Tag Archives: The James Clark Institute

Jangle all the way

15 Sunday Dec 2024

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Does anybody really know what Christmas is anymore? It’s a mixed-up, muddled-up kind of world out there with uncertainty lurking around every corner. We might as well embrace the ambiguity. To aid that effort we offer up our annual assortment of festive tunes, with an accent on hooks of course. Just hit play to jangle all the way.

To put us into an appropriately other-worldly frame of mind, check out the aliens’ perspective on The Old 97’s contribution to the Guardians of the Galaxy Holiday Special “I Don’t Know What Christmas Is (But Christmastime is Here).” Maybe they’ve got it all wrong but clearly they are having some serious fun. And it just can’t be Christmas here at Poprock Record without a return to the best holiday song shop on the interweb, Make Like Monkeys. Their latest seasonal album This Way to Christmas would perfectly accompany any wrapping-ripping frenzy on Christmas morning. Opening cut “Christmastime Is Everywhere Tonight” has a Michael Penn/Aimee Mann sheen to its melodic arc.

To get our holiday bearings, we might stop in for some traditional-ish seasonal song fare. Freedom Fry’s “Who’s That Walking On My Rooftop?” sounds so familiar, its theme and choice of instrumentation hitting all the right holiday notes. Stylistically it really reminds me of The Rosebuds and, well, Freedom Fry. For something even more traditional let’s stroll down the carols aisle with super janglers The Grip Weeds. Their take on “Hark the Herald Angels Sing” starts all church choir but hang in there because 30 seconds along the guitars kick in and its definitely ‘jangle all the way’ after that. 3 and Half Minutes or Less put me on to Dreams So Real and their jangleful holiday song “Red Lights (Merry Christmas).” It’s a killer tune and the inspiration for our theme this year. BTW you can’t get more trad at Xmas-time than a country tune so to meet that need Deerheart suitably country things up with their delightful “Sweetest Season.”

Dreams So Real “Red Lights (Merry Christmas)”

Despite the relentless promotional cheer of the season, not everyone can afford to be festive. The James Clarke Institute tell a tale of madcap holiday shopping desperation on “Orange Christmas” with  a Fountains of Wayne-like combo of lyrical cleverness and poprock punch. By contrast, Justin Kline infuses “Merry Christmas Katie” with a spare melody very much in the spirit of Elliott Smith. Ken Simpson’s “The Night We Saw Santa Claus” is something else again, more of a stark portrait of Christmas poverty, played with a suitably shambolic, underwhelming charm. Bringing up the mood we have The Smith Brothers’ power-poppy “Every Day is Like Christmas” declaring they only want their true love’s arrival as a present. The previous three tunes are all nicked from a variety of seasonally-themed collections put together by the Japan-based Powerpop Academy.

Rivaling a lack of money in the lousy Xmas sweepstakes is a lack of love. Yes, some people are getting heartbreak this yuletide season, again. Indie rock veteran Jean Caffeine makes feeling bad sound good on “Another Crying Christmas.” There’s a Chrissie Hynde-like no-nonsense kick to this tune, with a few well placed ‘bah bah bah’s and 12 string lead guitar. On “Here’s to the Lonely” Jared Lekites launches in with an enticing rumbly electric guitar, then adds some pace-setting piano shots amid a swirl of captivating vocals. Who can be down listening to this? Norway’s Sunturns are on Christmas III, yes that’s holiday album number 3. Song topics here range from turtleneck sweaters, new snow, and holiday social drama. “Back in Town” is warning someone that somebody named Klara is back in town and wants them to come around. Sounds holiday ominous. No Wayne are coming off the road and say as much on “This Christmas, I’m Coming Home” but whether that’s a good or bad thing is less unclear.

On the other hand, holidays are seldom all bad. The perennial family band The Cowsills resurfaced in 1990 with a nostalgic seasonal message on “Some Good Years” and a Fairlight synth-enhanced chipper demeanor. I almost included Helen Love and Ricardo Autobahn just for latter name alone but “And the Salvation Army Band Plays” tries to find a light amidst their struggles. Another poignant moment or two of yuletide sentiment can be found all over Ben Folds fabulous new Christmas album Sleigher. You want hope? “We Could Have This” is a duet (featuring Lindsey Craft) where two people wonder if they’re edging toward something special. My gut says yes. All we need now is something classy. I mean, it can’t be holiday glass-clinking time without a ballad cast in the 1950s American songbook style, preferably a duet in the “Baby It’s Cold Outside” mode. Luckily Graham Gouldman tucked one into his recent long-player I Have Notes entitled “A Christmas Affair” with Beth Nielson Chapman. Delightfully sing-along-able and just this side of naughty.

We draw this jangle-fest to a close with a piano rumination (surprisingly) from Gregory Pepper and his Problems. “A Nice Thought” cuts through the myths and materialism to put it out there – there’s no god and we’re all gonna die. So you might as well have a merry happy whatever. That’s our seasonal wish for you.

Photo ‘A Christmas delivery from Santa on the Death Star’ courtesy Kristina Alexanderson Flikr collection.

International Pop Overthrow: Toronto

29 Wednesday Nov 2023

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David Bash returned to Toronto recently to close out this season of his traveling live music roadshow, the International Pop Overthrow musical festival. It was the last stop on a set of 10 dates that had him jetting from Liverpool and Copenhagen to Los Angeles and New York City. The Toronto dates offered four shows over three days featuring 20 local-ish acts, all playing at The Painted Lady live music venue. And Poprock Record was there to provide a snapshot of what you missed.

Things kicked off with a solo set from Dublin’s Barry O’Brien, leader of Slumberjet. So IPO Toronto was not all Canadian content. Fans of XTC and Pugwash won’t go wrong with O’Brien’s brand of melodic tunes. Then local boys The James Clark Institute featured a few tunes from their new album Under the Lampshade from a paired down version of the group. The results were more acoustic Mersey than the finished product but no less delightful. When The Nines took the stage it was like some joyous reunion concert. The audience seemed primed for every tune and if the band had been parted for some time you’d never know it. Another band that made the most of just having two members in attendance was Telejet. They cranked through a half dozen tracks from this year’s Spiritual Age record and the effect was magic. That album is a load of great tunes. Night #1 of IPO ended with an actual reunion of Halifax legends Cool Blue Halo. Chatting with the band’s former manager, the story he told me was so textbook: band on the brink of success breaks up. Still, this night they played tunes from their 1996 debut Kangaroo and you’d swear they were today’s latest new thing.

Slumberjet – Why Do You

Day #2 of IPO Toronto opened with the inimitable Blair Packham. Man, can this guy weave a tale. His songs are hooky and touching and Packham can hold an audience in a spell like few performers can. “One Hit Wonder” is a brilliantly-staged story-song with a chorus that will have you singing along. Moving Clockwise, this band have been around for decades but their performance here seemed to distil their sound to its sixties British invasion roots. On record, I love the over-sized pop charm of “Lift a Finger” from their 2000 release Accidentally on Purpose. By contrast, Carmen Toth conjured up the no-nonsense, new wavey rock and roll bounce of early Pat Benatar or Chrissie Hynde. “Pretty Dresses” is a clever rumination balancing feminist critique with individual desire. But you could dip in anywhere on her recent LP Fix the World for equally good results. Hands down the rocking-est moment of IPO Toronto happened when The Wasagas took the stage. With matching t-shirts and guitars, the band blasted through a series of way-cool, seriously dance-able instrumental surf numbers. Windows fogged? Check. Day #3 was an afternoon, all-ages event. Standard Electric definitely offered up some family fun, complete with stickers and buttons. Don’t worry if you missed the party, you can hear on the band’s 2020 album Overnight Lows and Afternoon Highs.

Clockwise – Lift a Finger

David Bash operates with a big tent approach to the power pop genre, big enough to encompass jangle, roots, surf, singer-songwriter, art rock, retro and indie. If you were there at IPO Toronto you got to savor them all. But if you missed it, click on the hyperlinks above to get a taste of what was some great IPO action.

High octane hit-makers: The Cudas, Killer Crush, The James Clark Institute and Love, Burns

14 Monday Jun 2021

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Some acts really know how to hit the exhilaration pedal in their music. The songs just beg for movement, preferably pogoing in a friendly mosh-like environment. Today’s performers offer up a bevy of sizzling song excitement on their albums, EPs, and double A-sided singles.

I’ve been totally grooving on The Cudas’ early singles with their Ramones-meet-Cheap Trick retro vibe. But the band’s new extended play release Alien Vacation shows they are so much more. Sure, those early influences are still there, particularly on the Tommy and Rockets-ish opening track, “Autorama.” And yet there is something else, some decidely inventive melodic hooks and a great Fountains of Wayne synth solo. “I Don’t Want to Go Out” has a darker edge, reminding me of Rooney or The Cars at times. “My Summer Song” has the songwriting mark of a Adam Schlesinger or Rivers Cuomo. “Space Coast” goes a long way on its distinctive opening groove, only to explode melodically in the chorus. It would appear that The Cudas’ creative force Reinhard Leon van Biljon is slowly working us up to a full album release. If this EP is a snapshot I can’t wait to get the big picture.

Hard to get many details on Killer Crush. Apparently transatlantic friends for two decades, they decided to join forces for the first time on this self-titled debut project. The result is a mix of songs rooted in an acoustic guitar laden attack, straight up post-pub rock, or the melodic indie scene. “Wait” sounds like two jumbo Martins layered with some sweet harmony vocals. Or there’s a slight western tinge to the poppy melody carrying “The City.” The boys break out the electric guitars for “Street Lights” and “French Kiss” but not at the expense of the melodic hooks. “Plain and Simple” clips along with the feel of any early solo Nick Lowe deep cut while “My Love is Gone” vibes a more Rockpile/Dave Edmunds sound. “Maria” updates things to a more nineties indie pop theme. “Love Song” is the obvious single, with distinctive ‘ah ah’s and ‘who hoo hoo hoo’s. All in all, this is a killer debut, packed full of strong songwriting and subtle production choices. Definitely worthy of repeat listens.

Ok, you could be forgiven for mistaking the opening few bars of The James Clark Institute’s new album The Colour of Happy for something from Imperial Bedroom. The dynamic combination of organ and piano is clearly a brief homage. But quickly “Little Powder Keg” turns a hooky melodic corner seldom so openly embraced by EC himself. Instrumentally, the song is brilliant, riffing some jangle, The Who, and a host of other influences but with subtle restraint. And that quality is what you’ll come to expect all over this record. The songs are more than your usual poprock fare, embracing an ambitious songwriting tradition associated with Graham Parker, Joe Jackson and early John Hiatt. I mean, just give “Selfish Portrait” a listen and tell me JCI has not nailed the Aimee Mann/Michael Penn school of haunting-yet-still-jaunty tune-smithing. At other moments, tracks like “Blue in the Room” are just toe-tapping good hummers, in this instance with a very Ian Gomm delivery. Or there’s the killer jangle/organ combo driving “Better Than I Remember.” Other highlight here for me include “Should I Tell Her” and “Next Best Thing.” But this album is all good, a bevy of melodic delights, resting on some obviously strong influences but never just colouring within the lines.

With Love, Burns Phil Sutton of the Pale Lights charges out of the gate with a new project that is blistering in its intensity, anger, and damn good melodies. Both tracks on this double A-sided single are a knock out. “Wired Eyes” is like the Byrds pitched just a bit faster than you might expect, with a jangle run that will set your heart racing and lyrics that will move you to action. “Hard to Fall” has a guitar/organ interplay that also tugs on something deep inside, again, with a strong Bryds or International Submarine Band feel. The guitar solo here is also something special, such a perfect distillation of the song’s melody. This is what hit radio should sound like all the time.

There’s a spark in some music that just makes people want to move. Today’s high octane hit makers pull out all the stops to get you going, somewhere. So why not give them a visit? You can find The Cudas, Killer Crush, The James Clark Institute, and Love, Burns at their hyperlinked internet real estate.