The Krayolas "La Conquistadora"

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At the beginning of the year I reviewed The Krayola comeback album “Best Riffs Only”. A excellent album in it’s own right, Hector Saldana and the group break away from the Beatles mold a bit in this new album. The opening track “Alex” reminds us that The Krayolas are still Tex-Mex version of The Spongetones, with the catchy chorus and clean guitar riffs. The title track has elements of Dire Straits and The Kinks running through it. “We’ve got a Secret” is another great song that resembles a classic Dave Clark Five track with the ever present harmonica accents. There is more experimenting here too, like “Yakety Song” takes on a bar room blues tone and “Nolan Street Bridge” sounds like a Joe Jackson mid-tempo number. The ballads here do a great job too, like on “Deceiver” with it’s creeping rhythm and smooth vocal harmonies. The classic Krayolas’ song “Little Fox” is here sung in Spanish with the reliable Augie Meyers on Farfisa organ and accordion.  Even the secondary tracks here like “Statue Of Love” and “What You Gonna Do For Love” shine with a sparkling pop effort and quality. The album exceeds expectations by branching out it’s sound and style, without forgetting those guitar hooks and melodies that fans have come to enjoy. The album has also gotten rave reviews from rock critic, Dave Marsh on his Sirius radio show. Expect more raves from Texas Monthly and Harper’s magazine. But overall this is a most worthy addition to your music collection and I give it high marks and a nod to the top ten of 2008. Viva los Krayolas!

My Space | Emusic | Itunes | Kool Kat Musik

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The Apples in Stereo "Electronic Projects for Musicians"

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Essentially a collection of rarities and outtakes for fans of the Apples and lead Apple, Robert Schneider. The music is classic Elephant Six styled-twee goodness that spans the groups entire career. The trippy pops tracks all seem to fit together, even though it was recorded over 11 years. Some of the acoustic guitar solos (“Hold On To This Day” and “The Oasis”) show Schneider’s songwriting prowess and sound better than other groups finished songs. Brilliant ballads like “The Golden Flower” and fuzz rock pop (“On Your Own”) make this worth the effort to get this alone. This album also includes the funky pop gem “Stephen Stephen” that Robert performed live on The Colbert Report for the host. That being said this is not an essential, but a substantial collection of songs. Apples fans will most definitely want this. Optional for the rest of you. If you are new to the group, start with the “Fun Trick Noisemaker” album.

The Apples in Stereo web site | My Space | YepRoc Store | e-music

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Schaeffer "Something Worth Fighting For"

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Scaeffer’s second offering is a concept album written about an auto accident and its effects on a relationship (as best as I could figure it out). After the epic dramatic opening “i love you with a crash” the album dwells in power ballad territory most of the way. Similar to other modern pop bands like Goo Goo Dolls or Matchbox Twenty, the slick production and intricate arrangements often make each song blend into one another. And with this downer of a theme, other than the transcendent melody in “Tell You I” it gets tedious pretty fast. With most songs topping the four minute mark and lyrics about painful recovery, like “Make Us See” – you expect the TV Show “ER” to use this for a commercial promo. It’s a shame only the CW shows use music like this. As a concept album it raises the bar for other bands that just put out pop fluff. Not a bad album, and I can appreciate the concept narrative here but the lack of stylistic variety hurts this overall. Recommended for fans of Schaeffer or overly melodramatic pop opera.

My Space | Emusic – the first album only | Itunes

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It’s Over! "That Girl"

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A fun mix of Merseybeat and Garage sound straight from Kansas City, MO. The album “That Girl” starts out with a wild hook and “To Be In Love” evokes a Spongetones-styled pop bounce. The next tune “Come Back Home” is another tight gem, with an organ joining in to the rolling chorus and frontman Jamie Searle’s melodic screech. It also has a wicked solo guitar break and is easily the best song here. Then on “Hallelujah” the guitar starts to resemble a bit of McCartney’s Wings circa “Band on The Run” – and all it’s jangle and bass-play, you start to believe the lyric “I’m gonna throw out all my cares today, It’s okay.” After such a good run of Beatlesque songs including the very Monkees-like “Angela” the album takes a looser sound with “My Dear Wife” and it’s Eastern rhythms, similar to Camper Van Beethoven. This easy loose guitar jam style dominates the rest of the album. It gets almost into a pop hoedown with “Swing & Sway” and country-blues of “That Ain’t All.” It’s all good, especially the Elvis Costello-like angry man vitriol on “When the Sun Goes Down” so this is most a worthy addition to your “have a drink and dance in the bar” music collection. Unlike the band’s name, I hope the music isn’t over after one album.

My Space | CDBaby | Itunes

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Garfield’s Birthday "Let Them Eat Cake"

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Garfield’s Birthday has nothing to do with a fat orange cat, but a prime example of british power pop. The album “Let Them Eat Cake” starts with the excellent single “Molly’s Eyes” complete with reverb and melodic hooks that remind me of early Teenage Fanclub with Belle and Sebastian doing vocals. The group was formed by brothers Shane and Simon Felton, who have slowly been gaining acclaim over the years from Wales to Liverpool. The pop stylings also recall a bit of The Shoes and The Cosmic Rough Riders. The excellent “Take A Ride” is a nice Hollies-styled tune updated for the times. This is followed by the Byrds-Beatles combo of “We Know Your Name.” Lots of classic Rickenbacker guitar sounds surround this release. “You Should Know Better By Now” has lovely gentle harmonies of the boys that compare nicely to The Everly Brothers. Every track here is pretty good and the album picks up tempo at the end with the funky psyche-pop of “Sugar Pop.” A wonderful album any way you slice it.

Garfield’s Birthday web site | My Space | Kool Kat Musik

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