Tag Archives: Joe Dilillo

Piping hot hits Vol. 2

12 Saturday Jul 2025

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K-Tel had it coming and going in the 1970s. Single albums, double albums, double albums released as two single albums, and every combination in between. The point was, if they had concept that was selling they would keep selling it, any which way they could. In our second installment of Piping Hot Hits we take heed from the K-Tel gods and lay it on heavy.

Listen to how Fara San make their main guitar sing on “Long Lost Lover.” Lovingly exuding a 1960s folk rock vibe but deployed in a wholly different song register, more post-millennium indie rock with sweetly sung vocals. You never know quite what you’re going to get with any new release from The Krayolas. Could be a great lost unreleased track or a brand new retro charmer. “Surf’s Down” comes from a batch of songs recorded back in 1979 that never saw light of day. The Beach Boys notes are obvious but there’s hints of Harry Nilsson and Burt Bacharach too. Nashville’s The Tummies are also working the sixties side of the street on their self-proclaimed ‘summer ’25 road trip single.’ “Send Me a Picture” is an effortless bit of Beatlesque pop. A new Sloan album is certainly something to celebrate. Based on a Best Seller is due out in September but right now we’ve got “Live Together” and it’s everything that makes the band today’s most reliable should-be hit makers. It’s all hooks and harmonies, both familiar and surprising. And yet as they sing in this song, “The ‘90s nostalgia that you feel Is nothing compared to what’s to come.” So September can’t come soon enough. Danny Patrick is a guy who records great songs and put them up on the internet for free or whatever you want to pay. And it is great stuff. Like “A Girl Like You.” You’d swear this is time capsule 1980s radio find. The guitar sound could be any rough melodic FM rock radio band from the era while the harmony vocals conjure groups with a slight country edge.

Jean Caffeine’s new single “I Know You Know I Know” is a genius bit of pop restraint. It sounds so simple but the melodic arc shifts between an Everly Brothers and Marti Jones feel. The selection of subtle musical adornments are inspired. What is Joe Dilillo doing on his new single? Would we say it’s mining Billy Joel or perhaps Gilbert O’Sullivan? “When It Comes To Us” is such a beautiful tune, it definitely stands on its own but the melodic shading offers up hints of the masters in the details. Movie Movie’s muscular guitar pop rock returns on “After Hours” with a splash of 1980s synth, like The Fixx stopped by to jam. The Len Price 3 keep on rocking like it’s 1979 with their new song “Emily’s Shop.” It’s got a feel like The Jam or The Primitives and what’s not to like about that? Bret Tobias from The Bret Tobias Set is now apparently hanging out with Marty Wilson-Piper from the legendary Australian band The Church so not surprisingly his new song sounds pretty 1981 in the very best way. Just listen to the guitar shimmer dripping all over “Happiness Writes White.” Melodic magic!

The Len Price 3 – Emily’s Shop

Say hello to Liverpool’s Novelty Island and their upcoming LP release Jigsaw Causeway with their light sunny drop of McCartneyesque single-age “Foam Animals.” It’s dreamy with some mesmerizing keyboard work. In a very similar keyboard original register, Freedom Fry lull us with their usual signature lowkey whispery hooks on “Little Things.” Tchochtke ride some propulsive Beach Boys organ riffs with “Poor Girl” but the rest of the sonic pull on this song is seventies pop. By contrast Boston’s Invisible Rays is guitars to the front with a delightful bit of jangle launching “Lightning” that reaches new heights of hook-age in the chorus. When we last heard from Trevour Blendour he was Falling in Love but now it appears someone is Breaking Up With him. We don’t have all the details, other than the predictably super pre-release single “She’s Still My Baby.” It’s classic Blendour, full of updated fifties motifs and old school rock and roll guitars.

The Penrose Web is a new musical project that could be a great lost EP from the 1980s indie guitar scene. “Geraldine” captures the gentle pop vibe that could be Aztec Camera. From the not-so-gentle file, the recent Friends of Cesar Romero single “Can’t Get You” gets busy with clashy guitars and slightly screamy vocals but never loses the hooky plot. As we have come to expect. The Flashcubes returned recently with accolade-winning covers album but what fans always really wanted was some new material from the legendary 1970s power pop band. Now we’re getting it and disappointment is not in the cards. The new single “Reminisce” takes us back to the band’s classic sound with a tune that sounds perfect for the here and now. With help from The Figgs Mike Gent! Trim, Ireland’s Spearside embark with a slightly heavier guitar sound on their new EP Hatchet Man, cranking their amps well past 11. But on “Are Friends Electric” they bring back a more ringing bit of jangle guitar to contrast these heavier sounds and the results are explosively good. From a very different direction The Rallies focus their considerable pop talents on “Love.” It’s a jaunty, feel-good effort, full of their requisite harmonies and guitar hooks.

Hitting the inner groove of this second volume we have a double shot of The Brigadier. “Blessings” is breathy and dreamy with great guitar blasts coming in at regular intervals while “Perfect Surprise” embodies even more of those characteristics but perhaps Beach Boys enriched.

Well, there you have it, a second could-be K-Tel collection volume. Feel free to recombine these volumes in any form you like, re-arranging or cutting tracks as you see fit. After all, K-Tel certainly would have.

Poprock Record’s 25 must-have LPs for 2023

05 Friday Jan 2024

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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.

Extended play-time: Joe Dilillo, The Friends of Cesar Romero, and Papa Schmapa

08 Monday May 2023

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The extended play format or ‘EP’ nearly expired with the twentieth century, only to be revived of late amid the chaos of a declining commercial music scene. It would now appear many artists see EPs as a cost-effective way to put out a clutch of songs without all the hoopla of a conventional long-player. Personally I’m loving these concentrated splashes of artistic flavour. They can be fun or experimental or just a great couple of songs. Today’s EPs make that point each in their own way, with a unique stylistic stamp.

Studio veteran Joe Dilillo comes out from behind the console to deliver a stunning debut EP on Superhero Star. The five songs here are superbly crafted gems from the Aimee Mann, Jon Brion, and Fountains of Wayne school of pop-singles perfection. “Loser Girl” opens the EP so low-key, slowly building an atmosphere of exquisite musical tension between guitar and vocals. By the time the Aimee Mann keyboards kick in it’s way too late, you’re completely seduced. Backing band The Lickerish Quartet provide astonishing accompaniment on this tune, so subdued and yet strongly present. Title track “Superhero Star” shifts focus, evoking a more Mike Viola-working-with-Adam Schlesinger style. And then things get tender. The guest vocals from A Girl Called Eddy on “Boulevard” are striking, so achingly on display. A Mark Oliver Everett feel here for sure. Both “Mend You Heart” and “I’m Sorry” remind me of Adam Daniel with their combination of melodic sophistication and spare rock and roll simplicity. Superhero Star is so easy to listen to again and again. Hey, I’ve been doing it for weeks! This year’s ‘must have’ EPs list just got a front runner.

America’s hardest-working punky power-pop band The Friends of Cesar Romero return with installment #35 in their Doomed Babe series, Gameboy America. Combining lyrical themes of lost love and gaming disappointment over a relentless rock and roll beat, this latest EP gets it all done in a brisk 7 minutes. But what a ride! Title track “Gameboy America” is seemingly unstoppable, driven by a poppy rock attack that hammers a new waved-up Velvet Underground vibe. “Somebody’s Somebody” is equally intense, defined by a lively lead guitar line and FCR’s trademark compressed vocals. And then there’s “Punching Ian Sharp.” Though just 54 seconds long it’s a pretty neat slice of a wall-of-chords hooky goodness. No need for a reminder here, we’re permanently tuned to The Friends of Cesar Romero station.

Rochester NY’s fabulous retro music scene has space for a bit of late 1970s/early 1980s smooth pop songcraft from Papa Schmapa. The new EP What You Gonna Do aces a melodic AM radio sound I associate with the 1980s Moody Blues on the comeback trail, the Alan Parsons Project in hit mode, or mid-to-late period Wings. EP opener “If I Knew” is so McCartney, with Abbey Road-era psychedelic guitars and a melody straight from Macca’s late 1970s playbook. “I’ve Been There Before” and “Take Me As I Am” remind me of prior work by the band, very much in the Alan Parsons finely-crafted pop style. “You” reflects more 1980s Moody Blues sonic shifts with hints of The Outfield at times. Despite offering just four songs What You Gonna Do is impressive, a slick AM radio-worthy product with a still-beating melodic heart.

If I Knew
I’ve Been There Before

Why not make space in your calendar for extended play-time? Today’s EPs show you how. Just hit play and you get a glimpse of a load of talent without having to commit to a whole LP.