Category: Power Pop Review

While a lot of modern indie pop can be only be considered fodder for the next Apple commercial or teen drama, sometimes you will find a band that spends more effort to transcend that label. I believe Faded Paper Figures does enough to push that envelope on it’s debut “Dynamo.” Opening with “North by North” and the very best song on the album, the catchy “B Film” it pulses with clean crisp guitars and a perfect drum machine beat. The sound gets even richer on “Logos” which brings to mind Ivy. Electronic beeps wash across strategic beats, surrounded by a simple guitar ballad in “Future Self” – it begins to follow this template in “Metropolis” and “I Fell Off My Name.” Somewhere past the albums midpoint the synth effects begin to interfere with the melody (“Geneva’s Gone”) or the songs get too dull (“Red State”) but thankfully the Faded Paper Figures follow the overindulgence with more smart, precise tunes like “The Persuaded” and “Being There.” The melodic skills here are evident – much like Tim Myers debut, this mines the same sunny indie pop place. If you enjoy the Orba Squara, Postal Service, or Magnetic Fields quieter moments you are sure to enjoy this album. Again, not quiet power pop but on the indie pop spectrum it’s worth the effort for those moments of melodic brilliance.

Faded Paper Figures website | My Space | CD Baby

Deleted Waveform Gatherings – the musical meshing of Dipsomaniacs leader, Øyvind Holm from Trondheim, Norway takes the Rainbow Quartz psyche-pop sound and updates it with modern pop slickness. Taking cues from Guided By Voices and Gripweeds, the opener “Tiger Rider” is a great single with looping guitars and harmonies sure to please any power pop fan. “All Our Futures” and “Good As Gone” take a more alternative route, similar to Robert Harrison’s Future Clouds and Radar, or even a more poppy sounding Love and Rockets. The title track “Little Baby Warfare” gets better here as Holm’s vocals are less strained, and the driving guitar melody is supported by a collage of other instrumental tracks during the break. Sometimes the experimental bend of the instruments will drown out the melodies, like on “Mental Balance Movement” – do you need the drums to go spastic on a ballad here? And “The New Rain” feels like a GBV snippet extended to six minutes. Thankfully, by mid album the songs are more accessible. “Even A Black Cat” is a classic highlight here, with a great big melodic hook. A bunch of excellent songs end the album with the more positive pop of “Melt-Down Kisses,” the bittersweet ballad “Razor Light” and the wonderful Beatlesque “Backwards To Zero.” I think some fans will like the neo-pysche pop better than I did and others may find the more traditional songs too plain. It’s a toss up, but there is definitely something here for everyone, and the quality tunes here make this an album worth getting.

My Space | Not Lame | Amazon

I met CJ Grogran at IPO New York and foud his set pretty good, so afterwards his agent gave me a copy of his CD “newsongtwo.” Co-Produced by Kurt Reil of The Gripweeds, who plays drums on the tracks here as well, Grogan has the talent that carries a lot of these classic rock and roll styled songs. There are hints of The Beatles, Smithereens, The Gripweeds, and even Bob Mould in his influences. The album spans many different moods and approaches. A great example is “Go” with expansive guitar and organ that builds to it’s dense chorus of gentle harmony and swirling guitar melody. Vocally he’s a bit like Steve Winwood and he pounds the piano keys and bares his emotions on “Thrashing Doves,” but the mood lightens on the pop tribute “Bacharach” where the classical pop piano contrasts well with his mellow vocal, and with the horns here it’s reminiscent of Terry Kath-era Chicago. I appreciate the wonderful contemplative acoustic guitar and sitar on “Fall Down on Me,” as opposed to the hard rock sound of “Colourblind” which sounds less distinctive here. So what follows on the album is some nice memorable tracks (“Painted Line”) followed by artistic wanderings (“The Once In A While” and “NewSongtoo”) and then some straight forward power pop (“Turning The Beat”). So you have an album that has a bit of everything, like a box of Whitman Chocolates – you’re never sure what you’ll get; either something soft and sweet or dark and nutty (jeez! enough with the candy metaphors). More often than not you’re enjoying the precise musicianship and melodic touches of brilliance on display.

CJ Grogan Site | My Space | Not Lame

Choo Choo is from Switzerland, and is a self-described “Steam Powered” garage pop band. It’s easy to get excited when I heard the opener “A Little Wiser Now” with organ, guitar, drums and a killer hook that sticks like glue. Like many Rainbow Quartz bands, the retro sixties sound is bent to suit the songwriting of lead singer Dan Joerg. “Your Heart is Breaking Down” is another good song with a Doors-like organ solo and “la la” harmony at the break. The party atmosphere is evident in “All I Know” and the band has a crisp loud sound. This sound shares a lot in common with both The Clash and The Alarm, as well as 60s garage bands, and newer retro bands like The Ugly Beats or The Cynics. At some point the hooks leave the songs (“Half as Good”, “You Don’t Understand”) and you are left with that raw party energy, nothing else here gets close to that first single. Another standout is “Losing Balance” which comes closer to the Clash’s sound than any other song here. Also by the albums mid point, the Farfisa organ takes over the lead of the band and the songwriting gets less pop and more of a punk style. This may be okay for most listeners, to me it felt like it was the band was coasting a bit. It’s also worth noting that the cool cover has the band taped to the floor with duct tape. Where have I seen this before? The last track “I Ain’t Coming Home” is a great finish where the guitar sound and the harmonies return to add to the manic energy of the finale. Worth a listen for sure and I wouldn’t mind seeing these guys on stage either.

Choo Choo Website | My Space | Itunes

Listen to “Your Heart is Breaking Down”

Northampton, MA based Chris Scanlon is a pop guitarist with a knack for both pop and folk that he displays on his debut “U-Turn.” The theme here is re-visiting your past and if you are a New Jersey native like Scanlon, that’s just a bonus to the plot line here. Opening up with the acoustic guitar strum of “Marianas Trench” it brings to mind a little bit of Bruce Hornsby’s rhythm. This leads to the playful “Fish Daddy” which draws you in with fiddle and hand claps, and Scanlon’s vocals approach the chorus with great enthusiasm, like a campfire hoedown. Another standout, “Jersey Boy” is a pretty cool autobiographical song with some nice guitar and horn work.The slower ballads are also well done (“Matawan” and “This House”) and have a passing resemblance to another Jersey boy, Bruce Springsteen (they actually met up a few times). Scanlon gets pretty inventive on “My Name is Chaka” with it’s scat and funky bass, and it’s my favorite song on the album. The next few songs, “Punk Rock Girl” and “Cousin Stinky” have an eighties power pop sound, like 20/20 or Paul Collins’ Beat. These are decent songs, but don’t have the energy and spirit of the earlier tracks, and the latter tracks on the album “My Mother’s House” and title track slow things down again, it showcases Scanlon’s soulful croon. Fans of adult contemporary singer/songwriter pop will enjoy this one quite a bit.

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