Thursday, February 15, 2007

Streaming Thursday.

Time today to feature three releases that you can stream (two in full) that'll be worth a Thursday afternoon (or evening, or Friday for you Aussies) listen.

First off, Not Lame is at it again with their deluxe treatment of the new Bobby Sutliff disc, On a Ladder. By now, you know what this means: a full stream of the album, lots of bonus goodies, and a special pre-order deal. This one really looks like good value with the disc, and about 25 bonus downloads from Sutliff's back catalog, all for $12. If you're not familiar with Sutliff, Not Lame's descripton of his music as "12-string jangle pop heaven" should give you a good idea.

Recently I gave David Bash's Top 100 of 2006 a once-over looking for releases I wasn't familiar with. One that I found that would have definitely made my top 100 list was his #20 disc, Picture In My Head by Household Names. Click this link to their official site, and the disc immediately starts streaming. Although the first two tracks were a bit "modern rock" for my taste, the pure power pop starts with track 3, "Almost Fab" and doesn't let up from there, with "Anytime Mrs. K" a particular standout. I hear echoes of Guster, The Gin Blossoms, Fountains of Wayne and The Posies in this one. Somehow this eluded the larger power pop community last year (not found on Not Lame, Kool Kat or CD Baby), so kudos to Mr. Bash for unearthing this hidden gem.

Finally, we have a new download-only release from Adam Merrin. Adam who? Well, he's the guy who mans the keyboards for The 88, one of the top power pop groups around these days, and his solo stuff is outstanding as well. Have One is the name of his release, and it's apparently exclusively available from his myspace page as a Snocap download, $5.94 for 6 tracks. You can stream four of them there as well. Have One isn't too far afield from The 88; while the piano ballad "Still Alright" is what you might expect from a keyboard man's solo disc, the more rocking "Everything Has Changed" would have fit in well on Over & Over. The highlight here is "This Is How You Are", a gorgeous midtempo number that's equal parts Pernice Brothers and Autumn Defense. Don't waste any time getting this one on the mp3 player of your choice.

There's also a CD Baby link to sample the online EP, but you can't buy it directly from there.

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