Bold new visions are all that make the cut on today’s dial twisting installment. Each of our featured acts puts a unique spin on the poprock genre.
Orville Peck comes on like the bastard love child of Elvis Presley and Morrisey. His voice has the spine chilling warmth of the King on tracks like “Nothing Fades Like the Light.” But his phrasing on cuts like “Winds of Change” and “Dead of Night” are so the Mopester. It would be easy to shrug off Peck’s killer debut album, Pony, as just another bit of kitsch or retro country a la early K.D. Lang or K.C. Musgraves (prior to her most recent release). Obviously songs like “Roses Are Falling” and “Take You Back (The Iron Hoof Cattle Call)” encourage such a response. But Pony is so much more. Despite the obvious fun Peck is having there is deep sincerity to the performances too. Peck isn’t just kidding. When he hits the ‘alright’ part of the vocal in “Turn To Hate” something happens that’s hard to explain. You hear the mastery, the control, the hurt. The song could easily have had a pumping Pet Shop Boys synth backdrop but Peck has crafted a distinctive bit of musical synthesis, drawing from retro rock and roll, country and a gay club esthetic. This guy is something big waiting to explode.
London’s Scandinavia wrap an acerbic critique of empty consumerism and widespread inequality in a delicious melodic coating throughout their latest long player, Premium Economy. At first I thought the title was a jokey, ridiculous play on how the corporate world increasingly sells status inequality to different gradations of the striving middle class. Actually, it’s a real thing, offered up by SAS airlines! Satire is getting harder and harder but Scandinavia still give it a go. Empty-headed contrarians take a beating on “I Don’t Believe in Anything,” corporate interests disguised as a ‘love of science’ are exposed on “Choose Science,” and American imperialism is rightly condemned on “Pax Americana.” But hey, at the end of day the record stands or falls on the quality of the tunes. And here I can attest that they are pretty amazing. “Melody Glade” is a stroll through a lush grove of jangle. “Ghetto Blaster” exudes a blast of sunshine, particularly with its harmony-drenched chorus. And “I Own An Island” manages to skewer the depths of wealthy over-consumption while wooing us with killer hooks in the chorus. And don’t miss the back catalogue for more of the high quality same.
It’s a fairly predictable hipster transition to see former punkers mellowing into the roots music scene in old age. But Nic McNamara has gone the other way. After two respectable neo-folkie albums with his band Black Bears Fire he’s back with a more muscular, punky rock and roll sound with new band Summer Colds on their debut album, Here Comes Nothing. The result is a fascinating synthesis of country harmonies with a poppy American punk sound. This is particularly apparent on opening tracks “Low” and “Found,” both featuring vocals that remind of such alt-folk luminaries as You Won’t and Good Old War. When we get to the single “Whiteout” the comparisons to Weezer start to make sense with its grind of buzzing guitars and smooth hooky vocals. Special mention: check out the great western country harmony lurking under the rock veneer on “Killing Flies.”
Today’s bands all amount to more than their most immediate appearances and bear repeated listening to really appreciate them. There’s no better way to make that happen than to invest in their musical products. Click on Orville Peck, Scandinavia, and Summer Colds to get that started.
Cow photo: Larry Gordon.
Dallas must be some kind of music town – so many cool bands! And here’s another one: 
Fans of Everly Brothers-style singing talk about blood harmony or, put more scientifically, the impact of genetics on musical compatibility. But husband and wife duos also often connect musically with a chemistry that is characteristically different than more platonic pairings. Today’s blog post promotes the benefits of musical matrimony with three stellar case studies.
Nashville’s *repeat repeat was a recent accidental iTunes front page discovery. With a Weezer-esque sense of style and design, I just had to click on the stylish organge-drenched album cover to hear what was inside – and what a treat I found! On Glazed, *repeat repeat come on like a more dance-able, clubby Fountains of Wayne, with a guitar-oriented poprock anchored by the band’s distinctive use of synthesizer. The vocals on this album also function like a finely tuned instrument, adding an extra depth to the subtle melodies. “Hi, I’m Waiting” eases you in with its slow roll out and earwormy synth shots before punching things up in the chorus. “Pressure” has a club dance groove drive given a rock and roll combo treatment and some hooky vocal ‘oh’s’ for good measure. “Fortunate One” is the hit single for me: understated but builds its melodic architecture piece by piece until you can’t resist hitting replay. “I’ll be the One You’re Going Old With” has a sweet sentiment and clips along with a chirpy feel good sound. “City of Stars” vibes “Stacey’s Mom” but geared down to a more dreamy tempo. “TTB” has flashes of early Paul Simon vocally but punks up as it goes along. And so on. This is a great album buy. Don’t miss their catalogue highlights either: both “Everybody’s Falling in Love” and “Girlfriend” from 2017’s Floral Canyon are both winners!Fortunate One
We’ve featured a lot of songs from American-Franco duo Freedom Fry. There is something so distinctive about their blend of almost whispered harmony and folksy charm. But it’s the tunes that ultimately carry them through, whether their own original material or a load of inspired covers. 2018’s Classic really was. So many great songs on an expertly executed album. Since them the duo have peppered us with series of expanded singles that take up new textures and unpredictable cover material. Like “Renegade – only Freedom Fry could strip out all the bombast of the Styx original, leaving the song’s uneasy essence remaining. “Black Mountain” gives the duo a chance to show off their formidable vocal layering techniques. “Hey Moon” has a lovely, lilting lullaby-like texture. “Yeah You” picks up the tempo and charges up the hooks. Then “The Sun is Going to Shine on You” shows how the band can work up a tougher yet still melodic sound. Freedom Fry brim with creativity and surprises!
The Weepies ooze gentle sweetness with their carefully crafted harmonies and delicate arrangements. There is always something wistful about their performances: often quiet and filled with longing. “All That I Want” from their 2004 debut Happiness really captures the basic formula, which is further solidified with tracks like “Gotta Have You” 2005’s Say I Am You. From the same record check out the Simon and Garfunkel-worthy, shiver-inducing harmony on “World Spins Madly On” or the winsome “Nobody Knows Me All.” Then 2008’s Hideaway was a masterpiece, upping the poprock polish without relinquishing the folksy intimacy. The whole album is songwriting gold, from the engaging title track, to the entrancing “Little Bird,” to the single-worthy “Antarctica,” and so on. 2010’s Be My Thrill changed things up a bit, shifting things uptempo on tracks like “Hope Tomorrow” while 2015’s Sirens even introduced inspired covers like Tom Petty’s “Learning to Fly.” Health problems and parenting appear to have slowed The Weepies early productivity but their website reports a new tour for Autumn 2019. Perhaps a new record won’t be far behind.
People do the love the famous. Me, I’m not really into famous people per se but I’m fascinated by the phenomena. The famous are clearly just distorted-mirror projections of ourselves, our unfulfilled hopes and dreams, our alter-selves, if only we had the time, genes, and personal trainers. Or they’re just a bit of innocent fun, a chance to live vicarious lives at no real cost. And musicians write songs about them. Whether it’s classical music giants (Falco “Rock Me Amadeus”) or silver screen icons (Kim Carnes “Bette Davis Eyes”), the famous get further immortalized in song. Personally, I like finding the more obscure odes to the famous from great unheard-of poprock bands, like the crew featured in this post below!
It looks like it’s last call for Ottawa-based band Hollerado. Earlier this month the Canadian band announced they were releasing one last album and going on one last tour before calling it quits. Such a Canadian exit. No storming off stage mid-show, no fisticuffs in the dressing room, no purported creative differences. Just a polite ‘it’s been fun but, you know, time for a change’ explanation. The full album comes out in June but the pre-release singles suggest the band is going out on a high note. The aptly-named “One Last Time” is a hooky, sing-along invitation to fans to come out and dance, yes, ‘one last time.’ Also pre-released is the lovely, more acoustic “Straight to Hell.” Am I disappointed? Hell yes. Not with these songs – which are great – but with the end of band that, in my view, has yet to reach their creative peak. 2017’s Born Yesterday was a killer album that honed all the group’s strengths in terms of melody and performance, captured perfectly in the addictive ear wormy title track. Now their new album Retaliation Vacation promises to be even better!
That ringing in your ears? Yup. Jangle Thursday is back! Though this round does include a few bands not entirely dedicated to the genre, but that’s OK. We’ll focus on the jangle but rest assured their other efforts are also the highest quality poprock.
Only four of the twelve tracks from The Bobbleheads new long-player Myths and Fables might be considered jangle but, man, everything here is still worth your attention. The hooks in these songs are ‘outasight’. Opening track “Like Oxygen” cranks up the jangle at the start but dims the sparkle a bit as the song’s swinging melody kicks in. Other jangle highlights include minor-chord heavy “Holding On,” the band’s tribute to Canadian songstress “Anne Murray,” and “Feel This Way” and “Afternoon,” both with great trebly lead lines. But check out other killer cuts here like “Listen You Know,” “Do You” and “Become One.” Between the jangle and the amazing 1980s indie feel, Myths and Fables is like a great lost early-to-mid period R.E.M. record.
Norway’s Armchair Oracles have been compared to all the big ‘B’ bands i.e. Big Star, Badfinger and the Beatles. I can hear all that but there also seems to be hint of 1980s Moody Blues and the Alan Parson Project, particularly on some of the vocals. On the whole, Caught By Light has a nice buzzy undercurrent that allows the jangle to stand out on tracks like “Porcelain Heart,” “All My Time” and “Don’t Let It Break You.” But I also really like the slower tempo acoustic vibe on “Several Stories” and “Downsized Life.” You can really hear the late-period-Beatles Harrison guitar influence on the album closer “The Last of All Suns.” Beatlemaniacs be warned – this album is full of triggers!
A quick review of The Top Boost’s 2016 release Turn Around reminds us these boys know their way around treble-heavy guitars with uber jangle-heavy tracks like “What If She Loves You.” The new EP Dreaming shows they have lost none of their jangle chops. Title track “Dreaming” has ringing guitars all over the verses that work in tension with a wall of ‘ah’-ing background vocals in the chorus. “I’ll Be There” is another great contribution that melds 1960s and 1970s pop influences, with a simple but seductive guitar lead line that would make a Beatles For Sale-era George Harrison proud. Damn, these guys know their late 1960s sunshine poprock!
When I saw Rilo Kiley with my buddy Rob Elliott at the Horseshoe Tavern in Toronto back in 2004 we were blown away by an act we’d barely heard of. Then, like so many bands, they eventually broke up. Now we know that sometimes separated parts don’t add up to the whole. But Rilo Kiley lead singer and rhythm guitarist Jenny Lewis has produced some real gems on her solo releases. Here I’m thinking tracks like “One of the Guys” from her first post-RK album in 2014, The Voyager. Now she’s back with On the Line and it’s a winner, embracing a pop sensibility that channels a fun 1970s swing. Check out the swagger on “Wasted Youth” with it’s interesting change ups in the chorus. Who thought ‘do do do do do’ could be trotted out again and sound original? But my absolute fave on this outing is the infectious “Rabbit Hole.” Something about its stark simplicity allows Lewis to embroider the edges with a load of hooky charms that makes this ear-worm central. And she manages to name check the Beatles and Rolling Stones without making it sound awkward or trite. Get ready to hit replay again and again!
It is too early to start working up a best albums list for 2019? Because the crew on this edition of the breaking news team are going for broke on the ‘all killer, no filler’ kind of long players. These are album downloads – no point wasting your time buying them song by song.
I was minding my own business on iTunes searching out movie star names as song titles when I ran across No Win’s “Shelly Duvall.” And that led me to their new album, Downy, 36 minutes of muscular poprock with a decidedly Weezer vibe. I thought I’d stumbled across a real unknown find but almost immediately glowing No Win reviews started showing up across my blogroll. Well, they deserve it. “After Your Legs” opens things up, setting the tone with a melodic but hard-hitting edge, as does “Vision.” “2 Real” sounds a bit like Fountains of Wayne meets Weezer to me while “Being Teen” and “Waiting for a Call” change up the pace, establishing a slower, more acoustic atmosphere. But “Shelly Duvall” is the obvious single to these ears, with its slightly dissonant hooks and smooth vocals. It’s a track that screams perfect movie montage music.
Supercrush might be described as a ‘change of life’ band. The members foreswore their hardcore roots in other groups to go full on power pop with this project and their first complete album release, Never Let You Drift Away. The record brings together a group of singles that have been on a slow drip release stretching back years, but the collection has proven to be worth the wait. There is nary a weak track here. And for an LP that came together in bits and pieces, the whole thing has a consistent sound and style, with “Melt Into You (Drift Away)” and “I Don’t Want to be Sad Anymore” ready to be added immediately to any Top 40 hit singles rotation. On the other hand “I Can’t Lie” and “Walking Backwards” have a great 1960s jangle aura. This is a crank-me-up at the beach good time.
David Brookings has the look of a classic 1970s poprock star with his David Cassidy-like impish grin and wavy mop of hair. Now he’s got the album to go with it. Scorpio Monologue is a timeless slice of 1960s-70s infused should be hits. Brookings writes songs that echo a time when radio was dominated by standout guitar hooks and sweet harmony vocals. It’s all there on the opening track, “And It Feels Like,” with its driving, chiming guitar lines and mid-period Blue Oyster Cult feel for melody and menace. Things lighten up a bit with the winsome, summery jangle of “I Grow Up Fast” and turn on the late Beatles-era McCartney influences on “Rainbow Baby.” Brookings shows his mastery of styles whether dialing up the rock factor on “Big Gun” or adding a tasteful bit of yacht to “Be Gone (Whoever You Are).” “Silicon Valley” has a slight Billy Joel meets country flavor to me and nicely (but gently) skewers tech’s home town. And check out the great surf rock rumble guitar opener to “That Girl’s Not Right,” a song that shifts to a distinctive melody in the chorus, combining sunshine elements with a hint of malice. And then “Sleep to Dream” closes the album on surprisingly uneasy note, bittersweet ennui being a bit of a departure for Brookings songwriting-wise. Scorpio Monologue is an impressive development of the David Brookings and the Average Lookings sound. It should be on every poprock fan’s 2019 summer playlist!
The world is in the midst of a full blown cultural tsunami that is Game of Thrones. The hit HBO fantasy series has escaped the bounds of normal viewership to become a must-see show for anybody that hopes to relate to their fellow human beings. The talk shows can’t stop talking about GOT, Facebook bulges with GOT memes, and YouTube is rife with GOT send ups. As the battles of Westeros draw to their final chilly end, it’s a challenge to remain aloof or immune from the phenomena or potential plot spoilers. But I think this musical contribution to the mega-event that is GOT hits the right spot. Los Straightjackets, everybody’s favourite Mexican-wrestler-dressed instrumentals band, has joined the fray lathering their own inimitable guitar stylings over the normally strings-heavy Game of Thrones theme. It’s magic! Los Straightjackets have been busy backing up Nick Lowe over the past year (following the release of the band’s tribute album of Lowe tunes) but somehow managed to record a new EP entitled Channel Surfing, featuring this new song and three others. Twangy guitar – it was just what Westeros was missing!
I pick up new music all the time but I don’t always get to writing about it in a very timely manner. Case in point: Chris Church. I ran across a few tracks of his posted to a power pop Facebook group and thought ‘fantastic’! Downloaded a few songs and then … nothing. Well now I’m attending to Chris Church and you should too. Fans of Matthew Sweet, Tommy Keene but also Neil Finn are going to love what Chris is doing. A great place to start would be 2004’s Let the Echo Decide, a real poprock treat. Right out of the gate “You Better Move Now Baby” kicks off with a real Split Enz bassline before building a nice melodic project, element by element, from creative guitar lines to the interesting vocal interplay. For something a bit different, there’s the rollicking “Scrutiny on the Bounty” or the obvious single “Julie, I Probably Shouldn’t” with its delightfully unexpected slide and ringing guitars. Church’s other big release is 2017’s Limitations of the Source Tape – also chock full of memorable tracks like the Marshall Crenshaw-ish “Bell the Cat” or the melodically discordant “Perfecto.”
Poprock Record 