with their delightful “Sweetest Season.”

Dreams So Real “Red Lights (Merry Christmas)”

Despite the relentless promotional cheer of the season, not everyone can afford to be festive. The James Clarke Institute tell a tale of madcap holiday shopping desperation on “Orange Christmas” with  a Fountains of Wayne-like combo of lyrical cleverness and poprock punch. By contrast, Justin Kline infuses “Merry Christmas Katie” with a spare melody very much in the spirit of Elliott Smith. Ken Simpson’s “The Night We Saw Santa Claus” is something else again, more of a stark portrait of Christmas poverty, played with a suitably shambolic, underwhelming charm. Bringing up the mood we have The Smith Brothers’ power-poppy “Every Day is Like Christmas” declaring they only want their true love’s arrival as a present. The previous three tunes are all nicked from a variety of seasonally-themed collections put together by the Japan-based Powerpop Academy.

Rivaling a lack of money in the lousy Xmas sweepstakes is a lack of love. Yes, some people are getting heartbreak this yuletide season, again. Indie rock veteran Jean Caffeine makes feeling bad sound good on “Another Crying Christmas.” There’s a Chrissie Hynde-like no-nonsense kick to this tune, with a few well placed ‘bah bah bah’s and 12 string lead guitar. On “Here’s to the Lonely” Jared Lekites launches in with an enticing rumbly electric guitar, then adds some pace-setting piano shots amid a swirl of captivating vocals. Who can be down listening to this? Norway’s Sunturns are on Christmas III, yes that’s holiday album number 3. Song topics here range from turtleneck sweaters, new snow, and holiday social drama. “Back in Town” is warning someone that somebody named Klara is back in town and wants them to come around. Sounds holiday ominous. No Wayne are coming off the road and say as much on “This Christmas, I’m Coming Home” but whether that’s a good or bad thing is less unclear.

On the other hand, holidays are seldom all bad. The perennial family band The Cowsills resurfaced in 1990 with a nostalgic seasonal message on “Some Good Years” and a Fairlight synth-enhanced chipper demeanor. I almost included Helen Love and Ricardo Autobahn just for latter name alone but “And the Salvation Army Band Plays” tries to find a light amidst their struggles. Another poignant moment or two of yuletide sentiment can be found all over Ben Folds fabulous new Christmas album Sleigher. You want hope? “We Could Have This” is a duet (featuring Lindsey Craft) where two people wonder if they’re edging toward something special. My gut says yes. All we need now is something classy. I mean, it can’t be holiday glass-clinking time without a ballad cast in the 1950s American songbook style, preferably a duet in the “Baby It’s Cold Outside” mode. Luckily Graham Gouldman tucked one into his recent long-player I Have Notes entitled “A Christmas Affair” with Beth Nielson Chapman. Delightfully sing-along-able and just this side of naughty.

We draw this jangle-fest to a close with a piano rumination (surprisingly) from Gregory Pepper and his Problems. “A Nice Thought” cuts through the myths and materialism to put it out there – there’s no god and we’re all gonna die. So you might as well have a merry happy whatever. That’s our seasonal wish for you.

Photo ‘A Christmas delivery from Santa on the Death Star’ courtesy Kristina Alexanderson Flikr collection.

Babylon Beatles

12 Thursday Dec 2024

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The Beatles influence is like its own musical language, infusing a broad body of genres over the decades. All it takes is a particular guitar part, vocal harmony, or lyrical turn to evoke a distinct period of the band’s musical development. It’s impressive how people take those influences and make them their own in so many ways, despite differences in language and musical style. Today we feature acts with qualities that might be dubbed Beatlesque from around the world.

The most obvious triumph of Beatles influence is how it can transcend language. Beatles songs sung in other languages can retain the magic of the originals. Uruguay’s Los Shakers do a Spanish-language version of “Ticket to Ride” (retitled “Boleto para viajar”) that bristles with pure Merseybeat energy. They were the first among many sixties acts from Latin America covering the Beatles in English, Spanish and Portugese (see Blog de Rock en Mexico for many more). A more recent example is Argentina’s Los Ratones whose 2013 album Beatles En Espanol includes 14 early to mid-career moptop faves including a nicely restrained take on “I Feel Fine.” More recently UK retro power popper Super 8 offered up a version of “I Need You” in a language from the other side of the Pacific – Japanese.

Los Shakers “Boleto para viajar” (“Ticket to Ride”)

There are covers and then there are covers. Erk don’t just cover “It Won’t Be Long” on their LP Erk Plays the Beatles they add a kind of crazed manic energy to it. At other points on the album they change things up completely, for instance, reinventing “Blackbird” as a piano tune. Or for something even more ‘out there’ there’s the laser focus of The Boobles. On their The Pink Album they manage to refocus every Beatles cover on the same particular part of female anatomy, for a good cause. “Milk” is definitely “Help” but with a new lyrical purpose, this time in aid of breast cancer research. Other bands strive to really sound like the Fabs but with their own material. For example A see The Poppermost on their recent Merseylicious “I Don’t Want To Know” single. The Dodos UK go in a very different direction. The band is the creative brainchild of Tolly Gipson who uses AI like some kind of bionic mellotron to craft tunes that are spot-on sixties recreations, all the while producing an amazing parallel universe back-story for his would-be moptops. “Now You Don’t See” alleges to come from the band’s soundtrack to their film Danger! Stylistically it definitely falls into a Help! register, with a touch of The Hollies too.

Another kind of influence is a bit more distant from the originals, simply borrowing the broader musical milieu or sonic palate of the band for creative purposes. Adrian Gerard embodies this approach. His work screams Beatles but his songs are his own. I’m really digging his Sounds Like … Volume 2 album, particularly cuts like “Just Don’t Care” and “For You.” Korean group HOA were working a soft rock seam until they released their I Don’t Know Why EP earlier this year and suddenly were reborn as a full-blown Mersybeat group. The four tracks subtly mine a Beatles ambience here and there but also harken back to Dutch groups like Sunday Sun, particularly on selections like “All My Days” and “Sunday Girl.” More recent singles like “Push Man” step on Fabs pedal a bit harder, conjuring “Taxman” like guitar hooks. Brazilian band Banda AL9 have material that riffs on the mellow side of the Beatles street, vibing numbers like “Do You Want to Know a Secret” and “If I Fell.” But “Eu Quero Navegar” from their 2019 EP Isso É AL9 dials down the Beatle-isms to let their own original pop tune shine on. By contrast, this past year’s stand-alone single “She Calls Me Love” / “Chama de Amor” is pretty earnestly going with the Mersey flow.

Banda AL9 “Eu Quero Navegar”

Great music can break through a host of barriers, be they language or culture or style. No tower of Babel aftermath is going to stop Beatlemaniacs making those links.

Photo courtesy BBDO Düsseldorf, D&AD Awards Winners 2011.

Dance the apocalypso

21 Thursday Nov 2024

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America really is my favourite reality show. Just when you think things can’t get any more ‘out there’ a new season launches and all the rules get broken. In the latest plot development an aging patriarch returns promising to unleash a torrent of personal vengeance and vilification, doled out via social media posts and executive orders. And that’s just the promo reel. As the USA now seemingly embraces its inner apocalypse, we might as well let hell break out musically too. To that end, we present a load of hooky tunes all about mayhem, devilry, and less than optimal outcomes.

To hear some American commentators talk, you’d think the devil himself was running for office. But listening to Paul Gilbert’s “I am Satan” he doesn’t seem so scary. Besides presenting the dark lord as an affable, devil-may-care guy, the tune is hilarious and eminently hummable, vibing goofball rockers like Rupert Holmes, Jonathan Coulton and Weird Al. By way of background, Gilbert is an honest-to-god guitar hero with countless instrumental albums where he pyro-techniques his way through every imaginable songbook. Yet it’s when he sits down to write more accessible pop tunes that I’m gobsmacked. Moving on, Quincy tell us about a “Get Well Card from the Devil” and I get the feeling they just don’t trust the sentiment. Over a boppy track that has a definite Eels-meets-The Kinks vibe to it, the takeaway is some characters talk nice but do nasty so best beware. Then there’s Fireproof Sam and the Networks Stars who turn the camera back on us on “The Devil in your own Detail.” I mean, how much of the ugly in the world may be reflected in our good selves? Or, to put it differently, could we be pushing against the darkness just a little bit more?

Paul Gilbert – I am Satan
Quincy – Get Well Card from the Devil
Fireproof Sam and the Network Stars – The Devil in your own Detail

Next topic: hell. Let’s pause to consider America’s obsession with Manichean good and evil, heaven and hell. At any given moment somebody in America is going to hell, if you can believe all those TV preachers. Canadian band Hollerado give a Great White North take on the situation with a load of ‘sorry’ asides on “Straight to Hell.” By contrast Glaswegians U.S. Highball are less deferential, preferring to just “See You In Hell” at some unspecified future date. Or you could just give in and resign yourself to being “Best Dressed Man in Hell” as Emperor Penguin elect to do. Not a great group of options but if these songs make the soundtrack in hell count me in.

A strong theme in the recent race for glorious leader was disaster. Sure, you’ve got tornadoes ripping up the American south – nothing new there – but now that chaos is being exported to every other corner of the continental USA. I think the Chesterfield Kings “Crazy Days and Wild Nights” effectively captures what may lie ahead. Catch the six-o-clock news for your crazy days update and then lock up your house to steer clear of those wild nights. Looked at positively maybe Greg Ieronimo is right and we’re in for some “Beautiful Disaster.” But my bet is with Cheap Star that things will just be plain old “Disaster.” Both are supremely cool tunes so go ahead and enjoy them as Paris (Texas) is burning.

Another great debate in the headlines is about war: who’s for it and who’s agin it. Despite claims that the new America will down weapons I can’t help but feel the Preoccupied Pipers have got a better grasp on reality with “We Go to War.” It’s just too predictable that when shady characters get desperate flags get waved and somebody’s kids get war fatigues. This can lead to a related development ably sketched out by Beachheads on “Death of a Nation.” There’s something old school UK punk about this tune, at least until the chorus when things get particularly poppy (and I’m lovin’ it). Or, conversely, perhaps The Magnetic Fields are on to something with their alternative history prophecy “The Day the Politicians Died.” I usually have quite a bit of sympathy for people who stand for political office, it’s a thankless job. But I get the sentiment behind this song, particularly in the US where you really have to be millionaire or friends with one to join the politician club.

I want to be an optimist but often I feel The Call called it back in 1984 with their dour cover of Moby Grape’s “The Apocalypse.” Their version is just so moody and dark, perfect for our moment. As they sing “Apocalypse is now, mankind. The time has come to die” we can cue any number of destruction montage sequences.

The Call – Apocalypse

Or maybe not. People could get their act together and pull us back from the abyss. I’m leaving that door open. Luckily there’s plenty more great music to distract me (and you) in the meantime. So let’s get dancing, apocalypso style.

Photo copyright Max Scheler, Hamburg Germany, ‘Fall out shelter for sale,’ Los Angeles 1961, as featured on the James Vaughn Flikr collection.

Fall singles fire barrel

16 Saturday Nov 2024

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As autumn slowly cuts off any hope of retreat to summer we are left with little choice but to spark up some inner warmth, by whatever means necessary. So doff your wool and cotton and get close to our fire of combustible hooky tunes.

This past summer Charleston South Carolina’s Band of Jays came to the defence of your anywhere town with a song dubbed “Bill Murray.” There’s actually a surprising number of songs named for my fave SNL alumnus but few seem to heft a guitar or a hummable melody. By contrast, this track is an ear-pleasing winner with great guitar backing, an easygoing tune, and a nice sentiment. As the lyrics note, maybe Bill Murray doesn’t live in your town but everybody’s got something special going on close to home. Further south New Orleans band Video Age get us “Away from the Castle” with a song from an album of the same name that deploys a mixture of snappy guitar tones and keyboard runs to buffet its super fine vocals. Right next door Birmingham Alabama’s Lolas turn on the power pop charm on “From the Start” with chime-y guitars and shimmery harmony vocals. What a slice of ear candy! Leaving the south for the icy north, Norway’s I Do You Do Karate do not bury the lead on their single “Peanut Carter.” The lead guitar, that is. I love how the main guitar lick just rings out over the pulsing beat of the band. I’d like to count myself as one of many Friends of Cesar Romero, the guy just never lets me down. Check out his latest dance stomper “Quick Wrath,” specifically for how he combines a swamp-worthy bit of lead guitar with some ace power-pop background vocals. Flipside “Her Lipstick Dedication” is a pretty sweet bit of 1962 rocked-up Phil Spector.

Milwaukee, Wisconsin’s Newski is some kind of old soul. He’s got the mellow ‘live and let live’ vibe of a 1960s hippie, with just a touch of punk around the edges. And his sound is littered with bits of vintage sixties and seventies rock and roll motifs that he just throws on like a comfy sweater. His latest in a series of winning singles is “Get It Figured Out” and I love its languid, loping rhythm, especially combined with a spot-on Tom Petty vocal. Weymouth, UK’s Garfield’s Birthday crank up the British beat group sound on the opening cut of their latest album Next Stop Mars. Just listen to the finely-calibrated close-harmony vocals guiding “The Other Side of the Wind.” It’s as if Peter and Gordon had come up with a rock and roll backing. Get ready for some jangle from The Tisburys on their new one-off single “The Anniversaries” and a whole lot more too. There’s some sweet organ and harmony vocals and a tune that will get in your head and refuse to move out. Oakland California’s Hidden Pictures return in full-on country regalia with “Hayward Hall of Justice.” The song leans hard on the pedal steel to set the hard living, hard drinking country scene, with a winning dose of FOW subtle hookiness. London UK’s Ex-Vöid give the people what they want on their new release “Swansea.” Is it folk? Is it indie? I just know it’s effing great. Pairs well with anything from Mary Lou Lord.

Time to crank this party up a bit. Liquid Mike flash their punk vocals and grinding big-guitar sound but that can’t obscure the hooky genius at the centre of “Crop Circles.” Played loud or soft this one’s a winner (but play LOUD for full effect). Seattle’s The Oh Wells work a pop country seam on their latest single “Mad Honey.” Ok, things do get to rocking in the lead guitar break but those vocals are just so pop smooth. Kelowna BC’s Stephen Schijnes is putting out singles so fast I can’t keep up with them. He’s got two recent releases that sound so simple but are ultimately bewitching in their impact. “Carry On (The Way It Has To Be)” contrasts Schijnes Gordon Lightfoot deadpan vocals with a rollicking musical backing while “It’s All About Love” is an anthem made just for our times. Get those children’s choirs ready for this one. Is it just me or is Pony perfectly incarnating Juliana Hatfield on her recent killer single “Freezer”? The guitars, the perfectly calibrated sibilant vocals, the subtle hook driving the song – it’s all wonderfully Hatfield-esque. I mean, she’s doing her own thing for sure but wow. We’ve featured Ottawa native Robby Miller and his tight brand of crunchy poprock a few times but listen to what he’s got going with Danny Young on “Take Me As I Am.” Young adds a Beck-like chameleon vocal style to a monster of a song, particularly in the chorus. Anthemic for sure.

On their new album Studio 3 New York duo Rogers and Butler explore our present hard times over a range of songs – with titles like “Poverty Line,” “Teddy Boys,” and “Poor Little Rich Girl” you quickly get the picture. But give the whole album a listen and you’d swear these two come from York minus the New, so well do they capture a particularly English beat group sound. Here we’ll just feature one of their timely tunes, “Agree to Disagree.” The sentiment is solid but the jangle is outa-sight. Belgian poprock purveyors CMON CMON pick up where they left off, cranking out another slickly produced ear-catching new single “All the Other Kids.” Really, this is one smooth piece of 1980s AM radio should-be hit single-age. Poprock workaholic Richard Turgeon has slowed the pace of his one-man song machine this past year but his new track “I Won’t Cry” shows he’s not losing any of his hooky shine. There are so many endearing melodic twists in this song. Just when you think he’s established the form he throws in another hooky departure. Jared McLoud is all in on Americana on his new album Vacancy. The sound has the emotional resonance of all those fabulous New Jersey acts, great (Springsteen) and small (Soul Engines), particularly on cuts like “A Kind of Love That Will Tear You Apart.” But “Tramp Like Me” and “Hello, My Name is Standing Joke” are pretty sweet too. Mossy Ledge take me back to all those dreamy British guitar bands from the 1980s like The Silencers. Their new song “All You Need To Know” starts off all minor key and doom-pop but then breaks out in the chorus with a bit of melodic sunshine.

Mossy Ledge – All You Need to Know

If anyone sounds like they’re cut from ‘absolute classic entertainer’ cloth it’s Atlanta Georgia’s Mattiel. With a great big voice like Patsy Cline or Neko Case and charisma to match, she could sing the bus schedule and we’d all be glued to our seats. Now she takes on Terri Gibbs’ country chart hit “Somebody’s Knocking” and definitely makes it her own. She adds smoke and a bit of grit to the vocals while the accompaniment is a rich melange of pedal steel, harmonica and delectable guitar work. Side B is a treat too, a cover of Dylan’s “Tonight I’ll Be Staying Here with You.”

Don’t get too close to these sizzling tunes, you’ll singe your dance shoes. Crowd in just close enough to feel their should-be Hot 100 heat.

Photo ‘Campfire Nights’ courtesy Thomas Hawk Flikr collection.

America spins the big wheel

04 Monday Nov 2024

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Election day in the United States this year appears to offer a stark choice between Tweedle-dum and Tweedle-dumber. What I mean is that both parties’ corporate-sponsored candidates really offer little by way of substantive economic relief to the country’s working people. Nevertheless, millions of Americans are going to spin that big wheel of electoral plutocracy, er, I mean democracy, anyway. Regardless of who wins I predict there will be bitterness for many, guaranteed. That’s why we need to crank a carefully curated batch of timely electoral tunes now. Don’t eat your ballot!

We open this election-themed post with The Submarines‘ simple, plaintive, jangly “Vote.” It just seemed apropos. This gem from the band’s 2006 debut Declare a New State! is so hipster-TV-show-montage good it hurts. Like a warm hug shielding you from bad news. Next up, a shameless musical appeal for support from The Stiff Joints urging you to “Vote For Me.” Do we need more Madness-like English Ska with horns aplenty? You bet we do. This gets my vote, for sure.

The Submarines – Vote

People have views on electoral processes, how they work and why they don’t add up to a very good democratic experience. London UK band Project Culture manage to name-check a number of different voting systems as well as bemoan strategic voting on their rollicking onslaught of guitar pop, “Polling Day.” I really didn’t see anyone pulling that off – but they do. John Wesley Harding blows up what typically goes on in American politics on “Hostile Two-Party System” in a protest folk-meets-rockabilly tune. David Hodgman gets a bluesy pop groove going on his talk/sing must-play-every-electoral-cycle classic “Talking Post-Millennial Electoral College Blues.” The song never loses its relevance, unfortunately. The off-Broadway musical Soft Power is not power pop or poprock. But it is just too of-our-present-moment to overlook. The show is a reverse King and I, one where America is exotified rather than some nameless Asian country and actors of Asian descent play everyone, including white characters in white-face. The cast performs “Election Night” as a key song in the show, laying out America’s electoral process – but not quite.

Really though, what are Americans fighting over in this election? If you follow the minutiae of the legislative process you can find a great many important things that should be fueling political debate. But at the headline level the contest is just a slugfest of competing insults. One side decries the ignorance and unsuitability of a former President returning to office while the other plays patriot games about who loves American more. Amy Rigby works up a Brydsian jangle with help from partner Wreckless Eric on “The President Can’t Read,” carefully detailing a litany of Trumpian faults. She’s not wrong but logic and facts won’t reach an audience that has chosen to ‘identify’ with their chosen one. Meanwhile Aaron Lee Tasjan also parses America’s many political travails on “I Love America Better Than You” in his best Tom Petty style but it is the song title that really captures what is going for so many across the U.S.A. With so little to show, money and career-wise, all they’ve really got to hold on to is that tattered, out-of-reach American dream.

Hey America, good luck with that election thing (and whatever chaos comes after). Actually, luck is probably something we’re all gonna need soon.

Photo courtesy Rob Elliott, Swizzle Gallery.

Little monsters night

28 Monday Oct 2024

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It’s nearly time for the annual march of little monsters through your neighbourhood, lusting for candy and mischief in roughly equal measure. It’s an event that begs for an appropriately festive soundtrack. To fill that void, we’ve prepared a little-monsters-night music playlist. We’ve got monsters and ghosts and aliens. And hooks, of course.

Tokyo’s Hazy Sour Cherry get things started with a wonderfully off-kilter, 1950-resonant lurch that animates “Hazy Halloween,” a selection from their freak holiday-themed EP Hazy Horror Party. The verses are a kind of stable chaos but the chorus turns on the melodic hooks. It’s a scene-setter that says ‘hang on, this could be a melodically bumpy thrill ride!’

Halloween has to be the most cinematic holiday, with fright baked in to the slasher, horror, haunted and alien film genres. Fascinations Grand Chorus pay tribute to the slasher-horror flick with their themed album Terror in the Night. “Pandemonium” perfectly captures the 1970s Quinn Martin production values for maximum cheese effect. The reliably holiday perfect punk pop outfit Vista Blue never fail to provide us with relevant releases. They Came Back combines their punk rhythm section with host of killer synth lines (accent on ‘killer’). “Everyday is Halloween” is fueled by some serious keyboard genius while “Haunted House on my Street” is a sweet should-be single. On They Came to Rock The Amplifier Heads work up a fabulous 1950s-meets-aliens movie script but the individual songs have so many wonderful nuances. “They Heard My Radio” has aliens moved by the work of those all-night DJs. And with tunes like these, who can blame them?

Halloween is also a time for instrumentalists to fill the gap in our imaginations with some spooky instrumentalizing. Listening to the Black Flamingos Asbury Park NJ is clearly a spooky place. The band’s recent double-A sided single “Tales from the Crypt” and “Are You Afraid of the Dark” work up the seasonal organ and lead guitar motifs, with holiday-rific effects. By contrast Greg Townson delivers a more Chet Atkins country gentleman vibe on his exquisite single “Hired to Haunt.” That guy is just class personified. For a different twist Poland’s I. Jeziak and The Surfers turn up the b-movie organ on “Mummy Walk” while the festively appropriate Satan’s Pilgrim’s make space on the dance floor with “Monster Surfing Time.”

All things fright night eventually head for the cemetery. Oakland’s The Bye Bye Blackbirds offer up some “Graveyard Tunes” as part of the special, time-limited Timber Trout Spirit release (get your free copy now!). Surprisingly light for a cemetery song but featuring triple B’s reliably hooky vocals. We wrap up this little monsters playlist with a selection from Elefant Records Halloween release Viernes 13 from Nosoträsh entitled “Mi Pequeño Frankenstein.” Dr. Frank’s monster seldom gets such a melody-drenched treatment.

Restock those candy bowls now and, while you’re at it, have this Halloween monster kiddie playlist ready to go. Music doth soothe savage beasts you know.

Top image “Little Monsters” designed by Rob Elliott, Swizzle Studios.