Ho Ho Holiday Singles: Loop Line, Bill DeMain, Cotton Mather, Nicole Atkins

Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah!

Loop Line is back with a holiday song, but it can’t decide if its a Beach or Christmas tune. I guess its both… get the FREE download while it lasts.

​​Robert Harrison (Cotton Mather) teams up with one of my favorite voices in pop, singer Nicole Atkins for “Faded” a wonderfully written ballad. It is part of the new EP ‘Cotton Mather with Nicole Atkins, arriving on December 30th. Get this FREE download now!

New Zealand DIY pop dude Stefan Reyners also has a holiday single. A nice simple statement

While not a Christmas tune, this was way too good not to share. Bill DeMain delivers the goods with an orchestral cover of The Beach Boys “Wendy” for an upcoming album.

The Connection and Pseudonym

The Connection

The Connection “Just For Fun”

A sweet holiday gift from The Connection – this new set of covers is Just For Fun, as the band paying homage to their musical heroes. Some of these tunes are right up the band’s alley, like using the Johnny B. Goode template for Bob Seger’s “Get Out Of Denver.” Some classics including “Teenage News” (Sylvain Sylvain), “No Expectations” (Rolling Stones), and “Southern Girls” (Cheap Trick) make for a great listen. Even oldies like “I Can Read Between The Lines” by Gary Lewis and The Playboys have a distinct Merseybeat feel, and because many songs aren’t automatically familiar, there’s little predictability. Like the title says, these guys are just having a good time and after listening to these tunes you will too.

Amazon


Pseudonym

Pseudonym “Pack Of Lies”

California Musician Paul Desjarlais with his friends (aka Pseudonym) deliver one of the better LPs this year with Pack of Lies.  Each track is a reminiscing on a painful breakup, guitarist Waylan Solo offers up an interesting story in the “liner notes” on the Bandcamp page related to it. He knows what we power poppers will gravitate to right away, but listen through the entire album to get a better understanding of the story. Its a slow build from the first isolated vocal track of “I’m Fine” to the jangling guitar on “All The Little Things.”

The combo of fuzz bass and harmonies work great on “I Don’t Care About Love,” plus the easy going melody on “Victimless Crime” is super catchy. Then a trio of slow tempo ballads starting with “Don’t Leave Me This Way” show the isolation of the songwriter, but things go back to rocking mode on “Lorraine” and “Round and Round.” On “Foreign Talk” the beat quickens even more, reminding me of The Cure. Overall an excellent album, and on top of all this its a FREE download until Jan. 1st (then buy it on Amazon). Highly Recommended.

Amazon

Ho Ho Holiday Singles: Seth Timbs, Steve Eggers, and Michael Carpenter

Each year a number of artists release Christmas singles. We already featured one set last week. I will continue to showcase new holiday tunes this week in between my final reviews for 2016. A best of the year list will ready shortly into the new year.

Seth Timbs enjoys a “Bellyful”

Steve Eggers (The Nines) has been so busy (and we love it) but still found time to drop off this Christmas song released on the Japanese label This Time Recordings.

One of my favorite artists down under, Michael Carpenter has just “One More Christmas” to sing about.

Ho Ho Holiday Music: Vista Blue, Red Cabin and The JAC

gifts

Vitsa Blue and its garage power pop sound has been featured before, now the band has a new collection of FREE holiday music. My fave on this EP is “A ’90s Kind of Christmas” with plenty of references to that era, like the lyric “We’ll sing lots of Weezer songs this Christmas.”

‘Welcome Christmas Time’ is a free song recorded by Red Cabin (aka Jonathan Foster) included on a Christmas Compilation from the Powerpop Academy (JAPAN).


The JAC (aka Joe Algeri) delivers a free Christmas single from down under.

EPs Reviews: Jim Eyles, The Bishops’s Daredevil Stunt Club, Vista Blue

The Bishop’s Daredevil Stunt Club “Don’t Buy This Record”

The Bishop’s Daredevil Stunt Club gives us real sweet EP, it features a variety of styles from the angular alt. rock synths of “Have You Met You” to the bright riffs of the anthemic “Succumb To The Blues.” Clearly the band likes to indulge with longer jams but what is interesting here is the 5-minute long “Just Drive” where the first minute is clearly inspired by the theme of the show Stranger Things. My favorite here is “The Sweetest Song” with a whistling bridge to a catchy chorus. And its a FREE Download — this is so good it’s scary!


Vista Blue “October Days (and October Nights!)”

Vista Blue is back in time for Halloween. The Blue boys give us a real treat in a series of fuzz drenched songs based on horror movie locations, like the Beach Boys inspired “Crystal Lake” and “Trick ‘r Treat.” Also enjoy the Ramones-like “Haddonfield Memorial.” Bonus points if you can name the movies these locations are from. This is also a FREE Download — no tricks here, just a power pop treat!


Jim Eyles “Propeller”

New Jersey based artist Jim Eyles delivers a raw rock and roller “It Takes Too Long” and his take on “Slow Down Fast” makes use of a catchy bass riff. While Eyles vocals are a bit rough, producer Steve Butler (Smash Palace) adds some brilliant guitar work on “You Should Know Better” and the reverb rhythms of “For The World.” Overall a fine introduction to Jim Eyles, and a great addition to your playlist.

CD Baby | Amazon

Slow Down Fast – Jim Eyles from Jim Eyles on Vimeo.