Embed Tuesday.

A bunch of power poppers have discs out today, and I'm embedding the Lala widgets for each so you can give a listen. (For those outside the USA, I'm including a MySpace link and those in the EU can always check Spotify for these tracks).

Telepathic Butterflies-Wow & Flutter!. These French-Canadian Rainbow Quartz vets are back with their fourth disc. Their 2004 release Songs from a Second Wave is a must-have (esp. the great "Bonhomie", which I'm embedding as well), and last year's Breakfast in Suburbia was pretty good, so I have high hopes for this one. The touchstones here are The Kinks, The Hollies and the Fab Four. MySpace

The Singles. The Singles have been on a roll lately issuing (what else?) singles. The latest is the He Can Go, You Can Stay single, which features that track from their last full-length Better than Before, along with two new songs. This is the fourth "single" they've released this year, the previous three were A/B sides with 2 new tracks each. For the uninitiated, they're a Detroit band that specializes in British Invastion-styled power pop. MySpace

Cinderpop-Cinnamon Winter EP. This Vancouver band put out the wonderful A Lesson in Science last year, and this EP includes its title track and "Boomerang" from that disc, plus three unreleased tracks that sound quite excellent. They have kind of a baroque style of indie pop - think Elliott Smith with a lot of piano. MySpace

Friday Roundup.

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

CD Baby | MySpace

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

CD Baby | MySpace

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

Kool Kat | MySpace