You'd think after Peter and The Penguins , I would be done with Beatle styled rock bands this year... well no. In Germany, the leader of the Beatles Revival Band, Richard Edward Kersten (Frank) wanted to write Beatlesque songs, with a modern studio flair. So he hooked up with a young Ronson Jonson (Furt) and the results are here. Opening with the very Rain-like "Sipping Lemonade In The Sunshine," Frank and Furt's vocal and instrumental skills will win you over. "Flow Down Stream" mixes sitar and the albums groovy production techniques are similar to The Pillbugs . [...]
Tucson, Arizona power pop veterans of the retro 60s sound, The Resonars last year put out one of my favorite albums entitled Nonetheless Blue . Their latest release, That Evil Drone , shows that the last album was no fluke. Much like its predecessor, The Resonars sound is focused on psychedelia in the Beatles Revolver-era. The chiming guitars and vocal harmonies of "World Apart" will thrill you. The fast paced fun of "No Black Clouds Float By" builds on the Monkees styled jangle and hyper-guitar solos between the chorus. Leader singer/songwriter Matt Rendon has [...]
When I last left Jamie Hoover and company it was a celebratory return to form, with "Too Clever By Half" . The Spongetones are one of the few, great power pop bands from the early 80's that have outlasted almost everyone else. This time the band jams with a terrific opener "All the Loving" and it's full of jangle and strum that harkens back to their Beatlesque traditions. And like your favorite comfort food, it's easy to lap up. But Jamie hasn't lost the ability to take things in other directions, with "Inevitable You" a sweet mid-tempo ballad about [...]
Guitarists Todd Borsch and Dan McKenzie hooked up with David Krieger assuming bass guitar duties and veteran drummer Scott Pellican and formed The Gilligans – a British Invasion influenced garage band that came out with "Snoring With An Accent" in 2007 . This new album finds the group spreading it's wings a little bit. The music is split between sugary sweet pop and Cavern Club-era rock. "Wanna Wear Your Sunshine" is a good example of the band's gritty guitar energy. On the other side of the coin, a text book example of power pop music, "She's A Boomerang" recalls The [...]
Guitarists Todd Borsch and Dan McKenzie hooked up with David Krieger assuming bass guitar duties and veteran drummer Scott Pellican and formed The Gilligans – a British Invasion influenced garage band that came out with "Snoring With An Accent" in 2007 . This new album finds the group spreading it's wings a little bit. The music is split between sugary sweet pop and Cavern Club-era rock. "Wanna Wear Your Sunshine" is a good example of the band's gritty guitar energy. On the other side of the coin, a text book example of power pop music, "She's A Boomerang" recalls The [...]
The Pillbugs: Everybody Wants A Way Out Albums in the mid-60s were usually 30 minutes long: all thriller, no filler. The Pillbugs' psychedelic power-pop would benefit from that brevity but they've eked it out with a couple of guitar solos and progressive noodling that stretches your patience. You can clearly hear the influence of the Beatles and Zombies but the strongest influence is the Who, on songs on songs like 'Life As It Happens' and [...]
Well here's some insanely creative and eccentric pop. With Beatlefest kicking off in New Jersey this year on March 27th, we present a group that certainly has a Fab fetish. The Poor Richards are R.A and J.A. Richard with an 18 song debut that recalls both The Pillbugs and The Spongetones, with a vast array of pop hooks. Opening with the bass lead "Remember, Remember" gets the celebration going, with enough well placed riffs and make it's repetitive lyrics tolerable. One of the best songs here "Don The Suit," a Magical Mystery Tour era treat. The duo takes [...]
One of 2005's best albums was The High Dials "War of the Wakening Phantoms" and now this Montreal power house will unleash more of their neo-psychedelic pop with "Moon Country". There seems to be more of Radiohead or Coldplay influence here and less overt power pop influence. The band still knows how to write a catchy single, "My Heart is Pinned To Your Sleeve" uses the indie rock model with great results. The riff heavy guitar pop that was part of The High Dials sound is still on "Oisin, My Bastard Brother," but no other song takes that approach. The [...]
This latest Pillbugs album (always something to look forward to) comes with a bittersweet sense of loss. Vocalist/guitarist Mark Kelly passed away last May and the remaining band members put the finishing touches here with Mark Mikel leading the way. As with past releases, no other band has come close the recreating the spirit and sound of sixties psyche-pop better than the Pillbugs. From the opening riffs on "Life As It Happens" you'll be sold. If you bleed day-glo colors then you have to own this one. Like a mix of The Byrds and The Now People, "Can't Get It [...]
Top November 2008 Releases Nick's Top : Alaska in Winter: Holiday Q-Tip: The Renaissance Postmarks: By the Numbers Love is All: Love is All Mixed Up Honey Claws: S/T The Flaming Lips: Christmas on Mars Cory's Top: Alaska in Winter: Holiday [...]
With a common love of 60's pop and early psychedelia, Ideal Free Distribution has released "Then We Were Older" and it sounds like a lost classic from that era, right down to the last detail. The strong influences from The Pretty Things, Zombies, Moody Blues and The Yardbirds are all over every track here. You know you're doing something right when Robert Schneider of The Apples in Stereo happily joins in to mix the album. Opening with "Cold Wind Blows" it gets the mojo early on, pulling every sonic trick out of the hat including dreamy vocal harmonies and fuzz [...]
As the Christmas box sets come piling in, Drake takes great pains to sort out the power pop from the poop. ( NOTE : In addition to "Welcome to the Night Sky" , Wintersleep 's "iTunes Live Sessions EP" is also now available at the US iTunes Store.) -ed. Drake's Take: New Releases 11.11.08 New releases from here on out are more about gift giving than an actual interest in music, so new albums give way to box sets, compilations and reissues along with [...]
The Junipers are songwriter Joe Wiltshire and vocalist Marc Johnston who, together with a group of friends in Leicester, make upbeat, chiming pitch perfect baroque and psychedelic pop with echoes of early Bee Gees, The Curiosity Shop and The Zombies. If you are looking for big loud electric guitar riffs, they are not here, but everything else is. Especially that McCartney baseline driven song structure. "Gordie Can't Swim" opens with a Beatles meets Elephant Six collective retro sound, full of hooks that stick and harmonies that float along the melody. This sets the tone for the album, and despite a [...]
We're getting to that weird pre-Christmas, slow release schedule. Mostly reissues and major pop releases this time of the year. While the music snobs are most interested in the new Love Is All record, I will once again recommend The Henry Clay People (which came out nationally last week). I'm pretty afraifd of The Flaming Lips' Christmas On Mars .... New Music Releases 11/11/08: Local Releases: The Bronx : Bronx III (White Drugs) – Off the major label and doing their [...]
Releases from The Nerves, The Pillbugs, Flaming Lips New releases from here on out are more about gift giving than an actual interest in music, so new albums give way to box sets, compilations and reissues along with DVD interests. But there are still some great finds, especially for a power pop head like myself, as the long awaited The Nerves compilation, One Way Ticket , finally sees the light of day. As far as Nerves fans go, there's a 30th anniversary edition of Cheap Trick's Live At Budokan [...]
Here are The Wheel's Still In Spin 's suggested new releases. The Bronx – The Bronx III | CD or MP3 Download "Knifeman" (mp3) This is the third eponymously titled album by the L.A. punk band The Bronx. This band takes it roots from the original hardcore punk bands like Black Flag and Minor Threat, but The Bronx sound more mainstream rock. This [...]
Celebrate U.S. president-elect Barack Obama's election win with Yes We Can: Voices of a Grassroots Movement . The disc features contributions by Bono, Stevie Wonder, Kanye West, and even Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Senator McCain can console himself this week with the Abba: The Albums , the 9-CD box set from his favorite band. Two releases slipped up on me this week. Barbara Morgenstern releases her new album BM , tomorrow, and powerpop darlings the Pillbugs [...]
Celebrate U.S. president-elect Barack Obama's election win with Yes We Can: Voices of a Grassroots Movement . The disc features contributions by Bono, Stevie Wonder, Kanye West, and even Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Senator McCain can console himself this week with the Abba: The Albums , the 9-CD box set from his favorite band. Two releases slipped up on me this week. Barbara Morgenstern releases her new album BM , tomorrow, and powerpop darlings the Pillbugs [...]
The sound you hear is brothers Dominic and Robert Campanella (Brian Jonestown Massacre) with prominent twelves string Rickenbacker and rich melodies that are all over the Quarter After's latest exercise in psychedelic revival. They are joined by a collection of LA musicians including power pop faves Ric Menck (Velvet Crush), Matthew Sweet, Eric Heywood (Son Volt), Probyn Gregory (Wondermints, Brian Wilson Band), and Matthew Sigley (Lovetones, Daytime Frequency). Most of all this is an album that will appeal to fans of Roger McGuinn and The Byrds in all their psychedelic glory. The sonic details in the opener "Sanctuary" set [...]
Brothers Ellis and Tom Clark are the duo behind Epicycle. The third album "Jingo Jangle" is a mix of progressive sixties pop sounds firing on all cylinders and Sgt. Pepperisms especially on the track "Girls Don't Rule My World" which has wonderful sonic details in the multi-track piano and orchestral flourishes. The opener "8-Track Mind" brings together Bryds-styled guitar jangle and Cheap Trick riffs in a dense polished production. The piano ballad "Goodbye" is an impressive soulful song along the lines of Billy Joel. The brass and creepy Alice Cooper/Tom Waits vocal of "Ode To Branson" is a bit too [...]
WKND PLYLST!! This has nothing to do with NEW MOON!
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HOT CHIP TAKE another crack at IT and I’m IN
The Beach House Theory of 2k10.
