Category: Highly Recommended by Powerpopaholic

Reviewed by Mike Z.
On the opening track, “Lover Boy”, singer/guitarist Marc Olivier’s voice grabs your attention immediately, which is a strong way to kick off any record. His voice sounds like Adam Ant in pitch and played-up British accent and warbles effectively like that of Larry Kirwin from Black 47. The music is also strong enough that it can not be ignored, so a good mix of sounds is established off the bat, and that will (for the most part) continue throughout. This is a good mix of rock, pop, and lyrical braggadocio. With “Every Day” the band again succeeds in creating a musical mix of anger, angst, and a wry sense of humor complete with bouncing guitars and a synthesizer sound straight from 1983. 

“Mary B!” has one bad-ass riff which is wasted on a song which is fails to paint a compelling portrait of its title character. Add half a point to this rating if you are a Francophile, as that motif (that’s French, right?) is to be found at various points of this recording. A weakness is exposed here and continues to unravel somewhat in the next three songs. Even though these tracks are somewhat out of place, it doesn’t overly sully the rest of the work. “The Boy” is more of a rocker and maybe the best realization of this band’s sound. Everything is just right with the mix of guitars, driving 4/4 drums, chunky bass, and overdriven synths. “Fifteen Years” continues the sonic momentum and gives further hope that this band may have some real talent. The guitar resounds like nothing I’ve heard since Billy Duffy’s big, big guitar from The Cult’s Electric.  “Whispering” starts out slow and has bittersweet lyrics. It borrows from The Beatles and XTC initially and has some beautiful touches throughout. The lyrics are simple and do not try to overstate the sentiment that the music creates. I’d recommend this album to be played on your house or car stereo, so as to fill the room and let the big guitars and meat-head drum beats bounce off the walls. If you throw this in while doing chores, having some friends over for beers, or going for a drive, a great energy will be added to the environment and it will be really hard to not get swept up with the music. 

Plastic Heroes Site | My Space | Itunes

Listen to “The Boy”

I guess Mondo Primo are trying to push the edge of power pop and punk by being ballsy enough to call the new album “2FN HOT” (I’m sure one of these guys has it on a license plate). The group’s sound is closest compared with Bowling For Soup with even more pop polish. Fans of Sloan will enjoy the opener “Overheated” which rocks hard and includes dreamy harmonies and minor chord changes. It plays like a great single and then it goes over to the very Weezer/Green Day-ish “Bands With Brand New Amps.” This sound continues with the rest of the album and the boys have a fresh energy that makes most of the songs work. Songs like “Allegories” and the speed-guitar fest “Dude, Your Girlfriend Sucks” are standouts that will make you forget about The Click Five (remember them?) and other Disney band-o-the-week pretenders. In a wonderful nod to The Beach Boys, Mondo Primo concentrates on “East Coast Girls” and the buzzsaw guitars form a wall of sound that ends in a crescendo. A love song to this style of music is best illustrated in “Powerchords” where the lead singer laments “hope I never get bored of these power chords”, and most power pop fans won’t.  So my advice kids, slowly back away from the Jonas Brothers dreck and give Mondo Primo a chance.

My Space | Itunes | Merch Now

Listen to “”Dude, Your Girlfriend Sucks” in 3D! – Grab your glasses! COOL! The 3-D theme is all over this album. Do you want to see the original video where this came from? It’s The Mask (1961)

You are forgiven if you never heard of Andy Reed, but you would do yourself a favor and pick up the excellent debut “Fast Forward.” You’ll hear the Roger Manning Jr. vibe in the opener “The Ballad of….” to start things off with an excellent melody and Beatles-styled guitar and drum work. Andy has a sweetness to his melodies that brings to mind McCartney and Curt Boettcher with a simple piano and acoustic guitar. “The Criminal” has a good story to tell as well, about broken promises and sacrifice for that one true love, and a gentle strum that reminds me of The Cyrkle or The Free Design. After the beautifully sparse ballad “Play,” we get to “Novocaine” – a melancholy song about the singer’s weariness and loss of confidence, much like a Gram Parsons ballad. “Thank You” is straight from the Pete Ham playbook, a song of earnest joy and love and accented by electric guitars. “Tied Up” has those little synth touches like The Cars, but the song is closer Weezer or Fountains of Wayne in spirit. The odd song out here is “Around the Town” with a mix of Michael Carpenter-like melody, handclaps and old piano sound. A good song, but Andy’s vocals are too laid back for the tempo. The vocals are much better served on the closer “Are You Listening?” a fine Beatlesque mid-tempo ballad with a nice guitar solo that fades out at the end. There is plenty of great pop here, although we are a bit low on the “power” scale, fans who flip for multi-layered music with melody and harmony at the forefront will want this for sure.

My Space | CD Baby | Kool Kat Musik

And you are probably right. After all, I just know what you sound like. Southern California based The Shys emulate a classic 70’s rock and roll band with a knack for good songwriting and smart baselines. You almost don’t know what to expect in the instrumental  opener “Spanish Village By The Sea” but then the next song, “The Hangman” has a catchy chorus and smooth LA club rock guitar riffs to impress you. But it gets much better with the Lennonesque “Savior” and proves you don’t need Lenny Kravitz vocals to do these kind of songs.  “She’s Already Gone” is another gem with a song structure similar to Mott The Hoople’s “All The Young Dudes.” If you like narrative styled, bass lead songs you get “Mercy” or “Brother Please” which recall Mick Jaggar or Bob Segers’ best. Lead singer Kyle Krone has a great voice that matches whatever style of music that starts playing and I like the late era Beatles-styled tracks the best. “Find Some Courage” and “La Costa Verde” owes much to the Fab’s “Yer Blues” and “Why Don’t We Do It In The Road?” That’s not all, as “All On Me” sounds like it fell off an old Bob Seger Greatest Hits record. Other songs get less retro and compare well to The White Stripes (“Carry On For Two”). Fans of the above mentioned bands (Kravitz, Beatles, Stones, Seger) will treat this album like a favorite mix tape. Pop it in the player and play the air guitar to this.

The Shys Website | My Space | itunes

Listen to “The Hangman”

Smooth classic power pop in the Cheap Trick/Shoes guitar vein is how I’d best describe the Tempe, Arizona band Sugar High. After it’s debut 6 years ago, the group comes back with it’s follow up album “Let The Sunshine Out” and it’s most “commercial” sounding single “Scatter.” The chiming guitars and light pop chorus will earn the casual listeners respect. Guitarist Jason Garcia’s riffs have a Matthew Sweet feel to them and as the album continues, it gets better. “Going/Again” gets a little more aggressive and adds layers of guitars, hand claps, and tambourines, similar to power pop faves, The Caulfields. “My Star” is another notable song with a hummable melody and strong vocals. “Do Yourself A Favor” tells the story about actually writing songs (“I’m just makin’ sh*t up now”) and has a cracking energy missing on some of the later tracks. Even more evidence that this is the closest power pop to mainstream you can get listen to “Swallowed Bombs” which compares well with the Crayons. Another great track is the great repeating riff of “The King” and the slight twang and harmonica of the laid back mid-tempo “Around You.” Lead singer Adrian Evans vocal sounds a bit like Robin Wilson of Gin Blossoms and John Davis of Superdrag and the extra details of bells and strings on some tracks make for a pleasant diversion.  Soak in that Sugar High.

My Space | CD Baby | Not Lame