Category: Power Pop Review

The House of Summer Nights is a singer/songwriter Jason Kesler’s EP project. It has a poppy alt. country feel on the opening title track. “We Were Young” has a bouncy piano with a respectful nod to Brian Wilson. “Umbrella Sky” stays in that mode complete with sleigh bells. The remaining ballads are jazzy and countrified respectively.
My Space | CD Baby | Itunes

Swedish Fish “Dark Light” is similar to The Cranberries in style and sound lead by Martha Bouchier’s sweet vocals. Formed in 1985 they recently reunited at IPO Toronto. The synth and drum beats surround each tune, and a standout is the dramatic “Dark Light” and the guitar heavy “Lisp.” With 16 tracks, it has a lot of stylistic variety to choose from. It ranges from the sunshine pop of “See You in the Morning” to the angry “Secrets.” If you like new wavey power pop, this is a decent pick up produced by Jamie Vernon at Bullseye Records in Canada.
Bullseye Records | My Space

HIJK “The Pen and The Letter” is a different kind of indie pop band. They take influences from all over the map, and lead singer David Tsui weaves the melodic and the angst together similar to Loud Family meets U2 by way of the New Pornographers. This is very hard to pigeonhole, but it is original and interesting. If you want something hip from your alternative pop, you can’t do better. Each track is engrossing and unpredictable and that’s enough to put HIJK on your music radar. Listen to “Alibi” on the My Space page for a sample.
HIJK Site | MySpace | itunes

Bryan Scary made our top ten last year and already he’s got a follow up on the way. “Flight of the Knife” is due for release April 1, 2008. It was recorded with producer Brian McTear (Apollo Sunshine, Matt Pond PA) between tours last fall. Featuring a harder rocking sound and heavy emphasis on ensemble dynamics, Flight of the Knife captures the band’s acclaimed live sound while expanding upon the studio wizardry and lush eccentricities of Scary’s self-recorded debut, The Shredding Tears. As a special treat to their fans, the band is offering a FREE track to download every week leading up to the release, starting January 8th at FlightoftheKnife.com

Full album review will come soon.

Beachfield is a new project for Go-Betweens drummer, vocalist Glenn Thompson, and it will appeal to fans of The Go-Betweens, Aztec Camera and Crowded House. It’s got a casual breezy feel and tempo. The catchy “One Way Ticket” is a great hummable song and most of the album follows that template. Glenn Thompson’s stories range from the weather (“Wintertime Again”) to his Aussie neighbors (“Suburbian Life”). Most enjoyable track for me is the summery “Birds Eye View” complete with a wonderful silent break before the chorus. A lot of the album takes awhile to grow on you, as the tempos are all similar and this can lead to an auditory monotony. The ballads here like, “Demons” and “Danish Kronor” are okay, but nothing to get too excited about. This album is not so easily available in the states, except through Tower Records Online.

My Space | Eric’s Music | Amazon UK

The Hope Trust is the project of Kelly Upshaw, a singer-songwriter from Denton, Texas. Along with Andy Odom (bass), Winston Chapman (drums), Jeremy Butler (guitar) and Michael Upshaw (guitars, vocals) they have a sweet Americana sound similar to The Pernice Brothers earlier efforts and Wilco. After the rollicking “Break You Down” and very Pernice-like “Run It Through” it settles into an indie folk groove, with “Ok Alright” complete with wistful choruses similar to Neil Finn. The musicanship is superb and the production is clean here as well. If you like your alt-country with a bit of melodic melancholy, this is the perfect poison for you. On the other side of the coin, there may be too much gloom here with tracks like “Repent”, “World Without End” and “Mountain I Can’t Climb” – it’s enough to drive a man to drink. The lack of any upbeat songs after the opening tracks is a real downer here. Good job, Hope Trust. After hearing this I have an “incurable want” for some Jack Daniels with Gary Louris. Depressed Alt country lovers unite!

Hope Trust site | My Space | CD Baby | Itunes

Tony Low, a founding member of New York’s renowned garage-psychedelic pop band The Cheepskates, has been writing and recording his songs since the early 1980’s. Like the Kinks Ray Davies, Tony has a good story along with a killer riff that makes listening a pure pop pleasure. Starting with the excellent “Winter of Black Ice” – it’s a real treat for Kinks fans. The next track “This Old House” has a clean pop approach similar to Chris Stamey and the DBs. Needless to say fans of The early REM or The Cheepskates will love all of Tony’s stuff. The music is rich in melody and the jangle in “Spirals” is a catchy example. The autobiographical “In This Life” is a bit depressing, but still not off putting. The ballads here like, “All is Coming” have a pop softness that is not unlike Andrew Gold. Low dosen’t come across too tough, even on the fuzzy “Not the Lucky Ones” – it still approaches music that is best described as “easy listening,” but that label is really maligned and I use the term in the best sense. The album ends with “Brave Michael” a fitting Brian Wilson-styled ballad. This album is most worthy of a jangle pop fans attention.

My Space | Kool Kat Musik | CD Baby | Not Lame

Listen to “Brave Michael”