Two for Thursday, 11/8/12

Bondo Camaro-Bondo Camaro vs Any Mammal. It's been quite awhile since we heard from Arthur Yoria (2007 to be precise) but he's resurfaced as part of Bondo Camaro, a LA band that's kind of grunged up his pop sound but left the melodies intact on their debut EP. Opener "Chemistry" gives us the formula for what's to follow, distorted guitars in the background with a sweet power pop melody, reminiscent at times of Matthew Sweet or a fuzzed-out Teenage Fanclub. "Put You to Sleep" is another standout as it asks the question "Is there such a thing as stoner power pop?" and answers "yes". This is probably nothing like anything you have on your music player of choice at the moment but you'll want to remedy that right away. Exclusively on Bandcamp right now.

Bandcamp

The Condors-3 Item Combo. Speaking of artists we haven't heard from in 5 years, here are The Condors with the long-awaited followup to... Wait for It. This time around it's more garage pop than garage rock, with excellent results. "Here I Go" and "Slice of Life" are almost jangle-rockers, while "Queer Fascination" brings The Grip Weeds to mind. Elsewhere, "Holiday" has a Smithereens feel to it and "Seraphina Way" is a pleasing midtemp rocker. With their old-school power pop sound, the Condors may hail from LA but they sound like New Jersey.

CD Baby | iTunes

Mid-week Roundup.

Had no intention of going a week without posting, but stuff happens and all that. So to make up for lost time, here's a whole buncha stuff that I've been meaning to give a shout out to:

Doug Bryan-Mad Love. Powerpopaholic beat me to this one, and his review pretty much covers the bases. Bryan will appeal to fans of Herb Eimerman, The Spongetones and early Shoes as well as roots poppers like Brian Jay Cline and Walter Clevenger. "Long Gone", the opener, sets the tone in equal parts great yarn and great tune, and the real standout is "Corporation of Love", both witty and poppy in a Barenaked Ladies kind of way. CD Baby | MySpace

Beachfield-Brighton Bothways. Beachfield is Glenn Thompson, a former sideman for The Go-Betweens, and his debut here is often reminiscent of that band but with more of a pure pop sensibility. Standout tracks: "Wintertime Again" with it's whoa-ho-ho's, the Crowded House-esque "Come Down", and "Suburban Life". It's out in Europe & Australia, and is available from Tower in the USA for an 11/5 release. MySpace

Tony Vincent-A Better Way EP. Been digging this one, a short-but-sweet EP of fairly sugary pop with a bit of an 80s sheen. This might be too wimpy for some, but even power pop fans can have their guilty pleasures. CD Baby | MySpace

The Pearlfishers-Up With The Larks. Bruce at Not Lame featured this one this week, and it deserves another mention. This might be one of the best pure pop discs in the classic sense of artists as varied as Paul McCartney, Jimmy Webb as well as being a counterpart in some ways to the Red Button. The Red Button comparison comes into play big-time with "London's in Love", one of may favorite tracks of the year-to-date. Throw in the fact that Teenage Fanclub's Norman Blake produced four of the tracks, and you have a real winner on your hands. If you don't want to pay import prices for the disc, you can get mp3s from Amazon for $7.99, not a bad deal. But make sure you pick this one up in some format. MySpace

The Silver Seas-High Society. This band used to be known as The Bees (U.S.), and so as not to be confused with the more well-known British band of the same name, they went with this moniker. By any name, this is a fine disc of mid-tempo pop that features another top 20 song-of-the-year contender, "The Country Life". eMusic | MySpace

The Condors-Wait For It. OK, now that we've dispensed with the poppier (some might say wimpier) pop discs in this roundup, here's some power pop in the form of LA's The Condors. Leadoff track "Waiting Half The Night" picks you up, shakes you, and doesn't let go. In fact, you could say it's punk pop for grownups; instead of some adenoidal twentysomething whining about this, that or the other thing, you get a band that knows the style, is comfortable in its own skin, and is ready to rock. CD Baby | MySpace