Late May Roundup.

A quick look at some quality new releases:

Ruby Free-Shades. Maple Mars' Rick Hromdaka teams up again with Lisa Cavaliere (his wife) as Ruby Free, and the result is another wonderful laid-back album of 70s-inspired husband & wife pop. Highlights here are the guitar pop of "Take a Ride", the psychedelic shuffle of "Walking Along", the Paul-and-Linda inspired "Say Goodnight" and a note-perfect cover of The Carpenters' "Superstar". An album with great melodies - and charm. One of 2017's best.

iTunes | Kool Kat



The Mike Benign Compulsion-Kid. Our favorite Milwaukee power poppers are back again with a concept album of sorts about childhood and growing up, complete with the Let it Be-styled cover with photos of the band as youngsters. It's another collection of top-notch Squeeze-meets-Elvis Costello pop with standout tracks "Gadfly", "Kid" (with its memorable hook), and the rocking "The Best Years of Our Lives". And keep listening through - the 10th track, "Generations", might be the best here, sounding like a lost early-80s hit.

iTunes



Pasadena 68/Dakota Shakedown-Good Night Air. Ex-High on Stress frontman Nick Leet's Pasadena 68 has once again teamed up with friend and former 90's bandmate Mike Hjelden's Dakota Shakedown for another split album. DS gets the first five tracks, and P68 the last five and despite being a split LP the bands' similar Replacements-rock sensibilities make for a seamless experience. DS' "Hurry Up and Wait", with its Westerbergian mix of yearning and fire, is their standout here, while P68's rootsy, laid-back "Peace Garden State" is a gem as well.

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Party Battleship-Cake + Flames. The New Pornographers have a new album out, and as always it's worth picking up. However, if you want an American version of them there's another male/female-fronted supergroup of sorts which collects some of the best power poppers of Charlotte, NC. Shalini Morris (Kissyfish, Vinyl Devotion, Mitch Easter), Donnie Merritt (Lodestar, Mark Crozer and the Rels), John Morris (Tyre Fyre, Electrolux, Snagglepuss) and Adam Roth (Bellglide, The Catch Fire, Laburnum) join forces here for a rocking collection of driving pop tunes. The ones here to catch are their opening "Theme Song", "Almost Overton", and the Marshall Crenshaw-esque "The Fifth Season", but they're all pretty good. Party on!

iTunes

Quick singles update.

As I've noted on many occasions, I don't normally review singles. But as I've also done on others, when artists of note have singles out I'll make an exception.

Bryan Estepa-Rattled and Rolled. It's been over 10 years since Estepa had Michael Carpenter produced his outstanding debut album All the Bells and Whistles, and the two got together last month, jammed a bit and came up with this single in a day. It's an excellent midtempo tune that will appeal to both, and proceeds go to The Heart Foundation.

Bandcamp



Lannie Flowers-Kiss a Memory b/w Everything a Man Could Want. We haven't gotten new music from Lannie Flowers in quite a while - his last release was 2012's New Songs Old Stories, but that itself consisted of full-length versions of several of the snippets that made up his 36-song Same Old Story medley. So it's great to hear these two new tracks, and they're vintage Flowers which means classic power pop melodies with a bit of a Texas twang.

iTunes



Radio Days-I'm in Love With You, Haruka. Italy's Radio Days are heading out on their first Japanese tour, and in promotion of it they've released a 2-track single with the new title track and a cover of the Undertones' "Teenage Kicks". It's of a piece with their existing catalog so it has their typical 60s Merseyside sound.

Bandcamp

Early May Roundup.

The Hangabouts-Kits & Cats and Saxon Wives. The Hangabouts are back with their long-awaited followup to 2011's Illustrated Bird, and it's another delightful collection of 60s/Merseyside-influenced pop with a touch of psych and boy/girl harmonies (and with very fab cover art). The opening title track nails this sensibility with a mid-60s melody and noodling guitars, which is followed by the jangly and jaunty (and mostly instrumental) "Cricket Time". The clever and catchy "Evelyn Wood" is a real gem here, both in its sound (which is what Fountains of Wayne would sound like if their touchstone were the 60s instead of the 70s), and the lyrics, which use the titular speed-reading teacher as a metaphor for a woman who wants to go too fast in a relationship. Also worth particular mention are the Beatlesque "Selling Out", the twee and lovely "Twelve Songs" and the sunny pop of "Taking You to Leave Me". In the end, there's but one word to describe this album: groovy.

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Colman Gota-Fear the Summer. This is the third album for this pop/rocker from Spain (not counting his work in Insanity Wave), but the first I've reviewed here and it's about damn time I got around to him. On his recent releases Gota was been working with genre legend Mitch Easter (who engineers here) and there's an element of his southern-fried power pop sound present here, with the crunchy guitars of the opening title track and the straightforward melodic rock of "What Goes on in My Head" (complete with cowbell). Elsewhere, the soaring melodies of "What You Want Me to Be", the piano-backed midtempo "For a Reason", and the classic power pop of "Call it Quits" are among the standouts here. All in all, it's a solid collection of Tom Petty-styled power pop which you shouldn't fear adding to your music collection this summer.

iTunes



The Over Unders-Bet on Us EP. Wisconsin's The Over Unders are a literal band of brothers, led by Sam and Matthew Hellman and who have released two EPs the last two years with Bet on Us the followup to last year's self-titled debut. They remind me quite a bit of Fight Songs-era Old 97s, and the catchy opening track "Come On" wouldn't have sounded out of place of that album while "Won't Go Home" and "Out West" have a Gin Blossoms-meet-The Replacements vibe. Plus, the debut EP is of a piece with this one and is worth seeking out as well so there's essentially a fine full-length album here when you put them together.

iTunes