Today’s radio spin reveals surprises from some of our usual suspects. Gotta stay tuned in to get the full picture.

I like Tom Brown. I’ve reviewed his Teenage Tom Petties and Rural France records and they’re reliably good. But his new Lone Striker project is a revelation, a carefully calibrated artistic montage of ‘found sounds,’ loops and samples. And hooks galore, of course. Album opener “Blip One” is a Beck-like pop crawl of a number, shrouded with lone prairie ghostly background vocals. Then comes the early release single “Dunno,” which had me at the mournful horn section opener. There’s a beautiful melancholy hovering all over this tune. It’s a song that seems so simple at the start but builds an emotional intensity. By contrast “The Cavalry” has a New Pornographers feel where the rhythm guitar almost looms in the background, offset by what sounds like a toy keyboard lead line. It’s curious, despite an overall sonic consistency to the record the different cuts here conjure up different moods. “Funny Way of Showing It” is breezy acoustic pop fun, “Never Blown a Kiss” has a Mavericks vocal intensity, while “Cursed Like Roy” lopes along like a Magnetic Fields-meet-Buddy Holly tune. Sometimes the vibe is baked into the choice of instrumentation, like the mournful harmonica and whistling on “Pinnochio” or the pedal steel guitar on “Hurry Up, You’re Taking Forever,” making any song a perfectly sketched miniature of mood.

Ryan Allen returns to his roots on his latest record, channeling the influences that shaped his tastes growing up. To that end Livin’ On A Prayer On The Edge dials down his usual levels of crunch and distortion to favour melody. You can hear the difference on album opener “I Should (But I Don’t Really Wanna)” with guitars that sound like a more dissonant version of Teenage Fanclub. Then “Lost in a Daze” and “Anxious All the Time” have a more Fountains of Wayne intensity. Basically this record is like a tour of duty with poppy guitar bands (and I’m all for signing up). You can definitely hear a Big Star kickstart to “After I’m Dead,” or a hazy Oasis guitar shimmer on “Conspiracy Theory” or even the pull of Squeeze in “When I’m Gone.” Radio-ready should-be hit singles? I’m voting “Company Eyes” and “So What Who Cares.” These are catchy poppy gems. Then it’s a wrap with the lovely, Kevin Devine-ish “In The Next Life.”

On Love and Sacrifice Randy Klawon steps out from his sideman role with The Flashcubes and The Half-Cubes to take the spotlight, gathering together a host of singles he’s been releasing over the past few years. And it’s about time. The guy has the soul of a classic poppy rock and roller that can effortlessly traverse decades of influences. Opening cut “Love and Sacrifice” lands somewhere in the 1970s. “Marlo Maybe” is more early 1980s AM soft rock. By the time we get to “Little Miss Sunshine” Klawon is working the same timeless indie poprock seam as people like Ed Ryan. In other words, the song could have come out anytime in the last few decades. But there’s also a strong Beatles DNA stamped across the album too, prominent on tracks like “Ordinary Day” and “Tonight.” On the singles front “She’s More Than I Want” is pretty brilliant single-age, with its touch of the Searchers plus The La’s. “Even When She’s Wrong, She’s Right” and “Don’t Want To Play” are both effortless singalong pop, perfect for wafting from somebody’s transistor radio somewhere.

Keep me guessing, that what I say. And keep hitting those hotlinks to keep these guys in guitar picks.

Photo courtesy Aaron Brown Flikr collection.