Powerpopholic

"The Backroom" Reagan Era Rocketship

January 25, 2008July 6, 2024 powerpopaholic

The Backroom started when long time friends Keith von Kaenel and Matt Greenfield met up with drummer, Matt Jankowiak and they started jamming in the “back room” of Keith’s garage. This is a quality release with a radio-friendly sound and smooth psyche-lite touches. The opener “Lost Without You” is really a good pop tune with clean harmonies and violin accents. The rhythm guitar leads the way with the mid-tempo “Flat Lined @ Zero” and has a Weezer-like quality. Much of the remaining tracks, although flawlessly produced don’t always hook you. The exceptions to this are “Loads Of Love” with a great dual vocal harmonic, excellent lyrics and “The World That Revolves Around Me” with a catchy chorus and piano that is similar to the group, Field Music. That dual harmonic of Keith and Matt is also present on “Deserve”,”One Night Stand” and “Better Time Than Now” – in most cases it works beautifully. This is a promising debut worth checking out. Enjoy it!

The Backroom Site | My Space | CD Baby | Kool Kat Musik | E-music

Mike Viola "Lurch"

January 24, 2008April 1, 2018 powerpopaholic 8 Comments

Mike Viola returns with a vengence! “Lurch” was a limited run of 1000 copies that I promoted a few weeks ago. After that sold out, Mike’s looking for a bigger distribution deal. Let’s start right off saying that Mike is in a class with Fountains of Wayne, Jackdaw4, Roger Manning Jr. and the cream of the genre. Opening with a piano tribute to Vic Mizzy’s “Addams Family theme” it turns into a catchy mid-tempo love song to his “Girly Worm.” The next tune “All Bent out of Shape” is classic example of a Candy Butchers track, with great lyrical plot and melodic gold. My favorite song here is “The Strawberry Blonde,” an amazing melding of hooks and uplifting multi-tracked harmonies, including a very Wilsonesque “Um-bop-ditty” layered vocal. The ballads “Dangerously Close” and “Snowman in Tompkins Park” are poignant and heart felt. Not a single dud on this release. Even a quick little ditty about an old address (“279 East 10th Street”) shines like a Paul Simon classic. The quality of this release rivals anything this out year and is his best since the acclaimed “Hang on Mike.” In fact stop reading now and listen to the goodies below for a taste of the album.

Mike Viola.com | My Space

Listen to “So Much Better”

Here is an awesome link – nice clear footage of Adam Schlesinger and Mike Viola at the 2007 Tribeca ASCAP music lounge playing “That thing [they] do”.

The Lurch download was so popular, that Mike’s site had to be taken down for exceeding bandwidth. If you missed it. Please buy this album when it goes to full distribution.

Smash Palace "Everybody Comes and Goes"

January 23, 2008July 6, 2024 powerpopaholic 2 Comments

Steven Butler and the rest of Smash Palace of New Jersey, have done a smashing job here. Inspired by the Beatles, Kinks and Tom Petty this album is pretty catchy and near perfect. It’s full of great musical composition, appealing vocals and crunchy Brit influenced guitars that are ever present throughout the album. The traditional computer-free approach suits them fine and this is the purest power pop disc I’ve heard all year. The melodic hooks will stick to your brain faster than peanut butter sticks to the roof of your mouth. “She” begins with the classic Monkees jangle intro and builds to an awesome chorus.”Didn’t Anyone Tell, You” has a bit of Split Enz meets The Grip Weeds. The great guitar work continues with “Dressed in Black” and “Is this a Dream?” is a dreamy mid-tempo love poem. “Just Like You” will drive the Tom Petty fans into a “Full Moon Fever” and “Hoping” follows that template with a Ray Davies’ like vocal narrative. “Caroline” strays into a somber blues study that could fit on an Allman Brothers record. A smooth cover of George Harrison’s “I Want To Tell You” rounds out this fantastic release. This makes my top ten 2008 early, I guess Wisely isn’t alone this month!

Smash Palace Site | My Space | CD Baby

Ringo Starr "Liverpool 8"

January 23, 2008April 1, 2018 powerpopaholic

I seriously debated even reviewing this, but c’mon the guy was a Beatle and deserves some props for still popping out an album now and then. When stacked against his previous work, “Liverpool 8” is actually a very pleasant listen and compares favorably to anything done after 1992’s “Time takes Time.” Once again Mark Hudson surrounds Ringo with enough Beatlesque arrangements and references to keep it from being boring. However, he was booted in favor of former Eurythmic David A. Stewart who was hired to finish the album off. It’s slick enough to compete with former bandmate Paul’s last one. Both albums look at mortality, nostalgia and love – hell, what else are guys over 64 years old gonna sing about nowadays? For Beatles fans, it’s a passable time waster. For Ringo fans, it’s a joy most of you already own.

Itunes | Ringo’s Official Site

IKE "Where to Begin"

January 21, 2008July 16, 2024 powerpopaholic 1 Comment

After the departure of Cliff Hillis from IKE, it has become a rawer, louder band fronted by John Faye and supported by Brett Talley. What is most impressive is that this self produced album was supported by fan donations, and everyone who contributed is in the liner notes. Note to you major labels: you are becoming less relevant every day. This is modern power pop closer to the commercial alt. sounds of All American Rejects, or American Hi Fi. This is almost a return to Faye’s form as a member of the Caulfields or The John Faye Power Trip but with the added depth of experience. There is more lyrical insight here behind the fresh melodic riffs than usual. The album starts out with some pretty heavy guitar work and the single “We Like Sugar” seems like good companion to Velvet Revolver (I want this song on Guitar Hero IV). Awesome stuff. My fav here is “The Way I see it” with those handclaps and killer riffs. It’s a great melodic power rock tune. Add to this “Say Luvva” and you hear John Faye at his best. A fully literate and descriptive lyrics with killer hard rock guitars. This is one indie release that has a great chance of breaking through to the younger crowd. The single “We Like Sugar” is getting airplay on a local Philadelphia rock station, and that says it all. The are no ballads here, although it runs to a mid-tempo pace after 2/3 of the album, with “Eleven Eleven” and “Late Bloomer” it kind of wears you down a bit, but it proves that John Faye is one hell of a performer. Purchase this directly from IKE Online and stick it to “the suits.”

IKE Online | My Space