A little bit of twang in your pop.

Scott Warren's been one of the most consistent artists featured on this site over the last 12 years, from his days in Signal Hill Tranmission to a series of quality solo albums including 2012's Dyed in the Wool, one of the best pop albums of the decade. Here he teams up with Molly Orlando as Wounded Bird for an EP of Americana informed with a pop sensibility. "Medication for My Heart" is a classic alt-country duet in the vein of Gram & Emmylou or Ryan Adams & Caitlin Cary in Whiskeytown, while Orlando takes lead on the vintage balladry of "Arms". Meanwhile, fans of Warren's output will enjoy "I'll Grow Old With You", the most pop-informed track of the batch with its loping electric guitar and which would have fit right in on Dyed in the Wool. And "Workin' Out the Kinks" is a rave-up that shows off Warren's versatility.

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Brady Harris Band-NoHo Calling. Another longtime favorite of the site who's straddled the line between Americana and power pop is Brady Harris, who returns with NoHo Calling, "NoHo" being a reference to his North Hollywood via Texas base of operations. The album is a mix of the twangy Beatlesque ("Let's Live", "Better Late Than Never"), bloozy ballads ("Raise a Glass", "The NoHo Sound"), some clever covers (The Go-Go's "Our Lips Are Sealed" and Grace Jones' "I've Seen That Face Before") and rootsy rockers ("I Think I Know", "Drain Me"). And to round things out there's even a paean to "Old Drunk Motherfuckers", of which Brady may or not be one.

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Mid-February Roundup.

Today's a bit different as we feature one brand new album, one from last year, and a gem from six years ago that I just recently discovered.

Scott Warren-Good Love. Between his stellar work with Signal Hill Transmission and his solo output to date, Scott Warren has gone down in my book as an underrated pop genius. Good Love is his first album since 2012's brilliant Dyed in the Wool (my #3 album that year) and a bit of a throwback to his Signal Hill Transmission days in that's more of a straight-ahead rock album. "Good Love" and "Cold Feet" offer a melodic 1-2 punch that puts the "power" in "power pop", "Why Won't You Come Around?" finds Warren more reflective, and "I Love You, I Love You" has a rollicking, vaguely honky-tonk feel to it. Elsewhere, the lovely country-tinged ballad "Fall in Line", and the gentle McCartney-esque "Life" are standouts, and Warren closes with a nice cover of Lindsey Buckingham's "Trouble". While there's nothing here as mind-blowing as "A Sinking Feeling" and "Tongue-Tied" from his last album, Good Love is a great collection of pop/rock tunes and an early best-of-2016 contender.

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Eugene Benjamin-Life. Eugene Benjamin's Photograph was of 2014's nice surprises for me, and late last year he followed that up with Life, another fine collection of roots-influenced rock in the style of Tom Petty, George Harrison and John Hiatt. Tracks like "His Town", "She Got Soul" and "Reunion" go down smooth and easy as well as the louder rockers like "Baby Grace". You can slot this in somewhere around the middle of my 2015 year-end list had I heard it in time.

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Ray Pearen-Everything is Spinning. I don't normally seek out albums from six years ago, but I stumbled across this album after a track from 2007's The Holy Fields EP came up on shuffle and got me to wondering if they'd released anything since. Typically, bands I don't hear from in many years have broken up, so I'll Google the frontman and see if he's released anything under his own name or with a new band. This led me to finding out The Holy Fields' Mike Gennaro played on this 2010 release from Ray Pearen, a Canadian musician who happens to based out of my home area in Tampa. So I gave it a listen and it's one of the best power pop-meets-Americana albums I've heard in recent years and easily would have made my top 10 of that year. The opening track "Drive" has fast become my new favorite song, one of the best songs Tom Petty never wrote, while the title track rocks in the same vein and "Waiting" has a kind of timeless pop pedigree in which I hear traces of Buddy Holly and The Beatles. "Run Away With Me" is another dazzling rocker, and while the album closes with three ballads, they're all of top quality. It's a shame this got overlooked in 2010.

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Weekend Roundup.

Scott Warren-Dyed in the Wool. The former frontman of Signal Hill Transmission is back with his second solo album after 2009's fine Quick Fix Bandage. As I mentioned in that review, Warren never likes to make the same album twice, and here he veers from Bandage's popicana to a more indie pop sound not unlike a psychedelic Shins or Jo Dee Purkeypile's The Alice Rose. "Divisible/Indivisible" opens with a spry melody buoyed by Janelle Williams' trumpet and some well-placed whistling while "When She Comes Around" sounds like Paul McCartney if he were a 21st century indie popper. Elsewhere, the pretty melody of "When in Rome" and the "la-la-la" chorus of "Sinking Feeling" (which also features the "shooby-do-wa" refrain from "Revolution 1") help these two tracks stand out from the rest. And closer "Tongue-Tied" might be the best of the lot with its halting melody and bells and whistles that make it sound like a lost track from Wilco's Summerteeth. Another winner for Warren.

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The Lazy Suns-The Lazy Suns EP. This is the latest from Mark Clayton & Co., who were known as "Mark Clayton and The Lazy Suns" a couple of years back when I gave them I a brief shout-out on this site. The new EP is a enjoyable melange of power pop meets Americana, somewhere in the general direction of Tom Petty and The Wilburys. Opener "Bundled" is straight-up country rock, "Last Train Home" is top-shelf jangle pop and "Start All Over" closes with the guitar solo from Badfinger's "No Matter What". And the final track "Troubled Sea" is a sing-along sea shanty that was featured on the TV Show "The Deadliest Catch" and sports The Hooters' Eric Bazillian on hurdy-gurdy. So there's quite a bit to enjoy here if your tastes run into this sub-genre.

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CD of the Day: 7/28/09, Scott Warren-Quick Fix Bandage

Quick Fix Bandage is the debut solo album from the frontman of Signal Hill Transmission, a band that has had an interesting history. They debuted in 2005 with Tomorrow, The Stars, a largely alt-country disc, followed it up with 2007's An Empty Space, which saw them move in a pronounced power pop direction (and featured "Cherry is a Girl", which would make my short list of top power pop songs of the decade) and then signed with ATO Records in 2008, hooking up with Pete Yorn & Liz Phair's producer and releasing the Starting Gun EP, in which they tried a bit too hard to be radio-ready.

The common thread in all the SHT albums, though, was Warren's songwriting ability, and now that he's gone solo he's managed to come almost full circle and release a laid-back, country-influenced pop album in the style of solo Rhett Miller and sometimes songwriting-partner Todd Herfindal of The Meadows, who helped engineer the album. "Before You Say Goodbye", which opens the album, is about as good as anything Warren's written, from its easygoing melody to its light country instrumentation. "Along for the Ride" and "Same Old Scene" are spare but lovely; and the atmospheric pedal steel of "For the Ride" should make happy all of those who wonder why Jeff Tweedy doesn't do these kinds of song anymore; and "Speed of Sound" will appeal to those who loved SHT's power-popping efforts. Warren closes the proceedings with a slowed-down cover of America's "Sister Golden Hair", which is nice but hurt my brain to listen to as the faster-paced original is so embedded in my memory that I found myself mentally singing along about 2-3 lines ahead throughout. I will give him credit for not doing a rote cover, however (cough, cough, Matthew Sweet & Susanna Hoffs).

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