A Canadian band, The Morning Stars were formed by brothers Michael Ivic and Mars Ivic in 2004. The approach to power pop is akin to a mix of U2 and Oasis. Opening with the ringing anthemic “Hearts for the Living” gives you a great set of chorus and wall of guitar riffs. The next tune “Wrong” is my favorite, with it’s Raspberries styled guitar strum and emphatic drum beat and feel good hook. Then the band takes a detour in “You Can’t Change the World,” with an 80’s dream pop feel similar to Joy Division or The Smiths, and sounds like a breakout hit single for sure. This track combines the above mentioned influences and the songwriting is excellent here. The lush guitar strums returns on “Waiting At Your Door” another great track. Then the heavy rock of “All Coming Down” combines the influences and reminds me a bit of The Happy Mondays or The Stone Roses. Then “Don’t Waste Time” falls back into the familiar territory – the lead vocal even resembles Bono, this track could have fallen off of U2’s “Boy”.  At the album’s end, “Fall” is a ballad with atmospheric guitars and has that melancholy feel. The entire album feels like a well worn pair of jeans, and is a comfortable fit for your ears (and easy on the ipod). Although a bit derivative, it is a very good debut, and follow the link below for some sample tracks. I can’t wait to see these guys continued musical growth.

The Morning Stars Site | My Space | CD Baby

Download the FREE album tracks here

Shake Some Action, the Seattle power pop band fronted by James Hall returns with more rockin’ tunes on “Sunny Days Ahead.” Like the last album, we get those classic 70’s sounds updated for modern audiences. The opener “Get It Together” has that Kinks meet Strokes vibe, as this is a bit more agressive than the debut. My favorite tune here is “Looking For Someone” which reminds me of the Hoodoo Gurus or a more rockin’ version of the La’s. The sound across the album is fairly consistent. The familiar Rickenbacker jangle on “Hurry Up” would feel at home on a Grip Weeds album. “Draw The Line” draws from The Cars a bit and the Replacements even more. The hooks are all good too, although after the mid point the album sags a bit, then it picks up – “Unusual Girl” sounds like a cool They Might Be Giants track. The retro riff in “You Don’t Care” is another winner – these guys would sound great touring with The Uglybeats! The sonic attack ending of “Who Do You Live?” has an atonal rock vocal contrasting with the really heavy guitar crunchiness making it closer to an Iggy Pop or Paul Westerberg song. You can hear samples on the bands web site or CD Baby. If you want a rock and jangle-y good time, you couldn’t pick a better starting point.

The Shake Some Action site | My Space | CD Baby

Rock and Roll with a side of Soul. That’s the best short description for The BellRays. Fronted by the intense voice of Lisa Kekaula and the heavy guitar riffs of Bob Vennum, the group resembles Led Zeppelin fronted by Aretha Franklin. Not since the days of Vernon Reid and Living Colour have I heard such a sweet mix of rock energy with R&B rooted vocals. “Hard, Sweet and Sticky” is good title for this album as the styles veer from the heavy rock of “Infection” to the sweet folk soul of “Footprint on the Water.” It even approaches the punk of MC5 on “Psychotic Hate Man” and driving riffs on “Coming Down” evoke AC/DC with Lisa’s vocals matching the manic guitar theatrics. The softer R&B pop tunes ( “Blue Against the Sky” )come out by the middle of the album and are a welcome break from the ferocious rock of the earlier half of the album. These gentler songs don’t have the staying power or hooks of the rock numbers, but they are beautifully executed, as “Wedding Bells” really belongs on a jazz album. But that aside, their brand of rock ‘n’ soul will get the attention and respect of rock ‘n’ roll fans, bands, and critics all over. This is not a heavily tread road, and I can only recall Nona Hendryx getting this type of attention. The last track “Pinball City” is a strong rock anthem that I seem to remember Tina Turner used to do with Ike back in the day. Lisa Kekaula has gladly picked up that torch — people, are you ready to rock with the BellRays?

The BellRays Site | My Space | E-Music | Itunes

Live performance – something the BellRays are famous for.

 Ten albums later, Canadian rock four-piece Sloan are still pumping out tracks for their latest release “Parallel Play”. A follow-up to their epic 30-song LP Never “Hear the End of It”, this album finds the group crams the creativity into just thirteen tracks. According to the band, the title Parallel Play refers to the behaviour observed in young children in which they enjoy pursuing independent activities in the company of other tikes, which mirrors the Halifax group’s own intrapersonal songwriting dynamics to a tee. The rockin’ opening “Believe in Me” is classic Sloan with wild keyboards and a killer bassline driving the melody. next up is the harmnoius “Cheap Champaign” with a driving piano and “Ba-ba-da” vocals. “All I Am Is all You’re Not” is highly reminicent of the classic “Navy Blues” album, it leads to the highly charged punk pop of “Emergency 911” and the cocky “Burn For It” seems a bit of Iggy Pop strut has infected these tracks. And that’s a good thing. “Living the Dream” opens with a bit of “Here comes The Sun” and the ooh-ahhs vocals are part of that classic Sloan sound. Sloan’s approach utilizes the classic seventies rock techniques better than anybody else out there. As always the lush guitar strums lead the hooks in the Dylanesque “Down in the Basement” and the beat lead anti-war song “If I Could Change Your Mind.” One of the best songs here is the middle age rocker anthem “I’m Not A Kid Anymore” with those killer riffs penetrating your brain at every turn. No bad tracks here either – Sloan fans don’t miss this one.

The Sloan web site | My Space | Kool Kat Musik

Get a FREE download of “I’m Not A Kid Anymore” (MP3) or stream the entire album at YepRoc.

Chewy Marble was formed by Wondermints bassist Brian Kassan in 1995 and the first two albums of the band did not stray far from the Wondermints tree, with Beatlesque melodies and sunny pop harmonies in it’s self-titled debut and the 2001 follow up “Bowl of Surreal.” Over the next six years, Brian wrote songs for “Modulations” and enlisted Nelson Bragg of Brian’s Wilson’s touring band and others to update the sound. Lots of stylistic variety here. Less pop and closer to traditional rock, the opener “She Roxx” has the hooks that make this a cut above. The clean power pop melody shine on “Cross Hatched World” with those wonderful choruses sure to please fans of the previous albums. The follow up “Somewhere Else” takes a psychedelic turn, as it resembles a track from The Pillbugs. Midway through the tracks, the tone changes and it’s not all sunshine, but a variety of personal reflections as illustrated by “Black and White” with it’s compelling lyrics and guitar breaks. Fans of Alan Parsons Project will appreciate the melodic tones combined with the adult subject matter. The shuffle of the ballad “Flicker” plays like a sober Syd Barrett seeing time pass by. This theme continues on “My Monster” and the poignant ballad “Hey Dad” is a perfect Father’s Day song. The album ender “Clutter” is another heart felt narrative from the point of view of a pack rat, and one of my favorites on this album. It opens with the lyric, “The more I collect, I can’t throw away…” when it comes to music I can identify with that.

My Space | CD Baby | Kool Kat Musik | Not Lame