Category: Top Ten of 2021 Candidate

The Easy Button and The Jimmy C

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Oh, how much was missed in 2021! As per the norm in January, I focus on bands I never got to review until it was too late, and the year was up. Luckily at least one of these bands made my top 25 list. Here’s a pair that deserve some extra attention.

 

The Easy Button

The Easy Button “Lost on Purpose”

The Easy Button, a Tampa, Florida band decided to get very productive during the lockdown last year. A massive collection of 22 songs made this initially a challenge, but the band has all the right influences (Beach Boys, Weezer, Fountains of Wayne) and sets up all the right hooks on “Fast Ones,” a power-pop description of what we all love about those quick tempo melodies. Band members Brian Jones (vocals, guitar), Rich Tiemann (guitar, vocals), Preston Jones (bass), and Cailun Seay (drums) keep the momentum moving from “Beach Singer Man” all the way to the last track “Mississippi.” The focus on nostalgia, rock and roll fantasies, and girls all play out through smart riff-driven melodies.

What drives this album above and beyond is the consistent quality of the songwriting. From the careful composition of “Up and Comer” to the heart-felt “Learning To Drive,” I could not find a single note of filler. The somber “ReRun” does have a different tone, closer to Ben Folds than the other influences, as it name-checks a ton of classic TV shows. It makes my top 25 list at #18 and is essential listening.

Amazon


Jimmy C

The Jimmy C “Ducking”

Melbourne’s Jamie Coghill (aka The Jimmy C) is a skilled rocker who plays to the cheap seats. Opening with a comical false opening (and ending), it settles into a light-hearted “Everything Is OK” as the reassuring whistle helps along with the bouncy rhythm. Coghill doesn’t stick to a specific style, but classic rock influences are easy to spot. “Dead Men Don’t Tango” is a sweet surf guitar instrumental, and psyche-folk ballad “The Holy Lie” has a powerful guitar solo akin to Jimmy Page. The random nature of the styles are part of the fun here, as some songs are quick mood snippets (“Blathering Heights”), pure power-pop (“Poor Boy”), or elegant folk-rock (“Rigmarole.”)

Some tunes are really funny, I mean on “Tommy Two-Balls-Minus-One” he finds a rhyme for “testicle,” while the fantastic instrumentation on “Someone Else’s Crown” and “Can’t Face The Girls” make the songs irresistible and repeatable. Created during the pandemic, Coghill’s impatience mirrors and entertains his audience. Highly Recommended.

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The Power Popaholic Top 25 EPs of 2021

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The EP has become the format of choice for many bands opting to leave the Long Player format for good.  Even Roger Joesph Manning Jr. (Lickerish Quartet, Jellyfish) has made it known for a while that his LP days are over and done when it comes to new music. My list of EPs is extensive this year, and to qualify your EP had to be anywhere from three to nine songs. Only two songs are considered a single (A/B side) and ten or more is an LP by my definition. Like the LPs, my cup runneth over with choices this year.

  1. The Hard Way “New to You”
  2. Roller Disco Combo “The Sun After The Rain”
  3. Bryan Estepa “Back to The Middle”
  4. The Lickerish Quartet “Threesome, Vol. 2”
  5. David Myhr “And Now This”
  6. BPM Collective “Catastrophe Girl”
  7. Chirs Church “Triple Play Single”
  8. Everet Almond’s Greeting From Anton
  9. The Feeders – Kerchoo
  10. Richard Turgeon “Campfire Songs”
  11. Nolan Potter “Music Is Dead”
  12. The Pre-Amps “Four by Four”
  13. The Poppermost “A Piece of The Poppermost”
  14. The Dowling Poole “The Trump Chronicles”
  15. The Blendours “Go On Vacation”
  16. Believe it, It’s Easy “Believe it, It’s Easy” 
  17. Daryl Bean “Mr. Strangelove”
  18. Rich Williams “Ordinary Person”
  19. David Woodard “Butterfly Effect”
  20. Sandy McKnight and Fernando Perdomo “San Fernando Blitz”
  21. The Listening Post “Sad Babbles”
  22. Beachwood Sparks “Sandbox Sessions”
  23. Alex Dominish “Small Batch (Shandy)”
  24. The Cheap Cassettes “See Her In Action!”
  25. The Checkered Hearts “Joystick”

The Power Popaholic Top 25 Albums of 2021 + More

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  1. Nick Frater “Earworms”
  2. Sorrows “Love Too Late …the real album”
  3. The Brothers Steve “Dose”
  4. The Legal Matters “Chapter Three”
  5. Wanderlust “All A View”
  6. Dolour “Televangelist”
  7. The Red Locusts “The Red Locusts”
  8. Nelson Bragg “Gratitude Blues”
  9. Andy Bopp “AB”
  10. Scott Warren “Shadow Bands”
  11. Radio Days “Rave On!”
  12. Oscar Lang “Chew The Scenery”
  13. Ryan Hamilton “1221”
  14. Matthew Sweet “Catspaw”
  15. Bleu “Six Tape”
  16. The Armoires “Incognito”
  17. Underwater Sunshine “Suckertree”
  18. The Easy Button “Lost On Purpose”
  19. Brad Marino “Looking For Trouble”
  20. Silvertwin “Silvertwin”
  21. Smash Palace “21”
  22. Kris Rodgers and the Dirty Gems “Still Dirty”
  23. Novelty Island “How Are You Coping With This Century?”
  24. Richie Mayer “The Inn of Temporary Happiness”
  25. Diamond Hands “Thank You”

With more time in the studio or at home, artists wrote and recorded even more than in 2020. Many power pop bands chose to stretch out of their traditional boundaries this year (Wanderlust, The Legal Matters, Bleu, The Armoires), while others stick to the tried-and-true melodic style and method. Great new artists debuted this year (Oscar Lang, Novelty Island, Silvertwin) and older artists refined their sound to perfection (Sorrows, The Brothers Steve, Andy Bopp).

The best of the rest… I actually ranked the next best 25 this year. I did not include compilations or live shows (with the exception of The Krayolas and The Weeklings) but there will be another list for that soon.

  1. David Brookings “Mania at the Talent Show”
  2. The Boys With Perpetual Nervousness “Songs From Another Life”
  3. Dana Countryman “Pop Scrapbook”
  4. Caper Clowns “Abdicate The Throne”
  5. Francis Lung “Miracle”
  6. Iain Hornal “Fly Away Home”
  7. Brent Windler “New Morning Howl”
  8. Geoff Palmer “Charts & Graphs”
  9. The Aerovons “A Little More”
  10. Lovebreakers “Primary Colours”
  11. Watts “Shady Rock and Rollers”
  12. Aaron Lee Tasjan “Tasjan! Tasjan! Tasjan!”
  13. Cheap Trick “In Another World”
  14. The Mergers “Three Apples In The Orange Grove”
  15. Caddy “Detours and Dead Ends Vol. 1”
  16. Jon Flynn “Citrus”
  17. Star Collector “Game Day”
  18. Jay Gonzalez “Back to the Hive”
  19. The Krayolas “Savage Young Krayolas”
  20. The Gold Needles “What’s Tomorrow Ever Done for You?”
  21. Ryan Allen “What A Rip!”
  22. The Laissez Fairs “Curiosity Killed The Laissez Fairs”
  23. Emperor Penguin “Corporation Pop!”
  24. Ramirez Exposure “Exit Times”
  25. The Weeklings “In Their Own Write”

Power Popaholic TOP 25 Radio Show will be aired on 11L Radio New York International on Sunday, January 2, 2022, at 8:30 pm. It will feature songs from the TOP 25 album list.

LISTEN on GRITS Radio: http://169.61.85.22/grits
(works on cell phones & computers)

Lovebreakers, Ryan Hamilton, The Armoires

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Lovebreakers “Primary Colours”

The debut album of Lovebreakers is a rare positive social commentary on 2021, and its opener “Eye Roller” is a brilliant slice of Brit-pop. Like a more power-pop version of Oasis, this Birmingham, UK group has a lot going for it. Lead singer/guitarist Jack Perry wrote “Family Man” written about one of his best friends who just started his own family. Overall a lot of fun, danceable rock like “I Will Love Life” and the title track are perfect examples of this optimistic vibe. While it could’ve had more stylistic variety, this is an above-average debut. Highly Recommended.

Apple Music


Ryan Hamilton

Ryan Hamilton “1221”

I was a bit subdued when I heard the first song here was a cover of The Spin Doctors “How Could You Want Him (When You Know You Could Have Me)?”  Fortunately, Ryan goes back to the power-pop approach of his debut, with lots of fine originals like “Deja Vu I Love You” and “Satellite.” The catchy verses of “Shots Fired” and “Big Man” will stick in your head, and his bittersweet look at the younger generation with “Babies” is just as memorable. Nearly every song hits the mark and the LP will get consideration for the top ten list for sure. Super Highly Recommended.

Amazon


The Armoires

The Armoires “Incognito”

The Armoires are a collective of musicians anchored by the duo of Christina Bulbenko and Rex Broome. And this album was the most challenging album I’ve had the pleasure to listen to all year. It started as a “secret project” where the band released a series of singles under fictitious band names but culminated as an 18 track juggernaut. The diverse direction of styles and covers made this an unexpected joy to dig into.

The compelling cover of John Cale’s “Paris 1919,”  sounds like a combination of The Move and ABBA. The quirky nature of “I Say We Take Off And Nuke The Site From Orbit” is a prog melody with nice violin touches, and then it becomes a country hoedown on “Bagfoot Run,” before the epic folk ballad “Homebound” describes the need to move. A huge standout is 20/20’s cover “The Night I Heard a Scream” with killer harmonies akin to Fleetwood Mac. But after the covers, the originals are just as compelling. “Ohma, Bring Your Light Into This Place,” “Magenta Moon,” and “Great Distances” are the real gems here. Normally several covers would disqualify an album from reaching my top ten, but there are always exceptions. This is one of them. Super Highly Recommended.

Amazon

DoublePlusPop and The Red Locusts

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The Brothers Steve

DoublePlusPop “Too Loud, Too Fast, Too Much”

Never say never. That should be the motto for bands that recorded music but never thought it would ever be heard, much less released. Paul Averitt formed Doublepluspop in the late 90’s/early 00’s with Jon Lenzer on guitar, Mike Bowman on bass, and Neil Saunders on drums. After recording a pile of songs the band split up and Averitt assumed it was over before it even began. But last March, an audio engineer found the ADAT tapes and “rescued” them from obscurity, and here we have that “lost” debut.

The opener “Stumblin Back” has a dominant riff that engulfs the song above all else. But “The Dark Inside” and the anthemic “Here’s To The Losers” have a bit more personality, similar to The Velvet Crush (without the harmonies). An early standout “My Verona” has a catchy ascending chorus, and “Everyone” adds harmonies to this potent mix. The guitar parts in some of these later tracks recall Matthew Sweet, especially on the excellent “Coincide.” It’s clear this band would’ve been signed by Not Lame Records, had it come out when it was recorded. Other winning tracks include; “If I Wasn’t In Love,” an epic rocker, and a cover of Todd Rundgren’s “Couldn’t I Just Tell You.” It makes this one a highly recommended album that belongs in your music collection.

Kool Kat Musik | Amazon

The Red Locusts

The Red Locusts “The Red Locusts”

So how does a Beatle-obsessed rocker let off a little creative steam? Rick Springfield got together with some old friends, brothers Matt and Gregg Bissonette (who’ve both played with David Lee Roth, Ringo Starr, Jeff Lynne, and Elton John) and they wanted to let their Beatlesque flag fly free. They concocted a “secret” band called The Red Locusts, and built a bunch of pseudonyms for themselves, and released this gem in May to much buzzing excitement. Influenced by The Beatles, Jellyfish, Electric Light Orchestra, Big Star, The Raspberries… fans of Machine Gun Kelly need not apply.

The results are dynamic and satisfying for power pop fans. “Under The Rainbow” is a melodic celebration that rewards with each listen, it’s a bright melody with excellent musicianship and production akin to ELO’s best. “Another Bad Day For Cupid” continues the fun, with a sweet jangle, and then it slows down for the blues shuffle of “Deep Blue Sea.” It grabs the sitars for “Glow Worm,” a neo-psychedelic five minutes that compares well with Andrew Gold’s The Fraternal Order of The All. The songs have familiar musical reference points, but these are still original and unique melodies, and that’s what makes it so good. The vocals strain a little on the corny “Love is Going To Save The Day,” but it’s played so sincerely, it works. “Miss Daisy Hawkins” is a cribbed sequel to “Eleanor Rigby,” and Rick adds as many Beatle-isms as possible in the lyrics. Each song is so finely crafted you’ll need to hear it several times, as you peel away each initial influence. For musicians and listeners alike, this is a mutual guilty pleasure (but there is no reason to feel guilty). This is also high on my top ten list for 2021. Super Highly Recommended.

Amazon