Time again to twist the dial in our never-ending search for exciting and hooky new tuneage. Today’s finds qualify as some quality discoveries.
Pugwash regularly conjured review comparisons to the Beatles and XTC but their sound eventually became its own point of reference. The band’s creative force Thomas Walsh now returns with a solo album The Rest is History that bears the mark of his distinctive artistic imprimatur and then some. The record launches with “A Good Day for Me,” a very ELO-inflected bit of pop genius. The arrangement of the song is so perfect, shifting from delicate moments and lush interludes to straight up earwormy hooks. Singles don’t get much better than this. “Another Lesson in Life” is a close second vote for should-be single with its psych Beatles feel and Lennonesque vocals. From there the album oscillates between spare and sunny pop sketches like “Love in a Circumstance” or “Born of Kamchatka” and the more jangle-pop contributions like “Take Your Time” and “Man Lies Down Again.” “All This Hurt” does crank things in a more power pop direction. And of course there must be some XTC vibes somewhere on any given Walsh product, this time featured heavily on “Everyone Back in the Water.” Pugwash fans are going to be very happy with Walsh in solo guise. The Rest is History is pure enjoyment.
Velvet Crush main man Paul Chastain has a new outfit and the vibe is something else. The band is The Small Square and they have a new LP entitled Ours and Others. I love the distinct mood on this album. Opening cut “Twenty-Third” sets a sombre tone before breaking out into a more Mike Viola pop ode. By contrast “The Hourglass” builds on its acoustic guitar base in a very Michael Penn kind of way. Then “Open Up (Closer)” commits to a more rocking demeanor with a Matthew Sweet balance of ripping lead guitar and strong melodic hooks. And check out the gorgeous jangle defining the enigmatic lurch of “Tilt.” It’s got Byrds, some Tom Petty, and just a hint of Mike Viola again. Come to think of it “Insta” has got some Brydsian turns too. The album has got a load of beautiful mellow pieces too like “Days In,” “Found Object,” and “Baby Face.” Should be single is definitely “Can’t Let Go (Oh, Tommy).” This one saunters in, understated, only to break out a great hook in the chorus. I’m also partial “N. Main Blues” with its otherworldly synth textures and chugging chorus.
With their new album Song Machine Bisbee Arizona father/daughter combo The Exbats move the dial up from their usual early 1960s Brill Building/Phil Spector sound to a more early 1970s Partridge Family vibe. “Riding With Paul” has got the ‘ba ba ba ba’s of the TV band down, with just a dash of Monkees guitar work near the end. Not that the sixties motifs have been entirely put away. “To All the Mothers I’d Like to Forgive” harkens back to an early 1960s girl group sound. Other sixties riffs can be found on the 1960s girl singer standards “Easy to be Sorry” and “Himbo.” Or there’s the more late 1960s Sonny and Cher feel to “Better At Love.” Sometimes the retro sound gets refracted through later periods. “Cry About Me” takes a new wave remake approach to the sixties girls group sound while the current single “Like It Like I Do” could be either The Bangles or The Go Go’s doing their hip-shaking, good time take on the past. Then there’s “You Got My Heart” and “Food Fight,” both rollicking blasts of goof pop, the latter getting garagey in a Velvets way. Last up, a real surprise – is that some Abba I hear lurking deep in “The Happy Castaway”? Get yourself a copy of Song Machine. You’ll have it running for a long time.
All this past week I just can’t stop listening to Miss Chain and the Broken Heels new album Storms. On the bus, during my run, on my way shopping for the husband, I just keep choosing this record and then hitting repeat. There’s something brash and raw and real going on here while still being oh-so polished and hooky. Sometimes the sound has a strong retro 1950s sheen. Songs like “Wild Wind,” “Caring Wolves” and “Uh Uh Uh” lean into that more rough-hewn, fifties-style melodic rock that reminds of another great find this year, The McCharmleys. But at other points lead singer Astrid Dante exudes the vocal charisma of a Neko Case, Jenny Lewis or Chrissie Hynde. Opening cut “I Don’t Know” is like a declaration of purpose, wielding its original and distinctive rhythm guitar work to anchor the song. “Storms” trundles along with a carefree abandon. “Hunters of Hope” has a more anglo-poprock gloss. Really, there are just so many great tunes here: “Since You’re Gone,” “Perfect Day” and the hypnotic “Green and Black.” Storms works on the stereo and you know it would rock live.
There’s nothing like twisting the dial and stumbling across a new find. Today’s acts will give you plenty to return to.
Photo courtesy Thomas Hawk Flikr collection.
The autumn has brought a seasonal gust of new releases and they arrive just in time to compensate for the fading sunlight and sinking temperatures. There’s nothing like a good melodic hook to amp up the joy quotient of a grey day. Today’s turn around the dial brings back some old faves and new discoveries!
Christmas music gets a bad wrap (pun intended). Some people seem to think that you can take any old song and throw a seasonal reference in and – voila! – holiday classic. Hardly. Every year an ocean of new Christmas songs hit the holiday beach but few have any staying power. There is something inexplicably magical about the combination of tune, sentiment, and bells that maketh music genuinely seasonal. Kinda like if tinsel and marzipan had a soundtrack. Fortunately, there are a few tunesmiths who still understand how to work the formula, with some of the finest featured here on our now annual holiday music post!
Nine. I don’t why or how I settled on that number but my three previous holiday music posts have all featured nine artists. Weird. Well, I’m not one to needlessly buck tradition so here’s nine more … starting with the amazing Lannie Flowers. Flowers is a longtime veteran of the power pop/indie music scene, charming audiences with his consistently Beatlesque melodic hooks. He returns this year with a remixed version of his 2013 holiday release, “Christmas Without You,” a song that nicely combines jangle with just a hint of country. Next up is a very modern take on seasonal themes, namely, that surely Joseph would have had some doubts about just what was going on with Mary and their miracle baby. Only the New Pornographers could pull off such content and they do on “Joseph, Who Understood,” a new holiday, sing-along classic. Proving their recent comeback Good Times! album was no fluke, the Monkees return this year with a whole album of festive music, with a similar crew of indie pop royalty providing the tunes and musical direction. There’s plenty of good stuff here but “The House of Broken Gingerbread” stands out for me as a superior poprock tune, written by celebrated author Michael Chabon and FOW’s Adam Schlesinger. I’m kinda cheating a bit with this next contribution from Gregory Pepper who just released his holiday-themed four song EP Tsundere. I’m treating his effort like a double-A sided effort, but one with four songs. Pepper’s work sounds deceptively simple but melodically and lyrically he’s a master of so many genre styles and a brilliantly funny and smart lyricist. Spend some time with these tunes. Anybody who can song-check both Macca (“Secret Satan”) and the mopey one (“Home Alone”) knows what he’s doing!Lannie Flowers – Christmas Without YouThe New Pornographers – Joseph, Who UnderstoodThe Monkees – The House of Broken Gingerbread
Digging a bit deeper into our Christmas music bag, Pugwash prove they are the deserving inheritors of XTC’s brand of hooky, intelligent indie poprock with “Tinsel and Marzipan,” capped with a darling Irish-accented child at the end! Crossing the water to Liverpool Rob Clarke and the Wooltones Mersey up the Christmas music scene with a whole album of festiveness on Bring Me the Wooltones This Year! It’s a very Beatles-ish collection of serious and not so serious contributions, with new songs and old faves. The double-A single for me would be “Another Wooltones Xmas Record/Santa Claus.” It can’t be a Christmas tune-age roundup without a tender ballad of seasonal longing so now we head a bit north to Glasgow to hear from The Pooches and their simple song of needing to be with someone as the yuletide comes, “Christmas, With You.” Both stark and moving. Super poprock stars Fun. haven’t put out much in terms of albums but they did put out a holiday single shortly after their first album. “Believe in Me” bears all the hallmarks of that band’s winning formula: intriguing change ups in the song structure, toy piano solos, and plenty of hooks of course.Pugwash – Tinsel and MarzipanThe Pooches – Christmas (With You)Fun. – Believe in Me
Wrapping up this year’s holiday blog post (literally this time), something more traditional. Well, sort of. Quiet Company love the holidays and we’ve featured their stellar coverage of the traditional canon before. Now they’re back with a timely release that captures the distemper of the times with Baby It’s Cold War Outside. With song titles like “Merry Christmas, The President is Terrible” and “Alone on Christmas (You’re Going to Die)” the sense of seasonal dread really comes through. But the traditional themes of hope are there too with “Little Drummer Boy” and particularly on their original reworking of “Carol of the Bells/Setting the Trap.”
Poprock Record 