Tag Archives: Shane Tutmarc

You can’t wait for summer

01 Monday Jul 2024

Posted by in Poprock Themepark

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Summer seems to come to different people at different times, depending on whether you’ve got kids in school or a job with a set vacation schedule or live in the United Kingdom. But July 1st is a definite dividing line on seasonal states of being. So let me say it, summer is now officially here.

To kick things off mood-wise, Sparkle*Jets U.K. have got the perfect single with “I Can’t Wait for Summer.” The band may not be from the UK but they certainly do sparkle on this new song, an homage to the Beach Boys that will appear on their first album of new material in two decades, to be called Box of Letters. The opening wash of background vocals on this song are just so California sixties pop, though the treatment drifts into a more modern sound as it goes along (and deliciously so in my view). The artwork for the single is itself a riff on the famous Beach Boys Endless Summer greatest hits cover design.

Now that summer has arrived you can just sit back and marvel at that big beautiful sunny blue sky. That’s what pop tunesmith Steven Wright-Mark advises on his brand new and oh-so-timely single “Summer Sky.” This one has got an earworm for a hook so sneaky you’ll be humming it long after your portable cassette player has run out of power. Shane Tutmarc gives the sun its due on his new Dolour long-player Daylight Upon Magic. Album deep-cut “Sun On My Brain” gives voice to that feeling of summer abandon where you’ve just got to break free from work and hit the beach. ‘Why am I working so hard?’ Tutmarc sings, ‘I can only get so far …’ Indeed. I’m pretty sure that the good people of Rapid City, South Dakota have no idea what indie power pop god resides within their midst. Friends of Cesar Romero have yet another fantastic EP out, the seasonally dubbed Last Summer A Year From Now. So many songs here just cook with a garage rock intensity that never fail to strike a strongly melodic chord. This could be your go-to summer party platter for this year. But make sure to hit replay on title track “Last Summer A Year From Now” to hear a master class in hard-hitting hooky poprock.

Of course for many summer means travel. I’m not recommending this locale as much as the EP and song about it. Ricky Rochelle serves up his signature punk pop vibe on this Cannibal Island Resort EP, particularly on the darkly poppy title track. I really appreciate all the extra sonic bits Rochelle mixes into his tunes that creates a complexity that belies their apparent punky simplicity. You’ll find four fun songs here but “Cannibal Island Resort” would be the single for sure.

No more waiting. Go to the front of the queue for your ration of summer-themed tune-age right now.

Photo courtesy Thomas Hawk Flikr collection.

Should be a hit single: Shane Tutmarc “Goodbye Love”

27 Friday Nov 2020

Posted by in Should be a Hit Single

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Shane Tutmarc has spent more than two decades releasing records with bands like Dolour, Solar Twin, Shane Tutmarc and the Traveling Mercies, and as a solo artist. So there’s a lot of material to potentially focus on. Here I’ll shine some light on a track from his criminally overlooked 2014 release Borrowed Trouble, an album he describes as leaning on a Memphis soul style. The record is a perfect distillation of his Seattle-meets-Nashville sound with highlights like the McCartney-esque “Can I Count on You?” and the punchy horns of “Fair Warning.” But my fave track on the album is the lurching, organ drenched “Goodbye Love.” Let this one sink in. It starts off inauspiciously, with nice acoustic guitar, organ and your basic slow, scotch-addled vocal. But then chorus sneaks up and hooks you like the best 1970-74 era Lennon single. And each time it comes around that chorus exerts just a bit more magnetic melodic pull. It’s a sound that vibes a bit of Wilco, the Replacements, and Nick Lowe in his more recent ‘mature’ phase, particularly the fabulous organ work.

“Goodbye Love” is also featured on a brand new collection, a ‘should have been greatest hits’ album of sorts entitled Written and Produced by Shane Tutmarc. The record features work from across the breadth of his long career and from all his different musical vehicles. So many great songs here! Personally, I can’t get enough of the uplifting, anthemic “Brave New World.” Think of this record as a perfect Tutmarc starter pack.

I love finding a record by a new artist and then discovering there’s a whole back-catalogue world yet to explore. Get into Shane Tutmarc’s musical orbit at his website and bandcamp. Or you can order physical copies of his efforts from Kook Kat Musik.