Category: Top Ten of 2007 Candidate

This was an album that slipped through the cracks for me. If you are a French band named after a Japansese pufferfish, then you play great baroque power pop right? Fugu is led by singer, composer, and multi-instrumentalist Mehdi Zannad, and has worked with Stereolab, Saint Etienne and Tahiti 80. For this 2001 release, “Fugu-1” Mehdi called on the talents of over 25 players, including strings, a horn section and countless other instrumental effects in a manner fitting a Brian Wilson or George Martin. The harmonies are flawless and are on par with The Winnerys. The lush melodies and gorgeous arrangements are not to be missed. In fact he outdoes Sean O’Hagen’s early work with the High Llamas (FYI: A new High Llamas album is out and a review is coming soon). He also has a new album out I also hope to review soon called “As Found”. Listen to tracks here and here at MySpace and visit his website for more info. You can pick up this first album at e-music

Listen to “Meanwhile”

This is just a fun album. Jeff Murphy of the legendary power pop group Shoes has put together an organic sounding album with more hooks than a bait and tackle shop. The song “I’m a Tool for You” sounds a little like Lindsey Buckingham mixed with McCartney on a sunny day. The ballad “Unconditional Love” has a slow dreamy quality, not unlike my favorite Moodly Blues ballads of the 70s. The closest thing to Shoes here is a jangle mid-tempo number “It Happens all the Time,” but alot of this Jeff doing his best to spread his wings and enjoy the process without trying to “sound” like a Shoes record. in my opinion he hits solid gold with the song “Won’t take Yes for an Answer,” an amazing hard driving guitar pop classic that stands with the best work he’s ever done. This album easily makes my “best of 2007” list so far. It’s for sale at Not Lame and CD Baby and this one will make you smile!

Listen to “I’m a Tool For You”

Oh jeez! Something amazing showed up on emusic and on Kool Kat Recordings so I had to download this after hearing a track or two to make sure this guy was not the second coming of Godley & Creme of 10cc. Bryan Scary’s music is a wonderful mix of many styles. Lots of 10cc, Ben Folds, Loud Family, ELO and XTC are showing up all over the place. It’s almost unsettling, all the tempo and instrumental changes throughout each song. If you remember a little power pop group called Fluid Ounces’“In the Old Fashioned Way” where lots of operatic themes lead songs on a strange melodic paths, the same happens here. Except it works much better here. Byran mixes themes and hooks in a carnival atmosphere – a perfect example is “The Lessons I Learned” and every song follows this pattern. More influences float around like Beatles, Early Genesis, Frank Zappa and Squeeze on each trippy track! It is exhausting to listen to and this will either earn your respect and admiration or totally turn you off. And with fifteen tracks, part of the fun is finding a melodic theme you like and listening to it again and again. Like the amazing track “The Ceiling on the Wall” you’ll be “losing your marbles” over this album! This is the definition of a cult power pop hit. You can listen to the tracks here. And if you have an emusic account, this is a no-brainer. Download from emusic now.

Field Music had a really good, if quirky album last year the self-titled “Field Muisc” was a nice clean indie pop album that came from the old Apples in Stereo mold. With this new album “Tones on Town” — the group’s quality music improves vastly. Listen to the amazing song cycle in “A Gap has appeared” and then the follow-up “Closer At Hand,” that begins with a gorgeous chorus and then runs a killer hook right away. With their clever vocal harmonies and angular riffs, and sounding similar to The Beatles, “English Settlement-era” XTC, and Harry Nilsson, this is what great modern power pop is all about. A great complex album with witty lyrics and baroque beauty. “A House is not a Home” is another catchy alt-pop slice of heaven. Sometimes I run out of adjectives for an album – other than the cliche: “All killer, no filler.” Get it now at emusic.

Here is the video for “A House is Not A Home”

Apparently this is the year of the super artist team-up. Seth Swirsky, who released the awesome “Instant Pleasure” and Mike Ruekberg from Rex Daisy have combined to form The Red Button – and I have a new album for my top 10 of 2007. Not since L.E.O. have I heard a better “tribute-styled” inspired album. The Red Button are the new incarnation of the Spongetones. Yup, that means Beatlesque to the max. And I personally, am very fond of that style of power pop. It’s not easy to come up with three minute gems that sound original, but still evoke Lennon and McCartney, just ask Neil Innes. The Red Button deliver near perfection here. Rickenbacker jangle and minor chords are everywhere here. My favorite song here is “Hopes Up” a great single with excellent catchyness. Other songs you can’t ignore are “Cruel Girl”, and the title tune. l could not find a weak track at all — maybe one, “Free” is a bit too much like the Beatles’ “Rain” but that’s a very minor flaw (if you even could call it that). Stop reading this and visit the notlame’s special page where you can hear the entire album streaming. Order it and you will not be sorry.