December mega-roundup 2.

Before we head into the year-end lists next week, here are some more new releases worthy of mention:

Lannie Flowers-Home. After going several years without a new album of studio material, power pop mainstay Lannie Flowers has made up for lost time in 2019. He first released a series of monthly non-album singles throughout the year (all of which were outstanding, naturally) and now caps off the year with the full-length Home. Opener "Running" is the kind of "instant hit" (at least on your hit parade) that he's always good for, but much of the rest of the album isn't the classicist power pop he's been known for but a more introspective singer-songwriter collection of songs. With a lyrical maturity not often found in the genre, Flowers gives us a song cycle of an aging rocker looking at his career and where he stands today as "Just Go to Sleep" tackles post-tour boredom, the bouncy, vaguely Beatlesque title track celebrates the stability of home versus life on the road, and the lovely mostly-acoustic "In Time" finds peace in the dichotomy. Flowers takes his songcraft to another level here, and with its December 6 release date it shows why you never make year-end lists in November.

iTunes



Braden Bodensteiner-Lived in Sound. Rochester, New York's Braden Bodensteiner just might win 2019's Truth in Advertising award with his album title as he features a lived-in sound on this collection of sophisticated adult pop that recalls the likes of Michael Penn, Neil Finn and Salim Nourallah. The album's 10 tracks are equally good, but more equal than others are the opener "Beautiful Line", "While Dreaming" and the George Harrison-esque "Don't Need a World".

iTunes



Brady Harris-Keep Your Cover EP. After dabbling in some mostly country music side projects, Brady Harris is back in pop mode on this four-track EP which features three originals and a cover of Spoon's "Me and the Bean". The originals are outstanding - "Tell Me Why" is 2:18 of pop bliss, "Say Hello Wave Goodbye" has a slinky melody, and "Mistake to Make" recalls early Beatles in mid-tempo mode. Not giving this a listen would truly be a mistake to make.

iTunes



Eric Crugnale-Time Kills. Back in 2010 Eric Crugnale placed #13 on my year-end list with his debut Carol Was Here, and nine long years later he's released the followup. I called the debut "fully-realized mature pop in the vein of David Mead and Seth Swirsky" and that applies to Time Kills as well. "Don't Give Up" is a lovely, piano-based opener, "Turning This Damn Car Around" with its soft verses and crashing chorus has a bit of a Queen/Jellyfish feel to it, and "Wagon" deals in smooth 70s-influenced R&B. This is pop with a capital "P" the way it was in the '70s and '80s.

iTunes



The Boolevards-Real Pop (Remix). Those of you who have the memory of an elephant will probably recall I featured this album ten years ago, but I bring it up again because The Boolevards have re-released and remixed it with bonus tracks. And I'll quote myself again: "Real Pop is just that, assuming the year is 1965. Two and three-part harmonies, Rickenbacker solos, Merseybeat melodies - it's all here in an expert re-creation of the era," I wrote on its initial release. The six new tracks are of the same feather, and the band hopes to help finance a new album with sales of this reissue, so if this kind of thing is up your alley and you missed it the first time around, remedy this right away.

iTunes



Andrew Taylor-Somewhere to Be. Dropkick's Andrew Taylor has dropped his second solo album, and like the first it doesn't vary too much from the jangle/folk-rock of his band (perhaps it's a bit more laid-back). Which of course is a good thing, as he and Dropkick have released album after album of highly consistent quality. The top tracks this time around are the title track, "Make a Difference" and the very aptly-titled "More of the Same". I just remain astounded at how prolific he is, as I just saw today that there's a new Dropkick album due out in a couple of months.

iTunes

A little bit of twang in your pop.

Scott Warren's been one of the most consistent artists featured on this site over the last 12 years, from his days in Signal Hill Tranmission to a series of quality solo albums including 2012's Dyed in the Wool, one of the best pop albums of the decade. Here he teams up with Molly Orlando as Wounded Bird for an EP of Americana informed with a pop sensibility. "Medication for My Heart" is a classic alt-country duet in the vein of Gram & Emmylou or Ryan Adams & Caitlin Cary in Whiskeytown, while Orlando takes lead on the vintage balladry of "Arms". Meanwhile, fans of Warren's output will enjoy "I'll Grow Old With You", the most pop-informed track of the batch with its loping electric guitar and which would have fit right in on Dyed in the Wool. And "Workin' Out the Kinks" is a rave-up that shows off Warren's versatility.

iTunes



Brady Harris Band-NoHo Calling. Another longtime favorite of the site who's straddled the line between Americana and power pop is Brady Harris, who returns with NoHo Calling, "NoHo" being a reference to his North Hollywood via Texas base of operations. The album is a mix of the twangy Beatlesque ("Let's Live", "Better Late Than Never"), bloozy ballads ("Raise a Glass", "The NoHo Sound"), some clever covers (The Go-Go's "Our Lips Are Sealed" and Grace Jones' "I've Seen That Face Before") and rootsy rockers ("I Think I Know", "Drain Me"). And to round things out there's even a paean to "Old Drunk Motherfuckers", of which Brady may or not be one.

Bandcamp

Midweek Roundup.

Brady Harris Band-NoHo Confidential. Brady Harris rolls on with his latest release, another slice of his unique Beatlesque Americana. This EP, credited to his backing band and named after his Northern Hollywood locale, is 6 more easy-on-the-ears tracks to add to the Brady Harris canon. Opener "Kate, Stay Late" is definitely more Beatlesque than Americana, with its piano-based pop melody, George Harrison-style guitars, and its wordless harmony vocals. "Mexico" is another winner, a breezy, effortless-sounding number with a slight Latin flavor, and while "Northern Soul" is more jangle than Northern soul, that's a feature, not a bug. No need to keep this one confidential.

CD Baby | Bandcamp



Jeremy Porter & The Tucos-Partner in Crime. While The Replacements may have reunited recently for an EP of covers, the album of the year so far for the 'Mats fan is the latest from ex-Offramps frontman Jeremy Porter & his Tucos. While Porter doesn't quite approach the brilliance of Paul Westerberg (and I'm sure he'd be the first to admit it), the spirit of the 'Mats is presenc in Partner in Crime as rowdy rockers give way to heart-on-the-sleeve slower numbers and vice versa. So you get the one-two punch of "Castaways" and "Little Miss Awesome" as well as the plaintive country-influenced "Wedding Day", which is a thematic cousin of Westerberg's "Nobody" but stands on its own terms as a standout itself. Speaking of standouts, "Pizza Girl" is infectious rocking fun, "What You're Doing Today" is some find midtempo Americana, and the title track is one of those heart-on-the-sleeve, last-call-at-the-bar slower tunes I was talking about.

CD Baby | iTunes

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Two for Tuesday, 4/6/10

Brady Harris-Year of the Pug. Year of the Pug is Brady Harris' sixth album, and he's the standard-bearer of the sub-sub-genre known as "Beatlesque Americana". A Texan who now calls LA home, Harris may have his best release on his hands here. With Lennonesque vocals similar to Plasticsoul's Steven Wilson, Harris will appeal equally to fans of Beatle-pop and roots-pop, and the opener "Floating" is a moody mid-tempo number with a striking melody. The rootsy ballad "Sailing on a River" is another winner, featuring the Minus 5's Tucker Jackson on pedal steel, and "Mersey Waltz (Sing a Sad Song)" does its title proud. Other standouts include Michael Penn-like "Slipping By" and "That's All I Need" which is reminiscent of "Hey Jude" without the na-na-na's. One of 2010's finest to date.

CD Baby | MySpace

The Romeo Flynns-Masque of Anarchy. When this CD first crossed my desk, I was a bit concerned. Here were The Romeo Flynns with the followup to their great Detroit-styled power pop 2008 debut Pictures of You, and it was titled Masque of Anarchy and had the cover you see over to the right. My first thought was "Oh God, they've gone and decided to put out a bad prog-metal album." But one spin in the CD player put those fears to rest - while the Flynns have decided to branch out a bit, they haven't abandoned their Motor City and power poppin' roots. They show their ambition here with the loose concept of addressing these tough economic times, but in my eyes the only concept album I believe in is the concept of having 10-12 killer tracks. So after a snippet from a British radio broadcast, they get down to the business of rocking your socks off with the title track and "Dance the White Line". Then they forever endear themselves to me with a great cover of my favorite Badfinger track, "Baby Blue". But they're more than one-trick ponies, as evidenced by the downright jangly "Falling Down" and the Merseyside ballad "Annie". And they know how the pull the curtain down - the closer "Don't Leave Me Now" is the kind of melodramatic power ballad that Cheap Trick is known for. So the lesson here is don't judge an album by its cover, or even its concept.

CD Baby | MySpace