The Absolute Powerpop Top 75 of 2011: The Top 10

As I had hinted elsewhere, I'm doing something different this year at the top of the list. Because I didn't have a clear-cut, slam-dunk #1 disc of the year, I've decided not to arbitrarily designate one. So instead I'm presenting my top 10 in alphabetical order. They could each be #1, or they could each be #10. Either way I highly recommend them all and hope you already have all or most of them in your collection.

Phil Angotti-People and Places. Sweet, McCartney-esque pop from a veteran musician whom I belatedly came around to. "Me and Donnie Vie" was one of my favorite tracks of 2011.

Cirrone-Uplands Park Road. An audacious debut for this Italian band, who draw as much from Big Star and Badfinger as they do contemporary power poppers. Perhaps 2011's best "traditional" power pop album.

Marco Joachim-Hidden Symphonies. Joachim's previous rootsy, Wilbury-ish release in no way prepared me for this tour de force which I originally only mentioned on the site in passing. A bright ELO/Beatles melange, it really grew on me.

Steve LaBate-The Dead Art of Letter Writing. LaBate's Replacements-meet-The-Clash solo debut was an impressive achievement for a guy better known as a Paste Magazine writer/editor and a member of a rock-comedy act.

David Mead-Dudes. Reuniting with Adam Schlesinger, Mead got his mojo back and came up with the singer/songwwriter album of the year. "The Smile of Rachael Ray" was named NPR's Song of the Day last week and deservedly so as it might have been the most poignant thing he's written.

Meyerman-Who Do You Think You Are? A rare achievement for this New Jersey band - not only did they craft a power pop album with killer hooks and riffs, they also crafted a power pop album that's a meta-commentary on the state of power pop and being in a rock band. On whichever level you enjoy it, it's definitely a revelation.

Michael Oliver & The Sacred Band-Yin & Yanxiety. Since Cliff Hillis decided not to release an album in 2011, Michael Oliver did it for him. Like the former Ike/Starbelly pop wizard, Oliver has an effortless way with a melody and a hook, and he writes intelligent lyrics to boot. What more can you ask for?

The Red Button-As Far as Yesterday Goes. So they'll probably never top 2007's album-of-the-year-on-this-site She's About to Cross My Mind. So what? If Swirsky & Ruekberg can keep releasing discs as pop-perfect as this folowup, I won't complain. Instead of making Cross My Mind 2, they took a chance and decided to tackle the 70s singer-songwriter milieu. I'm thinking that 80s synth-pop will be a tougher nut to crack, though, should they decide to advance another decade next time.

Brandon Wilde-Hearts in Stereo. And here's the David Grahame/Emmit Rhodes/early solo McCartney album of the year. "Candy Apples" and "Ooh La" would be the near the top of my favorite tracks of 2011 list, were I to make one this year.

Miles Zuniga-These Ghosts Have Bones. At long last my favorite half of the Fastball singing/songwriting team released a proper solo album, and it's a gem. Mature, lyrical, hooky and assured, it's a nice blend of pop styles that reveals Zuniga as the songwriting pro he is.

CD of the Day, 4/6/11: Cirrone-Uplands Park Road

In the 90s it was Oasis who took the sound of 60s and 70s rock of The Beatles, the Stones, The Who and others and brought it into the present day. In the 00s it was Jet who found success with this template. And now picking up the torch in the 10s is Italy's Cirrone (originally known as Apple Scruffs), a band of three brothers who are making the old sound new again in what's my favorite discovery of 2011 to date.

The lovely Beatlesque "Here is My Song" announces their arrival, while the title track mixes Oasis-style swagger and Big Star-like guitars and song structure. The quiet/loud dynamic of "I Still Remember" recalls Sloan, and "Let the Wind Blow" melds the McCartney of "Here, There & Everywhere" with the McCartney of "I've Got a Feeling". By about the fifth track rolls around, the Chiltonesque power poppin' "All I Know", you get the feeling these guys can do no wrong.

"Brand New Life" is another impressive piece of work, starting out as a pretty ballad that builds to a rocking 2-minute crescendo of guitar outro, something you don't hear a lot on power pop albums these days. "How Does it Feel?" is a piece of cheerful, "Good Day Sunshine"-styled pop with all the attendant bells and whistles, and "Your Eyes Are Wide Open" has that Lennon-by-way-of-Noel Gallagher feel.

The back half of the disc is no letdown, either, no mean feat in an age when so many discs peter out around this time. "Just Tell Me" is a moody, midtempo rocker that could be the best track on a lot of other albums, and the boys prove proficient at psych-pop with the trippy "You're Not Alone". "Here We Will Go" earns points for being different than the rest, an assertive rocker with some horn help, and "In the Sun" is a "Because"-styled ballad with ethereal harmonies. Again, there isn't anything here you haven't heard before in some form or another, but like the best power pop it makes it all seem fresh again. It'll be criminal if these guys don't find a wider audience like their forebears mentioned at the beginning of this review.

CD Baby | MySpace | iTunes } eMusic