Around the dial: Steven Bradley, Jim Shorts, Daniel Romano, Gary Ritchie and John Dunbar

04 Monday Jan 2021

Posted by in Around the Dial

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , ,

As we twist the dial for today’s post it’s pretty clear we’re not quite finished with 2020 yet. Well, musically at least. Still quite a few great releases to draw your attention to.

Producer, record label founder Steven Bradley decided to put his own musical creativity under the microscope on his debut solo record Summer Bliss and Autumn Tears and the results are definitely positive. Hints of Costello’s Punch the Clock with its inventive keyboard touches and clever wordplay show up here and there but cast in a 1990s discordant poprock vein, tempered with an ace feel for a hooky dose of background vocals. It’s all there on the obvious should-be hit single “Pre-Emptive Strike” with its addictive, driving lead guitar lines, subtle organ shots and vocal ear candy. Bradley leans on some jangle for “Hiding Place” but not in an obvious manner, burying the payoff in a surprising and delightful way. “You Walk By” kicks off with a nice smattering of paisley before riffing on some Beatles lyrics. And so goes the rest of this highly listenable album. So many great tunes here, from the opening track “Love Tumbles into Obsession” to the very Squeeze-like “Calendar Girl.” The record also has a number of great acoustic turns, like “The Bargain.”

DIY workaholics Jim Shorts have called it quits. After releasing 47 records over the past decade, a combination of both long players and EPs, the band’s musical force David Haynes has said that their 2020 release will be their last. Well, that’s the bad news. The good news is that Late to the Feast is undeniably their best, most polished and fully realized creative work. The songwriting is strong and playing is shorn of the DIY abandon that characterized most of the band’s back catalogue. Right from the kick ass opening bars of “Out on the Patio” you know this is band taking itself a bit more seriously. The hooks are prominently on display, sounding like Fountains of Wayne got together for a songwriting session with Pavement or Weezer. The crunchy lurch of “Max’s Front Porch” is head-bobbingly good. Or there’s the slow burn hookiness of the title track. “Angel Songs” says alternative radio hit single. Album closer “Balto” confidently rocks out over the credits. This is the Jim Shorts album you gotta have.

Musical chameleon Daniel Romano flooded 2020 with new material. I find myself particularly partial to the late release, White Flag, with its Beatlesque and late 1960s folk rock touches. Album opener “Bleu Heron” is a masterpiece of musical synthesis, from the horn arrangement to the poetic feel of the lyrics. Very Crosby, Stills and Nash in places. From there the album vibes a greatest hits of sixties song stylings, like the Rubber Soul folk rock feel to “Garden of the Heart” or the early McCartney solo sound on “Appolpourre.” The songwriting here is as strong as ever, with every tune sounding both familiar and unusual. And then there’s a few exceptions, like the more new wave pop flavour to “New Milk.” There really is nothing that Romano can’t do musically.

I can’t believe I somehow missed the release of Gary Ritchie’s Head on a Swivel early in 2020. This record is maximum fun in a meat and potatoes poprock sort of way. Ritchie has all the chops, from Merseybeat to 1980s American indie rock and roll, delivering an album that is as listenable as any Greg Kihn or Tom Petty release. And yet there is something distinctively English about the overall sound to me. So many of the songs have that 1965 beat group feel, passed through an ELO sonic retro filter. Just hit play on the title track or “Lean On You” or “Four Letter Word” to get what I’m banging on about here. Or for a more American 1980s poprock elan check out “Maybe It’ll Be Tonight” or “Arms Around a Memory.” Personally I love the roll out to “Tunnel of Love” with its ringing guitar and handclaps – and the rest of the song is pretty great too. Rounding this out, “Record Store” is a hilarious closer. So, all in all, for retro melodic rock fans, Head on a Swivel is a can’t-go-wrong purchase.

John Sally Ride member John Dunbar has dropped a fabulous solo record that channels a perfect mix of mid-1960s pop songwriting and a 1980s indie rock feel. Despite the COVID-enforced DIY one-man-band effort here Oh Wellness sounds like much more. The launch track “Born To Bore” has a cool Lou Reed hooky lurch going on. “The Problem with Being on Time” radiates a sunny swing and some cool 1967 moog organ. “The Girl Whose Heard It All Before” reminds me of Squeeze’s great country songs. I could go on about each track here. Pushed I’d single out “A Sentimental Heart and a Skeptical Mind” and “She Doesn’t Now” as pretty single worthy. Having said that I love the Rubber Soul-veneer and clever word play on “Maybe May Be My Favorite Word.” With Oh Wellness, Dunbar has created a collection of light, fresh sounding tunes, leavened with interesting instrumental choices and timely sentiments. Paraphrasing Seth Myers, this is just the sort of record we need right now!

Your radio dial is just anachronistic technology but as a metaphor for access to possibly great music it lives on! Click on these artists to go directly the source.

2021’s gonna be perfect

01 Friday Jan 2021

Posted by in Poprock Themepark

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , ,

Why not be positive? After the year we’ve been through 2021 can’t help but be an improvement. I know, I know, pandemic habits die hard. Bad news on the doorstep, again. So to help steel your resolve for positivity, here’s a slew of songs on the perfection theme.

Parthenon Huxley (aka P. Hux) has the perfect sound to kick off this themed post with the addictive guitar hooks and Eels-meets-ELO smooth vocals on his song “Perfect.” He even has another tune that would fit in here called “Perfection” – but let’s not overdo it. Irrelevant aside: I just discovered that Hux produced Eels front man Mark Everett’s first two solo albums and A Man Called E is about as perfect as a debut can be. Bombadil change up the pace and style of what we’re doing here with their song “Perfect,” a lilting folkie track with a lot of uplift, from their 2017 album Fences. “Perfecto” is another 2017 release, this time from big guitar guy Chris Church’s long player Limitations of the Source Tape. For Church this offering is actually a bit low key (well, until the end) but has a lovely Matthew Sweet vibe with vocals that remind me of recent work by that inventive iconoclast Brad Peterson. I don’t know a lot a about Louisville, Kentucky’s The Pine Club, other than that they have three albums of fab material dating from the beginning of the new century. From their self-titled LP we showcase “Oh, Perfect!” Nice horns and background vocals on this one.

P. Hux – Perfect

Our next batch of performers move from vague ruminations about the perfect to more bold and weeping claims, singing about a perfect world of some sort or other. Mike Viola has some serious songwriting magic going on all over his many releases and “El Mundo de Perfecto” from his 2011 album Electro De Perfecto exemplifies these considerable skills. The song is so quintessentially Viola while also seeming to draw from acts like Crowded House stylistically. Fastball was one of those bands I only discovered deep into their career, on 2017’s Step Into Light specifically. That meant I had so many delightful surprises waiting for me dipping into their back catalogue. “Perfect World” is from 2004’s Keep Your Wig On and it really is a perfect manifestation of their new millennium Beatles/Tom Petty-inspired sound. From Dwight Twilley’s ironically titled The Luck album came a bona-fide should-be hit single in “Perfect World.” I still can’t believe this track didn’t race up the charts when it finally got a single release in 1998. Now, in the interests of journalistic balance I must include Ball Park Music’s “The Perfect World Does Not Exist.”  I mean, they’re right, of course. And they say it with such a quirky You Won’t almost folkie charm.

Mike Viola – El Mundo de Perfecto
Fastball – Perfect World
Dwight Twilley – Perfect World
Ball Park Music – The Perfect World Does Not Exist

Well, if a perfect world is beyond our grasp what about more accomplishable goals? Gary Ritchie would settle for a “Perfect Girl” on this Buddy Holly-esque workout. However, despite a delightful 2 minute and 41 second exploration of the issue, even Gary has to admit by the coda that it’s probably not gonna happen. In the late 1980s American janglers The Springfields (no relation to Dusty’s 1960s outfit) just wanted “This Perfect Day.” Well, if I were spinning this song and the rest of the collection it comes from, the 2019 retrospective of the band’s career Singles 1986-1991, I’d say ‘mission accomplished’! Perhaps we’d be wise to scope things down even further. Mo Troper has the right idea with his just released, wonderfully hooky “The Perfect Song.” I mean, I thought he already wrote the perfect song with that single from his 2020 album Natural Beauty, “Your Boy.” But more on that when I get to 2020’s best of lists …

Perfection is really just that space you’ve created, shaped, and defined where you can find some joy. For me that’s often finding, enjoying and sharing all this great music. So here’s to a perfect year, whatever that may amount to for you.

In hindsight: Bye Bye Blackbirds, The Click Beetles, Ed Wotil, Yum Yums, and more!

29 Tuesday Dec 2020

Posted by in Poprock Themepark

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

, , , , ,

How did I miss these acts? Well, if truth be told, I didn’t miss them actually. Perhaps ‘misplaced’ would be a more accurate description of what happened here. All these great albums hit the review pile with a thumbs up sticker but somehow got filed under ‘I-don’t-know-how-to-file-things’. Gotta come up with a new filing system. In any event, in hindsight I can see they should have gone straight to the ‘review now’ pile. Well, here they are!

The Bye Bye Blackbirds don’t disappoint with their recent Boxer at Rest release. The familiar chiming mid-1960s Beatles demeanor is back and the songwriting is as solid as ever. Personally, I hear a lot of Revolver on “You Were All Light” and “If It Gets Light” while “Baby It’s Still You” adds some Tom Petty to the mix. “Watch Them Chime” jangles, of course, in a southern California country rock sort of way. I love the slow swagger on “So True” and shuffle swing driving “War is Still Hell.” This is band that really owns its groove. However, I almost mistook “All Our Friends” for a Jeff Shelton song and performance. In my book, that’s pretty high praise.

On Pop Fossil The Click Beetles channel the fun poprock sound of the early 1980s where so many bands took a crack at reinventing the swinging sixties sound. Case in point, “To Rule the World.” It’s got reverby guitar, otherworldly vocals and a Squeeze-like farfisa organ solo. “Don’t You Call My Name” kicks off with a driving chord cycle, fueled by some serious jangle. “Alone” has that Long Tall Sally rockin’ out Beatles sound while “Hey Renee” works a 1965 lead guitar riff to good effect. “Rosanne” surprises listeners by combining 1960s guitar with a Gary Numan syth backdrop – but it works. Yet the should-be hit single to my ears is “Dreamland” with its hooky John Waite instrumental roll out and understated vocals. Or the Motown-infused album opener, “If Not Now Then When,” is also a pretty strong single contender.

There’s a lovely Marshall Crenshaw feel to Ed Wotil’s latest album, One in My Tree. Crenshaw was always able to combine strong feelings with hooks in a believable way, no matter how many love songs he wrote. It’s there on Wotil’s “When We Fall in Love,” a great song with classic Crenshaw-esque twists and turns and highly melodic guitar breaks. Or, for a more recent reference, “The Lie” has the country soul quality of Aaron Lee Tasjan’s recent work. “If the Sun Forgets to Shine” is just the kind of pop soul Nick Lowe’s been covering lately. The album leans on acoustic guitar on a host tracks, vibing a bit of Lennon on “Migrator” or Boo Hewdine on “Crying in your Sleep” and “Living in Between the Lines.” There’s great range on this record, from the lovely low-key emotional scene-sketches like “Do or Die” or the subtle single-ish “Make Me.”

Brandi Ediss (rhymes with ‘lettuce’) offers up highly listenable, mostly soft acoustic pop songs on her debut album Bees and Bees and Bees. But I do enjoy when she breaks out the band. The title track is an alluring, hypnotic ear worm that immediately calls to mind Juliana Hatfield and Liz Phair, with a solo guitar break that is so 1965 George Harrison. Ediss clearly has an ear for sonic detail. There’s the little banjo flourishes working at the edges of the main piano riff on “Count to Three” or the Amélie concertina solo half way through “Robot Heart.” Sometimes she just delivers a gorgeous hooky pop song, like “I Didn’t Try” or “Stupid Boyfriend.” She even makes flooring musical, winningly so on “Linoleum.”

Climb on board the Melenas rock and roll train and feel their relentless rhythm guitar attack, the mysterious keyboard interjections, the distinctive ghostly vocals. Once aboard, there’s no going back. This Pamploma, Spain quartet manage to sound familiar and original at the same time. The chugging rhythm section anchors “No Peudo Pensar” but it’s the lyrical bass playing and flashes of keyboard that gives the song intensity and staying power. “Los Alemanes” opens with a spooky guitar and keyboard combo but quickly suborns it to the overriding Melenas groove. I love the rollicking feel of the guitar work that defines “Ciencia Ficción” as a kind of upbeat shoegaze number. Or there’s the mesmerizing rhythm guitar work carrying “Ya no es Verano,” with its hypnotic interplay between vocals, guitar and keyboards. I don’t understand a Spanish word of the songs but I’m loving’em just the same.

On For Those About to Pop! the Yum Yums offer up a bit of glam, a lot of Ramones, and more than a dollop of early 1970s bubblegum, packaged with some pretty sweet California-beach background vocals. The title track or “Baby Baby” or “Bubblegum Baby” or “Can’t Get Enough of Your Lovin’” all really capture the sound. Some tracks say hit single a little bit more, like “She’s Got Everything” with its clever, layered arrangement, or “Crush On You” with its early Cars-like combo of chunky guitar and keyboard shots. I’m also partial to the 1970s fifties remake going on with “First Move” or the magnetic lead line and ample hooks pushing “The Kind of Girl.”

Late love is better than no love, right? You can dig these late additions to the hit pile by clicking the hyperlinked band names above.

Banner photo: Larry Gordon

The single file II

27 Sunday Dec 2020

Posted by in Poprock Themepark

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

, , , , , , , , ,

Holidays come and go and but singles don’t review themselves. That’s why I’m back here hard at work to clear a backlog of delicious three-or-so minute melodic treats. This is a fun, curious collection of tunes: a bit punky, all poppy, some serious, others mocking. In other words, something for everyone!

Written at the end of the summer, “There Goes the Sun” captures the wistful joy of those sun-filled days, one we’re definitely missing around here right now. Even though Vista Blue admit ‘we don’t live in a Beach Boys song’ they’re taking what sun they can get. The song brims with the band’s usual punky poprock vitality, with just a dollop of lush beach-strip background vocals. With Boston retro new wave outfit Muck and the Mires its a cheeky rave-up on “She Blocked My Number.” In my head, I can hear a killer Knack rendition of this ditty but that’s not saying this original doesn’t cut it. These guys are party rock and roll plus, a feeling that courses through this track. Taking things in a more serious direction, we have Sean Lund (of the fab Lund Brothers) going solo with “The Harder They Fall.” This is not a Jimmy Cliff cover. Instead Lund offers up a subtle poppy groove that is very Beatles’ White Album in tone, with an equally subdued but nevertheless effective political commentary. Cleveland’s Bill March has done his time in the trenches, a stalwart of his local music scene as band member and sideman to many projects. But lately he’s stepped out the shadows with some dynamite singles and extended play releases. 2018’s Songs from the Lifetime had a killer single in “I Need a Night” and his recent Home Remedies has the AM radio-friendly “Don’t Turn Away.” If that ringing 12 string electric sounds familiar, it should – it’s Billy Sullivan’s distinctive playing. Cheap Star have a slick gleam of power pop coating all over “Flower Girl.” Maybe that’s a predictable outcome when you’ve got member of Fountains of Wayne and The Posies playing with you. But, in the end, “Flower Girl” really works because its got the hooks.

Bill March – Don’t Turn Away

Jeff Gammill is having a busy year, despite COVID. His band Nite Sobs is heading for a host of year-end ‘best of’ lists for their fantastic debut Do the Sob! and people (like me) are still discovering the plenty-pleasing back catalogue for his old band, The Capitalist Kids. Now he’s got a solo thing going as ‘Jittery’ Jeff Gammill with the sprightly, punkish single “Good News (I’m Over You)” and it’s a winner. Just another delightful side to this talented guy. Portland’s Corvair mine what sounds like a new wave Moody Blues synthesis to me on “Sunday Runner,” a teaser single from their soon-to-be released debut. The organ on this song is so 1967 but the vocals are pure 1980. This husband and wife team are veterans of many indie bands, including Eux Autres, which bodes well for the rest of the album. Located in West Kirby at the northwestern tip of Merseyside’s Wirral peninsula, West Coast Music Club take their name from their geography. But they might as well be somewhere in California in 1966 because they’ve got the jangle guitar vibe down. “The Long Goodbye” is a reverb-drenched, guitar-heavy end-of-year bonus track from a band that already put out an album and EP this year. Very Vapor Trails on this song but the band offer a broader range of 1960s-inspired material on their longer players. Toronto’s Talk Show are cruising some nice punk pop on “This Monologue” when suddenly the chorus breaks out a serious ear-worm-worthy set of hooks. Can’t wait to hear the rest of what they’ve been up to when the whole album drops next February. To end things on this rifle-through-the-singles-bin post, Space Cadet’s “Forever for a While” is mad blast of rushing guitars and somewhat spacey, compressed vocals. It’s like Britpop meets an earlier generation of guitar poprock a la Simple Minds or INXS and the synthesis is very, very good.

As a product of the last gasp of 1970s AM radio dominance, I’ll always be a singles guy. Or maybe I’m just too distract-able for albums. Whatever. Needle-drop your way through these ten tunes and find yourself a year end fave, before it’s too late.

The single file I

23 Wednesday Dec 2020

Posted by in Poprock Themepark

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

, , , , , , , , ,

They pile up. The songs I set aside, singles drip-released from forthcoming albums, or just one-off surprises from artists disoriented by our pandemic-isolated world. So the single file is bulging and that can only mean one thing – I’m going to need two installments to clear the backlog! So let’s get things started.

Rotherham’s Searching for Sylvia kicks things off most jauntingly with “SEMA (Sunday Evening Misery Attack)” from their Ice Cream Man Records EP Play That Song. I love its low key jangle and rollicking pop feel. The rest of the EP is no slouch either. The Vapors are often cast as the quintessential new wave one-hit wonder for their 1980 chart-maker “Turning Japanese.” But they returned in 2020 with their first new album in 39 years! Together is a solid piece of work – so many great tracks here. Personally I’m partial to the record’s third single, the haunting “The Girl from the Factory.” Jeff Shelton must be one the hardest working men in indie music show business. The guy has a steady output from his great band The Well Wishers, a host of solo projects on the go, and somehow manages to produce a regular podcast featuring a wide variety of melodic rock and roll. Currently I’m catching up with a neat project he put together with Bradley Skaught of the Bye Bye Blackbirds, with each covering the other’s material. “All Our Days” is a song from Skaught’s recent band release, Boxer at Rest, and Shelton gives it his signature treatment, sibilant guitars and Matthew Sweet vocals that really bring out the song’s hooks. Ward White’s Leonard at the Audit has a Roxy Music sheen, cut with an Al Stewart lyricism. Not surprisingly then, the record has a strong 1970s aura, a poppy singer songwriter contribution with subtle unexpected hooks all over. White loves to riff popular culture as evidence on “Edmund Fitzgerald is a Wreck” an ear catching slew of period references. Toronto’s High Park Society are clearly vibing The Smiths with “On Your Mind” and that’s Ok by me. From the horn section to the confessional vocals, the tune trips along in a most pleasant way.

The Vapors – The Girl from the Factory

Richard Snow and the Inlaws offer up nice bit of addictive pop with “System Out of Date.” I love the hooky guitar bit that precedes most verses and the nice low-key jangle cushioning the rest of the song. Snow offers up a nice acoustic version of the song as well as a b-side. Ginger Wildheart is another seeming melodic workaholic, with so many strong releases. “I Love You So Much I’m Leaving” is from his late 2020 album The Pessimist’s Companion and it’s a lovely, breezy bit of poprock with just a hint of country pedal steel touches. So much of the Gallows Birds new record Quaranteenage Kicks comes off like a Beach Boys biker gang, the striped shirts are ripped and filthy and there’s no way your sister is hitting the beach with these guys. But on “I’m So Unhappy for You” the organ is peppy and the guitars are so Romantics-1980-clashy that I’m thinking one dance won’t hurt. Seriously, this song and the whole album are irrepressibly fun and highly danceable. Nuevos Hobbies hail from Pamplona, Spain and they are exemplars of that special Spanish brand of power pop. “No Puedo Esperar” is the title track from their soon-to-be released new album and it’s a fab cocktail of sparkly guitars and heavenly vocals. Can’t wait to hear more from these guys! Münster, Germany’s Neon Bone do a Me First and the Gimme Gimmes thing in their back catalogue, covering “Bad to Me” and “Sukiyaki” among others. But elsewhere they write their own 1960s-cum-1990 pop punk tunes that exude a rough but winning charm. From their recent long player Make It Last I’m pulling a double A sided single featuring “I Got a Friend” and “Girl You Should Know.” Both tracks could easily be Merseybeat-en up but they work in this pop punk vein too.

So many great songs – click on the artist names to follow up on the ones that tickle your fancy. As for me, I’ll keep filing. There are plenty more singles that need featuring, coming soon.

Holiday hit parade

17 Thursday Dec 2020

Posted by in Poprock Themepark

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Under normal circumstances we’d be reeling from the nearly toxic levels of holiday music saturation going on. Every shop, office or mall would be wall-to-wall Santa tunes, with a few mentions of that Jesus guy for good measure. And here I’d come along making the case for even more eggnog-splattered tune-age but with a significantly higher quotient of hooks. But not this year. Lockdown has put the holiday music hostage-taking on hold, at least somewhat. So I expect even greater tidings of joy to accompany my annual holiday hit parade offerings! Forget tinsel, let’s get a little reverb on that tree.

Kicking off our seasonal singles is fab contribution from Lisa Mychols. Last year Williamsport Grade 8 math teacher and aspiring songwriter Brian Fagnano wrote me late in the season to alert me to this great tune he’d written and convinced Mychols to record (sometimes cold-calling actually works!) and the result, “Ringing Bells on Christmas Day,” is fantastic, an instant classic! His note came too late to include the song in last year’s holiday post but I’ve kept it aside to feature this year. The track has a great Spector-ish quality to it, particularly in the song structure, with an updated, chiming indie-charm production-wise. This one’s going into an eggnog-with-rum level of rotation.

Another last-year Christmas song contribution came from the uber talented Brothers Steve. In addition to releasing a highly celebrated debut album (#1, reviewed here) the boys managed to get out a double-A-sided seasonal single. Last year’s post had one of the songs and this year I’m featuring the other, “I Love the Christmastime.” It’s got an early period Squeeze-like appeal, so 1980, in the best sort of way. The song also appears on the Big Stir Singles: The Yultide Wave with a load of other great tunes and artists (check out the whole package here). Another reliable band of hooky holiday music providers is Vista Blue with a whole album of festive tunes and one-off singles. But this year they blew the doors off on the doing-the-holiday-music thing with their Ralphie’s Red Ryders project and its accompanying album You’ll Shoot Your Eye Out. What a wonderful tribute to everyone’s fave anxiety-fueled holiday movie classic, A Christmas Story. And the songs are great too! I included “I’m Gonna Get an A+ on My Theme” because it’s my fave at this particular moment – that could (will) change. Growing up Roy Orbison’s “Pretty Paper” was a holiday 45 must play. Roy’s gone but a bit of him lives on in a raft of current releases from the Ruen Brothers, like their brand new holiday song, “This Wholesome Christmas Eve.” The boys nail the guitar ambience and songwriting style of 1962 while the vocals really are heavenly.

Ruen Brothers – This Wholesome Christmas Eve

The holidays offer performers an immense catalogue of now-classic material to cover in their bid to get a piece of that seasonal download/streaming action. But not all remakes are made equally. Nick Lowe is ‘old reliable’ in his ability to cover a tune and practically reinvent it. His collection of seasonal songs, Quality Street, as aptly named, and not in the cheap chocolates sort of way. This year he dropped two more holiday songs on us, one a cover of “Let It Snow.” With the able backing of his regulars Los Straightjackets, Nick largely lets the song’s hooky melody do all the work and the result are candy cane good. Indie darlings Peggy Sue strike a similar guitar pose with their cover of the venerable “White Christmas,” with just a shiver of their distinctive other-worldly Blue Velvet-style on the vocals. Power pop master Greg Pope gets right to work cranking the guitar all over “It Came Upon a Midnight Clear,” shifting from reverby lead to power chords with solid melodic effect. A less obvious pairing sees melodic noise-ster Velco Mary add some swing to the otherwise rather more typically morose “Silent Night.” But, hey, it works, giving the song some as-yet undiscovered pep.

Velcro Mary – Silent Night

Ok, back to new holiday songs. Dolour has definitely been good this year, releasing copious amounts of great material, both albums and singles. No coal for these guys. But they have more to give! Like “All Winter Long,” a contribution to the season with a nice McCartney “Wonderful Christmastime” ambience. Nick Piunti and the Complicated Men’s “Christmas Morning” is a more upbeat take on festive music, with both their signature jangle and Bryan Adams-meets-Elvis Costello vocals in attendance. Now here’s a timely seasonal tune, in more ways than one: The Jac (featuring the Christmas crew)’s “I Won’t Be Leaving Home for Christmas.” I mean, no metaphor here. We’re locked down or should be, for everyone’s sakes. Still, Jangle band and The Jac main man Joe Algeri manages to make it sound light and uplifting, with a sing-along feel and great harmonies. Now slipping back a few years, here’s a winning Christmas selection from Trolley’s Star of Wonder album, “Christmas in the Marketplace.” The guitar riffing alone here makes this song sparkle.

We wrap up this installment of our holiday hit parade by coming full circle, back to Lisa Mychols, this time working with Super 8. The duo wowed listeners with the obvious musical chemistry all over their self-titled debut effort this past summer, one that managed to effectively vibe sun, sand and a bit of surf. Now they take aim at winter with “Red Bird,” and the track is more proof that what they’ve got going is no fluke. The song is easy-going and breezy like an afternoon skate on an outdoor rink.

Merry happy to you this season dear readers, wherever you are and whatever you believe. I hope your holidays are filled with hooks that get cranked to 11.

Photo credit: Larry Gordon.

Meet the Blendours!

14 Monday Dec 2020

Posted by in Artist Spotlight

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , ,

This past month it seems like the Blendours are everywhere, featured on a host of podcasts and music blogs. Who are these guys and why is everyone suddenly discovering them? Ok, the latter half of the question escapes me but the first part is easily researched. Iowa’s newest hitmakers are actually old pros on the pop punk scene with releases stretching back to 2011. Meeting the actual band won’t take long – they are essentially songwriter, singer, main (often sole) musician Trevor Treiber, with guests from time to time. Reckoning with their extensive catalogue – 15 or so albums, depending on how you count them – is more daunting. But here you can relax as yours truly has needle-dropped his way through all the albums to curate a special collection of the band’s material. I wouldn’t claim this is a definitive collection but there’s more than enough featured here to meet the Blendours!

The early Blendours’ records embody what commentators have called ‘Ramones-core,’ a sound capturing the urgent yet simple rhythm guitar attack of America’s favourite punk band. Yet there has always been a sweet goofiness to the Blendours output too, enhanced by Treiber’s penchant for harmony vocals.  You can hear the fun ‘I’m not taking this too seriously’ approach on tracks like “Miley and Me,” “Cheapskate” “Comic Shoppe,” and “Fastfood Queen.” But at the same time you can also spot the serious attention to strong structure as the band nails the early 1960s melodrama sound on “Now That’s He’s Gone” and “I Miss You Baby.” There’s more than a little of Gene Pitney’s histrionics on “More Than a Game” or a total American Grafitti vibe to “Trail of Broken Hearts.”

As the albums pile up the songwriting gains melodic depth. There is something very Magnetic Fields about songs like “I Blew It Again” or Edmunds-Lowe/Rockpile-ish on “I’m in Love with Mary-Sue.” Guitar leads start to take on more prominence on tracks like “She’s My Girl” and “A Girl Like You.” Then there’s really creative efforts that stretch the limits of conventional song structures like “99 Lives,” “Cut My Hair” and “Throw My Brain Away” (the latter with a nice Beatlesque twist). Meanwhile, Treiber’s love of doo wop and fifties motifs run throughout his career on songs like “Toddler Stomp” and “Metal Rebel.”

The Blendours more recent albums bring all their many influences together in a dynamic, more polished synthesis. 2016’s In the Living Room is like Beach Boys Party meets Jonathan Sings! in its combination of an easy groove, catchy melodies, and a new lyrical sophistication. Treiber’s pop punkster is giving way to a new millennium reincarnation of Buddy Holly on tracks like “She’s Got Another One” and “Listen to Your Heart.” And then there’s 2019’s Wrong Generation – man, I’m in love with this record! In a way The Blendours come full circle here, returning to mostly acoustic guitar strumming and inspired vocal interplay to carry the day but somehow managing to sound like so much more. The title track is rocking boogie number that reads like Treiber’s musical manifesto. There’s an vocal vulnerability animating “My One and Only” that gives the song so much more impact. This is a band not just goofing off anymore. Meanwhile “Different Kind of Love” nails an early 1960s pop country sound. If you were to buy only one Blendours album, you wouldn’t go wrong with Wrong Generation. It’s the band’s most fully realized piece of creativity. On the other hand, if you prefer punk, the band can still punk out. Check out “What To Say To You” from 2017’s No Respect.

As the band say on their Facebook page, their “sound will make you feel like a teenager cruising the strip before your high school dance.” You can make that your car soundtrack by visiting the Blendours on bandcamp.

Extended Play omnibus

09 Wednesday Dec 2020

Posted by in Poprock Themepark

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

The rise and fall and rise of the Extended Play or ‘EP’ format is a story of technological innovation and the changing political economy of the music biz. American record companies RCA Victor and Columbia had a kind of techno arms race going on post-WWII, each vying to dominate the format of music delivery. Columbia pitched the 33rpm long-play or ‘LP’ format in 1948 while rival RCA introduced the 45rpm single in 1949 and the EP in 1952. For a while it was a ‘Betamax versus VHS’ or ‘DOS versus Apple’ sort of battle. But eventually the LP and 45 single came to serve distinct but complementary purposes. EPs, on the other hand, thrived for a while as a cheaper alternative to LPs (both Elvis and the Beatles sold millions of them) but eventually faded out by the late 1950s in the US and late 1960s in the UK. EPs got a death sentence reprieve with the rise of the DIY punk and indie scenes in the late seventies and eighties, basically as a more affordable product for non-mainstream acts. Then, more recently, the post millennium download era has heralded a new golden age of the EP as acts increasingly drip-release their music to maintain maximum public interest. So today we celebrate the EP – long may it hold our attention!

Austin’s Wiretree deliver another reliable slice of strummy, slightly ominous poprock with their 5 song EP Careless Creatures, perfectly embodied on the opening track “All the Girls” and the EP closer “Lovers Broken.” Some trippy keyboards introduce “Back to the Start,” a rockier tune with a distinctive ‘wall of vocals’ attack.  The keyboards continue to define things on the mellow “Nightlife” and “Out of Control,” both of which remind me of The Zolas and mid-period OMD in their general atmosphere. For a pretty much solo effort, the band’s creative force Kevin Peroni really turns out a dynamic performance here. I raved about David Woodard’s indie EPs I Used to be Cool and Everything in Between for their endearing jangle hookiness. But now Woodard is ready to join the big leagues with his fabulous new EP Grand Scheme of Things. The production quality and songwriting nuances on this release are Top 40 AM radio quality, in the best sense of the term. Just check out the vocal layering effects on the George Harrison-esque “You Don’t Even Know” that elevate the song to new heights. Personally, I think Woodard’s cover of the The Thorns “Among the Living” improves on the original, adding a strong Crosby, Stills and Nash vibe to the proceedings. But the highlights for me on this release are undoubtedly the two hit-single worthy tracks, “Applebees” and the title track. The former has a slow burn take up, reeling you in with its classic story of failed rock and roll ambition and just the right amount of Fountains of Wayne hooky pathos. The latter sails on a delightful low-key jangle wind until – bam – a killer chorus takes the listener into the stratosphere.

I already lauded Esther Rose and her cover of Nick Lowe’s “Blue on Blue” earlier this fall but the EP it appears on deserves more attention. My Favorite Mistakes is a Sheryl Crow song and the title of Rose’s small collection of covers, which includes the Crow tune and songs written by Hank Williams, Roy Orbison and the afore-mentioned Lowe. Rose’s vocal delivery and musical choices take this classic material in new directions. There are times she vibes the lyrical intimacy of Susanne Vega or vulnerability of Joni Mitchell. I have to add a shout out for her new single “Keeps Me Running,” a winning example of those Vega/Mitchell influences. Former Napalm Sunday frontman/songwriter Gerry McGoldrick remade his sound on his 2017 EP The Great Dispossession in a highly melodic and hooky poprock way. Now he’s returned this year with Swelter in Place and, like many artists, he offers a more stripped-down, solo acoustic effort while still maintaining his more recent poppy elan. “My Good Hand” has a great punky folk feel, very Old 97s. “Summer Friends” has that late period Nick Lowe warm swing. Or there’s my fave, “You Can Only Find Me,” a very Springsteen meets Chuck Prophet ode.

Emperor Penguin kicked off 2020 with a much-celebrated new album, Soak Up the Gravy. Other bands might have kicked back at that point, repair to the pub or perhaps get busy in the garden. But that’s not Emperor Penguin’s style apparently. Instead, they’ve kept busy releasing three EPs over this past summer and fall. June’s Taken for a Ride offers a bit of Revolver flavour on “Maserati” and “Hangar 9” or Rubber Soul on “Belgravia Affair,”  while the duet with Lisa Mychols is a pych pop delight, a real should-be hit single. By August the band seemed a bit more introspective on Palaces and Slums, with hooky Fountains of Wayne story songs like “Stay Out of the Sun” and “Blink.” Then there’s the pop lushness of “Hell in a Handcart” or, for contrast, “The Way the Cookie Crumbles” with its ska groove and break-out Squeeze chorus. October delivered Barbed Wire and Brass, a more cerebral rumination on themes like authoritarian leadership (“False Prophet”) and mob justice (“12 Angry Men”). Sonically, the record reminds me of The Beatles in White Album mode while the lyrics are so Elvis Costello or Scandinavia. The Junior League’s Joe Adragna is a master of 1960s musical motifs but on his latest EP Summer of Lies, a collaboration with producer Scott the Hoople, he restricts the focus to a Monkees-meets-country rock mood. “Summer of Flies” combines a “Subterranean Homesick Blues” vocal delivery with a rollicking Monkees pace. Meanwhile “Make Up Your Mind” and “Out on the Side” offer up different sides of the country rock scene, from Brydsian pep to achingly Eagles. The EP is a surprising, refreshing departure from an artist that could hardly be accused of sitting still creatively.

I wrote about The Amplifier Heads earlier this year in themed blog post but didn’t really do justice to what the band has put out, particularly on the EP Oh Golly Gee. At that point I was raving about the delicious “Short Pop Song about a Girl,” a song that seems so familiar and foreign at the same time.  Songwriter Sal Baglio combines familiar elements of popular songcraft but manages to turn them inside out: a bit of rumbly guitar, some accordion, a bouncy 1960s song structure, etc. Terms like ‘ironic detachment’ come to mind, except that Baglio seems entirely sincere. “Late to the Prom” is delivered in a style that seems both so 1950s hopeful and post-millennial indifferent. I love the catchy lead guitar bits sprinkled throughout “Short Pop Song about a Girl” and the “I Should Have Known Better” drive to “Man on the Edge of a Ledge Contemplating a Jump.” Brooklyn’s Fixtures blend a host influences on their new EP Weak Automatic. There’s definitely a strong dollop of a New Order melodic bass and synth, evident on the hooky opener “Five Ft One, Six Ft Ten.” But from there the band keeps us guessing. Things turn a bit Fleet Foxes vocally on “The Great Tequila Flood 2000-2018,” in a good way. “Jay’s Riff” has a Grouplove live party feel while “Sunshine” vibes a jazzy take on the Velvets. And I love the way the guitars seem to relentlessly rush the listener on “New Deal.” This band is stylistically going everywhere at once, and I like it.

The ‘extended play’ record began as a competitive technological gambit in a giant corporate game of musical chess, then revived and repurposed itself to serve an indie-DIY music esthetic, and has now emerged as a preferred form of packaging for music in the download/streaming era. It’s more than a sample and not quite a meal. Click on the hyperlinks above and let our artists know whether the EP is really meeting your needs.

The splendiferous Nick Frater

04 Friday Dec 2020

Posted by in Artist Spotlight

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, ,

Nick Frater certainly keeps himself busy. In the summer he launched an ambitious video and audio project 59 Vignettes, an endeavor that reminded me of John Dos Passos’ USA Trilogy in its effort to recalibrate fiction along emerging cinematic lines. Few of the contributions here exceed one minute and the accompany videos highlight the fragmentary, impressionistic feel of the pieces. There are a few more fully formedl song sketches on the record, tracks like “Number Name Unknown” and “In Another Song.” Some vibe McCartney on “Pay You Next Time” or even the Rolling Stones on “Fading Stones.” Other efforts are more experimental, like “Chiff Intermission” and “The Pelican Song (Wow and Flutter version).” Then there’s some fairly straightforward poprock numbers, like “Under Hogarth Skies.” But, given what came later, 59 Vignettes was clearly just a bit of fun, a diversion before Frater dropped his 2020 album proper.

On his more conventional record release for 2020 Fast & Loose, Frater lets his 1970s pop sensibility fly in grand style. The opening title track is practically a love letter to those 1970s TV themes. Then he kicks in with “Let’s Hear it for Love,” an anthem for our times that draws from a decidedly early 1980s ABBA vibe. Shifting gears, I love how the organ shots on “Luna” propels that song along. From there Frater showcases his talent for 1970s motifs with a bit of McCartney on “Cocaine Girls, some ELO on “So Now We’re Here” (with that great organ solo), and a spot-on 1970s pop feel to “California Waits.” But there are a few surprises, like the older ballroom sound on songs like “Endless Summertime Blues” and “That Ship Has Sailed.”

It’s always a splendid outing with Nick Frater. From the design, to the production, to the solid songwriting the results are routinely both eye and ear-catching, stylish and substantive. Mosey over the Frater-ville and you won’t miss a thing.

Cover me! The Vogues “Five O’Clock World”

29 Sunday Nov 2020

Posted by in Poprock Themepark

≈ 8 Comments

Tags

, , , , , , , , ,

If ever a song begged to soundtrack a visual montage it’s “Five O’Clock World.” With its striking guitar work, competing counter-melodic vocal lines, and its lyrical celebration of the end of work, it’s an attention grabber. Arrangement-wise, the song has the structured classiness of the Drifters’ “On Broadway” or anything by the Mamas and Papas. The band behind the song were The Vogues, primarily a vocal group from Turtle Creek, Pennsylvaia who had a handful of chart hits between 1965 and 1970. The killer instrumental backing on the single comes via a kind of Nashville version of L.A.’s Wrecking Crew, featuring guitarist Chip Young (who played on Elvis and Dolly Parton records, among others). The opening guitar lick is so of-the-period and I love how the vocals create a percussive effect in this song, balanced against some soaring melodic hooks. The song and The Vogues’ performance exude the very essence of poprock.

The Vogues – Five O’Clock World

Surprisingly for a track with this much tuneful charisma, 1960s covers are hard to find. It was common in the period for copycat versions to ride the success of a hit but perhaps “Five O’Clock World” was seen as too distinctive to reinterpret. The only contemporary versions I could find were by vanity records stalwart Dora Hall (b-siding her lounge version of the Rolling Stones’ “Can’t Get No Satisfaction”) and an instrumental from The Man from U.N.C.L.E.’s David McCallum, both released in 1966. McCallum’s take is eccentrically listenable, Hall’s not so much. Fast forward to the 1980s and Ballistic Kisses slather enough synth on the song to make Gary Numan proud. By contrast, Hal Ketchum countryfies things in a most refined way in his 1991 cover. The Proclaimers put their own distinctive vocal stamp on the song with its appearance on their celebrated 2003 comeback album, Born Innocent.

David McCallum
Ballistic Kisses
Hal Ketchum
The Proclaimers

Now there are more straight-up rock and roll treatments of “Five O’Clock World” out there. Like the delightful, rollicking work out from Robert Crenshaw. Stepping out from behind drum kit in brother Marshall’s band, Crenshaw offers up a rootsy take with swing and some nice piano breaks. Bowling for Soup crank the amps and add some pop punk sensibility to the tune. Finally, Victoria, BC’s Scrunt Brothers indie things up in fine style with loud guitars and an X or Blaster-style vocal.

Robert Crenshaw
Bowling for Soup

Great songs manage to shine through on just about any cover. In the case of “Five O’Clock World” just turn it on and watch everything around you become just a little bit more cinematic. No wonder Drew Carey decided to use the full 2 minutes and 10 second original single to open the first few seasons of his show.