Category: Highly Recommended by Powerpopaholic

Monday Freebies and Singles

powerpopaholic

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Cirrone’s music video debuted this Saturday with “All Night, All Right” from the EP Kings for A Night. It’s a great party tune!

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Tom Baker and The Snakes fresh from their last album Lookout Tower we get a 2-fer for FREE from that album. Raw rock the way it was meant to be played.
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Vista Blue is back with some timely Halloween music. As with most Vista Blue FREE music, it’s great garage doo-wop rock with nice fuzz guitar, fans of The Ramones will love this stuff. ENJOY!

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Static In Verona, the band name for Chicago musician Rob Merz – has gone further away from slickness to a more bedroom pop aesthetic on his new full-length album. Secrets Like Shadows makes good use of the echoing fuzz production and electro-pop flourishes. Recommended songs “Sleeping In (Dreams),” “Burning Flowers,” and “Last Night.” FREE download.

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Down Time is a Denver band with a sweet bedroom pop vibe, full of harmonies and echoing reverb. Great little EP “for a long desert drive.”

Rob Martinez, Gordy Garris and Coke Belda

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Rob Martinez

Rob Martinez “Today My Mind”

If you like your power pop with classic ’60s and ’70s influence, Martinez hits his stride here. “Let Me Tell You Why” and “When We Meet” has that bouncy rhythm and sing-along hooks that easily could’ve made the AM radio charts back in the day. We get a little psyche-pop “Sooner or Later” with sitar and finger cymbals, but it tries a bit too hard. Much better is the grand “Time” which is a post-Beatlesque look back with a perfect point of view and Martinez vocal soars.

The Earle Mankey production is solid and Martinez is joined by Adam Marsland doing all the instrumentation here, they sound like they’re having fun on the rocker “Get It Right” and the title track. Not really any filler, unless you count the Prince-inspired finale “Will U B My Lover” with the entire roster of Karma Frog Records joining him. Overall, a really fine album that deserves to be heard.

Karma Frog Records | CD Baby

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Gordy Garris

Gordy Garris “Never Give Up”

Young pop-rocker Gordy Garris is a strong vocalist and his opener “Let Me In” has a big anthemic chorus that will stick in your head.  The songs across the album are all about relationships, and their ups and downs, as “Out Of My Mind” he wonders why he’s even in one.

Standouts include “Good Times,” with its hook-filled harmonies, the multi-tracked “Move Me,” and the shimmering-guitar of  “Wanted Man,” with its violin accents. Many of the romantic ballads are decent, if unremarkable but there is enough here to recommend. Gordy never gave up, so you should definitely give him a listen.

Amazon

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Coke Belda

Coke Belda “3(Gs): A Tribute To The Bee Gees”

Coke Belda creates this fantastic tribute to the Brothers Gibb on his third album. Belda adds his own fine musicianship to these Bee Gees classics, so in many ways, it sounds fresh and new. He avoids most of the disco era, remember early in the Brothers career they competed with The Beatles, as evidenced by “Claustrophobia.”

What he’s done is pick buried treasures from the Gibb catalog such as “Run to Me,” (from To Whom It May Concern) “I’ve Gotta Get a Message to You” (from Idea) and B-sides like “Sir Geoffrey Saved the World.” These underappreciated gems are polished by Coke with vocal assistance from Gretchen Wheel’s Lindsay Murray, and mastered by former Merrymaker Anders Hellgren. Highly Recommended.

Kool Kat Musik | Amazon

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Karla Kane and Forty Nineteens

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Karla Kane

Karla Kane “King’s Daughters Home for Incurables”

Karla Kane is the main vocalist behind The Corner Laughers, and she’s branched out with a sweet folk-pop album. Kane uses her ukulele to weave a simple melody full of traditional old world charm and her lithe vocals are like a warm comfy sweater on the title track. “Wishing Tree” is closer to The Laughers style of melodic pop, with angelic harmonies and minor chords with spoken word poem by favorite Martin Newell.

The Anglo-centric theme continues on the simple “Skylarks of Britain.” The joyous “Lilac Line” is another gem with a spritely chorus of “Lolly Leopard, I could live forever with you.”  and the lovely “Don’t Hush, Darling” is a lullaby of female empowerment. Even The Laughers favorite “Grasshopper Clock” gets the unplugged treatment. The spartan arrangements keep the songs intimate and make this a great album for a quiet night.

Amazon

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Forty Nineteens

The Forty Nineteens “Good Fortune”

If Karla Kane is a bit too mellow for your mood, then you can’t go wrong with California based band, The Forty Nineteens. This is power pop with a garage band ethos and the hook-filled opener “And Such and Such” makes it easy to come on board. There is plenty of variety here as “Easy Come Easy Go” has a punkier approach, and “My Camaro (Have Some Fun)” mines the retro guitar melody from “Tequila.”

The band tries a psyche-pop turn with “Purple Microdot,” and the vocal harmonies don’t quite work – but its trippy all the same. Thankfully there are lots of good songs here, and rarely did I hear a dud. More recommended songs are “Let Love In,” a great cover of the Rolling Stones’ “Time is On My Side” and the sweet finale “Two Pillows.” Highly Recommended.

Kool Kat Musik | Amazon

TimeWhy?s and Fallon Cush

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TimeWhy?s

TimeWhy?s “Autumn of Love” EP

The weirdly named TimeWhy?s are new sixties-inspired band from Pennsylvania. Fans of Beatlesque pop will rejoice in the short, but effective slices of nostalgia. The swirling “Paint Me Happy” is a bouncy psyche-pop gem akin to  Two Sheds Jackson and the slower Lennonesque “Lying Through Your Lipstick” is very much like The Pillbugs.

Each song is a sonic sugar rush for fans for ELO, Pilot, Klaatu and similar late-era Beatle influenced bands. Shame it’s only four tracks, but I’ll take quality over quantity any day. Highly Recommended.

CD Baby | Amazon

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Fallon Cush

Fallon Cush “Morning”

Australia’s Fallon Cush returns with most of the Bee In Your Bonnet lineup of Steve Smith, Suzy Goodwin, Glen Hannah, Tim Byron,  Casey Atkins, Josh Schuberth, and producer Michael Carpenter on bass. Fallon Cush have settled into a nice groove and the great music continues here, as the bluesy “Open Mind” is a big statement that recalls Ryan Adams or Gary Louris. “Long Shot” is another huge highlight, with some catchy guitar riffs and a rich full chorus.

The slower songs have a Dylanesque quality like “In Your Backyard” and “Fire and Ice,” both are memorable story oriented folk rock tunes. While Bee In Your Bonnet has more immediacy, both albums share flawless production and musicianship. Not really power pop, but a terrific album nevertheless. Check it out!

CD Baby | Amazon

First In Space and The Persian Leaps

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First In Space

First In Space “A Different Animal”

I’ve covered First In Space since their debut, and Youngstown, Ohio alums Johnny Stanec and Dolus McCormick are back in fine form here. The band’s sound is similar to The Goo Goo Dolls, or a lighter version of Foo Fighters with better vocal harmonies.

“Living In The Dark” builds with a steady growing guitar rhythm and anthemic chorus. Followed by “The Bitter End,” a nostalgic look back at an old relationship with a sing-along melody. It’s all great music on the album’s first half, but it tones down slightly with the percussive “There is No Way Out.” It gets back on track with the power riffs on “The Edge,” and although it doesn’t reach the album’s earlier high points, there are no clunkers here. The ending track “Enough” is a surprisingly compelling midtempo song with a nice finish. Definitely, this band deserves to be heard.

Amazon


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The Persian Leaps

The Persian Leaps “Bicycle Face” EP

Saint Paul, Minnesota band The Persian Leaps 5th ep boasts not only the loud riffs, but a lot more hooks than their previous work. “Picture My Reaction” is a driving song that is on par with The Well Wishers or Trip Wire.

Another gem is the jangle fuzz chords on “Even Less” and “About The Lions,” with its catchy chorus where they sing “You never worry/About the lions.” The last track “Pushpins” is an interesting lyric, about someone pinned like an insect. Overall, Highly Recommended.

Amazon