Blog: Popfair - Classic Power Pop

So its early 2012 and I'm still waiting to to hear the entire Soundshine album by David Myhr (only released in Japan as I write this). In anticipation, I was listening to the two albums by his previous band " the Merrymakers ". The Merrymakers were a Swedish Power Pop unit co-lead by David Myhr and Anders Hellgren. Their two albums " No Sleep till Famous " and " Bubblegun " were some of the best examples of Power Pop to come out of the Swedish Power Pop renaissance of the late 1990's. In my [...]

Time to say goodbye to 2011 and in spite of the lack of any commercial acceptance to speak of, it was a year of great Power Pop releases. Notable by their absence are two releases that didn't make it out (in the states) this year. "Besides" by Blue and "Soundshine" by David Myhr. We've heard a lot of tracks from these two releases but still haven't had the chance to hear the entire albums. Oh well, these will represent a great start on the year in 2012. My favorite Power Pop albums of 2011 follow: [...]

David Mead put out " Dudes " late last month and as promised, its a return to classic Power Pop form. Dudes artfully weaves the gorgeous folk pop he demonstrated on last year's "Almost and Always" with the same type of Beatle influenced tunes he explored on 2006's "Tangerine". Obviously "Dudes" is a serious contender for Power Pop CD of the year. For new listeners, David released a free compilation of hits and out takes called " 25 days to Dudes ". If you haven't downloaded this collection , do so while it's still available and free. [...]

Today's rare Power Pop gem comes to us courtesy of the ever creative Mr. Thomas Walsh of Pugwash. This collection is the second of several compilations of rare demos and acoustic tracks recently posted by Thomas on YouTube. How many of these terrific rare tracks will we get? Only Thomas knows. He's been publishing one or two tracks every day for the last month of so. I've loved checking every morning for unreleased Pugwash tracks. I particularly treasure the two unreleased out takes that never made official Pugwash albums. (Any more of these laying around Thomas?). [...]

Today's rare Power Pop gem comes to us courtesy of the ever creative Mr. Thomas Walsh of Pugwash. This collection is the second of several compilations of rare demos and acoustic tracks recently posted by Thomas on YouTube. How many of these terrific rare tracks will we get? Only Thomas knows. He's been publishing one or two tracks every day for the last month of so. I've loved checking every morning for unreleased Pugwash tracks. I particularly treasure the two unreleased out takes that never made official Pugwash albums. (Any more of these laying around Thomas?). [...]

Mike Viola is touring in support of his new album " Electro de Perfecto ". I'm really looking forward to catching his set - but the good news is that we have a sneak peek of the show courtesy of one of the readers of our blog. Its a high quality audience recording of Mike's recent show in Boston . Thanks so much for sending it on for everyone to enjoy. A great description of the set follows: "I caught Mike Viola and band opening for Rachael Yamagata at the Brighton Music Hall, (formerly Harper's [...]

One of the best releases of the year is itself a B-sides compilation . This one an official release from the ever prolific, always brilliant Bleu McAuley. Bleu has pulled together some of his recent demos, outtakes and B-sides and assembled another masterful release that really shows the depth of his songwriting and his amazing voice. If you haven't picked up "Besides" yet, then you really need to. Bleu is making the project available in two formats. Vinyl with digital download and digital download only (...with some minor differences in track listing that [...]

Mike Viola put a new album out last week and its a great one. "Electro de Perfecto" represents a slight shift of direction for Viola. It's more stripped down effort, tighter and more focused than his previous release "Lurch". This time, Mike is fronting a new electric trio and he means business. The new tracks are a bit louder yet the the hooks are classic Viola. If you regularly check out this blog and you haven't picked "Electro de Perfecto" up yet, walk don't run to your nearest record store! A strong candidate for Power Pop album of the year. [...]

The posting today is from one of my favorite bands, Melbourne's Icecream Hands. The band began life in 1992 and released a series of class albums that somewhat resemble the output of country mates Crowded House. Though I'm a fan of Neil Finn, I like Icecream Hands even better. If you've never heard Icecream Hands, I'd recommend the 2004 "best of" compilation entitled "You Can Ride My Bike". Loads of classy pop songs with plenty of addictive hooks. Also included in that package is a great b-sides compilation disc. I also love the solo albums by lead [...]

Here is part two of fantom's excellent guest post of dB's rarities . The dB's were alternative pop group who released a series of essential pop albums during a period that spanned the early 80's to the early 90's. For the uninitiated, I'd recommend picking each of their official releases, "Stands for deciBels" (1981), "Repercussion" (1982), "Like This" (1984), "The Sound of Music" (1987). Each are classics of the genre. Lead songwriter/singers Peter Holsapple and Chris Stamey also released a pair of essential releases as a duo I'd also recommend picking up "Mavericks" and "Here [...]

It's almost here. The new album by Fountains of Wayne " Sky Full of Holes " will be out in the next couple of weeks and from what I've heard so far, we have a serious contender for Power Pop album of the year! The new set of songs are filled with Fountains of Wayne's trademark stories of quirky characters and absurd modern life. Of course there are plenty of hooks and this time there are a quite a few allusions to summer fun. In fact, it really seems like they planned this release to correspond with summer in the [...]

Today, I'm honored to be able to present a guest post from fantom , a valued friend and poster to this blog. Fantom, I loved the tracks and learned a bunch to boot. Thanks much.....Haper So afraid need to give some context to these first few. If Like Flies on Sherbet perhaps comes unexpectedly to mind when the mp3s start to roll, there's a reason. The tale begins in early 1978, when the first pilgrims made their way to Memphis to pay homage to Big Star, not long departed and with its legend [...]

...so the new dB's album is supposed to come out some time this summer and I'm psyched. As I've mentioned in previous posts , Peter Holsapple and Chris Stamey are two of my favorite songwriters. I loved 2009's Stamey Holsapple record and also enjoyed the live shows from that group . I was recently excited to find out that Peter Holsapple just released a compilation of tracks he did for the song-a-month Podcast series " Radio Free Song Club ". Holsapple fans and completists should rush out and support Peter and purchase it [...]

This summer promises to be a hot one full of high quality "big name" Power Pop releases. Already announced are new albums from Fountains of Wayne, Seth Swirsky and The Red Button, Pugwash, the dB's, David Myrh (from the Merrymakers) and Bleu. Everything that's leaked so far from these releases indicates that we'll have lots of great Power Pop to listen to as temperatures climb. One release I am particularly anticipating is "Dudes", the new one by David Mead. David raised 20,000 from Kickstarter earlier this year to pull together a new Power Pop album [...]

Great news at Pop Fair! Thomas Walsh's new Pugwash blog confirms that the new Pugwash CD entitled "The Olympus Sound" is complete! He's leaked out a few minutes of music to tantilize fans and no surprise, from what I've heard so far, the tracks are pure Beatlesque joy! I'd advise listening to a few minutes from the first track " Answers On A Postcard" and hear for yourself. Hey Thomas I'd love to get a pre-release listen of that "Listening Copy" to do a proper review! By now it's almost assumed that Mr. [...]

Can't wait for the new one by Paul Steel. His 2008 masterpiece "Moon Rock" was my favorite album of that year. What a terrific album start to finish! "Moon Rock" pushes all of the buttons; Beach Boys harmonies, pop punk energy of bands like Supergrass, Blur and the Wannadies, wonderful cheesey 60's hooks like the Wondermints. All wrapped together with killer production (Paul produces it all himself) What a talent! So here we are again, waiting for three years for the next release by a major Power Pop talent. The good news is that Paul has been great about dribbling [...]

Very excited to hear the new "Little Giant" EP from the Philadelphia band "The Bigger Lovers" . From 2000 through 2004 the Bigger Lovers released three classic Power Pop albums "How I Learned to Stop Worrying.." , "Honey in the Hive" and "This Affair Never Happened" . All are in print and are very much worth your time - if you haven't heard them. The band produced a potent mix of alternative rock that demonstrated echos of 80s/90s bands like the DBs and Let's Active. Listen again and you could also [...]

I received several comments about the order of my Top 25 list for last year...and I started second guessing myself. So I went back and listened to my list. What a great year in Power Pop it was! I also confirmed my top choice. For me the new effort by Mark Bacino takes top honors. Queen's English" " is simply the best written and fully realized Power Pop project of 2010. Mark successfully channels 1960s and 1970s American pop tradition into present day. I hear lots of Harry Nilson references. Lots of Beatles and Beach Boys influenced [...]

2010 had its share of bad news (the terrible loss of Will Owsley and the end of Not Lame). Even so, it actually ended up a strong year for Powerpop releases. Probably the best portfolio of great albums in years. My favorite 25 releases: Mark Bacino - Queens English Finally Mark Bacino released the masterpiece I knew he had in him. Its a classic and the production is great (Mark has been working as a producer and it shows). More on the best release of 2010 later! [...]

Whoa! Sometimes listening to new music can really surprise you. I got such a surprise today. Just listened to the new album by Buva (the solo project by Pasadena artist Tom Wolfe) and I'm telling you that this album is in contention for best Power Pop album of 2010 (competing with "Queens's English" by Mark Bacino for that honor). It's a warm immediate effort that has the casual feel of early McCartney solo projects. The songs start in understated fashion but each one builds to reveal clever and sublime hooks. I am loving this! Its clearly a power pop must [...]