Tag Archives: Sunken Planes

Poprock Record’s 25 must-have LPs for 2024

09 Thursday Jan 2025

Posted by in Poprock Themepark

≈ 6 Comments

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Another year, another load of really good albums. Creativity was off the charts in 2024, in both senses unfortunately. But banish despair, here at Poprock Record we make up our own charts, shining light on a deserving collection of should-be stars. Here’s our list of 25 must-have albums from the past year and, trust me, you’ll find plenty of variety within our self-imposed parameters of poppy rock. You’ve got jangle (Ducks Ltd.), gender (Day Dreams) and heartbreak (Tamar Berk). There’s retro (Terry Anderson), metro (Super 8) and fun (Scoopski). We’ve got artists singing in Spanish (Star Trip) and wide variety of accents from the British Isles (the list would be too long). And so much more.

The envelope please, here are Poprock Record’s 25 must have LPs from 2024:

1. Day Dreems Day Dreems
2. Tamar Berk Good Times For a Change
3. Brent Seavers Exhibit B
4. Wesley Fuller All Fuller, No Filler
5. Ducks Ltd. Harm’s Way
6. Aaron Pinto Aaron Pinto
7. Chris Milam Orchid South
8. The Martial Arts In There Like Swimwear
9. The Armoires Octoberland
10. Terry Anderson and the Olympic Ass-Kicking Team Got To Be Strong
11. Star Trip Velocidad
12. Bull Engines of Honey
13. Real Estate Daniel
14. Phil Thornalley Holly Would
15. The Trafalgars About Time
16. Super 8 Retro Metro
17. Be Like Pablo A World Apart
18. Nick Piunti and the Complicated Men Up and Out of It
19. Rich Arithmetic Pushbutton Romance
20. Owen Adamcik Owen Adamcik’s Power Pop Paradise
21. Steve Robinson Window Seat
22. Sergio Ceccanti Mysterious Journey
23. John Larson and the Silver Fields Constellation Prize
24. Scoopski Time is a Thief
25. David Woodard Get It Good

Day Ricardo’s Day Dreems project was groundbreaking in so many ways, lyrically touching on gender, the body, ADHD, oppressive nostalgia and more, while musically mashing up hints of Squeeze, Crowded House and the Beatles into their own distinctive voice. It’s a most worthy choice to sit at #1. But close behind Tamar Berk wowed us with yet another winning collection of introspective yet downright hooky numbers. Brent Seavers, now there’s a guy who knows how to pack an LP full of highly listenable tunes. I mean, he does it again and again. I could go on … and do in the original posts hyperlinked above.

The EP format continues to offer artists a creative outlet that falls somewhere between the noble single and a more herculean long-playing effort. True for some it may amount to little more than a glorified single with additional alternative versions, demos and live cuts (not that I’m complaining). But for others it’s a carefully curated musical statement in its own right. I think our cast of 6 must-have EPs from 2024 lean more in the latter direction:

1. Lo Fi Ho Hum Garage Pop
2. Cliff Hillis and Dennis Schocket Pop, Girls, Etc.
3. Sunken Planes Intersections
4. Shake Some Action! Trip to Yesterday / Chase the Light
5. The Genuine Fakes Extended Play Vol. 1
6. The High Elves Early Works

I deliberately leave legacy artists – i.e. those that gained conventional chart success and still benefit from that or have a major label sponsor – off my yearly lists. They don’t really need any push from me. But I do love a lot of those acts and it is great to see them still putting out solid creative works. So here’s a legacy artist shout out to some notable releases in 2024:

1. JD McPherson Nite Owls
2. The Decemberists As It Ever Was, So It Will Be Again
3. Fastball Sonic Ranch
4. Cast Love is the Call
5. Crowded House Gravity Stairs
6. Nick Lowe and Los  Straitjackets Indoor Safari

I’m a non-recovering Beatlemaniac, it’s true. I’m always on the lookout for some fun and creative riffs on the Fabs. This year Nick Frater blew away the competition with the further development of his Rutles project, a riff on a riff on the Beatles. So meta! Thus our best riff on the Beatles this year is:

Nick Frater Nick Frater presents The Rebutles 1967-70

Last year I singled out The Flashcubes for their amazing Pop Masters album. It was one where they covered a host of new wave era classics with members of the original bands. This year their spin-off band The Half Cubes produced their own version of that project with equally impressive results. You see where this is going. This year’s special award of awesome poprock merit goes to:

The Half-Cubes Pop Treasures

As I wrote in the original review, “Pop Treasures is a monster of a collection” that is ‘lovingly relentless’ in its coverage of 1970s and 1980s hit-makers and indie darlings. It’s a hits package worthy of K-Tel, and that is high praise coming from someone who lived through the seventies. So many great songs here, including our #1 most inventive cover for 2024 “Make You Cry.” Treat yourself, this is a guaranteed good time.

Album fans, the form is in safe hands if the releases from this past year are anything to go by. Sure the kids may not be into them the way their 1960s through 1990s peers were but they’ll have something to dip into when they get older.

Photo of John Baldessari’s art piece ‘Record Collector’ courtesy Thomas Hawk Flikr collection.

Poprock Record’s should-be hit singles for 2024

04 Saturday Jan 2025

Posted by in Should be a Hit Single

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Time to rev up our annual Poprock Record should-be hit singles list of songs we’ve featured at some point during 2024. Let’s be honest up front, we barely scratched the surface of all that was going on out there music-wise, even within the confines of our own narrowly defined genre (what I’ve been calling poppy rock). As I peek at the lists of other melodic rock taste-makers I see loads of great acts I somehow missed out on. Oh well. There’s only so much needle-dropping your scribe can do. From what we did manage to cover I just want to take this space to remind you of some stand-out tracks. So today we single out 50 should-be hit singles from 2024, songs that deserve another shot at chart glory. Click on the hyperlinks to hear each of the songs and read the original write ups.

Drumroll please, here are Poprock Record’s top 50 should-be hit singles from 2024:

1. Wons Phreely “The Faithful Heart”
2. Real Estate “Water Underground”
3. Used “Morning Sun”
4. Lo Fi Ho Hum “Never Been in Love”
5. Tamar Berk “Good Impression”
6. Frank Royster “Someday”
7. Wifey “Mary Ann Leaves the Band”
8. Peter Freebairn “I Got Lucky (I Got You)”
9. Mo Troper “A Piece of You Broken Through My Heart”
10. The Well Wishers “Good Side”
11. Blitzen Trapper “Hello Hallelujah”
12. Chime School “Wandering Song”
13. Strange Neighbors “Tell All Your Friends”
14. Steven Wright-Mark “Summer Sky”
15. Brent Seavers “Till It’s Over”
16. Ducks Ltd. “The Main Thing”
17. HOA “Push Man”
18. Dom Mariani “Jangleland”
19. Randy Klawon “She’s More Than I Want”
20. Kenny Michaels “Must Be This New Love of Mine”
21. Laughing “Bruised”
22. Cal Rifkin “Big Star”
23. Stephen Schijns “Carry On (The Way It Has To Be)”
24. 2nd Grade “Live From Missile Command”
25. Love Burns “What To Do About Us”
26. The Fatal Flaw “Stop Pushing Me Away”
27. Marc Jonson “November Paintbrush”
28. Sunken Planes “There’s a World”
29. Pale Lights “Twisting the Knife”
30. Paul Collins “In Another World”
31. The Rockyts “Without You”
32. Ward White “Our Town”
33. The Cynz “Crow Haired Boys”
34. Sad About Girls “She’s Not Here”
35. David Woodard “The Last of the Full Grown Men”
36. The Reflectors “Supernova”
37. Mark Alan Lofgren “Ne’er Do Wells”
38. The Dreambots “Tightrope”
39. Ethan Beck and the Charlie Browns “Does This Bus Stop at Douglas Street”
40. The Newds “God of Small Things”
41. Motorists “Phone Booth in the Desert of the Mind”
42. Neon Bone “Don’t Fall in Love With Her”
43. SidePlay “Hit the Road Mac”
44. Caddy “In a Heartbeat”
45. Glenn Erb “Dashboard Jesus”
46. Brother Dynamite “The Girl’s in Love”
47. Pony “Freezer”
48. Jupiter Motel “Playing with Ghosts”
49. Newski “Banking On Never Breaking Down Again”
50. Teenage Tom Petties “She Kissed Me in Seattle”

Music blogger extraordinaire Eclectic Music Lover put me on to Won Phreely’s captivating single and I was hooked. Both Real Estate and Used struck me as mining that elegant Shins brand of manicured poprock. Lo Fi Ho Hum grabbed my attention with his quirky, amusing video but his melody lingered long after. Tamar Berk just goes from strength to strength in her songwriting and you can hear it here. I could go on. This is a list bursting with jangle and heartbreak – and hooks, of course.

Next up, Poprock Record’s most inventive covers from 2023:

1. The Half-Cubes “Make You Cry”
2. Mattiel & Troy Stains “Somebody’s Knocking”
3. Super Ratones “Troubled Times”

The covers just keep on coming and I’m fine with that. Poprock veterans The Half Cubes gave us a double album of carefully curated pop hits from the past but it was their cover of The Sighs’ signature song that really floored me. Georgia’s Mattiel could sing the phone book and keep most people happy but her cover of Terri Gibbs’ 1981 hit is nothing short of transformative. Then there’s Super Ratones doing Fountains of Wayne. Lovely and timely.

It’s been a tough year. It’s been a year full of great songs. We’ll certainly need more of the latter in the days ahead and Poprock Record with be there to bring you more should-be hits. So click on the links above to remind yourself how good 2024 was and make sure to visit the artists and wave a little cash in their direction.

Photo courtesy of Sunsju Flikr collection.

Prepare for take-off: Sunken Planes, On the Runway, and The Speed of Sound

20 Monday May 2024

Posted by in Poprock Themepark

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, ,

As a metaphor, flight is pretty self-explanatory. To say things ‘take flight’ or end up ‘grounded’ lets the reader know where things stand fairly quickly. Today’s post sees three bands chart distinctive flight paths but you’ve got to listen carefully to see where each goes.

Sunken Planes have got an early REM vibe animating the tight collection of songs on their Intersections EP. You can definitely hear it on “Two Trains” and “The Ghost of Jennifer Bradley.” Should-be hit single “There’s a World” spreads the sonic influences a big further, over a host of other college bands from that decade. Then “Constellation Light” initially strikes a different mood before resolving into the band’s signature, self-described ‘jangle-shoe gaze’ sound. The most serious outlier on the record is “Doppelganger” with its almost jazzy chords and lead guitar lines and distinctive harmony vocals in the chorus. My only complaint here is that everything ends too soon, given the brevity of this EP’s five songs – start to finish barely cracks a quarter hour. A debut long-player can’t come fast enough for me.

With a name like On the Runway you might expect a sense of urgency from this band. But the songs on Tell Yourself It’s Pretty mostly vibe a pretty mellow jangle. Some are very early 1980s soft rock, like the atmospheric “Set For Life” and “Stuck On You.” Others have a more 1970s Fleetwood Mac feel – here “Loser Of The Year” comes to mind. Then you have tracks like “Consolation Prize” that exude a sombre intensity, even as they throw out some solid melodic hooks. For singles material I would nominate the guitar-driven “This Charade” and the almost anthemic “This Will Be Your Year.” The material on this alum is really something meant to heard on an AM transistor radio. For a study in tempo contrasts, check out how things really slow down on “House Is Not A Home,” a quiet pop song that is almost whispered but enlivened by ringing guitar tone, while “Bring Yourself Down” picks up speed right as the album ends.

Talk about an aptly named album. The Speed of Sound’s new LP A Cornucopia: Minerva really is buffet-style serving of multiple musical styles. There’s a bit of Bo Diddley boogie, Velvet Underground swagger, and 60s melodious beat – and that’s just the first three cuts. John Armstrong and Ann-Marie Crowley share vocals duties in a creative tension on nearly all the songs, the former pulling in an Anglo-Lou Reed direction, the latter evoking an Alison Moyet pop confidence. With 14 songs here there’s plenty to choose from in terms of highlights. Personally, I’m drawn the straightforward poprock efficiency of “Clickbait” with its slight snarl. “Yet Another Tuesday” sounds like a punked up Monkees to me. However, my fave is undoubtedly “Question Time.” I love the multiple guitar hooks as well as the spot-on lyrical sentiment.

https://youtube.com/watch?v=2g1JlCuKZso%3Fsi%3DJP-yRTqhHkkoFEH6

You won’t need a boarding pass to access these high flyers. Just click the hyperlinks to get airborne.

Photo courtesy Swizzle Studios.

Life at 45rpm I

17 Thursday Aug 2023

Posted by in Poprock Themepark

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Living life at 45rpm makes for a fast-paced and ever-changing existence. Brace yourself for the first of two installments, 21 tracks at a time.

We’re going to ease you in to this installment of our singles variety pack with the low-key lush acoustic rush of 22 Oceans. They normally lean in a more electronic direction but “Country Home” is a Fleetwood Mac kind of Americana, riding a wave of up-front acoustic guitars and an oh-so-good blend of harmony vocals. Scoopski are a Philly couple that have been cranking out the singles this year. I was going to write about “Seasonal,” a solid bit of melodic melodrama, but then they came out with a super contribution to an innovative project entitled Short Music for Even Shorter Attention Spans. “30 Seconds (I Love You)” is indeed half a minute long, reminding me a bit of George Harrison’s “Piggies” with some ELO tagged at the end. Heck, you might as well check out the whole album. It’s free and you can run through its 17 contributions in just eight minutes. Melbourne Australia’s Cold Irons Bound nail the scruffy Americana sound of the US midwest on their recent album No Place I Can’t Find You. I’m particularly fond of “Book Some Weekend Time” which sounds like a Cerny Brothers deep cut. Check out the lively lead guitar line that opens Sunken Planes new single “There’s a World.” They describe themselves as a ‘jangle-gaze power trio’ and the power part definitely kicks in on the chorus. The Mike Jacoby Electric Trio managed to make a lot of noise on “The Calm Before the Storm” from their new album The Long Haul. There’s a Dwight Yoakam/Steve Earle countryfied rock and roll sound all over the record but this particular song has something extra, a propulsive drive, subtle hooks, and some Eagles-worthy harmony vocals in the chorus.

The Parallax Project are practically an indie supergroup with participation from members of The Split Squad, Minus 5, and the Junior League. Autologous is their first album of original tunes in 14 years but they don’t miss a beat. Hard to choose just one featured tune. “Mary Houdini” is a delightful poppy swinging number that sounds like a mid-1980s Athens 45 while “You Were Never Here” has a more country twang. Power pop legends The Flashcubes have got a winning project going with their new Pop Masters album where they record classic song covers with the bands that made them famous. Get a load of the heavenly collab with The Spongetones on their fab-tastic “Have You Ever Been Torn Apart?” From the “Hard Days Night” opening chord to the omnipresent jangly guitars to the shiver-inducing harmony vocals, this is the stuff of poprock dreams. With “Don’t Go for the Money” Dan Kibler comes out swinging on his new album Idiomatic, exuding a Michael Hutchence or Tommy Tutone swagger with just a touch of Beatles 65 in the verses. I’m also partial to the stunning “Mystery Girl,” such a perfect two minutes of pop song-writing. The Kind Hills are truly an international band, with members located in the US, UK, Hong Kong, Switzerland and Australia. Their self-described brand of ‘slacker indie pop’ is mellow and meditative for most of their debut LP Clusterluck. Except for “Let Youth Take Over.” Here the band get almost anthemic with a slow-burning ‘sneak up on you’ ear-worm. Imagine Vashti Bunyan leading Chumbawumba and you sort of get where this is going. Caper Clowns lead vocalist Rick Kingo has gone solo with his new EP The Truth, The Lies, The Lot, unleashing various shades of soft rock. But it is the opening cut, “Confident in Time,” that really stands out for me. Accompanied by a McCartney-esque acoustic guitar, Kingo unleashes his inner Neil Finn to good effect. And anyone who can fit the word ‘paradigm’ into a song without sounding awkward deserves an award.

Dan Kibler – Mystery Girl
Rick Kingo – Confident in Time

If Springsteen did grunge it might sound a little like Vancouver’s Slip-Ons. Title track of their new EP Heavy Machinery will give you the gist of their sibilant, psych-rock sound. And what a joy it is. Now depending on when you read this post it may or may not actually be Bandcamp Friday. No matter, whether it is or isn’t I think we can all agree it deserves a theme song. Cue those perennial pop-punkers Vista Blue with “Bandcamp Friday is Here,” winning hearts 15 cents at a time. I wrote about New Jersey’s Sad About Girls once before and they were too polite to correct me when I miswrote their name as simply Sad Girls. Their fab new song is excuse enough to make amends. “Lonely One” delightfully channels a load of Merseybeat riffs and verse/chorus transition turnarounds but with a “That Thing You Do” freshness. Richard Turgeon is like money in the power pop bank. His new single “Friend Zone” is more of his reliable brand of melodic rock and roll. The lead guitar opening riff has a seventies Fleetwood Mac tone while his vocals pull between dissonance and rich harmony. Certainly suitable for summer beach playlists. Another utterly reliable power-pop singles factory can be found in Birmingham Alabama. Lolas have been releasing a single every few months now and they never fail to grab me. “Jacqui” has got a host of classic rock and roll motifs going on but somehow they come together in a unique way. The verses remind me of Abba’s “Does Your Mother Know” while the chorus hits the pop boogie marks of The Sweet.

Burlington Ontario’s big bold sound is presently coming from The Penske File. Their new long-player Half Glow is hard to peg stylistically, with a bit of four on the floor sing-along stomping and a whole lot of rock and roll heart. I’d dip in with the single-worthy “Chorus Girl.” This is a track that shimmers and lurches along with a sonic intensity that seldom lets up. In the early 1980s Milwauki’s The Shivvers were an up and coming outfit sporting vintage guitar sounds and vocals that melded Debbie Harry and Chrissie Hynde. But then they folded. Fast forward and today they’ve got a dynamite new song “My Love Calling” that sounds like a peak form Pretenders single. The musical build up in the song is inspired, from the jangle guitar to piano riffs to the tension between the main and background vocals. Another band mining the that killer early 1980s rock sound are Worriers. The title track from their upcoming LP Trust My Gut combines an eighties sonic ambience with a Bleachers pop polish in various key moments of the song. Meanwhile Lauren Denitzio’s vocals pull everything together in a tight poprock package. The Make Three bring together members of the Brixton Riot and The Anderson Council to make music they describe as ‘more power, less pop.’ The album is You, Me, and The Make Three and it has got some rock muscle behind it, but with a pop flavour you’d associate with the likes of The Smithereens or The Lemonheads. Whet your whistle with “Emily Strange” to get a sense of what they’re all about. Toronto’s Vicky von Vicky are a new outfit with, as far as I can tell, just two songs out. “Jealousy” is straight up melodic rock, full of chunky guitar chords and a simple chorus that really hooks you in. More please.

The Shivvers – My Love Calling

We wrap things up on this session of Life at 45rmp with the latest single from South Korean band Say Sue Me. “Mind is Light” is bit more shoe-gazey than some of the group’s previous releases, floating along over a pleasant guitar buzz that is regularly punctuated by other sonic interventions. Things do get a bit psychedelic at times.

21 down, 21 to go. Stay tuned for part II of Life at 45rpm, coming soon.

Photo courtesy Simon Collison Flikr collection.