New Valley Lodge video (and album on the way)

Dave Hill & company are back, set to release their third album as Valley Lodge. I've gone on record as stating their 2005 debut might be my favorite power pop album of all-time, and while 2009's Semester at Sea found them mostly turning to glam rock, it was still a fun album and some of the high points on that album rivaled the high points of the debut. They're releasing Use Your Weapons on September 3, and I'll have a review up around that time. (SPOILER ALERT: It's a return to the form - and sound - of the debut). To get you amped up, here's a typically amusing video from the boys (Hill's daytime job is professional funnyman) for "Go":

"Go" by Valley Lodge from KobiyoshiViewing on Vimeo.

Midweek Roundup.

Lazy Susan-Places That Made Us. Aussie power pop has been berry, berry good to us over the last decade, and Lazy Susan has been a mainstay in that scene since the turn of the century. Places That Made Us is their fourth album, and would it surprise you to find out it's produced by Michael Carpenter? I didn't think so. This is a real gem, from the moody Neil Finn-esque opener "Easy Targets" to the raved-up "Find Me a Way Back Into Your Heart" to the epic ballad "Responsibility of Love" to the punchy power pop of "Somewhere" and the McCartney-in-boogie-piano-mode styled "Sore Losers". Great stuff, and you can spend the next 45 minutes or so listening to it in its entirety on Lazy Susan's Bandcamp page. Kool Kat is offering up it up with a bonus disc deal as well.

Bandcamp | Kool Kat | MySpace | iTunes



The Shamus Twins-Garden of Weeds. The Shamus Twins have been kicking around the periphery of the power pop scene since their debut disc in 2004, appearing on a few IPO compilations, while Shamus Twin Tim Morrow released a solo disc, Back to Delton, in 2008. But they're back in a big way with their second full-length, Garden of Weeds. Morrow is joined by Jerry Juden, and they have a sound that mixes heartland rock with power pop. The standout tracks here are "You Know My Name", a melodic, snarling rocker that does not include the phrase "look up the number", the jangly "Life is Strange", the harmony-drenched "Ain't Letting Go", and the hooky "Did You Have to Change". Have a cigar and congratulations, it's Twins!

CD Baby | MySpace | iTunes

Latest from T.Kao

A couple of years ago I reviewed the fine debut EP Hundred Flowers from T.Kao, and now he's back with a new release in the works. Also, he's recorded an interesting cover of the Blondie classic "Heart of Glass" which you can download at ReverbNation.

Here's a video for one of the songs from the upcoming album, "Crowded Streets in an Empty Town":



We'll let you know when the full-length becomes available.

Video of the Day, Damien Lott-"Erase and Fall"

Today's post is thanks to one of my readers, Matt Willis, who brought this Spanish power popper to my attention. Damien Lott released his self-titled solo debut earlier this year, and Matt's description of Lott as a Spanish Jason Falkner turned out to be spot on. About half of the tracks are in English and the rest are en Español, but they all sound great. And the highlight of them all is "Erase and Fall", one of the best power pop tunes you're going to hear in 2010:



This disc is available domestically at iTunes and at eMusic, and you can hear more at his MySpace page.

New Maple Mars video.

Maple Mars has a new album coming out on Kool Kat in March, titled Galaxyland, and here's a video for "New Day", one of the new tracks. It's not exactly a visual spectacle, but the song is pretty darned good.

Video of the Day

Here's an imaginative, stop-motion video for Bob Evans' "Hand Me Downs", from his latest album Goodnight, Bull Creek:

Video of the Day

Before Valley Lodge, comedian/rocker extraordinaire Dave Hill had another band, the amusingly named Uptown Sinclair, who released a self-titled 2001 album that's a must have for any kind of VL fan. Here's a funny video for the disc's biggest "hit", "Girlfriend":

New Michael Carpenter album on the way!

Here's some good news to brighten up your back-to-work-from-a-long-holiday-weekend morning: Michael Carpenter is set to release his first solo album since 2004's Rolling Ball - and you won't have to wait long for it. Redemption #39 will be available on June 8 from the usual suspects (Not Lame, Kool Kat, Jam). Much as Carpenter has done with previous releases (such as Rolling Ball and the Supahip album), he'll be offering a limited edition bonus disc containing a stripped-down, acoustic version of the album, so get it early.

Here's a video for the album's opening track, "Can't Go Back":

New Maple Mars Video.

Maple Mars has a new album on the way (yay!) and here's a video for a new song, "Transcendental Guidance". Quality tune.

CD of the Day, 6/17/08: The Rip Off Artists-Esque

A couple of weeks ago, I appovingly posted The Rip Off Artists' manifesto. So much for words, though - how is the disc? Well, let's just say you'll be glad to hear that they put their money where their mouths are. Esque has it all - winning melodies, big hooks, clever lyrics, and that certain intangible quality that results from two talented popmeisters joining forces (cf. The Red Button).

For those just tuning in, The Rip Off Artists are Peter Batchelder and Nick Pipitone. Ever since his great 2005 EP Anything I Want to Say, I've been looking forward to new music from Pipitone and although I can't profess familiarity with Batchelder, he more than holds up his end on Esque. The best comparison for their sound is the music of Squeeze or a less-smartassy Fountains of Wayne with the wordplay of Elvis Costello, which becomes apparent right off the bat in Pipitone's "The Present Tense", a track which takes the cliched musical subject of a fighting couple and recasts it with clever lyrical imagery ("But if we break this ice/there's a chance we'll drown", "it's like a soap opera spinoff/of a play by Chekov") as well as imbuing it with a Philly Soul chorus. The first "single" from the disc, "What Happened?" follows, and it's catchy as hell, a piece of classic 60s/70s British pop that would have fit in snugly on the Red Button disc. And it's accompanied by a brilliant video which is at the end of this review.

There are plenty of more goodies to follow: the waltz-time "So Happy", the jangly "The Wishful Thinker", the FoWish (dare I say FoWesque?) "The Girl Behind The Bar", and the dreampop of Batchelder's "Sidetracked". And the final third of the disc is a treasure for the puntastic titles alone - i.e., "Without You I'm Something", "The Look of Like" - but the songs behind them are even better than their monikers, especially the former, and album closer "I Thought It Over" is pitch perfect for this disc. This one's a real top 10 contender, and the highest compliment I can pay it is that no doubt soon enough I'll be praising a disc for being Rip Off Artistesque.

CD Baby | MySpace

Now enjoy this sublime video for "What Just Happened?":

Sick day.

Sick as a dog right now (as well as my 3 kids), which is why there haven't been any new posts since Thursday. I'm hoping to get a new review up tomorrow. In the meantime, here is Fountains of Wayne's "Sick Day", set to scenes from The Office:

Another video.

Ah, good ol' YouTube, the crutch for the lazy/busy blogger. Here's an overlooked power pop classic from another Canadian act, Sam Roberts. Although Roberts' 2003 debut We Worn Born In a Flame is more classic rock than power pop, he did manage to record one true power pop gem, "Don't Walk Away Eileen". Click on this, and try not to get whiplash from bobbing your head:

Friday Video: Sloan-"The Rest of My Life"

Sloan's been one of my favorite power pop bands for many years now, but I have to say that I vastly prefer their 90s output to what they've done this decade. In fact, Navy Blues would rank in my top 20 (if not top 10) discs of the 90s.

As for their 00s stuff, I thought Never Hear The End of It was a fine artistic achievement, but the only song that jumped out at me after multiple listens was "Fading Into Obscurity". And here's the only song I'd take from 2003's Action Pact to make a compilation, but what a fine track it is:

Video of the Day.

Future Clouds and Radar-"Build Havana"

Being a double album and all, Robert Harrison's Future Clouds and Radar was a mixed bag, although with enough highlights to place it highly on my top 100 of 2007 list. And to me this was the biggest highlight, one of my favorite tunes of the year.

Some overlooked 2007 discs.

As comprehensive as I try to be, there are still some discs that get by me, or that I get too late to consider for the year-end list. Here are three 2007 releases that would have made the year-end lists had things broken a bit differently:

The Tripwires-Makes You Look Around. This was featured as Not Lame's top disc a few weeks back, and with good reason. A solo project of ex-Model Rocket John Ramberg, this is high-quality "old school" power pop that traces its lineage from Rockpile in the 70s to artists like Terry Anderson today. But it's not all meat and potatoes, as there are some nice flourishes here too as well: the "Bang a Gong" nod in "Arm Twister", the Left Banke-ish "Big Electric Light" and the jauntiness of "I Was Afraid of That". A quality re-imagining of pre-80s power pop. CD Baby | MySpace

Big Kid-Big Kid III. This LA band has two quality power pop releases to its name, along with one of the top power pop songs of the decade ("When I Met The Girl" from All Kidding Aside), so expectations were high for disc #3. As some of the commenters on the CD Baby page for the disc have noted, it definitely sounds as if they have a new lead singer, but to me the overall sound is pretty much the same. Opener "Gold" is a hooky delight, and other highlights are the midtempo "Love's a Slow Song" and "Perfect Sunrise", and the high-energy "The Door". CD Baby | MySpace

Early Edison-Better Late Than Never. Speaking of high-energy, here's a great disc in the vein of recent discoveries like The Fizzies and The ACBs as well as the Rooneys and Weezers of the world. They can do the driving anthems like anyone else, but what sets them apart is their work on the numbers that slow down a notch or two like "Since I Left You", "Wish You Were Mine" and my personal favorite, the closer "White Socks". It's never too late to give these NY power poppers a listen. CD Baby | MySpace

UPDATE: Here's a pretty cool video Early Edison put together (done as an homage to early 20th century silent horror films and an Official Selection at the 2007 NYC Horror Film Festival) for "Wish You Were Mine":

Everybody Wants to be Teenage Fanclub these days.

Last year I ran a post titled "Everybody Wants to be Neil Finn these days" in response to a spate of Finn soundalikes I ran across. And as you can see from the title, the same phenomenon seems to have cropped up with respect to TF. So if you worship at the altar of Norman Blake, here you go:

Mr. D-Wings & Wheels. This one came to my attention when Ray at Kool Kat featured it in his weekly update, and it's a fine example of the midtempo pop hooks and sweet harmonies that make for the classic TF sound. Plus it's available on eMusic. MySpace

The Wonderful Guinea Pigs. The good news: this is one of the better "discs" I've heard this year; this Swedish band has the goods, with "Mirror to Mirror" and "Desperate Days" being two of the better songs i've heard lately and they capture the TF sound to a "T" (and an "F"). The bad news: I used the term "disc" because they don't have a proper one for sale yet. Normally, I don't advocate file-sharing, but their 13-track demo/promo is floating around out there if you're resourceful enough. Just make sure you buy it when they release it properly. In the meantime, you can listen to them on their MySpace.

The Swedish Polarbears-Worship This!"EP" . Another Swedish band with a TF-fetish. But these guys don't monkey around (guess I'm mixing my animal metaphors) with their influences - they wear them on their sleeves, as witnessed by their signature track, "Norman Blake". Like their Swedish brothers above, they don't have a proper release out, but all 4 tracks are streaming at their myspace. Here's the "Norman Blake" video:

Video & eMusic Download of the Day, The Deadstring Brothers "Meet Me Down at The Heavy Load"

Detroit's Deadstring Brothers have been around for a while, and they released their third disc, Silver Mountain, this week. Their sound is easily described: Exile on Main Street-era Stones. Sure there's a bit of Gram Parsons, Faces and Black Crowes in there as well, but as soon as you start playing this video, you'll be thinking Exile (the album, not the band).

And as of today, it's on eMusic here, along with their first two discs (I highly recommend Starving Winter Report).

Video (and Re-evalulation) of the Day: The Red Button-Cruel Girl

Stumbled across this video from The Red Button's She's About to Cross My Mind, perhaps the most "popular" power pop album of the year, given the buzz it's received. In fact, it's 2007's Alpacas Orgling; just like that project, this is an expert re-creation of a particular sound (mid-60s britpop vs ELO in the latter case) from power pop songwriting pros (Swirsky/Ruekberg vs Bleu/Sturmer). I didn't write much about the disc when it came out early this year, not because I didn't like it (it's #8 on my top 50 of the first half, and that's probably a bit too low) but because everyone else was raving about it, and I've never been a big fan of "me too" posts. Now that the hype has died down, I've really come to appreciate the disc even more - "Ooh Girl" might be my favorite song of the year, and "Floating By" and "Can't Stop Thinking About Her" might be in my top 10. Ironically (and perhaps another reason why I initially underrated this disc), the most publicized songs from the disc, "Cruel Girl" and the title track, are probably about my 7th and 8th favorite songs on the disc. Which doesn't mean "Cruel Girl" isn't a quality tune, and without further ado, here's the video:



UPDATE: Upon further thought, another possible reason I wasn't eager to jump on the Red Button bandwagon is that I'm not a real big fan of Swirsky's political views. It has nothing to do with his musical output, of course, and I'd never dream of telling him to "shut up and sing" like some of his political allies have done with outspoken musicians on the other side (cf. Dixie Chicks, Bruce Springsteen).

Better Latebirds Than Never.

It's been a long time since I posted a video, but with The Latebirds popping up on my iPod, I was inspired to Google them and found this video for "Dream Dream", a great track from a great album (Radio Insomnia):

CD of the Day, 5/17/07: The Sunday Drivers-Tiny Telephone

In my book, Brad Jones is pretty much God. Who is Brad Jones, you ask? Maybe the greatest pop/rock producer working these days. He produced my #1 disc of last year, Bob Evans' Suburban Songbook. He produced my #3 disc of 2005, Josh Rouse's Nashville. He also produced David Mead's Tangerine, and oh yeah, some disc called Kontiki by this band called Cotton Mather. Not to mention his work in the Nashville power pop mafia with Bill Lloyd and others. So when Brad Jones produces a new album, I take notice, and he's lent his considerable talents to Tiny Telephone, the new disc by the Spanish band The Sunday Drivers. And while not another Kontiki or Suburban Songbook, it's a great listen nonetheless.

The operative sound here is mid-tempo roots pop, somewhere in between Evans on Suburban Songbook and Josh Rouse. I also hear some Tom Petty as well as strong similarities to The Latebirds' Radio Insomnia (a Brad Jones album without Brad Jones if there ever was one). Things start off nicely with "Rainbows of Colours", which has a kind of dreamy feel to it (as might be expected from the title) and features a great minute or so instrumental outro that really makes the track. "She" is next, and if there ever was a more obvious lost Josh Rouse track out there, I'm not sure you'd be able to find it (melodically, it reminds me quite a bit of Rouse's best song ever, 1972's "Rise"). "Do It" is the first single off the album, and its driving guitar sound is where the Tom Petty comparisons come in. Other standouts include the languid "Paranoid", the poppy "Sing When You're Happy" (which doesn't wear out its welcome despite being 5:30 long), and the hand-clapping, foot-stomping "Day In Day Out". It hasn't been released in the USA yet (perhaps never, who knows?), but it's a not-terribly-expensive-for-an-import $18 at the Amazon link below.

MySpace | Amazon

And here's a video for "Do It":