Category: Highly Recommended by Powerpopaholic

For those of you who enjoy your pop on the baroque side, the new Brad Brooks album will definitely be your cup of tea. “Spill Collateral Love” contains a flood of orchestral and harmonic details with those guitar power chords. “Love on my sleeve” is a good track that recalls the hypnotically repeated guitar chords from Beatles’ “I Want You (She’s So Heavy).” This is followed by “Lathered in Cream,” a bouncy, hook-filled classic slice of power pop and the obvious “single” on this album – unfortunately that’s it for the high energy songs. The rest of the album takes a rather moody turn. It begins with the melancholic “Ex-stripper Librarian” that sounds alot like a great Stephen Trask show ballad. “The Loon of Altitude” and “Francis of Alaska” mixes a bit of classic piano and Vaudevillian styled narrative rock that recalls Jellyfish’s best moments. In fact, Brooks sings his heart out on this album with an emotional resonance resembling Freddy Mercury or 10cc. I’m sure there is a full story connecting all these songs, with arcane run-on-sentence lyrics like, “..this town is a crazy playground of lost daisies are chaining…,” I’ll need to listen to it more. When we get to “The Sonic Twins” we get back to the classic Brad Brooks sound for a bit, before the album contiunes with the harmonica driven “Pleading Amnesia” that sounds like it would fit well on Pink Floyd’s The Final Cut or any Guided By Voices album. The album ends with “Luxurious Latitude” a fitting music-hall styled ending. It’s good to shake things up a bit and have power pop not so cheery, but very dramatic and visceral. Listen to this album streaming at Not Lame to hear it all.

Brad Brooks Site | My Space | CD Baby | Not Lame

The Tennessee power-pop band Superdrag became a big hit with “Who Sucked out the Feeling” in 1996. They broke up in 2003 after nearly a decade of label troubles and personnel instability that robbed the group of any career momentum. Changin’ Tires on The Road to Ruin is a 14-track anthology of demos, live tracks, and b-sides from 1997 to 2003. If you’re a Superdrag fanatic, you’ve already heard most of these demos and assorted b-sides. But most of us haven’t. Best of all, the remastered sound makes them sound like a brand new release. I consider Superdrag one of the most under appreciated power-pop groups ever to exist. They stand toe-to-toe with other classic power pop bands like the Posies, Fountains of Wayne, and Sloan. “Here We Come” and “She Says” grabs you and the album doesn’t let you go. “Doctors are Dead” features the amazing harmonies and musicianship of John Davis — and even these scraps from the cutting room floor blow most other bands out of the water! Things get a little uneven by mid point in the album, but there is so much greatness here you will even enjoy the live tracks at the end of the LP. Don’t miss this one. Hearn some tunes at MySpace, and buy it at itunes.

Buy Direct from Superdrag | My Space | itunes | Not Lame

Von Robinson is best described as musical force of nature with a mission, and this album is his first salvo. “Satellites and Totem Poles” is not just a great melodic slice of genius, but a scathing political commentary as well. “XXXtraordinary Rendition” sounds amazingly like classic Zumpano. The multi-choral harmonies of “Briana” as just as infectious and will stick in your head for days. “Time to think” is a great introspective mellow pop song that would sound at home on a Honeydogs album. Von Robinson surrounds himself with a highly talented cast of musicians, dubbed “His Own Universe” and offers his own socio-political spin in the lyrics of these great pop tunes. Just think, this his his first EP – I am just drooling in anticipation of a full length album. He is a really accessible artist and I hope you buy his album and encourage him to make more great music! A special thanks to fellow blogger, Powerpopulist for finding him first.

MySpace | Itunes | CD Baby | Digstation

The Well Wishers are also known as power pop’s best secret. This album makes a bold departure from the Beatlesque style of the previous two albums. Here Jeff Shelton and his band are a creating a nice mix of The Shoes sound with the grit of Guided By Voices. The single “Seashells in the Sun” comes close to a big hit here. There is much to love about the new sound, from the 80’s styled backdrop with a great harmonies and excellent guitar work. “I’m in love” is another excellent song that will hook you and stay in your head for hours. “The Optimist” is the best GBV song that Robert Pollard never wrote. The REM styled “Soldiering” continues the war theme of this album. It even veers into Echo and The Bunnymen territory on the track “Broken Glass.” It’s hard not to enjoy such a consitently good album. Not Lame is offering this one with a whole bunch of goodies, so check the streaming link below to hear the whole thing. If you only want a small sample go to the MySpace page.

MySpace | NotLame | Well Wishers Streaming “How I Won The War” | Well Wishers Website

Much like their previous two releases, The Green Hills of Earth and The Red Tandy EP, Kiss The Crystal Flake continues the Mother Hips tradition of laid back pysch-pop, that shines with it’s crisp production, California-styled hook filled songs. On “Time We Had”, the third track off the album is an excellent example of this. The Brian Wislonesque vocal melodies, during the chorus is especially nice. “White Headphones” and “Time-Sick Son of a Grizzy Bear” brings us to a slower almost classic Rolling Stones sound, with a glimmer of psychedelic guitar riffs. The Mother Hips best moments come on “No Name Darrell” in my opinion (hear the track on MySpace). The lead singer matches the melodies of his guitar with his vocals to create an enjoyable melodic collision of classic R&B sound with pop catchiness. I’ve been a fan of The Mother Hips for several years after I heard “Life in the City” from Green Hills of Earth album. The genuine pop hooks and quality of music from this band has continued to grow and improve over the years. You would have a very hard time believing that the same band produced this album and 1995’s Back to The Grotto – they are so different. Kiss The Crystal Flake is an awesome album that contains many songs with catchy mouthwatering hooks and innovative guitar work that will appeal to power pop fans and it’s widely available.

Emusic | My Space | itunes | Mother Hips Site

Listen to “Time We Had”

Listen to “TGIM”

Listen to “Not So Independent”