Category: Power Pop Review

“Town and Country” is a sweetly made pop album by Dan Weir and friends, a Nick Lowe-styled blend of guitar and pub rock beats and melodic hooks. “Daytime Emmy” has a sticky bass line and Dan’s soothing vocal keeps the listener paying attention. The songwriting is similar to a mix of  Glen Tilbrook or Al Stewart. Next in “Variations on a Theme By Mo” the theme is “you lie, you suck”- sung like a up-tempo love song. “Bella Vista” takes a slight twang in Americana pop similar to The Eagles. The best power pop standard here is “The Rest of The Night” with a wonderful jangle guitar and uplifting, harmonic chorus. This album is a perfect example of a hidden musical gem waiting to be discovered. In a rotten mix up, this EP is placed on e-music under a similar named band’s discography. However, it’s a wonderful surprise to anyone downloading it. Hopefully a full length follow up is in the works.

My Space | E Music | Itunes

The Ringles have lots of those crunchy fuzztoned guitars and awesome 60’s influenced pysche-pop tunes. Todd Borsch and Tom Rose keep things lively, as the songs style resemble The Resonars or The Pretty Things. The album, however opens with a lot of echo and effects on several early songs and it can mask the vocals a bit too much. Thankfully out of the massive 17 tracks here – there are plenty of great ones. “A New Day” which is an excellent Who-styled Mod tune in the mode of “Can’t Explain.” Things get really trippy with “Lisa’s Riding on Star” – so bring your incense out for this one. The fine acoustic strum of “I Am” opens up to reveal a Byrdsian guitar slice of goodness. This albums’ not called “Rickenbacker Ballet” for nothing. The McGuinn twelve-string style comes out big on “Come Tumbling Down.” The production is sometimes basic and they over treble the mix occasionally here, but the Beatlesque-chiming guitars of “Feeling Nothing at All” brings a smile to these Rickenbacker guitar lovers ears. Other songs like “The Way” get a bit overtly preachy with the Christian lyrics, but it’s a good song. Also, “Alone Tonight” has more than bit of The Beatles’ “Mother Nature’s Son” here. The fuzz earlier on the album gives way to a folk strum on songs like “Early Morning Tea” and is a pleasant pop ballad. Overall, if you love sixties style jangle pop, this one’s a winner.

Jam Records | My Space | CD Baby

Lets start off by referring to this band by the initials SSLYBY, as I like to keep my posts reasonable in word count. It’s often a name that initially seizes the attention of music lovers, but it’s the simple and infectious hooks that turn them into fans. Despite the name, this is a bright fluffy gem of modern indie pop. Opening with the catchy “Glue Girls” it has equal touches of New Pornographers, Belle and Sebastian, and the Shins. “Boring Fountain” is anything but, with a mesmerizing break full of bass and guitar goodness. Then, “Dead Right” flows along with easy going melody and the right touch of strings. If fans of the band Zumpano feel left out, the track “Think I Wanna Die” will bring them out into the sun. The track “HEERS” is a very precious ballad, similar to Elliot Smith. The mood shifts around with those perky guitars always popping into the melody, similar to the stylings of the band Of Montreal. A good example of this is “Oceanographer” with it’s echoing chorus and constant strumming – despite the goofy lyric it begs repeated listening. I totally disagree with Pitchfork here, that you have to offend someone to be memorable. The easy going pace of most of the music and the melodies, prevents it from being another annoying, pretentious Conor Oberst ripoff. On the other hand there isn’t a lot of substance here and that is what this album lacks. It’s light pop fluff, like cotton candy and that’s fine for me once in a while. If lyrics are your big thing might I suggest Milton and The Devil’s Party? If you just want some lazy sunday music, you can buy “Pershing” off the myspace page.

The SSLYBY web site | My Space

Listen to “Glue Girls”

Listen to “Think I Wanna Die”

Okay, we all know that great power pop involves handclaps (and harmonies) at the right moments in a song. Follow Kevin Hillard from Small Sins and the life of a professional pop handclapper. This is truly hilarious. I reviewed Small Sins a while ago so this video was a nice distraction.

When when singer/songwriter Chris Drizen and met bassist Rick Barrio Dill at a Hollywood Hills party they decided to start a band. Then auditions for a guitarist brought them Rami Jrade and his friend drummer George Lind, and 2nd Day Crush was born. Two years later, we get “From the Nights You Lost Your Voice.” This debut album is a polished slice of indie rock, starting with the opening track “The Victim” — a mix of buzzing guitars and beat heavy rhythms. Similar in sound to Semisonic meets Coldplay with a bit of Green Day guitars thrown in. The next tune, “Put Down Your Guns” is a fast paced infectious melody with an easy to digest chorus and the right amount of modern influences. Other songs have bouncy pop to offset the guitar toughness, like in the great “Something Now” and Drizen’s vocals seems to channel both The Rembrandts and Neil Peart in the song “Better Than This.” My favorite here is “I Want To Be There Again” which is one of the better modern pop singles I have heard this year. Stylistically, the band moves around as some songs will remind me of Australia’s Taxiride, (“Walk Away” and “Watch The World”) full of confidence and energy. Every song here sparkles with quality and professionalism, so there are no throw away tracks here either. A drawback for me is the lack of any type of ballad, as the album is on “full speed” through all 12 tracks. However, this is glossy power pop with modern 21st century sensibility — a true bid for pop radio success.

2nd Day Crush web site | My Space | CD Baby

Listen to “Watch the World”