Scott Grant “Gemini”

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Scott Grant follows the great tradition of those 70’s rockers, and gives us a pretty impressive debut album. Opening with the acoustic strum and shuffling melody of “Dream Away” it’s got a good hook in the chorus and a desending bridge that leads to a brilliant coda with “do do do” harmonies at the fade out. Then a baroque harpsichord opens up “Just Like We Do,” a piano melody similar to the style of Emmit Rhodes emerges, with its gorgeous Beatlesque overtones.

The organ and rhythmic funk of “What You See Is What You Get” recalls Lenny Kravitz “It Ain’t Over Till It’s Over,” Grant does a decent job though his vocal strains a bit here. After these gems the albums settles down a bit. It’s fun to play “spot the influence,” but the ballads don’t really stick with you. Grant’s voice is better suited to the soulful “Sonic For You,” a good mix of Peter Chris and Steve Forbert. Towards the albums last few tracks, starting with “Nevermind” it brings to mind a Hendrix ballad and  “Sunshine Serenade” is a blast with John Bonham drum beats and the great fuzz guitars a la Kravitz “Let Love Rule”. Our dramatic finish to the album, “Halcyon Days” and “Hold On” starts quite but slowly becomes a layered orchestration along the lines of  Derek & The Dominos “Layla.”  It’s all admittedly derivative, but fans of classic 70’s rock will still love this.

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V Sparks and Pluto The Ninth

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V Sparks “Biscuits and Tea EP” and “Medium Rare”
Fans of Marc Bolan and Bowie will flip for this prime example of classic glam rock. This Chicago band is lead by Prescott Kagan (Vocals, Guitar) and joined by Keith Hosmer (Bass) and Adam Long (Drums).

Starting with strings and the backing “ooh la la” chorus, “On My Arm” starts off and the guitar assault begins. The EP is really good and a FREE download. This appetizer warmed me up to get the newer LP Medium Rare for only $3. If you ever wanted to hear more Ziggy Stardust with a side of The Dandy Warhols, this will do it for you. The vox led “Dreaming of Outerspace” is a really cool instrumental, mixing Queen and ELO. Some of these are just quick musical ideas, but it’s still all good.

Bandcamp only.


Pluto The Ninth “1,2,3 Chicken!” EP
Pluto The Ninth are the quirky duo of singer/songwriters Jonathan Wandag and Amalia Miller. Comparisons to Pomplamoose are inevitable here, as both bands have had some commercial success with sophisticated and catchy themes.

But Pluto the 9th are just starting to emerge on the radar, their self produced EP is a great little sampler – “Nightmare Girl” and “Dead Birds and Bees” will win over fans of Bryan Scary, Queen and Jackdaw4. “Oh How It Would Be” seems tailor-made for a ipod commercial featuring Ms. Miller’s sweet vocal over toy piano. The sunny “Born Again Friends” recall The Corner Laughers and the instrumental “Molly Mechanique” wouldn’t be out of place on the soundtrack to Martin Scorsese’s Hugo.

Vibedeck

Shoes “Ignition”

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80’s Power Pop icons Shoes are back. The self-produced and released LP on the band’s own Black Vinyl Records, Ignition proves Shoes still embrace and fly the banner of melodic guitar-driven pop.

“Head Vs. Heart” starts us off  with the sweeping chords and harmonies — it’s pitch perfect Shoes power pop. The mid-tempo jangle comes next on “The Joke’s On You” with its clean layers of guitars in the verses up to the chorus. The Shoes sound is very distinctive and the musicianship here is perfection.

The band manages to scale back the synths and mix up the formula as “Heaven Help” talks about the stifling uncertainty of love and it’s chorus reminds me of the Travelling Wilburys. The band also has some fun with “Hot Mess,” imitating the Stones with strutting Keith Richards-styled rhythms. Jeff Murphy’s political views come forth in “Where Will It End”  and most impressive is the minor key masterpiece “Out of Round” written about a departed friend.  Each of the 15 tracks manage to fly by and encourage repeat listens. The final track “Only We Remain” is a bit dragged out, but states the band’s purpose succinctly “Do what we wanna do. Livin’ for today.” Like the cover implies, Ignition is sure to lift your spirits.

European Power Pop Special: Trois

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European Pop Special 3: Okay I did some further digging in Europe for power pop, and we have a pair of artists from France and one from Leon, Spain.

Brigitte “Et vous, tu m’aimes?”
This hot duo drip with exotic coolness on the opening track “Battez Vous,” and their debut album went platinum in France. Named after 60’s French actress Brigitte Bardot, they are lounge-pop revivalists with great talent and style. Fans of the recent Corner Laughers album will really dig “Corur de Chewing Gum” – it will have you singing along in French! A lot of the tunes are slow pop ballads, but the standouts are the bouncy title track and disco-styled “Oh La La.”

BB Brunes “Nico Teen Love”
French pop-punk trio BB Brunes features members who have known each other since they were kids. In 2005, a demo recording caught the ears of an indie producer and they’ve been at it ever since. They remind me of The Monkees if they had gone garage punk. The hard riffs also recall the band Jet. The albums “Nico Teen Love” and “Blonde Comme Moi” are what I listened to, and used CDs are reasonably priced for imports.

Cooper “Aeropuerto”
From Leon Spain, Cooper sparkles with energy, similar to The Wellingtons or Farrah except in Spanish. “Hyde Park” is an example of this, ringing Rickenbacker guitars and hand clapped beat make it great in any language. The swirling chords and jangle of “El Circulo Polar” is another winner. In fact most of the album follows this approach, with a break for mid-tempo indie ballad “En La Sofa” and the trippy “Lisboa.” Also impressive are “Steph” and “El Sueno.”