Powerpopholic

Paul Steel interviewed and a Jaimie Vernon article

June 8, 2008April 4, 2018 powerpopaholic

Here is the video single “Your Loss” from the upcoming album “Moon Rock” – – I got a chance to interview Paul Steel for the Powerpopaholic here. It wasn’t easy as Paul has already had done a ton of interviews in his native England, and they got all the cool questions, but I hoped to shed a bit more light on his album “April & I” now available on Itunes.

NOTE TO MUSICIANS:

I also got the opportunity to re-post an excellent “article” of advice from Bullseye Records exec. Jaimie Vernon. If you are an indie artist looking for some kind of success in this business, Jaimie offers up some great tips.

The Campbell Apartment "Insomniacs Almanac" FREE Album

June 5, 2008April 4, 2018 powerpopaholic 1 Comment

The Campbell Apartment formed in mid to late 2007 when long-time friends Ari Vais and Dan Haag had a conversation about how for the 10 years they have known each other, they’ve always wanted to play together but never have. So now they have collaborated to create the first album “Insomniacs Almanac” which I can say has a Guided By Voices meets Fountains of Wayne-styled sound. So it’s no surprise that FOW is touring with them. The opener “Long Distance Relationship” sounds like an outtake from GBV’s “Alien Lanes” with contrasting vocal and guitar melodies that melt together. The short tunes are full of cognizant material and occasionally hilarious lyrics. Both “Wife” and “St. Louis” have those wonderful hook-filled choruses and stream of thought details similar to FOW. By mid album, the tone changes a bit to more topical humor, an example are the very funny “How To Be Alone” and “Addicted To MySpace” that fans of Jonathan Coulton or They Might Be Giants will appreciate. The next group of songs “Afterthought” and “Stuck” get a lttile more guitar heavy and lean closer towards Weezer. Toward album’s end Vais and Haag ruminate on the effects of creative burnout. This is evidenced with “Sick and Tired of Being Sick and Tired” and the tired theme continues with “Feverish and Friendly” where they mention “the only thing that I can think of is sleep.” Overall a fine album that will appeal without a doubt to GBV and FOW fans, as well as anyone who thinks they spend too much time on a computer… Wait, do I have an e-mail? Let me check.

UPDATE

The album can be listened to streaming on the band’s label Headphone Treats. But for a limited time the entire album will be available for as a FREE download from AmieStreet.com

My Space | Headphone Treats

Cinderpop "A Lesson in Science"

June 4, 2008July 6, 2024 powerpopaholic

Cinderpop is a offbeat Vancouver power pop group with distorted guitar and rhythm accompanied by the sweet harmonic vocals of Kevan Ellis. The short title song “A Lesson in Science” has a Beatles vibe, that leads into “Speechless” a full indie mid tempo guitar song with a haunting chorus that remind me of The Sneeches meeting The Left Banke. The style is very catchy as the album see-saws between guitars and pianos, but stays bright and fun throughout. With “Blonder” we get the guitars and spacey jangle that Frank Black would be proud of, and then those Beatlesque harmonies kick in. The next tune “Cinnamon Winter” is vibrant piano pop and has an effervescence that makes this band easy to love. Then out of left field “Speed of Light” glides by like an Eric Matthews orch-pop baroque trip. Cinderpop’s strength here is the ability to fuse together aspects of ’60s piano pop and 90’s guitar and bass effortlessly. The dream-like “Mary. All Messed in The Head” and “Latest of Five” uses a slow guitar strum and Ellis’ vocal to channel a Shins-like ballads that often refer to dark tragedies. The manic opener “Bumblebee” features a progression of synths over the guitar chaos, but still that melody shines through the dissonance, much like an early Radiohead track. Other than the strange effects laden “Bounce Me” to end the album, every track does a great job of drawing you into the music.

Cinderpop Site | My Space | CD Baby

Listen to “Cinnamon Winter”

Bill Popp and The Tapes "My Lonely Mind"

June 2, 2008September 5, 2024 powerpopaholic

Bill Popp is among the unsung heroes of power pop. Popp is a music veteran of early 60’s rock influences in the classic tradition of The Beatles, REM, and The Who. Popp and his band, The Tapes delivers melodic hooks, combined with dance grooves and poetic harmony, that have a timeless quality. He compares well to Frank Royster, with more of a British Merseybeat flavor. The lyrics are personal and touching in all cases here, and fans who favor DIY artists like Chris Breetveld (“The Breetles”) will go nuts for Bill Popp and seek out his music. The new album starts with “Paradise,” a “don’t-worry-be-happy” mantra set to a nice guitar riff. It’s got a nice Beatley vibe and just the right amount of mellow reassurance in the chorus. The follow up “Perfect Idiot” is a wonderful fast paced diatribe of self-criticism and nervous conversation in under three minutes all set to a wonderful hook. “Love and Lust” is a very Pete Townshend-styled rocker with plenty of jangle and a sweet piano break in the middle of the song. The song “Your Hero” is an perfect autobiographical snapshot of Popp at 50 years old – he’ll literally tell you, “Yeah, I tend to drink a lot, but what else do I got?” in the song. The Popp’s wisdom continues in the song “Love Many Trust Few” – it has a little rap in the middle with guitars, that reminds me a little bit of 10cc. A nice cover of The Beau Brummels “Just a Little” round out this release. It a shame that this band isn’t bigger or more well known than they are. They are one of NYC’s best kept musical secrets. CD Baby is expected to carry the album soon, but you can check out earlier releases there.

Bill Popp’s Site | My Space | CD Baby

Bo Diddley R.I.P.

June 2, 2008June 2, 2008 powerpopaholic

“If you ain’t got no money, ain’t nobody calls you honey,” he once said. Criminally underappreciated, Bo was a true rock and roll pioneer who not only perfected a guitar style used by everybody, but also an innovator of electric guitar reverb and tremelo effects. Without him there would be no “rock and roll”, nevermind power pop. When you talk about who stole a riff from somebody else… you have to mention Bo Diddley because EVERYONE copied from him. His major songs included, “Say Man,” “You Can’t Judge a Book by Its Cover,” “Shave and a Haircut,” “Uncle John,” “Who Do You Love?” and “The Mule.” He was 79 years old.