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Poprock Record’s 25 must-have LPs for 2019

15 Wednesday Jan 2020

Posted by Dennis Pilon in Poprock Themepark

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*repeat repeat, Berwanger, Bombadil, Dan Israel, David Brookings and the Average Lookings, Johnny Stanec, kiwi jr, Lolas, Martha, Matthew Milia, Mondello, Nick Eng, Pernice Brothers, Richard Turgeon, Scandinavia, Sofa City Sweetheart, Telekinesis, The Boys with Perpetual Nervousness, The Brothers Steve, The Cactus Blossoms, The Golden Seals, The John Sally Ride, The Maureens, The Vapour Trails, Trip Wire

Screen Shot 2020-01-13 at 11.39.35 AMPoor Myrtle. She’s only got Muzak® to keep her company through the long shift at work. If only she had access to this great new list of must-have LPs from 2019, helpfully assembled by Poprock Record, she might actually close that Henderson account and get off early. The lesson? You can take an oldies fixation too far. You don’t have to live in the past to love that retro sound. This year’s best-of round up of LPs from 2019 is definitive proof that everything old can be new again!

Just a word of caution – there’s no science to the list and rankings below. Here are just 25 albums and 10 EPs that caught my ear this past year and kept me coming back for more. There was something about each, their combination of elements (songwriting, instrumentation, performance), that I thought really worked as a coherent whole. And that’s saying something in our world of social media distractions and a renewed music biz focus primarily on singles.

So let’s begin with Poprock Record’s 25 must-have LPs for 2019:

  1. Bombadil Beautiful Country
  2. Matthew Milia Alone at St. Hugo
  3. The Brothers Steve #1
  4. The Maureens Something in the Air
  5. Richard Turgeon Go Deep
  6. The Golden Seals Something Isn’t Happening
  7. Pernice Brothers Spread the Feeling
  8. *repeat repeat Glazed
  9. Martha Love Keeps Kicking
  10. Scandinavia Premium Economy
  11. The Vapour Trails See You in the Next World
  12. The Cactus Blossoms Easy Way
  13. Johnny Stanec Things Were Better, When
  14. The John Sally Ride Nothing Doing
  15. The Boys With Perpetual Nervousness Dead Calm
  16. Telekinesis Effluxion
  17. David Brookings and the Average Lookings Scorpio Monologue
  18. Mondello Hello, All You Happy People
  19. Nick Eng Long Shot
  20. Sofa City Sweetheart Super (b) Exitos
  21. Dan Israel Social Media Anxiety Disorder
  22. Berwanger Watching a Garden Die
  23. Lolas Bulletproof
  24. kiwi jr Football Money
  25. Trip Wire Once and Always

Screen Shot 2020-01-15 at 2.26.05 PMI really like the variety covered in this list. There’s everything from jangle (4, 11, 15, 25) and country (12) and Dylanesque stylings (21), to keyboard contemporary (8) and acerbic social commentary (10, 23) and straight-up Beatlesque poprock (17, 19). And there’s a lot of sweetness, like Mondello’s impressive 20 year labour of love (18). My number one album, Bombadil’s Beautiful Country, embodies this commitment to diversity. It’s got an overall indie-folk vibe but the songwriting and playing are so sophisticated that somehow the label fails to capture all of what’s going on. Believe me, it’s a 37 minute journey through a myriad of lyrical and musical delights. Close behind at #2 Matthew Milia’s Alone at St. Hugo represents an amazing synthesis of melodic rock influences, from the Beatles (obviously) to the more mellow Fountains of Wayne moments. It’s an tone setter – put it on and drift away! At #3 was #1. Confused? #1 was the name of the debut album from the power pop veterans behind The Brothers Steve and it did not disappoint. The record is like a veritable hit machine. I can only imagine that this was what it was like to get your hands on a new Beatles record in the 1960s: immediately engaging, inventive yet relatable, and with nary a bum track. And I could go on about every entry on this list … but instead just click on the links to go my original posts about the bands and you can judge them for yourself.

Next up, Poprock Record’s 10 must-have EPs from 2019:

  1. David Molter Foolish Heart
  2. Omicrom J Trauma You Should Have Thought About That
  3. David Woodard Everything in Between
  4. Brett Perfect Patterns
  5. Project: Ghost Outfit Project: Ghost Outfit
  6. Super 8 Head Sounds
  7. scienceisfiction Don’t Everyone Thank Me at Once
  8. Ducks Unlimited Get Bleak
  9. Jean Caffeine Love. What is It?
  10. Lost Ships All of the Pieces

The revival of the EP is very much in the spirit of the times as performers try to woo listeners to fork over for music in an era of YouTube shuffles and streaming. Personally, I’m usually left feeling that most are just bloated maxi-singles or Readers Digest condensed albums. But these ten show just how punchy an EP can be! Content-wise, I’ll just say this about my number 1 choice: wow. Dave Molter got his musical start in the 1960s (as evident on the record!) but waited until his 70s to put out Foolish Heart. What you get are five gems polished to poprock perfection: hooks, harmonies, the whole deal.

One last thing: a special mention for Aaron Lee Tasjan’s Karma for Cheap: Reincarnated. The original record was my number 1 album for 2018 and this reinvention beautifully reimagines all those great tunes in often stark and stripped down ways. If you liked the original, you’re gonna love the remake.

The listening room I: kiwi jr, Star Trip, Mike Adams at his Honest Weight, and Dave Molter

27 Friday Dec 2019

Posted by Dennis Pilon in Poprock Themepark

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Dave Molter, kiwi jr, Mike Adams at his Honest Weight, Star Trip

Screen Shot 2019-12-27 at 5.06.53 PMNeed some distraction to get through the holiday season’s seemingly endless family overtime period? Come with me to the listening room where we can tuck in to a raft of albums, all worthy of diverting your attention from squabbling children and leftovers. Divided into two sessions for your listening pleasure.

Screen Shot 2019-12-27 at 5.09.26 PMI miss a lot a stuff as the year goes by and one major oversight was overlooking relocated PEI-now-Toronto poprockers kiwi jr and their fab debut LP Football Money. The Canadian critics are falling all over themselves to heap praise on the band and deservedly so. Songs like “Gimme More” manage to namecheck a load of Canuck references and still sound cool! Listeners constantly reference Pavement’s Stephen Malkmus but I hear a lot of Cool for Cats-era Squeeze on tracks like “Leslie” and “Football Money” or maybe a bit of The Strypes on “Murder in the Cathedral” and “Comeback Baby.” Personally, I’m loving the nice jangly guitar, Jonathan Richman wide-eyed vocals, and oh-so-clever lyrics that are all over this record, but particularly pronounced on the obvious single, “Salary Man” and the delightful “Nothing Changes.” Football Money is not a pick-and-choose amongst the songs release, it’s definitely a full download.

Screen Shot 2019-12-27 at 5.10.38 PMValencia, Spain’s Star Trip are obviously big Big Star fans. The influence is all over their 2019 long player, Salto al vacio. And yet they are so much more. First, their songwriting is strong and original. Coated with a shimmering guitar resonance and blissful harmony vocals the songs sound like a sun dappled summer day. I have no idea what they are singing about (it’s all in Spanish) but the sonic palate strongly suggest a post-1960s dose of truth, beauty and love. The whole record says ‘play me!’ but if I were single out anything, listeners are going to love the jangle and hooks propelling the opening title track, or the country pop elements undergirding “Hasta el atardecer,” or the Matthew Sweet quality of “Dias sin saber.” Overall, Salto al vacio is a must add for jangle addicts.

Screen Shot 2019-12-27 at 5.11.39 PMAdd the new Mike Adams at his Honest Weight record to the pile with the likes of Matthew Milia, Telekinesis’ Michael Benjamin Lerner and even Marshall Crenshaw. Their defining element? Albums full of ebullient melodic gems, showcasing a deep knowledge of the poprock canon and an ability to twist such influences into original new material. Adam’s new LP There is No Feeling Better is a case in point. Each song is a perfectly crafted melodic miniature. From the off-kilter Beatles influences framing the opening track “Pressing Mesh” to the epic keyboard/acoustic guitar contrasts animating the closer “So Faded” this is a record of oh so pleasant surprises. “Do You One Better” is the obvious single, with its measured build up and strong melodic payout in the chorus. “Free and Reduced” has some great interplay between the rumbly guitar and 1980s keyboard while “Wonderful to Love” stokes a 1980s languid poprock groove. And check out “Datsun Dashes” with its reinvention of early 1960s American pop and Beatles influences or “I Need You” which sounds like a beat group version of the Eagles. Another ‘all-player’ for any road trip lasting longer than 39 minutes.

Screen Shot 2019-12-27 at 5.12.43 PMLet me slip in an EP amongst all this LP celebration.  I featured a song recently by Pittsburg native Dave Molter but then got a copy of his 2019 EP Foolish Heart. Wow! What an action packed collection of ear worms. While citing the 1960s and Beatles as his main influences, Molter offers up a collection that exudes the best of 1980s poprock a la Greg Kihn, Huey Lewis and the News and ELO. I already lauded the Jeff Lynne-ish “Mid-Century Man” in my previous Molter post, now let me add praise for the EP’s title track “Foolish Heart” which could easily find its way onto any John Waite solo album, the psychedelic “See the Sunshine,” and the smile-generating Beatlesque “Tell Me That You Love Me.” Seriously, for Beatles fans, try not breaking into a grin when this song comes on! My only complaint about Foolish Heart is that it is an EP. Poprock Record wants more Molter!

Click on kiwi jr, Star Trip, Mike Adams at his Honest Weight, and Dave Molter and get your copies of these great albums with all the leftover holiday cash I’m sure is just lying around.

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