Category: Top Ten of 2014 Candidate

The Mike Benign Compulsion “Here’s How it Works”

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Milwaukee-based Mike Benign Compulsion brings all the tools to his third album Here’s How It Works. Benign is joined by bassist Brian Wooldridge, drummer Michael Koch and guitarist Joe Vent. The group is a tight sounding unit, with touches of Elvis Costello, The Kinks and The Beatles sprinkled all around. Benign’s rugged vocal takes hold of you right away.

Starting with the mid-tempo “Mrs. Kean” it’s a dense song about adultery with backwards guitar that leads us to the next stage in the affair, “You Say It’s Over” and our protagonist is “inclined to agree.” The big single “Haley Daley” is a fantastically catchy song with energy and snide attitude. The songcraft is both delicate and complex in “Bay Window” making it one of the best ballads here.

The theme of loss and anxiety permeate the entire album. The restlessness is apparent on “Professional Jealousy/Saw Your Post” with the latter half of the song shifting to resigned bitterness. “Me and My Fluoxetine” has a perfect opening riff and line that would make both Ray Davies and Bob Dylan jealous. The pastoral harmonies on “Sleep” make it another winner. No filler either, as each track gives you something compelling. After a few listens, I found no reason to keep it off my list of top ten albums for 2014. Don’t miss it.

CD Baby | Amazon

The Jellybricks “Youngstown Tune Up”

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The Jellybricks have always given us edgy, fuzz driven power pop – and they’re back once again for a Youngstown Tune-Up.  The Harrisburg, Pa.-based band, fronted by lead vocalist Larry Kennedy, sound tighter and better than ever. “About The Weekend” echos classic Elvis Costello and Nick Lowe with its signature choral riffs. “Probably Me” is full of energy, starting up with shouts of “Hey Hey!” and driving chords in the chorus, with an excellent break between verses.

As the band has grown more mature, it focuses less on the growling angst of their earlier sound and focuses on lyric and smart melody.”I’ll Go Mine” is an anthem to a break-up, with a solid guitar structure reminding me a bit of The Goo Goo Dolls or Counting Crows. Lots of great highlights here, “Eventually” is a wonder of harmonies and classic melody,  and “After You” is another great sing-along theme. Bottom line is this is the best Jellybricks album I’ve heard to date, and I’ve been following them since the late ’90s. They definitely deserve a spot in this years top ten list.

CD Baby | Amazon

Burning Ferns, And The Professors

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Burning Ferns “See Saw Seen”
Without a doubt, this debut album from a quartet of musicians from South Wales gives us the best Beatlesque album since The Red Button. “John” is a not-so-subtle shout out to Lennon with its sweet chords. The two part harmonies, hand-claps and guitar jangle are all there for the masterful “All Roads Lead To Rome.” The laid back, breezy hooks are all over “Sand” and the thumping bass lines on “Crunch Time” are another highlight among many.

The compositions are different enough to prevent any fatigue, the psychedelics are kept to a minimum with a combination of great 6 and 12 string Rickenbackers doing all the heavy lifting here, so for fans of The Spongetones this album is a “no brainer.” The Burning Ferns don’t simply emulate the Fab Four, but take the music a small step further adding other influences, primarily The Byrds on the last track “Clouds Forming.” Don’t miss this one, its on my top ten for 2014 list.

CD Baby | Kool Kat Musik | Amazon


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And The Professors “Our Postmortem”
And The Professors is a three-year collaboration among members of The Honeydogs, Brother Ali, Chastity Brown, Heiruspecs, Dessa and the Minnesota Opera. Led by The Honeydogs Adam Levy, Our Postmortem is a mix of chamber pop and orchestral folk rock done with thought provoking lyrics and melodic hooks. Much like the Honeydogs 10,000 Years album, but with even richer orchestral palette. After a simple intro “We Are” adds the guitar lead with strings into a catchy chorus about life’s observations and emotions.

“Watching” is a little Randy Newman styled tune that explains the bands unusual name: “And The Professors don’t make confessions/they don’t care about market crashes or hunting fascists/they don’t feel your pain… they just tell you how it is!” And these pocket slices of life are just amazingly realized, like on “Turn of the Century Recycling Blues.” And the cascading strings and layered instrumentation is equally impressive on the slower methodical “Something Burning” and “Grateful.” One of the best “thinking man’s pop symphony” I’ve heard, check it out!

Amazon

Adrian Bourgeois “Pop/Art”

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It’s been a while since his debut album, and Adrian Bourgeois can hold it back no longer. Adrian returns with a massive collection of songs, 24 tracks that feels like an anthology. Richly melodic, the singer songwriter covers all the bases here.

Opening with the delicate ballad “New December” that swells to a full orchestral production. Another early standout is “Everybody Knows Its Me” a sweet combination of both Todd Rundgren and Nilsson. Then the album veers into folk singer mode with “Pictures of Incense” and “Jonah.” Comparisons to Robert Harrison (Cotton Mather) come out on certain tracks, “Waterfalls” slide guitar goodness and the sharp lyrics on “Hanging Day” stand out. The Phil Spector wall of sound approach works well on “Aquarium” and the yearning ballad “Don’t Look Away” is another winner.

And although not every melody sticks with you, so many pop styles are explored its hard to find an outright flop here. More gems include the “Shot In The Dark” which is a memorable duet with Paige Lewis. “Sunflower” is another epic love story in pop form. He explores a roots rock sound with “The Howling Wind” and bouncy electronica on “Better” and “Parachutes,” but Adrian really shines with the orchestral ballads throughout. There is a lot of music here, so give yourself time to drink it all in. Highly Recommended and it gets added to my year end list. Available on Bandcamp and Adrian’s web site, plus you can pick up his debut for free.

Evil Arrows and Steven Bakur

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Evil Arrows “EP 1”
With Evil Arrows, Bryan Scary has scaled back the stylistic excess that flowed freely with The Shedding Tears. But the catchy melodies are still there and the simpler compositions allow the listener to absorb the songs better.

The first track “Romancer” starts with a sparse guitar strum, then the signature sticky chorus starts up with great percussion and bass lines. “Silver Bird” is another ear worm with Bryan’s vaudevillian keyboard skills. “The Lovers” is a sweet combination of bouncy melody and somber guitar licks. Every track here shines and production is clean and straightforward. First on my list for best EP of 2014, and it bodes well for future Arrows releases.

Amazon


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Steven Bakur “Sooner Than Later”
Bakur is an adult contemporary pop musician with a polished sound, starting with “Sasha Says,” a jingle jangle pop tune with rock guitar riffs in the chorus that really come to life.”Comes & Goes” is very much like a Peter Cetera song with sweeping dramatic chords about a tragic female figure, “…her life’s so wrong.”

Bakur’s guitar opens up “So Shy,” with piano and orchestral accents driving the chorus and its another highlight. Vocally Steven does a good job, but occasionally a few tracks do feel like sketched ideas (“Sorry”) or treacle (“Mannequin”). The first half has the best music, sure to appeal to fans of Richard X. Heyman or Van Morrison. Give it a try.

CD Baby | Amazon

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