Category: Highly Recommended by Powerpopaholic

Scott Grant “Gemini”

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Scott Grant follows the great tradition of those 70’s rockers, and gives us a pretty impressive debut album. Opening with the acoustic strum and shuffling melody of “Dream Away” it’s got a good hook in the chorus and a desending bridge that leads to a brilliant coda with “do do do” harmonies at the fade out. Then a baroque harpsichord opens up “Just Like We Do,” a piano melody similar to the style of Emmit Rhodes emerges, with its gorgeous Beatlesque overtones.

The organ and rhythmic funk of “What You See Is What You Get” recalls Lenny Kravitz “It Ain’t Over Till It’s Over,” Grant does a decent job though his vocal strains a bit here. After these gems the albums settles down a bit. It’s fun to play “spot the influence,” but the ballads don’t really stick with you. Grant’s voice is better suited to the soulful “Sonic For You,” a good mix of Peter Chris and Steve Forbert. Towards the albums last few tracks, starting with “Nevermind” it brings to mind a Hendrix ballad and  “Sunshine Serenade” is a blast with John Bonham drum beats and the great fuzz guitars a la Kravitz “Let Love Rule”. Our dramatic finish to the album, “Halcyon Days” and “Hold On” starts quite but slowly becomes a layered orchestration along the lines of  Derek & The Dominos “Layla.”  It’s all admittedly derivative, but fans of classic 70’s rock will still love this.

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European Power Pop Special: Trois

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European Pop Special 3: Okay I did some further digging in Europe for power pop, and we have a pair of artists from France and one from Leon, Spain.

Brigitte “Et vous, tu m’aimes?”
This hot duo drip with exotic coolness on the opening track “Battez Vous,” and their debut album went platinum in France. Named after 60’s French actress Brigitte Bardot, they are lounge-pop revivalists with great talent and style. Fans of the recent Corner Laughers album will really dig “Corur de Chewing Gum” – it will have you singing along in French! A lot of the tunes are slow pop ballads, but the standouts are the bouncy title track and disco-styled “Oh La La.”

BB Brunes “Nico Teen Love”
French pop-punk trio BB Brunes features members who have known each other since they were kids. In 2005, a demo recording caught the ears of an indie producer and they’ve been at it ever since. They remind me of The Monkees if they had gone garage punk. The hard riffs also recall the band Jet. The albums “Nico Teen Love” and “Blonde Comme Moi” are what I listened to, and used CDs are reasonably priced for imports.

Cooper “Aeropuerto”
From Leon Spain, Cooper sparkles with energy, similar to The Wellingtons or Farrah except in Spanish. “Hyde Park” is an example of this, ringing Rickenbacker guitars and hand clapped beat make it great in any language. The swirling chords and jangle of “El Circulo Polar” is another winner. In fact most of the album follows this approach, with a break for mid-tempo indie ballad “En La Sofa” and the trippy “Lisboa.” Also impressive are “Steph” and “El Sueno.”

The Judes and John Moremen

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The Judes “All That Is The Judes”
Cory, Jim and Mike are three lads from Winnipeg, Canada who formed a pop band with a soft edge and subtle harmonies. Opening with the somber “Bide Your Time” it’s got just a touch of slide guitar and ghostly backing vocals. The upbeat “Better Off Alone” is a bit more traditional in the early Beach Boys mode. Especially “Summer Days” with it’s “ooh ooh” vocals, handclaps and Dick Dale styled riffs.

It gets better when the band leaves the template behind, “Someone Like You” is a great tune. The production is very sparse, and that lets the boys harmonies shine, like on “Love The World.” But that technique (great for ballads) doesn’t quite work on “Beautiful and True” – a catchy, well written gem that literally begs for the Phil Spector treatment. The lightness reminds me of The Yellow Balloon and First Class. The album has no filler and its full of sunny innocent sounding songs, so if you ever wanted a younger band to sing about girls on the beach The Judes will suit you just fine.

John Moremen “John Moremen’s Flotation Device”
Multi-instrumentalist and composer John Moremen has performed with Half Japanese, Roy Loney and the Phantom Movers, the Orange Peels and the Neighbors, but this is his solo LP debut. He has a sweet little EP that flew below the radar in 2002, but here Moremen does something most would not — an all instrumental album.

And rarely have I heard one this good, “Floatation Device” is a great opener, with a riff that would make Duane Eddy jealous. “Stay Inside” is a great tune, you can almost hear the lyrics (if they existed). The guitar techniques are rooted in traditional garage and rock, but the melody lines are extremely inventive. Highly recommended!

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A Band Called Mithras and The Grip Weeds

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A Band Called Mithras “2”
A band called Mithras is lead by Bob Wison (bass + vocals) and joined by Dave Epperson (guitar), Nuen Dotri (keys) and Reece On (drums). The debut had a pretty eclectic mix of pop and progressive rock styles, so here we go again…

Opening with the strong hooks on “Robot Clowns” and the slow swirling funk synth and bass acoustic of “American Demon” are a great pair of songs with differing styles. However the band gets a little too quirky for it’s own good, “Nobody’s Waiting” boasts contrasting guitar and synth arpeggios. Weird, funny Todd Rundgren-like raps on “Gigo” and “Aint No Hope For The Modern Man.” It’s a bit hard to digest in spots. Occasionally beautiful passages like “Cannonball” come up, and all is forgiven. Fans of Anton Barbeau and Adrian Belew will most likely embrace this album and love it. For others, you’ve been warned.

 Itunes | Amazon

The Grip Weeds “Speed of Live”
The live concert album is a rarity these days, with the proliferation of bootlegs, and box sets – does anyone really listen to concert recordings anymore? This is the rare case when you should. Culled together from live Gripweeds shows between 2007 and 2010, this New Jersey band leaves the studio gloss at home and plays power pop in the raw. And these performances prove the band is tight as a bass drum and the recording is pristine – almost identical to the album versions, but with crowd applause.

For most tracks, the mix is superior as demonstrated by “Speed Of Life” and The Byrds cover “(So You Wanna Be A) Rock and Roll Star.” In fact it’s really  tough to single out any track, as this is essentially a “greatest hits live” package. If you’ve never bought an album, this is an excellent primer to one of the best melodic rock bands on the East Coast.

Grip Weeds Store | Amazon

Kevin Martin and Alan Bernhoft

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Kevin Martin “Throwback Pop”
A real hidden gem everybody missed, thanks to Steve F. for bringing it to my attention. Veteran San Diego musician Kevin Martin weaves the catchy magic right away on “TV News” and its comparable to Josh Fix, Secret Powers and The Nines.

Just the right mix of Beatles and Elton John with hooks that sink in fast. “I Know Why” is a dead ringer for The Honeydogs pop style and on “I Need Your Love” its another perfectly crafted piano pop gem. The 70’s style is obvious, but still irresistible on tracks like “I Wanted To Tell You” and “Let Me Go.” The album veers toward the Elton-styled ballad with “Slow Down” and you’ll hear a little Gilbert O’Sullivan on “Looking For Love.” This is a textbook example on how to emulate the past without ripping it off. Super duper highly recommended, It belongs in my top ten without a doubt.

CD Baby | Amazon | Kool Kat Musik

 

Alan Bernhoft “Beatlesque Four”
The latest in Bernhoft’s series is more focused on latter Beatles era, with the opener “Love Everyone” which could’ve been a Yellow Submarine outtake for a pre-school class. Many of the songs sound like exercises in composition, with a very simple structure. Several standouts include, “Following Rainbows” with its obvious Lennon approach, and “My Rolls Royce” is Ringo doing a Beach Boys song! “Mr. McIntyre” is another chuging standout, and “They Came” has that Sgt. Pepper’s circus atmosphere. “Captain Anaujiram” ends things on a very silly note, emulating the least memorable Beatle’s song “You Know My Name (Look Up The Number).” Fans will embrace this for sure.

CD Baby | Amazon