It's news worthy of an exclamation mark, as John Hoskinson is set to release Pancho Fantastico, his followup to 2004's outstanding Miscellaneous Heathen, on June 12. If you're drawing a blank on his name, know that Heathen was released to universal acclaim, and no less than Uncut Magazine called it "The lost link between Rubber Soul and Emitt Rhodes." Had I compiled a 2004 list it probably would have made the top 10. Oh, and did I mention that Hoskinson is in Eugene Edwards' band, and vice-versa?
Anyway, you don't have to take my hype for it, you can listen to the new album in its entirety streaming at JH's official site. (Click on "Listen to CD Tracks"). I've only had one listen so far, but it sounds like another winner. In some places, it reminds me of The Red Button.
And Hoskinson has assembled what seems to be the L.A. power pop mafia for help on the disc; as it says on the site, it was recorded with "Luke Adams (Pete Yorn); Brian Whelan and Dan Iead (The Broken West); Mike "Soupy" Sessa (Cracker, Rosie Flores); Eugene Edwards; Robbie Rist; Stevie Blacke (Beck, Glen Phillips); Vince Meghrouni (Mike Watt); Dan Clucas (Arthur Lee/Love); with Joe Ongie (Aimee Mann, Minnie Driver) also handling production." (Yes, I found the Minnie Driver reference a bit jarring too.)
Indeed a winner. At one point John indicated a single song each day was to be released. A day later, all tracks are available for a listen! My review is coming soon on www.powerpopaholic.com
ReplyDeleteI must be missing something because I cannot find any reference to streaming audio for the new album, only the previous one.
ReplyDeleteI think he "hid" the full album stream so as to do his announced intention of putting up one track a day.
ReplyDeleteThis link still works, though:
Full Stream