Bandcamping it.

More and more artists are using Bandcamp, which allows for full streaming of tracks, downloads (many free or name your price), etc. Here are a few that caught my eye recently:

A free download of Plasticsoul & Brandon Schott covering Big Star? You don't have to drag me screaming to that.



Chris Richards with another vault-clearing collection? Always good stuff if you recall his previous Pathetic History.



Daniel Person is a UK artist whose sound falls somewhere between Elliott Smith, Ryan Adams and Jesse Malin, and he's offering up "Wishing Well", the first single from his new album as a free download. It's a quality tune.



Nick Piunti of The Respectables brought Ryan Allen & His Extra Arms to my attention and I'm certainly glad he did. Some of you may know Allen from his work as frontman of The Friendly Foes, and this is crunchy power pop par excellence. Best part is that most of the songs clock in around 2:15, and the slower ones sound like Paul Westerberg:



Oh, and it's not on Bandcamp, but here's a free download of the new single from Fountains of Wayne, Richie and Ruben.

New single from David Myhr (ex-Merrymakers)

I plan on resuming normal blogging later today, but I didn't want to wait on this one.

After years of absence from the power pop scene, David Myhr (known to most of you as one-half of legendary power poppers The Merrymakers) has released a new single in advance of his forthcoming album Soundshine titled "Got You Where He Wanted", and it's a gem, the kind of track that reminds you why you're a fan of power pop. Here it is:

Got you where he wanted (.mp3) by davidmyhr

Listen to it here, and download it at the link above.

mp3s and such.

I've been quite busy with work and family obligations the last week, hence the lack of new posts (I haven't even tweeted much). To tide you over, here are a couple of mp3s available for free from longtime favorites with new albums on the way.

First off, Sloan needs no introduction, and their new album The Double Cross comes out in a couple of months. The first single, Chris Murphy's "Follow the Leader", can be downloaded here.

Aussie rockers Grand Atlantic are also set to release their third full-length soon, and they're offering up "Poison to the Vine" as a free download at their special album-centered site.

Free "new" Fountains of Wayne track.

For a special on NPR's All Things Considered, Fountains of Wayne took the circa-1890 poem "Song of the Passaic" and set it to their own style of music. The song is available as a free download from their official site, so go get it!

Popboomerang on Bandcamp - Freebies Galore!

How does 44 free mp3s from one of the world's greatest power pop labels sound? That's what you can get by visiting Popboomerang's new Bandcamp page. They have two samplers up, one with 13 tracks and the other with 31, featuring artists many of you know and love, along with many others worth checking out. From Bryan Estepa to Russell Crawford to Adrian Whitehead to Grand Atlantic to The Wellingtons (and many more), you can't go wrong.

CD of the Day, 9/14/10: Picture Day-Wild Aim

There's a certain subgrene of pop/power pop that I like to call "rainy day pop" - tuneful but subdued, hooky but not hyper. It's no coincidence that Picture Day, today's purveyor of rainy day pop, comes from the Pacific Northwest where rainfall is a way of life. Picture Day is the brainchild of The Green Pajamas' Eric Lichter, who wrote the songs here and had them performed by an impressive cast of friends including Ken Stringfellow and Jimm McIver. In many respects the sound here is similar to the Pajamas, only more down-to-earth and personal, despite the guest appearances.

The disc is highlighted by a pair of tracks that take a hard look at war. The brilliant "War Song" opens the disc, a gentle piano-and-acoustic-guitar based pop number that sets the mood for what's to come. Drawing its inspiration from WWII ("Buried in the deep dark frozen/hiding in the hills of France/scattered to the winds in Poland/resurfacing up by chance"), it's both haunting and ear-pleasing. Later in the album is the somber "Average Coming Home", a look at how tough coming home from war is on a soldier.

It's not all war on the battlefield, though. The war inside our hearts and minds is explored on "Mental Kiss", another moody pop gem with a British flavor, and the title track has a pastoral feel like mid-period Kinks or some of Andy Partridge's work in XTC. "God Replace" furthers the album's sophisticated pop milieu, and Stringfellow plays and sings on "Little Bigger", a lovely, stately ballad.

There are a few sonic detours here. "Piano Pins" marries a rapped lyric to a horn-backed rhythm section that sounds very Green Pajama-like, and "Ever Shining Super Effect" is the closest thing to power pop in the traditional sense. Things close in fine fashion with "Whispers Off The Radio", another languid-yet-melodic tune. Like the camera on the album cover, Picture Day captures a distinct feel and mood. It may not be California sunshine, but it's perfect for that rainy day. A definite sleeper candidate for our year-end lists.

CD Baby | MySpace

mp3: Average Coming Home

Freebie of the Day: Stu Lewis-Waste Not What Not

There's a lot of free music online these days, but even "free" music comes at a cost: your listening time. So it's nice to pass on something that's free but also worth a listen. Stu Lewis is offering up his debut EP Waste Not What Not gratis, and it's a fun 5-track helping of synth-influenced power pop a la The Cars or The Rentals. "With Authority" and "Stay Free" are the conventional standouts here, but the track that will really make you glad you gave this a download is "Michelle", Lewis' love letter to the First Lady ("I know she's a married two-time mama/but I'm love with Michelle Obama"). This track will either get him a command performance at the White House or placement on a Secret Service Watch List, but either way it'll get stuck in your head.

Get it here.

Riffbackers freebie!

The Spanish power pop band The Riffbackers have made their 2009 release The Curtain Shop and Alterations available as a free download on Bandcamp. These guys used to be known as The Winnerys and had an album out on Rainbow Quartz about five years ago. It's good stuff, and the price is right.

Grip Weeds freebie!

Psych-rock/power poppers The Grip Weeds have a new album coming out in late June, titled Strange Change Machine (as you can see on the right). It's going to be a 24-track double-album extravaganza, and as a teaser for this behemoth the band is offering up a free download of eight tracks from the disc.

Get it here.

Free Paper or Plastic EP

Paper or Plastic has always been a favorite in these parts, and they've followed up 2006's Best of Luck to Cody James with a new EP, Ron Save The King. And best of all, it's free at their Bandcamp site. Obviously, it's worth the price, but it's also worth the listen. I'm still wondering, though, if in these environmentally sensitive times they'll end up changing their name to Cloth.

Research Turtles free download!

That Research Turtles disc I reviewed last week can now be yours free to download, if you pay a visit to their new official site. Best deal of 2010 to date!

Fate Lions freebie!

About three months ago, I touted Good Enough for You, the fine debut from Fate Lions. Now they're offering it up gratis, at their bandcamp site. Click the link below and enjoy!

Fate Lions on Bandcamp

Free Justin Kline EP!

It's getting to be that time of the year again as I compile the year-end CD and EP lists. So it's fitting that Absolute Powerpop's #1 EP of 2008, Justin Kline's Six Songs, is now available for free through Noisetrade. And in the more-good-news department, he should have a new EP available any week now, which will also be available free. Get Six Songs here:

John Brodeur freebie.

Once again, senility sets in - I thought I had reviewed John Brodeur's fine Get Through earlier this year on the site, but I didn't. So in addition to calling your attention to that disc, let it be known that Brodeur is offering up a freebie EP of four covers ("Head Over Heels", "Talk Dirty to Me", "What it Takes" and "Xanadu") in honor of Halloween (get it? trying on other people's songs). The Photoshopped (at least I hope it's Photoshopped) cover is a tad disturbing, though.

John Brodeur - Slutty Nurse EP

And here's Get Through for your listening pleasure:

Free Sloan Download

Sloan has a new EP on the way, and they're offering up the title track, "Take It Upon Yourself", as a free download. The only catch is that you need to join their mailing list (the link for the download is emailed to you).

The track is a pretty good Chris Murphy rocker, by the way.

Freebie of the Day: The New Fidelity

This California band has a couple of quality discs under their belt, and now they're back with a brand new EP titled All Here Now. And for a limited time, you can get it for free from their official site. They have a mod-60s sound, with a bit of soul thrown in, and your toes will be tappin' while you give them a listen. If you want the physical EP, a CD Baby link is below.

Official Site | CD Baby | MySpace

New Two Hours Traffic!

The finest Canadian power pop band this side of Sloan, PEI's Two Hours Traffic, is set to release Territory, their followup to 2007's Little Jabs, on September 8. To whet our appetites, they've released an mp3 of the title track.

Get it here:

Two Hours Traffic-Territory (mp3)

And here's a bonus video of their hit from Little Jabs, "Stuck for the Summer":

New Codaphonic EP - free!

We've always enjoyed the Harry Nilsson-influenced Codaphonic around these parts, so I'm pleased to pass on the news that they're making Edison's Rival, their brand-new EP, available for a free download.

Get it here.

More Bleu for you.

Bleu's A Watched Pot, which I told you about a while back, has finally hit retail this week. I never did a formal review of the disc, because, well it's Bleu, and it's great, and if you're a power popper it's essential. Anyway, your Bleu experience is not complete without this bonus EP of outtakes from the Watched Pot sessions, which you can either get free or for the amount you're willing to pay from the good folks at Noisetrade:

Odds and ends.

I Don't Like Cricket, I Love It!

Pugwash alert! One of the best lines from 10cc's immortal "Dreadlock Holiday" could be the mission statement of The Duckworth Lewis Method, a new band featuring Thomas Walsh (a/k/a Pugwash) and Neil Hannon of The Divine Comedy. These two Irishmen have parlayed their love of cricket into a concept album about the sport. Released globally today, this is a must for Pugwash fans (as well as cricket fans, but you don't have to be one to enjoy it). In case you're wary, have a listen below:

MySpace | iTunes

The Duckworth Lewis Method - T...

Your Favorites, free.

Many of you recall Bright Nights, Bright Lights, the outstanding release from The Favorites which placed at #15 on my 2008 year-end list. The band is now making the disc available free, gratis, without charge, yours for the taking, courtesy of NoiseTrade. A deal too good to pass up: