Bowman “Living To Dream” and “B-Sides”
Boston’s own Bill Bowman is a power pop artist that has turned heads for many years starting with his first solo “Believe” to 2004’s “Living To Dream.” News from Bill is that a new album is in the making, but this year “B-Sides” came out, continuing the great work from the last album. On “Living To Dream” we are treated to driving beats and a tight catchy melody on the opener “Save Me.” Much in the mold of Andy Bopp or Matthew Sweet – it’s guitar driven pop that takes no prisoners.  Vocally he comes closer to Justin Currie (Del Amitri) or Ed Roland (Collective Soul). Highlights here include the chill inducing “So Many Ways To Say Goodbye,” “Get Some” and rock anthem “What I Don’t Know.” His songwriting is crisp and musicianship is expert. Easy to say this traditional combination of emotional rocking and ballideering makes for a totally satisfying listening experience. On “B-Sides” you are treated to a heavier sound with “Right In Front of Me” and the blues beat of “Bye, Bye, Bye.” The soulful “Jump A Little Lighter” has a cool chord structure that’s unexpected on this type of song and is the biggest surprise here. Even though mere B-sides, these are still leaps and bounds better than most musicians work. If you never heard of Bowman, than stick with “Living To Dream” as essential – you should then move on to “B-Sides” for extra credit.

Bowman website | CD Baby | Itunes

BONUS

The Rubinoos “Automatic Toaster”
The venerable Rubinoos have returned with their first new music in five years and it’s a blast! The band lineup includes Jon Rubin, Tommy Dunbar, Al Chan and guest drummer/producer Robbie Rist, and they jam together just perfectly. The band are firing on all cylinders here, as the opener “Two Guitars, Bass and Drums” is classic Rubinoos, a great band anthem for sure. Much of these songs are like lost gems from the Rubinoos past albums, both fun and upbeat – perfect for a hot summer. “The Pony Express” and “Earth Number 1” standout as great songs with killer choruses and tight instrumentation.  The old boy-girl chestnut is highlighted on “Can’t Have Her Back” and “Same Old Heartache” to excellent effect. Toward the albums end, a few tracks sound like the boys have done too many kids musical records (“Zombie Night In Madrid”, “Cave Girls”). Right now this album is only available as a Spanish import through the band directly, but I expect it to reach the standard distribution channels soon.

My Space | Pop+One.com 

Jeremy Messersmith “The Reluctant Graveyard”
This blog has been following Jeremy throughout his career, and each album gets better. Jeremy mentioned in an interview that this album has a highly melodic vintage sound. The chiming guitars start us on “Lazy Bones” which zips along to a catchy melody. The retro sound suits him fine on the awesome “Dillnger Eyes” with it’s skiffle beat, distorted guitar and multi-tracked chorus. “Organ Donor” does a bit of Sting meets Colin Bluestone in this moody little track with some excellent guitar and strings combo. “Violet” is another winner with a Bacharach syled opening and lush Beatles chorus. Even “John the Determinist” could be a companion to Eleanor Rigby. Despite these sweet melodies, the subject matter remains morbid, in fact every song relates to death in some way.  The songs have a strong narrative, and “A Girl, a Boy, and a Graveyard” is bit of acoustic folk along the lines of Elliot Smith. The strongest message of the album is in “Deathbed Salesman” where the undertaker intones ““This is how it has to end / So love somebody while you can.” This is a brilliant concept album, don’t miss it.

MySpace | Bandcamp | Amazon

Neil Nathan is a big fan of NYC rock and Detroit soul music, and it shows. Nathan teamed up with Bobby Harlow (The Go) to produce his debut full-length album. The Distance Calls effortlessly merges jangly pop with classic 1970’s guitar rock. Even though we covered his excellent take on ELO’s “Do Ya” that opening single “California Run” is an upbeat strumming song with a killer hook that sets the tone. Similar to The Eagles or Jackson Brown, it’s meat and potatoes rock and roll that satisfies all the way through. The blues styled “Get On” has a bit of Dylan and Matthew Sweet in it’s DNA with a rolling organ and guitar solo break that is so cool it’ll keep ice cream from melting.
“Too Late” is another gem, and the ballad “Don’t Walk Away” is a another well crafted piece of piano soul that recalls Cat Stevens, and you will get your lighter out and raise it high. There are few musicians out there that can pull off this combo of energy and soulful songwriting (Both Matthew Sweet and Jeff Tweedy qualify). Only the sparse “Far Off” feels unfinished, but every other track shines here. Highly recommended for sure.

My Space  | CD Baby | Amazon

Cabinessence “Naked Friends”
From Oregon’s Willamette Valley, Cabinessence peppers its space-hippie country with sultry, Bolan-esque guitar and funky keyboards riffs that recall The Beach Boys “Wild Honey” period (after all, the band’s name is a Wilson tune). Cabinessence is led by Nathan Maricle and Jacob Arnold and they open with the party rhythm of “Thought.” The moonshine boogie beat of “How I Learned” is unadulterated fun and the quirky tune has a sticky sing-along chorus. The smooth harmonies and song structure on “Thumbs” recall The Jayhawks and The Minus Five best moments.  And the creeping ballad “The Poet” is a gorgeous organ melody that has a banjo strum with guitar breaks that keep it compelling. The angelic harmonies and steel guitar of “Grace” is a low key country tune that slows things down to Gram Parsons tempo. Then the band defies genre with the funk pop “Should’ve Known” which seems to combine Creedence Clearwater Revival and Isaac Hayes. The genre combo experiments with pysche-country-funk-pop will be refreshing to some, and frustrating to others. The songs are finely polished and worth the time if you feel you’ve heard it all.  Listen to the album here.

My Space | Amazon

Electric Tickle Machine “Blew It Again”
A small Brooklyn band with this much talent and energy is both exciting and frustrating. Coming close to a mix of Jane’s Addiction and The Brian Jonestown Massacre, the vocals batter around from track to track but it works to great effect on the opening title track. The muddled vocals and screams on “Bones” and “Something Else” detract from the Kinks-like organ melody and guitar rhythms. Both songs have driving beats and rock strongly, but my favorite here is “Part Of Me” where all the parts fit together and the “ba-ba-da-da” hook in the chorus is infectious. But just like the oldies band The Kingsmen, who sang “Louie, Louie” it didn’t always matter what the lyrics said or if they were intelligible. This neo-garage rock has it’s high points with “Gimme Money” and “Honest Injun” full of engrossing composition and the ballsy attempt to back it up. But too much of a good thing dilutes the great droning guitar and wild organ solos here. If the band can focus their energies a little more on melody and less on Velvet Underground schtick it will go a long way. The sound however is totally genuine and Electric Tickle Machine should develop into a potent band to be reckoned with.

MySpace | Amazon