Nashville singer-songwriter Johnathan Pushkar was inspired by the new Thor movie to make a song about everyone’s favorite Asgardian hero. While it doesn’t mesh well with the Guns N’ Roses music the movie used, it’s a pretty cool song on its own (and who doesn’t love Legos?) Old Town Crier does a damn good job with its new EP “You,”especially that guitar break in the title track. Also, check out “Coal River Mountain.” Wesley David is a recent discovery, and count me impressed with his songwriting ability – check out “I’ll Be Damned!” Another potential star Neal Mehta has a rich harmony and dense instrumentation on “Lonely Cloud.” Guitarist extraordinaire Fernando Perdomo has “greatest hits” of sorts with Jangle, and if you aren’t familiar with him — this is a perfect primer. Everything here is great, I love “Girl With A Record Collection” and “This Can Be You.” If you want a dose of Ramones-like rock, then you can’t do better than Vista Blue. Stay Gold is a FREEBIE made for blasting out the car stereo with the windows down on “Friday Night.” Finally, Sal Baglio of The Amplifier Heads wrote the single “Space Cadette” for the Nashville show They Came To Rock. Woo! Enjoy the summer!
The Lost and Found category is for bands that up to this point were not “discovered” by the power pop community until recently.
The Adam Roth and his Band of Men “Down The Shore”
Adam Roth was a musician mostly under the radar, but well-loved by those who knew him. Once a member of the Boston rock band Del Fuegos, and regular collaborator with comedian Dennis Leary, his album of 80s frat rock was just about lost to history. The 1982 movie Beach House (aka Down The Shore) was a very low-budget Animal House/Porkys teen comedy without much positive to mention, other than the soundtrack. It jump-started Roth’s career in movie soundtracks (The Ref, Monument Ave, Hollywood Vietnam) and TV commercials. He passed away in 2015 of cancer, but Hozac Records remastered his album and featured new liner notes written by Adam’s brother Charles Roth.
The music is very much a product of its time, but brilliance shows through. “Judy Won’t You Dance With Me” is similar in some ways to The Shoes, and “Now You’re Runnin” and “I Just Wanna Have Some Fun” have more of a punk attitude displayed on the faster-tempo rockers. Overall a good addition to your 80’s power-pop collection.
Steve Rosenbaum is a DIY San Diego musician with a jangling guitar and lots of songs written between 1979-89. Similar in style to Tom Marolda (The Toms), The Modulators, The Deal, The Rubinoos – Steve really should have been signed by a major label at that time. But it never happened.
Fortunately, these songs are finally available to the public at Bandcamp. The songwriting here is pretty good, but the production was recorded mainly on the Tascam 244 cassette 4-track, and the sound quality is pretty spotty. There are some gems to be found; the Beach Boys-like “Me Alone,” “Come On Over,” the Twilley-like “Got To Tell Ya,” and REM-like jangle of “72 days.” Steve does offer a FREEBIE sample of these tracks on his Two-Cassette Deck Bounces EP. Fans of the era will see the potential in these songs because it’s music that deserves to be heard.
Nashville singer-songwriter Aaron Lee Tasjan, aka ALT is a bit of a musical chameleon. The personas and musical styles he plays aren’t static, although his primary focus is in the roots rock and country rock arena. Very much influenced by Tom Petty, George Harrison and Arlo Guthrie, and many others. So you could make a case that this is a lost Wilbury looking for an audience.
The opener “If Not Now When,” uses the riff from George’s “Wreck Of The Hesperus” and takes it in a better direction. A big highlight is “The Truth Is So Hard to Believe” with its Posies-like percussion, and swirling bass guitar riff. “The Rest Is Yet To Come,” is another winner with its easy rhythm and descending bass line. From there it settles into some longer Pettyesque mid-tempo tunes, and Aaron has a slight drawl and even a little vibrato when playing the Orbison-like “Strange Shadows.” The production is solid, with no filler even though only a few songs stick with you afterward. Fans of the artists above will like this one, and it will grow on you. Highly Recommended.
From the get-go, you will hear a band influenced by The Replacements on the opener “To Let It Go,” with its sharp guitar riffs. After 30+ years, these dudes still rock pretty well, with the slightly-psyche rock title track and the harmony-filled chorus of “Tears.” The bouncy “Hello Linda” and “A Better Chance To Take” both have that timeless power pop quality. While the majority of the songs are good, they don’t have the freshness of Portable Pop, which is a product of its time. Still, this is absolutely better than a lot of music out there, so check it out.
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John M. Borack’s Latest Book, Shake Some Action 2.0. is out!
Author John M. Borack’s upcoming book, Shake Some Action 2.0: An Updated Guide to the 200 Greatest Power Pop Albums, due in September from Not Lame Media, is an update of sorts to Borack’s now-out-of-print 2007 book, Shake Some Action: The Ultimate Power Pop Guide.
The book is 414 pages of pure pop-inspired passion that even the most casual power pop fan will appreciate but a serious one will get totally geeked about. Newly written and/or expanded reviews of the outstanding power pop releases plus nearly 60 new entries included in the Top 200.
In addition, the book comes bundled with a 24-track CD collection from Borack’s power pop band Popdudes! The CD contains several rare and/or previously unreleased tracks.
Propeller “Don’t be Sorry Again”
Greg Randall and Will Anderson are Propeller, born from the ashes of Varsity Drag, The Lemonheads and Unbalanced. This is the newest release full of crunchy guitars and dense rock rhythms. “Nothing” has solid hook and hand claps and it will dig its way into your brain. And each tune has the same sweet indie rock quality, so no filler here.
My only pet peeve here is the vocals are a bit buried, almost disappearing into the instrumentation. Best of all this album is a FREE download! Fans of The Replacements, Sugar, Lemonheads, Dinosaur Jr. and Teenage Fanclub will just love this. Highly recommended and you have no excuses! FREE on Bandcamp
Love Messengers “Dogsmile” EP
All the way from Finland comes Rock guitarist-singer Timo “Still Crazy” Pääkkö, eccentric organ-wizard Jussi Reunamäki, bassist Tarmo “Entwhistle of Eurajoki” Lehtonen and drummer Jaakko “Crazy Kid” Kotiniemi. These dudes play straight forward rock and roll with solid skills. “Dogsmile” mixes a soulful organ, guitar and heartfelt vocal. The B-side “Tarkka” has a Beatlesque beat with jangle filled Rickenbacker melody. CD Baby | Amazon
Steelesque “Johnny On The Spot” EP
Pittsburgh musician Rob Eldridge brought this band together, combining many varied influences. It starts rough with the tentative blues rocker “Hooker A” but doesn’t really brings the hooks till “Life Fast Wheel” with a catchy chorus and terrific rhythm work. The plodding “Raven Don’t Mind” reminds me of Blue Oyster Cult, as Eldridge’s effective vocals and lead guitar give the song real life. Itunes | Facebook
