International Power Pop: Super Ratones, Tommy Lorente, Star Trip, m.a.p.a.

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Editor’s note: Power pop remains an international genre, but non-English bands don’t always get attention. Here are some great bands from outside the USA that have 2019 releases that you should listen to — even if you don’t speak Spanish!

 

Super Ratones

Super Ratones “Carreras de Aviones”

Super Ratones is a veteran power pop band from Mar del Plata, Argentina. They’ve been influenced by The Beatles, The Beach Boys, The Who, Hollies, Kinks and the Byrds. They were nominated for Grammy Award in 2001, and they still continue to produce excellent Spanish language power pop to this day.

They continue the musical journey in 2019 with their tenth album, Carreras de Aviones which translates to “aircraft races.” The band still has the melodies and vocal harmonies that command attention as evidenced by the title track. The catchy melody of “Un Minuto es Mucho Tiempo” and guitar attack of “A Remar” are awesome examples of these talented guys. Highly Recommended, so check it out!

Amazon


Star Trip “Salto al vacio”

Star Trip is from El Altet, Alicante, Spain. They have a great power-pop sound, the opening title track “Salto al vacío” is a dense jangling guitar gem with heavy percussion, and most of the album follows this lead. I couldn’t find a weak song anywhere, and if these guys made an English language version of this LP it would be in my top 20 for sure. Very accessible and beautifully done. Highly Recommended.

Amazon


m.a.p.a. “So Simple and So Clear”

This band from Madrid actually sings in English, and if you want to know what the band name means, check out my last post. The band has a jangling sound with the light vocals of Ana, and takes its influences from West Coast pop. Check out “Always Again,” “I Look Around” and “Different in Mars”

Amazon

Tommy Lorente “Tommy Reltone”

Tommy Lorente does some of the most dynamic garage-rock-meets-power-pop I’ve ever heard from France. His latest double single is a Kinks-like gem, full of irresistible riffs and energy. I hope this leads us to a full-length LP soon!

Amazon


Singles: Myles Josephh, The John Sally Ride, The Dowling Poole, Brad Marino, Go Outside, m.a.p.a

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Kai Danzberg is working with a new artist, Myles Josephh. The harmonies are terrific and Kai knows a great melody when he sings it. The team is working on a new EP for this year.

The John Sally Ride is another artist poised to make a big comeback this year. Here is the first impressive single, love those riffs!

The Dowling Poole is back, Willie Dowling and Jon Poole have a  new album, “See You, See Me”, to be released on 28 February 2020. These are the first 2 singles. XTC fans will dig it!

Brad Marino plays this Buddy Holly classic. Hey, it’s a FREEBIE!

The new band Go Outside is more of an emo/alt. rock band, but they hit this single correctly when they shout “I swear to God if I ever play Power Pop… Give me something to make my heart stop!” Kinda reminds me of Superdrag. Album is on Bandcamp, and this single is a FREEBIE!

A band from Madrid, Spain – m.a.p.a stands for the first names of the people in the band; Manuel, Ana, Pepe, and Antonio. Plus they do a sweet cover of “Mean Mr. Mustard,” it’s a FREEBIE!

Brand New Singles: Sunshine Boys Premiere “Infinity Girl”

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Chicago’s Sunshine Boys (featuring Freda Love Smith of Blake Babies, Dag Juhlin of Poi Dog Pondering and Jacqueline Schimmel of Big Hello) is releasing the politically-charged single “Infinity Girl” on Friday, Jan 10 and Power Popaholic has the exclusive premiere! Sunshine Boys’ sophomore album, Work and Love, will be released on Friday, May 1 via Pravda Records and follows 2018’s critically acclaimed Blue Music. 

 

BTW: In case you missed last Sunday’s radio show on 11L Radio NY International – I played a song from each of the albums in my top ten for 2019. Here it is recorded for posterity and your convenience.

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What I Missed: Bryan Estepa and Identical Suns

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Editor’s note: It happens every year. I miss several releases from 2019. Some are high on other bloggers lists, some I just forgot to review (Doh!) and others just seem to slip through the cracks for a variety of reasons.  This week I will review a few of these remaining 2019 albums.

 

Bryan Estepa

Bryan Estepa “Sometimes I Just Don’t Know”

The venerable Australian singer-songwriter Bryan Estepa delivers a stark, emotional album that earned Absolute PowerPop blog’s #1 album spot. Estepa has always tackled serious adult subjects, and the first track “I’m Not Ready For This” is all about dealing with a serious health crisis. Bryan’s strong vocals are filled with empathy that sets the tone of the album. While the music is more adult-oriented pop than power pop, you do get catchy and melodic songs like “Drawn Like Magnets.”

Dealing with doubt, fear and how your loved one gives you the strength to go on is also a central theme. “Rattled and Rolled” and “Another Kind of Madness” deal with these strong emotions and the tight compositions keep it compelling. The lyrics will resonate with the patient listener, “Granted” is some of the best advice a song can give. It would be too easy to turn this somber subject matter into a depressing album, but Estepa fights through these feelings with conviction. I will concede this would have made it in my top 20, and thus a highly recommended listen.

Amazon


Identical Suns

Identical Suns “Week Minded”

This Ohio band led by Rene Rodriguez, Todd Stanton, and Andrew Stanton does a good job of creating pop eclecticism with a sense of fun. Taking influences from Mike Viola, NRBQ, and The Beach Boys, it starts with the bouncy “Saving It Up For Sunday” that goes through a typical week in the life. The themes alternate from happy to sad and the lead vocalist duties shift from song to song (with mixed results).  

So we get the slow lounge ballad “She Makes Me Happy” followed by the hopeful pop of “Maybe Next Time.” Next, we get some slow faux Jimmy Buffet on “Wanted Man,” but things again pickup with the uptempo “Halfway There.” The highlight of the album is “Miss Her Reminiscing” with great lead guitar and the tender “Silence in The Room” is another beautiful gem about dealing with the loss of a loved one. Check it out, it’s music that deserves to be heard.

Amazon | CD Baby

The Power Popaholic Top 25 albums of 2019

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  1. Slumberjet “World of Sound” 
  2. Jordan Jones “Jordan Jones”
  3. Ryan Hamilton And The Harlequin Ghosts “This is the Sound” 
  4. The Bishop’s Daredevil Stunt Club “End Over End”
  5. Jeff Whalen “10 More Rock Super Hits” 
  6. David Brookings and the Average Lookings “Scorpio Monologue” 
  7. Pernice Brothers “Spread The Feeling”
  8. Lannie Flowers “Home”
  9. Nick Frater “Full Fathom Freight-Train”
  10. The Dates “Ask Again Later”
  11. Dave Cope and the Sass “Dave Cope and the Sass”
  12. Liam Gallagher “Why Me? Why Not.”
  13. The Brothers Steve “#1”
  14. Joe Sullivan “Growing Up Schlockstar”
  15. Dan Israel “Social Media Anxiety Disorder”
  16. The Lolas “A Dozen Or Seven Tapestries”
  17. Redd Kross “Beyond the Door” 
  18. Goodman “The Era of Buckets”
  19. Velveteen Rabbit “Velveteen Rabbit”
  20. The Anderson Council “Worlds Collide” 
  21. Sofa City Sweetheart “Super(b) Exitos” 
  22. Geoff Palmer “Pulling Out All The Stops” 
  23. The Boys With The Perpetual Nervousness “Dead Calm” 
  24. Jeff Lynne’s ELO “Out of Nowhere” 
  25. The Rubinoos “From Home”

The top 10 Power Pop EPs of 2019

  1. Pugwash “The Olympus EP”
  2. Eric Barao “Obsolete” EP
  3. The Seven and The Six – ep#1
  4. Young Guv – “GUV 1”
  5. Vista Blue “Hit The Floor”
  6. The Skullers “Freight Trains & Party Games”
  7. It’s Karma It’s Cool “Hipsters and Aeroplanes”
  8. The Coolies – “Uh Oh! It’s​.​.​. The Coolies”
  9. The Last Bees “The Last Bees”
  10. Kai Danzberg “Euphoria”

The Highly Recommended LPs #26 through 70

  1. Amoeba Teen “Medium Wave”
  2. The John Sally Ride “Nothing Doing”
  3. The Rallies “Upside Down”
  4. Ulysses “On Safari”
  5. Project Ghost Outfit “Project Ghost Outfit”
  6. Kai Danzberg “Not Only Sunshine”
  7. Extra Arms “Up From Here”
  8. The Successful Failures “Saratoga”
  9. Richard X. Heyman “Pop Circles”
  10. R. Stevie Moore “Afterlife”
  11. The Lunar Laugh “Goodnight Noises Everywhere”
  12. Vanilla “Mystik Knights of Tacoma”
  13. Popravinas “Willy Nilly”
  14. The Jellybricks “Some Kind of Lucky”
  15. The Well Wishers “The Lost Soundtrack”
  16. The Nines “Shipwrecked (Eggers Songbook Vol 1)”
  17. The Junior League “Adventureland”
  18. Shake Some Action “Thirty Nine”
  19. Richard Turgeon “Go Deep”
  20. The Dollyrots “Daydream Explosion”
  21. Eytan Mirsky “If Not Now… Later”
  22. Armchair Oracles “Caught By Light”
  23. Rob Laufer “The Floating World”
  24. Scott Gagner “Hummingbird Heart”
  25. David Mead “Cobra Pumps”
  26. The Pearlfishers “Love and Other Hopeless Things”
  27. Jim Basnight “Not Changing”
  28. Johnathan Pushkar “Straighten Up”
  29. Erk “When Night Meets Day”
  30. Willie Wisely “Face The Sun”
  31. Mothboxer “Open Sky”
  32. The Galileo 7 “There Is Only Now”
  33. The Laissez Fairs “Marigold”
  34. Faux Co. “Radio Silence”
  35. Onesie “Umpteenth”
  36. Coleman Gota “And The Loser’s Choir Sings”
  37. Salt “The Loneliness of Clouds”
  38. Talkie “Everything Matters”
  39. The Maureens “Something In The Air”
  40. The Beatpunkers “Those Years Songs”
  41. Joe Jackson “Fool”
  42. Cloud Eleven “Footnote”
  43. 8×8 “New Data New Day”
  44. Emperor Penguin “Walnut Fascia”
  45. Mike Daly & The Planets “All It Takes Is One”

Final comments: The power pop genre is much less cohesive now than it was 10 years ago. It seems anyone with a retro sound seems to get the label shoved at them. On the other hand, the best power pop this year did not fall into a single style category (“Beatlesque,” “Alt. Roots,” “Psychedelic Glam” ) but took from a variety of styles and influences. This year was a tough one as all the artists did a great job, and I’ve missed so many albums I see at the top of other blog lists. Check out all these artists — you won’t be disappointed and you’ll most likely disagree with my order.