CD of the Day, 6/11/07: Brad Brooks-Spill Collateral Love

And now for something completely different. Brad Brooks stretches the boundaries of power pop with Spill Collateral Love, a tour de force of different pop stylings that share the same level of inspiration. I've seen comparisons of Brooks to a number of different artists, with the consensus being that he's Freddie Mercury meets Guided by Voices. There's certainly an element of that in there, but there are several others that shine through.

For example, the leadoff track "Love On My Sleeve" builds to a Rufus Wainwright via Thom Yorke crescendo that never wears out its welcome over nearly six minutes. "Lathered In Cream" is the closest to straight-ahead power pop, but it adds its own subversive GbV element as well. Other standouts include "The Loon of Altitude" (which starts off as a poppy-California-sounding ditty, only to dissolve into a "I Want You (She's So Heavy)" wall of sound, only to dissolve again into some ragtime piano with unintelligble whispers), "Francis of Alaska" (Freddy & Rufus again), the near-jangle of "The Sonic Twins", and the 40s-style crooning of the finale "Luccurious Latitude". Spill Collateral Love is the power pop equivalent of an art film, and although it my lack the immediate hooks that we normally deal in here, it's worth the effort to explore.

MySpace | CD Baby | Not Lame stream

CD of the Day, 5/23/07: The Well Wishers-How I Won The War

If there's anyone in the power pop community you can count on to consistently deliver the goods, it's Jeff Shelton. From a great run with the Spinning Jennies to his current band, The Well Wishers, you know before evening listening to the album that it's going to be good. And the Well Wishers' latest, How I Won The War, is no exception to this rule; it's more of the Posies-meet-The-Shoes-with-a-modern-twist sound that propelled their previous release, Under The Arrows, to #5 in my best of 2005 list.

However, there is a slightly darker, less sunny feel to this disc, as it draws upon some Smiths/Cure influences, and the unbilled cover of The Chameleons' "Nostalgia" that closes the disc makes the point clear; opener "Grey Skies Black" trades the Wishers' normal jangle for more of an 80s britpop sound as well, yet remains true to their melodic vision. But there are still plenty of what might be called "classic" Well Wishers tracks here as well, especially "Seashells", "I'm In Love (Slight Return)" and "Merilee", and tracks such as "The Optimist" and "It's True What They Say About Girl" up the rock quotient a bit. All in all, Shelton has done a masterful job of making a great Well Wishers record without making a carbon copy of Under The Arrows in the process.

CD Baby | Not Lame (with full stream)

Updates & Miscellany.

By way of follow-up on some earlier posts, and some other things that I've been meaning to mention over the week or so since I last posted:

* I made reference a few weeks ago to a new David Grahame album becoming available through downloads from his official site. It now turns out that Grahame is only releasing individual tracks as he completes them, and not only are they going for $2 a pop, he's not making any previews of them available before purchase so as to preserve the surprise element. This business model of Grahame's has created quite a lengthy discussion on Audities, with the general consensus being that it's too steep a price, and even those who feel they could justify spending $2/track are put off by the lack of ability to sample the tracks. It is kind of a "pig in a poke" type of setup here, especially with Grahame's hints of a departure from his earlier sound. If anyone here has heard the tracks, please post a comment with your take on them, and if by some reason you're reading this Mr. Grahame, feel free to send me the mp3s on a promo basis and I'll be glad to write up my thoughts on them. :)

UPDATE WHILE PREPARING THIS POST: Apparently bowing to semi-popular demand, Grahame has made samples available. After listening to the five 20-30 second snippets, I'm not detecting that radical a change in his sound, with the exception of "The Slide", which has a horn section and sounds kind of bluesy. The others sound nice enough, assuming the snippets are representative of the tracks as a whole. I'm a bit more tempted to shell out the $2, but I'm not quite there yet.

* Contrary to earlier reports, Derby is not imminently releasing their sophomore disc, Posters Fade. It will probably be out later this year, according to their publicist. Nevertheless, the three new tracks are still playing on their site (click on "music") and I remain eager to hear the rest.

* I'd be remiss not to mention that Jason Falkner has a new disc out, but only in Japan. It's titled I'm OK, You're OK, and if you want it now before it gets a US release (if ever), Kool Kat has it for $32. I may have my power pop membership card taken away for saying this, but I've never really gotten into Falkner that much. It's not that I dislike his music, and maybe it's also due to his very spotty track record of solo releases, but for whatever reason his stuff has never jumped out at me. I'll certainly be glad to give the new one a listen, but not for $32.

* Not Lame put up some new discs today, and one of them looked particularly interesting: This Is Grand Atlantic, by the Australian band of the same name. Although this new full-length is not available yet on eMusic, their EP Smoke and Mirrors (which features several of the same tracks on the full-length along with a cover of Abba's "The Winner Takes It All") can be found there.

* Speaking of Not Lame, they've also rolled out the red carpet for the new disc from The Well Wishers, How I Won The War. So head on over and listen away. You know I'm stoked for this, since their previous release, Under The Arrows, was my #5 disc of 2005. I just got the disc in, so I'm not ready for a full report yet, but it sounds like more of the same goodness.

Streaming Thursday.

Time today to feature three releases that you can stream (two in full) that'll be worth a Thursday afternoon (or evening, or Friday for you Aussies) listen.

First off, Not Lame is at it again with their deluxe treatment of the new Bobby Sutliff disc, On a Ladder. By now, you know what this means: a full stream of the album, lots of bonus goodies, and a special pre-order deal. This one really looks like good value with the disc, and about 25 bonus downloads from Sutliff's back catalog, all for $12. If you're not familiar with Sutliff, Not Lame's descripton of his music as "12-string jangle pop heaven" should give you a good idea.

Recently I gave David Bash's Top 100 of 2006 a once-over looking for releases I wasn't familiar with. One that I found that would have definitely made my top 100 list was his #20 disc, Picture In My Head by Household Names. Click this link to their official site, and the disc immediately starts streaming. Although the first two tracks were a bit "modern rock" for my taste, the pure power pop starts with track 3, "Almost Fab" and doesn't let up from there, with "Anytime Mrs. K" a particular standout. I hear echoes of Guster, The Gin Blossoms, Fountains of Wayne and The Posies in this one. Somehow this eluded the larger power pop community last year (not found on Not Lame, Kool Kat or CD Baby), so kudos to Mr. Bash for unearthing this hidden gem.

Finally, we have a new download-only release from Adam Merrin. Adam who? Well, he's the guy who mans the keyboards for The 88, one of the top power pop groups around these days, and his solo stuff is outstanding as well. Have One is the name of his release, and it's apparently exclusively available from his myspace page as a Snocap download, $5.94 for 6 tracks. You can stream four of them there as well. Have One isn't too far afield from The 88; while the piano ballad "Still Alright" is what you might expect from a keyboard man's solo disc, the more rocking "Everything Has Changed" would have fit in well on Over & Over. The highlight here is "This Is How You Are", a gorgeous midtempo number that's equal parts Pernice Brothers and Autumn Defense. Don't waste any time getting this one on the mp3 player of your choice.

There's also a CD Baby link to sample the online EP, but you can't buy it directly from there.

The Ditchflowers on Not Lame.

Not Lame's latest featured disc is The Ditchflowers' Carried Away. Who are The Ditchflowers? Let Bruce & Co explain:

Well, long time Not Lamers will remember Barely Pink who released 4 mighty fine albums and an EP of classic Cheap Trick inspired power pop in the late 90's and early 00's. Brian Merrill, the leader of that band returns playing in The Ditchflowers along with one Ed Woltil, an unknown in the Not Lame world. Well, not anymore. Woltil is one serious, stunning songwriter, which all you have to do is play one minute of the songs here quickly to confirm.

Barely Pink holds a special place in our hearts here at Absolute Powerpop, since they were a Tampa Bay-area band, and the region is where our global headquarters reside.

In any event, I gave the album a quick listen this afternoon, and it sounds quite good. Hear it for yourself at this special page Not Lame created, with the full album streaming and plenty of bonus goodies if you take them up on their offer. Going to have make it a point to take an Absolute Powerpop field trip to see these guys.

It's OK to push The Red Button.

The Red Button is a new band featuring Seth Swirsky (who put out the fine 2004 record Instant Pleasure) and ex-Rex Daisy Mike Ruekberg, and their disc She's About To Cross My Mind is getting the full red carpet (or is that red button) treatment from Not Lame. You know what that means: a full stream of the disc, and all kinds of bonus goodies. The hype machine is cranking up for this one, and with good reason: from a quick listen, it sounds like Merseybeat perfection. So get on over and listen, and although the order page link didn't work, I have a feeling it'll be operational tonight when Not Lame unveils its new releases for the week.

(hat tip to Powerpopaholic for finding the NL page.)

New Blue Cartoon!

Not Lame has all the details, including a stream of the full album. If you know Blue Cartoon, you know this is exciting; if you don't, you should.