Category: Highly Recommended by Powerpopaholic

Maple Mars and The Bishop’s Daredevil Stunt Club

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The Vague Ideas

Maple Mars “Someone’s Got To Listen”

Maple Mars has been at the nexus of power pop and psychedelic rock, and Someone’s Got To Listen finds Rick Hromadka and his able crew (Steve Berns, Ron Pak, and Joe Giddings) bringing the hooks on then opener “Useless Information,” with a timely warning that we are “moving in the wrong direction.” Then the epic psych-pop, “Gliding” offers grand themes with stadium-sized sound. This approach is also on the expansive 5-minute “Silver Craft.” But Rick can still craft tasty power pop melodies and “Anchors Aweigh” is another great tune.

It gets trippier with “Someone Take The Wheel,” the gurgling reverb contrasts perfectly with the harmonies and the central themes of reflection and transition are beautifully done in “Crooked Smile.” While Hromadka hasn’t approached Maple Mars in ten years, the time away has made the music that much better as a group effort. Songs tend to linger, like the apocalyptic vision of “Goodbye California,” and add to this not a single bad track here. Many thanks to the premiere label Big Stir Records for getting this done. Highly Recommended and an easy pick for my 2022 top ten list.

Big Stir Records | Amazon | Kool Kat Musik

The Bishop's Daredevil Stunt Club

The Bishop’s Daredevil Stunt Club “Please Stand By”

Chicago’s Bishop’s Daredevil Stunt Club delivers the follow-up to 2019’s End Over End. The Cheap Trick influence remains strong here, “Pony Up” has several nicely layered riffs, but feels repetitive. “Hold You Up” and “Silverball” fare much better, with building verses and more fine guitar work. “The Lift” is another highlight, reminding me a little of Extreme. The band certainly knows how to rock, and “Fifty Foot Woman” brings those heavy riffs to the forefront.

However, it does lack the pop hooks, until we get to “Tremor Control II” which also adds some Cars-like synths. This was my favorite song here, and even though “Joni, It’s Not Like That” has an interesting melody, it’s a bit obscure to write about Happy Days characters nowadays. The tone and influences start to shift with “What They’re After.” It starts out fine and goes off into guitar solo indulgence towards the end. The songs also tend to overstay their welcome (most clocking in at over 4:00 minutes). ”Bah Bah Bah” is over 7 minutes long, and while its technically proficient, the suite isn’t that memorable. Overall not a bad album, but you may want to start with End Over End first.

Amazon | Kool Kat Musik

Late-July EPs and more: Sloan, Richard Turgeon, Kurt Baker, Sunshine Boys, Geoff Palmer, The Happy Somethings

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Celebrating the fact that Sloan has a new album due out in October, we get the single “Spend The Day” to whet our appetites. What a prolific band, and speaking of prolific, Richard Turgeon has a sweet new EP Rough Around The Edges, check out the riffage on “I Never Loved You,” a classic power pop-sounding gem. The dense grunge-like rhythms are in contrast to the crisp re-released and remastered Kurt Baker solo Brand New Beat. This is without a doubt my favorite of his albums, and every song is top shelf, plus a boat-load of extra tracks (a total of 26) – so worth it.

Sad to say, but The Sunshine Boys are calling it quits, the trio leaves us with a pair of great tunes, both “Underwater” and “The Beginning.” If you want more buzz in your riffs, Geoff Palmer (The Connection) fits your needs perfectly. The FREEBIE this time is the lovely unpolished harmonies of The Happy Somethings from the UK. Great jangling happy melodies, full of irony guaranteed to brighten your day.





The Vague Ideas and Caleb Nichols

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The Vague Ideas

The Vague Ideas “New York Letters”

UK singer-songwriter Glenn Prangnell (Groovy Uncle) and New Jersey musician Mare Rozzelle formed The Vague Ideas and came up with a rock musical based on the book ‘The Songs of John Lennon: The Beatles Years.’ The songs were started by book author and Berklee professor, John Stevens, but Glenn finished the project in 2021 after his passing. The songs are based on imaginary letters written or received by John Lennon during his post-Beatles time in New York. The cast of Jonh’s life is all here; Cynthia, Yoko, Julian, Sean, Paul, Mimi, May Pang, and even Richard Nixon.

The Lennonesque vocals and arrangements are stunningly accurate and well written. This is a musical salve to Beatle fans, and you’d swear John wrote these tunes himself. The tender love song format fits “I Had To Go (Letter To Cynthia)” perfectly, and the pounding piano works on the funny “Nixon’s Listening (Letters to Tricky Dicky).” You will spend hours playing “spot-the-influence” with each tune, but it tells a straight narrative and there isn’t a note of filler here. Highly Recommended.

Amazon | Kool Kat Musik


Caleb Nichols

Caleb Nichols “Ramon”

Caleb Nichols’ solo debut, Ramon, is more than a tribute to The Beatles, McCartney’s Ram, or John Lennon’s Imagine.  It’s a love story between The Beatles’ Mean Mr. “Ramon” Mustard and a ship captain named Jerome Custard. Using the fictional characters from Abby Road’s songs, Nichols weaves a tale of gay love, loathing, and tragedy.

The first track, “Listen to the Beatles” with its “Dear Prudence” rhythm makes clear the middle school atmosphere, and his inner thoughts while listening to his favorite band. A standout here is the McCartneyesque “Run Rabbit Run” with its quick-witted lyric and catchy chorus. The aching ballads (“Ramon” and “I Can’t Tell You”) are closer to Elliot Smith than the former Fabs. But the pounding bass on “She’s The Beard” clearly illustrates closeted anxiety. “Jerome” is another highlight which feels like a Beatles-Prince hybrid. However, some themes feel too repetitive (“From a Hole in The Road”) or are just boring. But overall a good album worth exploring, especially if you’re a Beatles fan.

Amazon

Mid July singles, freebies, and more: Johnathan Pushkar, Wesley David, Neal Mehta, Fernando Perdomo, Vitsa Blue, The Amplifier Heads

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Nashville singer-songwriter Johnathan Pushkar was inspired by the new Thor movie to make a song about everyone’s favorite Asgardian hero. While it doesn’t mesh well with the Guns N’ Roses music the movie used, it’s a pretty cool song on its own (and who doesn’t love Legos?) Old Town Crier does a damn good job with its new EP “You,”especially that guitar break in the title track. Also, check out “Coal River Mountain.” Wesley David is a recent discovery, and count me impressed with his songwriting ability – check out “I’ll Be Damned!” Another potential star Neal Mehta has a rich harmony and dense instrumentation on “Lonely Cloud.” Guitarist extraordinaire Fernando Perdomo has “greatest hits” of sorts with Jangle, and if you aren’t familiar with him — this is a perfect primer. Everything here is great, I love “Girl With A Record Collection” and “This Can Be You.” If you want a dose of Ramones-like rock, then you can’t do better than Vista Blue. Stay Gold is a FREEBIE made for blasting out the car stereo with the windows down on “Friday Night.” Finally, Sal Baglio of The Amplifier Heads wrote the single “Space Cadette” for the Nashville show They Came To Rock. Woo! Enjoy the summer!






Rogers & Butler and Kevin Robertson

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Rogers & Butler

Rogers & Butler “Brighter Day”

Edward Rogers and Stephen Butler are a great pairing of rock veterans who work seamlessly together on their second long-player. Influences range from Ray Davies to Tom Petty, but this pairing feels like a modern update to those classic artists and the music is both immediate and inviting. The duo also benefits from a terrific band; Don Piper on guitars, backing vocals, and percussion, Sal Maida on bass, Konrad Meissner on drums, Joe McGinty on keyboards, Joe Chiofalo on accordion, and Chris Carmichael on strings.

Many of the songs early on feel like a reaction to the world during the pandemic, as the title track opener wishes for a “Brighter Day” and the cabin fever restlessness of “Where Does the World Hide” impresses with its catchy chorus. “Last Reply” is a moving piano love ballad and the gentle jangle of “A Perfect Market Day” has Rogers gives us a nice slice of life, which has a Beatlesque touch. Another big standout is the dramatic midtempo “The Sun Won’t Shine” which flows beautifully, and the folky “Oh Romeo” has that lovely mandolin tremolo. Not a bad song here, although the weary “Cabaret,” feels like it belongs on a different album. Overall, a great album that’s highly recommended.

Amazon

Kevin Robertson

Kevin Robertson “Teaspoon of Time”

Scottish singer-songwriter Kevin Robertson(Vapour Trails) specializes in delightful 12-string jangle pop and psych-pop. Obviously, fans of the Byrds and CSNY will love this. The warm “Tough Times (Feel Like That)” and his double-tracked vocal harmony blend is so cool, that you could listen to it on a loop. Kevin also enlisted a contingent of expert sidemen like Nick Bertling, Andrew Taylor (Dropkick), Dave Morgan (The Loft / Weather Prophets), and many more. “Psychedelic Wedding Song” is exactly what you’d expect – wedding vows set to trippy backward guitar riffs. “Forty-Five Losing Street” starts to feel like the Byrds'”My Back Pages” until the break in the chorus changes the tempo completely. The next song “Rather Hide” also uses this technique to prevent predictability.

Robertson does his best to keep things fresh, “Sleepy Island Sound” has a bouncier tempo to prevent things from drifting too mellow. It starts to feel more influenced by Gerry Beckley (America) on “Magnify The Sun” and “Misty Dew Soaked Mountains.” Overall, an improvement over Kevin’s debut Sundown’s End, and it’s also highly recommended.

Kool Kat Musik