With the fall comes a brand-new premiere single “Dirty Clouds” from LA crooner Ward White, from his upcoming album The Tender Age. The gentle chords give way to space-themed resignation assisted by a terrific guitar break. Kurt Baker is also back with a tight pop track that reminds me a bit of Rick Springfield, meanwhile, It’s Karma It’s Cool gives us a frantic vocal and crunchy punk guitar on “Coffee Cup Circles.” If you love that old-school ’70s rock then check out Death Party Playground, but if you crave a more singer-songwriter vibe, you can’t get much better than Bryan Estepa. Swedish band Mom gives us a nice freebie; a collection of covers and a highlight is Marshall Crenshaw’s “There She Goes Again.” Finally, Jeff Shelton (The Well Wishers) donates his guitar crunchiness to California Community Foundation’s Wildfire Relief Fund for this sweet track, a worthy song for a worthy cause.
Category: Singles Only
August Singles: Ex-Norwegian, Ezrat, The Dowling Poole, Bagful of Beez, Tommy Lorente, Mo Troper, I Was King
Summer is slowly fading, but we have plenty of good music. Ex-Norwegian is back with an eclectic single “Thot Patrol” which combines so many sounds, it defies categorization. Ezrat presents a light indie-pop that floats on by a bed of synths. The Dowling Poole lays it all down with a bombastic rocker backed by lush orchestral strings about fiddling through the apocalypse. Getting tripper is the melodic stylings of Bagful of Bees “Syco” which brings to mind XTC and I’ll be happy to hear the rest of this LP soon. French rocker Tommy Lorente finds a sweet guitar hook in the sparse reggae beat on “A Mes Yeux.” Mo Troper still has some acoustic demos from Natural Beauty and it sounds great, so check it out. We started with an “Ex,” so let’s end with a real Norwegian band I Was A King, who sounds damn good with those jangling pop hooks, hear “happy.”
Super Singles, EPs and Freebies: The Morning Line, Mo Troper, Voltz, Eddie Mooney & The Grave, BPMCollective, Andy Bopp, Michael Carpenter, Sofa City Sweetheart, Vista Blue, Reno Bo
Glad to bring you some new songs, as we close out July. First is a neat freebie, The Morning Line‘s collection of outtakes. The opener “Straight Lines” is a solid single, and the rest aren’t shabby either. Mo Troper‘s freebie is the grinding grungey single “Ballad of Big Nothing” in the best Posies tradition, with a bit too much texture. Voltz from Sheffield, UK gives us a bit o’ glam mixed with pop on “Glitterbomb.” German band Eddie Mooney & The Grave has an 80s-styled pop gem with the catchy “Telephones.” I was also impressed with this debut EP from Seattle’s BPM Collective; “Adelaide” hooked me right away, and “Mr. Congeniality” has fantastic chord changes. I so much missed the music of Andy Bopp, and his single “Camera” is worth the wait. The first song I ever heard from Michael Carpenter gets a remix treatment, and Sofa City Sweetheart does a sweet Brian Wilson cover. Vista Blue‘s Ramones-styled pop returns with an Olympic-themed freebie and Reno Bo rocks both “Count Your Karma,” and a Todd Rundgren cover. Quiet a nice mixtape we have here.
Summertime Singles, Freebies and EPs: Dan Israel, The Glad Machine, Golden Richards, Kevin Robertson, The Blendours, Believe It – It’s Easy, Robby Miller, The Foreign Films
It’s a hot, humid week in NYC and I am waving the white flag of surrender. Too much heat and too much music. I’m far behind on album reviews, but as far as singles and EPs we have a treasure trove of power pop goodies. I’m proud to start it off with the excellent Dan Israel single “The Hang of It,” which is a perfect highway traveling song, and he’s got a video too. The Glad Machine/Golden Richards split singles are catchy gems all on their own, and Kevin Robertson (Vapour Trails) has been super active recently, he’s got a new solo album, EP, and single. All great jangly treats. The Blendours are a duo from Iowa that resembles an acoustic Bowling For Soup, and they serve up some fun-filled folk punk. A new band Believe It, It’s Easy from Connecticut has its moments on the first 3 songs of this freebie. Robby Miller is another rookie with a hook-filled love song. Finally, The Foreign Films’ next LP ‘Starlight Serenade’ is almost ready, so here are 2 tracks early to keep you cool this summer.
Summer Singles and EPs: D.A. Stern, Kerosene Stars, Everet Almond, The Amplifier Heads, Gentle Hen, B.U.D., The Maladaptive Solution, Cult Stars from Mars, You Filthy Dog, Daryl Bean
And the flood of summer music just washes over you… This is the biggest haul in a long time, as bands are releasing all that music created during lockdown last year. Let’s start with a new EP from Los Angeles-based, New Jersey-raised D.A. Stern. Stern is one of those young artists that can legit be called upon to carry the torch of power pop into the future. The first single “I Look A Every Face (Cindy)” has that brilliant harmony-drenched approach. The video was directed by Dom Costabile and Andrew Narvaez. Pre-order here.
Many bands are back from self-imposed exile: Chicago rockers Kerosene Stars has a new single that asks “Where Have You Been?” a good question considering the chorus rocks! Then we get Everet Almond with a bouncy piano gem that sticks to you pretty nicely. The Amplifier Heads are “Summer Dazed” with its Beach Boys “Do It Again” vibe. Love those “mm-bop-did-its.” Gentle Hen did a summery re-mix of its memorable “She’s Got It Bad,” and it’s really good, so check out the LP it came from originally. Want some power? Get B.U.D.‘s single “What’s the Point of This (If I’m Not Into It)” it’s a bit Weezer-ish with a crashing chorus. It’s been a long time since I heard The Maladaptive Solution (how did I miss this single?) but info is sparse on them, so enjoy “Consort (Queen of Everything)” an epic mid-tempo rocker, and Jim Bacchi’s Cult Stars from Mars shows his “Funny Face” and its pure power pop greatness (I want an LP, Jim!) UK band You Filthy Dog is another EP that collects music from the past year, and “Face The Wave” and “Loved” remind me a bit of Carl Newman’s old band Zumpano. Similarly, with a ’90s vibe Mr. Strangelove (aka Daryl Bean) sings love songs for “Phoebe Waller-Bridge” and it’s all good.