Doctor Squid and The Beat Seekers

powerpopaholic 1 Comment

Doctor Squid “Doctor Squid”
Doctor Squid is a lively Athens, GA band lead by Larry Cardinal and Mark Spurlock. This is one of those bands that doesn’t fit nicely in a pigeonhole — they remind me of  a lot of early Weezer (Blue album), with a touch of The Creaky Boards, Police and Green Day. This is also very catchy alternative pop as evidenced by the bouncy “On My Way.” The loud “Whoa” chorus gets stuck in your head pretty quickly. “Take A Look” makes good use of those background “oohs” and hand claps with a driving bass line. The buzzing guitar and gentle harmonies of “Things We’ve Chased” and “Victoria” is juxtaposed by verse that describe a set of interesting situations about women.  The funkier songs here have a studied sloppiness to them that is both compelling and laid back (“Down By The River” and “Atomic Reaction”). One of the best songs “3am Electric” has a persistent rhythm and great lyrics. The music is pretty consistent and a few times they try to get too cute (like the very long “The Day It Rained Hot Coffee”),  but these missteps are rare in an overall very good debut.  Download the single “On My Way” for FREE


MySpace | CD Baby | Squid Rock site


The Beat Seekers “Dead Air Radio”
It’s fair to say that this Omaha, Nebraska band has studied it’s homework. It was recorded at Gravity and Full Motion Studios in Chicago, IL with producer Matt Opal, using both analog and digital techniques, to get across the theme of an AM radio show. The clean sound of “All Dolled Up” recalls the Del Amitri, The Elvis Brothers and Farrah. The album’s title track is a fast paced toe tapper and the guitar on “Cinderellas Demise” has a wonderful jangle rhythm. The Rembrandts-like guitar strum and light chorus are recalled on “Passerby.” But the album hits a home run with “Lipstick Crush Delight” a wonderful melodic song full of strong riffs and harmonic perfection. The other tracks try to be as tight, and nearly succeed with hook filled middle eights and minor chords all over “Anything Wont Do.” Even the country twangs of “Save Tonight” keep up the energy level here. The near acoustic ballad “Better Days” remind me of Extreme’s “More Than Words” a little bit. The band tries a little too hard for “Solutions M.I.A.” but that can be forgiven with this superb 14 track effort. This is a band to keep on your radar for sure.


MySpace | Amazon | Amie Street

power pop reviews, power pop and rock and roll opinions. Power pop and even more power pop and rock and roll.

Listening to you, I get the music… again.

powerpopaholic 1 Comment

After doing the entire “Meet the Beatles” cover album, The Smithereens decided to make a proper, all-out studio version of one of the albums that inspired their rock dreams of becoming a band in the first place for this 40th anniversary tribute. The Who’s unique sound will never be duplicated, but then again neither will The Smithereens’ sound that has made them enduring rock icons over the past 25 plus years. The result is part Who, part Smithereens. It sounds really good instrumentally as usual, and it works well. But Pat DiNizio’s vocal limitations are clear when compared to Roger Daltry (listen to “I’m Free” to see what I mean).

Listen to The Smithereens play The Who’s “Tommy”

power pop reviews, power pop and rock and roll opinions. Power pop and even more power pop and rock and roll.

Dewey Cox via Van Dyke Parks "Black Sheep"

powerpopaholic

Recently saw the movie Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story, and one of the funniest parts of the movie is when Dewey goes through a Brian Wilson phase, complete with a Smile-era parody suite called “Black Sheep” – what suprised me is that’s actually written by Smile co-writer Van Dyke Parks! The movie misses as often as it hits, but the music is what is makes it memorable. Lots of tunes here were written by Mike Viola, Marshall Crenshaw, Dan Bern and Charlie Wadhams. The soundtrack was nominated for both a Grammy and Golden Globe Award and was nominated and won the Sierra Award for Best Song in a Motion Picture from the Las Vegas Film Critics Society.

power pop reviews, power pop and rock and roll opinions. Power pop and even more power pop and rock and roll.

Shplang "My Big Three Wheeler"

powerpopaholic

Shplang is an alternapop band with a variety of musical influences from alternative, folk, soul and psyche-pop, but they really have a talent for catchy melody, as evidenced by the sparkling jangle of the most accessible song on the disc, “Spanish Galleon.” It begins it’s strange turn with the Zappa flavored “Pound Cake,” but it keeps your ear interested through all four minutes. It then takes a country western trip with “Right On Time” full of strange characters in the lyric and that sweet Rickenbacker. “The Word is Love” is curious mix of Tin Pan Alley and narrative soul. In fact, the weird stories are all over this disc and forces the listener to pay attention, just to see what comes next. “No One Knows” recalls Sopwith Camel’s “Hello Hello” with trombone accents and vaudeville beats about a transgender fetishist. There are also several instrumental tracks, here notably “Tokyo Go-Go” which even has Godzilla-type dialog in the background. More straight forward tracks here are “Keep It Down” and “When Jesus Looked In The Eyes Of God.” With so many cooked up pop formulas, at least one track here will end up a favorite. If your tastes run eclectic, then this is the album for you — it is totally unpredictable. 


CDBaby| Kool Kat Musik | Not Lame| Jam Recordings

power pop reviews, power pop and rock and roll opinions. Power pop and even more power pop and rock and roll.

The Secret Powers and The Electric Family Choir "s/t"

powerpopaholic

If you believe Jeff Lynne to be Almighty, then “Praise be to Mr. Blue Sky, ’tis a Strange Magic that allows the Evil Woman to leadest thou to Xanadu.” And listen to The Secret Powers. The last time I heard such a great mix of retro influences was Andrew Gold’s “Fraternal Order of The All” — and the last time I heard true ELO worship was Bleu’s supergroup “LEO”. Well here we have the two types of worship combined into one pretty fantastic album. Ryan “Shmed” Maynes made the move to Missoula, Montana. He built a recording studio in his backyard in the hopes of making a living as an engineer, producer, and musician. Lots of “historical” data about the group is emerging, but one thing is certain — this album is totally entertaining. The production of each song is chocked full of layers and layers of detail. “Orange Trees” is vintage Lynne and sounds like it fell off the “Out of The Blue” album. In between songs are quick odd “podcasts” from Uncle Shmed. Then comes the wonderful bouncy Jellyfish-like “Maryanne” full of ascending chords and waltz timing changes and carnival-like ending. Then “By The Sea” is a perfect companion for Harry Nilsson’s “Think About Your Troubles.” A theatrical multi-part harmony on “Lazy Men” would make Bryan Scary fans jealous. This leads us the then penultimate ELO ballad “Misery.” I could go on, but you get the gist. The group keeps the story moving until the end when they break character. Along the way you are treated to musical roller coaster ride. No weak spots either, as every track sparkles with great melody and multi-instrumental greatness and easily makes my top ten this year. So remember to wear clean underpants and all hail Shmed!

My Space | Not Lame | Kool Kat Musik

No song here, but a “history” of The Secret Powers.
power pop reviews, power pop and rock and roll opinions. Power pop and even more power pop and rock and roll.