Friday roundup.

I have several discs I've been meaning to mention, so I'm going to clear them out today via blurb rather than full review.

Yusuf-An Other Cup. Those of us who love 70s soft rock have great news: The Cat is back! Cat Stevens, n/k/a Yusuf Islam, as many of you know, has returned to a secular sound with An Other Cup, and in many respects it's like he never left. Recommended tracks: "In The End", "One Day at at Time", the cover of "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood" (a rather appropriate track given his ability to stop Transatlantic flights). Sample and watch a video at Amazon.

Walty-Let It Out. Walty is San Fran's John Walter, and this is his second disc, which comes down somewhere between singer/songwriter pop and power pop. Bruce at Not Lame described his first disc as "Sounding like a lost great Swedish pop band from the 90`s(think early Merrymakers, Beagle, The Grass Show) combined with the more modern sounds of Phantom Planet and Rooney after listening to lots of Crowded House and Split Enz", and this is more of the same. Standout tracks: "Coverband" (a sly reference to Walter's own work in the 80's cover band Tainted Love), "2 Lovers", "Motorcycle Ride". CD Baby | MySpace

The Hard Left-The Avant-Garde Sounds of The Hard Left. The Hard Left hail from Minneapolis, and they have the garage power pop sound the area is known for (i.e., The 'Mats). This release is an 8-track, mini-CD that's all killer, no filler, with the top tracks being "Lover Girl", "Who's She Gonna Turn To?" and "Take It Out on Me". They're graciously streaming the whole disc at their site, and it's available for purchase at Not Lame and Kool Kat. If Steve Van Zandt isn't featuring these guys on his Underground Garage, it's probably because he hasn't heard them yet.

CD of the Day, 1/24/07: John Krueger-Later

Augusta, Georgia is famously known as the home of The Masters golf tournament, but now has something to recommend itself to the power pop world: 19-year-old John Krueger, whose debut disc Later is something more than par for the course. It'd probably be more appropriate if his name was Ben Krueger, since his sound is reminiscent of The Bens (Kweller, Lee & Folds), and there's also some Guster in there as well as another teen who made a nice debut last year, Evan Hillhouse.

"Can't Take That Away" opens the disc, and it's catchy as anything you'll likely hear this year. It would have fit right on the last Ben Kweller disc, and the "Twist & Shout"-like "ah, ah, AH"s are a nice touch. "Ohio" is a wistful piano ballad about his days spent growing up in Columbus, and shows a lyrical and musical maturity beyond his years, and "I Don't Have a Band" is his acoustic answer to those who might be looking for a bigger sound. "Message" is another catchy track as well, and "It Takes Time" closes the disc with a piano ballad as good as any ballad Folds has recorded.

As is often the case, the Baby is the best place to sample and buy, and "Can't Take That Away", "I Don't Have a Band" and "Message" are all streaming at his myspace page. There are also a couple of additional tracks streaming at his own site.

The Broken West on eMusic (and the street).

From the Absolute Powerpop followup department: The Broken West's I Can't Go On I'll Go On is finally out today on Merge Records, which means it's also available on eMusic. It's the long-awaited full-length from the dudes formerly known as The Brokedown, and about whom I've mentioned on several previous occasions.

So how's the album itself? I've had a chance to listen to it over the last couple of weeks, and it's pretty good. Not quite the near-perfection of The Dutchman's Gold EP (with which it shares "Down In The Valley"), but pretty darn good. The move to Merge has them sounding a bit more "indie rock" than power pop ("Brass Ring" is a nice track, but it sounds like someone told them to write one that sounds like Spoon - ditto for "Big City"), but they never were a pure power pop band to begin with. Among the highlights, "So It Goes" is an excellent number, as is "Shiftee", which features their alt-country roots, and "You Can Build An Island" is Dutchman's Gold-worthy.

It's OK to push The Red Button.

The Red Button is a new band featuring Seth Swirsky (who put out the fine 2004 record Instant Pleasure) and ex-Rex Daisy Mike Ruekberg, and their disc She's About To Cross My Mind is getting the full red carpet (or is that red button) treatment from Not Lame. You know what that means: a full stream of the disc, and all kinds of bonus goodies. The hype machine is cranking up for this one, and with good reason: from a quick listen, it sounds like Merseybeat perfection. So get on over and listen, and although the order page link didn't work, I have a feeling it'll be operational tonight when Not Lame unveils its new releases for the week.

(hat tip to Powerpopaholic for finding the NL page.)

CD of the Day, 1/23/07: Ed James-In The 21st Century

I know I'm a little late to the party on this one, but Ed James' ...In The 21st Century is either the last great power pop album of 2006, or one of the first for 2007. (It came out in early-mid December, but I didn't have a chance to process until around the 1st, so it's in the 2007 pile for me.) Ed's reputation precedes this disc, with great releases like Meet Ed James!, Big Time and Poprocket already under his belt. But in case you're new to Mr. James, you're in for a treat: his records are power pop in the classic sense, always hooky, always melodic, usually a bit loud, and never boring. And In The 21st Century is no exception.

It doesn't take very long for the hooks to sink in: "Out of This Town" opens with some guitar crunch, while "She's The One" follows with jangly goodness. Other highlights include "Miss Polly", the story of a fading beauty; "And Then She Smiles", whose chorus will make you smile; and the unashamedly geeky "Star Trek Girl", which boldly goes into the Trek references where no song has gone before.

Check it out and/or buy:

CD Baby | MySpace | Not Lame | Kool Kat

CD of the Day, 1/21/07: Danny Scherr-Richmond Special

No, Danny Scherr isn't from Richmond (he's actually from San Francisco), but his debut release is most certainly special. It's an expert evocation of the 70's California sound, with enough punch to keep it from being overly mellow.

The rocker "Always Goes That Way" starts things off, and it'll have you checking the credits to see if Danny Kortchmar played or produced the track. The wistful mid-tempo "Fade Me In" follows, and if you close your eyes, you'll see Laurel Canyon. "How I Lost a Day" has the quintessential "western rock" sound to it, and "til I'm Love Again" reminds of the rare James Taylor rocker, "Honey Don't Leave LA". By the time you get done with Richmond Special, you'll be wondering why there isn't an Elektra Records logo on the CD.

Sample and buy it for a reasonable for $10 at CD Baby. And he has a myspace page streaming four of the tracks. If any of this sounds remotely appealing to you, grab it.

CD of the Day, 1/19/07: Locksley-Don't Make Me Wait

We've discussed Locksley before (unfortunately the EP in question is no longer on eMusic, for reasons that may soon become clear) on this site, and now they've just released their latest full-length, Don't Make Me Wait, yet another contender for Best of 2007 honors. What makes Locksley special is the fact that they have the potential to transcend the power pop genre in terms of success and recognition, having already received exposure via MTV, and the fact that they have youthful appeal going for them, something usually lacking in this genre normally dominated by 30 and 40-somethings (and beyond). They manage to capture the sound (and much of the spirit) of early period Beatles without sounding hopelessly retro, and with some of the hype they're getting (plus note the Arctic Monkeys-like cover art), they stand a good chance of being one of 2007's "buzz bands".

The core of the disc comes from the EP linked to above, and to quote myself:

(it) starts off with the absolutely fab "Into The Sun", a great evocation of early-period Beatles. "All of the Time" is a slower number in the vein of "If I Fell" that would make Paul proud, and "She Does" is a powerful rocker that reminds me of Jet's "Are You Gonna Be My Girl?"

The new stuff is oustanding as well: the title track both rocks and is danceable; "Let Me Know" would fit in perfectly on Meet The Beatles (it beats listening to Smithereens covers), and "My Kind of Lover" is primo British Invasion pop.

Apparently, they've discontinued their back catalog of the EP and Safely From The City, their first full-length, so to get the Locksley experience, you'll have to pick up the new one, which is now conveniently available from CD Baby. And four of these tracks are streaming at their myspace, so start right there if you're uninitiated.

More eMusic.

Bunch of interesting stuff added.

The Smithereens-Meet The Smithereens. If you ever wanted to hear The Smithereens cover Meet The Beatles in its entirety, well here you go. Fun stuff, and more worth a download than a CD purchase.

Jon Auer-The Perfect Size. This 5-track EP from 2000 is the perfect size if you only have five downloads left for the month. Includes a GbV cover.

Pugwash & Friends-Tinsel and Marzipan. And if you're down to two downloads left, grab this Christmas single from Pugwash (and Friends). Good stuff.

Wisely-Parador. This appeared on a lot of top 20 lists submitted to Audities this go 'round, although I enjoyed it but didn't love it. It also really came out in 2005 in Japan first, so I didn't consider for 06 on that basis as well.

The Nice Boys-The Nice Boys. Aside from being a great human interest story (surviving member of the Exploding Hearts soldiers on with new band), it's a great disc of 70s-style English power pop (Stiff Records and all that).

CD of the Day, 1/18/07: Peabody-Peabody

Pennsylvania's Peabody features former members of The Polins and Cherry Twister as well as current members of the alt. country band Wayne Supergenius, and the sound they've crafted here is classic Big Star-styled power pop (a point they make a bit obvious on the finale, a decent cover of "Back of a Car"). In fact, it might be the most Big Star-sounding disc since The Golden Apples' Cooler Jets Will Prevail.

"New Day", "Start Again", and "Movin' On" open the disc and are all excellent power pop tracks, while "Stars" is an excellent midtempo tune. The least Big Star-sounding track here is a great one, too; "Stay" has more of a Jayhawks feel, and undoubtedly bear the influence of the Wayne Supergenius members in the band.

Check 'em out at myspace and CD Baby.

Shake Some eMusic!

Well that didn't take long. Shake Some Action!, Friday's CD of the Day, is now on eMusic. 12 downloads that will be worth it regardless of which plan you have.

Also debuting is Actual Sighs, an interesting release from power pop guru Richard X. Heyman. The disc is a re-recording of his 1986 debut EP, Actual Size, along with 14 additional tracks he wrote at the time but didn't make the cut. You can read more about this release at his site.

CD of the Day, 1/16/07: Cloud Eleven-Sweet Happy Life

With Not Lame sadly discontinuing its own label last summer, Kool Kat stands alone as the top independent power pop label in the USA, and they've done a great job over the past few weeks and months. Their most notable release of late is Cloud Eleven's Sweet Happy Life. Cloud Eleven has quite the impressive track record (2002's Orange and Green and Yellow and Near belongs in a top 20 pop records of the decade list), and Rick Gallego & Co. have turned in another quality disc here.

Sweet Happy Life is one of those records that demands to be listened to the old-fashioned way: straight through. Listening the way I normally do to music, random tracks on the iPod, radio-style, I was a bit underwhelmed at first. But after listening to it as a whole, I came away considerably more impressed. It's quite a mellow, laid-back affair, but if you let it in, its melodic beauty will overcome any thoughts of "when is this going to start to rock a bit?". For me, the highlight of the disc are the middle three tracks of "Innocence", "Sea & Soul" and "Wishing".

You can listen to a couple of tracks at myspace, sample them all at CD Baby, and when you're ready to buy, make sure you go right to the source, as Kool Kat is offering up a free bonus EP of demos with purchase of the disc.

CD of the Day, 1/12/07: Shake Some Action!-Shake Some Action!

If the phrase "Shake Some Action!" sounds familiar to the power poppers out there, it's because it's the name of the classic track by the seminal power pop band The Flamin' Groovies. Shake Some Action! is the brainchild of James Hall, born in Australia, based in Seattle, and late of The Jeunes. Aside from the obvious Flamin' Groovies influence, this is classic British-flavored late 70s/early 80s sounding power pop, sounding as if it should have been released on Stiff Records. Hall's voice is perfect for the sound, recalling Ian Dury as well as Ian Brown.

There really aren't any subpar tracks on this disc, but standouts include the opening triumvirate of "Sound of Your Mind", "Complicated" and "I Can See Where This Is Going Now", which can be best described as "punchy power pop". Other highlights include "Not Even Close" which manages to be jaunty and sneering at the same time, "Couldn't Help Yourself", which sounds like a lost La's track, and the absolutely brilliant "Someone Else's Friend", which jangles like there's no tomorrow and boasts an indelible guitar hook.

Sample and buy at the usual suspects: CD Baby, Not Lame, Kool Kat, MySpace.

SIDE NOTE: Although SSA! the album is primarily a one-man undertaking by Hall, the touring version of the band includes power pop renaissance man Gary Miller of The Scheme, who plays bass and also runs the outstanding Seattle Powerpop Blog. Hats off to Gary for being an excellent musician and blogger; by contrast, my musical ability is primarily limited to singing The Beatles' "Good Night" to my 4-year-old each evening when he goes to bed.

CD(s) Digital Downloads of the Day, 1/11/07: Adam Daniel - The Adam Daniel Frequency & Where You Are EP (4-track demos)

Back in 1999, Adam Daniel made a huge splash in the power pop/pop underground world with the release of Blue Pop. Lauded by many as one of the top guitar pop discs of the 90s, Blue Pop is an essential part of the music collection of anyone who reads the blog. But he kind of disappeared after that, going on hiatus from the music business for the last several years. Well, as you can see above, he's back with not one, but two new releases: The Adam Daniel Frequency & the Where You Are EP.
Let's take 'em one at at time. The Adam Daniel Frequency is the name of his touring/recording band, and it's the more uptempo of the two releases. Opener "Cameo" actually has a funky feel to it (not unlike David Mead's "Chatterbox"). "It's Automatic" is power pop bliss, an excellent midtempo number; "Breathe" is a great ballad; "Supernova" sounds like vintage Teenage Fanclub; "Captain Hallucination" is Beatlesque; and "Where You Are" (which interestingly is on this disc, but not the Where You Are EP) is a haunting slow number.
As for the "Where You Are"-less Where You Are EP, it's a much mellower affair, with some fine ballads. The real standout here is the finale, "Soundtrack", which sounds like vintage Emitt Rhodes, early McCartney, etc.
CD Baby (ADF) | CD Baby (WYA) | iTunes (ADF) | iTunes (WYA)

New goodness from eMusic.

Two big releases today were added to eMusic. One is literally big, Sloan's Never Hear The End of It, in its full 30-track glory. Actually this isn't the greatest disc for eMu purposes since you'd use anywhere from 1/3 to 3/4 of your monthly downloads on it.

The other, clocking in at a more reasonable 10 tracks, is Bryan Estepa's outstanding All The Bells and Whistles, which we waxed rhapsodic on a few months ago and placed an impressive #28 in our top 100 list.

Champions - Again!

National champions in football and basketball at the same time! An NCAA first.

Listen to the song.

thank you for the invitation
we're sure your show will be very nice
gonna see if we can make it but hey maybe
we can offer you some advice
no, we're not trying to talk down at you
it's from the goodness of the whole of our heart
but we can tell just by looking at you
that you better quit before you start
in the meantime i need some mean time
to wipe out any good will building up
check the score, we're #1
turn round now back where you're from
wrote this tune, soon everyone's gonna
check the score and see that we're #1
yeah you make a decent stand in
typically boring of course
and anyone who asks yeah well we feel
we've got to give them our full report
in the meantime i need some mean time
to break down the defenses of our enemies
one less person in dress rehearsal
one less hopeless dreamer

Thanks to The World Record for coming up with the perfect power pop theme song for the Florida Gators.

CD of the Day, 1/8/07: Keith LuBrant-Searching For Signal

New Jersey's Keith LuBrant, who burst onto the power pop scene with 2001's Face In The Crowd, is back to give us yet another quality early-year 2007 release with Searching For Signal, due out this week on Kool Kat. Helping Keith out on this disc are Mike Viola and Jim Boggia, which is quite appropriate as his style on Searching For Signal is comparable to a cross between those two. Speaking of the help, Pete Donnelly of The Figgs plays bass on several tracks as well. Throw in the fact that Kool Kat is releasing it on their imprint, and the pedigree of power pop quality is certainly there.

So it's no surprise that say that the tunes come through - from the uptempo title track to the impossibly catchy "Too Late" (perhaps my favorite track of 2007 so far - yeah, I know it's only been 8 days, but the song is really good) to the Michael Carpenter-like "I Survived" to the rocking "Disconnected" to the Neil Finn-esque "February Day" to the wistful "Postcards & Memories", to which Boggia contributes vocals (and which would have fit nicely on Boggia's Safe In Sound), it's one solid track after another.

Intrigued? Then head over to his site, which has samples of all tracks; although they're approximately 30 seconds apiece, they get right to the hooks. And if you're hooked, get it at Kool Kat, where Ray & Co. have a great deal on the disc, complete with a 6-track bonus disc, and the CD itself comes with a code to download nearly 20 additional demos and unreleased tracks from the Searching For Signal recording sessions.

If the first three discs I've featured this year are going to be indicative of the quality of power pop coming down the pike for 2007, I'm going to need to get cracking on a top 200, let alone 100.

Pugwash on eMusic.

Haven't done an eMusic update in several weeks, mainly because they haven't added too much lately worth mentioning here. That changed today with the addition of Pugwash's Jollity, which placed at #13 in my top 20 of 2005. Get this one if you haven't already - I know its US distribution was spotty upon its original release.

Also on eMusic today is the latest from the Sprague Brothers, Changing The World One Chick at a Time. The Spragues are a bit on the retro side for me, but I know that a lot of power poppers enjoy them.

Finally, not a new addition, but a new discovery on eMu: The self-titled album from Story, which was featured on Not Lame earlier this week. This is a good one.

CD of the Day, 1/5/07: Wiretree-Bouldin

Here's another early contender for Best of 2007 honors: Bouldin, the long-awaited (by me, at least) full-length debut of Wiretree, whose 2005 EP was a real favorite of mine.

For those who missed the EP, Wiretee (actually Kevin Peroni) has a somewhat idiosyncratic sound, best described as somewhere between Elliott Smith and Brendan Benson, as well as reminding me somewhat of two of my true favorites, Supraluxe and Derby. To make it simpler, if you're familiar with The Smithereens' classic "Blood and Roses", you'll have a great idea of the template for the "Wiretree sound".

Things start off with "Big Coat" (the track I cajoled Peroni into posting over the summer on his myspace page in full-length form), an excellent shuffle that's instantly catchy. Meanwhile, "Secret Law" sounds like Tom Petty meets The Pernice Brothers; "Feel Me" has that "Blood and Roses" feel to it; "Don't Need It" is an untempo marvel that has an early Posies sound; "Notion" is a great keyboard and acoustic guitar-driven number; and I'm not sure I'll hear a more beautiful melody the rest of the year than the one belonging to "Whirl", although the closing track that follows it, "Summercity", comes damn close.

Where to listen? If you want to hear the whole thing, it's on Rhapsody. You can listen to up to 25 tracks without giving any credit card info or signing up, and it'll be worth using 9 of those on this disc. Five of the tracks can be streamed here, while a sixth ("Big Coat") is on the aforementioned myspace page. Right now, the only place to buy it is from the Wiretree site, where it's $11.99 shipped.

CD of the Day, 1/4/07: Peter Baldrachi-Solid Ground

Our first new discovery of 2007 is technically a 2006 release, but since it didn't appear on CD Baby until December 20, I'm counting it for 2007, and it'll be an early contender for the top half of my first top 10 list of the new year.

Solid Ground, from Boston's Peter Baldrachi, grabs you right from the get-go with the staccato guitar riff and pure power pop chorus of the title track, and doesn't let you go until it's over. "A Better Place" and "Breakdown" follow with more of the same, and you'll probably already have given your credit card info to CD Baby by the time the 2-minute sample ends. But if you haven't, the midtempo "You're Gonna Miss Me Someday" probably will get you to do so. Other standouts include "Wait In Vain" (which reminds me of the great Aussie band The Chevelles), the Smithereensesque "Round and Round", "Start It Up Again" (I'm hearing some Eugene Edwards there), "Making Sense of Nothing" (which borrows the melody from Paul Westerberg's "Silent Film Star"), the jangly "(Are You Sure) That We Belong" and "What Do You Want From Me?", which has a Teenage Fanclub feel to it. Wait - I just listed every track on the disc. Gee, I guess they're all standouts.

Unfortunately, I'm not finding a myspace page for Peter, so you'll have to make do with the 2-minute samples of all the tracks on CD Baby, where you can (you mean you still haven't yet?) order it. If you can't wait for the mailman to arrive with this disc, it's available for digital download at this site for $9.99.

In any event, this is really a quintessential power pop album; if you were to look up "power pop" in the dictionary, there ought to be a picture of this disc staring you back in the face.

Top Songs of 2006.

UPDATE: Links for the top 20 now posted.

First of all, Happy New Year to everyone out there! 2006 was a great year for power pop, and I'll ring it out with my final year-end list: the top songs of 2006. Even if many of these weren't the purest, most ambitious expressions of songcraft out there, they were tracks I enjoyed the most. Favorite songs ebb and flow throughout the year, so I'm not going to rank them in order; instead, I'll list my 20 favorite in alphabetical order and list quite a few honorable mentions thereafter. And yes, my eligibility requirements are a lot more lax than on the top 100 album list, so that explains the Pop Is Art track.

Absolute Powerpop's Favorite Songs of 2006:

"All Dressed Up"-The Yayhoos (listen)
"All My Rivals"-Chris Brown (mp3)
"Always Almost"-Mark McAdam (mp3)
"Asking Annie Out"-Willie Nile (listen)
"Blue Sky"-Supraluxe (listen)
"Chatterbox"-David Mead (sample)
"Comin' Around"-Bob Evans (listen)
"Did You See Her Dance"-Rob Laufer (listen, but use IE, not Firefox)
"Don't Let It Go"-L.E.O. (listen)
"Friend"-Bob Evans (listen)
"Help Me Suzanne"-Rhett Miller (sample)
"I Don't Feel Like Dancin'"-Scissor Sisters (sample)
"Inches and Falling"-The Format (sample)
"Louisville"-The Damnwells (listen)
"Love Sweet Love"-Supraluxe (listen)
"River to Ocean"-Phil Ayoub (listen)
"Smile!"-Pop Is Art (listen)
"Something to Hide"-Tommi Zender (mp3)
"The Way It Goes"-Paper Airplane Pilots (mp3)
"We're #1"-The World Record (listen)

Honorable Mentions (in artist alpha order):
"Sunflower", "For Dear Life", "Spotlight"-Andrew LeDrew
"Crank It Out"-Ari Shine
"Something Must Be Wrong"-Arthur Yoria
"Sadness & Whiskey"-Bob Evans
"By The Window"-Bryan Estepa
"Heart Don't Say"-Buva
"Done So Secretly"-Champagne Francis
"O Claire"-Cheap Trick
"Slave No More"-Chris LeDrew
"Bigger They Are The Harder They Fall"-Chris Murphy
"Good Morning Radio"-Codaphonic
"The Royal Standard"-Corin Ashley
"Myopic Day"-Craig Bartock
"I am a Leaver"-The Damnwells
"Cricket Scores"-Dave Stoops
"Hard to Remember"-David Mead
"Satellites"-David William
"Vespa Girl"-David Wolfenberger
"Somebody Leave The Lights On"-Don DiLego
"Feel for You"-Doug Powell
"Feet on the Ground"-Edmund's Crown
"Shattered (You Left Me)"-Exploding Hearts
"Kettle's On", "Fill My Little World"-The Feeling
"I'm Actual", "Time Bomb"-The Format
"Curded Wheys"-Fresh Mowed Lawn
"She's an Elevator"-Galore
"The Coast Is Clear"-Gary Henson
"So I'm Writing"-Geoff Smith & The Tonewheels
"Bric-a-Brac"-Grapeland
"Kissy Kissy (New York City)"-Greg Hoy
"Already All Ready"-Grey Does Matter
"One Man Wrecking Machine"-Guster
"Talking to Lisa"-Hotel Lights
"You Remind Me of the Sun", "Southaways"-Jeff Larson
"Angelita"-Jon Auer
"It Looks Like Love"-Josh Rouse
"This Is What We Are"-The Junior League
"On The Wind"-Kenny Roby
"Goodbye Innocence"-L.E.O.
"Eye Eye", "Me and Barbara Stanwyck"-The Lolas
"Two in a Million"-The Mains
"I'm Okay"-The Mellowmen
"Rat's Alley"-The Mendoza Line
"She Arrives"-Mike Elgert
"The Man In My Head"-Monkeeman
"Hard Luck", "Darkening Sky"-The Nines
"Bright Idea", "Downtown"-Orson
"Somerville", "Grudge F*** (2006)"-The Pernice Brothers
"I'm In Love (with Arthur Dove)", "You Blanks"-Portastatic
"V-Day", "Beauty Will Save The World"-Red Guitar
"My Valentine"-Rhett Miller
"Could It Be That Bad"-Rick Oliver
"On and On"-Ryan Calhoun
"A Good Day"-Ryan Coughlan
"Peter Shilton", "Chocolate"-The Sails
"Parachute"-Sean Lennon
"Acrobat Ache"-Shane Nicholson
"Lindbergh"-Skytone
"Fading Into Obscurity"-Sloan
"No Love 4 The Loser"-Spyderbaby
"You Were Looking"-Status Green
"Boyfriend"-Supraluxe
"Sara Jean"-The Sw!ms
"Lonely City", "Always Dragging Me Down"-Third Floor Story
"Never Knows Your Name"-Tide
"Tietze Park", "Four Pictures"-Travis Hopper
"Jr's Bag of Tricks"-Warren Zanes
"Roam"-The Yayhoos
"Tonight"-Yesen Damen

The Complete Idiot's Guide to Marshall Crenshaw.

That's not my title, but the title of a great blog post at Jefitoblog that reviews and chronicles the career of one of the true power pop gods, Marshall Crenshaw, complete with downloads and YouTube clips from throughout the years.

It's extremely well-written, well-thought and comprehensive, and I agree wholeheartedly with most of the thoughts about Crenshaw's various releases. (A few points of disagreement: I think the songs on Field Day are overall better than those on the debut, and I rate Life's Too Short higher than Mary Jane and 9 Others, but those are minor quibbles.) And I feel better now knowing that I'm not the only one who thought his most recent release, 2003's What's In The Bag?, was his worst and the only good thing on it was his cover of Prince's "Take Me With U".

Highly recommended reading.

Top EPs of 2006.

Hope everyone had an enjoyable Christmas and/or Hanukkah, and I appreciate all the feedback and readership associated with the top 100 list.

As promised, here are the top 10 EPs of 2006. While nothing here listed quite approached the perfection of my top 2005 EP, David Mead's Wherever You Are, there are still some excellent releases here, and all are worth a listen.

1. Kit Ashton-Blindsided
2. Hotel Lights-Goodnightgoodmorning
3. Russell Crawford-Hearing All That's Heard
4. The Comfies-Close to Me
5. Ari Shine-Age/Occupation
6. Codaphonic-Good Morning Radio
7. Mitch Linker-America
8. Frankel-Chatterbox
9. The Vandalays-Happy Ever After
10. The Doll Test-Gasoline & Banks

Coming very soon: My favorite tracks of 2006, and right around the first of the year, my early line on the best of 2007 from discs just released in the last couple weeks of December and some early 2007 advances.

The Absolute Powerpop Top 100 of 2006.

UPDATE: Now fully annotated.

Here it is - hyped for weeks, finally here just in time to print out and hang on the Christmas tree. Or something like that. First, a few housekeeping notes. For the most part, I was true to the year of release. However, I made some arbitrary rules about a few 2005 releases. For reasons explained earlier, Andrew LeDrew's Ladies Lookout is on this list because its original fall 2005 release was limited to a select few in Canada. On the other hand, I am not ranking Pop Is Art's Epiphany (even though I did before) or Millicent Friendly's Downtime, even though they're both popping up on a lot of 2006 lists despite a 2005 release date. Also Roger Joseph Manning Jr's The Land of Pure Imagination is actually a re-release of 2005's Solid State Warrior with a slightly different track listing, so that's out too. (For those curious, all three would have probably placed in the 30s).

I also have deferred some "2006" releases to 2007, most notably the new Ed James, which I have but haven't listened to yet and just came out in the last week or two; the new Cloud Eleven (which I don't have yet - hint, hint Ray Thank you Ray); and Buva's All That Humming, which I did feature a few weeks ago - although it's available from CD Baby at the moment, it has a nominal 2007 release date and the artist himself seemed somewhat surprised it was already up for sale.

Also, EPs are not included (there will be a separate post in the next few days), nor are reissues, compilations, soundtracks, etc. Finally, there were a couple of fine releases that quality-wise are as good as many if not most of the top 100, but which were relegated to "honorable mention": Doug Powell's Four Seasons and Michael Carpenter's SOOP #2. The former because it was a type of b-sides/rarities comp, and the latter because it was a disc of covers. Again, both were fine discs, but I didn't feel right ranking them among the new discs of original material.

So with all of my quirky criteria out of the way, here's the list:

1. Bob Evans-Suburban Songbook
2. Supraluxe-Supraluxe
3. Andrew LeDrew-Ladies Lookout
4. LEO-Alpacas Orgling
5. The Format-Dog Problems
6. The Goldbergs-Hooks, Lines & Sinkers
7. Rhett Miller-The Believer
8. Chris Brown-Now That You're Fed
9. Copperdown-Something True
10. David William-One Way Ticket
11. Gregg Swann-Everybody's Got to Be Somewhere
12. The World Record-Guitars Forever
13. Geoff Smith & The Tonewheels-S/T
14. Cheap Trick-Rockford
15. The Damnwells-Air Stereo
16. Jeff Larson-Swimming In The Make Believe
17. Lolas-Doctor Apache
18. Edmund's Crown-Regrets of a Company Man
19. Monkeeman-Monkeeman
20. Fresh Mowed Lawn-Fresh Mowed Lawn
21. Red Guitar-Beauty Will Save The World
22. The Hazey Janes-Hotel Radio
23. The Nines-Calling Distance Stations
24. Travis Hopper-All The Lights In The City Tonight
25. Justin Levinson-1175 Boylston
26. Third Floor Story-Songs From The City
27. Phil Ayoub-Schoolbus Window Paper Heart
28. Bryan Estepa-All The Bells and Whistles
29. Orson-Bright Idea
30. The Junior League-Catchy
31. The Champagne Francis-I Start to Daydream
32. The Rewinds-The Rewinds
33. Gary Henson-The Coast Is Clear
34. Warren Zanes-People That I'm Wrong For
35. Willie Nile-Streets of New York
36. The Vestals-Songs About Girls...and Other Mysteries
37. The Mains-The Higher You Get
38. Chris Murphy-Elbow Room
39. Waterloo-Out of the Woods
40. David Mead-Tangerine
41. The Fags-Light Em Up
42. Magneto-Resistance Is Futile
43. Shane Nicholson-Faith and Science
44. The Slides-The View From Here
45. The Mellowmen-Tomorrow's Sound Today
46. The Green & Yellow TV-Sinister Barrier
47. Pernice Brothers-Live a Little
48. Chris LeDrew-Stronger Man
49. The Skies of America-Shine
50. Silver Sun-Dad's Weird Dream
51. The Yayhoos-Put The Hammer Down
52. Fran King-Beautification
53. Scissor Sisters-Ta Dah
54. Rob Laufer-The Iron Age
55. Daniel Wylie-The High Cost of Happiness
56. The Feeling-Twelve Stops and Home
57. The Minus 5-The Gun Album
58. Barnacle Bill-Towards The Pebbled Shore
59. Mike Elgert-Days Gone By
60. Dave Stephens-Stories For Copper
61. Evan Hillhouse-S/T
62. Portastatic-Be Still Please
63. Grapeland-Reality Show
64. The Sails-S/T
65. Starter-Through The Morning Sky
66. Ben Kweller-S/T
67. Sean Lennon-Friendly Fire
68. The Winnerys-Daily Urban Times
69. Partly Dave-Own Up
70. Central Services-S/T
71. Dave Stoops-Spill Your Drink
72. Linus of Hollywood-Triangle
73. Brian Fennell (Barcelona)-Safety Songs
74. The Virtues-Where Were You
75. Feel-Steps to Reach a Human
76. Brindley Bros-Filled With Fire
77. Greg Hoy-Tastemakers & Heartbreakers
78. Chris Staig-Davenport
79. Jon Auer-Songs From The Year of Our Demise
80. Paper Airplane Pilots-Western Automatic Music
81. Skytone-Echoes In All Directions
82. Kevin Lee-Flip The Switch
83. Jay Bennett-The Magnificent Defeat
84. Tide-S/T
85. Mark McAdam-Cavalcade
86. Albert Hammond Jr-Yours to Keep
87. The AV Club-S/T
88. Anders Parker-S/T
89. Tommy Keene-Crashing The Ether
90. Patty Hurst Shifter-Too Crowded on the Losing End
91. Tim O'Reagan-S/T
92. Corin Ashley-Songs From The Brill Bedroom
93. Don DiLego-Photographs of 1971
94. Carey Ott-Lucid Dream
95. Archer Avenue-We Watched The Headlights
96. The Foster-Walker Complex-S/T
97. Blue Cartoon-September Songs
98. Saul Zonana-Love Over Money
99. Minibar-Desert After Rain
100. The Luxury Liners-Nonetheless

Honorable Mention:

Sloan-Never Hear The End of It
Paul Schneider-Escape Velocity
The Ladies & Gentlemen-S/T
Galore-Amplifier
Tommi Zender-Will Work For Harmony
Gin Blossoms-Major Lodge Victory
The Speeds-Sing It Loud
Doug Powell-Four Seasons
Michael Carpenter-SOOP #2
Yesen Damen-The Never-Beginning Story
Mike Barnett-Nowhere Tennessee
Tom Taylor-Dear Diary

UPDATE: The iron law of making lists like these is that almost immediately you remember that you left something off. Right now, there are two discs (watch this space for more) which I omitted that either deserved to be in the 80-100 range or at least honorable mention:

Nigel Clark-21st Century Man
My So-Called Friend-S/T

In honor of these omissions, here's a clip (sorry, couldn't find a full-length mp3) of "Omission" by Mark DeCerbo & Four Eyes from their fine 2005 release, Sweet On The Vine:

Omission (clip)

Absolute Powerpop Readers' Top 10 of 2006.

First of all, thanks to all of you who have expressed their condolences over the passing of my father. It was great to hear from all of you, and we're all doing as well as could be under the circumstances.

Now, on to the reader poll. I received about a dozen lists, and those that didn't order them I gave 5.5 points to each disc listed (which is 10+9+8 etc divided by 10). Here's the tally (first place votes in parentheses):

1. LEO, Alpacas Orgling 39.5 (1)
2. The Format, Dog Problems 38
3. Bob Evans, Suburban Songbook 18 (1)
4. Roger Joseph Manning Jr., The Land of Pure Imagination 17 (1)
5. Johan, Thx John 15
6. The Skies of America, Shine 12.5
7. Ben Kweller, S/T 11 (1)
8. The Oohs, Llamalamp 10 (1)
tie Cheap Trick, Rockford 10 (1)
tie The Weepies, Say I Am You 10 (1)

A pretty clear cut top two, even given the relative small sample size. The Format appeared on the most ballots, but amazingly didn't get a single #1 vote. Both will be in my top 10, and the top 100 list is still on (probably to be posted next week). In the interim, I will likely post my favorite 20 songs of the year, although I won't be ranking them within the list.

Update.

I felt I owe it to all of my readers as to what's going on with the lack of recent posting and all.

Since my last post a week ago Friday, my father went into the hospital, and on Thursday morning, he passed away peacefully at the age of 75. He was a kind, wonderful, caring and giving man, and successful in two careers (except in between the two when a certain 13-year-old son helped push him into opening an ill-fated record store).

I still plan on doing the top 100 year-end list, and the reader top 10 (thank you for all the responses so far) which will stay open until I actually make the post, so if you haven't submitted a list, there's still time. I probably won't be doing any "formal" reviews until after the first of the year, so for those artists who have submitted discs, I will be getting around to them in time. If something new and notable occurs that I can dispose of with a short post, I still may do that. For example, Kool Kat has just released new discs from Cloud Eleven and Ed James, which I recommend looking into.

In the meantime, thank you all for your readership and patience.

I Want You!

I want you, readers, to send me a list of your top 10 power pop (and I define that term quite elastically as you likely know, so you can as well) discs of 2006. Email me at the link over on the right of the page by December 18 (that's 10 days from now), and after all the lists are in, I'll compile the votes on a 10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-1 points basis. You're also free to leave your top 10 in the comments to this post. I'll accept EPs, and stuff that came out in late 2005 (or things that were buried in 2005 before seeing the light this year, like Andrew LeDrew's Ladies Lookout). But no Sufjan Stevens, please.

NAIRBATLTWA 2: Power Pop Boogaloo.

Yes, the last NAIRBATLTWA went so well that I'm doing another one. Here goes:

The Skies of America-Shine. This is great crunchy power pop from Rob Bonfiglio's (Wanderlust) new band. I've heard the Velvet Crush and Matthew Sweet comparisons thrown around, but what keeps coming to mind when I hear this disc is Collective Soul when they were on top of their game (It almost seems too coincidental the disc is titled "Shine"). Plus, there's a cover of "Come and Get It". Come and get it at Not Lame, where you can stream the whole disc. The bonus offer may be over, but it's still worth buying.

The Offramps-Hate It When You're Right. This band is out of Michigan but sounds like more Minneapolis, as in The Replacements circa 1986. And the price is circa 1986 as well, as this disc is going for a mere $7 at CD Baby. You can download three tracks (plus a Cheap Trick cover) at their website, and/or stream my favorite song from the disc, "Hallmark Holiday", at their myspace page.

Central Services-Central Services. I'm probably giving these Seattleites short shrift here by not making them CD of the Day, so make sure you check them out. They have a Posies/Teenage Fanclub sound, and the acoustic ballad "Fun (While It Lasted)" makes me think they summoned Elliott Smith's spirit via Ouija board. Letting it play while I type here makes me think it'll make my top 100 list easily. Head on over to myspace, where you can download three tracks, or over to their site, where several other of the tunes are streaming. Or you can stream and/or buy at CD Baby.

The Morning Stars-You Can't Change The World. 80s and 90s Britpop directly from Hamilton, Ontario. Don't let my brevity on this disc fool you - they have the tunes (especially "Wrong"). CD Baby | MySpace

The Broken West (f/k/a The Brokedown) news.

Since I already revisited Joe Kennedy earlier today, why not check in another band I featured earlier in the year? So here's some news about a band many of you may know as The Brokedown, who were forced to change their name to The Broken West. In case you were wondering why, here's what the band had to say:

Perhaps you have noticed something a little bit different about our profile. We are no longer called the Brokedown. We are now The Broken West. This will take some getting used to. Here's the story, in an attempt to head off future explanations: The Brokedowns threatened to sue us if we didn't change our name. We're a real band, with a real record coming out, so we don't have a lot of time for frivolous lawsuits with wayward Nazi-youth punk bands. So we changed it. We hope you all can adjust, as we have (kind of).

Anyway, the big news with The Broken West is that they're about to put out a full-length disc through Merge Records, titled I Can't Go On, I'll Go On, which is due out January 23.

They have three tracks from the album on their myspace page, although one of them ("Down In The Valley") was on their great 2005 EP, The Dutchman's Gold. For more on that EP, and a couple of still-working mp3 links, head to my original post from March right here. In case you don't want to click through, here's what I had to say about them back then: "Although a lot of bands have both power pop and alt-country influences, they managed to create a fairly unique sound of their own that draws from the best of both. They cite Big Star, ELO, The Byrds, Rolling Stones, Wilco, Flying Burrito Bros. as influences, with good reason."

mp3 of the Day: Joe Kennedy-Slow Down

About nine months ago, I featured Joe Kennedy's Van Cortlandt Park as the CD of the Day, and mentioned that he had recorded a couple of new songs. One of them was "Slow Down", which has become one of my absolute favorite songs of the year. Back then, it was only available to stream, but now it can be downloaded, so here it is:

Slow Down

Enjoy!

NAIRBATLTWA.

The acronym above stands for New Albums I Recommend But Am Too Lazy To Write About. So I'll list 'em here with a brief comment and then urge you to check out the links.

Paul Schneider-Forever Debts. It's not often that I make a power pop discovery through Pitchfork, but they did turn me on to this NYC artist who reminds me a lot of Tommy Keene. Sample at CD Baby (although it's temporarily out of stock). It's also available at iTunes. His previous disc, Escape Velocity, is available from eMusic. MySpace.

Ryan Lindsey-White Paper Beds. Lindsey is a touring member of the Starlight Mints, and his solo disc is high quality indie pop. CD Baby | MySpace

Portastatic-Be Still Please. Speaking of indie pop, here's an oustanding disc from the side project of Mac McCaughan (Superchunk, co-founder of Merge Records). "I'm In Love (With Arthur Dove)" and "You Blanks" are two great tunes that will be on a "best songs of 2006" list that I'm toying with producing. It's on eMusic, which is also the best place to sample, although you can hear a few full tracks on MySpace.

Minibar-Desert After Rain. This UK band by way of Santa Monica specializes in a pop americana sound in the vein of The Wallflowers, Del Amitri, Jayhawks, Gin Blossoms etc., and they put out a couple of major label discs earlier in the decade (perhaps you remember the minor hit "Holiday From Myself" - a great track, seek it out) before going it on their own. The new one is outstanding, and can be found on CD Baby. It isn't on eMusic, but is on iTunes. Also make sure you check out their myspace page: in addition to a couple of tracks from the new one, you can also stream their cover of one of Ryan Adams' greatest unreleased tracks (while with Whiskeytown) called "Choked Up".

CD of the Day, 12/5/06: The Fags-Light 'em Up

Well, here it is: the POWER pop record that many of you have clamoring for. Detroit's The Fags have melded power pop in the Cheap Trick vein along with glam rock a la T Rex to come up with one of the best combinations of heavy rocking and melody to come down the pike this year. Aside from Cheap Trick and T Rex, you can hear traces of everything from The Raspberries to TSAR's first album.

No rocking album is complete without a killer opening track, and The Fags oblige here with "Tonite" (as in "t-t-tonite"); "Truly, Truly" follows, a melodic gem with a more modern feel to it; "Here's Looking at You" slows things down ever so slightly but still rocks; Cheap Trick is written all over this one, and frontman John Speck sounds like a raspier Robin Zander here, but not moreso than on "Greatest Movie Ending", which sounds right off of In Color. And the first single from the disc, "Rockstar", is a killer tune that Oasis, Jet and The Vines wished they could have come up with to salvage their latest releases. Here's the mp3:

Rockstar

The disc has good distribution through Idol Records, meaning you can find it on Amazon (the best place to sample all the tracks) and all the other big etailers (or if you live near a hip enough store, probably there too). Or you can add it to your next Kool Kat or Not Lame order.

EP of the Day: Codaphonic-Good Morning Radio.

This trio from Nashville has come up with a contender for EP of the Year. Good Morning Radio is Codaphonic's debut, but its craft and self-assurance could easily fool the listener into thinking they've been around for 10 years.

The title track starts off things, and it's a great tune that doesn't outstay its welcome at nearly five minutes. The "ooh las" in the chorus and backing the verses, along with frontman Cody Newman's "do do do do" singalong about 3 1/2 minutes in, make it a transcendent pop song. One of the artists the band name-drops in its promotional material is Harry Nilsson, and while "Hollawalla Omacalla Wee" doesn't sound precisely like a Nilsson track, it embodies his goofy spirit in the service of a great pop tune. "Can We Talk?" is a punchy rocker; "Hearts Will Roll" has a title worthy of Westerbergian wordplay and a driving, herky-jerky rhythm; "Don't Be Surprised" is a Tories-inspired power pop gem, and the closing "Ritalin", with its piano-and-horns backing and satirical lyrics, will make Ben Folds insanely jealous the moment he hears it for the first time.

Here are a couple of mp3s to grab:

Good Morning Radio
Ritalin

The EP just became available in the last few days on CD Baby for a reasonable $7, and if you'd rather stream than download, the two tracks above plus "Can We Talk?" are on their myspace page.

CD of the Day, 11/28/06: Buva-All This Humming

Buva is LA's Tom Wolfe, and All This Humming, his full-length debut, is a keeper. His 2003 EP Daydream created a bit of a splash, and All This Humming lives up to the promise of the EP.

This is high-quality softer (not quite soft) pop, and Wolfe's vocals sound like a cross between Matthew Sweet and Eric Matthews. Sonically, the music's in there as well, similar most to Sweet's balladry with some (much) lighter orchestral touches than Matthews. The first five tracks, in fact, comprise the best collection of this sort of pop that you'll hear all year, with "Heart Don't Say" and "Rolling By" particular standouts. Those five are followed by the bright jangle of the uptempo "Something That I Need to Hear", which hints at what the album might have sounded had Wolfe decided to go with power in his pop (as he did a bit more on the EP), and "Look Ahead" while have others wondering about all that humming coming from you when you sing along to its irresistible "ba-da-ba" chorus.

Despite a release date of February 6, 2007 being trumpeted on the CD Baby page and his myspace page, you can buy the disc now at the Baby, and catch a few tracks at both myspace and his site.

New eMusic.

The new Figgs disc, Follow Jean Through The Sea, bows on eMu today - these guys have rocked us for years, and the new one is no exception.

Also, we featured Voxtrot a while back, and another of their EPs, Mothers, Sisters, Daughters & Wives is now available.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Just want to wish all my readers a Happy Thanksgiving Day (whether or not you reside in the USA), and want to give thanks for the following (aside from my lovely wife and three wonderful boys):

* All of my readers. With so many sites out there, I appreciate all of you who take the time to visit Absolute Powerpop and who inspire me to continue to post.

* The artists. 99% of the discs I feature on here are from independent artists, many of whom have day jobs and who are releasing music for the love of it, and not under any illusions of fame and fortune. I thank you all for the blood, sweat and tears that go into making your discs and for the hours of listening pleasure that I (and hopefully most of my readers out there) have received.

* Bruce at Not Lame and Ray at Kool Kat. Without these guys, power pop on the internet as we know it doesn't exist, and the work they do to bring us artists and their music that we'd never know about otherwise can't be recognized enough.

* David Bash and International Pop Overthrow. These shows speak for themselves. Although I haven't been able to attend (it's tough to drop the kids, my business and everything else to jet across the country; how about an IPO Tampa someday?), anyone who can get the kind of power pop lineups together for these shows deserves our thanks.

* And to everyone else out there spreading the power pop gospel.

Happy Thanksgiving!

More power pop bloggery.

A gent named Kevin runs two fine power pop sites that have actually been around for a while. Many of you may know Power of Pop, a fine web site with power pop reviews and related stories; by some oversight, I never linked to it over on the right. That oversight has been remedied. What I did not know was that he had a separate power pop blog, with the same title. There's some good stuff there, "blurb-o-ramas" noting recent power pop releases, and some interesting interviews (Doug Powell, The Scallions, among others of recent vintage). And kudos to Kevin for pinpointing the true reference/influence of Chris Brown (of Now That You're Fed power pop fame, not the rapper Chris Brown) as Lindsey Buckingham.

New Blue Cartoon!

Not Lame has all the details, including a stream of the full album. If you know Blue Cartoon, you know this is exciting; if you don't, you should.

CD of the Day, 11/22/06: The Alice Rose-Phonographic Memory

The Alice Rose is a band from Austin, Texas, whose lead singer/main songwriter is a dude named JoDee Purkeypile. For those old enough to remember the Smuckers commercials, all I can say is that with a band led by a guy named JoDee Purkeypile, you know they have to be good. The operative style here is melodic pop with a touch of an "indie" sound, and they should have broad appeal to both the indie and pop crowds. Influences to the sound range from Jon Brion to Squeeze to The Beatles to 80s British pop.

Among the highlights: "Light Up" is an atmospheric rocker with a graceful melody; "Save Me" has a Lennonesque feel, almost as if "Hey Bulldog" was slowed down a notch or two; "Lamplight" is oustanding power pop; "Ocean" has an anthemic Coldplay-like sound; "All Over Your Body" is absolutely Beatlesque; and "West" falls into the Jon Brion/Michael Penn camp.

If you want to check them out, they can be found at the usual suspects: MySpace and CD Baby. Would an Alice Rose by any other name sound as sweet? Find out for yourself.

CD of the Day, 11/21/06: The Goldbergs-Hooks, Lines & Sinkers

Wow. Let me say that again: Wow. This one came out of nowhere. I noticed it last week on Kool Kat's weekly new release email, and it sounded intriguing. Before I could get around to sampling it and checking it out, Andy Goldberg sent me an email offering up a promo copy. I said bring it on, and after listening to it today, my jaw dropped at how good it is. This is perhaps the most fully realized power pop debut since Eugene Edwards' My Favorite Revolution a couple of years ago.

Although nominally a band, it's pretty much all Andy Goldberg here, and the comparisons that leap to mind are several: Marshall Crenshaw, Michael Carpenter, Walter Clevenger, the aforementioned Mr. Edwards, and to head back to the 70s, Badfinger and Nick Lowe. Normally at this point of the review I tout the top tracks on the disc, but I really can't do that here as all ten are nearly equally outstanding. So head on over to The Goldbergs' myspace page, where you can download and/or stream three tracks. Then pop on over to either Kool Kat (where they also reacted with "Wow!") or CD Baby (where as always you can sample the rest) and pick it up. Although I want to listen a few (dozen) more times before ranking it, all I can say right now is that Bob Evans and Supraluxe need to be looking over their shoulders.

Big Bob Evans news!

That's big news about Bob Evans, not news about someone named Big Bob Evans.

Anyway, Suburban Songbook, the #1 disc of 2006 to date here at Absolute Powerpop, is finally available worldwide, albeit through iTunes. There's no album discount, meaning that the 12-song disc is $11.88. It's still worth every penny (and then some). For those without an iPod, you can still get the disc by downloading iTunes and buying it through the iTunes music store. You can then copy the 12 tracks to a playlist and burn a cd from it. This also gives you the option to rip the burned CD to straight mp3s if you're using a non-iPod mp3 player.

So while it may take a wee bit of effort from the non-iPodders out there, I don't want to hear any more complaining about selecting a #1 disc that was only available in Australia.

New at eMusic.

A few items of interest were added today:

* Sunflower, a 2-song "EP" from The Meadows. Their self-titled debut was featured on this site. I haven't listened yet, but it appears that "This Is a Call" is a Foo Fighters cover.

* A reissue (or digital reissue) of the Gigolo Aunts' first album, Flippin' Out. These guys, who have been around for what seems forever, have finally called it quits and have recently released a compilation of covers, b-sides etc (including an interesting "hidden" track acoustic cover of "Cum On Feel The Noize") called The Pride of Potsdam, available at Kool Kat.

* Nigel Clark's 21st Century Man. Clark used to be the frontman for 90's Britpoppers Dodgy, and his solo debut here is quality singer-songwriter pop somewhere in between Neil Finn and Brian Wilson.

As always, even non eMusic subs can listen to the samples at these pages.

CD of the Day, 11/20/06: Pat Buchanan-St. George

This one's been out since last December, and with its late-in-the-year release, I probably gave it short shrift for my year-end list. So I'll do my best to remedy overlooking it by giving it a plug today. Buchanan isn't a true power popper, but he isn't a completely wimpy soft popper either; he's simply just a great pop craftsman.

St. George is his second solo release (he was once in The Idle Jets), and it kicks off with the gorgeous ballad "Sweet Amnesia", which you won't be forgetting. For me, the highlight of the disc comes in the middle with two great mid-tempo rockers, "Halo" and "We'll Talk". "The Same Tree" is another gem as well.

Get the disc at Not Lame, sample it at CD Baby.

CD of the Day, 11/19/06: Grapeland-Reality Show

Grapeland are a two-piece from Sweden who bill their sound as "Swedish Americana", and their own comparisons of their music to Tom Petty and REM are pretty much in the ballpark. I would put them in the "roots pop" category as well, but however you want to classify them, the key element here is that they have the tunes.

The title track starts off the proceedings, and it's a great americanarocker. "Pretty Ones" follows with a bit of a "Queen of Hearts" melody to it, "Phobic Phil" sounds like it could have come from a Warren Zevon album, and "Bric-a-Brac", my favorite on the album, reminds me of Walter Clevenger crossed with REM.

The album can be bought and sampled at CD Baby, while four of the tracks can be streamed (or downloaded) from their myspace page, including "Reality Show" and "Pretty Ones". If roots rock/pop is your bag, add Grapeland to your cart.

New LeDrew!

Just got this email from Not Lame:

Greetings!

Over the summer you picked up either(or both) the Brothers In Stereo or Andrew Ledrew's "Ladies Lookout" from Not Lame. Brothers In Stereo is two brothers w/ the last name 'Ledrew" and now Chris has just released his first solo record in Canada and we wanted to let you know about it.

Here's the info:

Chris Ledrew - Stronger Man
Price: $15
URL: http://www.notlame.com/CDLEDREW2.html

2006 solo album from one half of the awesome Canadian jangle-duo Brothers In Stereo, whose album on this site is a `must-hear` without question. Chris and Andrew LeDrew each have their own solo albums(Andrew`s is "Ladies Lookout") and here Chris asserts a confident step into his own brand of jangled up pop, but "Stronger Man" has a more rootsy, un-dappled strain of Laurel Canyon roots-pop. Fans of Michael Carpenter, take note, as well as Tom Petty and Lloyd Cole. The sound of dusty, alt-ish country tinged pop highlighted by gorgeous harmonies, one moment sparse and understated, the next building to a triumphant roar of churning drums and jangled-up guitar. LeDrew blends soothing melodic lines with layers of acoustic and electric guitars strummed urgently, heartfelt lyrics, the just-right-amount of jangle in the guitar and the instinct to know when it might be getting a little too laid

back to kick into a slightly more rocking gear. A refreshing dose of intelligent rock music that does not sound like anything particular but, at the same time, warmly familiar. Very nice cover of Gerry Raferty`s "Right Down The Line". Extremely Highly Recommended!

Regular readers of this site will know that I've become a big fan of the LeDrew brothers, with Andrew's Ladies Lookout my #3 disc of the year so far.

Four tracks from Stronger Man are available for download on his myspace page, and the rest can be sample at CD Baby. On first listen, it sounds like another winner.

You can read about Chris's hard-to-find first solo disc here.

Today would be a good day...

..to get an eMusic subscription. They added a massive number of CD Baby titles today that include many great discs that have been featured on this site in the past several months. (By the way, eMu is cutting the # of monthly downloads on each of its price plans in one week, but there's still time to lock in yearly subscriptions at the original plan rates, which can come to about 18 cents a track. The list in this post alone can keep you going for several months on the 40-download plan!)

First off, though, they added the new Saul Zonana disc, Love Over Money. As Bruce at Not Lame puts it, "Filled w/ the splendorous guitar, high energy hooks and expressive vocals found, the music falls into the schooling of such artists like Matthew Sweet, Rick Altizer, Michael Penn, Candy Butchers, Doug Powell , the Dotted Line and Greenberry Woods. It`s the type of power pop that would be right at home on most FM rock-oriented radio stations if radio played decent music."

And here are the rest:

Dave Stoops-Spill Your Drink. Bruce again: "Man, this album is so friggin` cool! Dave Stoops merges the a most interesting web of connection of cool, varied pop stylings with a most distinctive vocal style that evokes primo cool. Stoops sounds a lot like Karl Wallinger of World Party(and like Chris Bailey from The Saints), a very good thing and, in fact, much of the material sounds like the long, lost World Party album that fans have been waiting for the last 15 years or so."

Gary Henson-The Coast Is Clear. One of the very first discs we spotlighted on the site, and you can read all about it here. #27 on our current top 33 1/3 of 2006.

Kit Ashton-Blindsided EP. My favorite EP of 2006 to date. Here's my full take.

Mike Schmid-The High Cost of Living (A Love Story). Featured this one back in May as part of a singer-songwriter series.

Parallax Project-Perpetual Limbo. I don't think I mentioned this one on the site, but many power poppers will remember this one that came out almost a year ago to the date. Just missed my best of 2005 lists, and here's Bruce yet again: "But you`ll hear echoes, vague, happy reminders of not only Cherry Twister(naturally) but The Nines, Redd Kross, Splitsville, Raspberries, Shoes and early 70`s AM Radio summer hits(think Gallery, First Class and Gilbert O` Sullivan, for those in the know)."

Patrik Tanner-Soft. I briefly blurbed this one earlier, and to save a link, here's what I wrote: "This is a 2004 release I picked up early last year, and it's a good one. With an album titled "Soft", you're kind of know what you're getting. And Tanner delivers the goods - this is quality singer/songwriter pop. My favorite track is the Beatlesque "Hello Tomorrow", complete with chimes at the end."

Rick Altizer-Blue Plate Special. If you don't know Rick Altizer, start Googling and find out. I think we featured his Dum Dog Run project, but his solo stuff is compelling as well. This one from a few years back is a good a place to start as any.

Sheboygan-S/T EP. Great 4-song EP, check 'em out at their myspace page.

Stingray Green-Hard Numbers. Stingrays may be getting a bad rap these days, but these veteran Minneapolis power popppers put out a fine album that I overlooked earlier this year.

The Everyday Things-Lighten Up, Francis. From it's adoption of a classic line from Stripes to the fact it was produced by Jamie Hoover and released on Not Lame's own label, you can't beat this batch of punchy power pop in the vein of The Figgs, The Romantics and The Plimsouls.

The High Score-We Showed Up to Leave. As Splendidzine put it, "They`ve got Superdrag`s keen sense of melody, Sugar`s propensity for lacing pop songs with blistering riffs and a GBV-ish sort of ragtag charm".

The Humbugs-Twist The Truth. Bruce sez: "The Humbugs sound a lot like Tommy Keene playing with REM, Swan Dive and the poppy side of The Kennedys, a unique sound. There`s hints of Prefab Sprout, Crowded House, Aimee Mann, more modern day Pretenders and Trashcan Sinatras, as well."

The Slides-The View From Here. I really like this album a lot, and it's testimony to all the good music coming out this year that it's not on my top 33 1/3 list (but look for it on my special superduper year-end top 100 come the holidays).

Third Floor Story-Lonely City. I like this one even more, and it's #26 on the latest top 33 1/3. Great, great disc.

Wiretree-S/T EP. This was one of the great EPs of 2005, and a must-have. I elaborate about it here. Still waiting eagerly for the full-length.

So for any of you who have eMusic out there, bookmark this post in case you still have some leftover downloads at the end of the month, and for those who don't, it's still your most cost-effective way to legally get all this great power pop.

CD of the Day, 11/13/06: My So-Called Friend - My So-Called Friend

Boston and its surrounding areas have been a haven lately for high-energy power pop, and it's kind of fitting we salute a Boston band today with IPO Boston in full swing at the moment. In the same vein as bands like The Cautions, Waltham, and with an element of the great Boston pop band of them all (The Cars) in their sound, My So-Called Friend is worth your acquaintance if this type of power pop is up your alley.

Their self-titled debut also has the "modern rock" sound of Weezer and perhaps a crunchier Click Five. Listen for yourself at their myspace page, or at CD Baby. What impresses me about the band is that they can do more than rock - midtempo tracks like "San Diego" and "House Arrest" are highlights, and closer "The Beating of Our Hearts" is a power ballad par excellence.

The disc is also available directly from the band for a couple of bucks cheaper than CD Baby.

Another power pop blog.

I'm pleased to report to emergence of another power pop blog. Mike, who's one of our readers, has started Powerpopulist, and I urge all of you to check it out. He has lots of mp3 links, and has been posting frequently (a lot more frequently than yours truly lately).

CD of the Day, 11/5/06: Paper or Plastic-Best of Luck to Cody James

Paper or Plastic is a piano-based power pop band out of Portland, Oregon, and they've been doing this for a few years. Their latest is Best of Luck to Cody James and it might be their best yet. Sonically, they're somewhere between Ben Folds and Elvis Costello (they covered "Blame It On Cain" on their debut disc), or perhaps what it would sound like if Steve Nieve were the front man and Elvis C were one of the Attractions.

In any event, the songs are all killer, no filler on this seven-track release. The leadoff track is piano power pop perfection with "West Virginia" (as in "you have an unescapable dependence on"); "My Reputation is Better Than Yours" wears its attitude on its sleeve; "Neckties" rocks to a great melody; "Gay Bar" ("let me take you to a") is good fun and has a 70s vibe, not that there's anything wrong with that; "Street Lights" is a midtempo marvel; "I'm Not a Bastard" is right out of the Ben Folds Wiseass playbook; and closer "For The Money" reminds me a bit of Orson.

Grab an mp3:

West Virginia

"West Virginia", "Gay Bar", "Neckties" and "Street Lights" are all streaming at their myspace page, and the rest can be sampled at CD Baby. It's also available at iTunes, which is a cheaper way to get it, especially if you grab the "West Virginia" mp3 and/or take them up on their free download offer on their myspace page.

And who is Cody James? Google says he's this guy, but for we all know it could be some local childhood friend of the band or a name they just liked the sound of. Anyone from Paper or Plastic (or who otherwise knows) can feel free to enlighten us in the comments.

UPDATE: See the band's cryptic response in the comments.

New and notable at eMusic.

Some interesting additions today.

AM-Troubled Times. This is a re-release of the self-titled debut from AM, which was featured on Not Lame a few weeks back. It's pretty good singer-songwriter stuff, and reminds me quite a bit of Gus Black (who was once known as simply "Gus", whose 2000 album Word of Mouth Parade I highly recommend and which is available for 1 cent - plus shipping - in the Amazon marketplace).

The Blue Van-Dear Independence. These guys have been compared to a modern-day Kinks, and the comparison isn't half-wrong. Mark at The Rock and Roll Report raves about it.

Jason Collett-Idols of Exile. One of the better releases of 2005 that was finally released in the US earlier this year. I've discussed it earlier on this site, and all I can say is that if you have eMu and don't have this one yet, don't waste any more time here reading about it, get it!

It's also fast approaching that time of the year again - new Christmas releases from Aimee Mann and Epic Hero can be found on eMu as well.

CD/Video of the Day: Starter

Starter are a band from Madrid who recently released the fine disc "Through The Morning Sky". They have a real good Big-Star-by-way-of-Teenage-Fanclub sound to them, and the disc can be purchased here. You can gather up some mp3s from them:

Five Words
Clear Light
All Right

And you can stream those tracks instead plus one more at their myspace page. Here's a video for "Clear Light":