CD of the Day, 5/16/08: Pugwash-Eleven Modern Antiquities

This is a bit of me putting the horse behind the cart - you may recall the latest from Pugwash (a/k/a Thomas Walsh) was #8 on my first quarter best-of list before I had even mentioned it on this site. And Jollity, his previous release, was my #13 disc of 2005. Moreover, odds are if you're reading this blog you already know about this release. Nevertheless, it's so good it deserves a proper review. Eleven Modern Antiquities is a worthy followup to Jollity, and all of the things that made that disc great are present here, perhaps even more so. For example, Jollity had one track co-written with XTC's Andy Partridge; this one has two ("My Genius" and "At The Sea"). Fellow XTC member Dave Gregory is back to play on several tracks; Eric Matthews contributes flugelhorn on "At The Sea", and Nelson Bragg figures into just about every track as well. Plus Michael Penn shows up for a guitar solo on "Limerance". Power pop doesn't get any better than this on paper, and thankfully the songs are the equal of the luminaries on board. Standouts include "Take Me Away", for which I've helpfully appended a video at the end of this post (and on which Jason Falkner adds guitar); "Here", the kind of stately ballad that McCartney and Partridge (and now we can add Walsh) are so expert at; the poptastic "It's So Fine", and "Your Friend", Antiquities' answer to Jollity's Brian Wilson-influenced "It's Nice to be Nice". As I said in so many words about Jollity, XTC may be gone now, but as long as Walsh keeps putting out great discs like this, you won't miss a beat.

Not Lame | MySpace

CD of the Day, 5/13/08: Tim Lee 3-Good2b3

May is turning out to be roots-rock month here at Absolute Powerpop. On the heels of last week's featured Brewery Records releases, here's one of the leading lights of the subgenre, Mr. Tim Lee and his latest. Lee, one-half of the semi-legendary and criminally overlooked The Windbreakers (along with Bobby Sutliff), has carved out a distinguished solo career and here he's released Good2b3, his first full-length as the Tim Lee 3, a band comprised of Lee, his wife Susan Bauer Lee (who wrote and sings on many of the tracks), and Rodney C. Cash.

The melodic rocker "'Til The Roof Caves In" kicks off the proceedings and features a blistering guitar solo from Lee. "Saving Gracie" follows with a purer power pop sound, recalling The Smithereens and featuring a vocal turn from Mrs. Lee. Meanwhile, "Chronic Liar" is a Windbreakers-style jangler that she wrote, and if you look up "roots rock song" in the dictionary, "Mile-Long Midway" would (or at least should) be there, replete with its references to corn dogs and KISS T-shirts. I'd say Good2b3 is Good2pickup as well.

CD Baby | MySpace

Orchid Highway gets a US release tomorrow.

Rainbow Quartz has picked up last year's most excellent (#39 on the year-end list) Orchid Highway disc for US distribution and it hits the street tomorrow. What this means is that aside from being available from more outlets, it should also finally show up on eMusic, iTunes and all of the other online download sites. So if the import price scared you off last year, your moment is now here.

UPDATE: Here's the eMusic link for the disc. Also, eMu has added (and RQ has released) Now, the latest from Spanish psych-poppers The Gurus.

Friday Roundup.

The Brixton Riot-Sudden Fiction. Although the name might call to mind the classic Clash tune "Guns of Brixton", this New Jersey band's debut EP is more reminiscent of The Replacements and fellow Jerseyites The Smithereens. The former is definitely in influence on the opener "Battle of the Band", which recalls "Talent Show" and "Deal With the Devil" brings to mind "Can't Hardly Wait" (and by the way, here's a video of them covering that 'Mats classic in concert). Meanwhile, the insistent bassline of "The Single Life" is mod-rock for the new century, and "(There's) Something In The Air" is a midtempo number based on The Shining. Really good stuff, and here's looking forward to a full-length.

CD Baby | MySpace

Cinderpop-A Lesson In Science. This is the followup to this Vancouver band's fine 2005 debut, Their Skies Are Beautiful, and they have another indie pop success on their hands. Although you'll hear some Shins and Spoon in the music, they have a purer pop sensibility than most indie poppers; in fact they're more like a cross between the Shins and Sloan. Highlights include "Bumblebee", which marries a typical indie pop sound with a heavenly pop chorus; "Speechless", which has a touch of McCartney; and my personal favorite "Cinnamon Winter", about as pure as pop gets.

CD Baby | MySpace

Mikal Blue-Gold. Speaking of pure pop, here's Californian Mikal Gold with a disc that has an unabashedly 80's mainstream pop sound. There's a fine line between cheesy and sublime when you get into this subgenre of music, and like the Chris Murphy disc from a couple of years ago that I enjoyed, Mikal Blue manages to just stay on the right side of this divide with an assortment of tunes whose hooks will bury their way into your head. The title track is Exhibit A for this assertion, while "Heaven" and "Never Gonna Stay" make fine Exhibits B & C. And "Pepper" is an absolute pop gem with a nice touch of the Beatlesque.

Kool Kat | MySpace

Brewing up some good music.

Most of you are familiar with Walter Clevenger, perhaps the pre-eminent roots-rockin' power popper around these days, but many of you may now know he also has his own label, Brewery Records. Brewery puts out a few discs a year, but they're generally always winners, like 2006's Sugar Mountain and Tickets releases. Walter and Brewery are back now with two new releases from The General Store and Kingsizemaybe.

The General Store is Tam Johnstone, son of Elton John guitarist Davey Johnstone, and Local Honey, his debut 2002 disc on the Not Lame imprint, is one of the classics of the decade, especially if you're a fan of laid-back west coast country-inflected pop. Mountain Rescue, six years in the making, proves that Johnstone isn't suffering from the sophomore jinx. From the "Already Gone"-ish opener "Early Morning Fuzz" to the Jayhawks-like "Come Around" to the Brian Wilson-on-acid sound of "Girls From The Mall" to the rollicking "Desert Weathered Hiway", it's like getting the real new Eagles album without having to go to Wal-Mart and wading through 2 CDs of a mixed bag.

CD Baby | MySpace

The other new Brewery release is the self-titled debut of Kingsizemaybe. While The General Store has some country influence, Kingsizemaybe is closer to straight-up alt-country. The band is a bit of a supergroup, including ex-Continental Drifter Gary Eaton (who is the nominal frontman), and the ubiquitous Robbie Rist (the former TV child star turned power pop producer and session man). Highlights here include "The Treasure of Love", kind of like the Old 97s meet The Waco Brothers; the Band-influenced "Big Maybe", which could serve as their theme song; and the wonderful ballad "The Beautiful North", which reminds me of Reckless Kelly. No maybes about this one; while it may not be power pop, it's great listening if you like alt-country.

CD Baby | MySpace

Bryan Scary.

I'm tempted to merely say "what he said" and link to this fairly scathing review of Bryan Scary & The Shredding Tears' Flight of the Knife, which is in today's Pop Matters. That site has been generally sympathetic to power pop (unlike, ahem, this site), so I don't see the review as emblematic of any hostility to the genre on their part.

Now I wouldn't go so far as the reviewer and give it 3 out of 10, but he does hit on why I wasn't bowled over by the disc - it's just too damned busy. Listening to at times is like watching a Michael Bay movie after drinking 6 cups of coffee. I don't remember the exact quote from legendary rock critic Robert Christgau, but in essence he said that rap took songcraft and isolated its essential element, the hook, to the point where rap was all hook and no song. In a way Scary has done likewise here, taking the essential element of bands like Jellyfish, Queen et al (the quirk? the baroque? I'm not sure what exactly to call it) and elevated it over the songs themselves. Scary is a wonderfully talented musician and I'm just a guy with a computer, so keep that in mind here, but that's the way I see it (or more accurately, hear it).

CD of the Day, 5/6/08: Craig Marshall-Point of View

It's always good to see new releases from dependable power pop artists, and proof of that fact comes courtesy of none other than Craig Marshall, whose Popular Crimes and Before The Fadeaway established the Austinite as someone worth giving a listen. Now he's back with his third disc, Point of View, and fans of artists like Jim Boggia, Richard X. Heyman and fellow Texans Fastball will definitely want to give it a spin.

"Difficult" might be one of his best tracks yet. It's a hooky and melodic number as they go, and then around the two-minute mark we get a nice piano break and some Beatlesque harmonies before the chorus fadeout. Other standouts include the British Invasion-inspired "I Know What It's Like", the roots-rocking "When You Come Back Down", and the gorgeously melodic "Paper Cut", which almost sounds like a Brian Wilson version of Badfinger's "Day After Day". Also of note is "One Face In The Crowd", which is where the Fastball comparison comes in.

I'm already looking forward to album #4.

CD Baby | MySpace

Monday freebie.

We've always enjoyed Arthur Yoria around these parts, so I'm happy to report that he has a new single for free download at his site, titled "The Libyans". (Maybe it will settle how we spell Muammar's last name - is it al-Gadhafi, al-Khadafi, al-Qaddafi or something else entirely?).

Anyway, there's more. I'll turn the mic over to Arthur:

as you may already know, i'm going to be releasing a digital single every 2 weeks for the next 6 months starting may 4th, 2008. then i'm going to let you guys vote on the 10 tunes that will make up my new record.

Using my advanced mathematical ability, I figure 6 months=26 weeks, 26/2=13, so that means we'll have 13 tracks to consider. (Maybe 12 if he goes bimonthly rather than biweekly, or just quits after 12).