Category: Power Pop Review

The Jet Age is an energetic indie rock band with a very contemporary sound, front man Eric Tischler sounds a little like Ray Davies if he joined The Lemonheads. The indie press seems to love them, from Wired to Pitchfork. This is less power pop, but more a standard rock band with good harmonies and a wall of sound style of production, where layers of guitars fill the audio space completely. A highlight is “Dance” – where a special nod goes to drummer Pete Nuwayser, who does the best Keith Moon impression I’ve heard this year. Other songs bring to mind The Odds or early Sloan (“If I Had You Then, I’d Still Want You Now” has that plus the Kinks thrown in for good measure). Another highlight for me was the mesmerizing “O, Calendar” throwing drum and guitar at you much like Guided By Voices. The flowing, ever repeating guitar rhythms tend to take over many of the songs (“Dumb” is an example of this). The theme of the album is of political nature and the lyrics are pretty insightful in “I Said Alright.” Things get a bit shoegazer on “Now We Are Three” but get a bit punky on “Maybe Love’s A Transmission.” Listen to the streaming album “What Did You Do During The War Daddy?” You can buy the album directly from the band’s website.

The Jet Age Webpage | My Space

Listen to “O, Calendar”

Okay time for a side trip. How about a flashback to the era of “Weird Science” and weirder hairdos? As a follow up to “The Pigs” Geoff Westen is not content in staying with one type of musical style and with his latest “Vidiots – Tune In” we get a flashback to 1982 via new wave pop. Like a bizarre mix of The Talking Heads and The Cars with Roxy Music as your backing band, Westen has the period down perfectly. I am sure at some point, this music will be fashionable again (after all it happened to Disco). As good and slick as the production is the songs themselves don’t really make an impression on me until “Angry Young Man” which would fit nicely into the dance pop category along with Pseudo Echo. “Action Man” is a well written pop tune about “goin’ to a party”. Then some experimental synthpop entered the scene with “Some of you Girls” and he loses me again. If you are patient, you’ll get a good pop tune like “Searching For Love” with a very David Byrne-like vocal. The funky “Friend or Lover” heads into Devo territory and does a excellent job although it seems to drag on over six minutes. If your musical taste runs into this nostalgia trip of day-glo colors, Westen will be happy to start your “party out-of-bounds.”

Disturbing Music | My Space | CD Baby

Goodwin is melodic rock at it’s best, and reminds me why I still listen to old Nuno Bettencourt and Extreme CDs. Opening with “Revelation Of Revolution” it’s balls to the wall rock and roll with melodic choruses and massive guitar riffs. And in the break is a lovely “ooh and ahh” harmonic before the axe solo. “Write for You” has a really nice Foo Fighters feel with a great lyrical turn on a weekly love letter campaign. “Grace” starts out as a pretty standard rocker, but ends in a great dramatic epic fashion with an array of chord changes. “Apparently” is a strong uplifting anthemic song that demands to be played loud. It’s my favorite on this album. The constant ringing guitars are ever present here and work well with the Goodwin’s muscular vocals. Another standout is “Two Again” with rush of lead guitar chords and strong drumming that will have you noding your head in time to the beat. An effective effort is also on the song “Red” – the only song that can be called toned-down at all, and we get a great instumental break with a wailing guitar solo that recalls Eddie Van Halen a bit. “Trading Up” is the sole ballad and it showcases the lead vocal prowess and ends the album. No real duds here, as their sound is consistent over the entire album and overall hard rock fans who like melody in the mix (Foo Fighters, Extreme) will really love this. 

The Goodwin Webpage | My Space | CD Baby | KoolKat Musik | Not Lame

I was very glad to have Parthenon Huxley grant me an interview about his music and and his time in the ELO-incarnation simply known as The Orchestra. Check out the ever growing interview section of the site or this P.Hux Interview link. The album “No Rewind” which was long out of print is now available at P.Hux’s site. ELO fans should not miss this one.

The Afternoons are a Cardiff, UK band that uses smooth vocal harmonies and percussion to get the point across. Richard Griffiths vocal style sounds a lot like Ray Davies. The Afternoons are a perfect pop combination of Belle and Sebastian and/or The Shins with the Kinks guitars and lyrical Britishness. The fourth album, “Sweet Action” builds on the previous success of “Rocket Summer” with more bouncy pop hooks than ever. “High Summer Lover” and “Giving Up On You” are excellent singles with a combination of Giffiths and Sarah Rapis’ contrasting vocals. The instrumentation of the title track (“Sweet Action”) chugs along at a good pace. The cool synths get louder in “The Silver Age” and give me flashbacks of Echo & The Bunnymen. Other good songs here are “We Could Start Over” and the amazing “Don’t Look Back” where you swear the jangle can take you back in time – it’s my favorite track here. The softer tracks on the album (“Where The Arrow Falls”) are almost too neat and tidy and aren’t as successful. The ending track here is a fitting bittersweet finale, “Winter is Dead” is a beautiful slow echoing fade with guitar, harmonica and piano. I would love a cover of “Waterloo Sunset” here, but maybe that’s asking too much. Overall, a very good album, worthy of your ipod.

The Afternoons Website | My Space | KoolKat Musik | Not Lame