New Music from a couple of AbPow favorites.

Two big-time favorites of mine have released some new music for digital download: Derby and Josh Fields.

We'll start with the boys from Portland, Oregon. Derby's still yet to release Posters Fade, their full-length followup to 2005's AbPow Album of the Year This Is The New You, but in the meantime they've given us a download-only EP that's a teaser for the disc. Available at CD Baby, it shows them further refining their sound. They've upped the BPM on "Streetlight" and even the midtempo "If Ever There's a Reason" without sacrificing their melodic gifts, while opener "Argyle" brings to mind "Jet Set", the wonderful opener from New You. (And to confound, they have a new track titled "This Is The New You" on the EP as well).

Meanwhile, 2007 Album of the Year contender Josh Fields has three new songs available for purchase via Snocap on his MySpace page: "Malibu", "Sleepwalking", and "Everywhere I Shouldn't Be" (non-album track "Bigger Than Life" is available as well, and all but "Sleepwalking" are streaming on the MySpace player). These tracks are of a piece with those on his self-titled debut and are definitely worth the .99 each.

Another Josh Fields update.

First of all, the disc is currently IN STOCK at CD Baby. Again, for now. Heh.

The more interesting news is that Josh has launched his own myspace page, separate from the March Hares page. And there's a new song on the page, "Bigger Than Life", which is pretty good and of a piece with the songs on the disc.

Also new on the CD Baby page is a bunch of links to various online digital music sellers that are carrying the album; the best deal appears to be Bitmunk, which has it at 65 cents a track. This will likely be the cheapest you can find it until and unless it appears on eMusic.

Friday Miscellany.

* Josh Fields is back in stock at CD Baby. With two sellouts already occurring, I'd recommend acting fast.

* Two new releases of note at eMusic. They have the new Holmes full-length, Stop Go, about which I'll have more to say soon. Check it out. Also new this week is the latest from The Loves, Technicolour, which was featured at Not Lame this week. As a matter of fact, so was the Holmes.

* Adam Merrin of The 88, whose solo debut we featured earlier, had "Still Alright" from that disc played during last night's episode of Grey's Anatomy, one of the highest-rated shows on US TV.

More on Josh Fields.

For those interested, I've dug up some more information (and music) pertaining to Josh Fields, whose self-titled disc is our #1 favorite of 2007 to date here at Absolute Powerpop.

Some sleuthing (OK, a well-crafted Google search) led to the discovery that Fields was in an early-decade band called March Hares. They can be found at Garageband.com, and there are three songs that can be downloaded. First is an early version of "Clock Keeps Ticking", the outstanding leadoff track on the new CD. It's pretty much the same, except the mix isn't quite as good and it's slightly different towards the end. Another is "Peter Frampton", a 2-minute track about wanting to be the 70s superstar that doesn't do much for me. The third track is "She's a Spaceship", which is really pretty good, and would have been nice to have re-recorded on the new disc to flesh it out a bit (it's only 7 tracks).

Also you may have remembered that in my original post on the disc, I couldn't find a myspace for Fields. Well, that's because he's still using the myspace for March Hares. And four of the tracks from the new disc are streaming there, including "Clock Keeps Ticking" and the equally great "Steal The Air". I also found his listing of record label on the myspace page ("Taiyo Yuden") to be quite amusing.

Oh, and by the way the disc is sold out on CD Baby again.

Josh Fields back in stock!

Well, apparently my glowing review of the new Josh Fields disc may have led to a sellout on CD Baby (must have been the siren). Anyway, for those who were looking for it, it's now back in stock. The more I listen to it, the more I'm convinced it's my #1 for 2007 to date (all 45 days of it), and that's #1 on the full disc list, not the EP list, even though it's seven tracks.

CD of the Day, 2/2/07: Josh Fields-Josh Fields

OK, folks, time to break out the siren for this one:

LA's Josh Fields (about whom little I could find online other than the fact he was a former guitarist for a band called I-94) has come out of nowhere with a pure power pop delight of a mini-album (7 tracks, a bit too big to be called an EP). On the CD Baby page for the disc, he describes it as "melody driven powerpop that lives somewhere between Jellyfish and Cheap Trick with smart lyrics and addictive hooks." It is somewhere in between - not as baroque as the 'fish, but not quite as crunchy as Cheap Trick. In fact, it reminds me of Fastball, specifically the Miles Zuniga songs ("Fire Escape", "Airstream"), as well as Semisonic and the other bands that spearheaded a late 90s pop/rock renaissance on contemporary hit radio before the boy bands and the divas took over for good.

Anyway, the seven tracks here are better than most discs with 12 or more. "Clock Keeps Ticking" is the lid-lifter, and what a song it is, buoyed by a great chorus that won't leave your head and sounding like a lost Rembrandts classic. "Steal The Air" may be even better, with another killer chorus and a piano hook that surfaces from time to time not unlike Semisonic's "Closing Time". "Goodnight LA" is an exceptional power ballad that compares favorably to any that Cheap Trick have released; and "Photograph" is a midtempo marvel.

Can't find a myspace, the artist site linked to at the CD Baby page says "coming soon", so you'll have to do your one-stop shopping at the Baby, where it's a bargain at $8. There isn't much question this'll be on a Best of 2007 list at year's end; the only question is whether it'll go on the main list or the EP list.