Category: Highly Recommended by Powerpopaholic

The Bon Mots "Forty Days and Forty Nights with The Bon Mots"

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Michigan based music vets The Bon Mots are one of indie rock’s best kept secrets. Opening with “Walk to California” it’s a hook filled mix of guitar jangle and sleepy organ. Leader Eric Chial has a great rock vocal, similar in cadence to Steve Winwood that evokes a blues soul and free spirit.  Mike Coy does vocals on the other half of the songs here and has a even gentler pop style, similar to Keane.”Past or Present” rely on the ambiance and bass lines of past jangle bands REM, The Church and even The La’s. You couldn’t get a better Byrds sounding opening lick than on “Oh Her Telephone.” The song is a mid-tempo ballad that flows through your ears with that lush Rickenbacker texture. The next tune, “Reasons, Dear” is truly beautiful pop and the ever changing chords and lyrical story to keep the listener interested. Almost every song here shines, including the very Zombies meets Donovan vibe on “Festival Girls” and it’s another amazing gem. The latter half of the album gets a bit softer and gentler, like in “Last Time” but is not likely to have you hit a forward on the player. The musicanship here is immpecable as well, the classic sound just works well for them and the harmonies and jazzy guitar jams in the choruses make it a perfect psychedelic pop mix that I haven’t heard since The Mother Hips. After hearing this you are more than likely to check out the earlier album on CD Baby. The fans of bands I mentioned here will love the Bon Mots, so get them and if you get a chance, see them live.

The Bon Mots web site | MySpace | CD Baby | Not Lame

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We Are Scientists and The Kooks

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Some major label indie pop sophomore releases making waves recently:


We Are Scientists “Brain Thrust Mastery”
This is the group’s second album for a major label after the hit debut “With Love and Squalor”, and it opens with the intense, bloated “Ghouls,” full of guitar squalls/feedback, a constant percussive tapping, and robotic repeating lyrics. Things get better later on with some downright catchy indie pop (“After Hours”) and some synth drum dance pop (“Lethal Enforcer”) that sounds like leftovers from an 80’s OMD album. No doubt about it here, the good tracks are worth the effort, like the smooth rock of “Impatience” and the gentle “Spoken For.” The buzzing bass backdrop of “Altered Beast” is another hooky bit of pop goodness. Unfortunately the other tracks are mediocre Duran Duran retreads at best and even songs that have all the elements of a catchy hit (“That’s What Counts”) die on the creative vine. Three or four tracks alone would make this a good EP, but that’s it for me. Cherry pickers welcome here.
We Are Scientists Page | My Space | Itunes (After Hours Single)


The Kooks “Konk”
The Kooks return with their second album “Konk” and it delivers more of that great Brit-power pop. The twelve tracks bop and bounce with catchy guitar hooks and beats, and Luke Pritchards vocals that are very much like The Cure’s Robert Smith on happy pills. Every song is enjoyable here, and “Always Where I Need To Be” rocks with a unstoppable “Do Do Do” chorus and handclaps during the bridge. The songcraft skills of these guys are also excellent. “Mr. Maker” is a bit of a nod to Mr. Davies, with it’s personality-in-a-song story. After all, this was recorded in Konk Studios (thus the album title here). “Do You Wanna” is similiar to Ok Go in approach and sound. And it’s just wonderful. The strong guitars and funky rhythm of “Stormy Weather” is another standout that can’t be ignored. It’s rock that you can dance to and that I can play over and over again, never skipping tracks. It also makes an excellent soundtrack to your workout as well. Feel the burn, baby!
The Kook’s home | My Space| Itunes

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The Offbeat "The Offbeat"

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This is a neat little self produced gem that is only for sale at Kool Kat Musik and Unsigned Bands. Pure Beatlesque pop style is lovingly recreated by songwriters Tony Cox and Darren Finlan. With Rickenbacker strum and wistful harmonies, it will take you back to the “Rubber Soul” era. The catchy “Lonely Girl” sets the Merseybeat mood, and then add a bit of Herman’s Hermits meets Zombies on the lovely “Keep it Real.” It’s also not slavish imitation, but strikingly original songs done in that retro-style. Bits of old school psychedelic pop and folk style also come out on “Say The Word” not unlike the classic Turtles. The album closer “Here Comes Summer” is a dead on amazing Monkees-styled track played with garage-like abandon. The vocals are excellent and sun kissed melodies bear repeat listens. This CD-R was started in 2004, finally came out and thank goodness I found it, thanks to a heads up from powerpopaholic fan, Maurice. Go to the bands website to hear the several album tracks. It’s highly recommended to all classic power pop fans and especially Beatle fans.

Offbeat web site | KoolKat Musik | CDBaby

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Adrian Bourgeois "Adrian Bourgeois"

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California pop artist Adrian Bourgeois starts with a great pedigree (his dad being part of the power pop band Bourgeois Tagg in the 80’s) and he’s been playing since he was three years old (no kidding). He’s been weaned on a steady diet of Beatles, Beach Boys and Neil Young growing up in Sacramento, CA. Opening with “Mr. Imaginary Friend,” it’s fresh harmonies and Beatlesque melodies are best compared with Jason Falkner and Michael Penn. This debut continues to be engaging and immediate with the gentle ballad “Clown Review” and continues with “Juniper” an Elton John meets McCartney piano ballad. Other highlights are the violin and guitar ballad “To Be (The First Man on Earth)” which brings comparisons to Elliott Smith or Nick Drake. The very Todd Rundgren-like “Silk from Ashes” picks up the tone with great melodic chorus and those fabulous “do-do-do” backing vocals. The song “My House” has a sweet catchy guitar lead with a superb vocal melody. “Melt in My Mind” continues the chord twisting theatrics with a full horn section and organ solos, that recall the best of Ben Folds. The dreamy “Summertime” continues in that style and doesn’t pull any punches either, as Adrian puts his soul out onto the table here. The Christian faith come out in “Jesus,” and is the sole overtly “Contemporary Christian Music” track. This album is pure power pop and this guy is only twenty years old (Drake Bell has some competition here) and did all of the instrumentation and arrangements. This is a very impressive debut, a top ten contender and I can’t wait to see what’s next. Don’t miss this one.

My Space | CD Baby | Adrian’s site

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Pugwash "Eleven Modern Antiquities"

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Although many iconic power pop bands are influential, very few bands can be called a standard barer for a genre. After the demise of XTC in 2002, other bands would keep alive the style and vision of Andy Partridge and Colin Moulding, but none with the perfection of Pugwash (although The Sugarplastic come close). Pugwash’s newest release ‘Eleven Modern Antiquities’ is a perfect power pop album, with a dazzling array of guest musicians, including Andy Partridge & Dave Gregory of XTC (Andy co-writes two tracks with leader Thomas Walsh), Neil Hannon of The Divine comedy, Michael Penn, Jason Falkner, The Section Quartet and Nelson Bragg of The Brian Wilson Band. The result is an amazingly awesome pop sound and best described by reviewer Alan Haber, “Walsh is a pop pundit who fuels his ideas with his deep-seated love of the pop form, whose admiration of the classic pop sound brought forth by bands like the Move and the Electric Light Orchestra and XTC knows no bounds, who lives and breathes what lies at the heart of great pop music and knows how to mix all of that up and create songs steeped in ideas that sing with melodies and harmony and the odd musical quote, and has the good sense, thank God, to share it all with the world.” The songs along the album have the right amount of balance, from soft ballads to multi-harmonic mid-tempo rock. Every track works, but the highlights here are that modern single “Take Me Away” with a killer bassline that drives the melody. Other ear melting tracks are the ELO-styled ballad “Here” and the sunny perfection of “Your Friend,” my favorite on the album. XTC fans: Don’t even think of buying anything else until you get this album, a top ten of 2008 potential winner for sure. I prefer to call the album “Eleven Modern Miracles” it will cure whatever ails you.

My Space | The Pugwash website | Kool Kat Musik | Not Lame

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