The Pengwins “Naive/Life After High School” EP
Way before Lannie Flowers became one of the most beloved musicians in power pop, he had a band called The Pengwins that played from 1978 into the ’90s. In fact this Texas band was one of the great “lost” power pop bands of the midwest. The band also had Alan Petsche on guitar and vocals, Delbert Raines bassist, and Danny Wilkerson on drums. This box set EP is the first of the remastered singles. Its amazing how good they were, and unfortunate that they weren’t well known outside of Texas. Now you have your chance to re-discover them.
CD Baby | Amazon
The Gentlemen Rogues “The Gentlemen Rogues”
Speaking of Texas, A new group of guitar centric rockers from Austin wow’ed me with their riffage skills. Even if the first track “Run From The Light” is a bit long winded, the ’90s melodic skills shine through on “Persistence is Futile.” Another standout “Is Tomorrow Worth Tonight?” with its Green Day-ish pop cynicism. This is a decent start and I look forward to hearing more from these Rouges.
The Connection “First Time”
What else can I say about The Connection? The album Let It Rock is already on my top ten list. But while my Poperpopaholic Fest was playing, Brad Marino and
Geoff Palmer were off touring in France. They got a day off and decided to hit the recording studio to do this nice addendum. Pick it up now only on Bandcamp.