Tag Archives: Sloan

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.

Not workers playtime

01 Wednesday May 2024

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Workers Playtime was a BBC radio show that ran for two decades after WWII, broadcasting live music and comedy from shop floors across the UK. As culture should do, it held a mirror up to what the great mass of people do day in, day out, as if that mattered. On today’s May Day we revive that spirit with a collection of songs that also focus on work, working, and workers.

I’ve never heard anyone capture the essential problem of work in a song quite like Birmingham, Alabama’s Lolas. Running just shy of two minutes, “Work is the Blackmail of Survival” beats its jangle fueled fist against the tyranny of modern employment. Not that Lolas leader Tim Boykin could be accused of sloth, given how he regularly churns out great tunes. His real concern is about how work for pay tends to stunt out lives, alienating us from ourselves and others. Boston’s Air Traffic Controller are not clear on what kind of employment they’re writing about on “The Work” but it doesn’t sound like a walk in the park. But like Lolas they still sound chipper about it, musically at least. Cotton Mather main man Harold Whit Williams has another project that is right up our themed alley. Writing and performing under the moniker Daily Worker he has a whole album entitled May Day. On “Write If You Get Work” he offers a folk pop rumination on the struggle to get work in seemingly never-ending tough times. In a related vein Canadian power pop juggernaut Sloan weigh up the pros and cons of any given work opportunity on “Nice Work If You Can Get It” with a few Beatlesque guitar hooks just to sweeten the deal.

Our next group of songs are about working. On his website Paul McCartney writes about “On My Way to Work” from his 2013 album New. Ever the wistful one, Macca does capture the mood of his pre-Beatles working class self going to work, mind on other things. On their last album in 2011’s Sky Full of Holes Fountains of Wayne tucked in one of their usual stellar daily-life song sketches with “Workingman’s Hands.” With a quiet respect, the song’s lyrics honour the impact of work on those who do it. Jack Green’s 1980 album Humanesque has a unique blend of guitar and vocals that is so of the era. It also includes the rhythm guitar chord fabulous tribute to working class gals on “Factory Girls.” The light synth touches are just a bonus. Reaching back to 1973, the struggles of working class couples with conflicting shifts gets an airing on the Liverpool Echo’s “Sally Works Nights.” Though I doubt the protagonist’s solution here really met with Sally’s approval.

Paul McCartney – On My Way to Work
Jack Green – Factory Girl
Liverpool Echo – Sally Works Nights

Shifting gears, work is the focus of a lot anguish in terms of how it limits what people can do with their lives. Philadelphia’s 2nd Grade neatly sum the essential problem on “Work Till I Die” where the singer works and works to gain ‘free time.’ Similarly Richard Turgeon bemoans the days lost to “Workin’ for the Man.” As he notes lyrically “There’s a moral to this story but it might not have a happy ending.” The Primitives left space on their fabulous 2014 comeback album Spin-O-Rama for a soliloquy about how hard labour sucks on the delightful “Working Isn’t Working.” And they throw in some pretty special glam buzz guitar too. Then there’s Cupid’s Carnival giving their best Beatles treatment of their own “Working All Day.” It almost makes suffering the work day worthwhile.

Cupid’s Carnival – Working All Day

This May Day as much as any we have to ask why the great mass of working people put up with their situation, given that they represent the overwhelming majority of humanity. Chris Corney suggests it might have to do with a particular mindset. On “Do Not Adjust Your Mind” he addresses how people let things go rather than interrupt the flow. Robert Ellis Orrall puts the blame on a broader set of ‘doing stupid man things’ that dominate so much behaviour. What people need, according to angry troubadour Ike Reilly, is to abandon a fake past and embrace of real future and “Fuck the Good Old Days.” Amen.

Chris Corney – Do Not Adjust Your Mind
Ike Reilly – Fuck the Good Old Days

This moment in history is no workers’ playtime. While AI fiddles our future as workers burns, unless we collectively decide otherwise.

Poprock Record’s 25 must-have LPs for 2022

10 Tuesday Jan 2023

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Once again I’ve assembled a crack team of ace reviewers to whittle our towering pile of albums from 2022 down to an essential must-have list of just 25 choices. How could these stuffed suits know what’s hip, you might say? It’s kinda like how album covers can be deceiving – the dullest dust jacket may obscure a real gem. So I’ve had these guys working overtime to bring you the very best of 2022, as featured in the annals of this here blog over the past calendar year. They’ve combed through countless long-players, extended plays and concept albums to put together multiple ‘must have’ lists. Tough work but you can tell by quality of their tailoring that they were up for it.

Cue drumroll – here we have it, Poprock Record’s 25 must-have LPs from 2022:

1. Tamar Berk Start at End
2. Trevor Blendour Falling in Love
3. Televisionairies Mad About You
4. Kids on a Crime Spree Fall in Love Not in Line
5. The Kryng Twelve Hymns to Syng Along
6. The Minders Psychedelic Blacktop
7. Eytan Mirsky Lord, Have Mirsky!
8. Edward O’Connell Feel Some Love
9. Phil Thornalley Now That I Have Your Attention
10. Kate Clover Bleed Your Heart Out
11. Push Puppets Allegory Grey
12. The Rubs (dust)
13. Afterpartees Family Names
14. Sloan Steady
15. 2nd Grade Easy Listening
16. Greg Pope Rise of Mythical Creatures
17. Papercuts Past Life Regression
18. Young Guv Guv III
19. Freedy Johnston Back on the Road to You
20. Pete Astor Time on Earth
21. The Boys with the Perpetual Nervousness The Third Wave of …
22. Superchunk Wild Loneliness
23. The Happy Fits Under the Shade of Green
24. Tony Molina In the Fade
25. Chris Lund Indian Summer

Tamar Berk’s outstanding album Start at End tops our list for 2022. Melodic, poppy, inventive, and with a smooth AM radio sheen that encourages repeated listening. And then it’s hard not to fall for the manic, almost gleeful energy of Trevor Blendour’s Falling in Love. The Televisionaries’ Mad About You is just a wonderful mixture of retro rock and roll and hooky modern melodic riffing. I could go on (and I have – click on the hot links to go to the original posts). The list has got old faves (Freedy Johnston, Edward O’Connell, Eytan Mirsky), power pop stalwarts (Sloan, Greg Pope, Chris Lund), and a whole lot that was entirely new to me (Kate Clover, Push Puppets, Pete Astor). And there’s jangle to spare (The Kryng, Young Guv, The Boys with the Perpetual Nervousness). The list is proof that, contra claims we are solely a sample culture, the long-playing album is alive and well in the new millennium.

And there’s more. The ongoing revival of the extended play record format has led to this list, Poprock Record’s must-have EPs from 2022:

1. The Happy Somethings Ego Test
2. Movie Movie Movie Movie
3. Sad About Girls Wild Creatures
4. Friends of Cesar Romero In the Cold Cruel Eyes of a Millions Stars
5. Ryan Allen I’m Not Mean
6. Love, Burns Fade in the Sun
7. Richard Turgeon Rough Around the Edges
8. The Genuine Fakes Extended Play Vol. 3

The Happy Somethings make me happy, about a lot of things. They say important things, they give me hope. And their tunes are swell. The rest of the list is pretty winning too. Great tunes in smaller packages. That leaves no excuses not to check them out.

Sometimes an album is bigger than its constituent parts. Sometimes it’s just big. So I had to carve out a special category for Ken Sharp’s latest homage to the 1970s, Poprock Record’s must-have concept album from 2022:

Ken Sharp I’ll Remember the Laughter

Our last category recognizes an artist of prodigious talent and shocking productivity. By my reckoning over the past year alone he has turned out 2 albums of completely new material, 8 EPs of new material, 3 double-sided singles, 3 greatest hits albums, a b-sides album, an EP of remakes, and a holiday EP. Sleep is apparently not for this guy. Thus we bestow the Poprock Record special award of awesome poprock merit to:

The Photocopies

Another year, another avalanche of great tunes. Melodic rock and roll lives and here is the proof. Click on the links and find your new faves. The guys in suits are done here (for now).

1954 ‘Speaking of Pictures’ ad courtesy James Vaughn.

Poprock Record’s should-be hit singles for 2022

05 Thursday Jan 2023

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It was another busy year for melody-drenched rock and roll. Releases were coming fast and furious and frankly I could barely keep up. Still, I managed to get 82 posts up on the blog in 2022 and write over 64,000 words on the loosely-defined rock and roll sub-genre I call ‘poprock.’ I couldn’t write about everything that crossed my desk or what others may have necessarily thought was review-worthy, I just covered what caught my ear or worked itself into some kooky theme I cooked up. So let me be clear, what appears here is a completely arbitrary exercise in personal taste and discretion. I’m sure others may have a somewhat different set of worthy tunes that deserve more attention. And that is totally cool. The point is to celebrate the artists and perhaps give people another shot at checking them out.

So here it is, Poprock Record’s top 50 should-be hit singles from 2022:

1. Grrrl Gang “Pop Princess”
2. The Bleeding Idahos “The Beat Said”
3. Dazy “Rollercoaster Ride”
4. Bloody Norah “Shooting Star”
5. Allan Kaplon “Restless One”
6. Televisionaries “Over and Out”
7. John Larson and the Silver Fields “Reversible Heart”
8. Push Puppets “There’s No-one Else Like Lynette”
9. Tamar Berk “Your Permission”/“Tragic Endings”
10. Freddie Steady Krc “Bohemian Dandy”
11. The Toms “Atmosphere”
12. The Proctors “You and Me and the Sea”
13. The Minders “Home”
14. Richard Turgeon “Better With You”
15. Flipp “You Can Make It Happen”
16. Bill DeMain “Lone Ranger”
17. Limblifter “Haystack Rock”
18. Stephen Schijns “I Met Her Yesterday”
19. The Rubs “When I Dream About You”
20. Edward O’ Connell “Golden Light”
21. Superchunk “Endless Summer”
22. The Kryng “Get”
23. Freedy Johnston “There Goes a Brooklyn Girl”
24. Phil Thornalley “Fast Car”
25. Lawn “Down”
26. The Stroppies “The Perfect Crime”
27. Beachheads “Jupiter”
28. Martin Luther Lennon “jfkha”
29. David Woodard “Stupid Kid”
30. Linda XO “California Girl”
31. Richard X. Heyman “When the New Dawn Comes”
32. Buzzard Buzzard Buzzard “Break Right In”
33. Sloan “Magical Thinking”
34. Teenage Tom Petties “Boxroom Blues”
35. The Demos “Streetlight Glow”
36. Suburban HiFi “In Her Reverie”
37. Moonlight Parade “Amsterdam”
38. Ricky Rochelle “In a Dream With You”
39. The Telmos “What She Knows”
40. Marc Jonson and Ramirez Exposure “Tape Recording”
41. Sky Diving Penguins “Run Boy”
42. Novelty Island “Jangleheart”
43. Goodman “Au Pair”
44. Pictish Trail “Melody Something”
45. Kevin Robertson “Tough Times (Feel Like That)
46. U.S. Highball “(You’ve Got To) Activate a Carrot”
47. The Wends “What A Heart Is For”
48. The Rallies “Must Be Love”
49. Jane’s Party “It’s Been Years”
50. Frank Royster “Open Door”

There were so many great songs put out this past year, I was spoiled for choice. And choosing wasn’t easy. Sometimes I cheated a little. Grrrl Gang’s “Pop Princess” technically came out before 2022 but I only got around to writing about it this last year. What a tune! It’s a perfect example of the kind of excitement a great single can generate and, really, why I write this blog. People need to hear it! Or there’s the fresh indie hooks driving The Bleeding Idahos’ “The Beat Said” and Bloody Norah’s “Shooting Star.” Dazy had a knock out AM radio earworm with “Rollercoaster Ride.” And then there was veteran songster Allan Kaplon coming on like The Highwaymen at first only to let loose the Rockpile hooks in the chorus of “Restless Ones.” There were new faces and old favourites and surprises aplenty. Click on the links to go to the original posts featuring each song.

I had to create a few new categories this year, just to capture all that was good and groovy about 2022. The post-Covid covers album phenomenon continued and most were great fun. But some were particularly inspired. And then there were a lot of acoustic guitar-dominant tunes out this past year that I felt really needed to be singled out in a category I’ve dubbed folk pop.

So, without further ado, here are Poprock Record’s most inventive covers from 2022:

1. Kurt Lanham “I Want to Hold Your Hand” (The Beatles)
2. Lisa Mychols and Super 8 “I Can’t Explain” (The Who)
3. Bill Lloyd “The World Turns Around Her” (The Byrds)
4. Andy Bell “Light Flight” (Pentangle)
5. Murray Atkinson “Bus Stop” (The Hollies)

And here are Poprock Record’s top folk pop singles from 2022:

1. Fjord Mustang “Health Class Field Trip”
2. Rogers and Butler “Oh Romeo”
3. Bats “Golden Spoon”
4. *repeat repeat “Hm Feels Like”
5. Steve Robinson and Ed Woltil “Make Amends”
6. Chris Castino “Chinese Whispers”

I do love making lists but the choices do not amount to any big heavy pronouncement on anything – just my bit of fun and chance to celebrate these artists a little bit more. Check them out and see if you don’t agree, they’re seriously good!

Photo courtesy Fred Rockwood.

Record round-up I

28 Wednesday Dec 2022

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It happens every time. Year-end rolls around and the ‘to-be-reviewed’ pile is groaning under the weight of the thus-far neglected, could-be super hits. To give everyone some airtime in their year of release this is the first of three record round-ups before the new year. I may accent brevity here but know this, the love is as fulsome as ever.

I just discovered that Farewell Horizontal is not just the name of a Melbourne noisy pop outfit but also Pavement’s last album. I don’t really hear a connection. Farewell Horizontal, the band, get noisy here and there, like on “Nosy Parker.” But most of their fourth album Tales of Woah has a killer poppy undercurrent on the rock and roll, like the best of Matthew Sweet. Opening cut “Brighton’s Full Of Arseholes” catches your attention for its title alone, but the song cooks, the vocal melody carrying us along. “Summer of Disease” is a bit more acoustic guitar pop in a Guster style. I love the oscillation between menacing and dreamy themes sustaining “The Answer is No.” Things lean in a Pixies direction on a number of cuts, like “Uh Oh (No)” and “The System Works.” Love the lead guitar opening and recurring throughout “Never Give Up (Unless You’re Shit).” On the whole, Tales of Woah is a ‘don’t hold back’ kind of album purchase.

People have been writing a lot about Washington D.C. rock and roll stalwarts Dot Dash and their new release Madman in the Rain. And why not? It’s so listenable. There is something early 1980s poprock with a jazzy tinge about this record, sorta like what the Style Council and Everything but the Girl were doing back then. Just hit play on “Space Junk, Satellites” to get the feel. Other tracks are more straight up 1980s guitar pop, with cool extra vocal adornments. Like the ‘ooh oohs’ sprinkled throughout “Forever Far Out.” I hear a lot of Roddy Frame influence here, on “Madman in the Rain” particularly but also more generally in terms of the album’s overriding ambience. The keyboards steal the show on the single-worthy “Tense and Nervous” along with all those new wave band/song shout-outs. Or one might recall The Grapes of Wrath listening to “Saints/Pharaohs.” Where is my sideways button-up shirt?

Turn on In Deed member Richard Öhrn’s new solo album Sounds in English and you are immediately transported to a pop-psychedelia English summer garden circa 1967. It’s in the jangle, the mock flute solos, and the emotional ennui soaking all the songs. “Seal Your Move” is practically a musical poster child for the era, shaded with touches of the Hollies and the Turtles here and there. Then “5th Month Announcement” sounds like a cross between Simon and Garfunkel and Moody Blues. And who but an expert on the late 1960s folk pop era could drive along “Someone to Forgive You” with something that sounds like Greek balalaika lead lines and a subtle organ undercurrent. “Take This Bottle” comes back to the Hollies, but with a bit of the Searchers thrown in for good effect. And then there’s the utterly delightful piano lines defining “Love and Friendship.” What an album! Öhrn’s magic touch is in making the musical past fully present again.

Album number 13 is still lucky for Canadian east coast power pop institution Sloan. How do they keep turning it out? Could be their democratic creative ethos – all members sing and write songs. There’s no ‘front man’ here. Right from the break-out guitar driving album opener “Magical Thinking” Steady is in your head – to stay. This record is all highlights: “Spend the Day,” “Scratch the Surface,” “Keep Your Name Alive” – all are glorious guitar-heavy, chord-bashing wonders. They’re songs that will have you asking in exasperation ‘Just where is 11 on this crummy amp?!’ Of course, I do especially love the really melody-heavy numbers, like “She Put Up with What She Put Down,” “I Dream of Sleep,” and  “Nice Work If You Can Get It,” the latter with a decidedly Revolver-ish panache. No need for hard judgement here, just file this in the ‘best of the year’ pile.

And now for a bit of baroque pop. A whole lotta baroque, actually. How Birmingham, Alabama’s The Mellons come off sounding like a pitch perfect Beach Boys on their debut Introducing … The Mellons is just one of those mysteries of life. A definitely delightful mystery! Just hit play on “So Much to Say” and see if Beach Boys doesn’t register immediately, with a hefty dose of sunshine pop adornments. From there its beachscape all the way. You can practically hear the waves lapping up on “Devil’s Advocate” and “What a Time to Be Alive.” Though to be fair, there’s a strong psych pop feel to what is happening here, apparent strongly on “It’s Just a Phase” and “Salad Made of Butterflies.” Introducing … The Mellons is like time travel. A band that plays this good is a ‘happening’ for sure.

Another solid album is this year’s release from Ian M. Bailey, You Paint the Pictures. The sound is so sixties reminiscent but fresh and now at the same time. Title track and opening cut “Paint the Pictures” is a case in point. The jangle is clearly Brydsian through a Tom Petty filter but still timeless in its execution. If anything it reminds me of the AM radio-friendly work from McGuinn, Clark and Hillman in the late 1970s. “I Wanted the Sun to Shine” adds a slight country undercurrent to the rippling jangle while “I Don’t Want to Start Again” takes a more folk rock turn. “Life Without You” moves things into more Al Stewart/Gerry Rafferty territory while “Hey Little Girl” offers up a country pop vibe. For breezy should-be AM radio single I’d vote for “Change is Easy.” Song by song, this is a strong outing by any measure, for jangle-heads You Paint the Pictures is a real treat. Available from Kool Kat records here.

Paint the Pictures
I Wanted the Sun to Shine

Our record round-up is now well underway. I’m not saying we’ve left the best for last in these posts but we’ve clearly got some stuff left that is pretty good. Stay tuned.

Photo 1974 Spokane Expo World’s Fair postcard courtesy Joe Haupt.

Snowflake singles

27 Monday Dec 2021

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Tis the season for shovels and snowflakes … and singles! What better way to wrap up the year than a slew of new 45s. Here’s 21 songs to get you through your snow-shoveling workout.

Atlanta’s Mattiel’s have early-dropped a single from their forthcoming new LP, the aptly named Georgia Gothic. The song is titled “Jeff Goldblum” and this outing is a bit more pop, kinda like something 1978 bordering on new wave. I like where this is going. I’m sneaking in another holiday-themed tune, but only because it’s so subtlely done. Brad Peterson’s “Beautiful and Bright” is lovely low-key ode to peace and goodwill, and who really gets enough of that? Nobody, that’s who. A year ago it was political drama central but amid all the competing headlines I somehow missed Sloan’s fabulous on-point single, “Silence Trumps Lies.” No fake news here, just slick melodies and wise sentiments. I may be getting to it a bit late but it’s definitely worth a replay. With “Stranger” Evan Myall combines some classic rhythm guitar shimmer with a nice bit of Todd Rundgren-like pop songcraft. From his recent EP Snail. Sticking to America’s west coast L.A. Exes offer up a light jaunty neo-early 1960s romp on “Baby Let’s Pretend.”

Cupid’s Carnival are clearly working their way up to a new album release sometime soon, given the singles we’ve seen this year. “Thinking About You Girl” is what the boys do best, another catchy mid-period Beatlesque charmer. Boston’s Bird Mancini manage to sound both very familiar and highly original, all at the same time. From their recent album The One Delight, I’m loving the rollicking joy of “Space Between Two Worlds,” driven by Ruby Bird’s impressive vocals. Sydney Australia’s Middle Kids remind me of a certain kind of contemporary poppy rock sound, like Grouplove. The keyboard opening to “Stacking Chairs” is so magnetic, drawing you in, building to a calliope-like drive in the chorus that’s aided by some nice guitar work. The song is from their most recent long-player, the perhaps only slightly over-stated Today We’re the Greatest. Dave Sheinin takes his reliable power pop chops in a sometimes rockier, sometimes more mellow direction on his recent release The Measure of Things. “St. Paul” has got a hooky bar band rockin’ feel. Richard Turgeon turns on the mellow meter for “7 Stories,” lulling us with some nice guitar swing and vocal harmonies that vibe that distinctive Eagles shiver-inducing effect.

Cupid’s Carnival – Thinking About You Girl

It’s been a while since we’ve heard an album from Wollongong, South Australia band Leadfinger but a few new singles have come out this last year. I’m currently attached to “The Fall of Rome” with its addictive lead guitar runs and ominous melodic undercurrent. I’m guessing a new album is not far off. Ottawa’s teen sixties retro band The Rockyts are clearly between albums so they released “It’s a Dirty Shame” to tide us over this year. The track plays to their melodic rock and roll strengths while adding just a bit of contemporary polish. Jeff Roberts is a mysterious guy from Charlottesville, Virginia who likes to just give his songs away. That’s right, just click on ‘free’ on Bandcamp! And you’re gonna want to with tracks like “Bones,” a shuffle-demon of a track that’s a little bit country, a little bit rock and roll. Half Catholic is another band on its way to a new album, for sure, if the spate of recent singles is any indication. “What Good is Gone” has his trademark jangly lead guitar and expressive vocal delivery. It’s mournful and peppy in the same moment. For a change in direction, we head to Munster, Germany where Nah … get their twee baroque pop going on with a new single “The Useless Model.” It’s very theCatherines with some Everything but the Girl thrown in.

The Rockyts – It’s a Dirty Shame

DIY poprocker Stephen Schijns has a load of one-off singles on his Bandcamp page and they’re all pretty good. Indeed, some are pretty great even. Like the alluring charm of “I Met Her Yesterday” with its Byrdsian overtones and Al Stewart inflections. “What Do I Know About Love” is also pretty sweet. The Brandy Alexanders’ “Conventional Lie” starts off very George Harrison “My Sweet Lord” but quickly segues down its own distinctive path, combining winning vocals with some cool guitar and keyboard lines. Palmyra Delran and the Doppel Gang give their single a super-charged lick familiar to any early 1960s pop fan but it works on “Lucky in Love,” adding rather than overwhelming the tune. They’re a group with a limited resume that I’d love to see more from. New Orleans band Silver Synthetic have got a classic Americana thang going on. You can’t go wrong dropping your needle anywhere on their self-titled debut album but if I were calculating special moments I’d put my money on “In the Beginning.” The Caternary Wines have an otherworldly aura about them. There something Moody Blues/Jethro Tull spooky here. I’m hard pressed to choose one song from that their fab record Birling Gap but I’m going with the Enya-esque “Face on the Rail Line.”

The Brandy Alexanders – Conventional Lie

I can’t recall who put me on to Nashville songstress Tristen but whoever you were, thank you. Thank you!  She has an amazing ability to reach inside you and find some feeling you barely knew was there. At some point I’ll pay tribute to her great catalogue but for now let’s attend to her latest LP Aquatic Flowers. This is a very listenable album, with so many great cuts. I was going to recommend “I Need Your Love” and it is a great song but if I can only feature one tune then it has to be “Athena” with its dissonant lurch and melodic purity. It’s pretty special, but then Tristen is no ordinary songmaker.

No snowflake is exactly the same – ditto our singles. Celebrate the icy cool of our snow-inspired single selections. And drop a few bucks over at Bandcamp for these stellar artists.

Happy Crimble, a poprock holiday pageant

20 Monday Dec 2021

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I didn’t grow up in the Christmas pageant tradition. December 25th was more a social than religious sort of thing around my house. But is that going to stop me from launching my own poprock holiday pageant? No way. Get ready to feel the season with a righteous review of some off-the-beaten-path holiday tunes.

Let’s begin by setting the scene with Fascinations Grand Chorus and their Spector-ific proclamation of the season on “Holidays Are Here.” It’s from the Silent Stereo Records Christmas Spectacular collection but sounds like a great lost missing cut from Spector’s classic seasonal LP A Christmas Gift For You. Rochester’s The Hi Risers attempt to throw off their past Christmas blues in favour of getting into the spirit of things with the hooky “Christmas Lights.” The lovely melodic twists and turns make for a great tune and standout chorus! I almost feel like Juliana Hatfield “Christmas Cactus” was some sort of late night drinking game challenge. “Write a song about a Christmas cactus,” someone slurred after a few too many rum and eggnogs. But Hatfield delivers. The song is a subtle earworm, decorated with a host of endearing musical adornments. I loved Mike Doughty’s “I Hear the Bells” the first time I sort of heard it in the background of a Veronica Mars episode. It’s got an addictive dirge-like quality. It was so captivating that I only just noticed there’s hot make-out scene two-thirds of the way through. Definitely PG 13 Xmas tune-age. The late Frank Lee Sprague put a bit of Mersey into everything he recorded, most obviously on his Merry Merseybeat Christmas album. “Christmas Carol” draws on obvious influences but somehow makes it all sound timeless. Dave Woodard put me on to Dil Bourbonridge and the amazing story of his song, “The First Christmas Snow.” Based on a story written by his grandfather during WWII a teenage Dil fashioned it into a DIY holiday single in 1965. Despite being 56 years old, the song sounds like some new indie jangle-band release. Glasgow’s The Martial Arts add some much needed hooky drama to our proceedings, channeling some 1970s pop vibes on “Stockings.”

Mike Doughty – I Hear the Bells
Frankie Lee Sprague – Christmas Carol

Speaking of drama, can’t be a holiday without some dysfunctional family dynamics. That means it’s time to bring the family, in song of course. Laura Cantrell and Michael Shelley go all nuclear family with their cover of George Jones and Tammy Wynette’s “Mr. and Mrs. Santa Claus.” It’s a delightful rendition that conjures up an idyllic 1940s Christmas movie. Martin Newell takes us out of the city centre with “Christmas in Suburbia” from his amazing 1993 album The Greatest Living Englishman. The record was produced by XTC’s Andy Partridge who clearly contributes to teasing out the melodic genius of the song. I somehow missed a gem of a seasonal song from power poppers Sloan in 2020, “Kids Come Back Again at Christmas.” But it’s never too late to catch up on holiday hooks. Getting a bit more specific, Eux Autres highlight the adolescent impact of all things merry on “Teenage Christmas.” It’s from their charming 2009 holiday EP Another Christmas at Home. Hm, sounds more like 2021 … The Krayolas add some gravity to this pageant on “Christmas with my Dad,” a bittersweet testament to loss, laughs and memory. The song title really should be “Christmas without my Dad” – that’s what they sing and sing about. The impressive thing here is how the sadness of loss is made to sound so uplifting.

Martin Newell “Christmas in Suburbia”
The Krayolas – Christmas With My Dad

Now it can’t be holiday event without some traditional tune-age, but we’re taking a rather broad interpretation of ‘tradition’ here. I spent my twenties listening to Vince Guaraldi’s Charlie Brown Christmas, that’s my holiday tradition. Game Theory add just a hint of menace to the familiar bop of “Linus and Lucy” in a creative re-interpretation, defined by some loud guitars. On the 1960s Ventures Christmas album they meld their holiday faves with distinctive riffs and guitar rhythms from other songs. For instance, their take on “Sleigh Ride” mashes the tune with their own hit “Walk, Don’t Run.” Mucho fun! I don’t know which is funnier, the album cover of wiaiwya’s 50,000 Elves Fans Can’t be Wrong or the girlish chatter in the middle of The Weisstronauts otherwise instrumental “Silent Night” listing off everything in the store and then some. Here’s another classic: David Woodard gives the power pop treatment to the traditional hymn “Oh Come All Ye Faithful” and it works. Meanwhile Peggy Sue put the brakes on the Elvis classic, “Blue Christmas.” More Orbison than Presley really. Last up, Canadian teen rock and roll sensations The Rockyts pull the melody to “Winter Wonderland” in all sorts of new and creative ways. Full marks for managing to do something different with an old reliable.

Game Theory – Linus and Lucy
The Ventures – Sleigh Ride
The Rockyts – Winter Wonderland

One last gasp of holiday spirit, that’s what our final clutch of tunes offer. The Kavanaghs love holiday tunes and want you to love them too, providing “A Song We All Can Sing.” It’s from their 2019 Complete Christmas Singles package, for those looking for more. Another ‘full marks for Christmas tune creativity’ winner is Marshall Holland with his inventive “Laughing All the Way.” He manages to create a wholly new song from something old and familiar while also interspersing a “Charlie’s Angels Theme” motif here and there. I did not see that coming. Taking an even more creative leap, Münster, Germany’s The Fisherman and his Soul (featuring The Radio Field) crank up the amp and expand our sense of appropriate holiday topics on “Santa’s Bat.” I love the punky elan coming off this tune. My holiday post tradition very much got started with The Rosebuds’ Christmas Tree Island album. It reinvents the sound, sounding old and contemporary simultaneously. This year I went back to the island, specifically the “Oh It’s Christmas” track digging its swinging, breezy feel. Ok, time for the show closer and this year is has to be the title track from David Woodard’s fab new holiday EP, Rocking Around the Power Pop Tree. If this pageant really had a story it would somehow lead to this hooky denouement – David really says (and plays) it all.

The Rosebuds – Oh It’s Christmas

John Lennon famously made up a lot of nonsense words and phrases, like our post title, so it seems an appropriate send off for this bit of nonsense. Happy Crimble everyone! Don’t forget a present ($) for your fave musical artists this season.

Meet the Feltworths

08 Thursday Jun 2017

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Fetlwroth bandThey’re Feltworth, actually, a puppet band with a plausible backstory and a couple (literally) of killer tunes. The whole concept is brilliant and funny but what aces the deal is that the music is no joke. If they sound a lot like Canadian indie poprockers Sloan, well that’s just the rumour mill for you. Here’s the pitch: Feltworth, a quartet of cat felt puppets (another fab four, though here ‘fab’ is short for fabric) allegedly have been working the kids music scene for years but now have turned their back on the tots for more adult fare. You can get the whole elaborate and amusing story in a recent interview with Ion magazine or watch a kind of ‘making of’ Feltworth video here. If you’re the obsessive kind the Feltworth Films site has 15 different videos showcasing their adventures in a Sesame Street segment sort of way.

Now, you may stop here for the novelty but you will stay for the tunes. “Forget This Feeling” is pure Sloan, with chugging guitars, searingly sweet harmony vocals and hooks galore, while “You Turn Me On” is a nice acoustic-based bit of pop fun. Power pop and poprock fans will rejoice when these guys turn this project into a full blown album. But touring could prove a challenge.

Feltworth have a website and Facebook page – you can meet the Feltworths there.

Should be a hit single: TUNS “Mixed Messages”

26 Friday Aug 2016

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Named for the Technical University of Nova Scotia, east coast supergroup TUNS have released a flawless poprock single with “Mixed Messages.”  The band is clearly more than the sum of its parts, managing to produce a sound distinct from those from whence they came e.g. Sloan, Super Friends/Flashing Lights, and the Inbreds.  A new wave guitar sound carries the opener, then some harmony vocals come in, only to kick things into higher gear with a chimey guitar and greater urgency to the vocals, then things fall away to just bass/drums and some great solo guitar work, before repeating the whole cycle again (while still clocking in at an efficient 3 minutes and 24 seconds).  The track appears on the band’s just released self-titled debut record, TUNS, an album aptly described by The Record.com as “all killer, no filler.”  If one poprock album should make your lather-rinse-repeat playlist come autumn, this is it.

Mixed Messages

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TUNS are touring across Canada this fall and playing a host of out-of-the-way places.  Check out the dates and their killer new record on their website and keep up with their news on Facebook.

Sloan: One album to another

25 Wednesday May 2016

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Sloan-band-1993Back in 1996 I got my copy of One Chord to Another and thought it was pretty cool, but frankly I was a bit distracted.  I didn’t give it the worship it deserved.  Reviewing it now I can better appreciate how this band had it all going on – great sound, solid hooks, and a palpable authenticity.  How did Nova Scotia produce such a monster act?  Their first EP Peppermint and full length album Smeared had a great indie sound, with both versions of “Underwhelmed” worth hitting repeat on.  But their first major label effort, 1994’s Twice Removed, announced the arrival of a polished and original musical force, with “Penpals” a great weird single.  Then they turned around and dumped their major label (Geffen) and turned out another great record, 1996’s One Chord to Another, spending one-tenth the budget of the previous one.  While the album is bursting with great tracks, I’m partial to the very Beatle-esque “The Lines You Amend.” Talk was, Sloan would be the next big thing worldwide.  But things didn’t really pan out that way.

IMG_6677Earlier this month I saw Sloan play One Chord to Another in its entirety at the Phoenix in Toronto as part of 20th anniversary tour commemorating the album.  The show was broken into two sets, with the first blasting through OCTA and the second drawing from their other ten albums.  Despite owning three of their records, I couldn’t name a single tune, though their audience was pretty well informed, drowning out the band on a few sing-a-longs.  After such an amazing show, I decided to school myself on all things Sloan.  Was this a band just reliving the glory of a few early records?  After reviewing their catalogue, I can honestly say ‘no’.  If anything, Sloan’s records only improve over time as the band expands its sonic range and songwriting scope.  And that is saying something because those early records – Smeared, Twice Removed, One Chord to Another, Navy Blues – showcase the signature early sound of Sloan where the vocals and guitars slide together into a great sonic mash of hook-laden tunes.  But, I will have you believe, their later material is even better.

Midnight Mass
Things begin to change up on the 1999 EP Hit and Run with the nice acoustic-y number, “Midnight Mass,” with its simple and endearing piano riff.  The band continued to explore new lines of musical enquiry on albums like 1999’s Between the Bridges with “Losing California,” and 2001’s Pretty Together featuring “If It Feels Good Do It” and “The Other Man.”  2004’s Action Pact upped the guitar muscle but still had surprises like “The Rest of My Life,” as did 2011’s Double Cross with “Shadows of Love” and “Unkind.”  2008’s Parallel Play had the outstanding single “Believe in Me” with its nice crunchy guitar and organ lead lines.Both 2006’s Never Hear the End of It and 2014’s Commonwealth are minor masterpieces, showcasing a band in complete control of its creative development.  As all four songwriters contribute great material to these efforts, it seems churlish to single out just a few songs.  Nevertheless, Never Hear the End of It has “Everybody Wants You,” the lovely dreamy “Listen to the Radio,” the rock out “I Can’t Sleep,” and the wistful “Someone I Can be True With,” while Commonwealth has “You’ve Got a Lot on Your Mind,” “Cleopatra” (with a neat piano solo), and the imaginative “Carried Away” with its great harmonic changes.  And there were a few super stand-alone singles, like 2009’s “Get Out of Your Bed,” with its delightful overlapping vocals and topical lyrics like ‘help yourself to some of their wealth’.

Everybody Wants YouListen to the RadioCleopatraCarried AwayGet Out of Your Bed

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Sloan live in Toronto May 2016

So the bottom line is, believe the hype.  Sloan are a great big load of talent.  They exemplify the rock and roll form: four guys, all songwriters, all multi-instrumentalists, all dripping something authentic artistically, without the arrogance and pretention that often goes along with the package.  I’m really fascinated to see what they come up with next.

Find Sloan and all their music and tour dates online.