CD of the Day, 3/5/06: 7 Day Hangover-Blood, Sweat & Beers

With an album titled Blood, Sweat and Beers from a band named 7 Day Hangover, you wouldn't be expecting sensitive singer-songwriter pop. And you wouldn't be getting it either. This Toledo band belts it out and knocks it back in a pop-punk style reminiscent of Butch Walker, Weezer, Jimmy Eat World and Bowling For Soup. Highlights include....aw, hell, just let 'em describe it for you: "This album is a drunk phone call to your ex at 3:00 AM. A pop/rock album filled with catchy songs, hooky choruses, and witty lyrics...mostly about love, heartbreak, and pissed-off-ed-ness."

Pissed-off-ed-ness. You're not going to find that on your word-a-day calendar. Plus, you get lines like "I look like Tommy Lee and drink like a Kennedy". And it's not coincidental that the slowest song on the album is titled "Sober", which actually is a real nice midtempo number. But that's it for "real nice". The rest of it is in your face and rocking.

Get your samples at cdbaby, and have a drink with them over at their myspace page, where three tracks are streaming. You can also get the whole thing via eMusic here. Don't sleep this one off.

New at Not Lame, 3/3/06.

Some interesting new stuff from Not Lame this time around. First off, they feature the Rhett Miller and Jason Collett releases we've discussed here.

Most notable among the new ones is the Japanese import of Roger Manning Jr.'s Solid State Warrior. To say this has been one of the more talked about, if not fetishized, releases since it first appeared via the Weedshare network last year would be an understatement. Well, it's now been pressed onto disc, and is being sold in Japan. As a result, it's going for $34, so you really need to be jonesing for this one. (Apparently it will be released domestically in the fall via one of Warners' boutique labels). Now one of the reasons it's taken me a while to get this post out is that I needed to go back and listen to this one again. At the risk of having my membership card in the online power pop community taken away, I have to say that I wasn't totally blown away by it when I heard it last year. But after seeing Bruce & Co. wax rhapsodic over it last night, I felt it owed it another listen.

For the uninitiated, Manning was one of the key players in Jellyfish. And if you're not familiar with Jellyfish, you might be in the wrong place. After listening to it again, one track after another (my previous exposure mostly came as random songs from it played on my iPod), I have to upwardly revise my opinion of the album. Not $34 upward, but I will describe it as "pretty damn good". Obviously, I hear Jellyfish here, but the other influence I hear is Supertramp, especially in the track "You Were Right". Maybe it's because of the name Roger, but I kept thinking of Supertramp's Hodgson here. There's definitely some vocal similarity, and the way the album moves around from bouncy pop numbers to lullabies to 50s-inspired tunes, I think back to Supertramp's criminally underrated ...Famous Last Words, the sequel to megahit Breakfast In America. My advice: as the fanatics among you probably have already sent your $34 to Bruce, the rest should track down the weed files here. You can listen in full, play the weed files 3 times apiece before they expire, and buy the downloads for $13.75 total (or $1.25 per) if you can't wait for the domestic release in the fall.

*Next up is Radio On, the latest from Toronto's The National Anthem. These guys bring the rock, and the Sloan comparison is somewhat apt; actually, it's what a solo Patrick Pentland album would sound like. You can download three mp3s directly from their site:

Ladies Love The 80's
Sugar Pop
Act Together

You can also sample away at their myspace page. Oh, Canada indeed.

*Todd Stadtman's Only I Can Save You is an interesting animal. I've sampled a few tracks (I'm digging "Jezebel Jones"), and it's certainly experimental indie pop. This isn't the kind of release that's going to blow you away immediately, so I'll reserve overall judgment.

eMusic subscribers can grab it here. Myspace it here. (Wow, I just used "myspace" as a verb.) Samples of all the tracks are available at the cdbaby page. Finally, you can download an mp3 from his site:

I Don't Know Why She's Here

Definitely worthy of further consideration.

*Chris Marksbury's A Little Guitar is a release that I can't find much on beyond Not Lame. According to Bruce, it sounds like "Flamin` Groovies, Little Feat, early Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, Rockpile/Dave Edmunds, early Graham Parker & The Rumour, Travelin` Wilburys and pub rockers like Ducks Deluxe(lots!), Kursaal Flyers and Brinsley Schwartz." Check it out for yourself.

*Finally, we have No Disassemble, from a band called Slow Runner. Actually, I've had this release for quite a while, when it was released as a solo album by frontman Michael Flynn. It's the same album, but for some reason has been re-released under the group name. This is pretty decent indie pop, with a variety of influences. The AMG review quoted at the Not Lame page sums it up quite accurately.

Found an mp3 at Salon.com, of all places:

Break Your Mama's Back

Stream that track, and three more at their myspace page.

OK, that's enough for this post; I've been at it so long, I may not be able to recognize my family after getting up from the computer.

eMusic alert!

Since it seems lately that I've been featuring hard-to-find releases, I'm quite pleased to note a release I recently featured is easier to find, specifically for download on eMusic. Now available this morning over there is Divorcee's Music For Cleanup Men, our CD of the day a few days ago. I'm still on the Ds, as they've added 880 releases this morning, so there might be some more to note. Stay tuned.

New Eels studio track.

I've always liked the Eels, a/k/a Mark Everett, but I've never been a huge fan. Last year's double-disc Blinking Lights and Other Revelations made quite a few best-of lists, and I did like what I heard to some extent, but never made it through the whole thing.

Anyway, I'm on their mailing list, and they've just announced a new studio track for download here, so I'm passing it on to those who may be interested. You'll have to pay 99 cents, but at least you're getting a non-DRM'd mp3. You can also preview it by clicking on the "listen" button. The song seems decent enough, although it sounds like he's using Julian Casablancas' microphone.

My Top 20 of 2005, #3: Josh Rouse-Nashville

Despite my less than enthusiastic thoughts about his forthcoming album Subtitulo, regular readers know that I'm still a big fan of Josh Rouse. And last year's Nashville is one of the main reasons why.

Nashville is kind of a career consolidation/summation for Rouse - in other words, it's a greatest hits album of brand new material. Although it doesn't hit the highs of his previous two albums, Under Cold Blue Stars and 1972 (he may never write a song as perfect as "Rise" again), Nashville is solid from the incredibly catchy opener "It's The Nighttime" (complete with pedal steel, perhaps the only song on the album that reflects the album title) to the ruminative closer "Life".

There are so many great tracks on this album: The Smiths-influenced "Winter In The Hamptons", the lush "Streetlights" (which even nods to Journey of all artists with its "streetlights/people" refrain), "Middle School Frown", a confessional that mines new territory (most songs that reminisce upon school days tackle the high school years), and the majestic piano ballad "Sad Eyes", which kicks into another gear once the bridge comes in.

There's the feeling here that Nashville is in fact a summation, as Rouse said goodbye to his native land and has since moved to Spain. If so, it's one hell of a sendoff.

Being a semi-major label release (Rykodisc), the best place to sample it is at the Amazon link above. It's of course widely available from just about any music retailer (unlike my last 2 CDs of the day). Odds are if you're reading this blog you probably already have this anyway. But if for some reason you were on the fence, get off it and get this record.

CD of the Day, 3/4/06: The Latebirds-Radio Insomnia

Today's CD of the Day comes from Finland, home of the Latebirds. Their August 2005 release Radio Insomnia, though, was a Made In The USA affair: recorded at a studio in Woodstock, New York, produced by ex-Wilco member Ken Coomer, and featuring the assistance of these luminaries: Benmont Tench (Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers), Wayne Kramer (MC5), Ken Stringfellow (Posies, Big Star), and John Stirratt (Wilco). And the pre-Yankee Hotel Foxtrot Wilco sound is evident here, as well as the sound of Stirratt's side project, The Autumn Defense. And yes, I hear the Posies in here as well.

Things start off with the stomping "Set Free The Radio", a plea for good music (like The Latebirds) to be played on the radio instead of "insult(ing) our intelligence". Amen to that. Next up is the lush pop of "Dream Dream", which is where the Stirratt-Coomer influence comes to the fore. Following is the power pop of "Got a Message" (co-written with Coomer), which reminds me of a great Maypops song from last year called "Stuck In First" (that reference may be a bit obscure, but it leapt to mind) and also sounds a bit like Michael Carpenter. Other highlights include the jangly "Falling by the Wayside", and the poignant pop of "Will to Fall".

They're playing SXSW this year and I linked to the mp3 of "Set Free The Radio" back in that series of posts. And here I'll link to it again:

Set Free The Radio

And here's another mp3:

Dream Dream

These two, along with "Got a Message" and the melancholy "Beat The Time" are streaming at their myspace page. And to sample the rest, and to get the band's own commentary on each individual track, visit their site here. The only problem is that I'm having the damndest time trying to find out where this can be bought (I was sent a cdr copy by a european friend). I did uncover the fact that they're trying to work out a North American label deal, and I know it's available via iTunes Finland (but not the US; only their previous album is available here). I guess you can buy/download it here or here, but I don't speak the language nor know what the currency conversion is. Oh well, grab the mp3s, stream the tracks and when I see it released in the US, I'll link back to this post.

Blogging update.

New discs featured on Not Lame tonight, but since the wife and I spent the evening watching Walk The Line on DVD, the post will be up tomorrow as I see a bunch of music I'll need to listen to before weighing in. The CD of the Day, however, will be going up just before, or shortly after, midnight.

New today at eMusic.

A couple of pretty good releases from UK bands were added today.

First off is the self-titled release from the Irish band Turn. This one is highly catchy and melodic, with the standout tracks being "It's About Nothing" and "Sorry's Just a Word". I hadn't listened to this one for a few months, but when reviewing the samples, quite a few of the tunes came back to me, a good sign. You can stream a few tracks from this one (as well as a few from their previous releases) in full at their site.

The other is a 2003 release from Minibar, Fly Below The Radar. Of course, that was exactly what this release did. Nevertheless, it's quite a solid one; Minibar may be British, but they have an American roots rock sound to them, in the vein of The Wallflowers (two of whom produced a few of the tracks), Counting Crows and Tom Petty. Apparently Pete Yorn and Jakob Dylan are big fans of the band as well.

My Top 20 of 2005, #4: Michael Penn-Mr. Hollywood Jr., 1947

First of all, if you're wondering what happened to #5, it was posted out of order last week.


I've been a fan of Michael Penn from the day I first saw the video for "No Myth" on MTV in 1989 (yeah, a video on MTV - they actually used to show them back in the day). But it hasn't been easy. Thanks to label issues, creative issues, and even problems securing the rights to a painting, there have been new Michael Penn albums in only these years: 1989, 1992, 1997, 2000 and 2005.

Being a Michael Penn fan is almost like being one of the cowboys in Brokeback Mountain; every 3, 4 or 5 years you reunite for a burst of intense passion, and then you have to go on with others in the interim. Fortunately, his albums are generally worth the wait, and Mr. Hollywood Jr., 1947 is no exception. A concept album of sorts about post-WWII LA, the album starts off with what has to be one of the top five songs he's ever recorded, the brilliant "Walter Reed". Named after the recently closed military hospital that famously cared for wounded vets immediately upon their arrival back in the US, the song works on so many levels - as a breakup song, as an allegory, and as a history lesson. Other standouts include "Denton Road" (sung from the perspective of a recently deceased watching his own funeral), "A Bad Sign" (written as a political protest but so subtle that you'd miss it if you weren't playing close attention), and "On Automatic", the most catchy, power poppy number on the album that was my favorite song to listen to while driving last summer (and it was easy to do since XM's Hear Music seemed to have it on every day for a stretch).

All of the tracks can be sampled at the amazon page for the album, and "Walter Reed" and two other songs from the album can be streamed at his myspace page. In fact, you can download "Walter Reed" at the myspace page as well. I'll also note that "Walter Reed" had an amazing video shot for it, which I'll briefly make available here. (Warning: 50MB QuickTime download)

So 2005 was indeed lucky to see a new Michael Penn release. Now, it's time to sigh and look forward, I guess, to 2008 or 2009 for the next one. Michael, sometimes I just wish I knew how to quit you.

CD of the Day, 3/3/06: Joe Kennedy-Van Cortlandt Park

Joe Kennedy's Van Cortlandt Park is an impressive debut album chock full of lush, sunshiney pop. Put his cd on, close your eyes, and you can imagine yourself driving along the Pacific Coast Highway with the top down and the AM radio on, circa 1973. So it's no surprise that Kennedy hails from Los Angeles, although he grew up in another sun-kissed area, Ft. Lauderdale, Florida. Joe's steady gig has been as a sideman for Pete Yorn, and he's about to head out on tour with him again.

Van Cortlandt Park should appeal to fans of Brian Wilson, Burt Bacharach, and a couple of other artists who put out similar albums last year: B.C. Camplight and Dave Dill. There isn't a bad track on the disc, but my particular favorites are "Remember Me" and "11.11".

The cd has only been released in the UK (I was fortunate to have a friend over there send me a copy), and can be sampled at his UK label page. Joe plans on releasing it in the US soon, perhaps through CD Baby, and is working on making it available via iTunes. Of course you can buy through an online UK retailer, but if you don't want to spend the $20 USD it'll probably end up costing, Joe has advised me that if you drop him an email, he can send you a copy in the US at a much more reasonable price.

He's also working on a new album, and from the two tracks he's put on his myspace page, it might end up being even better than this one. "Slow Down", in particular, is nothing short of brilliant, the kind of song I could listen to all day. And so can you, as I'm making it my song of the day, so just click here to have it immediately stream.

eMusic Disc of the Day: Gary Reynolds & The Brides of Obscurity-Instant Happiness

Here's a good one to grab off eMusic - Not Lame had featured this disc just a week or two before we started this blog. Indie-Music.com wrote "this is the album Lennon, David Bowie, and the Electric Light Orchestra would compose if locked in a studio together." I've been enjoying it myself as well, and the one track that sticks with me is the ballad "Elijah".

You can save a few eMu downloads or check them out if you're not a subscriber, by getting these downloads from the band site:

Instant Happiness
On The Radio
The Food Song
Elijah

All in all, an impressive debut. And of course, you can buy it at Not Lame here.

The Other Half goes back to The Drawing Board.

The other night, we noted that Not Lame was featuring a 2001 release by a band called The Other Half, which really sounded good from the samples. And then we noted that we couldn't find anything on them online.

Well, thanks to helpful reader Art Bang, I now know that The Other Half broke up and the two guys behind the band, brothers Justin and Brandon Tapp, reformed as The Drawing Board. And they can be heard (and downloaded, since they've enabled those links) at their myspace page. They have an EP out already, and a new full-length in the works. The myspace tracks are from the forthcoming full-length, and they sound very good. It'll be worth your while to take a few minutes to head over there and stream and/or download them.

My Top 20 of 2005, #6: The 88-Over and Over

If anyone in the independent power pop world is going to make the breakthrough into the mainstream a la Fountains of Wayne, it has to be LA's The 88. And the vehicle for that potential breakthrough is their outstanding 2005 release Over and Over, and its leadoff single, "Hide Another Mistake", one of, if not, the top tracks of the year.

It's quite possible you've heard these guys already - they've been featured on The OC four times, and have quite an impressive resume of TV and movie appearances, as you can see for yourself here. And while this gaudy list of credits may owe in part to their location and perhaps a who-you-know type of deal, they're worthy on the merits as well. It's almost as if they were created as the result of a lab experiment that set out to build the perfect (or at least quintessential) power pop band. 60's influences? Beach Boy harmonies, Kinks riffs, Beatlesque melodies? Check. 70's influences? Glam rock a la T. Rex, some Queen as well? Check. Modern power pop/rock influences? Jellyfish, The Darkness, even some Fountains of Wayne? Check.

Another thing The 88 does well is to incorporate piano into their tracks without being simply a "piano pop" band. The guitars rawk as well, and the perfect marriage of the two comes on the brilliant "Hide Another Mistake". The chrous itself is a microcosm of the band, begininng with "I've got the west coast sunshine/but it don't mean a thing" sung over a rock piano with a Beach Boys sound, before moving without a blink into a Fountains of Wayne-ish middle part with synths, and then finally ending in Queen/Darkness territory with a falsetto vocal, all in the space of about 10 seconds. This is the type of song that immediately goes into heavy rotation in my head upon the mere act of reading about it, rather than hearing it, a measure of how irresitible it is. (And I suppose it can be considered something of a "hit" as well, given that it has over 83,000 plays at their myspace page.)

But it's not all about one song. "Nobody Cares" is a Kinks-ish stomp complete with handclaps and all; "All Cause of You" mines the same territory with some great rollicking piano; and there's even a power ballad titled "Head Cut Off".

The best place to sample it is at the myspace page linked above, and the rest of the tracks can be heard in 2-minute increments at cdbaby. eMusic subscribers can download the whole thing here.

And make sure you don't miss the very, very cool video (complete with aerobics-dressed babes) for "Hide Another Mistake", which can be found here.

CD of the Day, 3/2/06: The Cheap Seats-Fly Low, Icarus

Sometimes when I'm researching my cd of the day, I come across someone who says it better (or at least the same) as I would, so I'm just going to quote directly from Style Weekly, which had this to say about The Cheap Seats' Fly Low, Icarus:

Sounds like: A band that will have you at hello if you’re a fan of canny popsmiths like Nada Surf, AC Newman and Fountains of Wayne. The Cheap Seat’s debut EP, “Fly Low, Icarus,” is a collection of sometimes-playful, sometimes-pensive songs about anything from romantic interludes at the zoo to young arsonists and lonely grandmas. Singer/guitarist Nick Woods has an ear for finely tuned lyrics, whether it’s quietly dreading the end of a relationship or secretly crushing on a friend’s kid sister, but “Stacy’s Mom” it’s not.

Other than calling it an EP (it's a 9-track album) and a misplaced plural possessive, I have to agree with this 100%. Of the artists mentioned, I'd have to say the Nada Surf is closest sonically, although The Cheap Seats seem to be a bit less brooding.

Here are some mp3s for your downloading pleasure, courtesy of the Seats:

Service and Parts
Albuquerque Arson
Caroline, Yes
Try and Fail

If it's streaming you prefer, they have a presence at myspace. Best place to buy is at the Baby. Bob Uecker would be proud.

Supraluxe Podcast.

I think it's been a whole 30 hours or so since I posted about Supraluxe, so I must be slipping or something. Anyway, they're the sole featured artist on the latest Bit Jobs For The Masses podcast. BJM is billed as "an independent music podcast with a British accent", and today's show features "Blue Sky", "Sugar Chalet" and "Run Rabbit Run". Do have a listen.

I've been toying with the idea of a podcast of my own here (I would have to get a decent mic first), although I'm not sure I have a voice for radio (a face for radio, yes). After hearing this smooth British bloke, I'm a bit more daunted.

Record day.

With still a little over three hours to go, we've already broken our single-day record of 210 visits to the site (not that I'm the kind of blogger who obsessively checks his site meter stats or anything). Thanks to all of you who have been stopping by, and tell your friends (and enemies) about us! Time to go watch Lost now.

New at Kool Kat Musik, 3/1/06.

Here's what's new over at the Kat:

George Prentice-Long Story Short.

This one looks interesting - Prentice says he's influenced by The Beatles, Marshall Crenshaw, Todd Rundgren, and Cheap Trick. And from listening to the four tracks on his myspace page, he does sound like he has the roots rock version of power pop down pretty good.


Frank Lee Sprague-Fulton Avenue

Frank Lee Sprague is about as retro as they come, which is something the titles of his last two albums, Merseybeat and Cavern, convey pretty clearly. On this one, it sounds like Frank is moving away from Liverpool 1962 to somewhere in California in the early 70s, as he goes acoustic here. 4 tracks can be sampled at the cdbaby page for the album, but make sure you buy it at the Kat, where it's $3 less.

Also new at the Kat is the new Vandalays EP, which has been well publicized in this space, and is a keeper, and a limited collection (498 copies) of odds and sods from Swedish popsters Paste, titled 10 Years of Waste.

Man, there's so much good stuff being released out there. The good news is that with real estate values at all-time highs, you can probably take out a home equity loan and buy them all.

UPDATE: One more added at the Kat: The Innocents-Pop Factory: "With their spot-on harmonies (sometimes early Little River Band-sounding), jangly guitars and hook-filled gems, they often come across as the Aussie answer to "Shake Some Action"-era Flamin' Groovies!" Sounds interesting.

eMusic Disc of the Day: Waltham-Waltham

If you missed out on this one when it came out last summer, there's no excuse now. Waltham's (from the Mass. town of the same name) debut album is capital-"P" (as in Power) Pop/Rock. The usual analogs (Cheap Trick, Superdrag, Weezer) apply, but these guys put a fresh spin on things. Plus they get bonus points from me for their ode to a girl named "Joanne", finally giving me a rock song that shares the name of my lovely wife.

For those who want to sample, they have a myspace page here, and some additional songs streaming on their main site page, where you can also download "Cheryl" and "The Fix" if you click on the "audio/video" link.

My Top 20 of 2005, #7: Caitlin Cary & Thad Cockrell-Begonias

This release isn't power pop - not even close. In fact, I'd almost hesitate to call it alt-country either; it's almost more traditional country, in the vein of George Jones & Tammy Wynette or Gram Parsons & Emmylou Harris. Whiskeytown alumnus Caitlin Cary and solo alt-country artist Thad Cockrell's Begonias is a worthy successor to the great music produced by those classic duos. Now the song that sucked me into this album is the anomaly: the rocking "Second Option", in which Cockrell does a better Ryan Adams than Adams himself is doing these days, making it sound like a long-lost Whiskeytown track.

But the rest of the album is stunning as well, from the cover of Percy Sledge's "Warm and Tender Love", the beautiful "Please Break My Heart" and the poignant "Two Different Things". It won't be for everybody here, but if you're inclined to like alt-country, as well as traditional country (as opposed to most of today's homogenized "contemporary country"), this one can't be passed up. The Amazon link above is the best place to sample.

UPDATE: Forgot to mention that this album is available on eMusic!

CD of the Day, 3/1/06: Divorcee-Music For Cleanup Men, Breakdown and Inbetweeners

This one flew under the power pop radar when it was released last June, which was a shame. Hailing from Minneapolis, Divorcee has drawn from various pop and rock influences to craft a consistently engaging album. The first thing you'll notice after listening to them is that lead singer Ryan Seitz sounds more like he's from Manchester than Minneapolis. His voice is something of a mix between Colin Meloy, Liam Gallagher and Cotton Mather's Robert Harrison, and there is a real BritPop feel to this one. I even hear some solo Jeff Lynne and Jason Falkner in the mix as well.

Opener "Brand New" sounds at times like Bends-era Radiohead, "Say" is a midtempo number in the vein of Oasis' "Don't Go Away", and they crank it up Sloan-style on the stomping "Blow Me to Pieces". Even the finale, "Outro" (which one would think is 30 seconds of instrumental noodling based on other songs with the title) is a 5-minute anthemic masterpiece. There is one mp3 available for download at their site:

Brand New

That track, plus two others from the album (and one older track) are streaming at their myspace page. There are some used copies going for about $5-6 at the Amazon marketplace, or you can buy it new for $10 at their site. This Divorcee deserves custody of your ears for at least 40 or so minutes per week.