Category: Highly Recommended by Powerpopaholic

Ice Cutters and Courtney Murphy

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Ice Cutters “s/t”
The Ice Cutters are the alter ego of musician Guy Latham from Abergele, North Wales. Guy writes a series of compelling songs on the self-titled album and although he claims many influences, the gentle vocals and mid-tempo guitar strums recall The Zombies and Gilbert O’Sullivan primarily. The baroque compositions are impressive on the memorable “Carry The Dream Away” and breezy ballad “Coming Home.” Heavier guitars come in on “ZX81” and the rant “This Is A Job” prove this isn’t a lightweight performer. Piano leads the melody on a few songs (“Taking Over”) but these aren’t as strong as the albums impressive start. Another great standout is The Left Banke like charms of “Mary Morphine.” Overall most of these tracks are pretty good, and I look forward to more from Ice Cutters.

My Space | CD Baby | Amazon

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Courtney Murphy “Big”
After making one of the final three on Australian Idol in 2004, Courtney continued to hone his show biz chops and prepare this album. Comparable to Dan Fogelberg and Go West in style, the opening single “Salvation Jane” is a radio ready hit. Murphy’s got a great melodic streak in his songwriting and his soulful vocal impresses on “Thinking About You Naked.” With big horns and harpsichord, it’s got an ELO like flair and surprises. The “Second Best” is a modern pop standard blessed with great key shifts, and really awesome lyrics. The remaining album has a more traditional pop approach, with inspirational ballads (“Warning To You”) and soulful contemporary (“Margarita”). So how many former “idols” can sing great AND write a kick ass song by themselves? No matter, Courtney’s already done it and I’m impressed.

Buy Direct | Amazon

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Stuff I somehow missed: The Autumn Defense, Bleu and The Silver Seas

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The Autumn Defense “Once Around”
The Autumn Defense, led by Wilco member John Stirratt and joined by Pat Sansone have embraced the 70’s West Coast sound with a gusto that makes the opener “Back Of My Mind” a stunning and unforgettable single. This is manna for fans of Bread and The Eagles at their mellow finest. The production and musicianship here is flawless, and the songwriting is lovingly ernest on the title track and the up-tempo “Swallows of London Town.” Echoes of early Fleetwood Mac and Neil Young are visible in most of these tracks, but nothing comes close to that dynamic first single.

Bleu “Four” 
Bleu returns after last year’s “Watched Pot” to this self funded fourth album. “Four” does not disappoint in that it hits many highs starting with the catchy “Singin’ In Tongues,” the man is in his element. The anthemic “B.O.S.T.O.N.” is a loving tribute to his favorite college town, and “How Blue” is a beautiful LEO ballad that demands repeat listens. It feels like Bleu crammed everything he wanted to do here and every track has a compelling melody. The cherry on top is the Roger Manning Jr. collaboration “Everything Is Fine” making this my favorite “missed” classic of 2010.

The Silver Seas “Chateau Revenge!”
Along with Autumn Defense, The Silver Seas also knows how to mine the 70’s mellow rock style. But the band doesn’t have a slavish devotion to one aspect of the era’s sound and spreads it around. Lead vocalist Daniel Tashian’s soothing croon on “Another Bad Night’s Sleep” dovetails into “Jane” perfectly here. “What’s the Drawback?” is a note perfect companion to ELO’s “Evil Woman” (it even mentions the band). “Candy” sounds like a Beach Boys track off of “Sunflower.” You’ll hear echos of many bands here (Chicago, Seals and Crofts, Steely Dan, etc.) and yes it could be considered one of the year’s best.
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DC Cardwell "Some Hope"

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DC Cardwell creates a heart felt acoustic gem here, full of wonderful melodic hooks and a Ray Davies styled vocal. The gentle minor chords and harmonies that open “I Am Still The Same” are both brilliant and poignant.  Digression: I think the decades most overlooked instrument on recent casual classics is the xylophone, I mean it’s on every good easy listening hit from Pampelmoose to iphone commericals.

Anyway, “Birthday Present” is another example of solid composition and a revelatory Harrison styled guitar break. The pace picks up with the bouncy “Peace and Love” at it’s most Kinks-like and then it veers to Dylanesque territory the next bunch of tracks like “Way With Words” and “Meet The Author.” The country-like pop bounce returns on “A Minute Of Your Time” and “We Fell” has that smooth guitar jangle. A few miss, but most here hit the mark and with a whopping 16 tracks to go through, you’ll find several favorites here. Some of the  mid-tempo ballads (“The Quiet Ages”) are like magical combinations of both Paul Simon and McCartney.  Fans of David Mead and John Southworth should also flock to this release like ants to a picnic. And yeah, it’s a belated 2010 top rated album. This is a perfect year ending release, so put away your “Auld Lang Syne” and play this.

Bandcamp | CD Baby | Amazon

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Readymade Breakup "s/t"

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Readymade Breakup has grown from a small indie band with power pop tendencies to being poised to break out to mainstream audiences. This new self-titled release is the band’s most mature outing to date, coming along just in time to add to my best of 2010 list. Lead singer Paul Rosevear’s vocals are more forceful, and Jim Fitzgerald’s guitar riffs are leaner, more into classic rock territory than ever before. The sound comes closer to Collective Soul’s brand of melodic majesty but with more energy.

“Inside All Along” has is an opener that that has all the right ingredients; heavy guitar riffs, Rosevear’s multi-tracked croon and a chorus that sticks in your head. “Just” and the anthemic “Waiting For You” are modern rock classics that should bring in a wider audience.  When we get to “There” the pace eases up a bit, into a Counting Crows styled number only to roar back with “Unzip My Face” full of Cheap Trick influenced guitar acrobatics. The lone ballad here “Not Through With You Yet” showcases Rosevear’s distinct vocal style, as a near whisper grows to a wail. We end it with “Erased” a powerful Pink Floyd influenced slice of psychedelic pop.  The album is only nine songs, so each one is carefully constructed and melodic all the way through. One of the best rock albums I’ve heard all year.

Band’s Site | Bandcamp 

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Anya Marina and Tomn

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Anya Marina “Spirit School” EP
After a pretty good debut, Anya gives us a taste of her next album with this EP. Anya relocated to Portland, OR and really does a great job with the slow grooves on her lead track “You Are Invisible.” Her vocals still have that sensual half whisper, and the last part of the song uses dramatic strings. A standout here is the gritty dance rocker “Whatsit,” a collaboration with Dandy Warhol’s Courtney Taylor-Taylor. But my favorite is the title track, a note-beat perfect single that hits hard. Hopefully her next full length will take this approach, as “Spirit School” bounces along a killer bass rhythm with the catchy kid chorus “We’re rubber and you’re glue, and no matter what you say we’re gonna stay here right for you.” Anya is an artist that continues to grow and create great music with an attitude and depth that I haven’t heard since Sam Phillips.

Tōmn “Tōmn” EP
Tōmn (pronounced “tome”) aka Tony Maiella is a North American musician based in Boston who fuses rock and Brazilian music, creating lush pop arrangements. This rich combination of influences is really apparent on the melodic opening track “Primeiro Encanto.” Tinkling keys, flamenco rhythms and subtle guitar strums blend together quite nicely here. Tony also knows his way around a ballad as “Will I Still Call You Friend?” is very John Mayer-ish. The forceful “Off The Map” is a bit like Rick Altizer, with multilayered guitars and forceful vocals. Some of the quieter songs have nice little jazz touches, but they seem a bit half baked at times. Enough good stuff here to recommend though.

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