Tag Archives: Buddie

Breaking news: Tristen, Fur Trader and Buddie

24 Monday Nov 2025

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In the rush to this year’s end there are plenty of late-breaking new-music headlines to keep up with. Like this mix of top stories covering effervescent pop to indie rock and roll and back again.

I look forward to new Tristen albums like I used to anticipate the release date of Suzanne Vega or Rickie Lee Jones records. The thing is, you can count on Tristen for great melodies cast amidst a range of adjacent but slightly different genres. The new LP is dubbed Unpopular Music and never was a title less apropos pour moi. Overall the vibe here is a sophisticated folk pop. Whether featuring endearing 12 string guitar highlights as on “Because Your Love is Mine” or a Peter Gabriel-esque vibe with the guitar licks on “Hey La” the atmosphere is sunny and positive. Tracks like “Rose and Thorn” really encapsulate the poppy folk feel defined here. There are departures though. “Skin of our Teeth” speeds things up a bit with a propulsive rhythm guitar and addictive lead guitar lines. I love the Shins-like organ lurking in the background throughout “Mona Lisa” or the driving guitar runs animating “Let Go.” This is comfort album, full stop. You can dive into Unpopular Music just about anywhere and thrive on its unique amalgam of sonic elements and hooky tunes.

Illinois boy now LA resident Andrew Pelletier is Fur Trader and The Tender Life is his sumptuous slice of retrospective poprock. The influences here seem evenly balanced between the sweet melodic intensity of 1970s AM fare and the cutting edge of 1980s new wave hooks. Opening cut “Maybe Love Knows the Way” blows things open with a glam rock groove where the beat wraps around a sometimes wispy, sometimes full-throated vocal. Then “Weekend Rails” exudes a late 1970s McCartney-esque vibe. “The Tender Trap” has that hushed folk pop veneer so popular in the late 1970s while “The Masses” definitely embodies the artist’s self-description as doing a baroque Sufjan Stevens. The next three songs steer things into the 1980s. “Don’t Turn on Me” dials up the decade’s synth-ful demeanor, “That’s My Love” builds into lush bit of ELO-ish guitar pop, but “Can’t Do Anything About It” is far and away the should-be hit-single in this mix. Though the lovely compressed 1980s poprock sound of “Stray Bouquet” has it running a close second. Then out of the blue comes a jazzy samba departure on “Julius Ceasar Look-Alike Contest.”  I’m also keen on “Poltergeist.” The oh-so 1980s drum intro gives way to a neo1950s-meets-1970spoprock jive in such a delightful way. This record is timeless and so of this anything-goes-in-music moment. It’s got sleeper hit written all over it.

Vancouver grunge juggernaut Buddie return with Glass, an LP that smooths a few of their rough edges in the most creative way. Entry track “In the Glass Shell” combines all the usual Buddie elements, like an alternating light versus dark guitar attack amidst a developing dissonant melodic thrust. “Stressed in Paradise” heightens this effect with an eminently hummable tune bundled in layers of joyful dissonance. “Impatient” is aptly named, it is a song bustling with an energy looking to break out somewhere. But with “Golden” the album takes turn, giving off a more retro new wave kind of energy. “Crow” even features a decidedly lush drive to its wall of guitars. “Blackout” shifts the focus again, developing more slowly from an almost lurch-like folk pacing to something more uncontrolled and revelatory. Glass is Buddie leveraging their unique sound to take listeners to new and unexpected places. And I like it.

You read the news today, oh boy. And the news was good. Why wait for ‘film at 11’? Hit those hyperlinks to increase your exposure to these developing stories now.

Photo courtesy Thomas Hawk Flikr collection.

December’s singles (for everybody)

20 Friday Dec 2024

Posted by in Poprock Themepark

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This round of singles is obviously riffing on a 1965 Rolling Stones album that was itself a collection of bits and pieces from the band’s early years. So here’s some bits and pieces that have landed in month twelve and need to be shared.

When you’ve been a member of bands like The Stems, The Someloves, and DM3 people are going to have pretty high expectations for your solo efforts. Dom Mariani meets them and then some with a fabulous genre-crossing new single “Jangleland.” It’s power pop with a dash of country and some Bowie thrown in too. Video Age pay tribute to working music retail on their new song “Record Shop.” It’s pleasant pop surfing some great jangly guitar and fun keyboard work. The lyrics are spot on too – I think we’d all be in for those employee discounts! Events take a moodier turn on Cloakroom’s recent 45 “Unbelonging.” Things sound spooky, a bit gloomy even, but the guitar tone is so reverb gorgeous it’s utterly captivating. Sticking with the spooky vibe, The ChrisVandalay Project really set a scene with their latest song “Your Favorite War.” The feel is very Roxy Music or Kate Bush. Rounding out our first five tunes Sharon is Karen almost turn into the punk lane with “I Hate It Here” but the strong melody just refuses to be pushed into the background.

“Walk on Water” started out as a possible Trip Wire song but when Covid intervened it fell off the playlist. Now power pop master Jeff Shelton takes it up with one of his other bands and the results are guitar-shimmery good. Of all his fine musical projects I love The Well Wishers best for their perfect balance of insistent guitar hooks and smooth vocals, fully in evidence here. Oh Momma, I’m loving the tension embedded in your “Ohio All the Time” track. Big and bold guitars meet a sweet vocal mix. Keen to see where this band goes next. New The False Positives single “Long Distance Romance” starts all guitars-ablazing before settling into something more ambling along in Replacements mode. From the start of “Penny” Will Stewart’s vocal puts the country vibe up front but as the reverby guitars kick in the feeling turns more to Tom Petty. With a very nice sibilant lead guitar solo too. Music reviewer Hayley Scott says Autocamper ‘make the everyday gorgeous’ and I’d have to agree. The band’s recent double-sided single is a delightful slab of C86 80s pop. “Blanche” jangles but bustles with busy keyboards too. “Budge” is a bit more doleful in a Rilo Kiley sort of way.

Daisy House main man Doug Hammond returns in the guise of his solo project Vaughn Trapp with a slew of recent songs. “Go Back to Sleep” mines his command of late 1960s baroque pop, a bit of Shocking Blue meets Fifth Dimension. The Bye Bye Blackbirds have a solid recent release with the meandering, soulful “Mending Time.” But somehow I missed their amazing 2022 b-side “Fold Up Your Maps.” The vocal arrangement alone gives this track a hooky rush. The jangly guitars are just a bonus. On “Cherry” the dt’s take a host of classic rock and roll motifs and mash them up with good tune. And there’s some standout organ work in the background. Pierre Englebert returned this fall with another collection of urbane pop songs that manage to traverse multiple genres with ease. “Well, Your Daddy Was Wrong” showcases this talent, combining a “Friends of Mr. Cairo” staginess with some killer melodic turns in the chorus. Vancouver’s Buddie are “Impatient” with a broken world, pointless work, and being stuck for options about what do about it. The tune is short on answers but its dissonant emo/grungy elan certainly makes waiting more worthwhile.

Put members of El Goodo, Los Blancos and Trecco Beis into a new outfit and the results are poppy psych fun. They are the Eggmen Whoooooo! and their debut album Fuzzy Eggs, Please is a party platter from start to finish. Just sample “It’s Just Your Mind” to see what you’re in for. Killer lead guitar lick, check. Groovy organ backing, check. Psychedelic vocals/lyrics, check. Get your dancing shoes off the shelf. Chicano Beatlemaniacs The Krayolas pay tribute to Canadian folk legend Gordon Lightfoot on “Gordon Lightfoot (O Canada Version).” The dynamite Brydsian 12-string electric guitar opener doesn’t really conjure Canada’s dour folk troubadour directly but who am I to cast shade on this winning tribute. Dazy continues to drop great singles at regular intervals. Earlier this fall “Big End” set off Beck alarms for me, and that is a very good thing. Now “I Get Lost” is out, bundled with other great songs, and it’s Beck-ishly good too. Bret Tobias sent me “Butter Valley Malcontent” and shortly thereafter an EP of the same name from his combo The Bret Tobias Set. The package is full of subtle poppy gems but the title track is a slightly higher blast of slow burn power pop.  Kurt Baker knows how to turn the amps up to eleven on his crunchy guitar-centric poprock but only so he can better frame his solid hooky chops. His new song “Inner Demons” has an ear-wormy quality that will settle into your frontal lobe and take up residence for a while.

A new album from Dropkick is always something special despite the familiar sonic themes – jangly guitar, lush vocal harmonies, and a Byrds-meeet-Teenage Fanclub songwriting talent. The new album set for release in the new year is Primary Colours and so far the title track flies the brand flag with a tart impact.

December’s a bit of a rush but not so busy that we can’t sling a load of cool singles your way. Click the links to add to your ‘end of the year’ new discoveries list.

Photo ‘Table Hockey’ courtesy Kevin Dooley Flikr collection.

Poprock Record’s 25 must-have LPs for 2023

05 Friday Jan 2024

Posted by in Poprock Themepark

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The traditional rock and roll album ain’t dead, not by a long shot. Usurped for sure by new commercial formats and changing consumer listening patterns but the album – as a distinct collection of songs (sometimes forming a coherent whole) – remains the default mode of delivery for a wide swathe of guitar-based popular music. Proof? There was simply no shortage of fabulous, super-charged, pop-rocking long-players and extended plays to spend time with throughout 2023. From this embarrassment of musical riches we’ve whittled down a few different lists of LPs and EPs we feel rank as having ‘must have’ status. There’s something for every taste that falls somewhere across the broad, rather idiosyncratic category of ‘poprock’ we employ here. So dive in, see what you think, and do let us know about whatever egregious oversight you think we’ve undoubtedly committed. The hotlinks take you to the original reviews.

Cue drumroll – here we have it, Poprock Record’s 25 must-have LPs from 2023:

1. The Decibels When the Red Lights Flash
2. The McCharmlys The McCharmlys
3. The Parlophonics Dying of the Light
4. Miss Chain and the Broken Heels Storms
5. Buddie Agitator
6. Taking Meds Dial M for Meds
7. Good Shade Think Spring
8. Talking Kind It Did Bring Me Down
9. Caleb Nichols Let’s Look Back
10. Thomas Walsh The Rest is History
11. Steve Marino Too Late to Start Again
12. The Summertimes The Summertimes
13. Nite Sobs Fade Out
14. Bory Who’s a Good Boy
15. Richard Turgeon Life of the Party
16. The Small Square Ours and Others
17. Dave Kuchler Love and Glory
18. Classic Traffic You Want It? We Got It!
19. The Blusterfields The Blusterfields II
20. The Tubs Meat Factory
21. The Roves Needle Factory
22. Best Bets On an Unhistoric Night
23. The Blips Again
24. Erik Voeks and The Ghosters It Means Nothing Now
25. Rachel Angel Midnite Heart Attack

This year’s list tipped more toward some classic genre distinctions. The Decibels are beat group heaven for me and When the Red Lights Flash just proves their mastery of this form and seemingly bottomless creativity with it. By contrast, The McCharmlys conjure the ghost of 1950s west Texas rock and roll (even though they’re from California), effectively reinventing it for today. For a different slice, we’ve got the highly sophistico-pop of The Parlophonics. Such great songs, delivered so smoothly. And so on. Our list has got jangle (Buddie, Bory), new wave revival (The Blips, The Blusterfields), country tinges (The Tubs, Rachel Angel), and straight up melodic rock (Richard Turgeon, Dave Kuchler). Long may the LP reign in what’s left of the rock and roll universe.

But there’s more. The ongoing revival of the extended play record format has led to this list, Poprock Record’s must-have EPs from 2023:

1. Strange Neighbors Party of None
2. Joe Dillilo Superhero Star
3. Super 8 The Plus 4 EP #1
4. Dolour Sun on my Brain
5. Hearts Apart Bang! Wrong Again
6. Jose’s Bad Day Hi! Let’s Eat
7. Cal Rifkin Better Luck Next Year

The Strange Neighbors EP was hands down my favourite thing about 2023. It brought back a familiar teenage rush of excitement that used to accompany the discovery of something so cool and earworm addictive it just had to be played over and over. Also cool was Joe Dillilo’s oh-so smooth collection of songs, which saw him transitioning from behind the mixing board to the spotlight with ease. And what about Super 8’s alter ego project The Plus 4? An absolute jangle blast. EPs can be such a concentrated blast of melodic goodness, leaving you wanting more.

Before you go there’s one more album we’ve got to highlight. It’s a record so good we had to give it the special award of awesome poprock merit for 2023:

The Flashcubes Pop Masters

As I wrote in the original review, Pop Masters gives you “12 new wave era should-have-been hits, stylishly re-energized” and “celebrates what might-have-been with selections from bands that should have broken big but didn’t.” But the band don’t just celebrate the great songs of bands like The Pezband, The Spongetones, The Paley Brothers and The Shoes, they share the spotlight with them in what amounts to a series of power pop band duets. Let’s face it, this project could have gone very wrong. But again, from the original review, the “results are a pumped up, adrenaline-fueled romp through a host of power pop classics … where every cut is a highlight …” Believe the hype. The Flashcubes are, indeed, pop[rock] masters.

Spend some time with these LPs and EPs and I think you’ll agree, melodic rock and roll is in good health if not wealth. But you can help change that for the price of triple shot latte from your favourite beverage store. Go on, skip the coffee queue and click the links to these artists.

Photo courtesy Chris Friese Flikr collection.

Poprock Record’s should-be hit singles for 2023

01 Monday Jan 2024

Posted by in Poprock Themepark

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2023 was another banner year for melodic rock and roll. Here at Poprock Record we could spotlight only a small portion of what was go on. Still, we kept busy, writing 58,000 words over 77 posts about literally hundreds of artists. And we liked them all – that’s why we wrote about them. But some tunes had real staying power for our team of singles inspectors. So today we single out 50 should-be hit singles from 2023, songs that deserve another listen and a shot at chart glory. Click on the hyperlinks to hear each song and read the original write ups.

Getting to the main event, here are Poprock Record’s top 50 should-be hit singles from 2023:

1. Strange Neighbors “Hotline Psychic”
2. Taking Meds “Memory Lane
3. The Decibels “Why Bother With Us”
4. Good Shade “When Will You See”
5. The Goa Express “Portrait”
6. Billy Tibbals “Onwards and Upwards”
7. Strange Neighbors “Whoa! Is Me”
8. Ransom and the Subset “Perfect Crime”
9. The Tubs “I Don’t Know How It Works”
10. Buddie “Class Warfare”
11. Dignan Porch “Electric Threads”
12. The Tearaways “Easier Done Than Said”
13. Chris Church “One More Change to Get Over You”
14. The McCharmlys “Love Me Too”
15. Eyelids “That I Can See You Better”
16. The No Ones “Phil Ochs is Dead”
17. Canadian Invasion “Catch a Falling Knife”
18. Thomas Charlie Pederson “Yesterdays and Silly Ways”
19. Kevin Bowe “Put Me Out of Your Misery”
20. The Summertimes “Inside”
21. Gosh Diggity “Blast Off”
22. The Midnight Callers “Girl On the Run”
23. Parallax Project “Mary Houdini”
24. Dan Kibler “Don’t Go for the Money”
25. The Kind Hills “Let Youth Take Over”
26. Cal Rifkin “Break My Heart”
27. Ratboys “Morning Zoo”
28. Hurry “Like I Loved You”
29. Thomas Walsh “A Good Day For Me”
30. The Newds “The Street Leads to the River”
31. Dave Kuchler “She’s Rather Be With Me”
32. Hardwicke Circus “Everyday I Find Luck”
33. Worriers “Trust My Gut”
34. Tony Marsico “Rocket Girl”
35. Jean Caffeine “I Don’t Want to Kill You Anymore”
36. The Exbats “Like It Like I Do”
37. Dazy “Forced Perspective”
38. Miss Chain and the Broken Heels “Storms”
39. Bill Lloyd “Keep the Place Clean”
40. Kurt Hagardorn “Tractor Beam”
41. Nite Sobs “Julie Ann”
42. Turn Turn Turn “Power”
43. The Rockyts “I Get High”
44. The Blusterfields “Fear of Depths”
45. Dropkick “Telephone”
46. The Scarlet Goodbye “Angel Dust”
47. The Amplifier Heads “When We Go Home Again”
48. Steve Marino “Satisfy You”
49. Justin Levinson “I Need Somebody Now”
50. Moon Mates “Not Today”

New York’s Strange Neighbors grabbed me early in 2023 with their killer 45 “Hotline Psychic” and never really let go. The lyrics are so spot on, the chorus is mesmerizing, while the instrumental break threatens to break out into Blondie’s “Rapture.” The band is so good they placed another tune in my top 10, the delightful jangler “Whoa! Is Me.” Then Taking Meds and Good Shade seemed like two sides of a very good coin with songs that featured surging insistent hooks that simply demanded replay. The Goa Express tipped toward punk but without sacrificing melodic depth. And The Decibels returned with the modern beat group sound they own. There’s variety in this list, proving genre is no barrier to delivering poprock hooks.

Moving on, here are Poprock Record’s most inventive covers from 2023:

1. Juliana Hatfield “Don’t Bring Me Down” (Electric Light Orchestra)
2. Mo Troper “Citgo Sign” (Jon Brion)
3. Arthur Alexander “It’s Not Love Anymore #2” (The Sorrows)
4. The Jangles “Here Without You” (The Byrds)
5. The Flashcubes “Have You Ever Been Torn Apart?” (The Spongetones)

Covers remained fertile ground for music veterans and indie new-comers alike this past year. Juliana Hatfield delivered a whole album of ELO songs, mixing things up with a nicely curated collection of chart hits and deep cuts. Mo Troper introduced a new generation to the genius of Jon Brion with his album tribute, Troper sings Brion. Arthur Alexander covers himself, sort of, with his ace reinvention of the Sorrows’ “It’s Not Love Anymore #2.” And both The Jangles and The Flashcubes covers really revive some great songs for the here and now.

Rounding out our lists, here are Poprock Record’s top 5 folk pop singles from 2023:

1. Rachel Angel “I Can’t Win”
2. Talking Kind “Trouble”
3. Hovdy “Jean”
4. Benji Tranter “Speed Camera”
5. J. Matthews “Wanderlust”

While most of our coverage is pretty poppy we do shift into the folk lane from time to time where the melodies are strong or I just have a particular interest.

Another year, another slew of great songs. Click on the links to remind yourself how good a year it really was and make sure to let the artists know what you think in cash and/or commentary.

Photo courtesy of Raymond Clarke Images on Flikr.

Hey Buddie

24 Wednesday May 2023

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

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

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

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