eMusic Adds.

Quite the flood of released added today to eMusic (900+). Here are the highlights for power poppers, with a quick one sentence description. All are worth checking out.

Adam Marsland-You Don't Know Me. Acerbic singer-songwriter piano pop.

Bill Ricchini-Tonight I Burn Brightly. What a David Mead/Joe Pernice collaboration might sound like.

Luke Temple-Hold a Match for a Gasoline World. "A very cool mellow, early 70`s styled release that reminds us equally of Paul Simon/Simon & Garfunkel, Donovan, Elliot Smith, Colin Blunstone, acoustic Marc Bolan and Jeff Buckley." - Not Lame.

Man of the Year-A New and Greater Tokyo. Another fine Portland band (cf. Derby) that melds britpop and power pop.

Spiraling-Transmitter. High energy power pop/rock that's kind of like Ben Folds meets the Foo Fighters.

The Cloud Room-The Cloud Room. If you were plugged into the music scene last year, you probably remember their big hit "Hey Now Now".

The Handsome Charlies-Gentlemen Never Tell. Aussies out of Austin (TX), making uptempo pop music that's equal parts Radiohead, XTC and the Pixies.

The Imprints-Sounds of the Aftermath. Indie pop - the Posies meet YHF-era Wilco. And yes, they're from Portland too (I'd like to know what's in the water over there).

CD of the Day, 3/11/06: Truman Falls-Little Happyhells

I normally don't reach back this far for the CD of the Day, but I have to make an exception here. I only discovered Truman Falls last year when I picked up the International Pop Overthrow 8 compilation (a great deal at 3 cds for $16 by the way), and heard their absolutely outstanding track "Last Man on the Moon". It was so good I had to pick up the 2003 full-length, Little Happyhells.

Although Truman Falls is billed as a band, it's really the vehicle for singer/songwriter Simon Rea, who hails from the Isle of Man in England. What you get here is quality singer/songwriter pop, and it's no accident that Josh Rouse has Truman Falls opening for him on his current UK tour. This will appeal to fans of Rouse, David Mead and Joe Kennedy, among others. After a brief intro, Rea gets right down to business with the title track, a breezy number. BBC2's Bob Harris likens him to the lovechild of Burt Bacharach and Harry Nilsson, and he's spot on (as the Brits would say) with this comparison. Other highlights include the Rouse-like "My Beautiful Mistake" and "Buttermouth", the Paul Simonesque "Paper Ann", and of course "Last Man on the Moon", one of those songs that I could listen to on a continuous loop and not tire of. And you can listen to it here, as I've made it my Song of the Day.

Stream 'em at their myspace page, and you can sample them here and here, where you can buy it as well.

New at Not Lame, 3/10/06.

Some interesting new developments at Not Lame today. Before I go into the featured releases, they're offering streaming (and special pre-order deals) for two new releases the power pop community has been looking forward to. First is the Matthew Sweet/Susanna Hoffs covers album, Under The Covers Vol. 1. They have a special pre-order deal here (with autographed booklet), and you can stream it here in its entirety:

Under The Covers Vol. 1

And the other big release is the new solo disc from Jon Auer of the Posies, titled Songs From The Year of Our Demise. The pre-order deal (with a bonus cd of live tracks) is here, and the full-length stream is here:

Songs From The Year of Our Demise

Good stuff. I'm going to have the give the Auer a listen over the weekend.

On to the featured releases. There's a familiar look here with a couple of them: First off, is Stuart Valentine's Melody's True, which was our CD of the Day a few weeks ago. (Note the different album cover on the Not Lame page). Also featured is the new Warren Zanes, which hits the streets Tuesday, and which I've discussed on several occasions. I think only Supraluxe has received more namedrops on this blog than Zanes has. There are also a couple of the new Cheap Trick reissues featured as well.

* As for the stuff that's both new and new to being mentioned on this blog, we start with latest from The Animators, How We Fight. The Animators are not the typical band, incorporating accordion, glockenspiel, and cajon into the mix. As Bruce puts it, "it`s pretty much impossible to say 'Hey, The Animators sound like "XXX" band(s)'", but they do manage to retain a somewhat conventional sound despite some of the unusual instrumentation. The opening track, "Good to Be Here", for one is damn impressive.

They have four songs from the new one streaming at their myspace page, and further samples can be found at the cd baby page for the album.

* Next up is the Norwegian band CoStar and their 2004 release Keep It Light. I've had this one for over a year myself, but I haven't listened in a long time. In situations like this, I use the iPod test: if it's still on my iPod it must be good, because I have all 60 gigs filled and I'm now at the point where I'm deleting to add new stuff. Bruce namedrops The Posies, Elbow, Manic Street Preachers and Oasis, and from listening to some of it again I have to say he's in the ballpark.

You can download 4 mp3s (if you have your browser set to "save to disk" on mp3 links) from the album at their site. The rest can be sampled at cd baby. They actually have a new album soon to be released, titled Fix, and their myspace page is streaming tracks from that album.

* Finally, we have Chuck Maiden's Adobe. There's no truth to the rumor that the liner notes only come in a .pdf file, and I don't think Maiden's an acrobat. Bad software humor aside, Adobe sounds like the kind of singer-songwriter pop that I have a penchant for, with the names of Penn, Finn and Petty thrown about. I missed this one when it came out last summer, so I'm glad Bruce & Co. have found it.

It's also available on eMusic here, where you can get the 30-second sample blitz. And it appears you can stream the whole thing at his site in the media player right at the bottom.

eMusic Miscellany.

First off, I neglected to mention in yesterday's Brokedown piece that The Dutchman's Gold is available via eMusic.

And the rollout continues for The Waxwings, as their second album, 2003's Shadows of the Waxwings, was added this morning.

CD of the Day, 3/10/06: Red Guitar-Beauty Will Save The World

It's time for some power pop and roots rock straight from the heartland of America - Mission, Kansas, the home of Red Guitar. Their brand new release Beauty Will Save The World is turning out to be one of the more enjoyable releases of this barely 2 1/2-month-old year.

Red Guitar seems to be an amalgam of The Jayhawks, The Gin Blossoms, Matthew Sweet and a slower, midtempo Weezer (i.e., "Island In The Sun"). There really isn't a bad track on this album, which came to my attention during a recent wade-through of cd baby releases. Things start off smashingly with "V-Day", which has a bit of "With or Without You" U2 behind the verses, but the chorus is pure power pop. The title track follows with a more modern sound, kind of like Millicent Friendly, for those familiar with that fine 2005 release. "Leave It In Another Day" is a slight bit slower, but with a punchy, anthemic chorus, and "The Sting" is where the "midtempo Weezer" sound is most apparent. And the ones I'm not singling out aren't slouches either; most of the remaining tracks have memorable chourses at the least. Discoveries like these are what make the CD Baby listening marathons worth undertaking.

You can stream the title track and "Leave It In Another Day" at their myspace page, and sample the rest (and buy) at CD Baby. The two-minute samples should be enough to hook you, as they hooked me. If you go to their official site, you won't hear anything from their new album, but you can stream their first album, 2003's Based on a Blue Story, which from my brief sampling sounds pretty good as well.

New Brokedown track on MySpace.

One of my favorite EPs of 2005 (or does 7 songs constitute a mini-album?) was The Dutchman's Gold, the debut from LA band The Brokedown. Although a lot of bands have both power pop and alt-country influences, they managed to create a fairly unique sound of their own that draws from the best of both. They cite Big Star, ELO, The Byrds, Rolling Stones, Wilco, Flying Burrito Bros. as influences, with good reason.

And now they've just put a new track on their myspace page, titled "Baby On My Arm", which sounds just as nice (despite the rough demo mix) as the tracks on The Dutchman's Gold. Listening to it as I type, I'm reminded of "nothingsevergonnastandinmyway(again)" from Wilco's Summerteeth. Do yourself a favor and check out the new one over there, as well as three that are streaming from the EP. Or just grab one or both of these mp3s courtesy of their official site:

Down In The Valley
Sparks

Don't miss out on these guys.

CD of the Day, 3/9/06: Chris Staig-Davenport

Having just (re)touted Warren Zanes' Memory Girls, it's kind of fitting that I've selected Chris Staig's Davenport as today's featured disc. Staig, from Toronto, has a very similar sound to Zanes, both vocally and stylistically.

Davenport features a winning combination of power pop, roots rock and singer/songwriter pop. There are also hints of Neil Young and John Lennon as well as Grandaddy's Jason Lytle. Things start off in fine fashion with Staig pleading for a "Rock'n'Roll Holiday", as it's "time to blow up my television/can't make shopping my new religion"; in the next track Staig sings of how he "Fell Off The Wagon", an ode to getting plastered. "All I Need Is You" is a catchy rocker in the vein of the Ike Reilly disc I raved about yesterday, and "Another Year" almost heads into the Rockpile territory mined so well by Terry Anderson (he of the Olympic Ass-Kickin' Team).

He has three tracks from Davenport streaming at his myspace page, and others can be sampled at cd baby, which is of course the best place to pick it up.

My #1 CD of 2003: Warren Zanes-Memory Girls

See here.

Odds & Ends.

A couple of bits of news worth sharing:

* Buva is almost ready to release its first full-length album, All This Humming, next month. Some of you may remember their 2004 EP Daydream, which was well-received upon its release. If you haven't heard Daydream, you can stream it here (click on "media"). And now three tracks from the new one are streaming at Buva's myspace page. I'm enjoying them - very good soft pop, kind of like Matthew Sweet's mellower tunes.

* Ranchero, the debut album from Park Police that came out last year, is available on eMusic as of this morning. Read more about this release here and here. You can stream four tracks here. I give this one a thumbs-up as well.

CD (EP) of the Day, 3/8/06: Kit Ashton-Blindsided

It's not every artist who has the blessing of Paul McCartney. “Brilliant. Great stuff – really beautiful songs,” McCartney said of Kit Ashton after jamming with him at the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts, where Ashton was a student. He's just released his debut EP, Blindsided, and Macca may be on to something here.

Ashton definitely has the British pop sound down on Blindsided. While opener "You You You" is a quality tune, things really take a step forward with "Take The Strain", which sounds like The 88 by way of Parallax Project, with a bit of Jellyfish thrown in. "Fantastic" is just that, with some Robbie Williams/Supergrass influences to go along with the Jellyfish sound. All in all, a promising debut.

You can stream "You You You", "Take The Strain" and "Indian Stone Blues" at his myspace page, and sample "Fantastic" and "Don't Beat Yourself Up" at the cd baby link.

New at Not Lame, 3/7/06.

First off, they're featuring a couple of releases we've already discussed here: John Carrillo's Von Karma, which was our CD of the Day about three weeks ago, and the new Frank Lee Sprague, in our Kool Kat post last week. As for the rest:

Ross Rice-Dwight. Bruce gives this one an "extremely highly recommended", although it didn't do much for me (I recall passing on this one when it appeared on cd baby). But decide for yourself which one of us is right: Rice has four tracks from the album streaming at his myspace page, which should give you a good idea. And the rest can be sampled at the cd baby page I linked in the parenthetical.
By the way, Rice has some miscellaneous mp3s at his site, including his cover of ELO's "Evil Woman", although none are from the album.

The Confusions-5 AM. I have this one and have given it a few spins. It's pretty good, definitely more power than pop, although there's plenty of both here. The first five tracks or so are kind of garagey, with dirty guitars and driving beats. Things mellow a bit on the first single "Don't Let The World Catch You Crying" (a nod to Gerry & The Pacemakers?), which sounds like late 90s Stereophonics, and on the title track. And no, "How Do You Sleep?" is not a remake of the infamous Lennon tune that ripped McCartney; instead it's a pretty decent poppy number reminiscent of Del Amitri. I'll concur with Bruce's "Extremely Highly Recommended" on this one. Sample their wares at myspace and at the Not Lame link.

The Miniatures-Coma Kid. Wow. This one really sounds good. It's actually from 2004, but I guess it got by us all until now. The Miniatures are a band from Ontario, and this release sounds like it covers all the power pop bases. Bruce's description is pretty much spot on, so click on the link to get some comparisons. Head over to their site right now and select the "click here for mp3 player" link, where you'll hear streams of four excellent tracks. You can also stream an additional two tracks at their myspace page, and sample a couple more at the cdbaby page for this one. These guys rock!

MySpace tracks up for Warren Zanes.

I've mentioned Warren Zanes' upcoming release (due next Tuesday) People That I'm Wrong For a couple of times on here before, so I thought I'd note that he's just put three tracks from the album on his myspace page: "Jr's Bag of Tricks" (a great track that I made available earlier, "Ella's Arms", which was streaming at his site, and "Fool The Moon", which hasn't been previously available and sounds like a nice ballad as I listen to it as I type this. Looking foward to next week. I feel pretty confident that this will also be available on eMusic next week as well, since they carry Dualtone releases.

My #1 Album of 2004: The Ike Reilly Assassination-Sparkle In The Finish

Now that I've dispensed with the top 20 of 2005, it's time for a new recurring feature: My favorite albums of recent years. Off the top of my head, I can go back to 1997, so I'll go at least that far back. Without further ado, here's the 2004 installment.


Wayne Bledsoe of the Knoxville (TN) News wrote this about the Ike Reilly Assassination's Sparkle In The Finish, and I'd swear he was channeling my thoughts:

"Every once in a while, an album comes out of nowhere from someone you've never heard of and becomes your favorite album of the year. "Sparkle in the Finish," the second disc by Libertyville, Ill., native Ike Reilly is exactly that kind of record. Reilly's combination of power pop, Americana and even white-boy hipster rap is irresistible."

Sparkle In The Finish indeed became my favorite album of 2004, and it's a real tour de force. Reilly is an incredibly inventive lyricist, and if he were 20 years younger and black (or even remained white, I suppose), he'd likely be one of the biggest rap stars today. Instead, his gift of verbal facility is used in service of some great power pop and rock songs, with one exception: the rapping "I Don't Want What You Got (Goin' On)", in which Reilly namedrops Chuck Berry, Ludacris and Jerry Lee Lewis over a Beck-like beat and it somehow works. While its verses are rapped, the chorus is killer guitar rock.

And then the power pop kicks in. "Holiday in NY" finds Reilly unable to please his woman and lamenting his buddy's drug addiction (a theme that found its way to his also lyrically clever, but less musically enjoyable, 2005 followup Junkie Faithful) and "Whatever Happened To Girl In Me?" rocks with abandon.

But the real highlights of the album come about midway back-to-back: "The Boat Song (We're Getting Loaded)" is Reilly's kiss-off to all of those who he's found annoying, including himself ("The Willy Lomans of rock'n'roll") atop a great melody. The lyrics can be found here. And then there's the excellent "Garbage Day", in which Reilly meets a girl at a protest outside of an execution and ends up dumping her at "a strip joint in the basement of a transient hotel", set to a sing-along chorus.

Things do trail off a bit after that, with some good but not great tracks thereafter, but the highs on this one are so high that they blew away any shortcomings the rest may have had. Reilly is a true talent, even if he's past the prime age for music stardom.

With this album not being Reilly's latest release, it's not easy finding promotional streams and mp3s. You can stream "I Don't Want What You Got (Goin' On)" from his site, but unfortunately the stream for "Garbage Day", while listed, appears to be disabled. The only myspace page for him is a fan-created one that doesn't stream any tracks. 30-second samples of all the tracks can be found at CD Universe. You can pick it up for as little as $4.79 at the Amazon marketplace, and it is available via iTunes.

In closing I have to quote this reviewer from Pop Matters (who wrote a much better and more in-depth review): "this record kicks my ass like it's Ron Artest and I just threw a beer at it."

Hotel Lights and Waxwings on eMusic

Just a quick note that let you know that yesterday's Cd of the Day, Hotel Lights, is newly available today on eMusic, as part of its Bar/None release.

Another great release just added is the 2000 debut of The Waxwings, Low To The Ground. As AMG wrote,

If jangly guitar rock is a dead art form, no one told Detroit's Waxwings. Thankfully, lead songwriter and singer Dean Fertita and his band of merry janglers still keep the faith and hold a torch for the glory days of three guitar and harmonizing vocals as practiced by such rock & roll luminaries as the Byrds, Big Star, and, well, the Beatles.

This really was a good one.

CD of the Day, 3/7/06: Orson-Bright Idea

Mark my words, these guys are going to be next big thing. This LA band is already building a buzz in the UK, where this album is going to be released in May. Lead single "No Tomorrow" is already a smash over there.

According to play.com, Orson play what their singer Jason Pebworth calls simply "two-guitar power-pop", or, equally simply, "rock and roll that girls can dance to". But this is power pop with a more modern sound, and these guys borrow some from Franz Ferdinand and the Scissor Sisters, as well as from some classic influences like the Stones. The album opens with the title track, which is a great power pop tune with its driving beat; "No Tomorrow" is full of sass and has a slinky groove; "Already Over" reminds me of The 88 via Cheap Trick and Butch Walker; and "Tryin' to Help" rocks like TSAR. They then move into danceable territory with the Ferdinandesque "So Ahead of Me" and "Last Night". "Look Around" is the obligatory ballad a la Jet's "Look What You've Done", and then they return to power pop with the last two tracks, "Save The World" and "OK Song", the latter of which reminds me of the Valley Lodge release that was in my top 20 of 05.

As for US availablity, I'm not sure. This album was originally released in 2004 via cd baby (where I picked it up what seems like eons ago), and the page for it remains here. The page says "coming back in stock soon", and you can leave your email with cd baby to be notified when they have it. So perhaps it's a temporary thing, and they haven't pulled it from there as a result of the upcoming UK release. Unfortunately, there are only 3 samples streaming on cd baby, so you'd be better served going to their myspace page, where "No Tomorrow", "Bright Idea" and "Tryin' to Help" are streaming in full, along with a video for "No Tomorrow". But the good news is that you can stream one-minute samples of the remainder of the tracks at their official site.

Currently available or not, I probably won't need to do too much reminding if it's not available until later on, because I have the feeling you'll end up sick of reading about these guys by the end of the year. So do what you can to enjoy their music before the hype takes over.

New David Mead track.

Living up to his promise to make available one track from his forthcoming album Tangerine per week, David Mead now has "The Trouble With Harry" up at his myspace page for your streaming pleasure. This one is a mellow number, complete with strings. I'd give it a 6 out of 10.

Top 20 of 2005 Recap.

The main purpose of this post is to gather all the links for the top 20 of 2005 in one place, so that I can link to it in the sidebar. And of course if you missed any of the previous Top 20 posts, you can get them here:

1. Derby-This Is The New You
2. Okkervil River-Black Sheep Boy
3. Josh Rouse-Nashville
4. Michael Penn-Mr. Hollywood Jr., 1947
5. The Well Wishers-Under The Arrows
6. The 88-Over and Over
7. Catlin Cary & Thad Cockrell-Begonias
8. Graham Cousens-Living Room Sessions
9. Randy & The Bloody Lovelies-Lift
10. Smash Palace-Over The Top
11. Valley Lodge-Valley Lodge
12. Jim Boggia-Safe In Sound
13. Pugwash-Jollity
14. Peter Bruntnell-Ghost in a Spitfire
15. Terry Anderson & The Olympic Ass-Kickin' Team
16. The Golden Apples-Cooler Jets Will Prevail
17. Feel-Invisible Train
18. Sparkwood-Jalopy Pop
19. James Cooper-Second Season
20. Checkpoint Charley-Songs One Through Twelve

My Top 20 of 2005, #1: Derby-This Is The New You

Well, 20 days later, here it is: #1. My top spot for 2005 goes to Derby, a band out of Portland, Oregon who put out a stunningly accomplished debut last February to great acclaim. However, most of that acclaim came around the time the album came out. While I heard and read several saying at the time that the album was "best-of-year" and "top 10" material, it pretty much got the shaft on the Audities year-end poll despite my #1 vote. The only other place I saw it was on David Bash's list at around #27, and by the time I saw it there, I was grateful to see it at all. I know Craig Leve of Snap Crackle Pop touted them, but I never did see his best-of list, so perhaps I wasn't alone, but still a distinct minority.

OK, enough complaining about how this album didn't get the props it deserved, and time to explain why it did deserve them. Simply put, it's an album that pays homage to the greats without slavishly imitating them, and by the time you've finished listening to it, you realize they have their own distinct sound. Who are the influences? Well, you can start in their backyard with fellow Portlander Elliott Smith, and for contemporaries you can also include The Shins and The Pernice Brothers (circa The World Won't End), and for the classics, The Beatles and The Kinks. But they've managed to assimilate all of these influences into something of their own.

The album starts off with the acoustic "Jet Set", which is where the Smith/Shins influence can be heard. Frontman Nat Johnson, who has a voice that reminds me of a less histrionic Ed Roland, sings "maybe it's all right to turn you on/turn you on to something new", which could serve as the mission statement for this blog. This beautiful yet short number is suddenly overtaken by the crashing chords of "Qualities", where the brilliance continues. While at first sounding like Bends-era Radiohead or even good Coldplay, the song then turns to a late Beatles sound in the "stereo afterglow" of the bridge, and then it all comes around again.

And another winner immediately follows with the shuffling "Sunk a Few", complete with handclaps and Revolver-ish backwards-sounding guitars. After that comes "One Reason", which sounds like a great lost Alan Parsons Project track (Johnson does have a bit of Eric Woolfson in his voice as well); "Parade", which features Johnson's best vocal performance of the album; the uptempo "Get to the Feeling" which summons Sloan and borrows their use of fake crowd noise to nice effect; and the rocking "This Conversation", whose cool-sounding keyboard intro has found a place as the bumper music for the Not Lame Podcast. Finally, Derby close with "Pay No Mind", a driving track that's equal parts ELO's "Mr. Blue Sky" and the Beatles' "Getting Better". And when Johnson sings "a photograph is all I have/a photograph is all I have of you" in the fadeout, you're almost sad the album is over. This release also reminds me quite a bit of my current year's #1 to date, Supraluxe (or perhaps the other way around, since Derby came first). If you like that one, you'll like this one as well.

Where to listen? Start with some mp3s here (they're playing SXSW, which is where the first one is from):

Sunk a Few
Qualities

You can stream "Parade" and "Pay No Mind" here. Then hop on over to their myspace page, where you can stream live versions of "Get to the Feeling" and "This Conversation". Finally, you can sample the rest at their cd baby page. You can get it there, or at Not Lame, or a used copy in the Amazon marketplace. I won't care where you buy it, just as long as you do. And Audities, I demand a recount.

UPDATE: Also available via eMusic.

CD of the Day, 3/6/06: Hotel Lights-Hotel Lights

Hotel Lights is the solo project of ex-Ben Folds Five drummer Darren Jessee. And before you think it might simply be a case of Jessee trading on his Folds association, keep in mind that Jessee pretty much wrote the band's biggest hit, the 1998 megasmash "Brick", to which Folds added some lyrics. So it's no surprise that Hotel Lights sounds like the work of a unique artist, rather than a mere sideman.

Unlike the manic Folds, Jessee turns things down a notch or two on Hotel Lights. This is more the lush pop sound of the Pernice Brothers or Elliott Smith than what you remember from the Five, and the first two tracks tell you that you're not in Kansas (or at least North Carolina) any more. "You Come and I Go" is a beautiful mellow 70s AM-type track, almost reminiscent of how Bread might have sounded had they come up in today's indie scene. And just in case such a comparison didn't leap to your mind, the next song, "AM Slow Golden Hit" will make it for you. A great track (which alert readers will note I featured as my "song of the day" a couple of days ago), Jessee namedrops songs like "Rocket Man" and "Walking on Sunshine" while crooning "soft rock on the radio/everything comes 'round again", essentially describing his own sound. He summons up some of the old BFF attitude in "Small Town Shit", while cranking things up a bit on the organ-driven "Marvelous Truth".

It's really a great debut, and it actually first appeared in the late summer of 2004 as a self-released disc. They recently signed with Bar/None, who is giving it a proper label release tomorrow, and they're playing SXSW later this month. Here's the SXSW-approved mp3:

AM Slow Golden Hit

Here are some more places to listen: Very high-quality streams of "AM Slow Golden Hit", "You Come and I Go" and two others at their site; a lesser quality stream of "Anatole" at their myspace page, and 2-minute samples of the rest at cd baby. While poring over their site, I notice that they've also just released an EP titled goodnightgoodmorning available here (with mp3s). Yes, I've already sent them my $8.

Blogging update.

Been a slower posting day today, as I've been busy with some other stuff, and I'll be watching the Oscars tonight, so don't expect too much new the rest of the day either. I do have the CD of the Day post for tomorrow in the can, so look for that at its usual midnight time, and I know you're all waiting with baited breath for the unveiling of my #1 disc of 2005, which will also come at its usual time, at about 7:30AM Eastern. I can tell you it will be a properly considered "power pop" release, unlike my #2.

So if you're reading this today, take an opportunity to check out some of the great discs already blogged about in the archives while I somehow hope that Good Night and Good Luck can miraculously beat out Brokeback for the Best Picture Oscar.

UPDATE: Well, there was an upset in the Best Picture category, but it wasn't Good Night. Instead, it was the movie I thought the least of among the five (I did see them all), Crash. It was well-made and well-acted, but thematically it had all the subtlety of a mallet to the head.

My Top 20 of 2005, #2: Okkervil River-Black Sheep Boy

It might seem strange a non-power pop release holds down my lofty #2 position, but Okkervil River's Black Sheep Boy was that good. It's a tough album to categorize neatly: one part Indie, one part Americana and one part Emo. In a similar vein, Conor Oberst a/k/a Bright Eyes broke through last year with this formula, but he sounds like a relative lightweight compared to Okkervil River on this one. In fact, the musicianship and vibe here makes this album sound like a less self-indulgent and less cloying Oberst backed by The Band.

After starting off with the title track, a cover of a Tim Hardin song, frontman Will Sheff and the band rip into "For Real", a rocker that's equal parts Wilco and My Morning Jacket. Other highlights include "Black", another uptempo number; "A King and a Queen" and "A Stone", which really do sound like a couple of lost Band tracks, and the epic "So Come Back, I Am Waiting", which builds to a Springsteenian climax. Here's a review that gushes more than I do about this album.

Grab a couple of mp3s from the album:

For Real
Black

You can sample the rest of the tracks at the amazon page linked above. And if you end up digging this album, I'll note they followed it up later in the year with the Black Sheep Boy Appendix, an EP of leftover tracks from the BSB sessions that's pretty darn good for leftovers.

CD of the Day, 3/5/06: 7 Day Hangover-Blood, Sweat & Beers

With an album titled Blood, Sweat and Beers from a band named 7 Day Hangover, you wouldn't be expecting sensitive singer-songwriter pop. And you wouldn't be getting it either. This Toledo band belts it out and knocks it back in a pop-punk style reminiscent of Butch Walker, Weezer, Jimmy Eat World and Bowling For Soup. Highlights include....aw, hell, just let 'em describe it for you: "This album is a drunk phone call to your ex at 3:00 AM. A pop/rock album filled with catchy songs, hooky choruses, and witty lyrics...mostly about love, heartbreak, and pissed-off-ed-ness."

Pissed-off-ed-ness. You're not going to find that on your word-a-day calendar. Plus, you get lines like "I look like Tommy Lee and drink like a Kennedy". And it's not coincidental that the slowest song on the album is titled "Sober", which actually is a real nice midtempo number. But that's it for "real nice". The rest of it is in your face and rocking.

Get your samples at cdbaby, and have a drink with them over at their myspace page, where three tracks are streaming. You can also get the whole thing via eMusic here. Don't sleep this one off.

New at Not Lame, 3/3/06.

Some interesting new stuff from Not Lame this time around. First off, they feature the Rhett Miller and Jason Collett releases we've discussed here.

Most notable among the new ones is the Japanese import of Roger Manning Jr.'s Solid State Warrior. To say this has been one of the more talked about, if not fetishized, releases since it first appeared via the Weedshare network last year would be an understatement. Well, it's now been pressed onto disc, and is being sold in Japan. As a result, it's going for $34, so you really need to be jonesing for this one. (Apparently it will be released domestically in the fall via one of Warners' boutique labels). Now one of the reasons it's taken me a while to get this post out is that I needed to go back and listen to this one again. At the risk of having my membership card in the online power pop community taken away, I have to say that I wasn't totally blown away by it when I heard it last year. But after seeing Bruce & Co. wax rhapsodic over it last night, I felt it owed it another listen.

For the uninitiated, Manning was one of the key players in Jellyfish. And if you're not familiar with Jellyfish, you might be in the wrong place. After listening to it again, one track after another (my previous exposure mostly came as random songs from it played on my iPod), I have to upwardly revise my opinion of the album. Not $34 upward, but I will describe it as "pretty damn good". Obviously, I hear Jellyfish here, but the other influence I hear is Supertramp, especially in the track "You Were Right". Maybe it's because of the name Roger, but I kept thinking of Supertramp's Hodgson here. There's definitely some vocal similarity, and the way the album moves around from bouncy pop numbers to lullabies to 50s-inspired tunes, I think back to Supertramp's criminally underrated ...Famous Last Words, the sequel to megahit Breakfast In America. My advice: as the fanatics among you probably have already sent your $34 to Bruce, the rest should track down the weed files here. You can listen in full, play the weed files 3 times apiece before they expire, and buy the downloads for $13.75 total (or $1.25 per) if you can't wait for the domestic release in the fall.

*Next up is Radio On, the latest from Toronto's The National Anthem. These guys bring the rock, and the Sloan comparison is somewhat apt; actually, it's what a solo Patrick Pentland album would sound like. You can download three mp3s directly from their site:

Ladies Love The 80's
Sugar Pop
Act Together

You can also sample away at their myspace page. Oh, Canada indeed.

*Todd Stadtman's Only I Can Save You is an interesting animal. I've sampled a few tracks (I'm digging "Jezebel Jones"), and it's certainly experimental indie pop. This isn't the kind of release that's going to blow you away immediately, so I'll reserve overall judgment.

eMusic subscribers can grab it here. Myspace it here. (Wow, I just used "myspace" as a verb.) Samples of all the tracks are available at the cdbaby page. Finally, you can download an mp3 from his site:

I Don't Know Why She's Here

Definitely worthy of further consideration.

*Chris Marksbury's A Little Guitar is a release that I can't find much on beyond Not Lame. According to Bruce, it sounds like "Flamin` Groovies, Little Feat, early Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, Rockpile/Dave Edmunds, early Graham Parker & The Rumour, Travelin` Wilburys and pub rockers like Ducks Deluxe(lots!), Kursaal Flyers and Brinsley Schwartz." Check it out for yourself.

*Finally, we have No Disassemble, from a band called Slow Runner. Actually, I've had this release for quite a while, when it was released as a solo album by frontman Michael Flynn. It's the same album, but for some reason has been re-released under the group name. This is pretty decent indie pop, with a variety of influences. The AMG review quoted at the Not Lame page sums it up quite accurately.

Found an mp3 at Salon.com, of all places:

Break Your Mama's Back

Stream that track, and three more at their myspace page.

OK, that's enough for this post; I've been at it so long, I may not be able to recognize my family after getting up from the computer.

eMusic alert!

Since it seems lately that I've been featuring hard-to-find releases, I'm quite pleased to note a release I recently featured is easier to find, specifically for download on eMusic. Now available this morning over there is Divorcee's Music For Cleanup Men, our CD of the day a few days ago. I'm still on the Ds, as they've added 880 releases this morning, so there might be some more to note. Stay tuned.

New Eels studio track.

I've always liked the Eels, a/k/a Mark Everett, but I've never been a huge fan. Last year's double-disc Blinking Lights and Other Revelations made quite a few best-of lists, and I did like what I heard to some extent, but never made it through the whole thing.

Anyway, I'm on their mailing list, and they've just announced a new studio track for download here, so I'm passing it on to those who may be interested. You'll have to pay 99 cents, but at least you're getting a non-DRM'd mp3. You can also preview it by clicking on the "listen" button. The song seems decent enough, although it sounds like he's using Julian Casablancas' microphone.

My Top 20 of 2005, #3: Josh Rouse-Nashville

Despite my less than enthusiastic thoughts about his forthcoming album Subtitulo, regular readers know that I'm still a big fan of Josh Rouse. And last year's Nashville is one of the main reasons why.

Nashville is kind of a career consolidation/summation for Rouse - in other words, it's a greatest hits album of brand new material. Although it doesn't hit the highs of his previous two albums, Under Cold Blue Stars and 1972 (he may never write a song as perfect as "Rise" again), Nashville is solid from the incredibly catchy opener "It's The Nighttime" (complete with pedal steel, perhaps the only song on the album that reflects the album title) to the ruminative closer "Life".

There are so many great tracks on this album: The Smiths-influenced "Winter In The Hamptons", the lush "Streetlights" (which even nods to Journey of all artists with its "streetlights/people" refrain), "Middle School Frown", a confessional that mines new territory (most songs that reminisce upon school days tackle the high school years), and the majestic piano ballad "Sad Eyes", which kicks into another gear once the bridge comes in.

There's the feeling here that Nashville is in fact a summation, as Rouse said goodbye to his native land and has since moved to Spain. If so, it's one hell of a sendoff.

Being a semi-major label release (Rykodisc), the best place to sample it is at the Amazon link above. It's of course widely available from just about any music retailer (unlike my last 2 CDs of the day). Odds are if you're reading this blog you probably already have this anyway. But if for some reason you were on the fence, get off it and get this record.

CD of the Day, 3/4/06: The Latebirds-Radio Insomnia

Today's CD of the Day comes from Finland, home of the Latebirds. Their August 2005 release Radio Insomnia, though, was a Made In The USA affair: recorded at a studio in Woodstock, New York, produced by ex-Wilco member Ken Coomer, and featuring the assistance of these luminaries: Benmont Tench (Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers), Wayne Kramer (MC5), Ken Stringfellow (Posies, Big Star), and John Stirratt (Wilco). And the pre-Yankee Hotel Foxtrot Wilco sound is evident here, as well as the sound of Stirratt's side project, The Autumn Defense. And yes, I hear the Posies in here as well.

Things start off with the stomping "Set Free The Radio", a plea for good music (like The Latebirds) to be played on the radio instead of "insult(ing) our intelligence". Amen to that. Next up is the lush pop of "Dream Dream", which is where the Stirratt-Coomer influence comes to the fore. Following is the power pop of "Got a Message" (co-written with Coomer), which reminds me of a great Maypops song from last year called "Stuck In First" (that reference may be a bit obscure, but it leapt to mind) and also sounds a bit like Michael Carpenter. Other highlights include the jangly "Falling by the Wayside", and the poignant pop of "Will to Fall".

They're playing SXSW this year and I linked to the mp3 of "Set Free The Radio" back in that series of posts. And here I'll link to it again:

Set Free The Radio

And here's another mp3:

Dream Dream

These two, along with "Got a Message" and the melancholy "Beat The Time" are streaming at their myspace page. And to sample the rest, and to get the band's own commentary on each individual track, visit their site here. The only problem is that I'm having the damndest time trying to find out where this can be bought (I was sent a cdr copy by a european friend). I did uncover the fact that they're trying to work out a North American label deal, and I know it's available via iTunes Finland (but not the US; only their previous album is available here). I guess you can buy/download it here or here, but I don't speak the language nor know what the currency conversion is. Oh well, grab the mp3s, stream the tracks and when I see it released in the US, I'll link back to this post.

Blogging update.

New discs featured on Not Lame tonight, but since the wife and I spent the evening watching Walk The Line on DVD, the post will be up tomorrow as I see a bunch of music I'll need to listen to before weighing in. The CD of the Day, however, will be going up just before, or shortly after, midnight.

New today at eMusic.

A couple of pretty good releases from UK bands were added today.

First off is the self-titled release from the Irish band Turn. This one is highly catchy and melodic, with the standout tracks being "It's About Nothing" and "Sorry's Just a Word". I hadn't listened to this one for a few months, but when reviewing the samples, quite a few of the tunes came back to me, a good sign. You can stream a few tracks from this one (as well as a few from their previous releases) in full at their site.

The other is a 2003 release from Minibar, Fly Below The Radar. Of course, that was exactly what this release did. Nevertheless, it's quite a solid one; Minibar may be British, but they have an American roots rock sound to them, in the vein of The Wallflowers (two of whom produced a few of the tracks), Counting Crows and Tom Petty. Apparently Pete Yorn and Jakob Dylan are big fans of the band as well.

My Top 20 of 2005, #4: Michael Penn-Mr. Hollywood Jr., 1947

First of all, if you're wondering what happened to #5, it was posted out of order last week.


I've been a fan of Michael Penn from the day I first saw the video for "No Myth" on MTV in 1989 (yeah, a video on MTV - they actually used to show them back in the day). But it hasn't been easy. Thanks to label issues, creative issues, and even problems securing the rights to a painting, there have been new Michael Penn albums in only these years: 1989, 1992, 1997, 2000 and 2005.

Being a Michael Penn fan is almost like being one of the cowboys in Brokeback Mountain; every 3, 4 or 5 years you reunite for a burst of intense passion, and then you have to go on with others in the interim. Fortunately, his albums are generally worth the wait, and Mr. Hollywood Jr., 1947 is no exception. A concept album of sorts about post-WWII LA, the album starts off with what has to be one of the top five songs he's ever recorded, the brilliant "Walter Reed". Named after the recently closed military hospital that famously cared for wounded vets immediately upon their arrival back in the US, the song works on so many levels - as a breakup song, as an allegory, and as a history lesson. Other standouts include "Denton Road" (sung from the perspective of a recently deceased watching his own funeral), "A Bad Sign" (written as a political protest but so subtle that you'd miss it if you weren't playing close attention), and "On Automatic", the most catchy, power poppy number on the album that was my favorite song to listen to while driving last summer (and it was easy to do since XM's Hear Music seemed to have it on every day for a stretch).

All of the tracks can be sampled at the amazon page for the album, and "Walter Reed" and two other songs from the album can be streamed at his myspace page. In fact, you can download "Walter Reed" at the myspace page as well. I'll also note that "Walter Reed" had an amazing video shot for it, which I'll briefly make available here. (Warning: 50MB QuickTime download)

So 2005 was indeed lucky to see a new Michael Penn release. Now, it's time to sigh and look forward, I guess, to 2008 or 2009 for the next one. Michael, sometimes I just wish I knew how to quit you.

CD of the Day, 3/3/06: Joe Kennedy-Van Cortlandt Park

Joe Kennedy's Van Cortlandt Park is an impressive debut album chock full of lush, sunshiney pop. Put his cd on, close your eyes, and you can imagine yourself driving along the Pacific Coast Highway with the top down and the AM radio on, circa 1973. So it's no surprise that Kennedy hails from Los Angeles, although he grew up in another sun-kissed area, Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. Joe's steady gig has been as a sideman for Pete Yorn, and he's about to head out on tour with him again.

Van Cortlandt Park should appeal to fans of Brian Wilson, Burt Bacharach, and a couple of other artists who put out similar albums last year: B.C. Camplight and Dave Dill. There isn't a bad track on the disc, but my particular favorites are "Remember Me" and "11.11".

The cd has only been released in the UK (I was fortunate to have a friend over there send me a copy), and can be sampled at his UK label page. Joe plans on releasing it in the US soon, perhaps through CD Baby, and is working on making it available via iTunes. Of course you can buy through an online UK retailer, but if you don't want to spend the $20 USD it'll probably end up costing, Joe has advised me that if you drop him an email, he can send you a copy in the US at a much more reasonable price.

He's also working on a new album, and from the two tracks he's put on his myspace page, it might end up being even better than this one. "Slow Down", in particular, is nothing short of brilliant, the kind of song I could listen to all day. And so can you, as I'm making it my song of the day, so just click here to have it immediately stream.

eMusic Disc of the Day: Gary Reynolds & The Brides of Obscurity-Instant Happiness

Here's a good one to grab off eMusic - Not Lame had featured this disc just a week or two before we started this blog. Indie-Music.com wrote "this is the album Lennon, David Bowie, and the Electric Light Orchestra would compose if locked in a studio together." I've been enjoying it myself as well, and the one track that sticks with me is the ballad "Elijah".

You can save a few eMu downloads or check them out if you're not a subscriber, by getting these downloads from the band site:

Instant Happiness
On The Radio
The Food Song
Elijah

All in all, an impressive debut. And of course, you can buy it at Not Lame here.

The Other Half goes back to The Drawing Board.

The other night, we noted that Not Lame was featuring a 2001 release by a band called The Other Half, which really sounded good from the samples. And then we noted that we couldn't find anything on them online.

Well, thanks to helpful reader Art Bang, I now know that The Other Half broke up and the two guys behind the band, brothers Justin and Brandon Tapp, reformed as The Drawing Board. And they can be heard (and downloaded, since they've enabled those links) at their myspace page. They have an EP out already, and a new full-length in the works. The myspace tracks are from the forthcoming full-length, and they sound very good. It'll be worth your while to take a few minutes to head over there and stream and/or download them.

My Top 20 of 2005, #6: The 88-Over and Over

If anyone in the independent power pop world is going to make the breakthrough into the mainstream a la Fountains of Wayne, it has to be LA's The 88. And the vehicle for that potential breakthrough is their outstanding 2005 release Over and Over, and its leadoff single, "Hide Another Mistake", one of, if not, the top tracks of the year.

It's quite possible you've heard these guys already - they've been featured on The OC four times, and have quite an impressive resume of TV and movie appearances, as you can see for yourself here. And while this gaudy list of credits may owe in part to their location and perhaps a who-you-know type of deal, they're worthy on the merits as well. It's almost as if they were created as the result of a lab experiment that set out to build the perfect (or at least quintessential) power pop band. 60's influences? Beach Boy harmonies, Kinks riffs, Beatlesque melodies? Check. 70's influences? Glam rock a la T. Rex, some Queen as well? Check. Modern power pop/rock influences? Jellyfish, The Darkness, even some Fountains of Wayne? Check.

Another thing The 88 does well is to incorporate piano into their tracks without being simply a "piano pop" band. The guitars rawk as well, and the perfect marriage of the two comes on the brilliant "Hide Another Mistake". The chrous itself is a microcosm of the band, begininng with "I've got the west coast sunshine/but it don't mean a thing" sung over a rock piano with a Beach Boys sound, before moving without a blink into a Fountains of Wayne-ish middle part with synths, and then finally ending in Queen/Darkness territory with a falsetto vocal, all in the space of about 10 seconds. This is the type of song that immediately goes into heavy rotation in my head upon the mere act of reading about it, rather than hearing it, a measure of how irresitible it is. (And I suppose it can be considered something of a "hit" as well, given that it has over 83,000 plays at their myspace page.)

But it's not all about one song. "Nobody Cares" is a Kinks-ish stomp complete with handclaps and all; "All Cause of You" mines the same territory with some great rollicking piano; and there's even a power ballad titled "Head Cut Off".

The best place to sample it is at the myspace page linked above, and the rest of the tracks can be heard in 2-minute increments at cdbaby. eMusic subscribers can download the whole thing here.

And make sure you don't miss the very, very cool video (complete with aerobics-dressed babes) for "Hide Another Mistake", which can be found here.

CD of the Day, 3/2/06: The Cheap Seats-Fly Low, Icarus

Sometimes when I'm researching my cd of the day, I come across someone who says it better (or at least the same) as I would, so I'm just going to quote directly from Style Weekly, which had this to say about The Cheap Seats' Fly Low, Icarus:

Sounds like: A band that will have you at hello if you’re a fan of canny popsmiths like Nada Surf, AC Newman and Fountains of Wayne. The Cheap Seat’s debut EP, “Fly Low, Icarus,” is a collection of sometimes-playful, sometimes-pensive songs about anything from romantic interludes at the zoo to young arsonists and lonely grandmas. Singer/guitarist Nick Woods has an ear for finely tuned lyrics, whether it’s quietly dreading the end of a relationship or secretly crushing on a friend’s kid sister, but “Stacy’s Mom” it’s not.

Other than calling it an EP (it's a 9-track album) and a misplaced plural possessive, I have to agree with this 100%. Of the artists mentioned, I'd have to say the Nada Surf is closest sonically, although The Cheap Seats seem to be a bit less brooding.

Here are some mp3s for your downloading pleasure, courtesy of the Seats:

Service and Parts
Albuquerque Arson
Caroline, Yes
Try and Fail

If it's streaming you prefer, they have a presence at myspace. Best place to buy is at the Baby. Bob Uecker would be proud.

Supraluxe Podcast.

I think it's been a whole 30 hours or so since I posted about Supraluxe, so I must be slipping or something. Anyway, they're the sole featured artist on the latest Bit Jobs For The Masses podcast. BJM is billed as "an independent music podcast with a British accent", and today's show features "Blue Sky", "Sugar Chalet" and "Run Rabbit Run". Do have a listen.

I've been toying with the idea of a podcast of my own here (I would have to get a decent mic first), although I'm not sure I have a voice for radio (a face for radio, yes). After hearing this smooth British bloke, I'm a bit more daunted.

Record day.

With still a little over three hours to go, we've already broken our single-day record of 210 visits to the site (not that I'm the kind of blogger who obsessively checks his site meter stats or anything). Thanks to all of you who have been stopping by, and tell your friends (and enemies) about us! Time to go watch Lost now.

New at Kool Kat Musik, 3/1/06.

Here's what's new over at the Kat:

George Prentice-Long Story Short.

This one looks interesting - Prentice says he's influenced by The Beatles, Marshall Crenshaw, Todd Rundgren, and Cheap Trick. And from listening to the four tracks on his myspace page, he does sound like he has the roots rock version of power pop down pretty good.


Frank Lee Sprague-Fulton Avenue

Frank Lee Sprague is about as retro as they come, which is something the titles of his last two albums, Merseybeat and Cavern, convey pretty clearly. On this one, it sounds like Frank is moving away from Liverpool 1962 to somewhere in California in the early 70s, as he goes acoustic here. 4 tracks can be sampled at the cdbaby page for the album, but make sure you buy it at the Kat, where it's $3 less.

Also new at the Kat is the new Vandalays EP, which has been well publicized in this space, and is a keeper, and a limited collection (498 copies) of odds and sods from Swedish popsters Paste, titled 10 Years of Waste.

Man, there's so much good stuff being released out there. The good news is that with real estate values at all-time highs, you can probably take out a home equity loan and buy them all.

UPDATE: One more added at the Kat: The Innocents-Pop Factory: "With their spot-on harmonies (sometimes early Little River Band-sounding), jangly guitars and hook-filled gems, they often come across as the Aussie answer to "Shake Some Action"-era Flamin' Groovies!" Sounds interesting.

eMusic Disc of the Day: Waltham-Waltham

If you missed out on this one when it came out last summer, there's no excuse now. Waltham's (from the Mass. town of the same name) debut album is capital-"P" (as in Power) Pop/Rock. The usual analogs (Cheap Trick, Superdrag, Weezer) apply, but these guys put a fresh spin on things. Plus they get bonus points from me for their ode to a girl named "Joanne", finally giving me a rock song that shares the name of my lovely wife.

For those who want to sample, they have a myspace page here, and some additional songs streaming on their main site page, where you can also download "Cheryl" and "The Fix" if you click on the "audio/video" link.

My Top 20 of 2005, #7: Caitlin Cary & Thad Cockrell-Begonias

This release isn't power pop - not even close. In fact, I'd almost hesitate to call it alt-country either; it's almost more traditional country, in the vein of George Jones & Tammy Wynette or Gram Parsons & Emmylou Harris. Whiskeytown alumnus Caitlin Cary and solo alt-country artist Thad Cockrell's Begonias is a worthy successor to the great music produced by those classic duos. Now the song that sucked me into this album is the anomaly: the rocking "Second Option", in which Cockrell does a better Ryan Adams than Adams himself is doing these days, making it sound like a long-lost Whiskeytown track.

But the rest of the album is stunning as well, from the cover of Percy Sledge's "Warm and Tender Love", the beautiful "Please Break My Heart" and the poignant "Two Different Things". It won't be for everybody here, but if you're inclined to like alt-country, as well as traditional country (as opposed to most of today's homogenized "contemporary country"), this one can't be passed up. The Amazon link above is the best place to sample.

UPDATE: Forgot to mention that this album is available on eMusic!

CD of the Day, 3/1/06: Divorcee-Music For Cleanup Men, Breakdown and Inbetweeners

This one flew under the power pop radar when it was released last June, which was a shame. Hailing from Minneapolis, Divorcee has drawn from various pop and rock influences to craft a consistently engaging album. The first thing you'll notice after listening to them is that lead singer Ryan Seitz sounds more like he's from Manchester than Minneapolis. His voice is something of a mix between Colin Meloy, Liam Gallagher and Cotton Mather's Robert Harrison, and there is a real BritPop feel to this one. I even hear some solo Jeff Lynne and Jason Falkner in the mix as well.

Opener "Brand New" sounds at times like Bends-era Radiohead, "Say" is a midtempo number in the vein of Oasis' "Don't Go Away", and they crank it up Sloan-style on the stomping "Blow Me to Pieces". Even the finale, "Outro" (which one would think is 30 seconds of instrumental noodling based on other songs with the title) is a 5-minute anthemic masterpiece. There is one mp3 available for download at their site:

Brand New

That track, plus two others from the album (and one older track) are streaming at their myspace page. There are some used copies going for about $5-6 at the Amazon marketplace, or you can buy it new for $10 at their site. This Divorcee deserves custody of your ears for at least 40 or so minutes per week.

New at Not Lame, 2/28/06.

Interesting batch of releases featured tonight. The big news is that AbPow favorite Justin Levinson is one of those featured. And speaking of Mr. Levinson, David Bash has informed me that he's been invited to play International Pop Overthrow Boston, thanks in part to our bringing Justin to his attention.

Also featured is the new Vandalays EP we spotlighted last night, and the writeup includes some of our comments on the EP.

Moving along, most of the rest of the featured discs are 2-5 years old. The release by The Other Half from 2001 really does sound great. Unfortunately, it's almost impossible to find anything online about these guys. I have found info on at least three other bands calling themselves The Other Half, including a 60s psychedelic band, a "modern rock" band that compares themselves to Matchbox 20 (on cdbaby and myspace), and a North Carolina punk band. So that makes at least four other halves out there, which to me seems like a mathematical impossibility.

Darin Murphy's Haunted Gardenias is another interesting blast from the recent past (2001). Fortunately, Darin is a little easier to track down online, and this page will yield mp3s from the album, as well as a previous solo effort and what he calls "Fab Fourgeries", about half a dozen Beatles covers he's recorded. Very cool stuff. And he's a multimedia renaissance man; according to his bio, "His uncanny Lennonesque vocals recently landed him a job on Broadway in the new musical LENNON, opening spring 2005." He has a myspace page as well.

Next up is Patrick Storedahl's Ink Block Fingerprint. I'll have to dust off this 2004 release which I have put away somewhere, but there are five mp3s available (with lyrics) at this page. All the tracks can be sampled here.

I could have sworn that Bloom's O Sinner was featured on the main page last year, as I recall tracking it down as a result (I know I didn't find it on cdbaby). This band from Gainesville, FL (Go Gators!) definitely rawks, in an 80s kind of way, and they have a sense of humor too, with song titles such as "Only God Can Stop The Drum Machine Now" and "Don't Tell a Dead Man How To Die". Samples of all tracks can be found at cdbaby, and it's available via eMusic as well. I will note that they were another research nightmare, with at least 3 other Blooms (but not this one) appearing on myspace.

Top 10 of 2006 (so far).

One of the problems with year-end best-of lists is that stuff released early in the year inevitably gets short shrift, what with fading memories and latter year releases being more prominent at the time. So to try and avoid that malady, I'm putting out a best-of list for 2006 right now at the end of two months, and I'll update it at the end of every month thereafter. So without further ado, here's my best of 2006 to date:

1. Supraluxe-Supraluxe
2. Rhett Miller-The Believer
3. Travis Hopper-All The Lights In The City Tonight
4. David William-One Way Ticket
5. Copperdown-Something True
6. Justin Levinson-1175 Boylston
7. The Minus Five-The Minus Five (aka "The Gun Album")
8. The Green & Yellow TV-Sinister Barrier
9. Phil Ayoub-Schoolbus Window Paper Heart
10. Gary Henson-The Coast Is Clear

You'll notice the only one not featured on this blog so far is the Minus Five, which has been getting plenty of its own press. You can sample it here.

Absolute Powerpop on MySpace.

I've started a myspace page for the site. I don't plan on doing much there, but one feature that it'll make it worth your visit is my "song of the day"; MySpace allows you to stream one song from another member at a time, which automatically starts playing upon loading the page. (I've put a link to it over on the right hand side of the page, for handy reference.)

Today I'm streaming Supraluxe's "Love Sweet Love" (only because they're not streaming "Blue Sky" over there), and I'll try to put up a new one each night before I go to bed, usually around midnight. These songs may be from albums I've featured on the blog, or they may not. You'll just have to find out for yourself. And if you like what you hear, click on "view" on the music player to go right to the band's myspace page.

UPDATE: Rich from Supraluxe put up "Blue Sky" (talk about responsive), so that's the song of the day. You can still stream "Love Sweet Love" at their page.

My Top 20 of 2005, #8: Graham Cousens-Living Room Sessions

Back last week when I was giving the new Josh Rouse album the stinkeye, my main complaint was that in many spots, it was too stripped-down. I made the comment that "I'm not normally a big fan of acoustic music (although there are exceptions, if the songs are really good)". Here is the exception. Graham Cousens' Living Room Sessions is pretty much Graham and his guitar, and the whole thing was recorded on his PowerBook. If you had told me that before I heard it, I probably would have run away screaming. Thankfully I heard it first, on the recommendation of a friend.

What sets Cousens apart from your garden variety coffeehouse performer? A keen sense of melody, a warm and inviting voice, and some great tunes. I've seen it written that Cousens sounds like a happier Eric Matthews, and I'll buy that. He also sounds like early solo McCartney, Emmitt Rhodes, with some Matthew Sweet and Tom Petty included for good measure. The opener "Julia" sets the tone well, a jaunty number in the mode of "I've Just Seen a Face". "Comfort Me" jangles along reminiscent of Petty's "Wildflowers", and two of the slower numbers, "When I Was Around" and "Emily", are so pitch-perfect that I could listen to them on a continuous loop all day long. (And I'm not kidding - I've already played "Emily" three times while composing this post.)

It also appears that you can download the whole thing for free at his site by clicking on "Tracks". I almost feel a bit guilty for providing this link, because this one deserves a purchase rather than a download. But he's provided this on his site, so take him up on the offer, and if you like it, don't make him regret doing so by buying it. Only $11 at Kool Kat. Or, if you only want the download, but want him to make a few bucks, it's available at eMusic as well.

CD of the Day, 2/28/06: David William-One Way Ticket

Edinburgh, Scotland's David William proves he has the pop goods with his extraordinary debut album One Way Ticket. If I didn't know better (and I suppose I truly don't), I'd swear this was Neil Finn putting out an album under a pseudonym. Not only does William sound like Finn (at least as much as anybody this side of Shane Nicholson), his songs have the effortless pop grace of Finn's best work.

Apparently those like me who troll CD Baby for the next exciting new thing agree with this assessment, as the first batch of discs they received have sold out in about three days' time. I'm not even going to bother to get into describing individual tracks - they're all that good. But here's two you can download directly:

Satellites
Come and Go

Then go to this page and stream the rest of the tracks in their entirety. And then you'll just have to give CD Baby your email address so they can notify you when they have this one back in stock, because you'll be wanting it - badly.

Either I'm getting way too easy to please (lately at times I feel like I've been gushing like a slightly more articulate version of the Chris Farley character on SNL who could only say "you are awesome" while interviewing McCartney), or 2006 is shaping up to be an incredible year for power pop. Two months in, and I'm already building a top 10 that's going to be tough to crack.

EP of the Day: The Vandalays-Happy Ever After

Having already made a Seinfeld reference today, I suppose it's fitting that my EP of the day comes from Chicago's The Vandalays. Happy Ever After is the sequel of sorts to their 2004 release (re)begin, billed as the first power pop concept album. (Not sure whether or not they beat The Breakup Society's James at 35 to the punch; that power pop "concept" album bears a Feb 13 2004 release date, at least according to Pop Matters.)

In any event, Happy Ever After is a nice 6-song blast of power pop, kind of somewhere between Cheap Trick and Barenaked Ladies, with a touch of the Smithereens thrown in. Things start in fine fashion with the outstanding "Tracy", and "I'm Not Sleeping" and "Out/In The Night" keep the momentum going. But the highlight is the midtempo "Ramona", which jangles like there's no tomorrow.

The best place to sample it is at cd baby. Now when are The Von Nostrands going to release an album?

New stuff at eMusic.

Here are a couple of interesting releases just added to eMusic:

Badfinger-Say No More. The final studio album released under the Badfinger name, from 1981. I've never heard it, but hey, it's Badfinger.

Hector on Stilts-Same Height Relation. I picked this one up last year, it's not bad. A little quirky, off the power pop beaten path, but worth a listen.

Master of My Domain.

I've registered the domain name www.absolutepowerpop.com as well, and it redirects to this Blogger site. So if you find yourself needing to manually type in the address for this site, you can save yourself the "blogspot". There is a small ad, however, at the bottom when you're redirected via the non-blogspot address.

My Top 20 of 2005, #9: Randy & The Bloody Lovelies-Lift

Randy & The Bloody Lovelies' Lift was one of the truly special and unique releases of 2005. I was quite happy to see it be featured by Not Lame the other night, as this album deserves all the exposure it can get.

But while Not Lame used contemporaries like Ben Folds and the Argument for comparison purposes, Lift takes me back to the sophisticated piano pop and distinctly English-influenced pop that was commonly heard in the first half of the 1970s. The piano men most in evidence here as influences are Randy Newman and early Elton John, and I even hear some Gilbert O'Sullivan and Leo Sayer (the Leo Sayer of "Long Tall Glasses" that is). There's a bluesy, almost cabaret-style undercurrent to many of these tracks as well. And the vocals here remind me of Chris Rea circa "Fool (If You Think It's Over)". All in all, piano pop doesn't get much more tuneful and sophisticated than Randy Wooten & Co. have managed here.

There are so many great tracks on this album that I almost feel I'm slighting some by pointing out others. But particular standouts are "Pop" (as in "I'm about to"), "Isabella" (featuring a great slinky piano groove), "Red Carpets" (the outstaning opener), the early Elton-influenced "New Disguise", and the beautiful ballads "Wondrous Things" and "Blue Horizons". If what I've described is remotely your bag, do your best to scrounge $13-15 from your couch cushions, break open the piggy bank, or dip into your child's college fund and pick this one up.

And make sure you check out their site. Let it launch, and watch the amusing Kiev character in the hotel lobby. Just make sure you click on him and select "shut up" when you stream the album, which you can do so there with a few well-placed clicks. You could start at the beginning, but go right ahead to "Pop", one of my top 10 tracks of the year. If you're put off by Kiev, or can't figure out how to shut him up, go over to their myspace page, where you can stream "Pop", "Wondrous Things", "Blue Horizons" and the also-outstanding "Twilight Kids".

Oh, and did I mention that you can get this album via eMusic? One more reason to subscribe if you haven't already.

CD of the Day, 2/27/06: David Stanley-Finding My Way

Another disc I enjoyed last year was David Stanley's Finding My Way. Stanley falls more into the singer-songwriter category, but he can put some power into his pop as well. At times he reminds me of Neil Finn ("The Kissing Tree", "Sad Girl"), but on others I hear some Michael Carpenter ("Brand New Beat", "Counting The Days"). There really isn't a bad track on this album, although it's a bit on the short side (8 tracks plus a "radio edit" of "The Kissing Tree"). I suppose it's a case of quality over quantity.

The best (and really only) place to sample it is the cd baby page linked above. The only place I'm finding it online is at iTunes. His site is about as bare bones as it gets, and the myspace page for David Stanley yields a 19-year-old in Largo, FL (a few miles to my SW) with a Ferris Bueller fixation.

CD of the Day, 2/26/06: Archer Avenue-We Watched The Headlights; We Watched The Stars

Archer Avenue is a band from San Antonio that produces a style of alt-country inflected power pop that we've heard from fellow Texans like Rhett Miller and the Deathray Davies. Perhaps the reviewer who compared them to a mix of the Old 97's and the Gin Blossoms had it down best.

Their brand new release is We Watched the Headlights; We Watched the Stars (dig that semicolon in the title). Things get off to a raucous start with the rocking "Cops Don't Care"; "Radio" is cut from the same cloth; "Breakdown on N. St. Mary's" is where the alt-country influence is most profound, and they dial it down a notch on the fine "Cars and Airplanes".

If you go to this page, you can stream the full album (for a limited time, they say, so hurry up and get over there). It's not available via eMusic (yet), but Left of the Dial (nice nod to the Replacements), an EP of theirs that contains three tracks from the album along with three others, is on eMu here. Best place to buy the full-length, if not directly from the band, is at CD Baby.

My Top 20 of 2005, #10: Smash Palace-Over The Top

Philly's Smash Palace is a veteran band that keeps cranking out great albums over the years. Once signed to Epic back in the late 80s, Palace has hit its stride over the past seven years with three quality self-released cd's, capped by the very late 2004 release (close enough for me to count it as '05), Over The Top.

Over The Top was pretty much the best jangle-rock album of the year. Standouts on this one abound, from the opener, "Steal Her Thunder" to my favorite "Juliet to Me". The level of consistency from track-to-track on this one is what makes it a true keeper. If you're a fan of the classic janglers, from The Byrds to Tom Petty, this one is a must-buy.

And there's good news - I just saved a bunch of money on my car insurance. (Sorry, couldn't resist). Actually the good news is that the album is available on eMusic here, as well as their previous two releases. Their official site has four full streams from Over The Top, including the two I singled out above. And you can buy it at the usual power pop retailers.

But wait - there's more! (I really have watched too many commercials in my lifetime). Palace is releasing a brand-new best-of album covering their three latest releases, along with two brand new tracks: "Like I Do" and "Thinking About Her", with the latter being streamed at their myspace page. The best-of is to be officially released in May, but if you email Smash Palace's Stephen Butler and ask him real nice, he'll sell you an advance copy now.

Also note that Mr. Butler produced the MezzRow disc that was our most recent CDotD, as well as playing on and co-writing several of the tracks. I knew there was a reason that disc jumped out at me.

More on David Mead.

Once again, reader Bob M has come through with some new David Mead news. Yesterday Mead had this announcement:

David's new album TANGERINE is officially slated to hit shelves May 16, but you can start hearing it for yourself NOW, exclusively on his MySpace page. We will be streaming all twelve songs between now and the release date, adding one new song per week. "Tangerine," the lead-off track, is an overture comprised of bits and pieces of all the songs, and will remain up as new songs are rotated in and out in the order they are sequenced on the album. So be sure to stop by, have a listen, leave a comment if you would like and let your other MySpace friends know about David's new record.

Interesting. That explains the instrumental "Tangerine", which we discussed the other day. Time to bookmark his myspace page.

And another track, "Hard to Remember", is up right now. Me likey.

Rhett Miller alert!

One of my first posts on this blog was to drum up attention for the forthcoming release The Believer, by Old 97s frontman Rhett Miller, due out this Tuesday.

Well, it so happens that I've just found out (courtesy of an alert poster on the Audities list) that the entire album is streaming uncut at Rhett's myspace page. So get on over there right now and start listening to an album that's probably in my top 5 of 2006 to date, and then hit your cd retailer of choice up for it on Tuesday.

By the way, until yesterday (when this other version popped up on my iPod while on my trip) it was gnawing at me where I had heard "Fireflies" before (a track on which Miller here duets with Rachel Yamagata); it turns out that he had given it to the band Firecracker, whose So Long Someday album was a fine alt-country/Americana release in its own right last year, and whose version of this song also features a guest female singer for the duet parts. And there's even more Old 97s involvement with So Long Someday - guitarist Ken Bethea helps out as well. Definitely recommended if you enjoy this genre too, as I do.

New at Not Lame, 2/24/06.

Just back in from Disney MGM...hope the break enabled many of you to catch up on sampling the stuff I've been posting about. I'll just take a quick personal note to vent about something here. George Carlin once said that everyone who drives faster than you is a maniac, and everyone that drives slower is an idiot. Never was that more true tonight westbound on I-4 between Orlando and Tampa. I've never seen so much braking for no apparent reason and passing on the right on an interstate before (end rant). Anyway, here's what's new at Not Lame while I was out:

First off, the Green & Yellow TV release retains the top spot on the page, which is a bit odd. And also featured is the new Arctic Monkeys release, about which virtual forests have been clearcut for all the words written about it. My take: as UK flavors of the month go, they're not bad.

Randy & The Bloody Lovelies - Lift

I will have much, much more to say about this quite excellent release in a couple of days (hint, hint).

The Tah-Dahs - Le Fun

This one's new to me, although what I'm reading about it makes me want to track it down. That there's a track titled "John & Yoko & Ted & Alice" amuses me. They do have a free download available at their site:

The Cute Band

Well reviewed in indie circles, for what it's worth. eMusic doesn't have the album, but has the track "Temporary" on this comp.

UPDATE: They have a myspace page, where they're streaming "Alcoholic", "Temporary" and "Dallas", a non-album track.

The Lashes - Get It

One thing I like about Not Lame's featuring of new releases is that even though I often have (or have sampled) a record and passed on it, the mere fact of their highlighting it prompts me to give it a second chance, and often I end up liking it quite a bit. The recent Tody Castillo release was one example of this. So having had an advance of this cd for about a month (and maybe listening to it once), and having failed to deem it worthy of placement on my iPod, NL's recommendation (and the quoting of the AMG review comparing a track to Big Star) was enough to get me to listen to it again.

Right off the bat, I realized why I put it aside. I'm not terribly fond of the lead singer. Usually I can take less-than-perfect voices, but here it was his style that put me off. And the track AMG says sounds like Big Star doesn't sound like it to me, nor do any of the songs really grab me even despite the lead singer. So we'll agree to disagree. I will note that Pop Matters falls into my camp. Still, with NL and AMG touting it big time, you should definitely listen for yourself. The best place to do so is their myspace page. eMusic has their independently-released (Get It is on Columbia) EP, titled The Stupid Stupid.

Blogging break.

Going to be stepping out for about 36-48 hours here (blogging may resume late Saturday night). You can blame this guy:


It's time for a family trip to Disney World. Thank goodness I have that iPod loaded with power pop.

My Top 20 of 2005, #11: Valley Lodge-Valley Lodge

(We now return you to our regularly scheduled countdown of the top 20 of 2005.)

This is album is good. Very good. Very, very good. Great, in fact. It came out around Thanksgiving, so I conservatively slotted it at #11. A couple of months later, I'd have to say it probably deserves a spot a few notches higher at least. (Maybe the Grammys are on to something with making their eligibility year November-October.) Valley Lodge is the project of John Kimbrough (Walt Mink) and Dave Hill (Uptown Sinclair). If the pedigree of those names means anything to you, you know you're in for something good.

This is darn near power pop perfection. Influences from the power pop greats abound here - there's some Matthew Sweet, some Super Deluxe, a smattering of Jellyfish, and even some Tal Bachman (they nicked the chorus from "She's So High" for the track "If It Takes All Night", but it's a good nicking). There's even a little bit of Red Hot Chili Peppers in the surprisingly funky (for a power pop album) "All of My Loving". The falsetto backup vocals throughout the album are a nice touch. This is as strong a release, end-to-end, as you'll find.

And I don't have to be psychic to predict what you'll be doing for the next 35-40 minutes or so: streaming this gem in its entirety from their official site. As far as I'm concerned, there are only two classes of true power pop fans: Those who have already bought this one, or those who will buy it (there's really no question of "if" on this one) at CD Baby, Not Lame or Kool Kat. It's officially check-in time at the Valley Lodge.

CD of the Day, 2/24/06: MezzRow-MezzRow

MezzRow is a South Jersey band that sounds more like Liverpool meets Nashville than Asbury Park, and their eponymous debut album is a treat. Coming up with some analogues for this band is a bit tough since they do an expert job of melding all their influences; "Brit pop meets Americana" as it says on their CD Baby page, and I hear a bit of everything from Steve Earle at one end of the spectrum to The Verve on the other end. Maybe I can best explain their sound in the context of Marah, who hails from the same general area: it's kind of like the songs from Float Away With The Friday Night Gods with the production values of Kids In Philly, minus the Springsteen worship.

The album starts off with a bang; the first three tracks "Blue & Red", "Pictures" and "Tear" are an impressive an introduction as any, and "Embassy Stairs" is where the Marah comparison really hits home. You can stream the first three, along with "Got Me All Wrong", at their myspace page. No mp3s I could find, so CD Baby is your best bet for the remaining samples and purchasing. These guys are only in their early 20s, and with a promising debut like this already on record, it'll be interesting to see where they go from here.

UPDATE: Somehow I missed the fact that Smash Palace's Stephen Butler produced this disc, as well having a hand in co-writing and playing on some of the tracks here. That'll teach me to pay attention to liner notes more often.

David Mead update.

Helpful reader Bob M. has alerted us to the existence of a new David Mead track on his myspace page (Mead's that is, not Bob's). It appears to be title track of his forthcoming album Tangerine, which according to Mead's myspace blog will be released in May.

Tangerine is a sort of instrumental; there is only some wordless singing on the track, which is short (1:40). I'm not going to jump to any conclusions off this one, but the fact that Mead has a new one coming out in May is excitement enough.

UPDATE: Never one to make fun of somebody else's hair, I nevertheless can't help but notice that Mead is a cinch to land the lead role should Eraserhead 2 ever be green-lighted.

I wonder what a David Lynch power pop album would sound like?

EP (and eMusic find) of the Day: Adam Panic-We All Do

With the power pop demographic probably mostly in its 30s, 40s and 50s, it's refreshing to see young whipper-snappers taking it up. Arizona's Adam Panic just celebrated his 20th birthday last month, but he already has three fine power pop EPs under his belt, including his latest, We All Do.

This one is right up the alley of fans of Eugene Edwards, Big Kid and even the Attractions-era Elvis Costello. There isn't a weak track among the five here, with the highlights being the rocking title track, the hook-laden "Buy Me Out", and the jangly "Peach". And it's available for the price of five of your downloads at eMusic. Or you can spend $4.95 at iTunes, or $8 at cdbaby, which is the best place to sample the whole thing. You can steam "We All Do" and "Peach", as well as a track from one of his previous EPs, at his myspace page. So don't "Panic", just listen.

Administrative note.

I've put an email link over on the right, for anyone who may want to contact me privately. The power pop cognoscenti will get a kick out of the address I'm using.

My Top 20 of 2005, #5: The Well Wishers-Under The Arrows

I know what you're thinking: Where did #6-#11 go? Don't worry - they're coming. But exigent circumstances led me to go out of order here for the Well Wishers' brilliant sophomore release, Under The Arrows. Specifically, Not Lame (who released this on their own label) is currently streaming the album in its entirety from their main page, and they usually focus on a release in that manner for less than a week. So by the time I would have normally rolled around to this one (in about a week), the streaming might have been gone.

Why all the fuss? This release has it all - jangly guitars, Beatlesque melodies and harmonies, choruses that won't quit, yet it retains a modern sound and doesn't sound like a tribute album. Plus, it appears that Jeff Shelton & Co. have a soft spot for Foreigner, as two consecutive tracks are titled "Double Vision" and "Break It Up". The latter is maybe the most rocking of the bunch. Meanwhile, the 4th of July holiday gets the theme song it deserves with "Fourth of July" (take a seat, Neil Diamond). My personal favorites are some of mellower ones: "Before The Race Was Run", which sounds like solo Ken Stringfellow, and "Only Sky", whose "is it meeee/is it youuuu" refrain burrowed its way into my head and still can't get out. Not Lame is offering up a 96kbps full-length mp3 of this track here:

Only Sky

Similar to the Golden Apples, who put out a better Big Star album last year than Big Star itself, The Well Wishers put out a better Posies album than the reformed Posies did. So take this limited opportunity to preview this great album in full over at Not Lame, and buy it if you like it.

eMusic update.

My #14 album of 2005, Peter Bruntnell's Ghost in a Spitfire, was added this morning to eMusic, so subs should check it out here.

My Top 20 of 2005, #12: Jim Boggia-Safe In Sound.

Philly's Jim Boggia certainly gets around, having played with many fine musicians over his career as (mostly) a session man and touring sideman. His second solo album, Safe In Sound, finds him calling in some favors from big names and creating a great power pop album. The MC5's Wayne Kramer helps out, as does Aimee Mann, Pete Thomas from Elvis C's Attractions and Jill Sobule, but the real coup was getting the reclusive underground pop legend Emmitt Rhodes to co-write a track and contribute backing vocals.

As any avid movie watcher will tell you though, a great cast doesn't necessarily make a great movie. But that's not the case here as Boggia has come up with a bunch of future classics. Highlights are many, including the track co-written with Rhodes, "Let Me Believe (Evan's Lament)", a bouncy Beatlesque number; the propulsive "Live The Proof"; and the opening number, the should-have-been-a-hit "Shine".

No mp3s for this one, but he's got three tracks, including "Live The Proof", streaming at his myspace page. You can get some 30-second snippets here, and it's for sale in the Amazon Marketplace for only $5 new, a real bargain. It's not available on eMusic, but his first solo album, Fidelity Is The Enemy, is.

CD of the Day, 2/23/06: RadioJones-RadioJones

This one was a real buried gem from last summer. RadioJones (or is it Radiojones?) is pretty much a mainstream-sounding band in the vein of The Wallflowers or Counting Crows, but what sets them apart is the quality of the tunes. And unlike most albums, which are front-loaded, this one gets better as it goes on. While the first three tracks are nice enough, it's not until about the fourth track, the ballad "Wait", that they really get on a roll; from there, the uptempo "Think" jangles along in fine fashion; "We All Dance" is quality Americana, and "Don't Tell Sandy" has a chorus that will worm its way into your head. Another standout is "Helpless", an excellent midtempo number, complete with whistling in the break.

The first three tracks are available as free downloads from their site:

Fireball
Desperately
Forgotten

"We All Dance" can be streamed at their myspace page, and the rest of course can be sampled at the cdbaby page.

Welcome Coolfer readers!

Coolfer is my probably my favorite music blog out there. They do a great job of covering all the angles in the music industry today, both in the area of the music biz as well as the music itself. And they do it all without a hipper-than-thou attitude (cough, Pitchfork, cough) yet they have the ability to cut through a lot of the BS out there. And yes, they do like power pop and they're not ashamed to admit it.

So I gave them a shout to let 'em know about this blog, and here's what Coolfer had to say:

Absolute Powerpop is a blog dedicated to, yes, power pop. It has links to albums available at eMusic, lists of power pop bands playing SXSW and a lot of posts on unheralded and unheard-of power pop artists and bands. Since the genre doesn't get much mainstream play -- outside of Fountains of Wayne -- a resource like this is worth its weight in gold.

Much appreciated. To new readers coming over, welcome, and I hope you find us worthy of the comments above.

New at Not Lame, 2/22/06.

The Green & Yellow TV-Sinister Barrier

Been there, talked about that.

The Animators-Home by Now

This one goes back to 2003. It's available on eMusic here, you can do the 2-minute samples here, and you can get these two mp3s directly from their site:

Rearrange
Girl #3

There's a link for an additional mp3 from the album there, but it's broken. Quick verdict: not sure. Some songs sounded OK; I'll have to investigate further. They compared with Wisely, whom I like but don't quite go nuts about the way they (and others) do.

Jumping Windows-Belly of the Beast

The Enuff 'z' Nuff comparison Not Lame gives this one is dead on. Liking what I hear so far, from their myspace page.There are a couple of mp3s for download here, but you have to register first. The cdbaby samples are very limited (only 3 I think), so sample the myspace, then sample the additional tracks at Not Lame. One of their tracks is titled "Radio Friendly". Gotta love that.

Holiday With Maggie-Skyline Drive

This one's an import - I guess you can call it Swedish emo. Swemo anyone? Don't see any mp3s available, but you can sample in some more depth here. "Is It Worth It?" sounds like a really good track.

The Dreadful Yawns-The Dreadful Yawns

Had to go back and listen to this one, noticed that just about all my plays in iTunes for this were back in August. Now I realize why they didn't make a great impression on me. It's nice enough; laid-back Americana is what I'd call it. It's not dreadful by any means, although I did have to stifle a yawn. Unfortunately, the band isn't offering up any mp3s at their site, but they do have a myspace page.

mp3 of the Day: Paper Airplane Pilots-The Way It Goes

I don't know if this is going to be a regular feature or not, but I have my iPod on pretty much constantly, and if a song comes on that I really like and haven't posted about already (and that song is available as a free mp3 download), I'll make it my "mp3 of the day". And the song I just heard that I love is "The Way It Goes" by Paper Airplane Pilots from their recent Western Automatic Music release. This track is a bit different than the rest on that fine album, with a bit of a glam rock feel to it, a la T.Rex or Sweet (Paper Lace anyone?). Download it here:

The Way It Goes

You can also grab a couple of other tracks from the album at their site, and you can get the whole thing at Kool Kat or Not Lame.

First (Second) Thoughts on Josh Rouse's Subtitulo.

To those who may be new to the blog and are reading all the cumulative posts, or for those who have been reading all along and may be thinking the same thing, I'd imagine by now it seems I like everything that I hear, so positive have all the comments been on virtually all the music I've discussed. Those who know me personally, however, know that I can be as acerbic as the next guy, perhaps even moreso.

The reason why I've had very little negative to say is that it's pretty much not the point of this blog. If I hear a new band and think they stink, I'm not even going to bother to write about them. For the most part, it's all about getting the stuff I like publicized to as many as I can, to try and spread the gospel, as it were. But one area in which I won't be averse to registering my disapproval is if a veteran artist disappoints me. So this is where Josh Rouse's Subtitulo comes in.

I received an advance copy of this a couple of days ago, and despite my earlier, optimistic pronouncement on what I had heard from the album, one word comes to mind after hearing it in its entirety: slight. Slight in the sense that it seems to be largely a very low-key, laid-back, almost acoustic affair, and slight in the sense that the songs don't grab me melodically. I'm not normally a big fan of acoustic music (although there are exceptions, if the songs are really good; one of my upcoming best of 2005 is an example), and with a few exceptions, that's what Subtitulo is. I appreciate the fact that it appears Rouse has found inner peace having moved to Spain, and that's great, but if he wants to be Spain's answer to Jack Johnson, it doesn't mean I have to keep raving about his records.

Perhaps it's also his prolificacy catching up to him; he's been releasing albums every 12-18 months lately, and maybe the well ran dry a bit (padding a 10-track, 30-something minute album with an instrumental wasn't a good sign on that score). I still do like the first couple of songs I raved about earlier (perhaps they should have formed the basis for an EP instead of a full-length), and it's also possible this album may grow on me. It's certainly not bad. But I'm pretty confident in stating it's no Nashville, or 1972, or Under Cold Blue Stars. And I hope that he's not following in the footsteps of a very similar artist, Freedy Johnston, who also had a run of three consecutive brilliant albums in the early-to-mid 90s (Can You Fly, This Perfect World, Never Home) before following them up with a low-key affair (Blue Days, Black Nights) and kind of losing his muse thereafter. I'll still be eagerly awaiting the next Josh Rouse album, but right now I'm kind of hoping it shows up in 2008 instead of 2007.

New releases in at Not Lame.

Not Lame just put its new releases up this morning. I notice the top featured disc is The Green & Yellow TV that was our CDotD yesterday, and the only other one I already have heard is the Dreadful Yawns. Busy afternoon at work for me, so I'll have my regular post on these up tonight, either before or after Florida-Tennessee hoops (at least Lost and Invasion are in reruns tonight, or it'd be tomorrow).

My Top 20 of 2005, #13: Pugwash-Jollity

It hasn't been easy being an XTC fan for the past 15 or so years. After a brilliant run in the 80s capped by "Oranges and Lemons", all we have to show for proper XTC releases (aside from compilations) are 1992's Nonsuch and 2000's Apple Venus/Wasp Star combo. For a couple of years now, there's been a rumored release of an album titled Tunes to Help You Breathe More Easily, but it seems to be the Chinese Democracy of the power pop set. Actually there have been a few new XTC songs trickling out ("Say It", "Spiral" and "Where Did The Ordinary People Go?") but no imminent release date for a full-length.

So what's a music-starved XTC fan to do? Get a copy of Pugwash's 2005 release Jollity. A vehicle for singer/songwriter Thomas Walsh, it has the XTC pedigree - the strings were arranged by former XTC member Dave Gregory, and the man himself, Andy Partridge, co-wrote the album's final track, "Anchor", with Walsh. Really, this is about all I should need to tell you if you aren't already familiar with this release. The songs live up to the influence and the style, and there's also some Eric Matthews (who adds trumpet on "Black Dog" - not the Zep song) as well as Brian Wilson (who apparently is a Pugwash fan) in here as well. Standouts include the Wilson-influenced opener "It's Nice to be Nice", and "Poles Together", which will have you checking the liner notes to see if Partridge co-wrote that one too.

The Pugster isn't offering up any mp3s of this one on his site, so the best place to listen is here. There are a couple of mp3s from previous album available for download at the Pugwash site, however.

UPDATE: Nice catch from alert reader Brihoos in the comments: Pugwash has a myspace page here, under Pugwalsh (sic), where he's streaming 2 b-sides (or one C-side, as he calls it): "To My Maker" and "Home to Me".

Frank Ciampi update.

As promised, Frank has made all three of his tracks available for download at his myspace page. Therefore, I've disabled the link to the mp3 that I had put up. If you missed the previous post, get over there and grab those tunes, they're great.

CD of the Day, 2/22/06: The Ride Theory-In This City

Today's featured disc comes from the Great White North - Hamilton, Ontario's The Ride Theory, whose sophomore effort, In This City, is a real keeper for fans of 60s-themed rock/pop.

The Ride Theory can best be described as the British Invasion meets Detroit. Why these guys aren't signed to Rainbow Quartz yet I don't know, but they have the whole garage/psych/Beatle-y thing going here. Get on board "I'm on Board", the leadoff track which comes right out of the garage circa Detroit 1969 and Ohio 2005 (The Greenhornes). "Motel Woman" is more of the same, albeit with more a mod-period Who twist. But then they switch gears mid-disc with "My Girl June", an acoustic number with sweet harmonies that sounds like a lost McCartney Beatles For Sale track, and follow that up with "All That I Know", which harkens back to Lennon's Rubber Soul contributions. Perhaps the best track on the disc is "On Fire", where these two styles meet.

You want some mp3s? We got em:

I'm on Board
Motel Woman
My Girl June

And whole thing can be streamed at their website (just look for the embedded audio player to the left of the gramophone). It doesn't look like any of the usual power pop retailers are carrying this one (time to get on this one, guys), so for now the best place to get it is at their site (under "merch"), or if you want it right now on your iPod, get it at iTunes.

This one was a very pleasant surprise to stumble across.

(Free) EP of the Day: Status Green

Status Green isn't going to reinvent the wheel, or leave you breathless with superlatives. They're a veteran Jersey bar band whose claim to fame at the moment is having opened for Bon Jovi a few weeks ago in Connecticut.

But they can sure rock. And they've recorded four tunes that deliver the goods, and all four of them are available for free at their site. The real standout is "You Were Looking", five minutes of meat-and-potatoes yet catchy and melodic rock. There's kind of a retro garage purity at work here that lots of younger wannabe White Stripers would kill for.

Here are the mp3s (unfortunately, the "You Were Looking" mp3 is of lower quality):

It Ain't Me
What You're Wasting
The Outside
You Were Looking

They also have a myspace page where you can stream these four tracks. There doesn't appear to be an actual disc for sale at their site or elsewhere, but according to the myspace page they're going to release a full-length in April, including these four tracks. I'll be keeping my eyes peeled for that one.

Meanwhile, if you're in the Northeast US (and I've noticed that quite a few of you are), you could do worse than check these guys out when they come to town. Personally, I'll take 'em over Bon Jovi any day of the week.

eMusic Alert!

As speculated on this blog the other day, eMusic now has Future Women, the latest from The M's, available today in its entirety.

My Top 20 of 2005, #14: Peter Bruntnell-Ghost In a Spitfire

Peter Bruntnell's Ghost in a Spitfire is not a power pop album, but this UK singer-songwriter's British version of Americana was an outstanding effort. I'm a bit pressed for time at the moment and since this isn't a power pop release per se, I'll turn it over to his site, which states:

Although his tent has been pitched in the Americana camp he's a very British songwriter who on the evidence of this latest album and especially on tracks such as Fear Of Lightning has more in common with Teenage Fanclub than the likes of usual comparisons Neil Young and Evan Dando. Lyrically he's never been tempted to stray from matters close to home and as a result he's been praised for the sucinct authenticity of his past five albums and Ghost In A Spitfire is no exception - its very title betraying a theme rarely found amongst his western peers.

If you want to sample, here's an mp3 of the title track:

Ghost In a Spitfire

Best place to get samples of the rest of the album is here.

"The new phone book is here! The new phone book is here!"

Pardon me while I have a Navin Johnson moment here; I just noticed that Google finally picked up this blog.

Power Pop at SXSW (The Final Chapter).

Going to wrap up the last three days of SXSW downloads in this post. There is some truly outstanding stuff in this batch, hence all the additional comments.

Marah-The Demon of White Sadness
The Latebirds-Set Free The Radio (I need to remember to blog about these guys; Radio Insomnia was one of the overlooked discs of 2005)
Hotel Lights-AM Slow Golden Hit (this is Darren Jessee's band - he was the bassist for Ben Folds Five, this track is the highlight from their great S/T 2004 album)
The Spinto Band-Oh Mandy (one of my favorite tracks of 2005)
Bill Ricchini-She Don't Come Around Here No More
The Mendoza Line-Mysterious In Black
The Silent League-Breathe
The Electric Soft Parade-Cold World (discussed here)
Lucero-Sixteen
The Amazing Pilots-All My Wasted Days
The Foxymorons-Harvard Hands
Luke Doucet-Broken One (great, great track)
The Len Price 3-Christian In The Desert
The Village Green-Under The Covers (from one of the top EPs of 2005)
Richard Swift-As I Go
Okkervil River-No Key, No Plan (more on them later, although they're not power pop)
Salim Nourallah-The World Is Full of People Who Want To Hurt You (discussed here as well)
Moonlight Towers-Everybody Knows Why (another great one)
The Brokedown-Down In The Valley (from yet another of 2005's great EPs)
Jason Collett-We All Lose One Another (see here; this was the best song on the album)
Sam Roberts Band-Brother Down (I was hoping they'd go with "Don't Walk Away Eileen", one of the best power pop songs of the decade, but this isn't bad either).
Wussy-Airborne

CD of the Day, 2/21/06: The Green and Yellow TV-Sinister Barrier

The Green and Yellow TV's third album, Sinister Barrier, is yet another early best-of-2006 contender. I'm going to give myself a break here, and let Popbang Radio take over:

The Green and Yellow TV have created an exceptional album full of Brian Wilson-esque harmonies, Pink Floyd dynamic intense sense, Jellyfish's whimsical musical lushness, The Wondermints' melodic gift, and Queen's power; all wrapped into something that is unique, special, and truly outstanding.

Five stars, 10 out of 10, two thumbs up, what else can be said about this A+ effort from a band that just "has it"! The Green and Yellow TV is essential listening for any fan of melodic, well crafted, perfectly produced, outstanding power pop.

What they said.

There's also a definite psych pop element to this album; I hear some High Dials and Telepathic Butterflies in there as well. And you can impress all your indie friends with this one; the band is Pitchfork-approved, having garnered an 8.6 for their debut album. (Even in that review, however, Pitchfork takes a slam at the power pop scene).

If you want to see what all the fuss is about, you can go directly to the source and grab these mp3s:

Carrot and a Stick
Temporary Fix

Stream three more at full-length (plus "Temporary Fix") here, and check out 2 minutes of each of the rest at the cdbaby link. eMusic subscribers can get their second album, Record X, here.

This is one TV where you won't want to change the channel.

Power Pop at SXSW (Part 2).

Earlier today, we gave you the downloads of choice for the Wednesday performers; now here are the ones to grab from Thursday's lineup:

Winterpills-Pills For Sara
The Cloud Room-Hey Now Now
The Minus 5-Retrieval of You
The Capes-Tightly Wound
Jay Bennett-5th Grade (I think this is a new unreleased track)
AJ Croce-Don't Let Me Down (Jim's son)
Peel-Moxy Blues
Palaxy Tracks-Grey Snake
Levy-Rotten Love
Immaculate Machine-Phone No. (they're featured at the Not Lame front page right now, for fans of the New Poronographers)
Novillero-The Hypothesist (great band)
Damien Jurado-White Center
Glen Phillips-Released (ex-Toad the Wet Sprocket frontman, great track)

Here's the full lineup for Thursday; as on the last post, if you see a band that has an mp3 available that warrants mentioning, please do so in the comments section.

eMusic Disc of the Day: The Pillcrushers-Welcome to the World

When sifting through the dozens and dozens of new releases that come out each day at CD Baby, I'm constantly seeing some variant of the "If Artist X and Artist Y had a baby, and Artist Z was the babysitter, this is what it would sound like" analogy used by a band to describe its sound. It's effective, though, but getting a bit old. So to tweak it to remain up to speed with current affairs, I'll use this one to describe The Pillcrushers' Welcome To The World: it's as if Tom Petty and Matthew Sweet went quail hunting, and Badfinger was playing on the pickup truck radio on the way over.

They have a couple of mp3s available at their site:

Is It True
Everyday

Get the 30-second sample blitz of those two and the rest from eMu here. If you're not an eMu subscriber (and why the heck aren't ya?) or if you prefer the feel of polycarbonate plastic in your hands, you can get the cd for a very reasonable $8 at Paisley Pop (should be the first one on that page).

Power Pop at SXSW (Part 1).

Music festival SXSW is almost upon us, and they've just released the schedule of artists and bands to play. The great part of this for the vast majority of us who won't end up attending is that they make an mp3 for most of the artists available for download at their site.

So here's a list of downloads that I would recommend for you, the reader, from the opening day (Wednesday) acts. I'll do a post for Thursday's later today or tomorrow, and, so on, for each day. These will be plenty to get you started:

David Mead-Wherever You Are (!)
Derby-Sunk a Few (more on them to come on this site)
The Capitol Years-Juicers
Oranger-New Comes and Goes
The Whigs-Violet Furs
Modern Skirts-My Bully
Irving-White Hot
The Heavy Blinkers-Try Telling That to My Baby
Matt Mays & El Torpedo-On The Hood
The M's-Future Women (we discussed them here the other day)
Of Montreal-Wraith Pinned to the Mist and Other Games
Sam Champion-Slow Rewind
Chris Mills-Chris Mills Is Living The Dream
Healthy White Baby-Soul
Maritime-Parade of Punk Rock T Shirts

Also, here are some alt-country/Americana acts that I've taken a shine to:
Limbeck-People Don't Change
Dan Israel-Good Times
The Mudville Project-The Tea
Collin Herring-The Other Side of Kindness

The full Wednesday list is here. If you think I've missed someone of interest from Wednesday's lineup that has an mp3 available (note that some acts like The New Pornographers don't), please let us know in the comments.

CD of the Day, 2/20/06: Justin Levinson-1175 Boylston

Wow. 2006 is shaping up to be quite a year for great new discoveries. We're barely halfway through February, and here comes another one: Justin Levinson. His debut, 1175 Boylston, sounds like the work of a seasoned pro.

Now while anyone these days with a piano-based sound and some pop smarts gets compared to Ben Folds, the comparison is truly earned here. This cd reminds me, more than any other I can recall, of the Ben Folds Five debut album ( one of my top 10 albums of the 90s), not only musically but in spirit as well. Opener "Sunny Day" is as catchy and bouncy as they come (complete with slide trombone courtesy of Levinson himself), and just when you've caught your breath, "Empty Line Cliche" follows with more of the same. The Folds sense of humor is there as well on the album closer "Nice to See You Guys", in which Levinson & Co. break out the banjos and kazoos (!). But he has more than simple pop ditties on his mind; both "Sky Is Falling" and "Fireflies" address the unpopular Iraq war in a thoughtful manner and without sacrificing the underlying melodies. The strong backing vocals on many of the tracks also remind me of the Five, with the main difference being that Levinson is unafraid to use guitars.

At this point you're saying "enough already - where can I listen to this?" Well, you're in luck. First of all, you can download - yes, download - 3 tracks including "Sunny Day" and "Sky Is Falling" at Justin's Pure Volume site. (Note: these tracks are downloadable by clicking on "download" within a Flash application, which means the normal right-click saving options aren't available. Set your browser's mp3 preferences to "save to disk" instead of opening in, for example, winamp). Over at his myspace page, the same three can be streamed along with a rough demo of a newly written non-album track. And as usual you can stream 2-minute samples of additional tracks and buy the album at CD Baby.

The way things are going - with accomplished debuts from the likes of Levinson, Supraluxe, Travis Hopper and who knows who else to come - the veteran power pop artists are going to have to really start stepping up to the plate to make my year-end of best-of list for 2006.

My Top 20 of 2005, #15-Terry Anderson & The Olympic Ass-Kickin' Team

Well it is fitting that we highlight this release during the Olympics. And if "ass-kickin' rock'n'roll" were an Olympic sport, these guys would be bringing home the gold. Did you love Rockpile? Into NRBQ? Then you'll love this release from Anderson & Co, especially now that Nick Lowe has become a "crooner". Anderson is, as he puts it, "in the tradition of singing drummers such as Mickey Dolenz, Levon Helm and whoever that guy in Night Ranger was." This is probably the most "fun" power pop release of 2005, an antidote for whatever might have you down on a given day, so I'm not going to try and overanalyze it. Suffice it to say that although Anderson displays a great sense of humor on many of these tracks, it doesn't end up being "quirk for quirk's sake" like you'll hear with other bands that attempt to inject some levity into their tunes. My personal favorites are "Inez" and "Gityoassupda Road", the latter of which is a constant thought of mine while driving around in my home area of Pinellas County, Florida, which has the double whammy of being the state's most densely populated county while having an incredibly high number of senior citizens on the road.

First of all, you must visit the band's site, and whatever you do, don't click "Skip Intro". And check out Terry's own blog. Then listen to the samples at CD Baby. Then gityoassovato here, or here, and buy the damn thing.

New at Kool Kat Musik.

We've been kind of partial around here to Not Lame, but another "Kool" place to buy power pop is Kool Kat Musik. Although KKM sells all genres of music, they have a specialty store within that concentrates on our kind of stuff. And Ray, the guy in charge there, has promised to keep me apprised of the latest they receive. So without further ado, here's what the Kat has new for us:

Robert Post-Robert Post

I've been spinning (or should I say my iPod's hard drive has been spinning) this one for a couple of months. Post is from Norway, and has emerged big time in Europe (the disc is only available as an import in the US). Post gives us pure pop of the highest order, from the bouncy, anthemic "Got None" to the Neil Finn-esque "High Tide" and even a little David Mead in "There's One Thing". Although some might lump him in with the David Grays and James Blunts of the world, Post is a superior artist and deserves the same, if not more, success.

You can sample his wares at his official site (just click on "media"), and stream four tracks (including "Got None" and "There's One Thing") at his myspace page.

Patrik Tanner-Soft.

This is a 2004 release I picked up early last year, and it's a good one. With an album titled "Soft", you're kind of know what you're getting. And Tanner delivers the goods - this is quality singer/songwriter pop. My favorite track is the Beatlesque "Hello Tomorrow", complete with chimes at the end.

The best place to sample is the cdbaby page, and yes, Virginia, he has a myspace page with four streaming tracks.

Abandon Ship-The Best Game

This one is brand new, and I have to confess I'm not familiar with these guys. I will note that on name alone, they'd make a good double bill with Barnacle Bill. (I've always called for a double bill of Anthrax and The Cure, but they've never listened to me.) Anyway, I'm doing what any of you who might be interested in checking them out would do, and that is to listen to the samples at their cdbaby page (where it's out of stock, by the way). They self-describe by saying "this is indie pop", and from what I'm hearing as I type, it's a spot-on description. It sounds like fans of the Spectacular Fantastic will enjoy this one.

My Top 20 of 2005, #16-The Golden Apples-Cooler Jets Will Prevail

One of the big stories of 2005 in the power pop scene was the "reunion" of Big Star and release of the album In Space, the first to bear the Big Star name since 1978. Unfortunately, the album turned out to be something of a dud. Although it had its moments, it came off as kind of a half-baked Alex Chilton solo disc, with a couple of lesser Posies songs thrown in for good measure. It was kind of telling that the best track on the album came from original drummer Jody Stephens; telling because he really had minimal creative input on the classic Big Star albums.

No, if it was a new Big Star album you wanted last year, you would have been better served picking up The Golden Apples' Cooler Jets Will Prevail. And in case you had any doubts, the first track itself is titled "Big Star", and sounds like "In The Street" updated for the 21st century (forget the That 70's Show abomination). It's the best Big Star homage since Paul Westerberg and the Replacements sang "Alex Chilton". This is power pop at its power poppiest, and the highlights continue from there: "McKinley Hill" has the 70s Chilton swagger and attitude and a tres cool melody, "Momentum Is Now" has a fist-pumping, cigarette lighter-waving vibe, and "Around Me" is a dead ringer for Big Star's "Don't Lie to Me". So sell your copy of In Space to the used cd store, and go buy this one.

The best place to sample it is at their myspace page, although among the songs I mentioned above, only "Big Star" is streaming there. And the best place to buy it is here, from the good folks at Not Lame.

EP of the Day: Frank Ciampi

"EP" may be a misleading term here, since as far as I know Frank Ciampi doesn't even have an officially sanctioned EP for sale; instead, he has three tracks streaming at his myspace page, where I got the picture above. Officially released or not, they're three great tracks. The Ben-Folds-meets-Mike-Viola "Anna" was one of my favorite tunes of 2005, the same influence is on display with "The Same", and "Anyway" is a brilliant Brian Wilson homage.

A while back, Frank was giving away cd-rs with these three tunes, but I'm not sure if he's still doing that. I've emailed him to see what's up, so watch this space - I may have a link to get you a cd-r, or permission to post some mp3s. If nothing else, you have some nice tunes to stream on a Sunday morning (or afternoon, depending on where you are).

UPDATE: Just heard back from Frank, and he told me he plans to enable downloading of the three tracks on the myspace page. In the meantime, he's given me permission to post an mp3:

Anna

Click on "download" at the bottom of the page to do so. When he does make them available, I'll disable this link and you should refer to his myspace page.

UPDATE II: Above mp3 link is now disabled, as Frank has made all 3 tracks available for download at his myspace page.

CD of the Day, 2/19/06: Stuart Valentine-Melody's True

Stuart Valentine's Melody's True was an album that was criminally overlooked in 2005. Maybe it's the hair - on the cover, he does kind of look like Eugene Levy as Rockin' Mel Slirrup from SCTV. In any event, this one falls somewhere between the finely crafted pop of Pat Buchanan (this Pat Buchanan, not that one), and the darker, indie pop of Elliott Smith or even Nick Drake. Valentine has been around a while, as he puts it:

I've been playing music since I was way too young to get into bars. The better known bands are probably The Out Crowd, Paramore and Richmond Fontaine. I've been part of six published albums in my life, toured all over and even stumbled into the movie DIG! I started as a drummer and then learned to play other instruments and write songs. This is my first solo album, produced by Brian Coates who has worked with The Dandy Warhols.

Particular highlights here are the opener, "Downtown In Time", and the title track "Melody's True", which is complete with a melody that is true and some "uh ohs" in the chorus; it could have been a hit in a parallel universe somewhere. Judge for yourself, here's an mp3:

Melody's True

You can stream this one, "Downtown in Time", and two more at his myspace page. It'll be worth your time. And who knows, between this one and the David Doll, perhaps we're establishing an inverse relationship between hairstyle choices and musical ability.

Eugene Levy....or Stuart Valentine?

Something that may only interest me.

As an ELO freak since my pre-teen years, I always find it interesting when a contemporary artist covers an ELO track. Today, I noticed one of the more unusual ELO covers, from Grandaddy on their upcoming Just Like The Fambly Cat album: they're covering the outro from the A New World Record track "Shangri-La". Not the whole song, just the outro - the part in which Jeff Lynne sings "I will return to Shangri-La" over a swelling wordless chorus and copious strings.

Making things more intriguing is that frontman Jason Lytle has said that this will be the last Grandaddy album, and the Shangri-La outro is the final track on the album, making this a very cool homage to ELO. Just Like The Fambly Cat is due out May 8, but thanks to the magic of the internets, an advance of this has leaked, and I can confirm that this is pretty much a note-for-note cover.

Top 20 of 2005, #17: Feel-Invisible Train

(Apologies for the low-res cover; it was the best I could find for this largely overlooked release).

Another gem from last year was Invisible Train, the second album by the LA-based band Feel. The main man behind Feel is Scott Sax, a sought-after session musician who was once part of the legendary power pop band Wanderlust. Feel is more mellow-sounding than Wanderlust, and that's not a bad thing. Notable tracks include "This Moment", which sounds like early-period solo McCartney, "Fall", a truly wonderful ballad evocative of Bread, and my favorite of the bunch, "Goodbye Baby", which is the best slow Tom Petty song that he never wrote. If you're in the mood for more pop than power, this is one to add to your collection.

Various tracks from Invisible Train can be sampled (and bought) at the Not Lame link above, as well as at the band's site. They do have a myspace page, which streams "Oh Life" from Invisible Train, as well as "Got Your Name On It" from their debut album. And as plugged in to things as I can be, somehow I didn't know that Feel has recently released an EP of new material until I discovered it at their site while putting together this post. Unfortunately, the paypal link to buy it is down at the moment. Ye gads - I might actually be forced to use snail mail to order it.

New and notable on eMusic.

If you were impressed (or at least 50% as impressed) as I was by the Travis Hopper debut I touted the other day, you may have noticed that the man most responsible for that cd after Hopper himself was Salim Nourallah. Nourallah is an outstanding solo artist in his own right, and eMusic just added his most recent release, last year's Beautiful Noise, to its site. Beautiful Noise is kind of a low-key affair (although Nourallah can get it cranked up at times), reminiscent of some of the slower numbers on Wilco's Summerteeth and Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, only without all the bells and whistles. And if you like Beautiful Noise, you can also download his previous release, Polaroid, as well as his album with brother Faris, usefully titled the Nourallah Brothers.

Also just in is the latest release from a band that had an impressive debut as any I've heard back in 2002 with Holes In The Wall. I'm talking about the UK's The Electric Soft Parade, who make their bow on eMusic with The Human Body EP. ESP have the ability to sound like a number of different bands; at times they have a more 60s-70s Beatlesque sound; and at others they have a more modern Teenage Fanclub/Blur/Oasis sound. Highlights on the EP include "Cold World" and "Stupid Mistake".

Being reminded of Holes In The Wall makes me think I should start a series of overlooked albums of, say, the last 10 years. Maybe after the 2005 Top 20 is done.

CD of the Day, 2/18/06: Simon Morel-Songs From The City

Released last June, Australian Simon Morel's debut album, Songs From The City, is a solid collection of singer-songwriter pop, from the Squeeze-ish opener "Sick and Tired" to the 80s-sounding standout "Gold Plated", and the beautiful ballad "Stained". Other highlights include the uptempo "Point of View" and the ruminative closer "Home Address".

You can stream "Gold Plated", "Stained" and "Point of View" at Simon's myspace page, and "Sick and Tired" can be streamed here. And the rest can be sampled at the cdbaby page, where of course you can buy it if you like it.

Featured on Not Lame, 2/17/06.

The M's - Future Women

Not familiar with this band, but the namedrops of Ray Davies, Damon Albarn, Marc Bolan, and John Lennon make it sound interesting. You can download the following mp3 from the album:

Plan of the Man

And you can stream four more tracks at the Not Lame link above. It also appears that this album will be available via eMusic once its official street date of February 21 rolls around; there's already a page for it here, with only "Plan of the Man" available for download (but it's free above). I am liking that track.

Fire Marshals of Bethlehem - Songs For Housework

A friend sent me a copy of this last year and after going back and listening to it, I have to say that it's pretty good. Somewhere in between Neko Case with the New Pornographers and maybe a poppier Caitlin Cary. More extensive samples can be found here; the band's site doesn't offer streams or mp3s.

Swan Dive - Popcorn and a Mama Who Loves Me Too

What makes Not Lame great? I scour CD Baby and a few other sites. Not Lame scours the globe. This one's from Thailand, of all places. The cd, that is - the band itself is from Nashville. Sample it at the Not Lame link above; no streams at the band site for this one. It can also be found at iTunes.

New Radiant Storm King-The Steady Hand

We already told you about this one the other day.

I'm taking a pass on the rest, especially the one that sounds like Hillary Duff and Avril Lavigne.

This just in from the Stopped Clock Dept.

Those who have been with me here since the early days (you know, late last week) know that I have no love lost for Pitchfork. But I will give them props for being right about this one. I really did enjoy Idols of Exile quite a bit last year - it's great singer-songwriter pop. It was just released in the US, but I bought it from a Canadian retailer last summer when it came out up there on the strength of my enjoyment of Collett's first solo disc, Motor Motel Love Songs.

In fact, I even concur with the reviewer's choices of the standout tracks on the album. But I guess I shouldn't give them too much credit; Collett is a member of indie darlings Broken Social Scene, so it's not like they're suddenly throwing out a 7.6 to, say, a Michael Carpenter release.

UPDATE: I'm not doing my job here if I hype a release and don't link to where you can hear it. So sample it here (click on "music"). I don't think he has a myspace page; like James Cooper yesterday, there's a teenager with the same name at the obvious myspace address.

My Top 20 of 2005, #18: Sparkwood-Jalopy Pop

Sparkwood's Jalopy Pop is much in the same vein as my #20, Checkpoint Charley: Catchy as hell, influenced by Jellyfish/Queen/Fountains of Wayne, etc. I'd even say there's some ELO influence in here as well, and a bit more of a 50s/60s vibe than Checkpoint. Standouts here include "Emergency", "In Your Lovin' Arms", and "D".

Some abdridged mp3s and a music video can be had at the band's site, and you can get some full-length streaming at their myspace page. It's all good - this Jalopy is one smooth-running machine.

UPDATE: I just noticed that Jalopy Pop was David Bash's #1 album of 2005. For those of you who don't know who he is, David is the man behind International Pop Overthrow, which is power pop's Lollapalooza, SXSW and Woodstock rolled into one. Actually IPO is several regional shows around the USA (and elsewhere) throughout the year. Here's the current schedule:

Nashville: March 15-19 and 21-22
Chicago: April 21-May 6
Liverpool: May 24-29
Los Angeles: July 28-August 13
San Francisco: August 16-22
East Coast U.S. (Philadelphia, New York, Boston): November

Make sure you go to one of these if it's in a city near you.

Celebration Time!

In just our 9th day of blogging, AbPow celebrates its 1,000th visitor to the site! I'm grateful for the response so far, and to quote Steve Martin, I'd like to thank each and every one of you who's visited:

Thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou
thankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyouthankyou
thankyouthankyou...

So, here's to our 1000th visitor, a person from Reston, Virginia who obviously has good taste in web sites. I raise my Supraluxe mug of root beer (it's noon time, a bit too early to drink) to you:

CD of the Day, 2/17/06: Barnacle Bill-Towards The Pebbled Shore

Avast ye maties! Yar, today's CD for ye is Barrrrnacle Bill's Towards The Pebbled Shore. (When I picked this one out a week or so back, I promised myself I wouldn't go with the pirate talk. But I'm weak, I tell you, weak.) BB is a 3-piece out of NYC featuring two principal singer/songwriters: Yianni Naslas and Stu Klinger. I've always considered it a good thing for a band to have at least two creative voices of relatively equal ability; instead of getting one guy's sixth to tenth-best tracks, for example, you get a different guy's best five. The ultimate example of this dynamic was The Beatles, but even contemporary power pop bands like Fastball (Scalzo/Zuniga) and Sloan (Murphy, Pentland, Ferguson *and* Scott, except on the last one), have demonstrated the value in this arrangement.

For Barnacle Bill, the Fastball comparison is apt. Klinger is the Scalzo of the band, more of the classic power popper, sounding a lot like Fountains of Wayne on the leadoff track "Best For Last" and "Santa Fe", while Naslas is the Zuniga, a bit more laid-back, although he can turn it up as well, as demonstrated on "See You Through". This is a fine debut, and once it gets in front of the right ears, I can see it becoming a popular release in the power pop community.

The good news is that you can stream this album in its entirety (although you have to select one track at a time) at their website. And of course it can be purchased at CD Baby for $10. Yarrrr!

Urgent new discovery alert!

Yes, I've stolen the Drudge siren for this one. Travis Hopper's debut album, All The Lights In The City Tonight, is that stunning. I just finished streaming it in its entirety for the second time, back-to-back, having discovered it only a couple of hours ago among the CD Baby new arrivals, and I couldn't wait to spread the word.

Before I go too much further, I should note that this is not power pop in the classic sense. It's more like poppy Americana (popicana? Ameripop?), as practiced by Wilco (pre-Ghost Is Born), The Jayhawks, Salim Nourallah (who not coincidentally produced, mixed, plays bass and provides backing vocals here), and Whiskeytown-era Ryan Adams. I was hooked 15 seconds into the opening track, "Tietze Park", when Hopper sang "tonigh-igh-ight" and it didn't let me down from there. It's not too often you hear a 10-track album and fall for each track on first listen.

Yet some tracks here are more equal than others, and particular highlights are those closest to power pop: "Saturday Night Christmas Lights", "Can't Tell You Why", "Should've Been In Love", and the marvelous Ryan Adams-ish closer, "Four Pictures". An assured a debut as I've heard, and right now it's going to be battling Supraluxe for my #1 spot in 2006.

Just like I did, you can stream this album, uncut, at Mr. Hopper's site (the mp3 link for the one track appears to be broken). He has a myspace page up as well; but you'd be better served with the streams on his site, which sound of a better quality. And here's even better news: the disc itself is very reasonably priced at $8.99 on CD Baby. It's going to tough to find more bang for your cd buck than this. At times like these I like to quote the master, Not Lame's Bruce Bodeen: this disc is "Big Time Extremely Highly Recommended".

My Top 20 of 2005, #19: James Cooper-Second Season.

When a new artist gets the imprimatur of Michael Carpenter, one of the top power pop artists of the last decade, you have to take notice. Carpenter produced Second Season, the debut of James Cooper, and it's definitely a keeper. Cooper's not a Carpenter sound-alike, however; while MC has a more Beatlesque sound, Cooper comes down more on the folkier side of pop. There's some RouseMeadJohnston here, as well as some early Al Stewart, but also some Elvis Costello, and most definitely John Wesley Harding (the artist, not the Dylan album, although there might be a little of that in there as well).

There's more than one version of Second Season floating around. The cdbaby link above is for the UK version of the album, which features two tracks not on the US version: "Dream Trader" and "Never Know Why". So normally I'd suggest getting that one; however, the UK version omits the fine "Beautiful as You", which is found on the US version (and which is the one I bought here - it's the second one down - and listened to). If money's no object, you can get the UK version and this EP, which also has "Beautiful as You", but you'd be spending $9 to get that track. Decisions, decisions.

You can hear samples at all the links above. Unfortunately, Second Season is not available on eMusic (that could have solved the bonus tracks dilemma), and Cooper doesn't appear to have a myspace page. (There is a myspace page for a James Cooper, but it's some 16-year-old kid streaming Green Day and a video at the same time.)

eMusic Find of the Day: Locksley-Locksley EP

Today's eMusic find is Locksley, 4 guys from NYC who will both literally and figuratively be music to the ears of power poppers everywhere. Their most recent release is their self-titled EP from last summer, which starts off with the absolutely fab "Into The Sun", a great evocation of early-period Beatles. "All of the Time" is a slower number in the vein of "If I Fell" that would make Paul proud, and "She Does" is a powerful rocker that reminds me of Jet's "Are You Gonna Be My Girl?" Just great stuff.

And if you end up loving this EP, you can grab their 2004 full-length Safely From The City, as well. It's cut from the same cloth. (And if you really, really end up digging Locksley, eMu even has a live album to grab.)

You can stream 4 of the 5 EP tracks at their myspace page, and if you have to have the physical disc in your hot little hands, cdbaby has it here, as well as Safely From The City.

CD of the Day, 2/16/06: John Carrillo-Von Karma

John Carrillo is your classic Beatles-influenced power pop artist, and he's recently released his third album, Von Karma. I'd put Carrillo's sound somewhere between David Grahame and Michael Carpenter, with a bit of 10cc, Small Faces and maybe some English music hall thrown in. And Carrillo knows how to hire the help - legendary session bassist Carol Kaye (Pet Sounds, Phil Spector's Wall of Sound) backs him here. If these names thrown around sound like your kind of thing, Von Karma won't disappoint.

Here's an mp3 download from his site:

Help Me John, It's a Girl

The myspace four-pack is here, and 2-minute streams of the rest are available at the cdbaby page.

Administrative note.

I've enabled anonymous commenting on the posts (I didn't realize it was disabled), so if you wanted to leave a comment while not having to register with Blogger, you can now do so.

My Top 20 of 2005, #20: Checkpoint Charley-Songs One Through Twelve

Time for a new feature here at AP (or should that be APP? I'm still haunted by my decision to make "power pop" one word; maybe I should go with AbPow), my top 20 discs of 2005. I know it's late in the game for a best-of-2005 list, but I didn't have this blog a month ago. Nevertheless, my plan is to roll these out one day at a time in reverse order. For those who can't stand the suspense, a well-crafted search over at the Audities page on Yahoo will yield the list. Anyway, here we go:

The problem with writing about albums that have been out a while is that they've been reviewed several times, so it's hard to find something new to say that doesn't echo a dozen other reviews. In the case of Checkpoint Charley's Songs One Through Twelve, the Jellyfish/Queen comparisons are certainly earned (hell, there's even a track called "Bellyfish").

The way that I listen to music is not an album at a time, but rather in shuffle mode on my iPod. Typically, I have a playlist of the stuff I've added in the last month or six weeks (usually about 800-900 tracks, mostly consisting of full albums). In the case of Checkpoint Charley, my ears always perked up when one of their songs came on. And from me, that's high praise.

Download: eMusic | Sample: myspace| Buy: Not Lame

eMusic find this morning: The Sleepers-Push It Nationwide

Are you ready to rock? Not so much classic power pop as it is Stones/Black Crowes/Faces-type rock, The Sleepers' debut, Push It Nationwide, is worthy of 10 of your downloads on eMusic.

Stream four full-lengths at their myspace page, or listen to the full album in rapid-fire 30-second snippets at eMu (they do a real good job of getting the key 30 seconds of each track, that's what sold me here). Some tracks are also streaming at their own site, at the bottom of the page. You can buy the disc for $10 shipped at the paypal link on their myspace page.

CD of the Day, 2/15/06: Tide-Tide

Not to be confused with The Tyde, Brooklyn's Tide has put out one of the more impressive releases in this new year. The best way to describe Tide's sound is Guided by Voices meets The Kinks (hmmmm..Robert Pollard vs. Ray Davies, probably a closer fight than Westerberg vs. Cuomo). There's also some Fountains of Wayne in there as well. My faves are "Never Knows Your Name" (a killer track), "Over Me", and "Satellite".

"Never Knows Your Name" and three others are streaming at myspace, while 2-minute samples of all the tracks are at the CD Baby page for the album, the best (and apparently only) place to buy it right now.

As they say in Alabama, Roll Tide!

Warren Zanes update.

A few days ago, I touted Warren Zanes' Memory Girls and discussed his new album due out in March. At that point, there weren't any samples from the new one available, so I put up an mp3 of one of the new tracks. Well, there are now five tracks streaming in their entirety at his site. However, as none of them are "Jr's Bag of Tricks", I'll leave that mp3 up.

Featured on Not Lame, 2/14/06

Well, Not Lame is back in the game with some new featured releases, and together with the CD Baby backlog unleashed today, my head is spinning. (I still have two days of CD Babys to check out). Here's what NL is featuring:

Supraluxe-S/T.

Supraluxe? Never heard of them. Are they some kind of rock band? Seriously, if you still haven't succumbed to the hype, relax and give in. To quote Bruce, "(T)he always tasteful arrangements make sure that this release will not end up being `just another very fine CD` on your shelf and become one you will be forced, at the least, inclined, to tell others about." Gee, I wouldn't know anything about that.

The Roll Ups-Low Dives For Highballs.

We all have our idiosyncracies and little things that bother us, things that sometimes get in the way of properly appreciating something. For example, I know quite a few people that can't get past Bob Dylan's voice and appreciate the genius that he is. In my case, I can't get past this album cover. It creeps me out. Big time. I will note that this is one time that Not Lame has CD Baby beat on the samples. Other than that, it's glam rock, and a reissue, so I took a pass. But that doesn't mean you should, if that type of thing is up your alley. And especially if you can get past the album cover.

Dave Stoops-Spill Your Drink

This one is new to me, but it looks like a great find by Bruce & Co. I've started to listen to it, and I have to concur with this description: "Stoops sounds a lot like Karl Wallinger of World Party (and like Chris Bailey from The Saints), a very good thing and, in fact, much of the material sounds like the long, lost World Party album that fans have been waiting for the last 15 years or so."

And Mr. Stoops has done something very cool for us - he's put the entire album up on his site in mp3 format. So there's no excuse not to be listening to this one, and if you like the album, don't just keep the mp3s, buy it from Not Lame. Stoops has gone out on a limb here, and we should support artists willing to trust us with their music.

The Badways-Leave Us Alone

This one's new to me as well, and my first impression is that it definitely rocks. From what I'm hearing, it sounds like Steve Van Zandt couldn't have invented a better band for his Underground Garage channel on Sirius. I'm really digging the second track, "Two Worlds", which I'm hearing for the first time as I type this. I definitely see myself picking this one up.

You can stream "Two Worlds" and three other tracks at their myspace page.

The Clintons-Strange Day In Mexico

This one I am familiar with, having picked it up back around October. The point of reference that immediately came to mind was the Bodingtons I featured yesterday, and I see Bruce mentioned The Badlees in his writeup, so I remembered them correctly. This is the type of cd that's mainstream-sounding enough that you can play it for your non-powerpop-obsessed friends (unless they're perhaps Republicans, although you could always tell them they're named in honor of George Clinton).

They've had several albums out, and there's a variety of stuff you can stream at their site. When you get there, click on the "launch music player" button to get an idea of what they're like. And as usual, there are four streaming tracks on their myspace page.

Breather-One In a Million

Bruce really pulled this one out - it dates back to 2001. Tough to find samples, etc. online (Swedish bands from 2001 usually don't have myspace pages), so hit the Not Lame page linked above and decide for yourself.

The Hazey Janes-Hotel Radio

Listening to as many bands as I do, it isn't easy keeping up with what they're all up to. So it was a pleasant surprise for me to discover tonight that this Scottish band has put out a full-length, as their self-titled EP from last summer was a favorite of mine. And I see that this new one isn't repeating tracks from the EP. Very nice. The HJ's are at the intersection of my two favorite styles of music: power pop and alt-country. The Jayhawks and Cosmic Rough Riders comparisons are most certainly apt.

All of the tracks can be sampled here.

All in all, a lot of good stuff tonight from the good folks at Not Lame.

The hostages are freed!

As we entered Day 8 of the CD Baby new music hostage crisis, a breakthrough was reached today, as a daring commando attack on their Portland, Oregon offices resulted in the freeing of hundreds of new releases from captivity. The hostages are being held here for debriefing. More on this breaking story as events warrant.

UPDATE: I plan on bringing this one and this one in for further questioning.

Congrats, Supraluxe!

We can't enough of pimping Supraluxe around here, so we're pleased to pass on the news that the track "Love Sweet Love" was selected as Popbang Radio's Single of the Week. Get over there and listen!

Some quick eMu news.

Two releases of note were added on eMusic this morning:

Josh Rouse's Bedroom Classics Vol. 2, an EP of unreleased material that came out in physical cd form a few months ago, featuring the sublime "Oh, I Need All The Love", as well as - oh what the heck, it's Josh Rouse, dammit, just make sure you get it; and

The Steady Hand, the brand new release from New Radiant Storm King, a veteran Massachussetts band that features Peyton Pinkerton, guitarist for the Pernice Brothers. NRSK is more "indie rock" than power pop, but there is a definite Teenage Fanclub vibe going on here.

CD of the Day, 2/14/06: Onestop-Pop Shop

Washington DC's Onestop had been a covers band for a few years before finally committing to recording original material, and 2005's Pop Shop is the result. After listening to Pop Shop, I have to come to the conclusion that the boys sure must have done quite a few Barenaked Ladies covers. The result is pretty much a BNL album without the quirk (which is both a blessing and a curse) and the Canadian accents.

Nevertheless, it's pretty solid stuff. Tinges of Americana show up ("If I Only Knew Now"), and other deviations from the norm here include the 6+ minute "Lover's Land", which could pass for a Journey power ballad, and "High School Halls", a bouncy number with Beach Boy harmonies. The first three tracks from the album are available as mp3s from their site:

Big Design
If I Only Knew Now
She's Everything

You can stream these three, along with "Lover's Land" at their myspace page, and hear samples of the rest at cdbaby.

And for some reason I was craving orange soda after visiting their site. Luckily, I had some Publix store brand orange on hand; it's better and cheaper ($1.99 for a 12-pack) than Sunkist. Mmmmm....orange soda.

The Raconteurs.

After mentioning Brendan Benson's association with Jack White the other night, it's kind of fitting that I stumbled over the fruits of their labor a few minutes ago. Jack + Brendan = The Ranconteurs, and the results are, well, mixed.

First of all, the site is a hoot. I won't spoil the surprise, just check it out. Unfortunately, the music isn't quite as compelling. Two tracks are streaming at the site, "Steady, As She Goes" and "Store Bought Bones". The former features White on vocals, and the bassline is stolen from Joe Jackson's "Is She Really Going Out With Him". It's a decent track, even if the last minute or so is White singing "steady as she goes" ad infinitum. It doesn't sound that radically different than a White Stripes track. The latter, though, sounded like a disaster to me. This one has Benson on vocals, but it sounds like bad 70s prog rock, nothing like the brilliant power pop we've all come to enjoy from him. I guess you could say it's the aural equivalent of the site.

These two tracks have been released in the last couple of weeks as a double-sided vinyl 7" single in the UK, and apparently a full-length is due out this summer. After hearing these two tracks, it's not quite the slam-dunk no-thoughts buy I figured it to be when I first heard of the project.

The Tyde rolls in.

While checking some things out regarding a band whose cd I plan on featuring in the next couple of days (which band it is will become painfully obvious when the post goes up), I ran across the news that The Tyde is finally about to release their third album. I had been wondering what they'd call the new one, considering the debut was titled Once and its follow-up was Twice. I was figuring either "Three Times" or "Thrice", but instead it's "Three's Co." (clever lads there, with the .co abbrievation for "company"). Perhaps it's a homage to John Ritter.

And a new track from 3CO (see, I can come up with cool abbreviations as well as the next guy) is available at their myspace page, titled "Brock Landers".

Also streaming there are their two "hits" from Twice, "Blood Brothers" and the incredibly awesome (if I do say so myself) "Go Ask Yer Dad", one of my favorite songs of 2003 (or was it 2004? I'm getting so old, the years start to blend together). But why stream these two when you can download them?

Go Ask Yer Dad
Blood Brothers

There are also some more downloads, including live tracks, at the band's site. Just click on "media".

3CO is due out in the UK only (damn) on March 13. Guess I'll have to call my mortgage broker today for a loan to pay the import prices (actually, it's cheaper to buy directly from amazon.co.uk and pay the shipping - saved about $25 on an Al Stewart box set last year doing that).

EP of the Day: Frankel-Chatterbox

Todays' EP find is Chatterbox, the debut from the artist known as Frankel (actually the nom de plume of Michael Orendy). Elliott Smith and Jon Brion are the names that the critics have been throwing around for comparison purposes, and I can't disagree - the string-laden "The Great Unknown" would have fit right in on Smith's posthumous From a Basement on the Hill. I also hear some Grandaddy in there as well, and "Antidote" even sounds a bit like one of Dave Grohl's Foo Fighters ballads. The best track here is "Don't Leave", which is where the Smith-meets-Brion influence is at its most overt. But you don't have to take my word for it, here's the mp3:

Don't Leave

If you'd rather stream than download, Frankel/Orendy has the obligatory myspace page with "Don't Leave" and "Method Actor" featured.

CD of the Day, 2/13/06: The Bodingtons-The Bodingtons

Another disc I picked up over the holidays was the debut by The Bodingtons, a band that rose from the ashes of The Badlees, who put out some pretty good albums in the 90s. The cd is a mix of roots rock and power pop, and is reminiscent of The Edisons, a band local to my area (Tampa Bay) who made a bit of a splash in the power pop world last year with their Lost In The Dream release. And although it's a bit different stylistically than the rest of the album, the standout track here is "Hold On Me", which reminds me of the Teenage Fanclub classic "Neil Jung".

Here's a free mp3 download of the leadoff track:

As Long As I Like

You can also stream that track, as well as "Hold On Me" and two others, at their myspace page.

EP of the Day: 2nd Day Crush-624

Today's featured EP was one I discovered kind of accidentally. Many artists on CD Baby choose to include their cds as part of a 3 for $15 sale. So when I went to order a particular disc recently, I noticed that it was part of the sale, and I figured I'd better find two more to get the discount. Now with as much as I buy from them, I've pretty much exhausted most of the ones I really want that are available 3 for $15. So these days I'm getting a bit more adventurous when it comes to filling out these slots.

624 was one of the $5 specials I took a chance on, and it's paid off handsomely. 2nd Day Crush is a high-energy, almost punk-pop band, and this EP is right up your alley if you're a fan of Rooney, Weezer, and/or Cheap Trick. They even pull off the slower ones ("Someone") with some facility.

The EP can be streamed at the band's site, and you can also pick it up at eMusic.

And looking at their site, I've noticed you can even order a ringtone of "Something Now" here. Now I like this EP, but even I'm not willing to go that far. Now maybe if we're talking a David Mead ringtone....

eMusic find for Sunday.

While The Spectacular Fantastic is the name solo artist Mike Detmer uses for his recorded output, it's also two adjectives that comfortably describe his latest opus, The Spectacular Fantastic Goes Underground. Are you down because Robert Schneider broke up Apples In Stereo? Ready to slit your wrists because Miles Kurosky broke up Beulah? Well, cheer up - this one's for you. Bravely soldiering on as if the Elephant 6 collective were still alive and well (and as if he were a charter member), Detmer gives us the Beach-Boys-filtered-through-indie-rock sound we've come to know and love, from the Apples-influenced leadoff track "Darkest Hour", to channeling the Shins on "You've Got It".

While eMusic subscribers can download it at the link above, you can stream the album in its entirety at the SF's web site. Plus, they're offering up a free EP here*, which includes a cover of the Del Shannon classic "Runaway".

Meanwhile, if you must have the physical cd, you can get it here.

And if you like what you hear, you can delve further into their catalog on eMusic, with previous releases Vortex of Vacancy and New Equations for the Simple Mind.

*NOTE: I had some problems trying to save these with the "save target as" right-click option. They would play upon clicking, but wouldn't save the normal way. So I changed my browser preferences for mp3 to "save to disk" instead of having it play with winamp (or whatever mp3 player you might have set as a helper in your browser) and that did the trick.

CD of the Day, 2/12/06: The Happies-If We Were Really Here

If We Were Really Here, the excellent sophomore effort from The Happies, came out last fall. This one falls under the "indie pop" category.

Pardon me while off go off on a little rant here. I'm kind of rankled by the whole "indie" scene, especially when it comes to power pop. It seems like the latter is a lot more solicitous of the former than the other way around; the impression I get is that the "indie" crowd looks down its nose at power pop. But it's not a two-way street: indie faves like Spoon, The Decemberists, and Sufjan Stevens placed in the Audities Top 20 of 2005 poll, while the only power pop artists that seem to have any indie cred are the New Pornographers and Brendan Benson. And even these examples seem like "cool by association", given that New Pornos feature Dan Bejar of Destroyer, and Benson is Jack White's best buddy. (end rant)

Pitchfork hasn't gotten around to the Happies yet, so I'm not quite sure what the kool kidz think of them, but The Happies seem to be the type of band that could bridge the gulf between the indie and power pop crowds. The closest parallel here is The Shins, to whom the Happies at times sound quite similar. But I also hear some Spoon, some Belle & Sebastian, some Pernice Brothers, and even some Guster. Plus, I enjoyed this one more than either of the Shins albums, both of which were pretty good in their own right. (Perhaps the Happies should send Zach Braff a copy of their album to get on the map.) My favorite track is (surprise) the most power-poppy of the album, the jaunty "Newspaper Friend", which clocks in at 2:12.

Samples? We don't need no stinkin' samples. OK, well maybe we do. First of all, grab this full-length mp3 courtesy of their label:

Sun Don't Shine

Stream three more full-lengths (plus "Sun Don't Shine") at their myspace page.

And of course you can get the 2-minute samples of the rest at cdbaby.

But wait - there's more!

How about their entire debut album, Meet The Happies, as a free mp3 download? Can't beat that, eh? Get it here; scroll down, it's on the right. I only just discovered this while putting together this post, so I have no comment on how good it is, but you can be damn sure I'm going to download it.