Terry Anderson and The Olympic Ass-Kickin Team “National Champions”
Terry Anderson has a world class band with The Olympic Ass-Kickin Team. A real treat that keeps the energy throughout, the band has a sound that combines the Dave Edmunds, Tom Petty and the Stones in one tight package. The guitar attack of the opener “Goin’or Comin’” chugs along with a great hook and rhythm guitar riff. “Wille Mays” is playful sarcastic rip on Barry Bonds, and would not sound out of place on YepRoc’s Baseball Project. It’s a great song full of power and fury. It’s hard to make domestic violence funny, but it works with “You Had Me At Get Lost” and Terry channels’ classic Who with “Is We Or Ain’t We.” He continues to bust chops on redneck life with”Pow’ful “Merka” and rockabilly sweetness with “Indy 500.” Other songs deal with sex and sexy women — and the OAK team really sounds like it’s having fun playing all this. Every song here cracks with excitement and hooks, and even Terry’s inner Jerry Lee Lewis comes out with “Found Missin’.” If the first album was merely very good, “National Champions” gets elevated to greatness. Don’t miss this one.

MySpace | CDBaby| Doublenaught Records

Brass Bed “Midnight Matinee”
Brass Bed is like digging through a record bin and discovering an unknown album by a favorite artist, only to find it better than the one’s you’ve already heard. So say the press notes. It’s fair to say that’s partially true. After a very Wilco-like opening “BBC Midnight Broadcast” with strange percussion it begins to kick into gear with catchy “On The Road” lead by strong guitar strumming and drums. The mix of instrumental styles and effects is similar to those great Elephant Six bands like Olivia Tremor Control, with the strange but compelling “Olivia.” The punk rhythms and jangle guitar work well on “Split Decision” too. Standouts here are “Make Me Cry,” a piano and vocal harmony duel with a quirky doo wop texture and the excellent “Polar Birds” with amazing guitar skills at the songs end. However, there are too many odd fits and starts to keep the intensity of the album afloat. Often songs like “Killer Bees” seem calculated to be “weird” for weirdness sake. Otherwise this is a band to keep your eye on.

MySpace | CD Baby | Brass Bed site

If find it pretty funny that music review sites Pitchfork and Pop Matters decided to slam this album hard as a total failure. Pitchfork mentions that it’s bad because the songs have “snappy riffs; catchy choruses follow melodic verses; and the opposite sex is the main subject matter.” Hey Doofus! That’s what power pop is all about! The critic spends most of the article saying they’re sound is just old and obsolete. There is also lingering bias against Hanson’s old band in particular. It’s true the combo of Taylor Hanson’s vocal and Adam Schlesinger’s melodic compositions are immediate and accessible – and it’s nothing groundbreaking or new. “Kind Of A Girl” is a great rock single, and “Messing With My Head” is a real strutting standout that has the catchiest riff here. Other tracks do a good job here, mixing a bit of Hanson’s most recent sound with a late 70’s influenced rock style – so Cheap Trick fans will love this. “Without Love” is a classic mid-tempo rocker that has nice guitar solo flourishes, and that sticky vocal phrasing. “Cha Cha” continues this trend, but “We Got Something” reminds me too much of Hanson’s teen bubblegum period. It’s a fine line between catchy and annoying that it flirts with here.  Thankfully, another standout “Nothing To Me” shows up with a sweet hook that recalls early Foreigner. They coast a bit towards the albums end with “Doncha Wanna” and “Take Me Back.” I guess the problem here is expectations, when a super-group forms we expect something more. It’s kind of like an All-Star lineup, that hits only a few singles (no home runs we really want). I will also admit the lyrics are nothing to write home about, and yes, that’s what makes a few tracks forgettable. But, this is by no means a bad album. If you compare it to some of the other mindless rock pop out there (Paris Hilton?), it still sounds better. Ignore the music media elite and join the hoi polloi when listening to this album. 

Ryan Lindsey grew up in the small town of Stillwater, Oklahoma. Lindsey is also a member of the indie rock group The Starlight Mints, but Ryan recently recorded a solo album. Legendary composer, arranger, producer Van Dyke Parks heard the finished product and introduced Ryan to a record label, and the result is “White Paper Beds.” This is a sturdy set of a 12 songs that drift along at a causal pace. Fans of Elliot Smith, Jeremy Messersmith, David Mead, and the more commercial Tim Myers will enjoy this immensely. Opening with “Future Employment” it has a plaintive guitar and Ryan’s measured vocal with orchestral plucking in the run up to the chorus. The weaving of melody and rhythms in “An Introspective” and “Slow Down” makes for great listening. And Ryan has been getting more notice lately. His songs are popping up in film (“American Teen”), television (“One Tree Hill”) and commercials (“Pay Less Shoes”). Pop fans can compare The multi-tracking vocals of “A Weekend With You” to Messersmith for sure.  From the textured baseline in “Summertime” to echoing piano in “Put Your Trust in Ross” each track require multiple listens before you really appreciate the depth of Ryan’s song-craft. Spend some time in a quiet room with this album and enjoy it.

With the help of friends Nigel Clark (lead singer of classic Brit-pop band Dodgy) and Darren Finlan, Englishman Tony Cox has put together an 11 track debut full of sweet surprises. Fans of classical power pop influences (Beatles, Beach Boys, Bryds) will find a goldmine of melodic pop here. The production was recorded at Hijack Studios and has a clean updated style, unlike some musicians, I’ll bet Tony did not play these songs on vintage instruments. “Sweet Elaine” has a simple pop structure draped over a “Heroes and Villains” styled baseline. This is followed by “Feel Real Love” and it has a Dave Clark/Cliff Richards approach, with horn accents and driving drum beat. The superb “Fallen” has a great melody, like a sunny Revolver-era Beatles track. The modern pop of “Sacred Woman” is another standout here, with a rich multi-tracked chorus and “Chills” showcases Tony’s vocals which remind me of a young Ian Hunter. It has a few missteps, the 80’s styled “Life is Hardcore” is filled with heavy synths that seems a little out of place on the album. And the production suddenly gets very sparse on the second half, which hurts some excellent songs, like “Say The Word” which really deserves a big wall-of-sound type treatment. I sometimes wondered how some of these tunes would sound with a bigger budget. Someone should give Tony that chance, as he’s got great song craft talent. Tony is not signed to any label, but shows you the wealth of riches some record companies need to pay attention to.