It’s been a long time since Seattle’s Ransom and the Subset’s last album release – you’ve got to go back to 2014’s No Time to Lose. And I was late to that party, only catching on to the band in 2017. But I am on top of the latest band news, their brand new single is “Perfect Crime.” This song has got a textured pop goodness baked into its DNA, making all the various musical adornments just more ear candy. From the opening that jumps right in, to the drop-out quiet build-up in the verses, to the alluring ‘bah de bah’s in the chorus that draw you in, this song is a ride where you won’t care if you miss your stop. The sound has a smooth pop sheen I associate with Sam Roberts or Ben Folds, with some great lead guitar break out moments and organ backing. No doubt a special guest appearance from ace session guitarist Jay Graydon didn’t hurt (he played on Steely Dan’s “Peg”). The single is the first release from the band’s new album Perfect Crimes, due out in April, and it certainly bodes well for what is to come.
Give “Perfect Crime” a spin at the band’s Futureman Records Bandcamp page that can be found here.
The UK’s Ready Steady Go! was the sixties alternative to the more establishment Top of the Pops. Bands performed (mostly) live and the audience were the featured models and dancers, giving the show a more loose, spontaneous feel. I’d like to think our chosen singles are a modern embodiment of the show’s cool élan but hey, you be the judge.
Power pop legend Jamie Hoover is well known for his decades-long work with the Spongetones and collaborations with a variety of indie stalwarts. But his latest single sees him declaring his love for the recently-single mega-influencer “Kim Kardashian.” Co-written with power pop scribe and record producer Richard Rossi, the song is an amusing poke at social media and celebrity, delivered in an impeccable poprock style. Burnley and Todmorden’s The Goa Express have got a pop snarl that launches “Portrait” with a sonic 3-D impact. Comparisons to The Artic Monkeys, Oasis and the Strokes make sense, the sound here is so live and starkly authentic. Vocalist James Douglas Clark keeps the snarl neatly in check while the guitars crash in and out with an intoxicating intensity. So far it’s just singles from this band but a full album seems overdue. Leslie Rich knows political trouble, hailing from Northern Ireland. But now ensconced in Minneapolis Minnesota he’s seeing American issues from a whole new perspective. Leading Leslie Rich and the Rocket Soul Choir on “Revolt” he subtlety condemns the fake victim mentality of those with a knee on ‘some guy’s neck’. The track is so smooth, with a Fleetwood Mac mid-1970s precision of rhythm and mood. Fun but serious popsters The Happy Somethings kicked off 2023 with a collection of errant singles, bit and pieces of things set aside from the previous year. Like “Anglepoise,” a noise pop Bo Diddly remake if ever there was one. The band uncharacteristically turn up the amps this time. Hailsham’s Tim Izzard is everybody’s modern Mr. Glam, channeling a 1970s performance and song style for contemporary audiences. On his new EP Deepfake 99 you can hear him tapping a particularly Marc Bolan vein on “Walk the Walk” or a big ballad-mode Bowie on “Alice Pearl” and “Will the First to Believe Please Turn on the Lights?” But overall I’m charmed by the strut of the title track “Deepfake 99.”
Marc Valentine’s Futura Obscura is a solid album of power pop delights but few of the songs challenge the obvious power single, “Last Train Tonight.” The driving guitar-based melody is delivered with a mix of what sounds like Fountains of Wayne and Farrah influences, the latter particularly evident in the chorus. Rochester’s Katie Morey is a great post-folk artist. You can tell by skipping through her Friend of a Friend album that coffee houses and streel strings played a key part in its genesis. But then other instruments come in, adding to the aural splendour. Just listen to the mix on “Deep End” with its great contrast of rumbly guitar and deadpan vocals. A slightly more rock and roll Suzanne Vega or Jane Siberry I think. Thee Lonely Hearts have got a quartet of songs caught in the twilight between retro cool and modern indie panache. Last Fall’s “Glen Ponder” cooks with a clean 1980s take on sixties guitar poppy rock while b-side “I Came Back Again” channels The Smithereens. But the band’s should-be hit is undoubtedly “Treat Me Like You Just Don’t Care.” This 45 has the energy of an updated early Beatles number performed by Eugene Edwards. Schio Italy’s Freezsound like members of California’s slacker pop punk diaspora. Their 2019 album Always Friends alternated between rocking workouts and more subtle, alluring melodic numbers. Then late in 2022 they offered up something different again. “Nothing” is brief 90 seconds of relentless droney attack, somewhat hypnotic, ready for pogo-ing. The new millennium has witnessed the rebirth of a crowd of decades-dormant bands from days gone by. But few sound as fresh and in the swing of now as Finland’s The Bablers. Sure, there’s a retro feel to “Holding Me Tight Tonight” and yet the sound is so timeless too. Altogether the song has that smooth poprock sheen of the 1980s Moody Blues in comeback mode with a touch of 1974 McCartney in the bridge.
Thee Lonely Hearts – Treat Me Like You Just Don’t Care
In the fading hours of 2022 there was a lot buzz about Michigan’s Popular Creeps. A lot of ‘R’ band references got thrown around, as in The Replacements, REM, and the Rolling Stones. Kicking back with the full album All This Will End in Tears there’s definitely a lot ‘R’ here, though I tend to agree with Add to Want List that the sound is perhaps closer to Peter Case and Paul Collins, particularly on tracks like “Gone By 45.” My vote for double A-sided single goes to the combo of “From the Past” and “Keep It To Myself,” just for exuding so much new wave joy and echoes of The Connection. On Ant Farm Pittsburg’s The Zells give voice to the harsh working class experience of contemporary America where living is from payday to payday and life is suffering and suffering truther uncles. But the record shifts back and forth between distorted punk anti-paeans to tracks that expose the band’s superior musical chops. Like on “Dummy,” a song that kicks off sounding like a speed version of “Dancing With Myself” only to switch to a Titus Andronicus vocal and guitar attack. The lead guitar line snaking throughout Kid Gulliver’s latest single “Kiss and Tell” is so captivating it just keep running through my head long after the song has ended. It’s got fun adornments, like riffs from the Batman theme, but really the backbone of the song is Simone Berk’s smooth vocal and that killer lead guitar work. Another guitar winning single comes from LA’s Billy Tibbals. Reviewers are noting the 1970s glam and pub rock influences but all I can hear is that addictive droney lead guitar on “Onwards and Upwards” that says new wave to me. So many potential influences here but I hear some Zombies in the vocals and even some Squeeze in the melodic twists. As a band The No Ones are full of someones: people like REM’s Peter Buck and Young Fresh Fellows alumnus Scott McCaughey. And on their soon-to-be-released new album My Best Evil Friend the list of guest stars is pretty gob-smacking, including contributions from Ben Gibbard, Debbi Peterson and Norman Blake. Of the two pre-release teaser singles I can’t decide which I like more, the dreamy, bucolic “Song for George” or the more Byrdsian “Phil Ochs is Dead.”
When Ottawa band The Rockyts burst on the scene in 2019 with their debut album Come and Dance reviewers were dumbfounded that three gangly teens could recreate the 1960s sound so authentically, both on originals and covers from the era. Now reduced to a one man band focused on lead guitarist, songwriter and singer Jeremy Abboud, their new single “I Get High” recasts the retro influences into a totally contemporary sound. Well, 1980s Cars-era contemporary anyway. The guitar work is now more stolid, the vocals enlivened by some otherworldly harmonies. By contrast Austin Texas troubadour Phil Dutra brings back his signature telenovela-style big emotional ballad on “I Feel Your Pain.” There’s something very Vicki Lawrence or 1970s Cher style-wise lingering over this tale of cheating and remorse while the hooks are big and bold and stuck in your head. I can already see the movie montage running behind this song. Scotland’s Dropkick are like your favourite hang-out spot, immediately familiar, comforting, but open to some surprise guests. The advance single from their upcoming album The Wireless Revolution is “Telephone” and it is everything fans of the band love: ringing guitars, a sweet feel-good vibe, and a strong Teenage Fanclub family resemblance. On his new album Alter Ego Irish singer/songwriter Paul McCann offers a mix of styles, both fast and slow, sounding at times 1970s lush or 1980s poppy rock. My current fave is “Lost in This Moment” with its slow build up and break out hooky chorus. Another lush poprock offering comes from Norway’s Armchair Oracles. Given the song’s focus, perhaps that’s not surprising. “Nilsson Wilson” observes how two great artists emerged from traumatic childhoods. The vibe is very Rogue Wave meets Al Stewart.
Rounding out our ready steady singles is another fab new song from mister poprock-reliable, Richard Turgeon. “I’ve Got You Now” features Turgeon’s now familiar formula of discordant guitars and poppy melodic hooks, delivered with a captivating vocal arrangement. Grunge definitely meets the beach on the this 45.
RSG! only ran on UK television for three years but it defined an era of mod music, hip fashion, and an almost DIY broadcast esthetic. And The Who managed to appear on the show 18 times! Our humble efforts pale by comparison but I like to think that the spark lives on in the music. Click on the hyperlinked band names to feel that surge.
Just five tracks, that’s all you get from Ski Lift on their debut EP Singles. The band is just one of many side projects for Welsh sometime folkie Benji Trantor, joined here by Ailsa Tully and Jovis Lane. Things get started with the 2019 release of single “Comfortable Here,” a mellow bit of pleasing guitar pop. Then the four other songs emerge sporadically throughout 2021, culminating in the EP’s release halfway though 2022. First up “Portal,” a track that gets the band’s engine running a bit faster and adds some fine vocal harmony detailing. Just two months later there a distinctive change in sound on “Moaning Again,” all fun experimental keyboards and poppy hooks. “Teenager” has a spare airy electric guitar feel, so like the poppy confectionary from Kevine Devine and *repeat repeat. “I Wanna Be You” wraps up the band’s singles run with a sometimes punchy, sometimes low key singalong. All in all, these five songs are fresh and buoyant and cool, thus the skiing imagery no doubt.
These five ‘fresh tracks’ (to use the ski lingo) are the band’s only tracks so far, as far as I can tell. Will there be more? Even if this is it I’d still say it’s a pretty good run.
The teletype keeps offering up that staccato rhythm as more breaking news hits our airwaves. More new albums by brand new bands (to me, anyway). Get those dinner tea-trays stabilized, our program is about to begin.
I stumbled across Dignan Porch’s pre-album release single “Electric Threads” quite by accident in Bandcamp’s ‘if you like’ section. I was immediately drawn to the song’s poppy sense of dread, retro organ fills, and faint fragrance of McCartney in Band on the Run mode, particularly those chorus-pedalled lead guitar lines. Couldn’t wait to hear more. The full album Electric Threads is a wonderful mix of eclectic noise-meets-pop coated songs. Some are just straight up 1960s-influenced English pop a la the Kinks (“Pictures”) while others work in fabulously weird but alluring keyboard sounds (“Hidden Levels”). Keyboards really do define this album, giving various songs a surreal, other-wordly feel, “VR Park Keeper,” “States Revealed,” and “Ancestral Trail” particularly. Then there’s “Mesmerized” that combines organ and guitar in an exquisite tension. Rivalling “Electric Threads” for should-be feature single is the Shins-like “Simulation One,” though “Hounded” is a close second. The outlier track here is “Walk!” where an edgy rhythm guitar attack suddenly converts the band into a 1979 new wave outfit. With Electric Threads Dignan Porch really set the bar high for reinventing the power pop sound.
On album IIThe Blusterfields jam together an impressive array of sonic influences over what amounts to a double album’s worth of material. There’s mid-1960s jangle guitar cropping up here and there contrasting a 1970s boogie rock and roll feel with a hint of 1980s indie poprock, sometimes all in the same song! But if there’s an influence hovering over everything here it’s XTC. “Tool Belt” is channeling Andy Partridge hard. You really get the XTC feel from the vocals on “Fear of Depths” (and what an ace lead guitar tone!). The band even manage to bend the Swindon sound in a 1970s rock guitar direction on “Into the Light.” Not that that’s a problem. Who doesn’t love XTC that reads this blog? And it’s not like Colin and Andy are making much use of it these days. Ok, that out of the way, the album seems to be roughly divided in two, with the first half giving off more 1970s vibes while the latter half bridges the 1960s-meets-1980s indie sound. Check out the great lead guitar opener to “Bad Penny” on what sounds like a Badfinger vamp. Then “Not in Denial,” “Johnny Paycheck,” “Scraptown” and “Henry’s Swing Club” all amp up the 1970s boogie rock sound, with a few Beatlesque touches. Things start to turn on “It’s a Tricky Thing” with its smooth poprock Odds-meets-XTC elan while “International” has got that Beatles Hard Day’s Night album guitar sound. “Agent Zero” sounds like it combines the B52’s with a Dukes of Stratosphere sensibility. I could go on – there’s really so much to like here. If you dig smart lyrics and are tired of pining for an XTC reunion, get off the couch and introduce yourself to The Blusterfields.
No, that is not Richard Thompson singing lead on The Tubs new album Dead Meat. But man does it sure sound like it. Except that Thompson and company never produced anything quite as poppy pleasing at “Illusion Pt. II.” What a rollicking good time! And it sets the pace for the whole album. What follows are songs with a folk singer’s melancholy heart and a pop band’s lust for hooks. This tension is inventively put together on “Two Person Love” which features a Futureheads pinched lead guitar sound that quickly gives way to a more jangle rhythm texture. “I Don’t Know How it Works” hits you right in the melodic solar plexus, all crashing rhythm guitar and trippy organ shots, while those Richard and Linda Thompson-like male/female harmony vocals are there to trigger the shivers. Then “Dead Meat” has a Specials-like vocal intensity in the verses that alternates with buoyant guitar work and sweet harmonies in the chorus. Meanwhile “Duped,” “That’s Fine,” and “Round the Bend” are all a rush of folky vocals and unstoppable guitars. If you ever wondered what might happen if a seminal folk act decided to turn on the pop faucet, this is it. Dead Meat delivers folk music you can jump up and down to.
The Roves’ Needle Factory comes off like the consummate party sing-along album. You can practically see the indirectly lit living room and guys with guitars playing effortlessly, leaving plenty of space for you to join in. But listen closely and all this ease masks a high degree of precision in the performance. Like all those endlessly touring bar bands, they just make it looks easy. That demeanor is all over the brilliantly understated “I Am The Flood.” It’s got an easygoing swing reminiscent of an early 1970s Van Morrison, the Band, or Brinsley Schwartz. You could hear more edgy modern influences on “So Thankful” like Titus Andronicus or Twin Peaks. Then again, “Drug Deal” rolls out with what sounds like the unique poprock charm of NRBQ. Is that a hint of Dylan on “Archway Blues” or the Stones on “Sunday’s Lost”? Hunches confirmed – this is a band with solid rock and roll chops. Personally, I hear a candidate for the late Beatles cavalcade of curio characters on “Mr. White.” Should be single? Definitely “Alberto Zi and the Uptown Three.” So catchy.
They say thousands of new songs are being released every day. No wonder the teletype never stops clacking. You can follow up on these stories yourself by clicking the links above.
Photo courtesy of James Vaughn’s amazing Flikr collection.
I was listening to Strange Neighbors new EP Party of None, enjoying the first few tracks, minding my own business. I had assigned it to an upcoming ‘breaking news’ post, largely on the basis of my positive reaction to the rollicking opening cut “Whoa is Me.” I love the slashing guitars and new wave Natalie Merchant vocal. I think track 2 “Skeleton Boy” is another winner, though here the vocal tipped more toward Amy Rigby in her prime. But I was not prepared for track three, with its stark opening guitar chords and arresting verses that give scant hint of what is to come. Then “Hotline Psychic” hits the chorus like a rush of adrenaline that just goes on and on, with lyrics that are hilarious and oh so cutting. There’s a febrile energy at work in this song that will have you hitting replay over and over again. Frankly, track 3 stalled my encounter with this EP because I knew I had to feature “Hotline Psychic” as a ‘should-be hit single’ pronto. Now, as a bonus, the two remaining tracks on this EP also keep the poppy rock dynamism going, particularly “Window Watching.”
So click on “Hotline Psychic” and see if you don’t agree, it’s a should be monster hit. And then stay for the rest of Party of None, it’s one of those too-good-to-be-true EPs – as in, total enjoyment.
You can check out Party of None and Strange Neighbors’ excellent back catalogue at this Bandcamp party stop.
Photo fragment from “Hotline Psychic” 45 cover designed by band member Zach.
We don’t usually cover legacy acts or artists who make the mainstream charts here. They get a lot of press already and they’ve usually got a strong fan base. But I do have a few faves I can’t help but write about because I do love them so. Obviously I’m not going to move the needle on their chart placements but hey, I can say my piece. Today we single out a few songs from stars that continue to shine for me.
Elvis Costello’s Rusty project is such an interesting endeavor for a host of reasons. Backstory: Elvis decides to reunite with a guy he played in a duo with before he made it big on his own. I mean, what happens to all those bandmates who came before an artist gets famous? Mostly left behind, I suspect. So for Elvis to reunite with his former partner Allan Mayes 50 years after they parted is pretty special. And the results are impressive too. The Resurrection of Rust kicks off with a sound not unlike the pub rock of Brinsley Schwarz and EC’s first solo record. And why wouldn’t it? The song “Surrender the Rhythm” is a Nick Lowe Brinsley-era song. Nick’s “Don’t Lose Your Grip on Love” sounds great too. But the early EC original “Warm House (And an Hour of Joy)” is probably my fave here. Another striking blast from the past is Julian Lennon’s most recent longplayer Jude. It’s been a lifelong challenge for this guy to move out of his famous father’s shadow, given the considerable baggage he’s got. But this album might just be his best yet, playing to his soft rock strengths while still sounding very contemporary. The songs are strong, particularly the acoustic “Not One Night” and Oasis-y “Lucky Ones.” The standout track though is “Round and Round Again” with its spy-worthy trebly lead guitar and an overall atmosphere that reminds me of Black’s Wonderful Life record.
Rusty – Warm (And an Hour of Joy)Julian Lennon – Round and Round Again
Drag queenTrixie Mattel is a one-woman entertainment dispensary: comedy TV star, fashion and make-up entrepreneur, and singer-songwriter extraordinaire. In a way her recent Blonde and Pink Albums is just the culmination of a trajectory she’s been signalling for a while. Starting off in the country and folk genres Mattel has hinted throughout her various releases that she’s a poppy rock and roll girl. The 14 songs here are all-in power pop, mostly Mattel originals but with covers of the Go Go’s and Cheap Trick thrown in too. The results are maximum fun. There’s a touch of Aimee Mann on “White Rabbit,” a bit of Fountains of Wayne in “Girl of Your Dreams,” and a return to Trixie’s country roots on “This Town.” But I think my fave here is the candy-coated pop delight “Goner.” Another surprise in 2022 was the return of an old favourite band, Tears for Fears. It’s hard to capture how omnipresent the band were back in their heyday of The Hurting and Songs from the Big Chair. But last year’s comeback album The Tipping Point easily outstripped the popularity of their previous comeback album from 18 years earlier, making the top ten in countries around the world. I loved the album’s second single, the acoustic guitar-led ballad “No Small Thing.”
Trixie Mattel – Goner
Pixies are another comeback group whose quality of material didn’t suffer after two decade break. With the release of 2014’s Indie City it was like they’d never paused. Personally I thought 2016’s Head Carrier had some of their best material with tracks like “Tenement Song.” But their recent 2022 album Doggerel sounds as fresh as anything they’ve produced, particularly “Haunted House” and the should-be hit single “Thunder and Lightning.” What’s left to say about legendary American family band The Cowsills? They were inspiration for television’s The Partridge Family, originators of the Americana sound, and unlike many family bands of the period most members just oozed talent, both within and outside the group, most notably Bill, John, Bob and Susan Cowsill. Their first album came out in 1967 – their tenth arrived just last year. Rhythm of the World features Bob, Paul and Susan Cowsills sounding pretty sharp. I’m partial to the hooky “Every Little Secret” with its captivating classic-Cowsills overlapping vocal arrangement.
The Cowsills – Every Little Secret
Not all stars fade into the night sky. Some come back brighter than ever.
Fans have long been divided on just who they love more, Lennon or McCartney. Smart versus lovable, political versus sentimental, rocky versus hooky – these are the classic (and somewhat misleading) lines of division drawn between a duo who arguably comprise the greatest song-writing team of all time. Such judgements also face another challenge: in the Beatles John and Paul wrote songs together but also apart despite sharing a co-writing credit on everything, making it hard sometimes to sort out who wrote what. To make an effective comparison you really have to turn to their solo work in the 1970s to establish what each could do beyond the influence of each other and the Beatles’ unique group dynamic. Now the point here isn’t to say who is better because that is obviously completely subjective. You can’t debate taste. What I propose to do is compare their solo work to the Beatles material and ask ourselves which one, John or Paul, more consistently met that standard, a standard defined by commercially innovative singles and highly listenable albums that contained little filler. Get ready for contention! I’m fairly certain my choices and observations will spark debate but hey, that’s half the fun of writing a blog. Please do join in with your own take on this classic, endless, ultimately irresolvable dispute.
Let’s start with singles. Personally, I think John’s got a leg up here and that is saying something considering what a hit single machine Paul has been as a solo artist. Don’t get me wrong, both John and Paul have crafted some amazing singles. My measure is, who has continued the commercial innovation that we associate with the Beatles the most as a solo artist? Here I think John has the advantage with songs like “Instant Karma,” “Imagine,” “Mind Games,” and “#9 Dream.” Each one exhibits the kind of musical creativity and ‘pushing of the pop song envelope’ that I associate with the Beatles work. I could imagine any one of them appearing on a 1970s Beatles album, if such a thing had come to pass. I’m not saying every John single was a winner. Paul certainly has a few Beatles-worthy singles moments as a solo artist – songs like “Maybe I’m Amazed,” “Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey” and “Band on the Run” – but they don’t branch out much from similar previous efforts with the band. I would grant that “Jet” and “Live and Let Die” met the Beatles innovation standard. Stepping away from singles for a moment, both John and Paul have got a few really special deep cuts on their 1970s solo albums, like John’s “Jealous Guy” from Imagine and Paul’s “Magneto and Titanium Man” from Venus and Mars.
What about albums? Rock critics tend to rate a few of John’s albums as the best solo work from a former Beatle, particularly Plastic Ono Band and Imagine. I’ve got to disagree. In terms of total listenability and an absence of weak cuts the hands-down winner is Paul’s Band on the Run. The difference in opinion here comes down to how much credence you give the ‘cool’ factor. Critics loved John over Paul because they saw him as serious, deep, and political. It was all part of the conversion of the music press from cheer-leading, teeny-bopper coverage to more serious journalism in the late sixties and early 1970s. And hey, if you like that sort of thing, cool. But the Beatles were not some underground indie band, judged by how ‘cool’ they were. They were a commercial juggernaut whose music was accessible to anyone with ears. Plastic Ono Band and Imagine are great albums but they’re not up to Beatles standards, in my view. Not all the songs are equally strong or accessible. This became only more pronounced on John’s later albums where he tended to feature one outstanding single amid a bevy of weaker material. In the case of Some Time in New York City there wasn’t even a decent single. By contrast, Band on the Run has no filler. All the songs are either great or very good. It’s the closest any ex-Beatle came to putting out something comparable to a Beatles album IMHO. And, just to throw in a really controversial claim, I think John’s most Beatles-worthy album is actually Double Fantasy because it’s the only one where all the songs are actually pretty good, even the Yoko tracks. And I’m not saying that McCartney’s albums were uniformly good either. Indeed, they too mostly suffered from a surfeit of rather second rank tunes cast amidst the hits.
Well there you have it, I rate John as the solo Beatle with the most commercially-innovative, Beatles-worthy singles and Paul as producing the album that comes closest to reproducing the Beatles trade-mark listenability. Controversial views, I know. Now whether you agree with these judgements or not, I do think there are some patterns here that are undeniable. Clearly, looking at his solo work, John just wasn’t an album man. Self-admittedly somewhat lazy, John was good for bringing in three or four really great tunes to every Beatles album session. His friendly (and sometimes not so friendly) competitiveness with Paul heightened his productivity within the group. But as a solo artist John lacked the drive to fill annual albums with top-quality Lennon material. By contrast, Paul could crank out tunes and albums with a Beatlesque eye to overall listenability and commercial success. But as a solo artist Paul never worked with anyone that challenged him the way John did and that limited his innovative creativity compared to his Beatles-era work. Compare that to John, collaborating with the likes of David Bowie and Elton John and getting some pretty impressive results (e.g. the Lennon/Bowie co-write “Fame”), and you get a glimmer of what might have been possible.
Pitting John against Paul was never gonna produce any clearcut ‘winner.’ Even their somewhat less Beatlesy solo work still contained some pretty stellar stuff from both. And, in the end, you don’t have to choose or play favourites. You can love them both. I know I do.
Top photo by Tom Murray from the Beatles ‘mad day out’ 1968.
Our first turn around the dial of the new year is like a melodic guitar rock testimonial, combining old with new sounds, the rough with the smooth. But it’s the superior song-writing on display here that will keep you from adjusting your set.
Those mourning the recent passing of David Crosby will want to catch up with Dutch band The Small Breed. Their most recent album Remember a Dream utterly nails the pop psychedelia that was such a part of the late 1960s west coast American music scene, with splashes of sunshine pop and other influences too. Title track “Remember a Dream” is a dynamite scene setter. The music is so sixties but the vocals remind of more contemporary groups like Django Django. “Picturesque Pictures” puts a dreamy Moody Blues flute front and centre. Then “Wanda Your Angel” dials things down, offering up some captivating acoustic guitar with a vocal that evokes Billy Bragg at his most tender. “She’s So Lovely” has things take a rather baroque turn. I hear a bit of Madness lurking in this song and all over the more mannered “Finders Keepers.” And then there’s the crowd-singing should-be hit, “Mirror Man.” This one jumps out and says ‘hear me!’ Remember a Dream is wonderful mixture of old and new, clearly treasuring the psychedelic sixties but refusing to remain limited to the decade in terms of influences. Definitely a trip worth taking.
The members of Electric Beautyhave been around and back again. Veterans of countless musical ventures over the decades this current project is about having fun and it shows on their self-titled debut. The songs have all got the earnest yet easygoing feel of players comfortable with each other. Check out the vocal on “Cindy’s Gone Away,” it’s so raw and unfiltered but it works fabulously with the straight up poppy rock and roll accompaniment. I also love the lead guitar line that hooks you into “Modern Lovers.” It’s so classic. Again the vocal here has a directness I associate with likes of Dion or Del Shannon (in non-falsetto mode). “Something for No One” strikes a different note, an almost spacey instrumental I could see slipping into a 1980s SciFi movie. “Lonely at the Top” counterposes a lyric Crenshaw or Springsteen could pull off with subtle organ runs and some great rumbly guitar. “The Awakening” is another cinema-worthy, other-worldly instrumental. Electric Beauty is an album that will fit you like a favourite old sweater: familiar, comfortable, enjoyable. Welcome back boys.
Cindy’s Gone AwayModern LoversLonely at the Top
With a name like Turn Turn Turnyou might expect churning Brydsian jangle or burning social commentary a la Peter Seeger. But this Minnesota trio manage to do both and neither on their brand new LP New Rays From an Old Sun. Opening cut “Stranger in a Strange Land” covers off the first theme. One minute in and that trademark Byrds/Tom Petty signature guitar drone lands in the first instrumental break. Both “Hymn of the Hater” and “7 Kids” nod toward social issues, in a decidedly Americana style. But what we have here is so much more than this or that influence. Overall this record is a gorgeous blast of harmony vocals and songs with mellifluous hooks. Everything is built on the strength of the song-writing – and it is impressive. Some are just a bit of fun. “Powder” hums along like a Monkees deep cut. And who doesn’t like a whistle solo? Others are more serious. “If You’re Gonna Leave Me” launches in like a great soul classic without losing its pop precision. “My Eyelids Weigh Mountains” could easily be mistaken for something by The Band in their prime while “Schisandra” is just so Bryds. This album is a winner from start to finish, so crisply produced, so joyously sung and played. Seriously, a veritable aural delight for your ears.
When we last left the boys in New Zealand’s Best Bets their debut EP Life Under the Big Top had that ever-so-nice Grapes of Wrath guitar band sound. But how things have changed with their most recent LP On An Unhistoric Night. The sound is rougher and rockier, exuding pure party band. It’s there with the cranked lead guitar lines on “The Point” and “Crystal Mausoleum” and really takes off with the mosh pit frenzy-fueled “Wrong Side of the Sun.” Definitely getting The Buzzcocks vibe on “King Cnut” and “Whataworld” while “Look Back with Mike” is reminiscent of a more Replacements atmosphere. “The Minor Leagues” is the obvious should-be hit single, it balances polish with a rough hewn guitar charm. You get a sense of what a great live band this troupe must be listening to “Always on the Losing Side” with it very sixties garage feel. Or there’s “European Cars” which simply motors along with a manic energy, conjuring a Nick Lowe “Heart of the City” drive. The albums wraps with a bit of departure, the more mid-tempo “That Movie Never Got Made.” The subtle guitar hooks and anguished vocals really elevate the song. Spending some time with this album I’d have to say Best Bets are definitely aptly named.
From the radio to the record store, that used to be the trip. Now you don’t even have to leave home to own these (should-be) hits.
I can’t remember the first time I heard New Order’s “Blue Monday” but I do remember purchasing Power Corruption and Lies in the spring of 1983, largely on the basis of the cover design. Living in a west coast Canadian backwater I had no idea who New Order were or what their music sounded like. Still, I played the album over and over and felt pretty cool while doing so. Then I got an earful of “Blue Monday.” That hypnotic bass line, the wall of overlapping synths parts, the impassive vocals – they were all so captivating I splurged for the first 12” single I ever bought.
This past week my friend Tom posted about Orkestra Obsolete’s amazing cover of the song played on 1930s instruments. The video both sounds good and looks great. That got me wondering: what other groovy covers might there be of this oh-so unusual song? Turns out – quite a few. The reliable SecondHandSongs site lists over 70 versions in all kinds of styles. Quite a few dial up the synth like a bottle of New Order-brand concentrate but you can’t really out-New Order the originals. Why try? More interesting to me were the genre switchers, the covers that tried to put the song into a totally different context. Like the afore-mentioned Orkestra Obsolete, a one-off put-together band for a BBC program that really captured the essence of “Blue Monday” despite a lack of synths and drum machines.
Orkestra Obsolete are just the most recent example of a common tendency in covering “Blue Monday,” namely to strip things down and build them back up again but with radically different instrumentation. Acid Cowboys take things in an urban country direction, adding a loping rhythm and plenty of pedal steel guitar. The Banjo Lounge 4use their signature instrument to anchor the song, effectively replacing the synth and electric bass guitar. Of course, as a quasi-percussive instrument the banjo can take up this space and then some. Hannah Peel really does a sound reduction on the song, accompanying her spare vocal with just a music box mounted on a mandolin. Funny how all three acts also offer a cover of “Tainted Love” on their respective albums.
Now for something almost completely different, check out The Jolly Boys and their mento reworking of the tune. Mento is a style of Jamaican folk music that pre-dates and heavily influenced both ska and reggae while the Jolly Boys are a band with roots stretching back to the 1940s. They really capture the lurching tempo of the song with their acoustic instruments and the radically different vocal here is inspired. By contrast Buke and Gasemirror the original sound in many ways but twist and stretch its various elements, making some more harsh and others wonderfully strange. Really, a delightful reinvention. But probably my fave cover is from Rio De Janeiro’s Autoramas. It’s all retro guitars to the front of the mix and solid four-on-the-floor drumming in a version with no vocals.
New Order continue to put out interesting music but if “Blue Monday” had been a one-hit wonder I imagine we’d still be hearing about it today. It’s just that cool.
The DIY force is strong with these two acts, conjuring band albums out of largely solo efforts recorded on Tascams at home. But the results are anything but amateur, proving that bedrooms are good for a variety of excitements.
North Carolina’s Orchidales is John O’Donahue over three albums released between 2012 and 2018. The sound is a shoegazey Velvet Underground homage that gets crisper and less gazey and VU over time. The self-titled debut sounds like some dark underground club somewhere, the guitar tones shifting between Velvets rocking rudimentary (“Junky”) and exquisite innovation (“Lushes”). “Everyone’s Girl” sounds like a 60s garage classic. The sound on this record also remind me Patrick Boutwell’s work from the same time period. A year later things sound a bit less VU on An American Album of Familiar Music but still pretty garagey rough and ready. I love the relentless drive of tracks like “Electro,” “Seventeen” and “Emily.” But the record is also marked by some more mid-temp material like “No Name #7” and “Above the Clouds.” Five years passed before Mysterious Skin and Other Favorites came out in 2018 and the production sound was markedly different, cleaner and with vocals more present in the mix. Just listen to the guitar and vocal seem to pop out of the speakers on “Mysterious Skin.” Or there’s the fabulously layered arrangement of “Mira Sorvino // Lisa Kudrow.” “No Name #9” strips everything down to acoustic guitar and a vocal to reveal something so magnificent and honest. But 60s garagey goodness still prevails here in strength on tracks like “Nightcrawler” and “The DEA Took My Baby Away.” Too many years have passed since this last installment of O’Donahue’s fuzzy musical vision.
Andrew Haworth writes a lot songs. He’s put out 9 albums under his own name and two more as his one-man band Where Is Your Dog Now? since 2017. And that’s not the whole of it. By his own account he dramatically overwrites for each album. He wrote 114 songs for 2020’s Songs from the Second Wave and 130 for 2021’s Country Songs for People Who Hate This Country. Holy over-productivity Batman – both records only ended up with 14 cuts each. So what are the results? His nine solo records are full of clever wordplay and fun absurdity, delivered with a Frank Zappa-like deadpan. But his more recent Where Is Your Dog Now? releases have a fuller sound, the hooks are more polished, delivered with an almost McCartney-esque sonic diversity. Hard to believe these are home recordings! The lyrics are still super-smart, cleverisms around every corner, but the tunes are earworm worthy. Case in point from Songs from the Second Wave: “How to Not Go Insane.” So many subtle shifts of hooky melody here. I’m also partial to the driving “Some Things Never Change” and handclap happy “Rewriting Your Narrative.” A year later Country Songs for People Who Hate This Country continued in the same vein, still madcap lyrically and musically full of popped out rock. You could sample the vibe with tracks like “Coffee Table Crooks” and “Claire’s Ween Playlist” but, frankly, just needle-dropping anywhere would work too. “New York Intellectual” reminds me of Momus’s “A Maoist Intellectual” not because they sound similar but because they exude a similar righteous disdain for pseudo-intellectuals. Should-be hit single? Check out “A Little Invested” for your earworm winner. Haworth is busy at work on album #3 for this project, to be entitled The First Songs in the World, and with four preview singles up it’s clear it’s gonna be another winner. My current fave is “Cave” and its cleverly crafted video.
Most of us learn by example. Looking to self-start your own DIY poprock recording career? You won’t get much better teachers than these two indefatigable acts. Click on the links to start your lessons today.
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