Mid-April Roundup.

Conrad Korsch-On the Threshold. Conrad Korsch, the bassist in Rod Stewart's touring band for the last 10+ years, steps out on his own with a top-notch collection of power pop. Opener "1+1+U" recalls Matthew Sweet circa 100% Fun, "Earthlings" sounds like a lost hit from the 80s, and "We Write Our Own Eulogies" has more hooks than a tackle box. If your taste in power pop runs in the glossier-sounding side of things, this one's for you. Plus it's Rod-endorsed:

Fantastic musicianship from my bass player Conrad Korsch on his new album On The Threshold. Highly recommend! x Rod https://t.co/3e6f4Qg8xU

— Rod Stewart (@rodstewart) March 31, 2016

CD Baby (for samples)

Swedish Polarbears-The Great Northern. Swedish Polarbears are back! You can be forgiven for not being excited as me, but these guys had an EP of sorts back in 2007 that I wrote about here, and were never really heard from again until recently when they released a couple of singles in advance of their long-awaited (by me at least) full-length debut. To say these guys (who are in fact Swedish) are influenced by Teenage Fanclub might be an understatement as one of those 2007 tracks was titled "Norman Blake", and they also tip their sonic hat to countrymen The Tangerines and The Merrymakers. So you get melodic gems like "Sleeping/Dancing", the jangly "Sun of a Gun" and "Rewinder". And "Stay Young" does indeed sound like a lost Teenage Fanclub track. How Swede it is.

iTunes | Listen at Spotify



Mark Roebuck-The World and All Within. Virginia's Mark Roebuck has been kicking around the power pop scene since the 1980s, in bands such as The Deal and Big Cirle, and releasing some solo albums. (He also recorded an acoustic folk-rock album with fellow-at-the-time bartender Dave Matthews in 1989 as Tribe of Heaven) His latest finally brings him to my pages, and it's a wonderful collection of Byrds/Big Star/Badfinger-styled pop. "One More Fall" opens the album in fine fashion with some Byrdsian flair, and "Billboard Blue" follows in the same vein. Other tracks of note include "King William County's the Place" which has a British-sounding rustic-era Kinks feel, the lovely ballad "Holden", and the rocking "God is a Gun". So if you haven't caught up with Mark Roebuck in his many musical incarnations over the years, this is as good a time as any.

iTunes

Everybody Wants to be Teenage Fanclub these days.

Last year I ran a post titled "Everybody Wants to be Neil Finn these days" in response to a spate of Finn soundalikes I ran across. And as you can see from the title, the same phenomenon seems to have cropped up with respect to TF. So if you worship at the altar of Norman Blake, here you go:

Mr. D-Wings & Wheels. This one came to my attention when Ray at Kool Kat featured it in his weekly update, and it's a fine example of the midtempo pop hooks and sweet harmonies that make for the classic TF sound. Plus it's available on eMusic. MySpace

The Wonderful Guinea Pigs. The good news: this is one of the better "discs" I've heard this year; this Swedish band has the goods, with "Mirror to Mirror" and "Desperate Days" being two of the better songs i've heard lately and they capture the TF sound to a "T" (and an "F"). The bad news: I used the term "disc" because they don't have a proper one for sale yet. Normally, I don't advocate file-sharing, but their 13-track demo/promo is floating around out there if you're resourceful enough. Just make sure you buy it when they release it properly. In the meantime, you can listen to them on their MySpace.

The Swedish Polarbears-Worship This!"EP" . Another Swedish band with a TF-fetish. But these guys don't monkey around (guess I'm mixing my animal metaphors) with their influences - they wear them on their sleeves, as witnessed by their signature track, "Norman Blake". Like their Swedish brothers above, they don't have a proper release out, but all 4 tracks are streaming at their myspace. Here's the "Norman Blake" video: