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Tag Archives: Gentle Hen

Ring, ring goes the bell …

07 Wednesday Apr 2021

Posted by Dennis Pilon in Poprock Themepark

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2 Wheeled Tricycle, Gentle Hen, hHead, John K. Samson, John McMullan, Rogue Wave, Starky, The Incredible Casuals, Timmy Sean

School is a perennial theme of rock and roll that, on the whole, doesn’t fare too well. Sure, the Beach Boys have that cheery “Be True to Your School” vibe going but they’re an outlier. More typically school appears as a burden, as something to escape from, preferably as soon as possible. The traditional sentiments were ably established in Chuck Berry’s classic “School Days” back in 1957. More recently Australian indie poprockers Starky summed things up with “Theme from High School” from their 2004 debut LP Mirror, Signal, Manoeuvre.

Starky – Theme from High School

Ok, so high school sucks. What about higher education? Is there musical love for technical college or university? Our mix of tunes offers a range of views, as is only appropriate for academe. Rogue Wave conjure up the uncertainty that is the uni experience for many on “College” from 2013’s Nightingale Floors. Things are less cerebral for 2 Wheeled Tricycle’s “College.” Here the issue is more about whether to go or not to, egged on by some nice edgy synth riffs. Gentle Hen vibe some Hayden on “College Town,” a song with a sunny, good times feel and just a hint of darkness.  Timmy Sean spares a moment during his concept album A Tale From the Other Side for his protagonist to reflect on “The College Year” and how decisions taken then impact what comes later, delivered with Sean’s larger than life theatrical pop hooks.  The Incredible Casuals are all about the party experience. On “College Girls” the band execute their unerring rock and roll chops with shimmery guitars and some seriously melodic humming.

Rogue Wave – College

Advancing up the academic ladder, Toronto’s hHead bash out a great melodic rock and roll tribute to higher education on “University.” A more indie Grapes of Wrath or Northern Pikes is what I hear here. Former The Trend songwriter John McMullan has put out a few great solo tunes, like his tell-all expose of legal education on “Law School.” I love the Springsteen organ and the hooky guitar lines all over this song. And McMullan actually did become a lawyer. Winnipeg music veteran John K. Samson knows academe as well as the music biz and captures every grad student’s dilemma on “When I Write My Masters’ Thesis.” Then he updated his musical academic CV in 2016 with “Postdoc Blues.” I guess he got that MA thesis written after all.

hHead – University
John McMullan – Law School

Forget enrolling in some school of rock, you can learn about great music just about anywhere. Like here. Right on this blog. Just scroll back through the posts for your own do-it-yourself degree in poprock.

Poprock Record’s should-be hit singles of 2018

03 Thursday Jan 2019

Posted by Dennis Pilon in Should be a Hit Single

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Aaron Lee Tasjan, Arthur Alexander, Astral Drive, Ben Talmi, Bill Lloyd, Billy & Dolly, Bird Streets, Brad Peterson, Caddy, Cape Cartel, Car City, Cupid's Carnival, Daisy House, Daniel Romano, Danny Wilkerson, David James Situation, Dot Dash, Even, Extra Arms, Freedom Fry, Gentle Hen, Glen Robinson, Greg Pope, Henry Chadwick, Hurry, J. Eastman and the Drunk Uncles, Jeremy Messersmith, Jim Shorts, Michael Simmons, Michael Slawter, Modern Space, Nick Piunti, Oberon Rose, Richard Turgeon, Rob Bonfiglio, Ruler, Sofa City Sweetheart, Starbelly, Summer Magic, Super 8, The Connection, The Essex Green, The Maureens, The Spindles, The Tearaways, The Wellgreen, Vegas with Randolph, William Duke, Wiretree, Wyatt Blair

screen shot 2019-01-03 at 12.43.02 pm2018 was a freakin’ fantastic year for poprock! How do I know? Every year-end I put together a playlist of tunes released that year. In 2016 it consisted of 58 songs clocking in at just over 3 hours. By 2017 that list expanded to 98 songs running over 5 hours. This year the list exploded to 175 songs going on for over 9 hours! My list of should-be hit singles had to expand to a top 50 just to accommodate all this talent. Hit the links below to find each artist as featured in my original blog post this past year or to go to their bandcamp or Facebook page if I didn’t write them up.

So, without further ado, here is Poprock Record’s should-be hit singles for 2018:

  1. Daisy House “Open Your Eyes”
  2. Oberon Rose “No Stranger”
  3. Ruler “Unhindered Pace”
  4. William Duke “Carole and the Silver Screen”
  5. Aaron Lee Tasjan “End of the Day”
  6. Car City “(Don’t) Give Up On Love”
  7. Greg Pope “Forget About You”
  8. Modern Space “Flip for It”
  9. Summer Magic “Attraction Corridors”
  10. Bill Lloyd “Satellite”
  11. Arthur Alexander “I’ll Get Your Love Someday”
  12. The Spindles “I Want My Baby Back”
  13. Starbelly “Lay Low”
  14. The Essex Green “Sloane Ranger”
  15. Michael Simmons “No More Girls”
  16. Astral Drive “Summer of ‘76”
  17. Caddy “Miracle Turn”
  18. Danny Wilkerson “How She Lost Heart”
  19. Bird Streets “Betting on the Sun”
  20. David James Situation “I Should Know”
  21. Ben Talmi “Chances”
  22. Nick Piunti “No Return”
  23. Michael Slawter “Summer’s Kind”
  24. Henry Chadwick “I Can Stick Around”
  25. Cupid’s Carnival “She Don’t Care”
  26. Super 8 “Your Love is my Blanket”
  27. Jeremy Messersmith “Monday, You’re Not So Bad”
  28. Freedom Fry “Past Lives”
  29. Cape Cartel “More”
  30. Gentle Hen “She’s Got It”
  31. Daniel Romano “Anyone’s Arms”
  32. Hurry “Waiting for You”
  33. J. Eastman and the Drunk Uncles “No Political Agenda”
  34. The Connection “The Girl is Trouble”
  35. Even “Out of the Woods”
  36. The Tearaways “I Could Love You Forever”
  37. Richard Turgeon “Look Away”
  38. Dot Dash “Unfair Weather”
  39. Brad Peterson “Whispering”
  40. Rob Bonfiglio “Passenger Seat”
  41. The Maureens “20 years for the Company”
  42. Extra Arms “Why I Run”
  43. Wiretree “Rainy Corner”
  44. Jim Shorts “James Tailored”
  45. Vegas with Randolph “Women in Airports”
  46. Billy & Dolly “Everything is Off”
  47. The Wellgreen “Take What You Get”
  48. Glen Robinson “Get You Down”
  49. Sofa City Sweetheart “Stop the Thinking”
  50. Wyatt Blair “Gotta Get Away”

For the second year running Daisy House tops my list of should-be hit singles. I have simply run out of superlatives to describe the musical genius of this band. Great songwriting, a killer 1960s vibe, flawless production and performance – it just doesn’t get any better than this. Do yourself a favour and head over to Bandcamp to download their whole catalogue. Oberon Rose came a close second with what must be one of the coolest singles rolled out this year. Ruler ruled my playlist for a good part of 2018, with “Unhindered Place” just one of the great songs on his album. I love the way William Duke’s guitar sounds like a jangle waterfall on his hooky masterpiece “Carole and Silver Screen.” And Aaron Lee Tasjan is a real find – so many possible selections – but more on that with my upcoming ‘20 must-have LPs for 2018’ post. I could go on … (but click on the links to get the full story).

I hope you enjoy these fifty songs enough to click on over to some of the artists’ web real estate and help them along career-wise. 2019 promises to be another hungry year for many of these mostly struggling artists – so do your part: buy their music and go see them live when they come to your town.

The single file

13 Thursday Dec 2018

Posted by Dennis Pilon in Poprock Themepark

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Chris Richards and the Subtractions, David James Situation, Gentle Hen, Ken Sharp, Michael Simmons, PoP, Simon Love, The Boys with Perpetural Nervousness, Timmy Sean, Wiretree

Screen Shot 2018-12-13 at 11.04.48 PMTime it was that the choice of an album’s single was both a serious artistic and financial decision. Putting out a single meant committing considerable resources to pressing them up and distributing them to radio stations, reviewers, and nightclubs. Today every cut on an album could theoretically be the single, depending on listener downloads and streams. But artists and record companies do still sometimes make a fuss about ‘the single’ as a way of drawing attention to a soon-to-be-released album. Or just as a way of maintaining interest in the product after its initial drop. For me, the single should be an album’s most potent hook vehicle, the song that will have listeners searching out the record for more. And it’s a way for me to highlight some great songs on the blog that just don’t fit anywhere else!

This single file kicks off with a bit of Dropkick-esque jangle from The Boys with the Perpetual Nervousness and their great single, “Nervous Man.” These guys clearly really know their Scottish strummy poprock. Then we step up the tempo with the driving poprock of “I Should Know” from the David James Situation, a band that sound like a slightly more new-waved Tom Petty to me. From there Chris Richards and the Subtractions lay on the pop sophistication with the hooky, Crowded House-ish “Just Another Season.” Then there’s the shiny uber-AM sheen of Timmy Sean’s “In California,” a brilliant slice of late 1970s-infused, poppy rock and roll. Finally we close out this half of our program with the cool Austin indie sound of Wiretree, showcasing their new single “Rainy Corner,” a song that rests firmly on a strong acoustic-guitar swing with just a touch of Sgt. Pepper mischief thrown in the middle and near the end.

https://poprockrecord.files.wordpress.com/2018/12/07-I-Should-Know.m4aDavid James Situation – I Should Know

In the second half of the show, it’s melody, melody and more melody. On “She’s Got It Bad” Gentle Hen have a great new single, one that vibes a subtle western swing before delivering a song that effortlessly melds influences like Fountains of Wayne and Teenage Fanclub. By contrast, number one on the fun meter is Simon Love’s recent “The Ballad of Simon Love.” The song lurches along with a spot-on Velvet Underground groove while Love displays killer pastiche chops worthy of Beck. It’s a beautifully crafted piece of work with so many cool nuances and musical add-ons. Simon-effing-Love indeed! Musical-influence polymath Ken Sharp is back with a fab new album Beauty in the Backseat. “24 Hours a Day” is the winning single for me, a chirpy, swinging combination of hooks and clever musical twists and turns. Now if you want something that will beg you to hit replay, check out Michael Simmons’ “No More Girls.” This ear worm channels a subtle XTC influence, reimagining the band as a Top of Pops hit machine. Hook bliss! Let’s finish on a rock and roll recovery story. The band PoP almost took off years ago but like so many acts just couldn’t seal the success deal. Now they’re back with a new EP and new material that covers a wide range of influences. I think “The Weight of Something” captures a lot of what they doing: ringing guitars, moody vocals, and some great droney hooks.

https://poprockrecord.files.wordpress.com/2018/12/02-The-Ballad-of-Simon-Love.m4aSimon Love – The Ballad of Simon Love

The Boys with Perpetual Nervousness, David James Situation, Chris Richards and the Subtractions, Timmy Sean, Wiretree, Gentle Hen, Simon Love, Ken Sharp, Michael Simmons, and PoP can all be easily accessed for your music consuming pleasure. Just get clicking.

Around the dial: Suzanne Vega, Michael Penn, Aimee Man, Gentle Hen, and Ex Cops

20 Tuesday Dec 2016

Posted by Dennis Pilon in Around the Dial

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30 Days 30 Songs, Aimee Mann, Anchors Aweigh, Beloved Songs, Can't You Tell, Ex Cops, Gentle Hen, I Don't Know Anyone Else But, James, Michael Penn, Suzanne Vega, The Bells on the Boats of the Bay, We of Me

Time for another trip around the dial with acts that offer something old, something new, or something completely different.

More Suzanne Vega?  This is super new, from her most recently released album, Lover, Beloved: Songs from an Evening with Carson McCullers.  Based initially on a project for art school, Vega developed it into a play featuring herself.  On the whole, the record has a stylized cabaret feel, but for one track which really harkens back to a more familiar Vega sound, the single “We of Me.”  For fans of her distinctive folk pop sound, this song will not disappoint: ringing acoustic guitars, a poetic cadence and a hook that stays in your head.

33394385_800_800Michael Penn launched into the charts in 1989 with his debut album March, largely on the strength of a break out single – “No Myth” – which got to 13 on the Billboard Hot 100.  But three albums later it was pretty clear that his chart success was a bit of a blip, despite turning out consistently strong material.  Still, in 2005, after a five year break, he released the stunning Mr. Hollywood Jr., 1947, an amazing concept album chock full of striking would-be hit singles: “Walter Reed,” “On Automatic,” “A Bad Sign,” and many others.  Still, no chart love.  So he walked away, shifting his considerable creative talents to television and movie soundtracks.  I rue the day somebody lunched him into this decision.  Luckily, the occasional single still emerges from time to time, like “Anchors Aweigh” from volume three of his soundtrack work of the HBO show Girls.  Deceptively simple sounding, resting on a basic acoustic guitar backing track, Penn adds impressive depth and hooks with his vocals and the occasional instrumental flourish.https://poprockrecord.files.wordpress.com/2016/12/10-anchors-aweigh.m4aGirls

0a80ee35b9cc53c18cc61c232252e9c0-1000x1000x1Speaking of Penn, his spouse has had a very different response to chart indifference.  Sure, Aimee Mann has done some soundtrack work too, most notably Magnolia in 1999.  But she’s also kept up her solo work and a host of other creative partnerships.  Mann is unique in not only consistently writing great songs, but she has developed her own distinctive songwriting style, something that few performers – the Beatles, Elton John, Elvis Costello – have really managed to do.  “Can’t You Tell” is an original song Mann created for the anti-Trump political project, 30 Days, 30 Songs, narrated from the perspective of Trump himself, basically saying ‘come on folks, you know I don’t really want this job, it’s just my ego at work here …’  The song is not a charity knock off – that is not the way Mann does things.  Instead, “Can’t You Tell” is a solid single, the mark of Mann’s talent that she can just give away such strong material for a one-off project like this.https://poprockrecord.files.wordpress.com/2016/12/01-cant-you-tell_-30-days-30-songs.m4aCan’t You Tell

W139Gentle Hen is the brainchild of Henning Ohlenbusch, seemingly the hardest working man in show business this side of Northhampton, Massachusetts.  He is one of those guys who is part of half a dozen bands and collaborates with a half dozen more, while still getting out some solo stuff on the sly.  The Bells on the Boats of the Bay is the debut album from his old band but now under a new name and everything seems to falling into place: fabulous design on the artwork, stellar songwriting, and a great sound.  There are a whole lotta influences going on here: chiming guitars, Ben Vaughn-esque vocal stylings on some numbers, and hooks, hooks, hooks.  “I Don’t Know Anyone Else But” is a strong single featuring a late 1960s British poprock guitar line opening out to lilting melody that shifts tempo to great effect in the chorus.

Some bands do variety in terms of song styles but others just sound like totally different groups.  Ex Cops fall into the latter category.  Some of their more recent work has a cool indie vibe going – definitely check up “Black Soap” and “Pretty Shitty” – but if we go way back to 2012 they were working a decidedly different seam of the poprock scene.  “James” reminds me of Nick Lowe’s immediate post-Rockpile work on albums like Nick the Knife and The Abominable Showman.  Definitely hooks galore!

I haven’t seen the books but I suspect that Suzanne Vega, Michael Penn, Aimee Mann, Gentle Hen and Ex Cons would not be adverse to a visit with your credit card number, in exchange for music or concert tickets.  After all, ’tis the season.

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