Category: Promotional

Mikayla Geier and an interesting statistic

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Now something completely different: Vancouver-born and Los Angeles-based Mikayla Geier is a singer, songwriter, and former ballet student of the controversial Kirov Academy of Ballet. With the support of friends and family, Mikayla left the academy behind and began writing music and posting on social media to journal her past experiences. “Dance of the Trees” is her debut EP. Mikayla also has another song commenting on the dangers of eating disorders called “i don’t feel safe in my body.” She will be donating/fundraising for Project HEAL which provides resources to those who are struggling.

Hey Indie Musicians! Some interesting facts!

  • A staggering 87% of the top 100 artists on Spotify in the US are self-taught, challenging traditional paradigms of music education.
  • Only 4% of them have a music degree. An additional 4% started a degree but didn’t finish it, meaning that the remaining 92% don’t have a music degree and didn’t even start one.

This trend points to the growing accessibility of music creation and the democratization of the music industry, empowering artists without formal training to achieve success. We’ve got a full report available here:

Self-taught musicians dominate US’s Spotify charts — here are a few remarkable examples

Kai Danzberg is offering VINYL for you audiophiles

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One of my long-covered artists here at Power Popaholic is Kai Danzberg. He put out his latest album Satellite earlier this year and is very much a fan of the Jellyfish, ELO, and Beatles pop styles. He even got Roger Joseph Manning, Jr. (Jellyfish) to be part of it. It is still available on Bandcamp. But he is now trying to build demand for those looking to buy a 10″ vinyl.

So Kai has started this crowd-funded project. This can only be achieved if 100 people order the record. You will only be charged at the end of the project. If the amount of money was not reached by that time, no one will be charged.

Order the Vinyl Record

 

Friday Singles and Freebies: The Premiere of Faux Co! Vista Blue, Magic City, Ryan Allen, Reno Bo

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Exclusive Premiere! 

Chicago’s Faux Co. is the brainchild of songwriter Ben Mackey. Originally from Santa Rosa, California, Mackey has been writing 60’s influenced indie pop songs for a decade. This NEW single “Prozac Spaceman” is an exclusive Power Popaholic premiere. The core line-up of Faux Co is Ben Mackey, Trevor Pritchet and Chris Lee. This single has some great Rickenbacker strums and the melody flows along a catchy shaker beat. I can’t wait for the album!

The prolific Vista Blue is back with another great FREE downloadable album. This 6 song Ep contains much fun guitar crunchiness with a deep Beach Boys cut “It’s OK.”

Irish power popper Conor Lumsden from The Number Ones is Music City and here he’s playing every instrument on this A-Side ‘Pretty Feelings’ which sound like a lost Lindsey Buckingham track! Awesome! We want more Conor!

Ryan Allen and his Extra Arms are back and this advance track is just the start of his next release. This is a fantastic rocking track that just makes me salivate for the next song. Scream along and play air guitar to this one!

Reno Bo has some reflective ballads here to calm you after all that jumping around. Reno has a LOT of singles on his Bandcamp site, check out the Beatles cover and others.

Deluxe Editions and Kickstarter News update!

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One of our recommended go-to power pop artists is Chris Richards & The Subtractions. In addition to this year’s Peaks & Valleys – the band has added new and updated deluxe editions of three earlier LPs. Loaded with demos and alternate takes, check it out:




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Paul Melancon, a critical-darling indie-pop rocker from Atlanta, GA is debuting “Hyperventilate” along with a very Scooby-Doo/Archies like animated video from his forthcoming album. Melancon’s first new music in 13 years tells the story of his struggle with depression.

“Anyone can relate to this feeling of being completely trapped by ongoing discouragement. When under the thumb of depression, my discouragement verged on hopelessness that I couldn’t shake, but couldn’t give into,” Melancon said. “In Hyperventilate, I try to capture that dual sense of both feeling like I’ll have to give up and needing not to give up no matter what.”

Order the album through Kickstarter and help spread the word!

What’s coming in 2016…

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Cotton Mather is back. Cotton Mather’s much revered album 1997 album Kontiki – originally issued in 1997, and then again as a deluxe edition in 2012 – was heavily influenced by Chinese philosophy, and the band’s mastermind, Robert Harrison is mining that subject matter again with his new ambitious project which represents the first all-new Cotton Mather music in more than a decade. Stay tuned!


Paul Steel is making a sequel to his musical masterwork April & I. In 2007 that album got him on my radar as a musical force to be reckoned with. Paul’s personal output has been sparse in recent years because he’s been earning a living s a commercial pop writer and producer. But he’s got the bug again, so a sequel is in the works. Check out the pledge music page.