EP Thursday.

Greg Pope-Pete. It's Greg Pope's power pop world, and we're all just living in it. That's the only conclusion to be made after he's followed up last year's Absolute Powerpop #1-rated album Popmonster with this brilliant 7-song EP. Pope's sound is a compendium of power pop through the ages - from British Invasion to the "mod" sound of The Who to straight-up 70s styled Badfinger/Raspberries pop to the today's modern power pop. The seven tracks here clock in just under 18 minutes, with "Fall Into Your Arms" a blast of an opener like Popmonster's "Sky Burn Down", while the slinky "How Do You Do It" has a....oh hell, all 7 tracks are great, just go listen to them below for yourself. All I can say is "Jeez Greg, give someone else a chance for the top of the year-end lists some time".

CD Baby | MySpace

Pop Archeology Transmission-Welcome to the New Improved Dark Ages. Another act that released a fine 2008 album is back with an EP of new material, as this Portland band releases the followup to It Is What It Is. They're kind of a mix of Derby, Guided by Voices, and The Shins with some Milk & Honey Band thrown in, with no filler among these four tracks. And one can almost hear a little early Elton John on the title track and a bit of Alan Parsons on "Rain on Your Window". Good stuff.

CD Baby | MySpace

Rob Holub-Stranger on 2nd Avenue. OK, here's someone who isn't following up a 2008 release. This is the debut EP from NYC's Rob Holub, who serves up six quality tracks of piano pop, as you might have guessed from the cover. Holub leans to the softer side of pop here, in the manner of the recent Brian Dilts EP. Opener "Pick Me Up" has a Coldplay feel to it, while "Just a Pop Song" boasts a fine chorus. Meanwhile, "Miss Face Book" might be the first Web 2.0 social media-themed track I've come across (perhaps there'll be a Twitter-themed track on the full-length). Go ahead and add him as a friend.

CD Baby | iTunes

Stream the new Marshall Crenshaw!

Right here, right now. Initial take: more of the "mellow" Crenshaw we saw on his last release, 2003's What's in the Bag?.

And a new single from Stratocruiser:

Two for Tuesday (Special Monday Night Edition).

The Brilliant Inventions-Have You Changed. This Atlanta duo, comprised of singer-songwriters Josh Lamkin and Eliot Bronson, may have the folk-pop album of the year on their hands. These guys can harmonize with anyone, and have the tunes to go with the harmonies. Fans of Straw Dogs, The Karg Brothers, and The Jayhawks will love this disc. There are plenty of highlights here: the opener "Isn't it Worth it", which sums up their sound in one song; the title track, and its "oh-oh"s in the chorus; "There Goes My Heart", possibly the best track on the album, one which throws some piano and pop beats into the mix; the Rembrandts-esque "Could've Been You", and the shimmering pop of "What About Jennifer". A brilliant invention indeed.

CD Baby | MySpace | iTunes

Secret Powers-Secret Powers and the Electric Family Choir. Last year, this Montana band had one of 2008's left-field pleasant surprises with Explorers of the Polar Eclipse, a kind of ELO/Jellyfish/Bleu melange that made my top 100 but in retrospect should have placed higher. They haven't wasted any time getting out the followup, and the Electric Family Choir is a trippier version of the debut, as the Dharma Initiative-like photo on the cover would indicate. The most brilliant thing here is "Orange Trees", which I can only describe as what The Move might have sounded like if Jeff Lynne was writing songs then like he did while in ELO. Frontman Ryan "Shmedly" Maynes has an agreeably gruff vocal style that makes their stuff sound like the cult classics they could become, but he gives way to another band member (unidentified by the liner notes) on the waltz-like "By the Sea", which quotes the Beatles' "Michelle". Other standouts include the baroque Jackdaw4-like pop of "Lazy Men"; "Misery", a Lynne-like ballad that would make Bleu jealous; and the 80 seconds or so of "Treat Your Mother Nice", which could have fit into Side 2 of Abbey Road without anyone noticing. If these guys want to put out one of these every year, I certainly have no objection. (Actually, I do have an objection: they're apparently so retro that you can't get their music digitally, on iTunes or elsewhere. If they really wanted to be purists, they should have released this vinyl-only.)

MySpace | Not Lame | Kool Kat

CD of the Day, 5/28/09: The Layaways-The Space Between

For at least a couple of years now, I've been a regular reader of David Harrell's Digital Audio Insider blog. Although he posts somewhat infrequently (I can identify with that), he usually has an interesting take on the state of digital music and how it relates to independent bands. And his take comes from the fact he's a guitarist and lead vocalist for The Layaways, a Chicago indie pop band. Somehow in all this time reading his blog I never managed to listen to his band as it was one of those "I'll get around to it at some point" things. Well, the loss was mine as their latest disc, The Space Between, is about as melodic and hooky as indie pop can get.

If you want some touchstones for their sound, Spoon and Earlimart come to mind, with the former an apparent influence on opening track "Keep it to Yourself", at least in its spare, tough open. But then comes the chorus, and it's bright and melodic as any power pop can aspire to be (it also helps that Harrell and Mike Porter are warmer vocalists than Britt Daniel). "All Around the World" shares its title with an Oasis classic and shares the band's affinity for 60s pop as its jaunty beat and swirling chorus would make The Spongetones proud. The moody "January" recalls Joe Pernice as well as Colin Blunstone, and "Come Back Home" is where the Earlimart comparison comes into play. Another standout is the gentle "Too Little Too Late", a wonderful rainy day song. So don't make my mistake and put this one on layaway - get it on your music player of choice now.

CD Baby | MySpace | iTunes

mp3s:
All Around the World
Keep it to Yourself
Come Back Home

CD of the Day, 5/27/09: Tony Cox-Unpublished

If you've been asking yourself "Where can I find some classic 60s-styled British pop that has a timeless quality to it?", then Tony Cox has the answer. Unpublished is his debut album, and thankfully for us he actually did publish it. There is one twist here: although Cox wrote all the tracks and plays guitar and keyboards, the lead vocalist is Nigel Clark, not Cox. If that name sounds familiar, Clark is the onetime frontman of Dodgy, and released a quality solo disc in 2006 titled 21st Century Man.

"Sweet Elaine" and "Feel Real Love" open the disc in grand fashion, incorporating Northern Soul (dig those horns) and a Motown bassline, together with sunshine melodies. If you dug last year's Rinaldi Sings disc, stop reading this review and immediately go to the link below and order this one. "Jamelia" adds an insistent guitar hook to the mix while "Fallen" lays on the jangle. The midtempo "Chills" recalls Merseysiders like Peter & Gordon and Herman's Hermits, while "Say the Word" continues the 60s tour with some Beach Boys influence. The only question I have is how did "Life is Hardcore" end up on this disc? With its heavy synths it's about 20 years figuratively removed from the rest of the album. That minor quibble aside, Tony Cox has the Carnaby Street Album of 2009 on his hands. He may be retro, but he has the tunes.

CD Baby | MySpace | iTunes

Unpublished - Tony Cox

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":

Jay Bennett, R.I.P.

It was with great sadness that moments ago I learned that Jay Bennett, formerly of Wilco, died today at the age of 45. Sadly, most people will end up remembering him as the "obnoxious" guy that Jeff Tweedy had to boot out of the band during the Yankee Hotel Foxtrot sessions in 2001, courtesy of the documentary I Am Trying To Break Your Heart. I'll remember him as a kind of mad pop genius, and I've always been of the opinion that Wilco went downhill after he was ousted from the band.

Bennett was an accomplished multi-instrumentalist, and he joined Wilco for their critically acclaimed 2nd album, Being There. But it was 1999's Summerteeth when Bennett really took over. Its swirling pop melodies and walls of sound were as much Bennett as they were Tweedy, and it stands as a pop masterpiece in my book (the lovely ballad "My Darling" was a Bennett composition, for one). And his stamp was all over the avant-garde sounds of Yankee Hotel Foxtrot (he was sacked at the end of the recording sessions). I don't mean to belittle what Tweedy did on these albums, but without Bennett playing Lennon to his McCartney (or the other way around), neither of these discs would have been the classics they were. In 2002, Bennett teamed up with Edward Burch to release The Palace at 4AM, an overlooked gem that let him unleash his inner Jeff Lynne on a series of densely produced pop nuggets, the highlight of which is "Shakin' Sugar", an outtake from the YHF sessions also known as "Alone", and one of the best ELO songs Lynne (or Bleu in LEO) never wrote. Bennett wasn't the world's greatest singer, but he does a passable Elvis Costello on songs such as "Whispers and Screams" and "Puzzle Heart", while "Talk to Me" and "Drinking on Your Dime" are also standouts. His turn on another Wilco outtake, the aching ballad "Venus Stopped the Train", is also excellent. I can't find a Lala embed for it, but you can listen to it through Rhapsody here:

The Palace At 4am (Part 1) by Jay Bennett/Edward Burch

Bennett's solo career after Palace was kind of checkered. He released a couple of acoustic-based albums, which to me just weren't his metier. His 2007 release The Magnificent Defeat was a step back in the right direction, and he had a new album in the can before his death. Meanwhile, at least in my opinion, Wilco since he left has had a musically aimless and unfocused sound, and I haven't been much of a fan of A Ghost is Born or Sky Blue Sky, and what little I've heard of Wilco (The Album) isn't hearkening back to the glory days of turn-of-the-century Wilco. Meanwhile, Bennett in recent times has continued to come off as an unsympathetic character; his most recent stint in the news came from a lawsuit he filed against Tweedy regarding royalties from I Am Trying to Break Your Heart. But before anyone makes him out to be the 100% bad guy, remember that Tweedy has left quite a "body count" in his wake when it came to musical partnerships; aside from his acrimonious break with Jay Farrar in Uncle Tupelo, he's managed to purge everyone sans John Stirratt from the early days of Wilco, and until recently the band was a revolving door of supporting players.

Jay Bennett will be missed, but I'd already been missing him for years. Maybe in death he'll get the credit he was due in Wilco. Rest in peace, Jay.

Big Star Box Set on the Way!

Read all about it here.

And for all you BS fans out there (of which I count myself a big one, just note my email addy), make sure you bookmark Bruce Eaton's Big Star blog. I'm currently reading his Radio City book, about which I'll have more to say when I'm done, but you could do worse than picking up a copy in the meantime.

Stream the new Bleu album!

It doesn't hit the street until July 14, but you can stream the new Bleu album, A Watched Pot, at his official site. The album has been in the can for a couple of years now and is finally seeing the light of day. It's quite good, especially the anthemic "Go", and for those of you who loved his slower stuff on the LEO disc, "There's No Such Thing as Love" is a great Jeff Lynne-esque ballad.

(If you're wondering why there's a "parental advisory" sticker on the cover, just take a gander at one of the song titles.)

Wednesday Roundup.

Dion Read & The Afterthoughts-Be Here Right Now. Last year, Dion Read & Co. had one of the more promising debuts with their Shoes & Gloves EP. Now the Aussie piano power popper is back with his second EP, and it's another treat. Since it's de rigeur to compare piano power poppers to Ben Folds, let me analogize in this fashion: Read's new EP is to his last one what The Unauthorized Biography of Reinhold Messner was to Whatever and Ever Amen. For the Folds-unfamiliar, the new EP is more understated affair than the first, which doesn't mean it isn't fine in its own right. The title track is the peppiest of the bunch, while "The Blame" recalls Folds' "Don't Change Your Plans" from Messner. And the closer "Air Balloons" is a wonderful ballad that ranks up there with "Smoke" or "The Luckiest". Don't let this one be an afterthought.

CD Baby | MySpace | iTunes

Willie Nile-House of a Thousand Guitars. Nile is a veteran NYC rocker who could be called a rock'n'roll true believer. Equal parts Springsteen, Lou Reed and Bob Dylan, Nile falls more in the classic rock category than power pop, but he has a sound that should appeal to power poppers in any event (his "Asking Annie Out" from his 2006 comeback album Streets of New York is a power pop gem). I can't recommend all the songs here (especially "Now That The War is Over"), but the highlights are true highs: the stomping "Magdalena", the Beatlesque ballad "Her Love Falls Like Rain", and the rocking "Run" are worth an immediate listen below. And beware: the chorus of the anthemic "Little Light" will stick in your head for hours if you aren't careful.

CD Baby | MySpace | iTunes

Wiretree mp3

Last week, I mentioned that Wiretree had a new track out and that you could stream it at MySpace. Now you can download the mp3 of "Back in Town", courtesy of Austin Sound.

Austin Sound

Absolute Powerpop on the Kindle.

For those of you out there with a Kindle, you can now subscribe to Absolute Powerpop for the Kindle at the low monthly price of $1.99:



It comes with a 14-day free trial.

Major label Friday.

Actually, "major label" is a bit of misnomer (these releases haven't been featured in your latest Best Buy ad), but these are well-known acts with big-time distribution, so we'll use that particular shorthand here. I've been meaning to weigh in on these three for a while, so better late than never:

Fastball-Little White Lies. Fastball needs no introduction to those who read this blog, so the operative question here is how does it stack up to the rest of their catalog? And the answer is "quite well". In fact, song for song this might be their best ever, even if there isn't a "The Way" or "Fire Escape" on here. Frontmen Tony Scalzo and Miles Zuniga team up for the effervescent "All I Was Looking for Was You, while Scalzo pens a sequel of sorts to "The Way" with "The Malcontent (The Modern World)" wondering if the former is "still saying anything to you" while lamenting the disposable pop that pushed "The Way" and its like off the radio at the turn of the century. Zuniga is the purer popper of the two and his highlight here is hyper-catchy "Mono to Stereo", which is right up there with classics of his like "Fire Escape" and "Airstream". A welcome return from these veteran Texas power poppers.

iTunes

Tinted Windows-Tinted Windows. Also getting a lot of publicity lately is power pop supergroup Tinted Windows, consisting of Taylor Hanson (from Hanson), Adam Schlesinger (Fountains of Wayne), James Iha (Smashing Pumpkins) and Bun E. Carlos (Cheap Trick). It doesn't get much better than that on paper, but on disc the whole is a bit less than the sum of its parts. Don't get me wrong - this is a fun, catchy power pop album. But it's fairly generic for the genre, although I can see this being the power pop album for people that aren't that big into power pop, given the names involved. "Kind of a Girl" is pretty catchy, with its "whoa-whoas" in the chorus, the Cheap Trick-esque power ballad "Back With You" and the driving "Without Live" are the highlights here.

iTunes

Superdrag-Industry Giants. When John Davis put an apparent end to Superdrag after becoming a born-again Christian in the wake of 2002's brilliant Last Call for Vitriol, it appeared that we'd never heard from them as a band again. But seven years later, Davis reformed the band and it seems as the goal here is to make up for the absence by rocking harder and louder than ever, no small feat for a band that was already one of the harder-rocking power pop bands around. Unfortunately, though, they've sacrificed some melody in the process, making Industry Giants an uneven affair. "Slow to Anger" demonstrates this right off the bat, a three-chord rant that's pretty hookless. The ship is righted a bit with the melancholy "Live and Breathe", recalling the Superdrag of Vitriol, and "I Only Want a Place to Stay" takes an equally satisfying less-is-more approach. But most of the rest of the disc comes up kind of short in the memorable melody department, making it a good candidate to cherry pick downloads from.

iTunes

Odds and Ends.

* Longtime AbPow favorite Wiretree has a new track up on their MySpace, "Back in Town", from their forthcoming album due later this year. Check it out.

* BrownLine Fiasco is now known as HiFi Superstar. They have a new MySpace page up as well.

CD of the Day, 5/11/09: Vegas With Randolph-Vegas With Randolph

Vegas With Randolph is a band from the Washington DC area (not Las Vegas) that's fronted by John Ratts and Eric Kern, who have been writing songs (500 of 'em, according to their notes) since high school. They've been playing the songs on their debut album for several years now, and it shows as they've honed a pop delight here. Reminiscent at times of other multi-fronted power pop groups (Fastball, Sloan) as well as Willie Wisely and Fountains of Wayne, the result is a left-field surprise that deserves attention in the power pop community.

Normally, I'll start a review with the first track because usually in power pop, the goal is the catch the listener's ear right away. But I'm going to start at the end here, with VWR's ambitious "Longplay" suite - six mini-songs woven together. While not quite Side 2 of Abbey Road, it compares favorably with last year's Lannie Flowers disc as well as the last two from Sloan. "Got to Have Your Love" and in particular, "Dreams of the Night" are highlights of the suite, reminding me of Eric Carmen and Paul McCartney.

As for the proper tracks, there are plenty of standouts. "Be the One", with its playful piano backing, channels the 50s through the 70s, "Milky Way Girl" sounds like it was recorded by a skinny-tie late 70s/early 80s power pop band, "When" recalls The Tomorrows & The Roswells, and if Noel Gallagher ever wrote a song about the French Revolution, "Versailles" would be it. Elsewhere "Arizona Blue" is a first-class ballad, and "Buses, Trains & Planes" answers the musical question "what would Fountains of Wayne & Belle and Sebastian sound like if they collaborated?". As you can tell by now, this one touches all the power pop bases, so listen below and you'll find something you like.

CD Baby | MySpace

Friday roundup.

The Evening Rig-Is Doin' Stuff. This Minneapolis band lives up to their hometown sound with 11 tracks of rip-roarin' Replacements-style rock'n'roll with a twinge of Americana. Fans of bands I've featured here like High on Stress and The Daylight Titans will find a lot to like here, from the blistering opener "The Steve McQueens" to the Westerbergian "Half Asleep" to the pensive yet rocking "Right Where She Wants Me". You can't always judge an album by its song titles, but "Goddamn, I Could Use a Drink" will give you a pretty good idea of what you're getting here. Here's some stuff to do: listen to the Lala embed below.

CD Baby | MySpace | iTunes

The Goodfight-Good & Evil. The Goodfight is Atlanta's Jonathan Rich, and this release is actually a double EP, broken up into "good" and "evil" sides. Whatever your moral inclinations, this is high-quality indie pop that will appeal to the hipsters as well as the power poppers. The first half (the Good EP?) is filled with tracks that have titles as convoluted as any this side of The Deathray Davies yet are musically straightfoward; the best of these are the propulsive "I Put You in a Box But I'm the One Who's Boxed In" and the Sloan-like "She's Too Pretty to be So Ugly". The second half (the Evil EP?) consists of songs with one-word titles of basics such as "Love", "Blind", and "Revolution" and is the more "indie" sounding of the two. "Revolution" is the tour de force here, a nearly six-minute track that builds to a lovely outro, and "Love" recalls The Eels. So in other words, there's something here for everyone.

Buy @Rebuilt Records | MySpace

First in Space-This is Not Here. Never mind the bollocks. If you're just looking for a straight-ahead melodic, power-poppin' disc without any bells and whistles, grab this release from Ohio's First in Space, who just got done playing IPO Chicago last month. Their sound is a mix of R.E.M., Gin Blossoms and The Raspberries, with a Midwestern sensibility. Standout tracks: "Jenny" (a great driving opener), "What You Need" (Middle American Mersey), the jangly "Anything at All" and the effervescent "Lock it Away". So be first on your block to be First in Space!

MySpace | iTunes

CD of the Day, 5/5/09: Sons of Great Dane-Why Ramble?

History is littered with alternate universe questions. What if the Allies lost World War II? What if the South won the Civil War? These questions can never be answered for sure, but the debut disc from the Kansas City band Sons of Great Dane gives us a plausible answer to the counterfactual that asks what if Alex Chilton and Chris Bell were into country-rock instead of the Beatles?

Blending power pop and country in a tuneful fashion not heard since the turn of the century heyday of Wilco's Summerteeth, Old 97s' Fight Songs and The Jayhawks' Smile, Sons of Great Dane have one of the early 2009 best-of frontrunners on their hands. Opener "Early Train" leans to the pop side, and recalls Red Guitar, The Meadows and other contemporary country-influenced pop bands, while "Always Wrong, Always Right" has a western noir sound that brings to mind Joe Pernice's "Bum Leg".

The bright pop of "Bullet Left Its Barrel's Head" is another album highlight, "The Ballad of Lou Baker" is Elliott Smith in a cowboy hat, and "One Man (Wishful Thinking") is Midwestern pop/rock in the vein of The BoDeans. Elsewhere, "Drug Queen Beauty" rocks a la Wilco's "Monday" (from Being There, which their producer Lou Whitney worked on as well), and while "Question" shares its title with a classic Old 97s track, the resemblance ends there as instead of an acoustic number, it's a densely produced pop/rock gem that turns into a guitar freak-out at the 4-minute mark and doesn't look back over the next 2 1/2 minutes. And the closing triumvirate of "St. Andrew", "Cut/Paste" and "Something" hold up their end of the album in melodic rocking fashion.

This one's a treat, and it holds the promise of uniting the No Depression crowd and the IPO crowd if it can get before enough ears, something for which I'm doing my part.

CD Baby | MySpace | iTunes | Download 3 tracks here

Friday 3-pack.

Calico Brothers-Tell it to the Sun. The New Zealand act which brought us one of 2008's top EPs makes their full length debut and picks up where they left off. Tell it the Sun is another serving of jangly popicana from the Calico Brothers, with a bit more of a country-rock orientation than the EP. You'll notice it with the banjos and harmonica on the title track and "Tread Carefully", while they lean to the pop side on the Beatleseque "Is There Anyone There?" and "Up for Air". Fans of The Jayhawks, The Meadows, Additional Moog and other similarly-oriented bands will love this one, as well of course fans of the original EP.

CD Baby | MySpace | iTunes

Matt Beck-Anything Which Gives You Pleasure. The pop/power pop genre has been a fertile one in recent years for sidemen, from Rusty Anderson to Craig Bartock to Bill Majoros (The Foreign Films) to Waz, and the latest sideman to step out is Matt Beck, who's worked with artists as diverse as Rod Stewart, Matchbox Twenty and Lisa Loeb and was picked by Bono & The Edge to provide guitar on an upcoming U2 musical. Needless to say, Beck has pop smarts and his debut disc is quite reminiscent of another sideman who's made a name for himself, Jim Boggia. "Nothing Ever Comes of It" has that Boggia/Brion/Penn feel, and "Wasted and Wanting" recalls George Harrison, slide guitar and all. Other highlights include the poptastic "Blessing in Disguise", the moody midtempo "Surround the Accident", and the beautiful ballad "Shelter Me". This disc will certainly give you pleasure.

CD Baby | MySpace | iTunes

The Beat Seekers-Dead Air Radio. This Nebraska band has a classic power pop sound that reminds me of fellow Midwestern power pop bands The Backroom and Ash Avenue as well as retro-poppers like The Rubinoos. Standouts include "All Dolled Up", which closes in a burst of frenetic energy, the infectious and pulsating title track, the "Lust for Life"-inspired "Passerby" and the mod sounding "Anything Won't Do". These guys put some rock'n'roll in their power pop, and they'll keep your toes tapping.

MySpace | iTunes | AmieStreet (currently $2.52)

Lala embeds added.

Thanks to their becoming available on Lala subsequent to my original reviews, you can now listen to Valley Lodge's Semester at Sea and J.P. Cregan's Man Overboard in their entirety by scrolling down to the respective reviews below. A great way to spend the next hour and fifteen minutes or so.

Another freebie (and some drama) from Shake Some Action!

The day of freebies continues....

As mentioned earlier, Shake Some Action! is unveiling their new album as it's recorded, and track #3 (Fire and Ice) is now available at their blog.

But apparently frontman James Hall and Gary Miller have decided to go their separate ways from this point forward, as Hall explains:

It’s fair to say that the last song, Fire and Ice, triggered some fundamental changes in this project.

Firstly, Gary and I came to the realization our musical ideas weren’t as compatible as they once were, so SSA has reverted to a solo project again, as it was for the first record.

Secondly, it occurred to me that my contributions so far had a recurring theme of elements - Touch the Sky, Fire and Ice - that I wanted to explore further as some sort of theme throughout the record. What came to mind was exploring the idea of people’s apparent indifference to climate change - that maybe by the time everyone’s satisfied it’s actually happening it’ll be too late to do anything about it.

Maybe human civilization has come and gone many times before and on some deeper level we know that if climate change wipes us out, human life will always re-emerge through evolution. Or maybe we’re all just narcissists . . . .

How do I take those ideas and make power-pop songs out of them?

Stay tuned.

New Static in Verona EP (yours free!)

Freebie morning at Absolute Powerpop rolls on:

Last year's Static in Verona release, a side project from Ash Avenue frontman Robert Merz, was a favorite around these parts, so I'm happy to announce that he has offered up a new SiV EP for free download. Titled Life-Size Replica, it's inspired by his impending fatherhood, and can be downloaded from the band's official site.

Who said Mondays were depressing?

New Grand Atlantic single for download.

The Aussie band Grand Atlantic is back, set to release the followup to their excellent 2007 debut disc This is Grand Atlantic in June on Laughing Outlaw Records, but you can get the first single right now. Titled "She's a Dreamer", it's of a piece with their sound on the debut, a hybrid of Oasis (when they didn't suck) and Sloan.

Get it here:

Download "She's a Dreamer"

And as a curiosity, here's the band covering Beyonce's "Single Ladies" in concert:

Friday roundup.

Chris Swinney-Try This at Home. UK singer-songwriter Chris Swinney has released three previous albums but it wasn't until #4, Try This at Home, that he managed to catch my ear. Thanks to how good the new one is, I'll definitely be looking into the first three. Swinney offers up a singer/songwriter album, power pop style, in the vein of Richard X. Heyman or Bill Lloyd with a British sensibility. "Not Going Down" is pure melodic bliss, and the chiming guitars and catchy hooks of "Makes Me Feel Good" have burrowed their way into my head on a semi-permanent basis. Other highlights include the midtempo "Pull it Down" and the ballad "It Always Ends This Way". Contrary to the admonition of the album title, do try this one at home. Or in the car. Or at the office.

CD Baby | MySpace | iTunes

The Humbugs-On the Up Side. Another act that has a few releases under their belt that have gotten by me are the Minneapolis band The Humbugs. They're overlooked no more thanks to their wonderful new release On The Up Side. With male/female lead vocals and a smart pop sensibility, they draw inevitable comparisons to bands like The New Pornographers and AbPow fave The Cheeksters, but their sound is more straightforward pop. There's quality here from top to bottom, with "One More Day", "Employee of the Month", and the propulsive "Calico Eyes". Looks like I have another back catalog to sift through!

CD Baby | MySpace | iTunes

Brian Dilts-After the Dawn EP. Philly piano popper Brian Dilts' new EP After the Dawn has made my short list for 2009 EP of the year. Dilts has a more tasteful piano pop sound than the Ben Foldses of the world, and "Shadow Ball" and "Five Minutes Away" are perfect examples of his way with a melody, while "Free" does resemble Folds in sound if not sensibility.

CD Baby | MySpace | iTunes

Expectations: Valley Lodge-Semester at Sea & Bob Evans-Goodnight, Bull Creek!

I've often thought about how expectations and preconceptions influence music (and other forms of art) reviews. There's no doubt they have an impact, as an artist's first album is judged on its own merits and in relation to the general sea of music in that genre, while the second album is inevitably compared to the first. In the case of an artist putting out a disc that is one of the best of its year, decade (or even all-time), the bar is set almost impossibly high and even a very good followup disc can come out looking relatively off by comparison.

Which brings me to two discs I've eagerly been awaiting. The first is Valley Lodge's Semester at Sea, the followup to their brilliant 2005 self-titled debut, which I recently declared the fifth best power pop album of all time*. So try topping that, guys! As it turns out, they really didn't try topping the first disc; instead, they created a somewhat different sound. Instead of a more traditional power pop sound with sugary and crunchy melodies (i.e., making Valley Lodge II), they've opted to go in a harder, faster, glam-rock direction. Although off-putting at first (hey, what happened to Dave Hill randomly going falsetto?), letting the album wash (or steamroll, to be more accurate) over me has quelled my original disappointment. There's plenty to love here: Opener "Break Your Heart" (which namechecks "Every Little Thing", the first disc opener), "The Door" (the best song Gary Glitter or Sweet never wrote), "When the Rain Comes", possibly the disc's best track with its big guitar riffs and lyrics of decadence ("been kissed/been pissed/got freaky at a brist"), "Baby It's a Shame" (probably the closest cousin to the debut), the gloriously catchy "My Baby" and the rifftastic "Comin' Around". An interesting choice here is the (apparently) unironic cover of "Sentimental Lady"; it's a bit out of place but well-executed nonetheless. So while they didn't manage the near-impossible task of topping themselves, Valley Lodge has nevertheless topped about 90% of what's out there in the power pop genre right now, and will be up there at year's end.

CD Baby | MySpace

Bob Evans' 2006 release Suburban Songbook may not have been the all-timer that Valley Lodge was, but it was still my #1 disc of that year. Unlike Valley Lodge, Evans has charted the same course with his new release, Goodnight, Bull Creek!. Once again, he's enlisted genius producer Brad Jones and the overall sound is quite similar to Suburban Songbook. Which means you'll get tuneful tracks in the manner of Neil Finn, Josh Rouse (before he went to Spain) and David Mead (before he got all show-tuney) with a twinge of Americana (Australiana?). "Someone So Much" is the kind of folky ballad that Evans is a master at; "Pasha Bulker" is an uptempo treat that reminds me of Rouse's "Winter in the Hamptons", and "Hand Me Downs" is as good as anything on Songbook, with a backing piano riff and harmonica that gives the chorus a Stevie Wonder/"Don't You Worry Bout a Thing" feel. Elsewhere, "Your Love" is a bright, sunny track; "We're a Mess" rocks with a busy background, and "Power of Speech" is a lovely ballad with a bossa nova sound. Evans has done it again, and while there may not be a "Friend" or "Comin' Around" here, like Valley Lodge he's going to be high on the year-end list. (Like Suburban Songbook, this disc isn't being released domestically in the USA initially; expect it to show up at some point, though, at least through iTunes).

MySpace | Listen at official site

*Astute observers will note that despite considering Valley Lodge the fifth-best power pop album of all-time, it only placed #11 on my 2005 year-end list. A couple of caveats: it came out very late in the year (around Thanksgiving), and while Derby's This is the New You was my favorite album during 2005, VL is obviously now my favorite album of 2005.

CD of the Day, 4/17/09: The Campbell Stokes Sunshine Recorder-Makes Your Ears Smile

If you're a hardcore power pop fan, you've probably found yourself asking "Whatever happened to Bronco Bullfrog?" If you're not, you might be asking "Who the heck is Bronco Bullfrog?" Either way, it's news that Bronco Bullfrog's Andy Morten is back, this time with his new project The Campbell Stokes Sunshine Recorder. The band's name comes from an actual 19th century device that was used to measure sunlight, and the name of the album comes from the feeling you'll get after listening to this disc.

Picking up where Bronco Bullfrog left off, Morten & Co. offer a brand of winning British-influenced paisley power pop. The highly meta "Track One" finds Morten lamenting (or celebrating) that he's "too poppy for rock'n'roll" and giving a tongue-in-cheek rundown of his music set to a classic power pop beat. "She Looks Good in the Sun" sounds good on the disc, keeping the promise Morten makes in "Track One" about being true to his pop self, and "Tony Hazzard" is a tuneful Kinksian character sketch about a wannabe pop star complete with kazoo. Elsewhere, "Bye Bye Mrs. Bumble" is a mid-period McCartney Beatles-style track by way of The Monkees, and speaking of McCartney, "Everybody Loves the Good Times" is an "Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey"-style pastiche that sounds like several song fragments rolled into one.

On the back end of the disc, "Olivia's Plaything" is a jangly midtempo featuring some "woo hoos", "TV Jingle Man" sounds about how you'd expect, uptempo and catchy, and closer "No Name #7" is a largely acoustic cap on the proceedings that serves as a fitting bookend to "Track One". All in all, if you want a melodically bright and extremely catchy disc that isn't afraid to poke fun at itself, Andy Morten's The Campbell Stokes Sunshine Records will, in fact, make your ears smile.

CD Baby | MySpace

CD of the Day, 4/15/09: J.P. Cregan-Man Overboard

As those who subscribe to my Twitter feed might know, I'm big into fantasy sports as well as power pop. But never the twain shall meet - or so I thought until I ran into the debut release of LA's J.P. Cregan. For those into fantasy basketball (I'm a baseball and football guy myself), you may know him as ESPN's John Cregan, who writes a column on the topic at espn.com. But to those in the power pop community, you'll be knowing him as J.P. and you'll be enjoying his debut release Man Overboard as one of the top singer/songwriter discs of 2009.

Cregan isn't a musical novice - he's played in several bands and is currently in Parklane Twin, a "Popicana" band who put out a fine 2007 disc. But on his solo debut he emphasizes the pure pop (for now people) and it's all catchy as hell. Although opener "Carolyn (The Pledge Drive)", with its Nick Lowe/Brian Jay Cline-style country/roots vibe, might be lumped in with his band work, it's a springboard to the power pop stylings of "Count to Three" and "Barbara is Strange", perhaps the album's best track - pure ear candy with Beatlesque backing vocals, tambourines, fine Telecaster work, and a great melody.

That opening three might be worth the price of admission alone, but the hits just keep on coming. "Jeni", with its "Misery"-style tumbling piano chords, a Costello/Lowe melody and chiming British Invasion guitars, is another standout. "Out of Our Minds", with its Spectorish opening, is a treat, "Miss Highland Park" lays on the handclaps as it recalls Marshall Crenshaw, "Shouldn't Take it (So Hard)" rocks a la Matthew Sweet, and "Winter of '85" both namedrops and serves as an answer song to Bryan Adams' "Summer of '69". The disc ends on a high note with "The Underdog", another outstanding Elvis Costello-inspired track. In the vernacular of fantasy sports, Man Overboard is a no-brainer first-round pick, a power pop equivalent of Albert Pujols, Adrian Peterson or LeBron James.

CD Baby | MySpace

New Seldon Plan on the way.

Baltimore's indie pop/rockers The Seldon Plan, a favorite on these pages, are getting ready to release their third disc next month. Titled Lost and Found and Lost, its title track is now available as a free download from their official site, and they also have a great deal ($5) on the new CD for a limited time.

Get it here.

Monday roundup.

Mike Gent-Mike Gent. The Figgs' singer/guitarist goes solo and the results are promising. While in band mode Gent & Co. can be rocking and raucous, here he goes for a more laid-back rootsier sound. "(Romantic Needs Led To) False Alarms" recalls Salim Nourallah in its spare but tuneful production, while "Paper Knives" brings Dylan and Elvis Costello to mind. But the real highlight is "Haste & Wrath", which builds on its simple "Picture Book"-style guitar riff to hypnotically catchy effect. An old-school disc which Gent compares to Rod Stewart's Never a Dull Moment and Pete Townshend & Ronnie Lane's "Rough Mix", it certainly captures the spirit of those two classics.

CD Baby | iTunes

The Milk & Honey Band-Dog Eared Moonlight. Released on Andy Partridge's Ape House Label, the Milk & Honey Band's second album will appeal to XTC fans, provided they go more for "Chalkhills and Children" rather than "The Ballad of Peter Pumpkinhead". In other words, the more (to use a word invoked in virtually every other review of this disc) "pastoral" sound of XTC. This is great rainy day music, from the spare opener "Just You" to the pedal steel-drenched "No World at All" to the quintessentially British "Maryfaith Autumn". While not quite as immediate as their debut The Secret Life Of..., it's still a grower worthy of your time.

MySpace | iTunes

Clockwise-Faders on Stun. This Toronto band matches the cartoony flair of their album cover with a cartoony flair to their power pop, which recalls Sloan (opener "Opposites Attract"), Elvis Costello & the Attractions ("Boomtown"), and The Odds ("Upside Down"). Other standouts include the hypercatchy "You Really Got Me Goin'" and "If You Don't Want Love (I Must Be Wrong)". They even get environmentally conscious on "Water on the Moon". Good stuff.

CD Baby | MySpace | iTunes

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.

Midweek 3-pack.

Terry Anderson & The Olympic Ass-Kickin' Team-National Champions. Lock the doors. Hide the children. Terry Anderson and his Olympic Ass-Kickin' Team are back and ready to wreak havoc on the power pop landscape once more. Anderson's been deeply involved in southern power pop and rock'n'roll for a couple of decades now, and this is his second go-round with the OAK Team (not counting their live disc). 2005's self-titled debut was a roots-pop masterpiece, and the followup ain't half bad either. This time around Terry takes to task Barry Bonds ("Willie Mays"), empty-headed jingoism ("Pow'ful 'Merka"), and women who won't shut up ("Indy 500"), all in his southern-fried Rockpile/NRBQ style. And where else but a Terry Anderson album are you going to find a track titled "You Had Me at Get Lost"? I defy you to listen to National Champions without cracking a smile.

CD Baby | MySpace

The Test Dream-The Test Dream. These Long Island lads take their name from the title of a Sopranos episode and their sound from a variety of pop sources. Sounding both classic and contemporary, they have a way with effortless-sounding melodies on their debut EP like the leadoff track "Open Wide" (think a less precious Shins) and "Directing Traffic" (reminiscent of Justin Kline's AbPow top EP of last year). Elsewhere, "Look for the Boy" has a Brill Building feel and "Shadows in the Dark" somehow manages to combine the Beatles, Motown and handclaps in one song. A promising debut, and an early EP of the year contender.

CD Baby | MySpace | iTunes

Dipsomaniacs-Social Crutch. Kool Kat and Not Lame have gotten lots of deserved praise for being top-notch power pop labels, but not to be overlooked is New Jersey's FDR Records, who quietly have been releasing a stream of fine releases from bands like The Successful Failures and Blank Pages. In fact, you could say there's an "FDR Sound": no-nonsense, straight-up, rock-oriented, garage-style powerpop that draws on bands like The Replacements and The Who. And nobody is more emblematic of that sound than the Dipsomaniacs, back with their sixth release here. On Social Crutch, the Dipsos hit quite a few high notes: the opening track "Together We Can Rule the World", which merges the sound of fellow Jersyians Fountains of Wayne and The Smithereens; the revved-up and highly catchy "Oh Jose", and the first song I've heard about army brats, "Kids on Base". Rock on!

CD Baby | MySpace | iTunes

CD of the Day, 4/6/09: The Alice Rose-All Haunt's Sound

It's become apparent I've been doing this a while when I'm doing more and more reviews of second discs of bands I've discovered since starting this blog. The latest example is Austin's The Alice Rose, whose wonderful 2006 debut Phonographic Memory has been followed up by their equally wonderful sophomore release All Haunt's Sound.

The Alice Rose has a lush sound that falls between indie pop and power pop, but whatever the categorization, the common denominator is their highly melodic songcraft. The disc opens brightly with "She Did Command", which has a Jon Brion/Michael Penn feel to it, while the jittery beat of "Waste Away" sounds a bit like how Spoon would sound if they were guitar-based instead of piano-based. "Maybe a Ride" would be the obvious choice for the "single" from the disc if singles were a viable format these days, with its bright melody and uptempo sound. The Beatlesque "Slumberella" is another winner, and the joyous "It's All Allowed" will set your toes to a-tappin'. If you like your pop with a little bit of a sophisticated edge, The Alice Rose is perfect for you.

CD Baby | MySpace | iTunes

Wednesday 3-pack.

The Library-The Life and Times of Rosa Lee. Back around the turn of the century, North Carolina's Mayflies USA were one of the top quality power pop acts going. They broke up several years ago, and now their members are gradually re-assimilating into the music world. We found Adam Price in Hundred Air, and now here's ex-Mayfly Matt Long hooking up with Jason Caperton to form The Library. Their debut EP The Life and Times of Rosa Lee is a real treat, with a sound that draws on Elliott Smith (especially on the title track), Jon Brion and Joe Pernice as well as the Mayflies. Opener "Wish I Knew" is a gem, featuring Long's angelic vocals and a little bit of lap steel. Other standouts include "Club Amnesia" and "Nothing to Lose", which reminds me of the Sofa City Sweetheart EP from late last year.

CD Baby | MySpace | iTunes

Matt Miller-EP and EP II. LA rocker Matt Miller may have a nondescript name, but his music is anything but. He's put out two EPs over the last couple of years and taken together they make a fine album equivalent. EP #1 was produced by the legendary Jack Douglas (who produced John & Yoko's Double Fantasy, Aerosmith's classic 70s discs and discovered Cheap Trick for starters) and it has a radio-ready sheen. Reminiscent of AbPow favorite Josh Fields as well as mainstream acts like Fastball and Semisonic, Miller starts off strong with the instantly catchy "Anytime at All", and "Nowhere, Somewhere, Anywhere" is a midtempo delight.

EP II is a more intimate extension of the first, opening with the very catchy acoustic-based "You're There Somewhere", featuring the Ryan Adamseque "The Question Still Remains" and closing with the anthemic "The Whole Night Through". Miller has now formed a band called Graydon, and I'll be looking forward to their first release.

CD Baby (EP I) | CD Baby (EP II) | MySpace | iTunes (both EPs)