Category: Highly Recommended by Powerpopaholic

Ryan Lindsey grew up in the small town of Stillwater, Oklahoma. Lindsey is also a member of the indie rock group The Starlight Mints, but Ryan recently recorded a solo album. Legendary composer, arranger, producer Van Dyke Parks heard the finished product and introduced Ryan to a record label, and the result is “White Paper Beds.” This is a sturdy set of a 12 songs that drift along at a causal pace. Fans of Elliot Smith, Jeremy Messersmith, David Mead, and the more commercial Tim Myers will enjoy this immensely. Opening with “Future Employment” it has a plaintive guitar and Ryan’s measured vocal with orchestral plucking in the run up to the chorus. The weaving of melody and rhythms in “An Introspective” and “Slow Down” makes for great listening. And Ryan has been getting more notice lately. His songs are popping up in film (“American Teen”), television (“One Tree Hill”) and commercials (“Pay Less Shoes”). Pop fans can compare The multi-tracking vocals of “A Weekend With You” to Messersmith for sure.  From the textured baseline in “Summertime” to echoing piano in “Put Your Trust in Ross” each track require multiple listens before you really appreciate the depth of Ryan’s song-craft. Spend some time in a quiet room with this album and enjoy it.

With the help of friends Nigel Clark (lead singer of classic Brit-pop band Dodgy) and Darren Finlan, Englishman Tony Cox has put together an 11 track debut full of sweet surprises. Fans of classical power pop influences (Beatles, Beach Boys, Bryds) will find a goldmine of melodic pop here. The production was recorded at Hijack Studios and has a clean updated style, unlike some musicians, I’ll bet Tony did not play these songs on vintage instruments. “Sweet Elaine” has a simple pop structure draped over a “Heroes and Villains” styled baseline. This is followed by “Feel Real Love” and it has a Dave Clark/Cliff Richards approach, with horn accents and driving drum beat. The superb “Fallen” has a great melody, like a sunny Revolver-era Beatles track. The modern pop of “Sacred Woman” is another standout here, with a rich multi-tracked chorus and “Chills” showcases Tony’s vocals which remind me of a young Ian Hunter. It has a few missteps, the 80’s styled “Life is Hardcore” is filled with heavy synths that seems a little out of place on the album. And the production suddenly gets very sparse on the second half, which hurts some excellent songs, like “Say The Word” which really deserves a big wall-of-sound type treatment. I sometimes wondered how some of these tunes would sound with a bigger budget. Someone should give Tony that chance, as he’s got great song craft talent. Tony is not signed to any label, but shows you the wealth of riches some record companies need to pay attention to.

Baby Scream “Ups and Downs”
Baby Scream is a London based band originally formed by Juan Mazzola in Argentina. Mazzola has an affection for several classic pop influences like The Byrds, John Lennon, and The Replacements. The album goes through many moods, from fast tempo punk guitars of “Everyday (I Die a Little Bit)” to the mid tempo jangle of “Suddenly,”and then the somber Jeff Lynne-like ballad “One More Chance.” All 8 songs are full of great classic hooks and interesting chord changes that I know pop fans will cherish. Juan’s vocals have the same gentle delivery of Lennon and the melodic qualities are excellent here. Lead guitarist Cristian Basualdo does a great job here too, as the duo recall Let It Be-era Lennon-McCartney on a pair of tracks (“The Riots” and “Ups and Downs”). The ending track, “Morning Light” owes much to Big Star and Badfinger, the music coming from a deeply emotional place. I would also encourage you to look for the follow up Monsters EP. This one is a short album, but you won’t be disappointed here — this is highly recommended to power pop fans.

MySpace | CD Baby| Baby Scream site

Great Northern “Remind Me Where the Light Is”
It’s been a while since I last heard from Great Northen. Sharply produced and highly polished, the singer/songwriting duo of Solon Bixler and Rachel Stolte sound tighter and more focused on hitting the commercial sweet spot here. The album starts off strong with “Story” and it’s immediately clear that the catchy beats and multi-tracked chorus angles along the lines of Depeche Mode and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Then the track “Houses” hits us with Rachel Stolte’s smooth sensuous delivery, it recalls both Spinerrette and PJ Harvey. Then the album gets even better with “Fingers” full piano-driven, string-laden pop rock – this is the high point. After that arrangements start to get too thick, the track “Mountain” manages to channel both Abba and Enya. Unfortunately, the album doesn’t even stay that consistent. For every good track, like “Warning” you get the snooze-fests like “Driveway” and “Numbers” sounds like forced album filler. The pulsing synths and wails of “33” didn’t work and I found myself going back to the albums’ first half. This would have been an excellent EP.

MySpace | Itunes

I was listening to this new Norwegian glam garage rock band The Disciplines and thinking “it’s pretty good, hard guitar riffs pounding drums and a lead singer that snarls and screams like Henry Rollins in a bad mood..” then I looked at the liner notes and did a double take. Lead Vocals: Ken Stringfellow. The Posies Ken Stringfellow? Holy crap. Well I guess Ken wanted to explore this side of his musical personality, nothing wrong with that. If you are looking for a tougher version of The White Stripes or Jet then you’ve come to the right place. Ken teamed up with the Norwegian band Briskeby consisting of drummer Claus Larsen, bassist Baard Helgeland and guitarist Bjorn Bergene, and they quickly developed this aggressive style. The group struts it’s stuff with the opener “Your For The Taking” and summons some glam goodness with “Get It Right.” After a few listens it reveals Ken’s melodic tendencies underneath all those riffs, on “Best Mistake” and “Falling Knives.” I guess it’s a trend to do harder stuff, after all it seems to work for the recent Superdrag album, but this doesn’t feel forced at all. More highlights include, “Hurricane” and the retro flavored “Like So Many Times Before.” Both the latter song and “No Vacancy” comes closer to The Posies sound that any of the previous tracks. The songwriting here aims for both the head and the heart and succeeds in bringing across the message with a ballsy gusto once reserved for guys like Ian Astbury (The Cult). Kool Kat Musik is having a special on this album, you get an exclusive 13-song “Live in Finland” album with each order. For these tough times, sometimes power pop has to get tough. 

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 longevity in a relationship (with a band mate or spouse). A more grizzled take on the band’s future comes across on “It Can’t Go On Forever” and the bouncy “Lost Weekend” continues the jangle party. Certain songs have a slightly more adult progressive feel, similar to The Pillbugs on “Where Ya Gonna Go” with it’s speedy baseline lead and the folk pop of “Propeller Flights.” Even a venture into the blues with “Tough Love” show us that it’s not all sweet pop, similar in style to the Fab Four’s “I Want You (She’s So Heavy).” Even though everything here isn’t as accessible as the last album, the grand melodies of songs like “Too Unlikely Two” with it’s dual guitar solo are a joy to behold. There is plenty here for the long time ‘Tones fan, like the Monkees’ guitar rythyms of “Karma Depleted,” the hummable “Pick That Up For A Song,” and sparkling Rickenbacker on “She’ll Be Gone.”  With such an eclectic mix of styles here, you understand why they called this one “Scrambled Eggs.” As long as Jamie and the boys are cooking, I’ll order this special anytime.