Category: Highly Recommended by Powerpopaholic

The Click Beatles and The Crush

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The Click Beatles “Wake Up To Music”
The multi-talented Dan Pavelich is both a cartoonist and a musician. His first solo LP on Vandalay Music implies that this is another Fab Faux styled album, but no — its only has one Beatles tribute song. A labor of love for the past few years, it bares the stylistic fingerprints of Dan’s mentors: Jamie Hoover (The Spongetones) and Jeff Murphy (The Shoes).

“Shut The TV Down” is a great mantra for the couch potato in your life, and the rock energy on “Tell Me How You Feel” flows really well, both have an ’80s new wave-ish sound. The jangle melodies are turned up a notch for “Bubblegum,” and my favorite tune is the sweet “Try Girl,” with its hand claps and minor chords. Dan gets a bit darker on “Ever Since The World Began” and the horn-fueled “I Never Said Goodbye” was co-penned by Lisa Mychols.  A pretty cool release sure to please power pop fans everywhere.

CD Baby | Jam Recordings

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The Crush “Future Blimps” EP
Loved the debut EP and this new EP continues the fun. “Never Gonna Stop” is a catchy as hell riff with lead singer Kira Wilson sounding a bit like Debbie Harry.  The dual tracking harmonies add more dimension to “Around, ” and the garage styled opening on “Better and Better” and “It’s Love” recall The Clash and Paul Collins in spots. This is no-frills rock and roll, done just right and at $3 on Bandcamp it’s a sweet bargain. Enjoy!

Bandcamp

The Dowling Poole and The Both

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The Dowling Poole “Bleak Strategies”
We told you about the duo of Willie Dowling and Jon Poole teaming up for the debut of the Dowling Poole. Honestly the track record of albums from PledgeMusic or Kickstarter has been spotty at best, and I’ve been burned a few times by artists promising the best thing ever, only to get “something else.” Thankfully Dowling Poole happily exceeds expectations here. The pastoral shimmering opening “The Sun Is Mine” could’ve fallen off XTC’s Skylarking – it’s that good.

Next the rhythmic “Kiss On The Ocean” is a quintessential English-styled love song, part Maddness and part Martin Newell with a sing along chorus supported by “ooh la la” vocal backdrop. “Hey Stranger” is a little darker but no less compelling and it wanders into Klaatu-land with an amazing harpsichord and trumpet ending. Nearly every track is a polished gem and even the mellow “Paper, Scissors, Stone” is has a delightful jazzy pastiche that echoes Colin Moulding. The rich instrumentation and details invites many repeat listens, especially on the albums second half where it morphs into progressive rock with multiple melody lines, a perfect example being the psychedelic “Getting A License.” The finale “Clean” is slow building juggernaut along the lines of “Hey Jude.” This is an essential “do-not-miss” album, that makes my top ten list for 2014. I’m sure it’ll move to major distribution soon, but get it at PledgeMusic now.

PledgeMusic
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The Both “The Both”
Like the musical equivalent of a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup, Aimee Mann and Ted Leo join forces to create The Both. It’s fairly rare for indie power pop auteurs to get mainstream attention (Reviewed in Spin, Rolling Stone and Pitchfork), but I’ll take it. Both artists leave their comfort zone a slightly and form an effective collaboration. Leo’s punk tendencies and Mann’s introspective melancholy are relatively restrained here, and that’s a good thing. It allows the duo to come up with some excellent songs “Milwaukee” being the highlight. Leo’s guitar is reminiscent of Thin Lizzy and Mann’s catchy chorus makes for good listening. This energy is missing from other songs like “The Gambler” and “No Sir” where the melody merely plods along.

Some nice touches are on the fuzz-bass led “Volunteers of America” with the comfortable harmonies of the duo and solid guitar riffs. In fact this is best vocals I’ve heard from Leo in a while. Both artists get to express ideas, Mann’s sparse “Hummingbird” and Leo’s guitar heavy “The Prisoner” both make personal statements. The Thin Lizzy cover of “Honesty Is No Excuse” is another highlight, along with the Beatlesque piano melody of “The Inevitable Shove” about “…blaming the ones you love.” A solid release that should please fans of both artists.

Amazon
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The Hazey Janes “Language of Faint Theory”

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Scottish power pop band The Hazey Janes have been slowly evolving to more diverse indie pop sound, this is starkly shown on the latest LP, Language of Faint Theory. Recorded in El Puerto De Santa Maria, the crisp production and sweeping melodies present  a sophistication previously unheard from them. “Iwan” opens the album with a slow drum beat and piano chords, and mature background harmonies. The last half of the song has a truly great guitar solo that floats in, guaranteed to produce goosebumps.

That takes you into the next track “The Fantom Line,” a more accessible and even grander melody line along the lines of classic Genesis. After the opening notes of “All Is Forgotten” I almost expected Phil Collins to sing “Entangled” next, but the song transitions to a showcase for lead singer Andrew Mitchell’s vibrato-soaked croon along a soothing pop melody. “In Shadows Under Trees”  is a Roy Orbison flavored country ballad that proves the band can branch out intro other genres.

But after a few diversions we get back to some great power pop starting with “The Genesis,” full of cascading keys, drum rolls and strong lead guitar. Gone are most of the Beatles/Byrds influences on this album, although they show up on my favorite tune of the summer so far, “(I’m) Telescoping” with its gorgeous vintage sound. The title track surprises with sweet vocals by guitarist Alice Marra, evoking the sunny Spanish coast with its richly layered chorus. While clearly transitional in style, the band hasn’t forgotten its fans, nor its need for artistic growth and that’s a creative triumph.

Amazon

The Jeremy Band “All Over The World”

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Jeremy Morris has been a prolific creative force for many years now, and his latest album All Over The World is credited to his newly minted Jeremy Band which include his sons Peter and Mark (doing guitar, bass and vocals) along with several other musicians including Todd Borsch (The Ringles, The Gillegans, The Lemon Clocks) on guitar, bass, vocals and Bart Mendoza (The Shambles, True Stories) on guitar and vocals. Its still a Jeremy album, with the ever present shimmering jangle of Rickenbacker guitars and Byrdsian solos. The new band covers several classics from Jeremy’s past albums, originals and unique compositions recorded literally all over the world. And with a massive 20 tracks, its over 75 minutes of music.

Where to begin? The first 11 songs are taken from a live performance in San Diego. “Let Me In Your Heart” is a long jam that has a solid melody line and great bass hook, then the original “Cool Your Jets” has a bit of Raspberries in its DNA. The psychedelic “Rainbow Bridge” is from Jeremy’s other band The Lemon Clocks, but here the band stretches the song out. If you like jangle-prog jamming you’ll be enjoying this.

One big highlight is an extended version of “Pop Rules” with 12 guitar melodies interwoven into the break, from Dick Dale to Led Zeppelin. Many tracks were also recorded at IPO shows all over the world including the Cavern Club. While this may be overkill for some, its an effective representation of a power pop concert and “greatest hits” album. Enjoy!

Jam Records


Listen to a sample of “Cool Your Jets”

The Squires of The Subterrain and Toxic Melons

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The Squires of The Subterrain “The Squires of The Subterrain”
Christopher Earl is back to his Beatles-Merseybeat fetish on this new self-titled album. Similar to DIY pop of Guided By Voices and Chris Breetveld, Earl starts us off with “The Windows” a trippy track with a really cool chorus of echoing harmonies. The “Penny Lane” styled horns lead “History” with its melodic catchiness and single note piano rhythm, then “This Charming Place” adds cellos and rich Kinks-like lyrics about a local bar. The songs early on are wonderfully layered and XTC fans will savor the first 3 songs. Earl runs into complete parody with “Private Gherkin’s Psychedelic Silly Mustache Band” along the lines of They Might Be Giants.

Clearly no filler here, from the catchy “Attitude and Altitude” to the Lennon inspired “Jet-Black Sunrise.” Then,”Dr. Van Der Jagt” goes into full “Dear Prudence” mode with Earl’s nasal vocal fitting perfectly. Unlike earlier Beatles-centric offerings this one really concentrates on the Fabs late 60’s psychedelic style. Highly Recommended.

CD Baby | Amazon

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Toxic Melons “Bus Therapy”
I heard an advance demo of “Take Me Back” from Bus Therapy and was blown away by the crisp harmonies, rich-pastoral melody and knew it was something very special. For this new LP Pablo Melons has recruited some top notch talent to help; Eric Dover, Chadwick Salls, Taylor Locke, Chris Price, Linus of Hollywood, and Fernando Perdomo. And several tracks are just outstanding.

But Melons inconsistency is just maddening, “More or Less” is a defiant piano-organ rant that sets the stage and its a decent start. Unfortunately, next comes the sleep-inducing 4 minute instrumental “Journey” and then the low vocal “Let Me Sleep” that didn’t quite wake me up. Thankfully the Jellyfish-styled “Change The World” is next and its one of the highlights. But then comes “Disco Balls, ” a Zappa-influenced synth-guitar mess. For each good song (“Take Me Back”) we get a rotten one  (“Getting Old”). My advice is to cherry-pick this effort for maximum enjoyment.

Bandcamp only