Category: Power Pop Review

If you’d like a fun album, you couldn’t do better than The Orion Experience. It starts off with a bouncy dance pop song “The Queen of White Lies” that mines a bit of the neo disco trend made popular by Mika and Scissor Sisters. It’s also followed by the Reggae-beat tune “Obsessed With You” and I thought this dance-styled pop would continue, but slowly the album begins to transform. At the midpoint the power pop begins to show itself, the tune “Adrianne” is a great little gem with hand claps and vocals from both Orion Simprini and Linda Horwatt that makes this track shine like a long lost B-52’s single. And the entire album starts to get better. The band sounds tighter and the melodies shine right through. “There’s no Love in Februray” and “Your New Boyfriend” are great songs comparable to Fountains of Wayne-styled pop. “We are the Ones” is a classic anthem for the younger generation and it ends off with the amazing “Blood & Money” – a great rant type of song that owes alot to Dire Strait’s “Industrial Disease.” Although the more commercial dance tracks on the albums first half are good, the songs on the second half are worth the purchase and shouldn’t be missed.

The Orion Experience website | CD Baby | MySpace | Not Lame

Adam Miner is an Ontario native who’s been playing the Canadian pop circuit for a long time. His latest album “Dangerous Eyes” has intricate arrangements and melodic layers over each song. Vocally he drifts from Chiff Hillis to Eric Matthews a bit, but has his own unique vocal cadence. The album is beautifully polished with a clean production style. “Fool” uses dramatic grand sweeping structure with a bit of Beatles’ “Here There and Everywhere” mixed with ELO’s “Mr. Blue Sky” including strings and percussion. It’s these densely packed treats that prove Adam is no mere singer/songwriter. “Mother Night” and “Nobody Notices” has a bit of 70’s AOR flavor and after hearing this, somewhere in Canada, Chilliwack fans are smiling. “Lies We Tell” is a great song best described as Alan Parsons Project meets The Posies. Each song has it’s own melodic surprises, although the title track has my favorite chord changes and a catchy chorus. Pick up this on at CD Baby.

CD Baby | MySpace | Kool Kat

Glen Mercer is the former lead singer/guitarist/writer of The Feelies. The Feelies were considered an avante garde post-punk band in the late 70’s and early 80’s. Well now, guitarist Glenn Mercer has put together this solo record and it owes alot less to the “Crazy Rhythms” of those Feelies records. It actually sounds closer to Lou Reed meets Joy Division, and that’s not a bad thing at all. Glenn concentrates on guitar and percussive effects to give his new album “Wheels in Motion” a ethereal quality and songs “Days to Come” and “Another Last Time” are great examples of this. This approach also works on a cover of The Beatles “Within You, Without You.” A mid-tempo “Get it Back” reminds me of a great lost Don Dixon track, but Glenn’s voice gets lost a bit here and the instrumentation pushes his vocals out of the song too much. Other tracks recall a lighter version of Echo and the Bunnymen as “Two Rights” seems to drift along with a hypnotic tamborine beat. Unfortunately, for me too many songs were missing compelling hooks and became pleasant background noise. For some this mellow stuff will be fine, but Glenn’s vocals never seem to come out front for me. You can get this on Amazon or direct from Pravada Music.

Pravda Music’s website | MySpace | Amazon

Kim Kline is a Texas singer/songwriter, who’s soul drifted to Rock n’ Roll rather than Nashville. It’s not easy breaking into such a male dominated field. Putting together a series of self-penned songs she put together a self-released album. Kim has been playing her material at the famous Viper room on Los Angeles’ Sunset Strip and getting raving reviews. Her vocals remind me of Taylor Dane or Alannah Myles a little, but with a lot more attitude and finesse. When it comes to approach, I’d like to think of Kim as Avril Lavigne’s better looking older sister. The raw talent of her vocal performance comes out and grabs you by the throat. “Sick Reality” is a slick single if ever I heard one. My favorite song so far is “No Fool” – it’s got a great chorus and is just right in approach with a blistering guitar solo. “Hush Lullaby” is a combination of breathy seductive melody with heavy rock guitar goodness. Every song on her album has the same hard driving rock approach, except the ballad “Dreams”. The backing band does a great job keeping Kim’s vocals the focus of each song. Now, this isn’t traditional power pop, but once in a while a good indie artist needs a shout out! You can hear the entire album streaming on Kim’s site!

Kim Kline’s website | MySpace

Here is a quick little gem that’s a “must get” for you lovers of heavy rockin’ power pop. The Holy Fields have nothing to do with boxing, but make a mean 5 song ep that contains some great guitars and harmonies. If you like Velvet Crush or Splitsville, this Canadian band will fit the bill. “She Knows” is a classic that is pretty typical of the genre. And every track here is worthy of your ipod. Enjoy this and get the EP at Not Lame, Emusic or itunes. Trust me on this — it’s an easy choice! I can’t wait for the full length CD!

MySpace | Emusic | Not Lame | itunes