Getting in gear with the new year.

Now the list-making is over (although I will share David Bash's exhaustive lists as usual), it's time to get 2018 in gear with a couple of releases, one that came out not long before year's end and one that came out just after and both of which feature artists you may be familiar with releasing records under names you're not.

Daydream Retrievers-Daydream Retrievers. Seeing as I often can't remember what I had for breakfast later that day, it's not a shock that I could have sworn I had this release in my top 100 last week but when I went to look up the rank I noticed it wasn't there. So better late than never to extol the virtues of the latest release from Ian Olvera, formerly of the Ian Olvera Band and Ian Olvera & The Sleepwalkers. Taking his name out of the equation entirely this time, Olvera nevertheless serves up a 9-song collection of catchy heartland power pop influenced by Tom Petty and Wilco. "Ballad of an Exit Strategy" and "Cars Can't Stop" have a bright but rootsy vibe not unlike Gary Louris' version of The Jayhawks, while "New Parade" rocks like Petty's Heartbreakers. Meanwhile, the 3-song run in the middle of the album of "Tuesday Night in America", "Right is Right" and "Hi How Are You's" channels Big Star, both in the rock stylings of the former, and the melacholy balladry of the latter two. And "Learning to Live With the End of the World" with its upbeat piano-based melody is Wilco meets Springsteen. Had I slotted this one on the year-end list, it would have been about #30.

iTunes




Rooftop Screamers-Vol. 1. Rooftop Screamers is the new project of former Throwback Suburbia drummer and songwriter Mike Collins, and its 8-track debut is the first top-notch power pop release of 2018. Collins isn't a singer, though, so to bring his compositions to life he's enlisted the help of various friends to sing lead including indie pop luminaries such as Kyle Vincent and Ken Stringfellow. "Sign Me Up" kicks things off, and it's a blast to hear Vincent sing lead on a rocker that's part Queen and part Cheap Trick instead of his typical soft pop. Stringfellow, who it seems lately has guested on more releases than Michael McDonald in the late 70s and early 80s, takes the mic on "Roses Again" and it's a melodic gem with Brian May-like guitars that comes across as a lost Posies/Jellyfish mashup. But even the tracks with the lesser-known Portland-area singers stand with the big names - Geoff Metts sings on "Have Mercy", a heartland rocker, while Andrew Paul Woodworth gives "Get Outta Your Way" a Beatlesque feel. This is a fun project as Collins is a top-notch power pop songwriter, and here's looking forward to Vol. 2.

CD Baby

Two for Tuesday, 2/28/12

Throwback Suburbia-Shot Glass Souvenir. I often take an expansive view of "power pop" in the choice of releases reviewed on here, but you don't have to stretch the definition of "power pop" very far to include Portland's Throwback Suburbia. These guys have the quintessential power pop sound: crunchy guitars, sweet melodies, hooks galore and songs about girls. Their third full-length builds on the strengths of their previous releases and finds them on top of their game. "Give and Take" fits the template described above with "bah-bah" vocals in the bridge and nice use of piano to back the usual power trio, "Setting Sun" follows the bouncy staccato beat template that goes back to The Beatles' "Getting Better" to fine effect, and "It's You" has a breezy-enough melody that would have found massive radio airplay if the calendar found us wearing bell bottoms and complaining about Richard Nixon. And if smoking weren't considered passe, we'd all be holding up our lighters during the classic power ballad "Here Again". So yes, the "throwback" in their name fits to a T, and we wouldn't have it any other way, would we?

CD Baby




Jay Gonzalez-Mess of Happiness. One of my old-time online power pop buddies (Daniel from Spain) brought this one to my attention, and given the artist's name and his neo-classic power pop sound my first impression was that Gonzalez is the latest in a long line of Spanish power pop revivalists like Damien Lott. But no, Jay's as American as apple pie, hailing from Athens, GA, and he just happens to be the current keyboardist for alt-country icons Drive-By Truckers. But alt-country this is not - Gonzalez has crafted a highly melodic album in the vein of Brendan Benson and Jason Falkner and frankly I'm enjoying it more than the most recent releases from those two. "Punch of Love" is an aptly-named punchy opener, and the absolutely gorgeous and melodically spry "Luisa" is hands-down my favorite track on the album. Elsewhere, the joyous "Turning Me On" is almost like a Gilbert O'Sullivan track brought into the 21st century, "Baby Tusk" wears its 70s influences on its sleeve with a melody ripped from the era, and Gonzalez lets his keyboard prowess come to the fore with the quirky pop of "Sticky Little Fingers". There's nothing like an unexpectedly great album to come from an unexpected source to make one's day, and this one will be hard-pressed to be dislodged from my year-end top 10.

Bandcamp | iTunes

CD of the Day, 8/11/09: Throwback Suburbia-Throwback Suburbia

Heads up, power poppers! Portland's Throwback Suburbia returns with the followup to their fine 2006 release Eight Tracks, and has taken a great leap forward. Their self-titled second album is an instant contender for the upper reaches of year-end lists, and truly represents what most people think of as "power pop".

Their influences range from Jellyfish to The Tories to Velvet Crush as well as Cheap Trick, and they get your attention right away with "Private Oasis"; this track has it all, from clever lyrics to crunchy guitars to some nice piano fills (think The 88's "Hide Another Mistake"). "Asking Why" recalls The Raspberries, "Rewind" The Tories, and with its sprightly piano and quirky melody, "Head Over Heels" is straight out of the Jellyfish playbook.

Elsewhere, with its manic beat and sweet harmonies, "Say When" could be mistaken for solo Jason Falkner; "Perfectly Okay" adds sitars and snyths to the mix a la Fountains of Wayne, and "You'll Never Know" is a power ballad that pulls out all the stops (solo piano, strings, plaintive slide guitar solos) and builds to a satisfying crescendo that would make Rick Nielsen proud. The bottom line is that this disc features one killer track after another, and deserves to be right up there with other classics of the genre.

CD Baby | MySpace

(Not in digital distribution yet - another apparent victim of the CD Baby website changeover fiasco - so listen to the tracks on MySpace and get the CD itself)

CD of the Day, 8/2/06: Throwback Suburbia-Eight Tracks

Here it is, folks: the latest band for those of you who loved Jellyfish and The Tories, and love their latter-day acolytes like Sparkwood, Checkpoint Charley, Millicent Friendly, et al. I'm speaking of Portland, Oregon's Throwback Suburbia, who've come of out nowhere to hit us with Eight Tracks, which subscribes to the theory of "all killer, no filler".

As they point out themselves, there's also a Cheap Trick and Butch Walker influence at work here, and opener "Lonely Without You" wouldn't have sounded out of place on Walker's new disc. "The Ride" mines Jellyfish/Tories territory, while "Starting Over" incorporates a more "modern rock" sound a la Weezer/Rooney. These three tracks are representative of the high-energy, highly melodic sound of the remainder of the album, culminating in the proto-power ballad "Do We Cry?".

Fortunately, there are plenty of avenues to check out their sound. You could start at their myspace page, where four of the tracks are available for download. If it's better-quality streaming you want, six of the tracks are in 128kbps aac format over at their site (make sure you have the Quicktime plug in on your browser). And the other two can be sampled at CD Baby, where you can buy the disc for $8. It's also available at iTunes for the same price. Either way, this one won't be thrown back.