This album comes out of nowhere, and blows me away with amazing songwriting and playing. Brooklyn’s Brandon Wilde has a Paul McCartney meets Elliot Smith musical sensibility. Opening with “Whatever You Want” will remind most listeners of Chris Brown or David Grahame, with delicate strum and irresistible vocals. Even the slow alt country ballads like “Ever After” or “Rag Doll” have an amazingly catchy bridge that keeps you engaged. Most of the album is full of low key ballads, but with those clean Macca-styled hooks and arrangements. The ballad “Highway to The Moon” takes a very Radiohead-like turn with wonderful touches of acoustic folk and multi-tracked harmony. The thickest, stickiest hook and my favorite on this album is “Love in Cars.” This sole mid-tempo song will have you singing and clapping along in no time. It’s been on my ipod all week! The ballad “Cannot Say” evokes a bit of The Small Faces ballads and Brandon’s voice almost morphs into Rod Stewart’s cragginess. He ends the album with “Hollow” – a Beatlesque ballad of “Blackbird” proportions. My only nit pick here is that there is nothing on the album that is faster paced. But Mr. Wilde is an extremely talented musician and his “Songs From The Deep Sleep” are a well executed collection of subtle musical beauty.

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I’m prepared to crown Martin Gordon the clown prince of power pop. His lastest work “The World is Your Lobster” is a maniacal mix of XTC pop genius and Neil Innes/Monty Python humour. Gordon skewers plenty of sacred cows here, with bouncy pop glee. “Pop Goes Bang” is a clear comment on the state of musical taste today, with lines like “Tell me, will this awful racket never stop?” The next song needs no introduction, “What would Jesus Drive?” — it’s not a hotrod folks. The next several songs stylistically recall 10cc and the Beatles’ Magical Mystery Tour-era quirkiness. The Gilbert & Sullivan musical experiments continue  (“Am I Alone?” and “A Policeman’s Lot is Not A Happy One”) and the influence is clearly leaking through to songs like his own “Mirror, Mirror.” The silliness is also amped up when compared to his previous works (example: an entire song about a joke “My Dog’s Got No Nose” How does he smell? Terrible). The music still has great melodies, and flawless musicianship. Along the way Gordon punctures consumerism (“No Offers At All”), hypocrisy (“Don’t Do As I Do”) and plenty of pithy observations about the mankind’s relationship with his deity (“No More Limbo”). The lyrics demand attention, and even delve into abstract Dadaism (“Just Say Wee”). As with his past works, you get a lot of bang for your buck with 15 tracks. Like me, you’ll be screaming for more. Keep it comin’ Martin!

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