Category: Power Pop Review

Leave it to an Englishman like Aaron Hemmington to craft an album full of Californian sunshine pop. Fans of Jellyfish/Wondermints will be drawn to the sunshine fuelled harmonies and intricate harpsichord arrangements. I wanted to give Hemmington props for just getting the sound and spirit of The Beach Boys and Curt Boettcher late sixties era right. The opening track “Greenacre Lanes” gets it rolling with a candy colored melody and catchy chorus. In fact he’s gotten positive feedback from both Jeff Foskett and Nelson Bragg of Brian Wilson’s band for his musical skills. “Free Rider” has a great jangling guitar sound that recalls Gary Zekley’s pop band The Yellow Balloon. And the psychedelic pop on the tunes “Feeling Just Fine” and “Your Smile” are wonderful harmonic diversions. The songs are at once light-and-airy in their atmosphere, and masterfully complex in their construction. There will be plenty of “spot the riff” moments, where it sounds like whole parts of Pet Sounds have been re-used (“Down At Pallisades”). Unfortunately much of the songwriting suffers from a lack of variety, as many songs start with similar piano progressions and rhythms. Unless you’re a huge Brian Wilson fanatic, it wears thin by the albums end. If you can get past that fact, you are in for a real treat. I sincerely hope there is a follow up album, as enjoyable sunshine pop is a rare find nowadays.

MySpace | CD Baby | ReverbNation

Native New Yorker Jana Peri has been a welcome sight at IPO in recent years, and I wanted to give her props for her solo album, which is a love letter to New York styled rock and roll. Her vocals are reminiscent of Debbie Harry with a touch of Joan Jett, whipped together in a Ramones-styled stew. The guitars have a strong Merseybeat influence on the opener “City Beat.” Fans of CBGB style punk will appreciate the theme “New York Proud” and the fast-paced riffs on “L.A. Girl” have both choice distortion and a melodic touch. The album treads a few familiar styles, as “All Your Fault” uses the opening baseline to “The Beat Goes On” and on “The Boy From Bayonne” is a Shangri-La’s flavored heartache story. Jana excels at both vocals and riffs here and makes it look easy. She leaves it all out there for you on the guitar filled epic “Lust” and the defiant attitude comes through on “I Wanna Rock.” A very noteworthy full length debut.

MySpace | CD Baby | Not Lame

As a change of pace, power pop icon Richard X. Heyman puts on his garage/bar band hat and with the rest of the Doughboys (Mike Caruso, Bass – Gar Francis & Willy Kirchofer, guitars – Myke Scavone, vocals and percussion) and play classic rock a la Kinks. Through the grit of Scavone’s vocals is a classic rock and roll sound, and the tell tale hooks on Heyman’s penned “Why Can’t She See Me?” are a welcome treat here. Scavone does some excellent Mick Jagger styled blues on “Carmalina” and the Animals-styled “It’s Alright” are just a few of the gems here. The tinkle of the piano and saxophones on “Queen City” are fun to listen to, but the songwriting on Heyman’s tracks match the band’s bar room sound with equal intensity on “I’m That Kind Of Man.” For more muscle listen to the awesome “I’m Not Your Man” and Gar Francis’ hot guitar licks. Contributors include engineering work by Kurt Reil (The Gripweeds) and Ed Stasium (Ramones, Smithereens). The band has been around for years doling out heavily muscled bar tunes, and now the melody is front and center. Very nice.

The Dudes are a Calgary band with a classic rock sound in the best sense. A bit like early Collective Soul mixed with Big Star, in other words – what rock and roll is supposed to sound like. With the first riffs of the opening track, “Honest Mistake” it will please fans right away, as lead singer Dan Vacon wears his soul on his sleeve. The next song “Girl Police” is a loving tribute to Cheap Trick in the opening notes and then piles on hook after hook. Vacon’s vocal delivery is a little like Queen with an Adam Levine (Maroon 5) styled twist. Another great tune is the narrative “Mr. Someone Else,” a snarky love letter to your best friend’s hot girlfriend. The albums theme of the hard time getting good lovin’ is both romantic and deeply cynical, but overall plenty of fun. Currently, the band is living up to the album title, by suffering a rash of injuries (Vacon broke his collarbone in a BMX accident, and his drummer Scott Ross lost some teeth on the same bike a week later). Some call this a “cursed” album because of the recent band accidents, but you can’t blame the music here. Most of the tracks are pretty solid and some tunes like the mid-tempo “Petty Lies” are almost poised to break into a standout chorus, but just don’t quiet get there. Overall a pretty good driving album with enough diversity in the track list to ensure repeat listens.

Bandcamp | MySpace | Amazon

Get a gander at some other top ten lists…

• Gary Pig Gold’s Noughtie Top Twenty
• Power Pop Overdose Top Ten
• Mike Baron’s Top Ten

I’ve been gathering some new reviews the past few days, as the year winds down I’ll slowly return to posting more often. In the meantime here is a review of 2009 with the boys from Jib Jab.