Author: powerpopaholic

The Thrills third album is sure to please fans of it’s laid back alternative California style. The songs are nice three minute jangle gems with lead vocalist Conor Deasy warbling away. The Beach Boys inspiration from the first album has been replaced by a mash up of the Cure and the Byrds. “The Midnight Choir” is a good example of this, with a killer hook in the chorus. The following tune “This Year” is a great little jangle number and the catchy “Nothing Changes ‘Round Here” will have you bobbing your head up and down to the beat. They also recall the poppier moments of Limbeck here as well. If you love jangle pop you’ll be perfectly happy with this album. For some, it takes time to get used to Deasy’s vocal style that sounds like the bastard child of Nick Drake and Kim Carnes. Unlike the last effort of the Thrills, the melodies here are very sharp and the band sounds tighter than ever before. It seems like this is a push for more commercial success and “I Came All This Way” sums up what the band feels at this point “I came all this way just to say that’s not what I want… now I know I’ll never be someone else.” It’s a subtle statement of defiance that rings true in the harmonies here. The album has three ballads all toward the end, and the sweeping “I’m So Sorry” does an excellent job wringing out the emotion. So far this is the strongest effort from a major label I’ve heard in months, so give it a chance.

The Thrills | MySpace | itunes

Listen to “Nothing Changes ‘Round Here”

Hot off the blog press! I recently interviewed both Ken Sharp, hot from release of his newest “Sonic Crayons” and The Grip Weeds lead guitar Kristin Pinell and band leader, Kurt Reil (shown on the right) hot from their release “House of Vibes Revisited”. Visit these interview links for Ken Sharp or The Grip Weeds, or click on the blue button to the right.

We now have a downloadable widget for your site with all the latest reviews from Powerpopaholic.com – just scroll down to the bottom of this page and look to the right column side. There is a free mini powerpopaholic blog to add your homepage or site! Enjoy!

Ian Lloyd of “The Stories” being interviewed about the group and his experiences with the hit song “Louie, Louie” and Stories co-founder Michael Brown (Left Banke). Download it here. Thanks to Damien for the link.

Also EarCandy magazine did a summer interview with Rick Gallego, leader of the excellent power pop group, Cloud Eleven about the last album “Sweet Happy Life” – read it here. Thanks to Kompost for the link.

Did you ever notice that ex-member of The Jellyfish, Andy Sturmer has just decided to write cartoon theme music lately?

Andy Sturmer “Ben Ten”

Puffy Amiyumi “Teen Titans” Written by Andy Sturmer

I’m waiting for him to write a new theme song for “Robot Chicken” — Listen to it here.

This labor of love by Jon Raleigh is a great album for fans of classic rock and roll. “Rollo Time” draws it’s power pop influences from some great 70s bands, like Bad Company, Led Zepplin, Alice Cooper and proto-metal bands like Black Sabbath. The first song “Maintenance Time” is the poppiest of the bunch and resembles Matthew Sweet and The Shazam. After this the songs get a bit heavier with a strong rhythm section, which is powered their riffs to perfection. “Float down the River” uses this beat driven rhythm to plow the song into your ear, much like a Weezer tune. “Travel the World” is my favorite tune on the album, it has just the right amount of guitar crunch and harmonies with a great hook in the chorus. Is it any wonder that both Rollo Time and Cheap Trick are both from Illinois? The next tune “Don’t” flirts with that proto-metal sound, and “Cut Me To the Quick” sounds like a lost track from the band, Free with a chorus that morphs into Todd Rundgren’s Utopia. I love this melding of styles, and it’s also a standout track with great guitar solo. Also notable is the very Zepplin-like ballad “Teach to Grow” with multi-tracking guitars weaving some magic here. Although the melody didn’t thrill me, the lyrics impressed me in “Moth and Butterfly” the albums closer. For those who love meat-and-potatoes power pop, it’s time for “Rollo Time”

MySpace | CD Baby