Happy Crimble, a poprock holiday pageant

20 Monday Dec 2021

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I didn’t grow up in the Christmas pageant tradition. December 25th was more a social than religious sort of thing around my house. But is that going to stop me from launching my own poprock holiday pageant? No way. Get ready to feel the season with a righteous review of some off-the-beaten-path holiday tunes.

Let’s begin by setting the scene with Fascinations Grand Chorus and their Spector-ific proclamation of the season on “Holidays Are Here.” It’s from the Silent Stereo Records Christmas Spectacular collection but sounds like a great lost missing cut from Spector’s classic seasonal LP A Christmas Gift For You. Rochester’s The Hi Risers attempt to throw off their past Christmas blues in favour of getting into the spirit of things with the hooky “Christmas Lights.” The lovely melodic twists and turns make for a great tune and standout chorus! I almost feel like Juliana Hatfield “Christmas Cactus” was some sort of late night drinking game challenge. “Write a song about a Christmas cactus,” someone slurred after a few too many rum and eggnogs. But Hatfield delivers. The song is a subtle earworm, decorated with a host of endearing musical adornments. I loved Mike Doughty’s “I Hear the Bells” the first time I sort of heard it in the background of a Veronica Mars episode. It’s got an addictive dirge-like quality. It was so captivating that I only just noticed there’s hot make-out scene two-thirds of the way through. Definitely PG 13 Xmas tune-age. The late Frank Lee Sprague put a bit of Mersey into everything he recorded, most obviously on his Merry Merseybeat Christmas album. “Christmas Carol” draws on obvious influences but somehow makes it all sound timeless. Dave Woodard put me on to Dil Bourbonridge and the amazing story of his song, “The First Christmas Snow.” Based on a story written by his grandfather during WWII a teenage Dil fashioned it into a DIY holiday single in 1965. Despite being 56 years old, the song sounds like some new indie jangle-band release. Glasgow’s The Martial Arts add some much needed hooky drama to our proceedings, channeling some 1970s pop vibes on “Stockings.”

Mike Doughty – I Hear the Bells
Frankie Lee Sprague – Christmas Carol

Speaking of drama, can’t be a holiday without some dysfunctional family dynamics. That means it’s time to bring the family, in song of course. Laura Cantrell and Michael Shelley go all nuclear family with their cover of George Jones and Tammy Wynette’s “Mr. and Mrs. Santa Claus.” It’s a delightful rendition that conjures up an idyllic 1940s Christmas movie. Martin Newell takes us out of the city centre with “Christmas in Suburbia” from his amazing 1993 album The Greatest Living Englishman. The record was produced by XTC’s Andy Partridge who clearly contributes to teasing out the melodic genius of the song. I somehow missed a gem of a seasonal song from power poppers Sloan in 2020, “Kids Come Back Again at Christmas.” But it’s never too late to catch up on holiday hooks. Getting a bit more specific, Eux Autres highlight the adolescent impact of all things merry on “Teenage Christmas.” It’s from their charming 2009 holiday EP Another Christmas at Home. Hm, sounds more like 2021 … The Krayolas add some gravity to this pageant on “Christmas with my Dad,” a bittersweet testament to loss, laughs and memory. The song title really should be “Christmas without my Dad” – that’s what they sing and sing about. The impressive thing here is how the sadness of loss is made to sound so uplifting.

Martin Newell “Christmas in Suburbia”
The Krayolas – Christmas With My Dad

Now it can’t be holiday event without some traditional tune-age, but we’re taking a rather broad interpretation of ‘tradition’ here. I spent my twenties listening to Vince Guaraldi’s Charlie Brown Christmas, that’s my holiday tradition. Game Theory add just a hint of menace to the familiar bop of “Linus and Lucy” in a creative re-interpretation, defined by some loud guitars. On the 1960s Ventures Christmas album they meld their holiday faves with distinctive riffs and guitar rhythms from other songs. For instance, their take on “Sleigh Ride” mashes the tune with their own hit “Walk, Don’t Run.” Mucho fun! I don’t know which is funnier, the album cover of wiaiwya’s 50,000 Elves Fans Can’t be Wrong or the girlish chatter in the middle of The Weisstronauts otherwise instrumental “Silent Night” listing off everything in the store and then some. Here’s another classic: David Woodard gives the power pop treatment to the traditional hymn “Oh Come All Ye Faithful” and it works. Meanwhile Peggy Sue put the brakes on the Elvis classic, “Blue Christmas.” More Orbison than Presley really. Last up, Canadian teen rock and roll sensations The Rockyts pull the melody to “Winter Wonderland” in all sorts of new and creative ways. Full marks for managing to do something different with an old reliable.

Game Theory – Linus and Lucy
The Ventures – Sleigh Ride
The Rockyts – Winter Wonderland

One last gasp of holiday spirit, that’s what our final clutch of tunes offer. The Kavanaghs love holiday tunes and want you to love them too, providing “A Song We All Can Sing.” It’s from their 2019 Complete Christmas Singles package, for those looking for more. Another ‘full marks for Christmas tune creativity’ winner is Marshall Holland with his inventive “Laughing All the Way.” He manages to create a wholly new song from something old and familiar while also interspersing a “Charlie’s Angels Theme” motif here and there. I did not see that coming. Taking an even more creative leap, Münster, Germany’s The Fisherman and his Soul (featuring The Radio Field) crank up the amp and expand our sense of appropriate holiday topics on “Santa’s Bat.” I love the punky elan coming off this tune. My holiday post tradition very much got started with The Rosebuds’ Christmas Tree Island album. It reinvents the sound, sounding old and contemporary simultaneously. This year I went back to the island, specifically the “Oh It’s Christmas” track digging its swinging, breezy feel. Ok, time for the show closer and this year is has to be the title track from David Woodard’s fab new holiday EP, Rocking Around the Power Pop Tree. If this pageant really had a story it would somehow lead to this hooky denouement – David really says (and plays) it all.

The Rosebuds – Oh It’s Christmas

John Lennon famously made up a lot of nonsense words and phrases, like our post title, so it seems an appropriate send off for this bit of nonsense. Happy Crimble everyone! Don’t forget a present ($) for your fave musical artists this season.

Chartbusters: Henry Chadwick, Hyness, The Zolas and NRBQ

16 Thursday Dec 2021

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Cue the applause and the AM radio announcer, the chartbusters are here! Today’s featured artists have got that something extra, a certain kind of chart charisma if you will. Well, they sound like hits to me. Give them a spin and see if you don’t agree.

No, not the English theologian, not the baseball Hall of Famer either, but the rock and roller from Santa Cuz, California. Henry Chadwick wowed the indie rock world with his stellar 2018 debut album Marlin Fisher. Now he’s back with album number 2, We All Start Again, and it’s another winner. Things are a bit more languid this time around, with album opener “Bloodshot” setting the pace with a strong Ben Kweller acoustic guitar feel. The acoustic guitar is the guide instrument on a host of other tracks here like ”Long Way Back,” “What I Mean to Say” and “Brief Relief” though those Abbey Road background vocals really add something to the proceedings. Not that Chadwick is averse to rocking out on occasion, as on “I’ll Tell You What” and “10 Minutes Reign.” He pulls these many influences together on proto-singles like “Tik and Talk” with a guitar reminiscent of The White Album and Mark Everett Eels’ vibe. But the radio tarted single is obviously the uptempo “Mind’s Eye” with its distinctive Tom Petty guitar ring.

Believe it not, Settle Down in the Dirt is the first full album from Kitchener, Ontario’s Hyness. Their previous two EPs were great but this record is frickin’ fantastic. The band breaks out here full of confident song bluster and bonhomie. Opening cut “Afterlife” is sonic thing of beauty, with its resonant vocals and jangle guitar. It’s actually a bit of a departure from the rest of the album, which is generally darker and heavier though still pretty melodious. Sometimes the band appear to be channeling their 1960s influences openly, as on Merseybeat-ish “Cruelty” and the mod, mod “Foam.” “Bedroom” has got its Weezer vibe going pretty strong. But elsewhere the record is reminiscent of those fab near millennium Swervedriver records, combining a wall of buzzy guitars with sneaky, earwormy tunes. I hear that influence all over “Spill” and “Wring.” Or check out the marriage of a grungy esthetic with a George Harrison kind of vocal on “Beyond.” These guys have clearly got a talent for marrying the discordant with the melodic. Things almost get metal-FOW on “Trash” and “Mabelline” but both really soar in the chorus, tipping things back into hook country. Don’t touch that dial, this thing is already set to 11.

It’s not a moment too soon for Vancouver’s The Zolas to Come Back to Life. It’s been five long years since their last long-player, Swooner, and audiences have to wonder where we will they be at now. On past records I marveled at their ability to combine a 1980s pop keyboards sensibility with rocking dance beat. Early on “Yung Dicaprio” puts to rest any concerns I might have, with its charging, relentless rocking verse/choruses a finely taut counterpoint to the more melodic drop out sections. Classic hooky danceable Zolas are here in abundance on the catchy “Energy Czar” and early single “Bombs Away.” But there’s a Britpop twist in the mix too, with “Miles Away” and “I Feel the Transition” dosed with a smatter of Oasis and even some Stonsey The Verve on the latter track. The spacey “Let It Scare You” hosts an uncanny Smiths’ sounding guitar about a third of the way through, a delightful surprise. But the break out should-be hit here for me is the immaculate “Ultramarine” with its addictive lurch and a chorus that is all hooky bliss. The band even give us an oh-so-timely low-key anthem for these times, “Come Back to Life.” And, scene.

Ultramarine

Just once I’d like to see every indie opinion-leader’s fave band bust a chart. NRBQ go right back to the stone age of modern rock and roll, forming in 1967 and getting their first album released in 1969. 22 albums later, Dragnet is their latest pitch for chart domination. While it’s unlikely to topple this week’s whine-monger from the Lukewarm 100, it’s gonna be a hit with people who like this sort of thing. The signature old time-rock and roll-plus-country and a tinge of jazz sound is back along with another slew of eminently hummable tunes. “Where’s My Pebble?” kicks things off with a Beatles in “I Saw Her Standing There” mode rocking feel. A Beach Boys California sunshine pop sounds puts in an appearance on the clearly Trump era-influenced “You Can’t Change People.” That distinctive Bakersfield guitar sound is all over “I Like Her So Much.” And so on – it’s just the usual NRBQ mastery of so many styles on display here. “Memo Song” goofs on technology but the accordion accompaniment adds a gravity and impact to the effort. “Miss Goody Two Shoes” is a standard Terry Adams jazz vocal vamp, one that appears on nearly every NRBQ release. The band’s cover of “Dragnet” is a reverent, boogie-tinged 1960s vamp, as fans would expect. Then “The Moon and Other Things” is a happy, stroll along in the sunshine pop tune (reminding me of early Chicago) while “That Makes Me a Fool” is cast in a jazzy American songbook style that Mel Torme would ace. Overall I’d say the verdict on Dragnet is guilty – of delivering just what the fans expect.

I Like Her So Much

My chart-busting artists may not dominate the scene but that’s not for lack of trying. Let them climb yours with just a click on the hyper-linked names above.

Bah humbug, yeah yeah yeah

10 Friday Dec 2021

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Every year I laud the holiday spirit in tunes. But what about all those people who can’t stand the holidays, or, more specifically, holiday music? Don’t they deserve a special post celebrating their anti-celebration sentiments? If you’re still reading you’ve probably worked out that this year the answer is ‘yes’. Here’s what I’ve discovered so far. Turns out this whole anti-holidays thing has its own genre of music. Yup, they’re a pretty creative bunch of misanthropes too. And just cuz they’re cranky about Christmas doesn’t necessarily mean they’re a downer. So get ready to rock the ‘down with yuletide’ vibe!

I’ve got to start this themed post with Nicholas Altobelli, whose brand new “I Hate Christmas Without U” got me started down this track. He’s giving maximum mellow on this low key Christmas complaint tune. It starts punchy with a great weird organ sound before turning more intimate, ornamented with some nice guitar runs and heavenly background vocals. It’s not in-your-face fist-pumping stuff but there’s a subtle hypnotic allure that keeps me hitting replay.

Altobelli’s contribution is actually emblematic of a distinct sub-genre of holiday complaint music, the ‘I hate holidays because I’m lonely’ song. With these tunes it’s pretty clear that the real issue is not so much the holidays as it is facing them alone. Charly Bliss get to this point rather directly on their thoroughly power pop “It’s Christmas and I Fucking Miss You.” Kris Rogers and the Dirty Gems take a more Americana poprock approach to a similar sentiment on “Can’t Spend Another Christmas (Without You).” Now nobody does holiday ennui better than country artists and drag artist Trixie Mattel captures those mixed feelings on the wonderfully understated, occasionally comic “Christmas Without You.” Braden Blake and the Oh Wells so nail the Grinch musical backdrop in kicking off their “Bittersweet Noel” before shifting to a more Fountains of Wayne hooky ode to loneliness. It’s from a consistently sad sack brand new seasonal EP called Satin Bows (and Arrows) where feeling bad never sounded so good. And then there’s The Mixtapes who don’t seem anti-holidays at all as much as looking for anything to blot out the heartache that is only obliquely referenced on “Broken Hearted Christmas.” So, sure, they sound like they’re really into the season but it’s pretty clear that’s just a dodge.

Trixie Mattel – Christmas Without You

Now we turn to the serious Grinches on the anti-holiday front. These guys have a ‘tude’ and hooks to spare. Starting with Richard Turgeon,“Skippin’ Christmas” gives voice to those exhausted by all the forced festive bonhomie. The track is both hilarious and jangly-melodic in a addictive Brydsian sort of way. I ran across Slow Club when I noticed the multitude of covers of their song “Christmas TV.” But that’s not even the highlight for me from their anti-holidays EP of tunes, appropriately entitled Christmas, Thanks for Nothing. The collection covers off Christmas lonliness, a spirited cover of Darlene Love’s “Christmas, Baby Please Come Home,” a raucous, decidedly unsilent “Silent Night,” and my personal fave “It’s Christmas and You’re Boring Me.” Probably the most unique deferred break-up song in a Christmas setting – and that’s an award category if ever there was one. John Sally Ride member John Dunbar has put together a holiday song from a point of view that seldom gets attention, that of the empty nester with no one left around to buy for. “He Has No One To Buy Gifts For Anymore” has a rather sad theme but is delivered in peppy style, with some cool organ and a very Michael Penn vocal delivery. Brent Seavers has got the holiday blues and just can’t get any Christmas inspiration going. Sure, he’s missing some special someone but it’s more than that. On “It’s Christmas” Seaver works a Lennon-esque tune and sentiment that leaves us wondering where he’s ended up by the end of the song. Maybe he’s found his “blessings all around” but I’m leaving him in the holiday-agnostic camp for now. Joseph Bradshaw draws on a classic American Songbook style for “Santa Claus Can Keep His Bag.” It’s another ‘you ain’t here so I’m pouting about Christmas’ song but Bradshaw does it with such class, it’s worthy of your seasonal appreciation. From his brief but punchy EP Xmas.

Wrapping things up (not literally, we’re against gifts in this post), the record that definitely inspired me to get keep this anti-holidays theme going, Michael M’s brilliant and hilarious EP A Digital Christmas Gift For You. With songs titles like “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus (Which Directly Contravenes All Social Distancing Guidelines)” and “Baby I’ll Zoom You This Christmas” it would be easy to see the whole affair as just a timely send up. But this record is no joke. The songwriting is strong and hooky, with sudden punky interludes interspersed here and there. Opening cut “Humans Are Not Worth Saving (Merry Christmas)” is a delightful slice of Futureheads discordant pop with a sly dose of stinging social commentary mixed in (click back from track 2 below using the reverse arrow). And the genius bonus cut is the note perfect cover of McCartney’s holiday song, reduced to a single line of its lyrics. Hilarious and oh so cutting.

Well there you have it. Proof you can whistle a merry tune about hating the holidays. It’s your time to shine bah-humbuggers! Support the artists not supporting mandatory holiday cheer by visiting them online (no gifts required, just $).

The ‘Bah Humbug’ banner-post graphic above was designed by Aled Lewis. It can be purchased as Christmas card here.

Star power: Aimee Mann, Ruen Brothers, and They Might Be Giants

07 Tuesday Dec 2021

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Time to turn up the wattage on the choice of featured artists for this post. I mean, don’t get me wrong, everybody I put up on this blog is a star to me. But some acts don’t really need much push from Poprock Record to sell records. You know what? Who cares. I still want to rave about their fabulous new releases and I’m gonna do it now.

Aimee Mann is the Joni Mitchell of her generation. Her ear for melody, her unique vocal phrasing, her restless pursuit of new musical challenges, they all exude that Joni brand of creativity. At the same time Mann embraces Mitchell’s intellectual seriousness. Just one listen to Queens of the Summer Hotel and you know you’re at the grown-up table. Others have explored the subject matter of the album in some detail so I won’t repeat that here. Suffice to say for our purposes, the tunes here are lush and memorable. There’s an acoustic bent to the instrumentation, Mann’s distinctive electric keyboard set aside for this outing. The style is sometimes somewhere between Costello’s Brodsky Quartet and his work with Bacharach, except when it’s pure Mann. Listeners looking for a hit of the latter classic sound, go directly to “Burn It Out.” She has a very specific and familiar way of bending a hook, usually occurring two thirds of the way through a sentence. But the rest of Queens of the Summer Hotel is both familiar and yet new territory. Opening cut “You Fall” has the delicate introspection of Joe Jackson in strong piano mode. “Robert Lowell and Sylvia Plath,” “At the Frick Museum” and “You Could Have Been a Roosevelt” all vibe a musicals feel (as in Broadway), minus the dance numbers. I love the swing on “Give Me Fifteen,” the wistful melancholia to “Suicide is Murder,” and the subtle hook anchoring “I See You.”  Ultimately, this is an album that pays repeated listening. Queens of the Summer Hotel confirms Mann as one of America’s premier troubadours, delivering an album that defies genre, time and any sense of commercial constraint. And it’s a damn good listen.

Burn It Out

With Ultramodern the Ruen Brothers take their distinctive postmodern pastiche of classic 1960s Americana with a contemporary twist in some decidedly new directions. First there’s something old. The album does gather together some of the previous year’s stand-alone singles, radio-friendly should-be hits like the broody Blue Velvet pop of “Saving Me, Saving You” and the infectious earworm “A Million Things.” Then there’s the familiar ‘git along little doggie’ western sound the boys do so well on tracks like “The Storm in You” and “Topanga Canyon.” Things go in a more contemporary pop direction on songs like “San Diego Nights” and the explosive dance number “Takin’ It Easy.” Other tracks max out a rollicking sense of fun, with “Up in California” a bouncy ditty with a surprising pedal steel guitar solo while “Flying Cars” sounds very early 1980s new wave. And no Ruen Brothers release would be complete with some dark, introspective testaments to loneliness. Fittingly, “Alone” has an aching cinematic quality in its spare delivery. Or check out how the demo version of “Takin’ It Easy” is like a completely different song, its formerly frantic commercial delivery transformed into a haunting acoustic number. If Ultramodern is the future of music I say, bring on tomorrow!

Takin’ It Easy
Flying Cars

They Might Be Giants are a seemingly unstoppable force. Year after year they just keep putting out great material, with no appreciable decline in quality or productivity. Book is album number 23 and it represents no revolutionary change for the band. It’s just more of that heart-lifting, ‘life as a mad montage of silliness and sadness’ kind of goodness. It’s all there on selections like “Moonbeam Rays,” pleasant hooky numbers that instantly put a smile on your face. But what sounds simple can obscure some serious complexity, like the melodic and rhythmic development of the earwormy “Brontosaurus.” TMBG also always curate great instrumental sounds on their records. Exhibit A, some recognizably early EC Steve Nieve organ fills add value to the poppy delight of “Lord Snowdon.” Clever wordplay is another hallmark of TMBG songs, in evidence on the “Anna Ng”-ish “I Can’t Remember the Dream.” “I Lost Thursday” was a pre-release single and it has the obvious mark of a should-be radio hit (in my poprock alternative universe, at least). And check out the cocktail jazz laminating “Super Cool.” It certainly is. The verdict on Book is simple, another great TMBG record. Albums for these guys are more like another episode of your favourite show that you can’t wait to see and see again.

Brontosaurus
I Can’t Remember the Dream

They are the stars of poprock indie-verse and just as reliable as those lights in the night sky. You won’t go far wrong with any of these shiny things.

Colouring outside the lines: Fortitude Valley, Gosh Diggity, Golden Apples, and West Coast Music Club

30 Tuesday Nov 2021

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Some bands break the mould. They may sound like they’re obeying the rules but in subtle ways they’re careening all over the road. Today’s artists tweak the formulas, game the genres, and do their own thing. All in all, a very good thing.

Forget Fortitude Valley, inner suburb of Brisbane, Australia. Now Fortitude Valley says pop-punk goodness in the form of the Durham UK band’s dynamic self-titled debut album. Band leader Laura Kovic may be channeling a bit of her Ozzie roots (Fortitude Valley is her home town) but the record is more than that, vibing a bit of Weezer, The Beths, even Juliana Hatfield’s smooth pop vocal stylings here and there. You can hear a whole lot of those influences on the dissonant but still hooky opening cut, “Baby, I’m Afraid.” I can’t decide what I like better here, the addictive melody-rich lead guitar work that threads through tracks like “It’s the Hope That Kills You” and “All Hail the Great Destroyer” or the light endearing vocals defining cuts like “What You Wanted” and “I Won’t Survive.” Then there’s songs like “The Right Thing (Part I)” and “Forget About Me” that launch from a punky space but can’t keep their innate poppiness from coming to the surface. In the end, it’s “Wreck” that’s the obvious should-be hit single material with its stunning lead guitar and very Primitives vocal work. The edgy guitar instrumental break just perfectly offsets the song’s winning hooks. On the whole, Fortitude Valley is a highly listenable long-player whether you put it on random or just let it play through.

What is Chicago band Gosh Diggity’s sound anyway? Lofi electronic? Kitchen techno? Bedroom pop? My gut says something like ‘Casio-drenched poprock’ would be a good label – that distinctive keyboard sound is layered in everywhere on their new album Runaway Rocketboy and it is just so cool. Opening cut “Wings” is a representative sample of what this band does: deft keyboard interplay, understated but alluring vocals, and a marquis instrumental focal point, in this case the addictive MGMT keyboard lead line. But then, surprise surprise, the very next tune “Rad Summer” breaks out some manic rhythm guitar, later swamped (of course) by a swirl of hooky keyboards. “Patch 1.0” even works in some classic 1980s video game keyboard sound effects. Yet this record is not just an homage to retro keyboard motifs, there’s some pretty clever music hiding behind the spare sonic landscape. Check out the Kenny Burrell jazzy guitar forms framing “Burnett’s and Diet Coke” or the Everything But the Girl sophistico-pop vibe on “True Crime.” And this is a band that knows how to throw in a head-turning instrumental break, like the 1980s video-game keyboard-freakout on “Lettering” or just the delicate bells adorning “A.B.B.” A needle-drop skate across this record will tell you Gosh Diggity probably hang with some pretty wild musical company on their own time. But with Runaway Rocketboy they’ve got a record that is eccentric, accessible and just plain fun.

Russell Edling’s Cherry was a going concern with a few EPs and a long-player on the musical resume. But too many bands with the Cherry moniker led to a rebrand this time out and – voila! – Cherry has become Golden Apples on the new LP Shadowland. The sound pretty much remains the same, a slow-burn, almost-Americana-at-times indie rock and roll. But what appeals to me here is Edling’s ability to subtly bury sweet melodic hooks in an otherwise indie rock musical landscape. You can hear it in the sweet dirge-like opener, “Theme from Shadowland,” though in so many ways that’s a misdirection. The next track “Garbage” is more in tune with the thrust of the record, a bit more discordant rock and roll with a Kevin Devine kind of acoustic-meets-electric drive. The album features a few atmospheric sketches like “Reggie” or “Jack” but on the whole delivers a raft of tunes –  “Forever Hollow,” “Banana,” “Tamara Lee” – that start with a bit of discord but eventually turn more luminescent, adding harmony vocals and other melodic adornments. “Futureperfect” sounds like a single to me with its rippling, hypnotic lead guitar work maintaining the song’s tension, only to resolve in the hooky chorus. Other songs like “Fun II” and “Wildflowers” are a broody mix, cutting dark musical textures with lighter melodic currents. The overall effect reminds me of Toronto’s Hayden at his melodic moodiest.

Back where the Mersey river flows Kirby’s West Coast Music Club bring together their recent drip released singles and a wide variety of new material on a just-released LP, Take a Deep Breath. Talk about variety! Sometimes the band just rocks out, like on “Human Vulture” and “Girl.” The rocking out gains considerable subtlety on cuts like “Long Goodbye,” which crashes in like the Beatles’ “Rain” but quickly shifts to a more psychedelic Bryds groove. The album’s mellower material accents the poppier side of the band’s songwriting, apparent on the acoustic guitar-based “Life of Lies” or bouncy “Jenny’s Still Got (What it Takes).” Love the subtle Rolling Stones flourishes on the latter. Then “The Jokes on You” rides a driving lead guitar line that anchors the tune while “Thinkin’” has an almost Moody Blues bit of guitar ring to it. Or check out how “Whatever It Takes” puts us into solidly 1970s jangle-folk rock territory. But possibly my fave here is the should-be hit single “Me and a Friend” with its almost Billy Bragg-ish, brash-yet-melodic lead-guitar hooks and endearing vocal intimacy. From the first guitar notes it radiates ‘classic’. Take a Deep Breath is truth in advertizing, a truly breathtaking affair.

Colour choices can be so subjective. Which crayon is the right one? Well, at least the music’s sorted. Post artwork provided by Swizzle Gallery’s Rob Elliott.

The two sides of Greg Townson

25 Thursday Nov 2021

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As a member of bands like The Hi-Risers, The Essentials, The Hillbilly Moon Explosion, The Locusts, The Salamanders, and most recently Los Straitjackets, there are clearly many sides to guitar master Greg Townson. But the two sides I want to focus on here are the competing instrumental and vocal foci of his brilliant solo catalogue. Townson’s got six solo albums by my count, three with vocals and three without. They’re all great but each side offers up particular and unique delights. Townson can sing! And he plays a mean guitar. If you’ve been missing some heartfelt jangly-twang guitar and a singer with a Nick Lowe kind of stylistic song range, then nothing less than both sides of Greg Townson will do.

Townson kicked off his solo career with two vocal albums, 2013’s On Your Side and 2016’s My Friend The Night. On both records it’s hard to put your finger on his vocal style. Yes, it’s very Nick Lowe at times and yet it’s also reminiscent of a distinctive 1960s American folk pop vibe you can hear on deep cuts from The Cyrkle or Every Mother’s Son. More recent acts I’d associate Townson with might be Tommy Sistak, The Decibels or Michael Shelley. You can judge for yourself with delightfully breezy cuts like “The Instruments Agree” or the more folkie lounge balladeering of “I’ll Wait for You,” both from On Your Side. My Friend the Night blows this winning formula wide open, expanding the range of styles on offer. “The Opinion Page” is a full on Rockpile-esque workout with an inventive lead guitar instrumental break. “These Shoes of Mine” is a pretty little song marked by a tender vocal and some absolutely killer acoustic guitar playing. From there Townson offers up a Ventures-worthy cover of “Linus and Lucy,” the Nick-in-lounge-mode ballad “Oldest Trick in the Book,” and a time-capsule performance on “You Can’t Stop Time,” a western country-ish tune in that 1950s Capitol records style.

The Instruments Agree

The instrumental side of Townson’s album releases begins in 2017 with Travelin’ Guitar. Everything about this record is right out of 1960s guitar-instrumentals-albums central casting. From obligatory classics of the genre like “Fishin’ Hole,” to inspired yet unusual choices like the “Jaws” theme, to loving covers of vocals classics like “You Send Me,” Townson hits all the marks. But the standout track here for me is actually a digital bonus cut, the inspired cover of The Smith’s “There is a Light That Never Goes Out.” Amazingly Townson manages to render Morrissey’s anguished vocals via his emotive lead guitar lines with a brilliant aplomb. 2019’s More Travelin’ Guitar faces the challenge of making the familiar new again by reinventing hits like “Venus,” “Day-O” and “Leaving on a Jet Plane.” Just listen to what he does with Dylan’s “Girl From the North Country,” balancing some expressive lead guitar work against a gently driving rhythm guitar feel, or check out his version of the wartime classic “We’ll Meet Again” where his guitar playing transforms a sad sounding song into something more peppy and joyous.

The vocals are back on 2020’s Just Name It, a collection of tunes that effectively showcase Townson’s low-key Nick Lowe/Buddy Holly-ish vocal demeanor, elevated by his distinctive lead guitar touches. It’s all there on opening cut “My Telescope.” The intro guitar lines are like brush strokes on a painting, the vocals light and sprightly. Or there’s the old rock and roll sound-made-new on tracks like the Dave Edmunds-infused “We Tied One On” or the jazzy cabaret vocal style of “If You’re Not in Love.” My vote for single would be the rhythm-guitar hooky “Square One.” In 2021 Townson switched back to instrumental mode with the creative Off and Running. Taking the idea of an instrumentals album in a new direction, the focus is entirely on hits by women from the 1960s – and what a cavalcade of offbeat hits he’s gathered here. There’s obvious hits (Doris Troy’s “Just One Look,” Barbara Lewis’ “Hello Stranger” and Jackie DeShannon’s “When You Walk in the Room”) as well as lesser known gems (Lesley Gore’s “Off and Running,” Dusty Springfield’s “Little by Little,” and The Pleasure Seekers’ “What a Way to Die”). Whether taking on obscure numbers like “Action Line” from harpist Dorothy Ashby or a monster chart hit “The Locomotion” by Little Eva Townson manages to add his own special guitar something.

Do you need a musical pick me up? The two sides of Greg Townson will put a smile on your face and kick in your step (onto the dance floor). Catch up on his catalogue on Bandcamp and keep up with his antics on Facebook.

Photo by Fank De Blase, originally featured in Rochester City News

I get mail: Andrew Stonehome, The Orange Goodness, Not a Moment Too Soon, and more

22 Monday Nov 2021

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The autumn mailbag has brought a host of good things to my attention. There’s a bit of folk, straight up AM radio pop, some Americana and a solid blast of power pop. Let’s get sorting!

Andrew Stonehome’s self-titled debut album sounds like a loving homage to the soft rock sounds of the 1970s, whether leaning on the piano, acoustic guitar or some heavenly background vocals to set the scene. But occasionally he rocks out a bit more and the result is a pretty sweet poprock single in “Heartbreaker.” There’s something very Gilbert O’Sullivan meets the Bay City Rollers about this tune, with just a touch of glam. The song’s got swing and a strong sing-along quality. I can totally see the movie montage this tune is sound-tracking.

The Orange Goodness describe their sound as ‘groove-infused alt/indie music from Minneapolis’. There is definitely a hyper-kinetic and playful quality to the tunes on their new EP Flying Under the Radar of Chaos. The overall feel reminds me of The Happy Fits, with nod here and there to Queen or even Sparks. The track that has me hitting replay right now is “Settle Up Settle Down.” It’s a bit more subdued, but only compared to the rest of the EP. The vocals and instrumentation are in a kind of fine tension I haven’t heard since Nick Gilder was on the charts. The guitar work here is inventive and a bit hypnotic. Opening cut “Trust It’s Love” also demands attention with its unrelenting hooky percussive punch.

Settle Up Settle Down

The man in the one-man-band Not a Moment Too Soon is a political scientist. The writer of this blog is a political scientist. Coincidence? Well I’m here to say we are not some kind of secret brotherhood – NMTS got into this post entirely on his poprock merit. But, hey, I can’t deny his day job certainly caught my attention. I mean, with song titles like “Helmut Kohl and Mitterand,” “The Second Amendment and All That Jazz,” and “Love, Market and Morality” my two great interests (music and politics) are clearly in attendance here. As NMTS’s Pierre Englebert confesses in his liner notes, “I can’t help it, being a political scientist.’ Now if you’re not into politics, don’t worry, because Englebert knows his way around a tune, cast in a variety of styles. Over the course of three albums released since the beginning of 2020 he’s consistently turned out some lovely hooks. The latest is Wait, What?, an album that is constantly shifting between silly and serious, from the tender to the tendentious. Stand out tracks for me include the loping hook monster “In the Zoom Breakout Room” and the extremely brief but still delightful “Long Story Short.” “Virgin No More” is also a striking piano ballad instrumental. There are clearly many influences behind the album but the nods to Queen are clear and I’d add the Alan Parsons Projects at times. From previous releases, check out the ELO-ish “Self-Pity Party” and the sweet “When Carson Palmer Lived With Us” from Well.

Vancouver’s Johnny Payne seems to have something big coming down the pike. After a few years helming indie rockers The Shilohs through a few fine albums he’s taken the last few years a bit slower, offering up only the occasional single or uber cool video. His 2019 single “All Messed Up” was a delightful slice of 1970s pop R&B. I could practically hear the girly choruses coming. Or how about that fun video with his headless Margarita Machine band for “Man in the Mist”? But now the teasing is over. A new album King of Cups is just about here and, from the drip release singles, it promises to be pretty special. First up “Calle Easy” (or ‘easy street’ en Espanol) is classy bit of curio pop, like Fantasy Island meets those 1950s Hawaiian movie ballads. But it is “Someday” with its restrained 1970s melodrama – on piano of course – that says ‘ hello there’ should-be hit single. It’s like John Lennon and Eric Carmen got together to bang out a hit. Can’t wait to hear what else is in store on this long-player.

On From the Marrow Jon Arthur Schmidt steps away from the more directly spiritual themes pursued on prior works for a more open-ended exploration of what it means to be connected with the broader universe. The approach is a folkie pop songwriting style akin to a mellow acoustic guitar wielding Kenny Loggins or Dan Fogelberg. You can definitely hear it on “Daylight (Never Left)” with its lovely strings adding to the delicate tension created by the acoustic guitar and the more piano-based “Beautiful World.” By contrast “Library Land” captures that sense of fun and wonder that honours its theme. But the perfectly painted miniature on this album is undoubtedly the exquisite “Lovesong Lullaby,” a track deserving many cover versions. Particularly at bedtime, for this album’s listeners’ children everywhere. 

Beautiful World
Lovesong Lullaby

Anyone familiar with Scott Warren from his intimate Americana duo work in Wounded Bird might find the vibe on his solo album Shadow Bands more than a little jarring. There are fuzzed out electric guitars and a Marc Bolan glam shuffle all over this album. Of course, his previous two solo albums gave fair warning, Warren’s a rock and roll boy. “Press Reset” opens the album and sets the tone with a Beatles via Dukes of Stratosphere appreciation of psych rock. “Left Out on the Joke” is more poppy and glam in that T Rex sort of way. “Bury it Down” hides a delicate melody behind some big guitars and carefully modulated vocal. The record also takes a more mellow turn on a few cuts, sounding mildly Beck-ish on “Regret” and “In the Devil” or McCartney-esque on “Mountainside” and “See Feel.” “She Walked Away From It All” reminds me all those psych folk ballads that rocker bands like Led Zeppelin to Jethro Tull pursued in the early 1970s. And then there’s “Chemical Trails” which sounds a bit like Oasis, if the boys had been just a bit better socially adjusted.

I love getting surprises in the mail and I have to say most writers I hear from pay attention to our brief, which is essentially melody plus guitars. Click on the linked names to find out even more about these (thankfully) shameless self-promoters.

Spotlight single: Phil Dutra “It’s Not Enough (Falling For Your Love)”

17 Wednesday Nov 2021

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Phil Dutra’s got an ear for the poprock everyman, appealing to all ages and various style partisans. His songs could easily slip into heavy rotation on any 1980s Top 40 radio station. Truly catchy retro pop indeed. Of course, I imagine Dutra’s work taking off in a different time because there have been eras when the charts have managed to find a place for all tastes, usually on the basis of the triumph of melody and solid songwriting over technique and fads. Dutra belongs to this venerable tradition. His latest “It’s Not Enough (Falling For Your Love)” oozes ‘classic song’ from every pore. From the early 1980s jangly guitar work to the juxtaposition of subdued verses and soaring choruses, Dutra gives new life to a recognizable formula. All that’s missing is the top-down convertible, a highway, and a car stereo blasting this tune. Trust me on this one, everyone could use a bit more of Phil Dutra in their lives. Cuz classic never really gets old.

Phil’s got a website and a Bandcamp page. Drop by, he’s a friendly guy.

November spawned a single

15 Monday Nov 2021

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In between competing Canadian and American Thanksgivings is most of November, a month where nothing much really happens. What better time to shine a little light on some new singles? No time, my friends. Get ready to taste test twenty or so new tunes in between bites of leftover turkey.

There’s something very Bowie about Ward White. His delicate yet forceful delivery defies easy categorization. His new album, The Tender Age, is full of sophisticated tunes but I’m drawn to the more rootsy, almost pub rock “Don’t Let’s Die at the Stop Light.” The organ and lead guitar work are fabulous and the chorus takes a surprising melodic turn. The new Grip Weeds record Dig is a cover album tour-de-force. The band blast through an inspired collection of sixties psych rock classics and then some. But their treatment of The Byrds “Lady Friend” is epic, taking the song to new heights by amping the psych content and nailing the vocal arrangement (adding some Turtles’ ba ba ba’s to good effect). And don’t skimp on getting the deluxe double-album version because disc two has some real killers, like the wild cover of The Monkees “For Pete’s Sake” and the banjo-licious take on the Nightcrawlers’ “Little Black Egg.”  Another band working the sixties side of the street pretty hard is The On and Ons and they ace that garage-y yet poppy rock and roll sound with guitars that practically leap from the speakers. The new album is Back for More and you will be, guaranteed. But as a taster, check out “Your Kind of World.” What a fab hooky guitar lead line opener! And the rest is a pretty winning Bryds-meets-Beatles “Rain” era single. The minute I spotted that Tommy Scifres had played with Aaron Lee Tasjan I had a feeling his record would be pretty cool. And it is. The LP is Last Legs, a lovely collection of melody central tuneage, like the mellifluous “Thought You Knew” with its spacey vocals and trippy guitar. Like some very early 1970s Steve Miller Band. But I’m liking “What’s at the Bottom of Your Heart” even more with its retro 1950s swing. How many bands can take two decades off from recording and come back like they’d just slipped out to the store for a pack of smokes? Clearly The Connells can. Steadman’s Wake is their new album and it is a fantastic mélange of Americana and Tom Petty poprock. The whole album is a keeper but I’m presently grooving on “Fading In (Hardly)” with its Billy Bragg song-framing and shiver-inducing, gut-punch of a chorus. Get those lighters ready.

The Grip Weeds – Lady Friend

There’s something old and something new about Sydney, Australia band The Hard Ons’ new album, I’m Sorry Sir, That Riff’s Been Taken. Going on 40 years as a musical outfit (with a few times outs) obviously the band is something old. But The Hard Ons 2021 have a brand new lead vocalist, former You Am I singer Tim Rogers, and pretty punchy poprock sound, apparent on the driving “Hold Tight.” Love the band name, love the album title. Boston’s Scrimshanders get labelled with tags like alt country but I don’t get it from listening to “SXMS,” featured on their latest long-player Songs That Never Were. Just check out that rough chord-slashing guitar work and those John Doe vocals. This is rock and  roll baby. Ok, maybe tracks like “Restless Heart” have a bit of country in them, but, again, I hear more of the Jersey shore in those twin engine organ and guitar blasts. I totally loved Nashville band *repeat repeat’s 2019 album Glazed with its unique blend of contemporary and retro sounds. Since then they’ve been teasing us with a succession of tasty singles, practically a new album’s worth. The latest is “Trippin’ (I Know I Will)” and it is wonderfully otherworldly with hooky, winsome lead guitar work that frames a lovely little pop song. Chicago’s The Cut-Outs describe their sound as punk-powerpop-rock and roll. Ya, that about captures it, though not on every song. Take “Ordinary Man” from their latest collection Let’s Go! – it’s a late 1960s rocker all the way. Of course, there definitely a heavy dollop of poppy punk ambiance defining the album’s opening cut “Tuesday Night.” I love the manic clapping and the Dave Rave-like vocals. Washington D.C.’s The Buzz have got that spare 1979 guitar sound all over their most recent record Cut Loose! There are so many great songs here but overall I’m really grooving on “Stuck in the Cloud,” a bona fide should-be hit single. There are a load of subtle melodic change ups in this song, with the band regularly altering their attack and deftly layering interesting musical dynamics behind a glam era vocal.

Orlando Florida’s The BellTowers psych their jangle pretty thoroughly throughout Magnetic, both Reel One and Reel Two. The double EP is a whole lot of intensely sibilant guitar work. My recommendation is, start with “Erase Any Doubts.” The guitar is everywhere, hypnotically drawing you in, keeping you focused on it like a great montage sequence from any season one episode of The Monkees. Look I’m not saying it’s an Australia thing but I can’t help but hear a kind of punk rock Paul Kelly vibe embedded in Suburban Urchin’s “4000 Miles Away” from their Born in the Suburbs release. The cut charges along with such fist-waving intensity, you know this would be a dance hall stomper. Milan, Italy’s Radio Days just keep dropping exquisite singles. This time they draw from the British beat group era circa 1965 for the background sonic pallete. There’s an early Mersey feel to the guitar lead line kicking off “Walking Alone” but then the song branches out into a more timeless power pop sound. Buzzard Buzzard Buffalo are a mysterious band that leave a light footprint on the ole interweb. They hail from Manchester Tennessee but sound like they hang in that more famous version of the town. “Love Song for You” is a quirky, endearing bit of lofi pop. It’s a song that comes on in the background and before you know it you’re turning up the volume and hitting repeat. I’ve loved St. Paul Minnesota’s The Persian Leaps for a long time. I own two of their albums, an EP, and handful of singles. So how come I’ve never managed to write about them? Epic coverage fail! Well, let me make up for lost time – get the band’s newest release, Drone Etiquette: it’s great. I mean, check out how that banging guitar opener to “When This Gets Out” is cast against vocals that are so melodically refined, offset by some polite piano shots. Then for something different, there’s “The Company She Keeps” which has such a fab Andy Partridge/XTC chime.

I’ll admit I initially stopped at Växjö, Sweden musician Fredrik Solfors’s site because his band name was so intriguing: School Book Depository. And what’s not to like about a guy with a ‘Bob’ song on every album? Album number three is now out, Bob and the Eastern Beacon of Hope, collecting a host of drip pre-released singles and then some. I’m loving the gentle hooky charm of “Killer in the Mountains,” a carefully crafted bit of poprock portraiture. There are so many delightful details here, from the Owl City meets Good Old War vocals to a captivating musical arrangement. With “Lipstick Queens” Rocket Bureau bolt out of the singles gate with a track that sounds like a mix of some mad off-off-Broadway show and a new wave revival album. They claim to be Wisconsin’s ‘basement-rock and roll-one man-studio band’ but to my ears they are ready to take the stage. The song is from the album Middle Angst, and its got a lot more 1970s guitars and hooky tunes for you. For a while it seemed like the name Andy Bopp was everywhere. “Bopp’s a genius,” they’d say. “Bopp’s got a killer album,” proclaimed the reviews. Who is this guy, said I? Well after a stroll through his latest LP AB, I caught a bad case of ‘reviewer meets genius.’ Everything you’ve heard is true. Just test drive “Uncommon Disaster,” it’s a thing of sonic beauty. It kicks off with some 1966 Beatles rock guitar chords before resolving into a new wave era Kinks kind of number, with some outta-sight background vocals and a bridge to die for. Tacoma Washington’s Vanilla are curio poprock all stars, no genre can stump them. Their most recent collection Sideshow makes my case, with a bit of alt country, old timey pop, XTC-infused new wave and more. But “I Shall Be Re-released” is the standout here for me. Listen closely for those subtle vocal shifts in melody and harmonies, the almost buried retro lead guitar. It’s both familiar and different at the same time. As the world shut down these past few years music collective Orbis Max decided to get some socially distanced jamming going, the results emerging now on The Covid Collaborations 2020-21. There’s a rotating cavalcade of indie starts included here – Danny Wilkerson, Lanny Flowers, Ed Ryan, etc. – as well as great cuts just featuring the essential members of the band. Like “You Sold Tomorrow” with some super ‘woo hoos’ and pumping piano and a Harrisonian sheen to it all.

Track 21 in this monster collection of November tunes is something very Autumn, Chicago indie production legend Andy Reed’s lofi treatment of Simon and Garfunkel’s “The Only Living Boy in New York.” I’ve always had a soft spot for Simon’s acoustic-y soft rock numbers but Reed manages to strip the MOR production values out of the original to give the track some added indie allure. The heavenly background vocals are still there, even if the church organ isn’t. Altogether a fresh take on a deep cut classic.

While no alternative artists were forced to dance awkwardly through a background desert motif, here’s hoping that our November singles mediation has spawned some listening pleasure. Click those hyper-linked artist names to signal yes.

Around the dial: Eggs on Mars, pseudonym, The Embryos, and Pet Symmetry

08 Monday Nov 2021

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Radio play used to be the main arbiter of who went where on the charts. While some people would spin the dial constantly in the car searching for the perfect tune, I tended to stick to one station, loyal to Raccoon Carney’s afternoon drive show on LG73. I like to think that the Raccoon would dig some of these brand new should be hits. I like to think that …

They’re the Kansas City band that’s not from Kansas. And that’s not the limit to the confusion as Eggs on Mars actually sound more like they’re from Glasgow than Missouri. Here I’m alluding to the band’s sonic affinity with such lofi jangle wonders like U.S. Highball and Dropkick. So, Glasgow Scotland, not Glasgow Kentucky. It’s all there on the opening cut and obvious single, “Fingers and Lips,” with its engaging rhythm guitar work, re-invented Brydsian vocals, and inspired lead guitar solos. Brighter Now contains seven songs but running at just 16 minutes it’s more like an EP than a full-on long-player. But what a delightful seven-pack! Most of the songs have an uplifting feel, driven by some creative lead guitar adornments on tracks like “More” and “All That I See” and some subtle yet catchy 1960s organ work on “Hand Tools.” The guitar on some tracks even gives off a slight Smiths-ian feel, e.g. “Oil Spill Rainbow.”  Things do mellow on tracks like “Feels Like Always” but, on the whole, Brighter Now is a chipper, aptly-named collection.

San Francisco band pseudonym come by their psychedelia honestly, given that town’s 1960s musical heritage. But the purple haze on this record is cut with a serious dose of dream pop and the combo is both luxurious and captivating. Case in point, title track “Before the Monsters.” Just check out the amazing bass line on this song, how it just keeps reeling you in long enough to land a load of guitar hooks, a seductive vocal melody, and some exquisite horn shots. I feel like there’s a bit of The Primitives on this song and the next, the more minimalist “Anonymous Sources.” Despite the overall psych pop vibe, there’s plenty of variety on this record. Sometimes thing go enjoyably shoe-gazey, like on “As You Well Know” and “Stare Down.” But at other points a punchy poprock sound comes to the fore (as on “Photograph”) or even a more urgently rocky demeanor (e.g. “Tell Me”). My personal fave is “Astronaut” with its rollicking bass and lead guitar interplay threading through the song supporting a very Lolas-style vocal and tune. “Maybe” is another winner, alternating a low-key build up in the verses with a strong chorus. And so on. Before the Monsters is eleven quality psych-pop tunes. It’s a trip man, and you can enjoy it without leaving the house.

After teasing us earlier this year with their killer Britpop-reminiscent “Rattlesnakes” Chicago’s The Embryos now return with a full album of surprises on National Absurdatory. Oh there’s plenty here that rings familiar, from the Byrdsian country rock of “You Can Be a Mystery” to the distinctive jangle of “Rolling Wheels.” But there’s also a live rock and roll party vibe on a host of tunes that conjure of a very rooftop Let It Be vibe. Here’s I’m thinking of “Spend Tonight” particularly. Or check out the Philly soul undercurrent carrying album opener “Morning Birds.” Love those strings and cloud-light background vocals. The soul train continues on “Someone to Hold Me.” Of course, The Church influences get a look in on the country-ish “Catching Fire” and “Twisted in my Game.” There’s even folk rock here on “Smoldering Remains” with just a touch of 10cc in the chorus. With so much variety, National Absurdatory has captured a band that can seemingly take on any style with no loss of substance.

Still in Chicago, Pet Symmetry don their Future Suits for their latest release, a creative riffing on pop punk tradition and more straight up FOW-infused poprock. Forget Robert Palmer, “Simply Irresponsible” kicks things off with a performance right out of the punk-influenced rock and roll playbook. More again on “Objective Objectives.” But things start to change with the more sonically sophisticated “Cat and Mouse” with its alternation of rhythm guitar shots and hooky lead guitar work. This is pop punk perfection with a melodic sensibility akin to a latter day Green Day. And then things get even more interesting. “Pet Sympathy” has a latin flavor and some knock out background singing. With “2021: A Personal Space Odyssey” the band really start to lean on some impressive melodic counterpoint in the background vocals. It’s there again in “Portland to Portland,” a song that strikes a more FOW feel, songwriting-wise. “Bootlicker” changes things up again with its easygoing, almost languid pacing and subtle hooks. “Awesome Kingdom” ends things on pretty solid poprock footing with a Sugar Ray swing and ambience. On Future Suits, first impressions of this band can be deceiving. So get the full album, just to be sure. Actual Future Suits apparel sold separately.

If the Raccoon were here no doubt it would be time for news and weather by now. As we cut to other programming, don’t waste time on commercials, check out these fine artists directly and cut out the middle man.