The Absolute Powerpop Top 100 Albums of 2018, #51-100.

Let the lists begin! A little later this year but that's allowed me to get some later releases in. Of course, it never ends and I'll inevitably discover a 2018 album or two in early 2019 that should have placed on the list. Ring in the New Year tomorrow with the top half of the list, and the other lists (EPs, Americana, miscellany) will go up Wednesday or Thursday.

51. Joel Sarakula-Love Club
52. Mick Terry-Days Go By
53. Wyatt Blair-Inspirational Strawberries
54. Brian Jay Cline-The Avenue
55. The Great Affairs-Ten & 2
56. Matthew Sweet-Wicked System of Things
57. Brother Reverend-The Tables Turn Too Often
58. Pale Hollow-Pilots
59. Mario Soutschka-Long Stories Short
60. Brett Newski-Life Upside Down
61. Glowbox-Fossil Fuel
62. Vegas With Randolph-Legs & Luggage
63. Fernando Perdomo-Zebra Crossing
64. The Vinyl Skyway-Long Cool Journey
65. Oberon Rose-Tell Me All About It
66. Four Star Riot-Daylight
67. Mystic Braves-The Great Unknown
68. Henry Chadwick-Marlon Fisher
69. Ryan Allen & His Extra Arms-Headacher
70. Dropkick-Longwave
71. Michael Slawter-Last Call for Breaking Hearts
72. Minky Starshine-Dirty Electric
73. Adam Miner-Christina
74. Grace Basement-Mississippi Nights
75. Dan Israel-You're Free
76. Paul McCann-Here Comes the Rapture
77. Andy Bopp-Wherewithal
78. The Amprays-Sleepchaser
79. Zombies of the Stratosphere-The Physical Kids
80. The Spindles-Past and Present
81. Mooner-Satisfaction/Promise
82. Richard Turgeon-Lost Angeles
83. Chris Price-Dalmatian
84. Afterpartees-Life is Easy
85. The Grip Weeds-Trip Around the Sun
86. The Hope Trust-Passengers
87. Mike Viola-The American Egypt
88. Daniel Romano-Nerveless
89. Young Scum-Young Scum
90. The Genuine Fakes-Issues
91. Big Sunset-Big Sunset
92. Amoeba Teen-Selection Box Vol 1
93. Van William-Countries
94. Scot Sax-Drawing from Memory
95. Bubble Gum Orchestra-Zentopia
96. LowRay-Friends & the Fakers
97. Alfa 9-My Sweet Movida
98. The Speedways-Just Another Regular Summer
99. Kyle Craft-Full Circle Nightmare
100. Devin Farney-Stealing Sand from the Sandbox

Year-end lists update.

For those checking in and looking for the lists, I should have them up either later this week or by New Year's Eve at the latest. Thanks for your patience.

Early December Roundup.

Various Artists-White Lace & Promises: The Songs of Paul Williams. Andrew Curry has done it again. The man behind some of this decade's best compilations (including the "lite rock" Drink a Toast to Innocence for which I broke my own rules to make #1 of 2013) has turned his attention to 70s songwriter extraordinaire Paul Williams. While Williams' impish blond mop-top and glasses guise is well-known enough from TV and movies to stylize on the cover, the average music fan may not be able to rattle off all the songs he wrote for others which became hits in the 70s and early 80s. His most notable successes came from the Carpenters, whom he put on the map with songs such as "Rainy Days and Mondays", "We've Only Just Begun" (from which the compilation gets its title with the lyric "white lace and promises") and "I Won't Last a Day Without You" among others.

The usual all-star cast of indie poppers contribute here, with Cliff Hillis nailing "Rainy Days and Mondays", Corin Ashley faithfully covering "We've Only Just Begun" and Chris Price's enthusiastic reading of "I Won't Last a Day Without You". But Williams was more than the Carpenters - Cait Brennan turns into a wonderfully trippy version of Three Dog Night's "Old Fashioned Love Song", The Davenports add their power pop style to "Evergreen", Barbra Streisand's smash hit from the 70s version of A Star is Born, and Andy Reed gives the cheesefest which is Kermit the Frog's "Rainbow Connection" his all. But while the covers of the well-known hits by your favorite current-day artists are what pull you in, the real treats here are the covers of lesser-known tracks, some of which Williams recorded himself. Greg Pope's "Waking Up Alone" could pass as his one of his own tunes, and Plasticsoul's "Still Alive" rocks way harder than anything you might associate with Williams.

Given that Williams' métier was lite rock, this compilation makes a great bookend with the aforementioned Drink a Toast to Innocence, so this one is a must-have holiday gift for fans of timeless pop music.

Bandcamp



Hot Nun-Born to Blaze. Hot Nun is Jeff Shelton's vehicle for rocking harder and louder than he does with the jangle-oriented Well Wishers, and this latest EP delivers more of the rawk you didn't know you needed but can't do without after hearing. From "Livin' a Dirty Mind" to "Anyway" to "Back to Now", Shelton & friends live up to their own description of "imagine you're at a weekend kegger and Judas Priest and The Archies are jammin out to some Cheap Trick while Bob Mould and the McDonald brothers from Redd Kross chime in". Their mission statement can be summed up in the title of the final track: "Rock and Roll is My Advice".

iTunes



David Woodard-I Used to Be Cool EP. Nashville's David Woodard has stumbled upon the perfect title for all of us middle-aged power poppers who came of age in the 70s and 80s (although I myself was never cool), and his debut EP reminds me of the godfather of Nashville power pop, Bill Lloyd (who himself has a great new album out which I may or may not get to before it ranks very high on my year-end list). Opener "We Didn't Know" is a wonderful wistful song which looks back on lost youth, while the title track is a jangly delight and "Chase After Me" recalls the kind of smart pop Lloyd is known for. Woodard closes out the EP with a quality cover of The Beatles' "Help!" and he also has a pretty good Christmas single out as a separate release.

iTunes

Mid-November Roundup.

P. Hux-This is the One. It's been a while since I reviewed a Parthenon Huxley (P. Hux for short) album, but this is the one that got my attention. Most of you don't need an introduction but for those who aren't familmiar, Huxley has been a veteran of the music scene for many years, both as a solo artist and with ELO II. The rocking title track tells us "this is the one we've been waiting for" and it's not wrong, an opener reminiscent of McCartney's "Rock Show", while "September Clouds" has a Tom Petty feel to it. The 70s rock of "Just Sayin'" with its call-and-response chorus is another standout, and "Inside Your Shoes" is pop brilliance. And if you want well-crafted ballads, "Running Home to You" and "Honey Sweet Baby" fill the bill. Hux's best in years and a worthy addition to your collection.

iTunes



Greg Pope-A Few Seconds of Fame. Another artist who needs no introduction on this site is the Pope of Power Pop, Greg Pope. One of the more consistent power poppers of the last 15 years, both solo and with Edmund's Crown, Pope is back with another top notch collection of southern-fried DIY power pop. Once the chunky guitars and shimmering melody of "Forget About You" comes out of your speakers, it's like reuniting with an old friend - and the hits keep coming. "She's Already There" sparkles and shines, and Pope's albums are always good for one unforgettable track. This time it's "Cave Days" in which Pope chronicles a day in the life of a caveman, set to an insanely catchy melody. Also don't miss the martial melody of "Planet Earth" and "Dreams About You, which recalls Elliott Smith in his more rocking moments.

iTunes



Zander Michigan-Kitchen Sink #2 EP. Zander Michigan (the stage name of Alexander Melidis) isn't quite power pop, but it's somewhere between pop and rock and undeniably catchy. "Yoga Poses" boasts a keyboard hook and a chorus that will burrow its way into your brain. "Set Me Free" is heavy guitar pop, and "Watch Your Body Sing" might even be catchier than "Yoga Poses" with another clever piano hook. The 4-song EP concludes with "Colors in Your Eyes", another memorable number which starts as a stately piano ballad but transforms into something louder with ringing guitars in its second half, not unlike Coldplay's "The Scientist".

iTunes

Election Day Roundup.

It's Election Day in the USA, so here are some releases worth voting for:

Creamer-Creamer. If this were a blurb on Kool Kat's site, Ray would lead it off with "BIG STAR ALERT!" as the debut of Phillip Creamer's new band channels Alex Chilton & Co. to great effect here. Co-produced by Wilco's Pat Sansone, the album opens with "Daydreamer", which manages to be both anthemic and downbeat at the same time with a vaguely Lennon-esque middle eight, followed by the poptastic "Record Machine", which is the #1 Record Big Star to "Daydreamer"'s Third/Sister Lovers. "Drugs No More" was released as the single to tease the album and it's easy to see why - it boasts a memorable chorus and encapsulates Creamer's sound, and "Ride or Die" makes good on the band's promise of glam mixed with Americana ("Glamicana", anyone?). And then there's "Magic", a magical concoction of rock, pop, honky tonk, R&B and who knows what else. Even the ballads like "A Better Side" and "Love Yourself" soar. A contender for album of the year.

iTunes




Tim Jackson-Better Late Than Never. In a year in which it seems I've been seeing new releases from artists I've long given up on hearing again comes Tim Jackson. The name may not ring a bell but Jackson was the main force behind Third Floor Story, who had one of my favorite 2006 albums with Lonely City, and the album title and title track acknowledge this absence with a choice slice of power pop. Other standouts include "Little Girl" (Jackson started a family in the interim), the slightly funky but fully catchy "Black Dog" and the uptempo pop of "Back Again". Welcome Back, Tim.

iTunes




Extra Arms-Headacher. Previously known as "Ryan Allen & His Extra Arms", Allen has taken his own name out despite continuing to front the group and that's not the only change this time around. The focus has shifted from traditional power pop to a somewhat harder-edged, noisier sound he calls "loud pop", hence the album title. Don't get worried, though, Allen hasn't gone thrash metal or anything, and the melodies are still there. The title track rocks with abandon, "Done to Death" cranks up the guitars, and then "Why I Run" really cranks them up. But fret not those who liked Allen's more traditional sound - "Under Surveillance" and "Honey Brown" are a bit more mellow (relatively speaking) and don't quite quality as "headachers". But if you like the "power" part of "power pop" better, this is your album.

iTunes

Valley Lodge and Mario Soutschka

Valley Lodge-Fog Machine. The Dave Hill musical assault continues with the fourth Valley Lodge album and first since 2013's Use Your Weapons. That album made Hill's music a household item as it spawned "Go", the theme to Last Week Tonight With John Oliver. And the band's self-titled 2005 debut remains one of my favorite power pop records of all time while Hill's Painted Doll project brought us some serious rawk earlier this year. So what does he do for an encore? He serves up 14 power-poppin', catchy-as-hell tracks is what he does. "Stars Won't Fall" kicks things off in classic VL form (melodies, call-and-response falsetto vocals and rocking guitars) just like "Go" and "If it Takes All Night" were the lynchpins of the previous efforts. "Stand" is a frenetic, almost danceable number in the manner of "Go" ready-made for another late-night talker to adopt, while "Come Back to Bed" is a rocker with attitude. Other standouts include the soulful "I'm Gone" (the chimes in the chorus give it a Philly soul feel), the Slade-esque glam rock of "It's Alright", which hearkens back to 2009's Semester at Sea, the mid-tempo power pop of "Fire", and "Days of Our Lives" which starts off with (gasp!) an acoustic guitar before settling into another of Hill's melodic numbers. So crank up the Fog Machine and get ready to rock (and pop).

iTunes




Mario Soutschka-Long Stories Short. While Dave Hill and Valley Lodge are undoubtedly familiar to AbPow readers, I'm quite certain German singer/songwriter Mario Soutschka isn't. His second full-length caught my ear with its bright tuneful power pop in the vein of Butch Walker and Cliff Hillis. "Right Back to Me" comes out of the blocks with guitars and melodies from the Badfinger playbook, and "Do" is a catchy number with a shuffling melody. "Facebook Mom" recalls Fountains of Wayne both spiritually and sonically, "Flying Away" is a lovely, largely acoustic duet with Melanie Hirsch, and "One in a Row" is a fine rocker.

iTunes

Fall Singles Collection

Quite a few power poppers of note have singles out, so it's time to round them all up in one place.

Bleu-Love You So. Bleu McAuley has proven to be a pop polymath over the years and his latest is an ultra-catchy slice of pop in the true sense. In fact "Love You So" is so catchy it's been featured in a ubiquitous eBay commercial you've probably heard. iTunes



Bryan Estepa-No Ordinary. Great to have new music from one of power pop's most reliable performers over the last decade-plus, and while I want to say "No Ordinary" is no ordinary Bryan Estepa track, it kinda isn't but that's a good thing. iTunes



Andy Reed-Truth to My Love. Andy Reed's been busy making music with The Legal Matters and brother act The Reed Brothers so this is the first release under his own name in some time and it's another example of his fine pop songcraft. iTunes



Downstate Darlings-King James/Ordinary Kind. While the name Downstate Darlings may not have a familiar ring, it's the new project from New York rocker Chris Abad, featured here before. This double-sided single is a great introduction for the project. "King James" is a Fountains of Wayne-type tune with crunchy guitars and synths, and "Ordinary Kind" is a melodic rocker. iTunes



Timmy Sean-In California. After his exhaustive 52-track Song of the Week project in 2015, Timmy Sean is back with some new music and "In California" has all the big hooks and big guitars you remember from his previous work. iTunes



Michael Simmons-This is Most Certainly True. Simmons has been a standout over the years in bands such as sparkle*jets u.k. and The Yorktown Lads, and his recent solo work. His latest applies his knack for melody with political protest as he takes on our increasingly toxic political culture.

Checkpoint Charley and Ken Sharp.

Checkpoint Charley-Pomp, Twaddle & Bombast: Songs 13-24. Back in May I was excited to see the return of Checkpoint Charley after a 10+ year absence when they gave us a Star Wars-themed EP which featured a contrarian take on Jar Jar Binks. At the time they promised the proper followup to 2005's Songs One Through Twelve and the bombastically-titled Pomp, Twaddle & Bombast: Songs 13-24 is now here. Like their previous releases, Songs 13-24 is vintage power pop, chock full of hooks and melodies with influences ranging from Jellyfish to Badfinger. "Acting My Age" obliquely addresses their absence and their middle age in tuneful fashion, "Facing the Music" is top-rate power balladry, "Out of the Blue" has something approximating a dance beat, and the baroque "Adam and Eve" and "Young and Naive" are where they really channel Falkner, Manning & Co. And those guys are getting back together anytime soon, so the return of Checkpoint Charley is as close are you're gonna get. I don't have samples to share unfortunately, but if you listen to their older stuff you'll get the idea. Kool Kat is offering the CD along with the Jedi EP as a package deal or you can download directly at their official site.

Kool Kat | Official site

Ken Sharp-Beauty in the Backseat. Ken Sharp remains one of the most interesting guys in the power pop scene, equally adept as an author as he is a musician, with his most recent tome being Volume 4 of his "Play On! Power Pop Heroes" series. Ken's now out with his latest musical opus, and it's a slight departure from the classic power pop he's usually known for. On Beauty in the Backseat he adds a Philly soul element to the mix and it's a welcome progression. Fernando Perdomo proudces and Sharp's gotten some of those pop heroes he writes about to help him out - if you're making a Philly Soul-influenced album there's no one better to get than John Oates and he contributes backing vocals to the wonderful "Philly Kind of Night", and Ace Frehley of KISS (the subject of one of Sharp's books) throws in a guitar solo on the opener "Rock Show", the best song of its kind since Paul McCartney's on Venus and Mars. Other standouts include the delightfully smooth "Lemons to Lemonade" and "The Hardest Part" while fans of Sharp's more traditional power pop sound won't be disappointed either - "24 Hours a Day" and "Pull the Strings" (speaking of Jellyfish-influenced) fill the bill on that score. This is pop at its purest, so you'll want to look Sharp with this album in your collection.

iTunes

Early September Roundup.

Caddy-Ten Times Four. Tomas Dahl is back again as Caddy after his work with Aussie band The Stanleys and he continues to be one of power pop's best-kept secrets. Ten Times Four, as the title implies, is Dahl's fourth Caddy album and might be the best of the lot. "Miracle Turn" is a driving midtempo pop tune that recalls classic Teenage Fanclub, while "Somewhere Beautiful" is another earworm and lead single "Contagious" recalls The Raspberries. Other standouts include the 70s rock of "Avoiding Me Avoiding You" and the sweet harmonies among the crunchy guitars of "Safe Travels". With not one bad track, Dahl goes 10-for-10 here and has one of 2018's best to date.

Kool Kat | iTunes



Rayland Baxter-Wide Awake. Nashville singer-songwriter Rayland Baxter has been better known through his first two albums as a roots-rocker, more known in Americana circles. With Wide Awake, Baxter turns his songcraft to a more pop-oriented sound and has also fashioned one of 2018's best. The lead single "Casanova" is my favorite track of 2018, with its slinky (Kinks-y?) melody and infectious chorus (try to get "back to the hole that I came from" out of your head). But the fun doesn't stop here - "Angeline" is a McCartney-esque track with baroque backing, "79 Shiny Revolvers" is a wonderfully melodic track that tackles America's gun violence, "Amelia Baker" owes to Ray Davies as well, "Hey Larocco" recalls the Jayhawks at their poppiest, and the lovely ballad "Without Me" bears a Harry Nilsson influence. If you want a melodic gem of an album that strays off the beaten power pop path, Wide Awake is a must.

iTunes



Johnny Stanec-The Future of Nothing. Johnny Stanec is nothing if not prolific - The Future of Nothing is the eleventh album released under his own name or his band First in Space in the last 11-12 years or so. His latest doesn't break the Midwestern power pop a la The Gin Blossoms mold of his body of work but it's one of the best-sounding examples of it. Opener "I'll Be Your Ghost" is pleasingly melodic, "Feeling Lost" has that BoDeans/Connells feel to it, while "Phases of the Moon" and "The Strangest Sound" delve into Jayhawks-styled Americana. If you have any or all of his previous ten releases, you'll want this one.

iTunes

Late August Roundup.

The Great Affairs-Ten & 2. Denny Smith returns again with The Great Affairs and their latest is a harder-rocking, crunchier-sounding affair that reminds me more of Smith's former band, fORMER. No longer content to play in the Gin Blossoms' sandbox, Ten & 2 owes more to Cheap Trick, KISS and maybe even Bon Jovi. This is vintage 80s/90s AOR with the standouts being "What You Get is Gone", "Unfound" and "Back to Boston", which could become a Fenway Park anthem in the near future. Rock on!

iTunes | Kool Kat



Bird Streets-Bird Streets. It's been quite a while since we heard from John Brodeur and in that time the New York popster has hooked up with Jason Falkner, who co-writes and produces this new Brodeur joint under the name Bird Streets. And damned if it doesn't sound like a Jason Falkner album, which is always a good thing. This is apparent on the chorus of opener "Carry Me" which has that Jellyfish feel, while the other highlights are the anthemic "Stop to Breathe", the angular mid-tempo rocker "Direction" and the trippy "Heel". A first-rate collection of tunes which will appeal to Brodeur fans as well as Falkner/Jellyfish fans.

iTunes



V Sparks-Moderne Life EP. This Chicago 5-piece got on my radar last year with their fine EP New Sensation, but they've taken a leap forward here with the followup. These guys specialize in high-energy pop with manic tempos, synths and pianos, and high-register vocals that recall Bryan Scary, The Format/Nate Ruess and Queen. The latter band is clearly the influence on "The Game of Everybody Knows It's You", which is the best Queen rip I've heard in ages, drawing on A Night at the Opera's "Lazing on a Sunday Afternoon". The frenetic "Remodel" and "Hollywood" are also standouts. This is high octane-fun that's perfectly suited to an EP because frankly 10-12 tracks like this would be exhausting.

Bandcamp (out on the 28th)

New playlist!

After a year and a half, I've finally updated the Spotify playlist over on the right. It's a bunch of stuff I've featured on the site lately and a bunch of stuff I haven't, so dig in!

Early August Roundup.

The Late Show-Sha La La. Grizzled (and I mean grizzled) vets of the power pop scene will remember Portable Pop, the 1980 release from NYC band The Late Show which landed at #46 of the 200 most essential power pop albums in John Borack's Shake Some Action: The Ultimate Power Pop Guide. They went on to record a followup in 1983 that never saw the light of day to record label issues and essentially weren't heard from again - until now. Now based out of Indianapolis, the original lineup is back with a followup. Although I can't say it was worth the wait as 38 years is too long to wait for just about anything - it's certainly worth your listening time. It's power pop in the classic sense, chock full of hooks, guitars and melodies, right from the Knack-like opener "To Let it Go" to Big Star-in-their-quieter-moments-sounding "Tears" to the acoustic guitars in the verses and electric in the chorus of "Hello Linda". The album has a timeless sound to it, and it's one more entry in a banner year for power pop. It's good to have these guys back, but none of us are going to survive another 38-year wait for the next one.

iTunes




Michael Roberts-There is No Blue. Michael Roberts was one of 2016's pleasant surprises with the Welshman's debut Suspended in This Space placing in the top half of my year-end list. He's back with the followup, and while it's not as consistently brilliant as the debut it's a fine collection of 70s-AM-singer-songwriter-styled pop. The standouts here are the baroque "Stardust Symphony", the pastoral "It's for Real", the breezy pop of "And Again", and the lovely "Turn Your Face into the Sun".

Kool Kat




William Duke-Quatro. San Francisco's William Duke (also of The Bye Bye Blackbirds) is back for the first time in three years with what you might have guessed from the title is his fourth album, and Quatro may truly be his best. Known for his dreamy California pop in the vein of Cloud Eleven or the Pernice Brothers, Duke this time cranks up the guitars a bit for more straight-ahead power pop sound. "Caroline and the Silver Sun" is pure jangle pop, and "Junk #2" which off its title you might be forgiven for expecting a breezy instrumental is instead a catchy rocker with some bite. "Hotels End" and "As Good as it Gets" feature the dreamy pop sound you've come to expect from Duke, while "Complications #1" veers into Jayhawks-styled popicana. While the styles might change song-to-song, the common denominator is Duke's songwriting craft and Quatro is a welcome return.

Bandcamp

Nick Piunti / Danny Wilkerson

Nick Piunti-Temporary High. Over the past five years Nick Piunti has established himself as one of the scene's preeminent power poppers (his last three albums finished at 7, 6 and 2 in my year-end lists) so it's not an understatement to say this was one of the year's most anticipated releases. Which leaves a couple of questions: Does it disappoint? Hell no. Is it his best? That's like asking which of your children are your favorite. Suffice it to say there will be 9 releases fighting over the top 10 this year because Piunti's accustomed spot is spoken for. Endlessly catchy and endlessly rocking, Temporary High finds Piunti at his best from the opening title track through the Elvis Costello-like "You Invented Hell" through the poptastic "If This Was Right" to "Contagious", the closest thing here to a classic power ballad. The high here may be temporary, but it's one you can return to whenever you want.

iTunes



Danny Wilkerson-Wilkerson. July 20 may go down this year as Power Pop Christmas because in addition to Nick Piunti's gem above, Danny Wilkerson has today released his debut album and it's also a very strong release. Wilkerson, who has worked with Lannie Flowers in the Pengwins among others over the years, has teamed up with Bleu who produces and co-wrote the songs here, in addition to providing backing vocals. And the power pop royalty isn't limited here to Bleu - Roger Joseph Manning Jr. plays on the record, along with New Pornographers drummer Joe Seiders and Pat Buchanan, formerly of Idle Jets and a couple of outstanding solo records of his own. And it sounds as good on disc as it looks on paper. The bouncy, catchy "Everyone Loves to Love" opens things, sounding like a cross between Bleu and Jellyfish as might be expected, "Enough for Somebody" throws horns and glockenspiel into the mix and is a bombastic delight, and first single "Let it Go Tonight" is an anthemic beauty. And the hits keep on coming: the McCartney-esque "Endless Haze" boasts a wonderful string arranagement, "Too Much of a Good Thing" almost brings to mind Bleu's L.E.O. project, and "Carry the One" is some fine power balladry.

CD Baby

Streetcar Conductors / Tom Curless

Streetcar Conductors-The Very Best of Streetcar Conductors. Naming your debut album The Very Best of is a cheeky thing to do, but technically true (of course it's just as technically true that it's The Very Worst of). Nevertheless Jonathan Moore and friends live up to the billing here as this does play like a greatest hits album from a parallel universe as right off the bat we get "Pushover", a Jellyfish-vibed number that pushes all the power pop (belly)buttons, and with Carmen Charters providing harmony vocals and its prominent synths "Let's Not (and Say We Did") could pass as a New Pornographers track. Other "greatest hits" include the 70s singer-songwriter pop of "Other People's Happiness", the ambivalent ode to selfies "Pictures of Ourselves", the 60s-influenced "Staring at the Sun" and the sophisticated adult pop of "True Love, They Say". One of 2018's more impressive debuts.

iTunes



Tom Curless-Songs of Movement. If the name Tom Curless doesn't jump out at you, it's probably because you know him better from the seven albums he's released as Your Gracious Host. Curless stated that he felt a bit different on this record which is why he went with his name, but it's in the same vein as those YGH releases you've come to know and love over the last ten years - in fact this might be his best since 2012's 1Up2Down. "Gennessee County Stomp" kicks things off with a Tom Petty-styled rocker while "The Dream is a Lie" could pass for a lost Posies track. "Oceans of Love" is as lovely and ethereal as its title implies, "Always Bloom Forever" is straight-ahead power pop, and "Accelerated Moon" recalls Gary Louris' Jayhawks. Another quality release from Futureman Records, which has released more quality records in six months than many labels do in a year.

Bandcamp

The Spindles / Three Hour Tour

The Spindles-Past and Present. The Spindles are a Chicago 4-piece who are not to be confused with the California folk/rock band The Spindles who were active in the previous decade. These Chicago Spindles (I should start calling them that like how R&B legends The Spinners were referred to as "The Detroit Spinners" in the UK) have a clean, Midwestern power pop-meets-British Invasion sound on Past and Present, which is titled as such given the album contains nine originals and three covers (a faithful rendition of The Hollies' "Look Through Any Window" and two tracks from The Elvis Brothers, who were active in the 80s and 90s, had quite a following in the Midwest and whose members play some on the album). Among the originals, "Prisoner of War" is a great choice to lead off the album with its bright melody and jangly guitars, "Whenever We're Together" with its "ooh" harmonies and Merseyside influence could have been a hit in 1965 while "Almost the Same" calls to mind another famous Illinois power pop band, Shoes. And "I Want My Baby Back" is thankfully not a cover of the famous Chili's commercial jingle but rather a Raspberries-styled power pop number featuring hooks galore. With its power pop influences spanning the decades from the 60s to the 80s, Past and Present pays homage to power pop history in the best way, and should be part of your future.

CD Baby




Three Hour Tour-You Never Know. Darren Cooper returns to our music devices again with another Three Hour Tour album, his first since 2015's Action and Heroes. As usual for him, You Never Know is first-rate power pop that sounds like Matthew Sweet meets The Replacements, with help from Adam Schmidt and - small-world alert - Brad Elvis of The Elvis Brothers. There's plenty to enjoy here, from the title track which calls to mind the late Tommy Keene to the Robert Pollard-esque "Gray Waves" to the power ballad "Here it Comes". Cooper also pays melodic tribute to one of great drummers of all time in "The Ballad of Buddy Rich" and throws in a nifty instrumental number in "Pascal the Hypnotist".

iTunes

Starbelly and Sarakula

Starbelly-Four. It's not quite the crossover team-up of Avengers: Infinity War, but fans of melodic pop have their own summer blockbuster as Cliff Hillis and Dennis Schocket have reunited as Starbelly for the first time in approximately 15 years. Hillis, of course, has been a staple of these pages from the beginning, but Schocket hasn't been heard from since his brilliant late-2008 album The Cinderblock Mansion. The reunion doesn't disappoint as it features both singer/songwriters at the top of their respective games. Schocket's wonderful McCartney-esque ballad "The Boy Who Learned How to Cry" (about the passing of a father) opens the album, followed by Hillis's "Lay Low", the kind of effortlessly-sounding melodic gem that it almost seems he can write in his sleep, and it's great to hear them both harmonize on "Sleep", which recalls Bread at its creative peak. It's not all softer pop - "The Stars of Constantine" has the guitars front and center with a classic power pop sound, "Yes I Love Her Again" finds Schocket jangling and "Strange Constellations" is a fine rollicking Hillis number. Other standouts include the lovely "Emily Says" and the five-and-half-minute sorta-rock-opera of "Danny Opus" about a has-been rock'n'roller. Just an all-around instant classic, and halfway through the year we have 2018's best.

iTunes | Kool Kat




Joel Sarakula-Love Club. London-by-way-of-Australia's Joel Sarakula is a top-notch synthesist, taking pop styles from the 60s through the present day and mixing them up to create a tour de force that should appeal to anyone with a ear for melody and song structure. This time around Sarakula targets the 1970s, with shades of that decade's R&B and disco sounds influencing his sound and readily apparent on the opener "Understanding" with its sleek groove and the horn-backed "In Trouble". Meanwhile, "Baltic Jam" is less of a jam and more a 70s-ish singer/songwriter piece while "Dead Heat" and "Coldharbour Man" have a light disco feel. It's all very catchy, pop without the power but with real craft.

iTunes

A Wanderlust reunion (of sorts)

Wanderlust was one of my favorite power pop bands from the 90s and they did in fact reunite in 2012 but who knows if they will ever again. So instead we have the next best thing - brand new solo albums from their primary singer/songwriters Scot Sax and Rob Bonfiglio, released within weeks of each other.

Scot Sax-Drawing from Memory. Sax has been the consummate music professional over the years, from fronting Wanderlust and Feel to a wide-ranging body of solo work that's included everything from pop to rock to funk to country as well as being a songwriter-for-hire who's penned hits for the likes of Faith Hill and Tim McGraw. Drawing from Memory is his return to the pop/rock idiom with the emphasis on the "pop". It kicks off with "Where Do You Go to Cry?", a midtempo number that sounds like a pop standard, and continues with "I Never Loved You", a Bacarachian ballad sung with Judy Blank, followed by "Am I Still Living?", a Lennon-esque number that's classic Sax. Highlights elsewhere are the string-laden "Parade of No's" which sounds co-written by Neil Finn, the ukulele-strummed "Addicted to the Needle" (which is about his love for vinyl, not drugs) and the wistful "Used to the Idea". It's the kind of album that Harry Nilsson used to make, a type not seen much these days.

iTunes




Rob Bonfiglio-Trouble Again. If it's straight-ahead power pop that you prefer to singer-songwriter stuff, then Sax's former bandmate Bonfiglio delivers for you with his latest solo album. I once wrote that Bonfiglio has a power pop sound that's big - big choruses, big hooks, big melodies. It's kind of a cross between indie power poppers like The Meadows and Velvet Crush and big name artists like Matthew Sweet, Collective Soul and Oasis, and the one-two punch to open the album of "Passenger Seat" and the title track makes that clear, as does "Spread This Feeling". But Bonfiglio can take things down a notch as well, with the wonderful "Gone" incorporating some Philly soul into the mix while "There Goes My Heart" sound like a top ten hit that charted sometime between 1975-1985. In fact, the whole album almost plays as a greatest hits from an alternate universe where Bonfiglio ruled the charts during that era and might be his best, most consistent album yet as well as one of 2018's.

iTunes

Welcome to the Future, man.

It shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone who reads this site, but Futureman Records has emerged over the last several years as one of the top power pop labels around and they're really killing it in 2018. Fresh off the Matthew Sweet tribute (and with new albums from Gretchen's Wheel, Super 8 and Your Gracious Host's Tom Curless to drop in the weeks to come), they have a pair of excellent albums out now and featured below.

Chris Richards & The Subtractions-Peaks and Valleys. Veteran power popper Chris Richards has been so active this decade with covers albums, compilations, live albums and appearances on other artists' records that it was almost shocking to realize that this is his first proper new album since 2009's Sad Sounds of the Summer. And a welcome return it is, as the man who was once hip enough to get a 7.3 on Pitchfork is back with ten new tracks that are most certainly more peaks than valleys. The peaks include the rocking opener "Half Asleep", the pop perfection of "Just Another Season" and the Raspberries-esque "The Coast is Clear". Other highlights include "The End of Me", "Call Me Out" (which sounds like a mid-80s AOR hit) and an interesting cover of Big Star's "Thirteen" which turns it into a mid-tempo band-backed performance as opposed to the largely acoustic Alex Chilton original. And not to be overlooked are the Subtractions themselves, with Andy Reed now on board in a clear case of Subtraction by addition, and Nick Piunti (who himself has an great-sounding album coming this summer) chiming in with guitar on a couple of tracks.

iTunes



Phil Yates & The Affiliates-Party Music! Yates & Co. follow up their fine 2015 release No Need to Beg with this collection of rollicking power pop that yes, just might be party music (if it's a cool party). The guitars are front and center here, and the hooks and melodies aren't too far behind - "My Favorite Bag", "Triple Fisting" and "Send Him the Bill" are a rocking 1-2-3 punch before the relatively slower-tempo'd "Nothing Happened" gives you a chance to breathe. Reminiscent at times of The Posies and Elvis Costello at others (especially "One Man's Trash") Yates & the Affiliates deliver the dictionary definition of power pop in fine fashion.

iTunes

Some quick hitters.

Catching up on my music backlog with a few words on some fine new releases.

Smash Palace-Right as Rain EP. Veteran Philly poppers Smash Palace are back with their first new music in nearly four years and it's a welcome return with five tracks of the jangle-rock they've been perfecting for the last 30+ years. Opener "It Happened to Me" is their best track of this decade with "Heart of a Loving Man" and the title track close contenders.

iTunes




Jeremy Fetzer-Wisdom of the Octopus EP. This 3-song EP was released in the fall of 2017 and I've been meaning to getting around to mentioning it here for about 6 months now. Fetzer is a confederate of Reno Bo (who's been releasing some excellent singles of his own lately), and Bo co-wrote "You Should Know by Now", a deliciously melodic tune that serves as the perfect example of his Beatles-meet-Van Dyke Parks pop. The title track and "When Will You Be Home?" aren't too shabby either with the latter being the EP's most baroque.

Free download from Bandcamp



Checkpoint Charley-The Great Jedi Mind Trick EP. Last month I was pleasantly surprised to see Adrian Whitehead back after a 10-year + hiatus, and now Checkpoint Charley is the next long-lost artist from the mid-2000s to return after wondering whether we'd hear from them again. Last heard from in 2005 with the heavily Jellyfish-influenced Songs One Through Twelve, these Tennessee poppers are back with a 4-song EP about the Star Wars universe. And the good news is that they have an Indiegogo crowdfunder for the proper followup to the debut, titled none other than Songs 13-24.

iTunes



Dan Israel-You're Free. Minneapolis singer-songwriter Dan Israel has been going strong for a couple of decades now, and I've featured him on the site before. On album #14 he serves up another winning combination of Tom Petty-influenced heartland rock and Dylanesque folk-rock. Top cuts: the title track, "Gets You Through It", "Someday You'll Say".

iTunes

It's Dave Hill's world and we're all just living in it.

Seems like Dave Hill is everywhere these days. His comedy stylings are ubiquitous and if you've watched HBO's Late Night With John Oliver at all over the last few years you've heard Valley Lodge's "Go" from 2013's Use Your Weapons as the show's theme song. And now his all-out aural assault continues with two releases from different projects, both of which are worth your time.

Painted Doll-Painted Doll. Hill loves his different musical projects (going all the way back to Uptown Sinclair, one of my favorite all-time band names) and by looking at the cover of his latest effort you might be forgiven for thinking it's another heavy-metal outing like his band Witch Taint (one of my least-favorite all-time band names), especially when you learn that he's teamed up here with Chris Reifert of "extreme metal" bands such as Autopsy and Death. But Painted Doll is closer in spirit to Hill's power pop band, Valley Lodge, only without the bubblegum. It's a rock album that's more rock than rawk, drawing on Hill and Reifert's love of 60s/70s garage, psychedelic rock and stoner rock, and will appeal to power-poppers as well. Opener "Together Alone" owes a bit to "(Don't Fear) The Reaper" (and perhaps The Smithereens' "Blood and Roses"), while "Hidden Hand" has a bit of a glam rock vibe. Elsewhere both the title track and the catchy "She Talks to Mirrors" channel late 60s British mod rock and "Find Your Mind" is just straight-up raucous rock. And it all closes with the loudest, trippiest cover of "I Put a Spell on You" that you're ever likely to hear.

iTunes



Valley Lodge-Stand b/w Come Back to Bed. And fear not power poppers, Valley Lodge is back as well as Hill & Co. have released a two-sided single from what is believed to be a forthcoming album. "Stand" is another of the Lodge's infectious, almost-danceable tracks in the vein of the aforementioned "Go" while "Come Back to Bed" is straight-ahead, catchy rock.

iTunes

Adrian Whitehead / Dave Sheinin

Adrian Whitehead-Nerd from the Suburbs. I got heavily into indie power pop in the mid-2000s and started this blog shortly thereafter, so a lot of the discs I grew to love in those first few years still stand out in my memory. And when I'm reminded of one of those albums and then realize the artist hasn't released anything new since then I figure to myself that he or she has moved on to other, likely better-paying pursuits and I'm just thankful for the music they did make. So it was truly a "whoa" moment when I noticed that Adrian Whitehead, who had my #3 album of 2008 with One Small Stepping Man, has released his first new album in ten years. Nerd from the Suburbs isn't quite a rerun of the debut, which was heavily Beatlesque. Instead, it's more like Elliott Smith when Smith was at his Beatlesque. "Folie a Deux" (French for "shared delusion" and the title of a great X-Files episode) is a wonderful album-opener and the prime example of this slight shift in sound, driven by acoustic guitar but with an electric solo all in service of a pretty melody. The E.Smith comparison also applies to the darker yet baroque combo of "Blaming the Snake" and "Sigmund Freud" both of which feature trumpet, tuba and trombone. Other standouts include the piano ballad "Shades of Grey", the gloriously melodic "Gilded Cage", and the title track which isn't the autobiography its title implies but an honest plea for love and friendship. Unlike some artists who sound the same even after a decade+ absence, Whitehead has clearly evolved, going from the boyish Beatle-pop of the debut to a richer, more mature set of songs both lyrically and musically.

iTunes



Dave Sheinin-First Thing Tomorrow. In the Adrian Whitehead review above, I spoke of musicians moving on to other pursuits but here's a case of someone more prominent in another field making music. Dave Sheinin is the national baseball writer for the Washington Post (you can read his articles here), and his debut album is one of 2018's best to date. Sheinin gets help from the Myracle Brah's Andy Bopp among others, but these are his songs and they're uniformly good. With its staccato guitars and catchy melody, "Lies" kicks things off with a definite 70s AM radio vibe while "Oh Amelia" boasts a jangly, chiming riff at its center. "Little California" sound as sun-kissed as its title and features backing vocals from Bopp, and "City You Left Behind" sounds like a lost Posies track. Throw in a couple of fine piano ballads ("A Warm February" and "You Love the Sunrise") and First Thing Tomorrow is the rare debut album that sounds like the work of a long-time professional. And it's easily the best album from a sportswriter since J.P. Cregan's Man Overboard.

P.S. The album art looks like it was inspired by the opening credits of The Leftovers, which earns it bonus points in my book.

iTunes

.

A pair of old friends.

Today it's a pair of new releases from artists who've been releasing new music almost every year since I started this blog in 2006.

The Well Wishers-A View from Above. Jeff Shelton is back with his ninth Well Wishers full-length (not counting last year's covers album) and ho hum, it's another top-notch collection of jangle pop/rock. What sets it apart from recent Well Wishers albums is that it's a bit more folk-rock oriented, hearkening back to mid-2000s WW albums such as Under the Arrows. You won't notice right away as the rocking "Gravity Waits" opens the proceedings but the acoustic guitars come out for the mid-tempo "In Another Life", the tres jangly "April is Only a Lie" and perhaps the album's best track, "Ways & Means". But fear not, rawkers: there are plenty of loud guitars here on "I Like You Better", "There Goes My Gun" and "I'm Not the Enemy", a track first heard on last year's Trip Wire album with Shelton being a part of that collective. And "The New Fade Out" is a terrific album-closer, 5 1/2 minutes of Shelton at his melodic best.

Bandcamp



Dropkick-Longwave. The boys from Edinburgh are back in town with their annual release (technically the first since 2016 but last year saw an Andrew Taylor solo album which differed in name only) and Longwave is what you've come to know and love from this Scottish band. Opener "Out of Tune" is anything but, and it only takes a matter of seconds for their Teenage Fanclub-inspired pop to take hold of your ears and "I Thought it Was OK" with its dreamy melody is an instant Dropkick classic. And while nobody's going to mistake them for Led Zeppelin, a few of these tunes do rock harder than others - most notably "It's Still Raining" and "Fed Up Thinking of You", both of which retain the band's trademark melodies and harmonies. Their amazing consistency over what is now 15 albums is worthy of note, and even if there's a strong element of predictability to their music, having new Dropkick music fall into your lap or pop up randomly on shuffle is always a welcome thing.

iTunes

Aaron Fox & The Reliables / The Lazy Lies

Aaron Fox & The Reliables-In Transit. An urban legend has it that you replace all your body cells every 7 years, so perhaps Chicago's Aaron Fox needs a full reset before releasing new music as his previous 2 albums came out in 2003 and 2010. Whatever the reason, it's good to have this version of Fox & friends back with In Transit. The jangly "Unpromised Land" recalls the likes of Gin Blossoms and Toad the Wet Sprocket, while "Neverending" would have given The Wallflowers a run for their chart spot in 1996. "No One Knows Me" effectively rocks and "Better Days" channels the Gary Louris-led version of The Jayhawks (but isn't, however, a cover of that band's song of the same name on Smile). A bright collection of Midwestern-influenced power pop, you should be listening to this when you're In Transit (or even at home).

iTunes



The Lazy Lies-Less Talk More Action. With their impeccable pop melodies and boy/girl vocals, Barcelona's The Lazy Lies could be considered a Spanish New Pornographers but their sound is a bit less manic and much more influenced by 60s and early 70s pop. Opener "Flower Garden" might be the grooviest song you hear this year (or in 1966) with its buoyant melody and nifty guitar riff, while Montse Bernad takes lead on "Pinstripe Suit", a fun tune complete with horns in which Montse sings about wowing the boys with some traditionally male attire. Meanwhile, "Spiral Skies" is a Beatlesque gem in the vein of "Penny Lane", "The One About Being Brave" sounds like The Kinks at their most poppy (and isn't a bad Friends episode title), and "Jack & Sophie (Separate Lives)" is a slice of Merseyside life. There isn't a bad track here, and this album is an absolute blast (from the past).

iTunes

The Junior League & Nick Eng.

The Junior League-Eventually is Now. Joe Adragna is back as The Junior League for the first time since 2015's Also Rans, and he delivers another fine collection of jangly roots-pop. As on his past two albums, Adragna is assisted by Minus 5 frontman and R.E.M. sideman Scott McCaughey, who thankfully is recovering from a stroke suffered last fall. And in case you wondered where Adragna is coming from here, the album opens with the six-string bliss of "Teenage Bigstar" which of course sounds like the two bands referenced in the title and speaks to the power of music over the course of one's life. The languid "Say Please and Thank You" recalls latter-day Marshall Crenshaw and "The Wrong Kind of Blue" is positively gorgeous with its strings-and-piano backing and if Roy Orbison were alive today I'd love to hear him cover it. Meanwhile, McCaughey takes the mic on the piano ballad "You Didn't Miss a Thing", and although the general tone of the album is more subdued than previous Junior League releases, the uptempo "I Only Want to Begin Again" hearkens back to Adragna's classic sound. Another gem from the man from the Big Easy. UPDATE: For those of you who need physical media, Kool Kat will have the CD for sale come April.

iTunes



Nick Eng-Nick Eng. On his self-titled debut, Nick Eng sounds more like he's from Reading, England than his hometown of Reno, Nevada with this decidedly retro-sounding collection of 60s-influenced pop. "Reminiscing" starts things off in grand fashion, sounding like a track from an artist who was recording at Abbey Road in 1965 for George Martin when The Beatles were otherwise occupied. Speaking of the moptops, "On Cloud 9" has a real element of the early Fab Four in its DNA, while "Someday Someone" is irrepressibly jaunty (and catchy). And no 1960s-Merseyside-sounding pop album is complete without a story song about some older gent of the neighborhood and "Mr. Greene" fills the bill here. There's not a bad track among the ten on the album, and this is an early front-runner for the year-end list. The 21-year-old Eng may have been born 50+ years too late, but it's nevertheless encouraging to see someone under the age of 40 carry the torch for the sounds of the 60s.

iTunes

How Sweet it is.

Various Artists-Altered Sweet: A Tribute to Matthew Sweet. Futureman Records' Keith Klingensmith knows his way around a tribute album, and 2016's Sloan tribute was one of the best of the genre. So to say this project covering another power pop luminary with a long track record of quality music was widely anticipated in the power pop community is a bit of an understatement, and unsurprisingly Futureman comes through here again. Like the Sloan tribute, Altered Sweet has a lineup dominated by artists I've featured on these pages, so the winning tribute formula of "songs you like covered by artists you like" is clearly present here.

Although Sweet has been active since the mid-to-late 80s and remains so through today, the bulk of the covers here are from his peak creative period in the 90s from Girlfriend through In Reverse. The title track of the former is probably Sweet's best-known track and Michael Carpenter (a master of covers himself with some 6 covers albums under his belt) does the honors here with a straightforward version. Lannie Flowers is a great choice for Girlfriend's jangle pop classic "I've Been Waiting", while Phil Ajjarupu has a breezy take on "Thought I Knew You" and the man with the plan, Klingensmith, handles the ultimate "feeling sorry for yourself" song "You Don't Love Me" with class. But as beloved as Girlfriend is, my favorite Sweet album is 1995's 100% Fun* and it too is well-represented here, with Greg Pope's vintage low-fi power pop making "Not When I Need It" sound like one of his own, Gretchen's Wheel's "Walk Out" sounding like a lost Aimee Mann track, and in the most radical re-imagining of the collection Simple Friend delivers an acoustic boy-girl folk-pop version of "Sick of Myself", one of Sweet's more heavier rocking tracks, proving its melody works well in either genre. 1997's Blue Sky on Mars is represented by Andy Reed's faithful reading of "Where You Get Love" complete with synths, while fellow Michiganer Nick Piunti tackles "Behind the Smile" with the guitars front and center and The Well Wishers rawk on "All Over My Head". And 1999's In Reverse (Sweet's most underrated album in my opinion) finds Paranoid Lovesick giving us a punchy version of "What Matters" and Donny Brown coming through with an excellent cover of my favorite Sweet ballad, "Hide".

Interestingly Altered Beast, the album from which the tribute derives its title, only has three covers here - Elvyn puts their jangly roots-pop stamp on "Time Capsule", Nick Bertling has a heavy version of "Falling" and Chris Richards & The Subtractions does Sweet proud with "Someone to Pull the Trigger". Also by my count, only 4 of the 27 covers come from outside those 90s albums: Trolley reaches back to 1986's "Inside" with "Quiet Her", The Hangabouts un-Earth "When I Feel Again" from 1989's Earth, Fireking offers "Dead Smile" from 2003's (originally Japan-only) Kimi Ga Suki, and Arvidson & Butterflies mines 2008's Sunshine Lies for "Byrdgirl", which is more rocking and less jangly than the title implies.

Futureman has hit another home run here, and I can only look forward to whatever artist Klingensmith turns his attention to next. (I helpfully suggested Marshall Crenshaw to him on Twitter, but we'll just have to see).

Bandcamp



*I may have mentioned this elsewhere, but the title "100% Fun" was Sweet's response to those who criticized Altered Beast for being "too dark" (it certainly wasn't the followup to Girlfriend many were expecting). And after Blue Sky on Mars wasn't well-received by the critics, Sweet responded on In Reverse with the none-too-subtle "Write Your Own Song", giving him the title of thinnest-skinned popster since 1970s Billy Joel.

Mark Lane & The Reed Brothers

Mark Lane-New Memory. LA singer-songwriter Mark Lane doesn't release new music often, but when he does it's worth paying attention to. New Memory is only his third release in the last 14 years (after 2004's Golden State of Mind and 2012's Something New) and it's a pop gem that should place highly on 2018's year-end list*. Lane's Bandcamp page categorizes his sound as "classic pop" and the opener "Takin' That Ride" recalls Teenage Fanclub while the looping piano-based melody of "Something Grand" channels Harry Nilsson. Elsewhere, "Too Far into You" sounds like Gerry Rafferty jamming with Tom Petty, the 6-minute "Goodbye" (which is not the last track on the album) bears the influence of Lennon and Elvis C, and the title track is propulsive pop. New Memory is a tour-de-force of 70s singer-songwriter styles and definitely worth a listen.

*Yes, technically this was a 2017 release but it came out about a week before the end of the year so I'm going ahead and counting it for 2018.

iTunes



Andy Reed & Jason Reed-Make Your Move. Andy Reed needs little introduction to AbPow readers with his long history of releases and involvement in the Michigan power pop "mafia", but here he introduces brother Jason to the mix on a new EP. They originally billed themselves as The Reed Brothers on the advance single "Left to Right" but it turned out there were some other musicians known as The Reed Brothers so they simply went with their full names. Whatever they're called, it's an interesting EP that of course fans of Andy Reed will want to hear. The moody, midtempo "The Longest Pause" opens the EP (but with only a pause of 6 seconds before the music starts) while the aforementioned "Left to Right" brings another brother combo, The Finn Brothers, to mind with its quirky melody. "The Welcoming Song" and "Find My Way Back Home" are a pair of anthemic, semi-ethereal tracks, and the EP closes with Jason at the mic on "Make Your Move", an 80s-influenced synth rocker. A bit off the beaten path for Andy Reed here, but an interesting and enjoyable diversion nonetheless.

iTunes