I had a wonderful chat with Steve Eggers of The Nines about a month ago after the release of “Gran Jukle’s Field”. It’s finally uploaded to the interviewes section of the site. Enjoy it here!
Next up is the Powerpopaholic year end poll for best power pop album of the year! Don’t forget to vote.
Nathan Eiesland and Alissa Ritchie weave some great indie pop tunes with a coolness similar to early Radiohead and John Mayer. With “The Most Beautiful Song” he weaves harmonies and modern rock backdrop, and it’s an impressive start. The next song “Cigarettes” is a great light pop confessional that pulls straight from the Paul Simon songbook. It’s here that Scatteredtrees really shines. The album has a mellow vibe along the lines of Eric Matthews as the next song “Where We’ve Already Gone’ shows. That song and the follow up “Duet” are just beautiful acoustic coffeehouse styled music. And like a hot cup on a cold night, the melodies will warm your insides when you hear it. The tempo picks up on “Hero’s Welcome” and like John Mayer music, it does it’s best to seduce. It’s jarring to have the electric guitar suddenly emerge on “Springtime Proposal.” Both “Springtime Proposal” and “I Would or I Should” try to add the uptempo nodern rock stylings, but Nathan works best with the ballad. The album gets a bit dodgy at the mid point, with the demo “Poor Man’s Suit” – but comes back nicely with the great ballad “Eyes From A Distance.” If you have an emusic account this is a nice addition to your downloads this month.
The Scatteredtrees | My Space | E Music | Itunes
Listen to “Eyes From Distance”
Dan Fogelberg (August 13, 1951 – December 16, 2007) has passed away. To me he was always the king of the sentimental ballad. Every single Christian pop folkie followed his template for years, and never came close. They don’t write ballads like this anymore. He will be sorely missed.
I still have a pile of reviews to finish before the holidays and then I find this gem. Whoa kids, it doesn’t get any better than legally FREE power pop. And even better if the music is really good. Thank you Paul Kelly for this wonderful gift. The Martial Arts are a Glasglow Scottish band with a very Dbs meets Kinks vibe and the songs have great hooks and guitar work. ‘Your Sinclair’ evokes of 60s pop, 70s new wave and 80s indie – with a few moments of intense guitar abuse thrown in for good measure. The opener “Murry & Audree” has great glam energy and has the early Weezer meets Rubinoos type of feeling. The vocals on “Don’t Want To Talk” remind me a bit of Alex Chilton from his Big Star days. The intensity of “Mod Val” will have you thinking this track was meant for the latest Hives album. The perfect Ray Davies-like storytelling of “Frost” will get your toes tapping and head bobbing. To find such jaw dropping quality is not to be missed- so stop reading this post and get it. UPDATE: The Martial Arts have contacted me and are extending this offer of this free download to Monday January 7th. ENJOY!
My Space | Download album in .rar format or .zip format | alternate link
Listen to “Don’t Want to Talk”
Murry & Audree video, Directed by Gregor Mackay
A cheeky Brit named Jon Paul Allen has done some serious study into why lots of electric guitar and beats should rock your world. He goes under the moniker of the Slingsby Horents and fans of Glam, T-Rex and Queen will find his brand of rock most appealing. As evidenced by the wild “I love that sound” Jon Paul oozes cool and talent. Using lots of neat pop-psyche effects it sounds like an updated version of Sweet. The opener “The Man from Yesterday” has a bit of Jellyfish meets Dream Syndicate, but lay off the cymbals man! My ears are ringing, really. My favorite here “Stop the Rain” is a great mid-tempo number that almost sounds like The Pillbugs and I only wish Jon’s vocals weren’t always masked by studio enhancements so much. The guitar work here very similar to Queen’s Brian May is a joy to listen to throughout.The beauty here is the originals on the album, but there are four covers here ranging from The Knack (“My Sharona”) to The Osmonds (“Crazy Horses”). They all get the very over-glammed treatment here, including a superior version of Klaatu’s “Calling Occupants.” Any shortcomings, are tempered by Jon’s love of this music and his energetic performance. You’ll have lots of fun with this release. Now where is a good Freddie Mercury clone when you really want him!
Slingsby Hornets Page | My Space | Kool Kat Musik | CD Baby | Itunes