Good thing jangle isn’t a limited resource. In fact, you could say it can be renewed every time someone picks up a guitar and chooses the appropriate effects-pedal/amp. To that end, today’s bands dial up the reverb to re-up our supply.
On Out of Reach northwest English band West Coast Music Club continue to develop their sonic palette. Things start out strongly jangle with “Sick and Tired,” a cutting political statement that musically conjures echoes of The Who’s “The Kids Are Alright” and The Byrds doing “Mr. Tambourine Man.” Then “Out of Reach” combines transcendent harmony vocals with arpeggiated guitar work in a style that is so REM. Songs like “The Only One” change things up, striking a more Jake Bugg kind of sombre intensity. The album also collects together various singles from the past year, like the ethereal “There She Goes Again” and the jaunty Lou Reed-ish “Nobody Likes You.” The album turns more folk near the end with both “Home” and “Turning in Circles” opting for a more acoustic guitar staging.
Calling their new album #2 Record is one way Memphis power pop outfit Your Academy can signal they’re reviving a key local indie brand. And in so many ways this record does mark a strong resurrection of Big Star’s distinctive jangle vibe. “My Near Catastrophe” is a case in point it so resembles the original act in sound, tempo and hooks. But Your Academy are more than just Alex Chilton’s children. “Marilu” sounds like so many great contemporary bands working the harmony vocals/melodic rock and roll scene these days, like say The Maureens. At other points the Big Star style gets subtly modified, as when “Just a Little Out of Tune” appears to add a dose of Wings, or just harkens further back in time, as on the more Byrdsian “Wasting Time.” Personally, I hear more than little Moody Blues on this record, whether we’re talking the spot-on Justin Hayward vocal of “Miss Amphetamine,” the more power pop version of the Moodies on “(Not) Forever After All,” or that band’s over-the-top pastorally poetic inclinations on “B 612,” a tribute to the book The Little Prince. Other departures include the ambling Americana of “Greta” that features some snappy electric piano and distinctive harmony vocals. Then again, tracks like “When We Dream” just deliver the goods – relentless jangle.
Chicago’s The Boolevards have a sound that shifts between 1965 and 1978 on their new LP Real Pop Radio. Tracks like “On the Run” have that jaunty mid-sixties energy, still innocent of the heavier themes that would come later. “Last Night” even cheekily nicks the signature harmonica riff from “Love Me Do.” Then “If I Gave My Heart To You” and “Bittersweet” offer serious jangle from the Merseybeat playbook. But the other audio landscape marked out here is that poppy light rock that resurfaced in the mid-1970s as a precursor to various waves of indie to come. Here “It’s OK,” “Dance All Night,” and “Just Another Lousy Day” all have a compressed 1970s pre-New Wave sound. I really like how both “One More Chance” and “Out of Breath” use distinctive guitar tones to elevate the proceedings. “Get Out Tonight” even rocks things up a bit. With 16 tracks Real Pop Radio tirelessly barrels along song after song exuding positive poppy sentiments.
From the opening strums of “Hollowed Out,” the kick off track to the new Ducks Ltd. album Harm’s Way, you know you’ve dialed into something special. By the chorus you’ll be ready to get your fist-waving, pogo-dancing party shoes on. This is jangle pop with extra degree of intensity. Both “Cathedral City” and “The Main Thing” spit out lightening lead-guitar hooks with relentless precision. “Train Full of Gasoline” is a more even ride, though no less steely on impact. People compare this band to REM but I hear more of The Silencers or Grapes of Wrath, particular on cuts like “Deleted Scenes” and “Harm’s Way.” You’ll want to get out to see these boys live if they come to your town just so you can dance to the unstoppable beat of “On Our Way to the Rave.” The record does hit the brakes with its closing track “Heavy Bag,” giving acoustic guitar and mournful strings a look in. Harm’s Way is 28 minutes of quality jangle like no other, a 2024 must buy LP.
Jangle is both a tone and vibration and these bands have locked in on to both. Fill out your collection with the hyperlinked LPs above.
Photo courtesy Thomas Hawk Flikr collection.
2019 had plenty of jangle, hooks, harmonies and melody to spare. From an initial list of over 200 songs I’ve managed to whittle my should-be hit single list to just 50 chart toppers for this year. Man, it was hard. Because I only post music I like this whole exercise is a bit like choosing your favourite child. Well, IMHO, the 50 songs featured here all have a strong earwormy quality to them. But let me know if you agree or disagree! Hit the links below to find each artist as featured in my original blog post this past year.
The 1963-4 Beatles’ sound has become its own distinctive musical oeuvre, influencing bands around the world and across time. In the Merseybeat era, one could hear it from English bands like Gerry and Pacemakers and Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas or Americans like the Bobby Fuller Four, and many others. The late 1970s saw the sound revived by mocksters like The Rutles or in note-perfect tributes from Utopia on their Deface the Music. Then a host of new wave bands dug out their skinny ties and rediscovered the sound as the 1970s gave way to the eighties. Now it’s just a thing music-literate bands might do to show off their stylistic chops! Today’s post attends to that melodic Mersey sound, both old and new.
Poprock Record 