Today's eMusic goodies.

First off, an exciting new release from Kool Kat shows up immediately on eMu: Fooling April's In The Now. According to Kool Kat, "their well-produced, keyboard-led brand of pure, radio-friendly pop will immediately appeal to fans of The Argument, The 88, Ben Folds, Crowded House, and even Steely Dan!" If you prefer the disc, and want the exclusive 4-track bonus disc, get it from the Kat here.

Also, a couple of Rainbow Quartz releases make their eMusic bow. One of them is one readers of this blog will be quite familiar with, The Mellowmen's Tomorrow's Sound Today. We were all over this one last year when it was an import (it was#45 on the year-end list), and now it's gotten a domestic USA release through RQ. Don't pass this one up if you had up until now.

The other is the truly retro-sounding The Shake and their aptly titled disc, Trippin' The Whole Colorful World. This is vintage Rainbow Quartz, with that 60's/Nuggets/Psych/Garage sound that many of their bands are known for.

CD of the Day, 9/12/06: The Mellowmen-Tomorrow's Sound Today

The Mellowmen are from Sweden (not to be confused with Germany's Monkeeman), and despite the album title, play a particularly tuneful brand of mid-60s-styled pop albeit with some modern touches. They can probably be best described as a cross between Rainbow Quartz acts like The Winnerys and The Sails and contemporary Swedish pop acts like The Soundtrack of Our Lives. In fact, I'm kind of half surprised that RQ hasn't signed them yet.

Things get off to a winning start with "I'm Okay", which nicely utilizes piano and a horn section to augment the basic guitar-bass-drums setup. "Out of Shape (Part 1)" follows, sounding like something McCartney would have written circa Revolver. "Make You Mine" has a bit more of a contemporary yet retro feel to it, almost reminding me in places of Ben Kweller. Other highlights include "You Better Leave Now", a great slice of British Invasion pop; the playful "Sunshine Shell", and the Brian Wilson-influenced "I Rest on Her Autumn Leaf".

Try these mp3s on for size:

I'm Okay
You Better Leave Now

A few tracks can also be streamed at their myspace page. Meanwhile, the disc is apparently only available in the US through Miles of Music, an outfit that usually specializes in Americana. And while Tomorrow's Sound Today isn't on eMusic, the EP Get Out of Shape With The Mellowmen is, which features the title track (both parts) and a couple of tracks not on the album, including the very good "It's Not My World".

UPDATE (4/25/07): Re: the first paragraph above - Rainbow Quartz did in fact pick up The Mellowmen (I think they owe me a commission on their new RQ contract), and have released Tomorrow's Sound Today (with a different cover - I liked the old one better) in the USA. And it's on eMusic here.