Mid-Late October Roundup.

Mooner-Masterpiece. I enjoyed Mooner's previous release, 2012's Unpronounceable Name EP, well enough to feature it on the site. But it didn't prepare me for the big leap in quality they've taken for their first full-length, the not-too-inaccurately titled Masterpiece. They reprise the two best songs from the EP (the angular, Spoon-style rocker "Shapeshifter" and the anthemic, epic "Never Alone") but it's the new material that really shines, from the melodic rocker "Anytime" to the mid-70s-style pop of "Dream", the Sloan-like "I Don't Believe You", and the hyper-catchy Cheap Trick-influenced first single "Alison", possibly the best track written about meeting a girl at church camp. This one's a top ten contender.

iTunes



Sports Fan-Minor Hits in Major Keys. Dion Read and the boys are back again, this time with their full-length followup to 2013's Shallow Water EP. Read has become a master of piano power pop, between his releases with The Afterthoughts and now Sports Fan, and Minor Hits in Major Keys might be the best piano pop album of the year (and this year includes a new Ben Folds release). "This is Goodbye" nails the kind of big-sounding relationship song that Folds regularly knocks out, but without the juvenile rancor, while "Wake Up" is excellent driving pop. Other highlights include the Beatlesque "Shallow Water" and the grand ballad "Social Butterfly", which adds a bit of Queen/Jellyfish to the mix.

iTunes



Tom Rich-American Fantasy. Nova Scotian Tom Rich provides an impressive debut with his American Fantasy (which may or may not involve pouring green paint over a naked woman), a collection of winning power pop tunes. Rich sounds a lot like another artist I've featured often on this site, Justin Kline, and the standouts here are the opener "The Gentleman's Lament", the midtempo synth-aided "American Girl" (not a Tom Petty cover), the lovely "The Circus", and "Over & Over", which reminds me of bit of Robbie Dupree's soft-rock classic "Steal Away". Rich has the pop chops to spare here, so check this one out.

iTunes

Friday Roundup.

Hidden Pictures-Rainbow Records. Hidden Pictures hail from Kansas City and boast an impressive pop pedigree. Lead vocalists Richard Gintowt and Michelle Sanders were in the band OK Jones, which had a couple of fine releases in the middle part of the last decade, and Erik Voeks (of the legendary 1993 power pop album Sandbox) plays bass. And while it all looks good on paper, it sounds just as good to the ear. For the most part, Rainbow Records is buoyant, effervescent pop - opener "Calling Christine" and closer "Oldies 104.3" bookend the album with sugar galore and find the band as a less indie rock-oriented New Pornographers. Meanwhile, "Solo Record Shop" and "Boyfriend A.D.D." rock a bit more but keep the sweet melodies going. This might be the perfect summer record of 2012, but even in winter you'll want to have it to keep you warm.

Bandcamp | iTunes

Mooner-Unpronounceable Name EP. The third EP from this Chicago band led by brothers Lee & David Ketch is a real treat for lovers of meaty, melodic guitar pop. They claim Television and Tom Petty as influences and it's not hard to hear it in "Shapeshifter", with its angular guitar hook and insistent melody, while "Overrated" rocks relentlessly. The other tracks, the midtempo "White Lines" (which builds slowly and ends up in Petty territory) and the power ballad-turned-guitar freakout "Never Alone" also show the band's talent for unpredictability.

Bandcamp