Scott Gagner “Rise & Shine”

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Scott Gagner follows up his acclaimed debut Rhapsody in Blonde LP with this love letter to balladeers of the ’70s. You’ll clearly hear the influences of Gordon Lightfoot and James Taylor in the opener “I’ve Taken a Shine to You.” The single “Waterloo” features keys by Ken Stringfellow (The Posies) is a warm sing along with its slow shimmering chorus. The easy listening instrumentation of “Take It Easy On Yourself” becomes a magical Mangione-like pep talk with Rob Dehlinger’s trumpet. Lots of vivid characters are here, from the romantic “Moonlight Dancing” to the lonely drunk on “I’ll Be Drinking This Christmas.”

My favorite track is “Catch My Breath” with its catchy chorus rich with layered harmonies. It also contains a cover of The Ink Spots 1941 classic “I Don’t Want to Set the World on Fire.” The albums last few tracks are sparse and sorrowful, finishing with “Sentimental Lullaby.” While not a happy album, it certainly is heartfelt. A beautifully appropriate soundtrack to a cold winters night.

Bandcamp | CD Baby

Cheap Star and Dream Boys

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Cheap Star “Rosetta Stone” EP
This musical link to both Big Star and The Posies is lead by French native Remi Vaissiere (vocals/guitars) and his super-star band: Brian Young (Fountains of Wayne) on drums, Jon Auer (Posies) on guitar, and Ken Stringfellow (Posies) on bass/keyboards/vocals.

This third EP is very much like the earlier efforts. The Gram Parsons cover “A Song For You” and country-styled “On The Other Side” are superb low key ballads that don’t draw too much attention, and the energy level pushes up with the catchy chorus of “Kelly Slayer.” The guitars start to crunch on “Live Without It” but are careful not to overwhelm the lead vocal. The instrumentation here is also excellent and nothing here feels like filler. While its very palatable and will please most fans, the music will not make you forget those early Posies hits either. The band dedicated this EP to the  memory of Scott Miller from the Loud Family and Game Theory. Amen.

CD Baby | Kool Kat Musik | Amazon

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Dream Boys “Dream Boys”
Dream Boys is an L.A. band with the right combination of West Coast indie attitude and 80’s jangle pop. Lead by Glasgow born Wallace Meek, his jangle-tastic approach also recalls Paisley Underground greats like The La’s, Three O’Clock and Dream Syndicate. The swirling chords are positively hypnotic on the catchy “Born Yesterday” and “Through and Through.”

Most of the songs here follow that rhythmic pattern, but the vocal harmonies are a highlight on “Holding Pattern” that bring to mind The Ocean Blue. No throwaway tracks here, and the quality of musicianship is consistently excellent. Some may find the lack of stylistic variety a little dull, but the Dream Boys really do craft a psychedelic experience that few bands can match. Highly recommended.

Amazon

Free Music Monday: The Joe Giddings Theme Collection

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Joe Giddings

I must give a big shout out to the talented Joe Giddings (JTG Implosion) for spending the past few years indulging us with his favorite covers. Some tunes are faithful like Badfinger’s “Come and Get It” or creative interpretations like Tears for Fear’s “Head Over Heels” (Volume 3). And Joe will occasionally whip out a cool little known gem, I mean who else has covered the theme to “Nanny and The Professor” (Volume 2)?  Some of my favorite oldies are also included, like The Nazz’s “Open My Eyes” (Volume 1). This is a real treasure trove… Enjoy!

Free Music Friday: Cricketbows, The Crush and Vira Casaca

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Cricketbows – We’ve featured Cricketbows before, so now these semi-exclusive demo tracks are being hosted by Power Popaholic at a “name-your-price” option. These songs will be part of Cricketbow’s next album release of 2014. Just listen to the lyrics of “Raised On Rock and Roll.” It’s pretty damn sweet.

The Crush – This unsigned Seattle band does it bouncy and “The Hook” is exactly what you think it is. Like a female fronted version of The Raspberries, they also have a very 60’s-like track called “Bliss”, that’s for FREE too.  My guess is they won’t stay unsigned for too long.

Vira Casaca – They’re from Lisbon, Portugal. They rock in Portuguese. Pick up this single that reminds me of The Connection a little. Hmm, didn’t that band just finish a tour there recently? Wonder if a full release will show up?

 

Also we’ve shared the Cricketbows tracks with CaptainSIB a blog from Scotland, UK. Look! They did a cool write up.

Bob Evans “Familiar Stranger”

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Sidney York

Well this is an album that would’ve definitely ranked very high on my 2013 top album list, if it was available in the United States. It’s impossible to get domestically (sold only in Australia) BUT you can easily hear the entire album on SoundCloud. From the opening vocal harmonies on “Footscray Park” you’ll be hooked. I hope one day it will be available to those of us who live in the USA.