The Misdom-Abbey Roaded 2.0 EP. This Spanish band has been kicking around for the past decade but only just came to my attention with their latest 4-song EP, and as you guess from the title there's a strong Beatles influence at work here. "12 de Octobre" opens the proceedings in agreeable, shuffling fashion while "One Way" recalls Lennon's "Free as a Bird". And "Roses" and "Town" are bright late 60s/early 70s British pop. They have a few prior releases worth checking out as well, and fans of the late great The Sunday Drivers should enjoy them too.
Dropkick-The Scenic Route. I could tell you that this is the album where Scottish mainstays Dropkick changes up their sound and incorporates some harder rock or reggae influence or some danceable beats, but I'd be lying. Nope, their 16th album is much like the 15 that came before it and The Scenic Route is one more data point to prove that the only things you can count on in life are death, taxes and Dropkick. But as long as they keep making album after album of top-notch jangle pop/folk in the vein of Teenage Fanclub and The Jayhawks I'm not gonna complain. The standouts here are the breezy opener "Feeling Never Goes Away", the lovely ballad "Disappearing" and "Tomorrow".
Tommy Ray!-First Hits Free. This is the debut solo album from the lead singer of The Cry! and you can tell from the exclamation points alone that you're in for some high-energy, fast-moving power pop with a pop-punk edge. If you partook of the recent couple of Cry albums you'll know what to expect, otherwise think The Clash in their poppier moments or The Exploding Hearts. It's all very infectious, from the 1978 vibes of "Life Goes On to "Hey Susanne" (which reminds me a bit of "I Fought the Law") to the 60s rock of "Coming Back". This is fun stuff, and I can see it ending up on Little Steven's Underground Garage.
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.
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".
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.
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.
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.
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.
Andrew Leahey & The Homestead-Airwaves. Nashville's Andrew Leahey had caught my ear with his previous two releases but his latest takes a big leap forward, finding the perfect sweet spot between power pop and Americana. With influences including Tom Petty, The Jayhawks and early Wilco, this album comes out of the blocks with its first five tracks being some of the best I've heard all year. "Start the Dance" does just that, and the five-track run culminates in "Queen and King of Smaller Things", a standout number co-written by site favorite Jon Latham. And the rest of the album ain't too shabby either with quality songs like "Moving Like the Weather" and "Karyn". Ill go out on a limb and say it's my favorite for #1 album of 2019 to date.
The Boys With the Perpetual Nervousness-Dead Calm. Named after a classic Feelies track, TBWTPN (as I will call them for short) is the latest project from Dropkick's Andrew Taylor who teams up here with Gonzalo Marcos of El Palacio de Linares for an excellent collection of 12-string jangle pop. Taylor has quite a back catalog between Dropkick and his solo work, but his team-up here with Marcos has definitely brought out the best in him with "TBWTPN" (not the Feelies cover) and "Anything at All" a pair of tracks as good as he's released in years; the latter could have been a big hit in 1967. If you're a fan of either Dropkick or Byrdsian jangle pop, this one's a must.
Cassettes-Wild Heart. They say power pop is a dying genre, a long way away from its heyday in the 60s and 70s (and even its brief 90s revival). But as long as bands like Cassettes keep popping up, power pop will be here to stay. While this Philly band released an EP back in 2014, Wild Heart is their full-length debut and is classic power pop with a capital "C". Singing about girls and movies and songs, their high-energy tracks are full of hooks and crunchy guitars, with "She Gets What She Wants", "Born in the 90s" and "American Movies" the highlights here.
Today it's a pair of new releases from artists who've been releasing new music almost every year since I started this blog in 2006.
The Well Wishers-A View from Above. Jeff Shelton is back with his ninth Well Wishers full-length (not counting last year's covers album) and ho hum, it's another top-notch collection of jangle pop/rock. What sets it apart from recent Well Wishers albums is that it's a bit more folk-rock oriented, hearkening back to mid-2000s WW albums such as Under the Arrows. You won't notice right away as the rocking "Gravity Waits" opens the proceedings but the acoustic guitars come out for the mid-tempo "In Another Life", the tres jangly "April is Only a Lie" and perhaps the album's best track, "Ways & Means". But fear not, rawkers: there are plenty of loud guitars here on "I Like You Better", "There Goes My Gun" and "I'm Not the Enemy", a track first heard on last year's Trip Wire album with Shelton being a part of that collective. And "The New Fade Out" is a terrific album-closer, 5 1/2 minutes of Shelton at his melodic best.
Dropkick-Longwave. The boys from Edinburgh are back in town with their annual release (technically the first since 2016 but last year saw an Andrew Taylor solo album which differed in name only) and Longwave is what you've come to know and love from this Scottish band. Opener "Out of Tune" is anything but, and it only takes a matter of seconds for their Teenage Fanclub-inspired pop to take hold of your ears and "I Thought it Was OK" with its dreamy melody is an instant Dropkick classic. And while nobody's going to mistake them for Led Zeppelin, a few of these tunes do rock harder than others - most notably "It's Still Raining" and "Fed Up Thinking of You", both of which retain the band's trademark melodies and harmonies. Their amazing consistency over what is now 15 albums is worthy of note, and even if there's a strong element of predictability to their music, having new Dropkick music fall into your lap or pop up randomly on shuffle is always a welcome thing.
Andrew Taylor-From the Outside Looking In. Dropkick frontman Andrew Taylor has been accumulating a collection of songs over the last 15 years that he hadn't recorded with his band, and he decided to play and record them completely by himself. Interestingly enough though, the end result sounds a lot like Dropkick, which is a good thing. This means it's another fine collection of top-shelf jangle pop that Taylor and his mates have been known for over the years that's found the golden mean between Teenage Fanclub and Matthew Sweet. Standout tracks here include "I Saw Through You" (with it's "you-ooh-ooh" chorus), the more rocking "Someone", and the album's catchiest track, "Who We Really Are", which reminds me of pre-Hotel California Eagles. So it's Dropkick without the Dropkick, or something like that.
Various Artists-Songs, Bond Songs. Andrew Curry, the maestro of themed power pop compilations, is at it again. After his 70s lite rock opus that broke the rules against compilations and topped my 2013 list and 2014's followup covering the "second British invasion" of the 80s, his latest project features the songs of the James Bond movie franchise. As with the other two comps, Curry has enlisted a who's-who of indie power pop and the results are a blast. After Lannie Flowers gets you in the mood with the famous Bond theme, you're off an adventure that will leave you stirred, if not shaken. With such a variety of songs and artists involved (26 of each), everyone's bound to have their personal favorites, and mine here are Wyatt Funderburk's groovy take on "The Look of Love", Ryan Hamilton's "We Have All the Time in the World", Cirrone's "The Living Daylights" and Look Park (Chris Collingwood of Fountains of Wayne) with "The World is Not Enough". Make sure you take advantage of your license to listen below.
The Glad Machine-The Glad Machine. The Glad Machine hails from western Massachusetts, and their self-titled debut hits all the classic power pop sweet spots. Reminiscent of bands like The Shazam, The Tories and The Cautions, TGM starts things off with "Homecoming" where "it's 1985 here every day", and follows it with "Wake Up, Girl", more classic power pop with a killer chorus. Meanwhile, "I Wanna Drive" recalls Jellyfish in their less-baroque moments, "87 Highland Avenue" is a well-executed power ballad, and the melodic closer "Cake" is the icing on top, so to speak. Not a bad track in the lot, and it's a welcome return to what power pop sounded like in the 80s and 90s.
Broken Promise Keeper-Broken Promise Keeper. Georgia's Rob Stuart is back for the first time in six years as Broken Promise Keeper, and BPK doesn't break the promise of prime power pop this time around with Stuart's best effort to date. The sound here is similar to fellow southern power poppers The dBs and Scott's Garage, with the standout tracks being the effervescent "She's So Cool", the Merseyside-influenced "Sasquatch Love" and the jangly "Get My Message". Don't miss out on the bouncy "Play Ball" either.
Latvian Radio-Until Tomorrow Gets in the Way. One of my favorites, this New York Band which I've compared in the past to Brendan-Benson-meets-The-Shins is back with another collection of bubbly pop tunes. The indefatigable "Power Lines and Bedroom Blinds" is an instant favorite, while "From the Top of a Building" and "Weight of the World" are shining exemplars of their signature frenetic pop sound. They even use the Bo Diddley beat on "Letter to the National Enquirer", and close out the album with the lovely, reflective title tune. Don't let tomorrow get in the way of adding this one to your collection, get it today.
Dropkick-Balance the Light. Speaking of bands that release consistently excellent albums, perhaps none are more consistent than the Scottish roots-poppers Dropkick, who with Balance the Light release their 12th or 13th (I've lost count and am just guessing) full-length album. This one's another fine addition to their canon and if you've liked their Teenage Fanclub-style pop in the past, you'll love this one. Tracks to go on your Dropkick best-of: the breezy "Slow Down", the pensive opener "Save Myself", and the brilliant "Out of Love Again", which perfectly distills their sound.
The Metal Babies-Ghostly. Taking their name from a classic Teenage Fanclub track, this Australian band follows up the promise of their 2012 debut EP with a fine full-length. And despite their name, this isn't a TF tribute band but instead a combination of power pop styles from jangle to roots rock. Having said that, opener "Spat" could easily pass for a TF track with its melancholy mid-tempo melody and chiming guitars. It's followed up by the aptly-titled "Great", which is a top-drawer jangle-rock number which starts off smooth and rocks out in the end. Elsewhere, highlights included the lovely "Make a Start", the Replacements-rock of "Explanations" (clocking in at 1:01) and the title track, and the Pernice Brothers-esque "All a Waste of Time". An impressive effort from these guys, and this one should end up comfortably in the top half of my year-end list.
Dropkick-Homeward. Speaking of bands influenced by Teenage Fanclub, the prolific Scottish band Dropkick return with their annual/biennial release, and Homeward is a fine addition to the canon of brothers Andrew & Alastair Taylor. They don't reinvent the wheel here, so it's safe to say that if you enjoyed any of their previous releases, you'll want this one. Opener "Come Home" has a lovely, laid-back feel that would have been right at home on the latest Autumn Defense album, "Halfway Round Again" jangles like there's no tomorrow, and "Jump Start" boasts a great chorus and organ-based hook. The album closes with the pretty ballad "Carry Me Home", a tune which would make Mark Olson and Gary Louris proud. Already looking forward to the next one in a year or so.
Dropkick-Paper Trails. Death, taxes and Dropkick. Three things you can count on as this Scottish band releases an album a year like clockwork, and 2012's entry is Paper Trails. They specialize in the melodic pop of bands like Teenage Fanclub and Cosmic Rough Riders with a touch of alt-country, suffused with Pernice Brothers-like harmonies, and the standouts this time around are the Summerteeth-era Wilco-esque numbers "Words Best Left" and the title track, the jaunty "Another Day" and the irresistibly jangly "Annabelle". Always great stuff, and we'll see them again in 2013. iTunes
Dan Miraldi-Sugar & Adrenaline. When you think about it, "Sugar & Adrenaline" might be the perfect title for a power pop album. Ohio's Dan Miraldi does his level best to live up to the title with tracks like "Few Rock Harder", a great Butch Walker-type tune complete with "uh-huh"s in the chorus, the punchy pop of "The Runaround", and the charming retro rock of "Record Collection". But Miraldi succeeds with the slower and mid-tempo tunes as well with "Yonder St. Sebastian" and "The Many Shades of Blue".
Dropkick-Time Cuts the Ties. I've been listening to this prolific (9 full-lengths plus a handful of EPs in the last 10 years) Scottish band for several years now, had their records in my top 100 lists, but until now had not featured them on this site. I'm remedying this oversight with their latest, Time Cuts the Ties, as it's emblematic of their body of work and a damn good listen. Dropkick specialize in the melodic pop of bands like Teenage Fanclub and Daniel Wylie-era Cosmic Rough Riders with a touch of alt-country, suffused with Pernice Brothers-like harmonies. The standouts here are "Bad Line", an uptempo number augmented by piano that wouldn't have been out of place on the Pernices' Overcome by Happiness album, the stately power balladry of "Home", and the lovely, waltzing title track. Have a listen below, but set aside some time - once you introduce yourself to them, you're going to want to delve into that deep back catalog. Official site (with lots of downloads) | iTunes
The Janglemen-5 by The Janglemen. Hey, sometimes the reviews write themselves. In this case, the band name and the title do a great job of summing things up. If you like this NYC band's full-length debut in 2007 or just like jangly power pop, this EP is for you. "Missin' Kissin' Kristen" is worth the price of admission alone, all Rickenbackers and catchy melodies. Also of note is the merseybeat of "XO XO", and the almost Knack-like "Weather Girl". Jangle on!
The Misdom-Abbey Roaded 2.0 EP. This Spanish band has been kicking around for the past decade but only just came to my attention with their latest 4-song EP, and as you guess from the title there's a strong Beatles influence at work here. "12 de Octobre" opens the proceedings in agreeable, shuffling fashion while "One Way" recalls Lennon's "Free as a Bird". And "Roses" and "Town" are bright late 60s/early 70s British pop. They have a few prior releases worth checking out as well, and fans of the late great The Sunday Drivers should enjoy them too.
Dropkick-The Scenic Route. I could tell you that this is the album where Scottish mainstays Dropkick changes up their sound and incorporates some harder rock or reggae influence or some danceable beats, but I'd be lying. Nope, their 16th album is much like the 15 that came before it and The Scenic Route is one more data point to prove that the only things you can count on in life are death, taxes and Dropkick. But as long as they keep making album after album of top-notch jangle pop/folk in the vein of Teenage Fanclub and The Jayhawks I'm not gonna complain. The standouts here are the breezy opener "Feeling Never Goes Away", the lovely ballad "Disappearing" and "Tomorrow". 
Tommy Ray!-First Hits Free. This is the debut solo album from the lead singer of The Cry! and you can tell from the exclamation points alone that you're in for some high-energy, fast-moving power pop with a pop-punk edge. If you partook of the recent couple of Cry albums you'll know what to expect, otherwise think The Clash in their poppier moments or The Exploding Hearts. It's all very infectious, from the 1978 vibes of "Life Goes On to "Hey Susanne" (which reminds me a bit of "I Fought the Law") to the 60s rock of "Coming Back". This is fun stuff, and I can see it ending up on Little Steven's Underground Garage.
