Around the dial: Kevin Bowe and the Okemah Prophets, Dolour, Vanity Mirror, and The Midnight Callers

03 Monday Jul 2023

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Turning the radio dial used to be hard work sometimes if you wanted to find that perfect song. But this station has got your hooks if melody-driven rock is what you favour.

Minneapolis native Kevin Bowe has run with some pretty impressive company over the years, working with the likes of The Replacements, Wilco, Freedy Johnston, and many others. His early solo records were often compared to them, filed loosely under a broadly defined ‘Americana’ label. But listening to his new album Half Past Never Bowe shifts into a more commercial 1980s poprock lane I’d compare to work from Rob Fetters, Michael Slawter and Bill Lloyd. Just listen to the magic hit-single worthy melange of sound that is “California Sober.” The sparkling electric guitar lines buffet a smooth vocal melodic hook that just keeps on giving. Then “Put Me Out of Your Misery” eases in slow and easy, only to turn on magnetic hooks in the chorus. The Americana roots are still there, evident with the unmistakeable Tom Petty strut defining “Only Child” and the touching country ballad “Another Word for God.” And there are few stylistic departures, like the dreamy, achingly beautiful great American songbook-ish “I Hate Falling in Love.” But on the whole this record further develops the poppier sound Bowe experimented with on 2018’s Every Part of the Buffalo. Tracks like “Half Past Never,” “If I Was You” and “Hurt Me Beautiful” are straight-up melodic rock and roll of the first order. With Half Past Never Kevin Bowe and the Okemah Prophets have got a winner, a record that turns killer choruses into a kick-up your heels good time.

Dolour‘s Shane Tutmarc is a master of many musical styles but on his new EP Everything I Need they cohere into a distinctive sound. And that’s impressive because the five songs included here range from ear-wormy AM radio singles, to light and sunny pop, to synth-driven hook-traps, to country-tinged poprock. Title track “Everything I Need” kicks things off and sets the tone for the EP. The song begins with some edgy rhythm guitar but quickly morphs into a smooth AM radio-sounding hit. Then “Have I Finally Gone Insane” offers up a delightful dollop of updated sunshine pop. It’s got the light pop cadence of an early seventies Sedaka with McCartney in the producer’s chair. “When the World Stops Ending” has an attention-grabbing opening synth that just keeps returning to reel you in to a song with a Naked Eyes mellifluous melody. Things go a bit pop soul on “Moves Like Miyagi” in a very in Hall and Oates way, though Phil Thornalley has also been working this seam more recently. Album closer “The Comeback Kid” sounds like a super-charged Cactus Blossoms. The tune is pure poprock but the vocals give it a country tinge. In an interview with Sweet Sweet Music Blog Tutmarc tells us Everything I Need is really just half of a new album coming out later this year. I guess that means I don’t quite have everything I need yet.

The Electric Looking Glass members have a new project that takes their retro vibes in a slightly different direction. Basically, if their old band was Haight Ashbury then the new Vanity Mirror is more swinging London. On their debut record Puff the musical atmosphere shifts between late sixties Kinks and Moodies to early seventies solo McCartney and Emitt Rhodes. Opening cut “(I First Saw You There on) Tinpot Lane” sounds like something released on the sixties era Pye records. The keyboards and electric guitar have a brilliant brittleness while the vocals ooze baroque ambience. By contrast, early single “Tuesday News” is more Badfinger at Abbey Road. I hear Ray Davies listening to “Girl Feeding a Swan,” a whole lot of early solo McCartney on “Somehow You Know,” and a definite 1970s Lennon feel infusing “Look at the Clouds.” Meanwhile “Talking Walkie-Talkie Rice Krispies Blues” hits all the psych pop marks. Not everything here is time tripping though. “Dandelion Wish” could easily fit onto any recent Mo Troper album. Vanity Mirror look and sound like a yesterday you can still love today.

The 1970s had more than few over-the-top rock and roll moments where rough lead guitar riffs combined with a show tunes-like vocal precision. You can hear it from Alice Cooper in his poppier moments, Queen and Meatloaf obviously, and ELO when you wanted to meld classical and rock elements. But beneath it all were just great, feel-good rock songs. The Midnight Callers ace this challenging formula on their new LP Rattled Humming Heart. There are so many strong songs here but I’m going to point you right to the should-be monster hit single. “Girl on the Run” is a majestic rush of classic rock hooks right out of the Tom Petty or Bruce Springsteen playbook. The jangly lead guitar runs bristle with pent up energy, the rhythm section shifts between strutting and breaking wide open, while the vocals alternate tenderness with desperation. Really, I’ve worn out the replay button on this one. Another track ringing the hit singles bell is “Baby Let Me Be.” What a perfect balance between deep rock guitar riffing and a heavenly vocal arrangement. “What Goes Around” does something similar, though here the blasting guitar chords and lead lines are disciplined by a wall of harmony vocals. 1970s musical shout outs are all over this record: a glam rock groove defining “New York Tramp,” some Thin Lizzy on “Step,” an echo of Queen or ELO on “Without Ya,” and even an updated early Beatles vibe on “The Plan.” And then “Maggie” changes things up with a more poppy acoustic ballad. Good thing it’s summer because Rattled Humming Heart really should be your go-to party record.

Girl on the Run

Radio may not be the heart of rock and roll anymore but here the should-be hits just keep on coming. Follow the links above to dive deeper into these recommended playlist additions.

Photo courtesy of Joe Haupt Flikr collection.

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

29 Thursday Jun 2023

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

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

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

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

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

Photo courtesy Mark Amsterdam Flikr collection.

Having a queer time with The Ballet

22 Thursday Jun 2023

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Any day of the week, any time of the year, somebody somewhere is discovering the world is decidedly queer place. And where do they turn to get their bearings about our unevenly queer world? Music has often done the heavy lifting here. With Connie Francis or Donna Summer or Madonna ringing in their ears countless small town boys have long stumbled through dusty downtown bus stations searching for someplace where there isn’t any trouble. If only they’d had access to The Ballet’s superb album catalogue. This NYC duo offer up five LPs that act like an auditory orientation to the contemporary gay male scene. Curious about gay bars, rough trade, bath houses, and daddy fixations? The Ballet might just be the niche queer musical act you’ve been looking for.

The obvious musical reference points for this band are primarily The Magnetic Fields, with perhaps a dash of the Hidden Cameras, the Pet Shop Boys and The Smittens here and there. Their 2006 debut album Mattachine! name-checks the legendary 1950s American homophile organization and remains their most stylistically diverse offering, placing the band’s distinctive keyboard attack in a variety of indie poprock settings. Subsequent records, particularly 2009’s The Bear Life and 2013’s I Blame Society, are cast in a more distinctive musical tenor, leaning into the keys. The subject matter, meanwhile, is gay, gay, gay. Songs cover topics like boyfriends (“Cheating on Your Boyfriend” “Your Boyfriend” “Two Boyfriends”), relationship shortcuts (“Rough Trade” “Married Man”), subcultural identities (“But I’m a Top” “Daddy’s Boy” “CumDumpMike”), and various gay locales (“First Time in a Gay Bar” “At the Bathhouse”). Really though, everything by these guys is wonderfully drenched in queer sentiment and experience. “Looking” from 2019’s Matchy Matchy effortlessly captures our Grindr-era bloodless information exchange approach to hooking up. Or from the same record there’s a clearheaded rumination on boyfriend obsession on “Your Boyfriend.” The duo’s just released 2023 album Daddy Issues has worked all these various elements – the club keyboards, the indie pop hooks, the hushed in-your-ear vocals – into a finely sculpted art form. It’s truly a remarkable long-player as you rarely get coverage of drugs, daddys, married men, bathhouses and dancing all on one record.

You can start your lessons with The Ballet just about anywhere. All the albums offer great gay content set to fine indie pop tunes. I’ve pulled out a song from each record just to get you started but the tunes left behind are just itching to be heard. Don’t flake on them.

It doesn’t need to be Pride season to enjoy The Ballet. You’ll want to enjoy this queer content all year long.

Photo courtesy Ryan Khatam Flikr collection.

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

18 Sunday Jun 2023

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

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

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

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

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

Photo courtesy Anonymous Account on Flikr.

Jangle Thursday: The Jangles and The Jangle Band

15 Thursday Jun 2023

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It’s time to put the jangle up front on jangle Thursday. And it doesn’t get any more front and centre than with these two jingle-jangle exemplars. Whether down home or down under, these bands know what to do with a bit of dynamic range compression and 12 string guitars.

The opening cut of Lynchberg Virginia’s The Jangles only LP Pioneer radiates Monkees energy. “The Things I’m Sorry For” has got the jump-style lead guitar jangle and a Nesmithian vocal delivery. But from there the band demonstrate command of a broad range of late 1950s to mid-1960s rock and roll styles. For instance, check out how “I Won’t Shed a Tear” nails a mid-1960s British beat group sound. Follow-up EP Little Island Love is less jangly than 1950s Buddy Holly country-ish poprock, e.g. “Maybe I’m In Love.” Since then the band has opted to just release a stream of singles. “Pea Island” is a languid guitar surf instrumental. You can practically hear the surf breaking on the sand. Then “Here Without You” takes us back into solid Bryds territory with a cover the lightens the song’s dark mood. Both the jangle and vocals are arranged slightly differently and the effect is refreshing. Recent release “Helping Hands” heads back to the British beat group jangle. Then there’s “My Love Is Gone” which sounds like something the Quarryman would have been banging out at the Woolton Parish Church Festival. Needle-dropping through this bevy of recent stand-alone singles you can really hear how this duo are having a great time shifting styles like some people change their clothes. I’m sure a new album can’t be far off.

Perth Australia’s The Jangle Band started as a spontaneous side project for a group of local indie rock veterans from the 1980s who’d come together for a reunion of one of their old bands. A few one-off singles eventually led to the release of an album and an EP but the members commitment to the whole exercise seemed a bit tentative. And that’s a shame because their collection of recordings are pretty special. The debut single “Kill the Lovers” came out in 2015, kicking things off in fine Byrds fashion. Really, I thought this was a cover of something from Mr. Tambourine Man. B-side “This Soul Is Not For Sale” has got more of the good same delicious jangle guitar. A year later the album Edge of a Dream collected various singles together and added new material that expanded the band’s sound, with songs like “Perth” and “It Won’t Break” exuding a more contemporary Teenage Fanclub vibe. In 2018 the band teased us with another single, the sunshine poppy jangler “The Guy Who Used to Care.” After promising a new LP 2020 saw the release of an EP instead, The Metro Hotel. It sparkles with some truly great cuts. “So Long” has got a Big Star shine, the jangle a bit more subdued to make room for the wall of harmony vocals. Then “Metro Hotel” takes things back to a Brydsian register while “Dusk Till Dawn” is more R.E.M.

You know it’s gonna be jangle good when it’s right there in the name. Visit today’s jangle bands online for an even bigger dose of trebly guitars and harmony vocals.

Photo credit: fragment from the cover art for The Jangle Band’s debut single designed by Tess Kelly.

Sunshine singles

11 Sunday Jun 2023

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

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

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

Quinton Flynn – Hey Girl

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

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

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

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

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

Banner photo courtesy Joe Haupt Flikr page.

Ever present past: Super 8 and JSR

07 Wednesday Jun 2023

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The past is always with us. Reflections of it glimmer here and there, bouncing off every bit of today’s popular culture. At its worst, it’s just cheap nostalgia. But at its best it combines yesterday with today, helping to keep us linked to what went before. Today’s acts are masters at bringing the past into the present in new and interesting ways.

Poprock workaholic Super 8 is back with a whole new album of sixties-reminiscent musical treats on Hoopla. His specialty is psychedelic pop with Kinks and Beach Boys shadings and this installment is more of the good same. Though this time around I hear a more pronounced Beatles influence on the material. Opening cut “All My Friends” gives us a very baroque start, like the Stones “You Can’t Get Always What You Want” when they opened with a choir and then segued to the band, though this time it’s strings. Substance-wise, the song eloquently speaks to the moment we’ve all been living through. Then “Susan’s Revolving” offers up a very special collaboration. The track is developed from a song sketch by Andy Partridge so the XTC elements are obvious. But this version further develops the sixties influences embedded in Partridge’s work, drawing particularly from the psychedelic Beatles era. Solo Fabs influences can also be heard on “All My Worries” which echoes an early solo Lennon vibe, particularly the dominant role for the piano. There are departures, like the Ben Folds-like whimsy fueling the light and uplifting “Not Like the Rest” and the buoyant lilt to “Love Ya.” Other sixties influences include the Band on “Be My Yoko” and “Our Town” or the Byrds on “Moments in Time” and “The Hangman’s Daughter.” Then there’s my fave “Out of My Head.” This one has got such subtle melodic hooks amid a delicate swirl of backward masking and a Turtles-worthy background vocals arrangement. Hoopla really is a soundtrack for fun. One play will put an extra spring in your step and bring on irrepressible smiles. Who knows multiple plays might do.

John Sally Ride leader John Dunbar has a fascinating concept album out under the moniker JSR entitled The Other Women. The song titles might seem familiar, featuring gals named Ronda, Sheena, Emily, Rosie and Renee, among others. The back story on this project is that Dunbar decided to take the heroines from a host of old classic hit singles but reimagine their stories. In this universe it’s “Run Away Renee,” “Go to Sleep Little Susie,” “Sheena is a Prog Rocker,” and “Alone Comes Mary.” You get the picture. The songs are not rewrites but wholly new compositions simply inspired by the originals and taken in new directions. The results are reliably Dunbar-delightful, a supremely pleasant collection of tunes in the Tilbrook, Costello and Lowe song-writing tradition. Though I must confess I’m drawn to what would amount to side 2 of the record (tracks 6-10). “All the Girls Hate Alice” works the minor chords with a painter’s detail brush. “Go to Sleep Little Susie” has a hypnotic grace, balancing striking lead guitar strokes with exquisite harmony vocals. “See Emily Work” melds XTC and Squeeze vibes effortlessly. “Alone Comes Mary” closes out the album with a beautiful mournful lament. The Other Women draws from the past but only to get Dunbar’s creativity going – the end product is something new and original.

Past and present, why choose? Today’s acts let you bring yesterday’s musical inspiration into the present. Check them out before tomorrow comes to confuse the whole issue.

Should be a hit single – The Summertimes “Inside”

02 Friday Jun 2023

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Just in time to be seasonally appropriate Australia’s The Summertimes offer us a delicious slice of jangly power pop with “Inside.” There’s an interesting juxtaposition of vocals and instrumentation on this 45, the former coming in loose and somewhat jocular (very Hoodoo Gurus) while the band flashes a tight guitar brilliance worthy of The Wrecking Crew on those great Monkees recordings or Squeeze in Argy Bargy mode. The lead guitar has a propulsive driving quality, shifting the feel and pacing of the song, with some superb instrumental break-outs. Sometimes it’s just a great rhythm guitar crash that shakes things up. So far The Summertimes have come up with just two singles, the afore-reviewed “Inside” and the super surf anthem “The Perfect Wave.” The latter features a spot-on bit of cool Yardbirds-like background vocals. Despite the spare catalogue, this band are hardly newbies. They’re actually a bit of a Ozzie supergroup, bringing together members who’ve played with Tumbleweed, Icehouse, Even, The Church, Paul Kelly and many more. There are hints that an imminent full album release is on the way and that is very good news.

Switch your seasonal music meter to summer with these fab two singles from The Summertimes, available here. You’ll be glad you did.

Catching up with Hidden Pictures, Liquid Mike and Frank Bango

28 Sunday May 2023

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Often I stumble across a new artist with a significant back catalogue of material and it’s hard to know where to start. Obviously the new stuff is their latest headline and priority. But the historian in me can’t help but want to play a little catch up with their musical pasts.

Profiling Hidden Pictures would be a challenge. We go from the acoustic folk/country of the 2008 debut Hidden Pictures (s/t) to a distinct vein of acoustic pop whimsey on so many albums, EPs and one-off singles that follow. And yet the band’s light touch can give way to more ambitious aural outbursts on tunes like “Where Does the Story Go?” “Sister Wife” and the rocking “Girls Like.” Comparisons to FOW abound. You can definitely hear the vocal kinship with Chris Collingwood on “Match Play” from the debut. But 2010 stand-alone single “Whitney Houston” is something different again, very *repeat repeat in its use of synth and razor sharp vocal harmonies. Three more albums followed in quick succession, 2011’s Synchronized Sleeping, 2012’s Rainbow Records, and 2014’s Ottomans, and they too pack a host of surprises. I’d single out at least one from each (in order) as particularly stellar: “It’s My Fantasy (It’s Not Your Fantasy),” “Say Hello to Darkuary” and “Firm Way to Say Goodbye.” But this undersells the proceedings. Each album is its own little cornucopia of inventive poprock songwriting. A great place to get caught up is with the band’s amazing 30 song compilation, The Hidden Pictures Anthology. So many superior cuts here, from the Squeeze-like “Ottomans” to the more hard-hitting FOW-vibing “Stealing the Tapes” to the Magnetic Fields-reminiscent “Endless Summer.” Oops, the latter two don’t actually appear on that collection. Thus you will have to supplement your Anthology with a few one-off song purchases, even if you not a completist. Personally, I wouldn’t pass over 20022 b-side “Only Memories.” It’s a real gem.

On their recently released album S/T or self-titled Marquette Michigan’s Liquid Mike let loose the power pop gods. Previous releases hinted at this development but never with this kind of sustained focus. And that’s saying something because 2021’s Stuntman and 2022’s A Beer Can and a Bouquet are hella-good records. “BLC” open things with grinding guitars and an uber smooth vocal melody riding over everything. The lead guitar carries a bit more of the melodic heft on “God Bless the World” and “Built 4 Nothing Good.” Listening to the album, it’s hard not to name-check the obvious comparators to what’s going on here, people like Matthew Sweet, early Fountains of Wayne, Weezer, etc. I love that nearly everything here clocks in at 2 minutes or less. “American Record” is the obvious single. Stepping back an album, you can’t miss “I’ll Get Back to You” and “God’s Best Substitute” from A Beer Can and a Bouquet. To get a sense of the band’s more punky roots, give the debut LP Stuntman a spin. It’s somewhat more rough-hewn but often pretty melodic smooth too. Check out “The Branch,” “T+T,” and “Big Fish” to get the full effect. “Thrifty Car Rental” doesn’t appear on any album but it should be added to your collection as well.

Frank Bango arrived in the 1990s very much in the thick of a poppy clever songsters generation. The quirky melodic turns and idiosyncratic lyrics of his 1994 debut I Set Myself on Fire Today fit right in with contributions from the likes of Mark Everett in his ‘E’ guise, Peter Case going solo, or Martin Luther Lennon. “Today I Quit the Band Mom” sounds like A Man Called E deep cut while “Get Yourself Buried” and “Lucky Suit” are solid singles material. Four years later Fugitive Girls fattened up the sound and showcased the increasing strength of Bango’s song-writing partnership with lyricist Richy Vesecky. “Candy Bar Killer” has got that languid Marshall Crenshaw pop splendour while “Ape” vibes M.L. Lennon to me. One listen to “Olivia 101” and the constant Costello comparisons from reviewers start to make sense. Don’t miss “Instamatic” btw, it’s got a real Rubber Soul invocation. Bango’s next two albums are excursions into whimsy and more somber reflections, often with a folky edge but never without a few really stand-out tracks like “Are You Now or Have You Ever Been” or “The Ugly Version” from 2002’s The Unstudied Sea and “I Saw the Size of the World” from 2008’s The Sweet Songs of Decay. And then Bango dropped a masterpiece, 2013’s Touchy/Feely. The record sounds taut, honed and melodically calibrated to please. There are just so many great tunes here: “Defenseless,” “Too Lazy To Love You, ” “What Kind of Saturday,” “Astronaut I’m Not,” and so on. The record manages to meld an updated Brill Building sound with a charm-schooled Costello lyrical intensity.  From there it’s been a long wait for Bango’s brand new The Truth Fox, just out last month. The acoustic guitar moves up front on this release in a “Norwegian Wood” register while the song-writing reminds me of Mike Viola’s distinctive style. This is a record of tender – sometimes brutal – introspection. “I Don’t Know Anyone Here” and “I Never Thought of You That Way” are stark and vulnerable and moving. But the hooks are here too on tracks like “Two Rubies.” Late period Bango shows no sign of letting up on the sonic and lyrical brilliance.

It used to be that records were disposable, here today forgotten tomorrow. But now they string together like a resume that fans can take in all at once or bit by bit, whenever they come across them. Getting all caught up was never so easy.

Image courtesy James Vaughhn Flikr page.

Hey Buddie

24 Wednesday May 2023

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Back in 2020 I ran across Philadelphia band Buddie’s debut long-player Diving. Loved it! Put it on to the to-be-reviewed pile … Then 2022 nearly expired and a new Buddie release came out, an EP entitled Transplant. Hm, I still hadn’t reviewed the first album yet. Oh well, I’ll put them together in one big Buddie blowout, I thought. Now Buddie’s second album Agitator is here and no more excuses people, it’s time for a Buddie-polooza!

The essential element of Buddie is songwriter, singer, guitar player Daniel Forrest. He doesn’t do everything, collaborating with a host of people to create and play the songs, but he’s the constant in the band’s story, stretching back to their promising early single “Vivacious Crush” to a location shift from Philly to Vancouver, B.C. as home base. The early EP 2019’s Change of Scenery and LP 2020’s Diving lean into a nineties dissonant rock style, though I agree with I Don’t Hear a Single that there are Rush notes tucked in all over. For instance, “Selva” from Change of Scenery has got that Rush bustle of noise and energy. And yet like Weezer the drone is often leavened with a lightness, particularly the vocals on tracks like “In Aquamarine” from Diving. Personally I find “Seeker” that album’s stand out track with its rippling guitar lines and Shins-like vocal delivery. Things lighten up considerably on 2022’s EP Transplant. There’s still grungy rhythm guitar but it’s not the anchor here. “Take What’s Left” almost sounds like a totally different band. Yet what I think we’re hearing here is a band really coming into its own.

All this brings us to the Buddie’s new album Agitator. It’s a juggernaut of all the elements that marked out those earlier recordings as promising. There’s plenty of dissonant guitar and subtle melody, delivered with more confidence and command of the style the band is going for. Influence-wise, I hear a lot of Rogue Wave on this album, on tracks like “Class Warfare” and “We’ll Never Break,” as well as Weezer on “Game of Global Consequences” and “Worried.” Should-be hit single for me is “Way Up” with an intoxicating guitar riff that pulls you in like a gravity well, keeping you in its orbit. Other album highlights include “Move On” with its fist pumping declarative energy while “Ugly in the End” is the obverse, a dark truth-telling drone. The poppy delight of “Labyrinth” does offer a late album respite, though lyrically it’s a hard hitting as anything else on the album. Agitator should get you stirred up, its eleven tracks are perfect 90s dissonant melodic rock reinvented for the new millennium.

Looking for a new friend? Someone a bit moody, political, but with flashes of melodic bliss and fun? I’ve got a Buddie … and you can find them here.