Today would be a good day...

..to get an eMusic subscription. They added a massive number of CD Baby titles today that include many great discs that have been featured on this site in the past several months. (By the way, eMu is cutting the # of monthly downloads on each of its price plans in one week, but there's still time to lock in yearly subscriptions at the original plan rates, which can come to about 18 cents a track. The list in this post alone can keep you going for several months on the 40-download plan!)

First off, though, they added the new Saul Zonana disc, Love Over Money. As Bruce at Not Lame puts it, "Filled w/ the splendorous guitar, high energy hooks and expressive vocals found, the music falls into the schooling of such artists like Matthew Sweet, Rick Altizer, Michael Penn, Candy Butchers, Doug Powell , the Dotted Line and Greenberry Woods. It`s the type of power pop that would be right at home on most FM rock-oriented radio stations if radio played decent music."

And here are the rest:

Dave Stoops-Spill Your Drink. Bruce again: "Man, this album is so friggin` cool! Dave Stoops merges the a most interesting web of connection of cool, varied pop stylings with a most distinctive vocal style that evokes primo cool. 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."

Gary Henson-The Coast Is Clear. One of the very first discs we spotlighted on the site, and you can read all about it here. #27 on our current top 33 1/3 of 2006.

Kit Ashton-Blindsided EP. My favorite EP of 2006 to date. Here's my full take.

Mike Schmid-The High Cost of Living (A Love Story). Featured this one back in May as part of a singer-songwriter series.

Parallax Project-Perpetual Limbo. I don't think I mentioned this one on the site, but many power poppers will remember this one that came out almost a year ago to the date. Just missed my best of 2005 lists, and here's Bruce yet again: "But you`ll hear echoes, vague, happy reminders of not only Cherry Twister(naturally) but The Nines, Redd Kross, Splitsville, Raspberries, Shoes and early 70`s AM Radio summer hits(think Gallery, First Class and Gilbert O` Sullivan, for those in the know)."

Patrik Tanner-Soft. I briefly blurbed this one earlier, and to save a link, here's what I wrote: "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."

Rick Altizer-Blue Plate Special. If you don't know Rick Altizer, start Googling and find out. I think we featured his Dum Dog Run project, but his solo stuff is compelling as well. This one from a few years back is a good a place to start as any.

Sheboygan-S/T EP. Great 4-song EP, check 'em out at their myspace page.

Stingray Green-Hard Numbers. Stingrays may be getting a bad rap these days, but these veteran Minneapolis power popppers put out a fine album that I overlooked earlier this year.

The Everyday Things-Lighten Up, Francis. From it's adoption of a classic line from Stripes to the fact it was produced by Jamie Hoover and released on Not Lame's own label, you can't beat this batch of punchy power pop in the vein of The Figgs, The Romantics and The Plimsouls.

The High Score-We Showed Up to Leave. As Splendidzine put it, "They`ve got Superdrag`s keen sense of melody, Sugar`s propensity for lacing pop songs with blistering riffs and a GBV-ish sort of ragtag charm".

The Humbugs-Twist The Truth. Bruce sez: "The Humbugs sound a lot like Tommy Keene playing with REM, Swan Dive and the poppy side of The Kennedys, a unique sound. There`s hints of Prefab Sprout, Crowded House, Aimee Mann, more modern day Pretenders and Trashcan Sinatras, as well."

The Slides-The View From Here. I really like this album a lot, and it's testimony to all the good music coming out this year that it's not on my top 33 1/3 list (but look for it on my special superduper year-end top 100 come the holidays).

Third Floor Story-Lonely City. I like this one even more, and it's #26 on the latest top 33 1/3. Great, great disc.

Wiretree-S/T EP. This was one of the great EPs of 2005, and a must-have. I elaborate about it here. Still waiting eagerly for the full-length.

So for any of you who have eMusic out there, bookmark this post in case you still have some leftover downloads at the end of the month, and for those who don't, it's still your most cost-effective way to legally get all this great power pop.

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.