Starbelly and Sarakula

Starbelly-Four. It's not quite the crossover team-up of Avengers: Infinity War, but fans of melodic pop have their own summer blockbuster as Cliff Hillis and Dennis Schocket have reunited as Starbelly for the first time in approximately 15 years. Hillis, of course, has been a staple of these pages from the beginning, but Schocket hasn't been heard from since his brilliant late-2008 album The Cinderblock Mansion. The reunion doesn't disappoint as it features both singer/songwriters at the top of their respective games. Schocket's wonderful McCartney-esque ballad "The Boy Who Learned How to Cry" (about the passing of a father) opens the album, followed by Hillis's "Lay Low", the kind of effortlessly-sounding melodic gem that it almost seems he can write in his sleep, and it's great to hear them both harmonize on "Sleep", which recalls Bread at its creative peak. It's not all softer pop - "The Stars of Constantine" has the guitars front and center with a classic power pop sound, "Yes I Love Her Again" finds Schocket jangling and "Strange Constellations" is a fine rollicking Hillis number. Other standouts include the lovely "Emily Says" and the five-and-half-minute sorta-rock-opera of "Danny Opus" about a has-been rock'n'roller. Just an all-around instant classic, and halfway through the year we have 2018's best.

iTunes | Kool Kat




Joel Sarakula-Love Club. London-by-way-of-Australia's Joel Sarakula is a top-notch synthesist, taking pop styles from the 60s through the present day and mixing them up to create a tour de force that should appeal to anyone with a ear for melody and song structure. This time around Sarakula targets the 1970s, with shades of that decade's R&B and disco sounds influencing his sound and readily apparent on the opener "Understanding" with its sleek groove and the horn-backed "In Trouble". Meanwhile, "Baltic Jam" is less of a jam and more a 70s-ish singer/songwriter piece while "Dead Heat" and "Coldharbour Man" have a light disco feel. It's all very catchy, pop without the power but with real craft.

iTunes

CD of the Day, 2/16/09: Dennis Schocket-The Cinderblock Mansion

Somehow (like just about everyone else in the power pop community, judging by its only recently appearing at the usual suspects), I missed the news that Dennis Schocket had released his solo debut last spring. Which is a shame because it would have easily cracked my top 20. For the uninitiated, Dennis Schocket was last heard from in Starbelly, and he was the driving force behind their brilliant 2002 album Everyday and Then Some, one of my favorite power pop albums of the decade.

Here he gets help from Myracle Brah's Andy Bopp, and while there's an element of Bopp's sound here, the more compelling frame of reference is his former bandmate in the earlier Starbelly days, Cliff Hillis. The opener "Lovesick Blue", however, throws a bit of a curveball as it's a somewhat poppier version of the bluesy Americana the Stones sometimes trade in (cf. Exile on Main Street and Peter Wolf's Jagger/Richards-aided solo 2002 release Sleepless). And the tuneful "About the Girl" follows in a slightly similar laid-back style, making one wonder whether Schocket has gone for something tonally different than Starbelly. But "Another Perfect Breakup Song" arrives, and it's the kind of Beatles-by-way-of-Badfinger midtempo guitar pop that Schocket mastered in Starbelly.

The delightful "Parachutes" follows in the same vein, with one of those choruses that see out the song and stick in the cranium. "Breathe" chimes in with some Girlfriend-era Matthew Sweet goodness, and the late-period Beatle-y "Tangerine Scene" is as fruitful as its name would imply. Finally, "Girl of the Year" completes one of the best 5-song in-album runs you'll hear, a nice bookend to "Another Pefect Breakup Song". This is not to imply the remainder of the disc is somehow lacking, though. Schocket goes nearly straight-up country with the affecting "This Forgiving Heart", "Ghost" is some mighty fine paisley pop, and "Willow" is as good as anything on the disc, reminding me of Hillis' "Elevator" from last year's The Long Now. "Unified" and "As You Said" close things out, and they serve the laudable purpose of insuring that there isn't a bad track on the disc.

Albums like this (and a few other recent ones I've reviewed) are driving me toward compiling a supplemental best of 2008 list, because to go back and see this one not listed just isn't right.

Not Lame | Kool Kat | MySpace (no solo tracks streaming, but some great Starbelly stuff)