If you’re into something quirky, Willie Herath may be your poison. Taking a cue from alternative punk-pop group, The Presidents of The United States, Willie starts the album with a pair of acoustic riffed simple songs with an absurdist edge, “Sticky Flip-Flop” and “Electric Sun.” Both songs tread on the same goofy ground and are catchy as well. But it’s not as hard edged as The Presidents and closer to Weezer in spirit and tone. The ballad “Come Home” proves to the listener that Willie’s got a real voice with a soaring chorus, it also proves to be the best ballad here. “Drive” mixes the two styles with a very Red Hot Chili Peppers mid-tempo beat. Sometimes the melodies work, other times they feel like filler toward the latter half of the album. There are some good songs here, “Shake it Up Baby” makes good use of Herath’s vocal range and “Dig it on” has some good energy and is very enjoyable in a Southern Culture On The Skids kind of way. More consistency would help, but his style is organic and a lot fun. Fans of Weezers’ blue album will find a lot to like here.

Willie Herath’s website | My Space | CD Baby | Itunes

Sometimes I hear some new talent worthy of some attention. Stealing Jane is a alternative rock/pop/ska band with more than a passing resemblance to Maroon 5. It’s got the latin beats, impressive vocals from Bryce Larsen and a sharp horn section that moves things along. The energy of this band is excellent and will carry it a long way. However, I feel some of the lyrical content and melodies are not always that catchy, and the horns and Larsens voice often compete for your ears attention span. But on the mid tempo number “Take it Easy” – it all jells together and the song is excellent. Check it out.

Stealing Jane Website | MySpace

Ian Walsh is a new stand-out singer/songwriter in the the alternative rock genre. Similar in vocal stylings to Tonic frontman, Emerson Hart, mixed with Goo Goo Dolls Johnny Rzeznick, Ian’s got the chops and the melodic sense to do great things. The songs are strictly by-the-numbers alternative rock, but some great guitar work makes itself evident in “Supposed to Be” and the excellent ballad “Goodbye” is well written and performed with gusto. The other standout song is another ballad “Familiar Place” with some interesting melodic turns in the chorus. This song really shows great potential. I look forward to more songs with a harder edge from Ian. This is a perfect example of real talent that goes unheard and those clowns on American Idol don’t deserve all that PR exposure. Ian Walsh does.

Ian Walsh Website | My Space

Jason Brown and Jeremy Grites make up the Swivel Chairs, a low key indie-pop group with some Wilco influences. If you like you power pop sweet and mellow, the Swivel Chairs new album “The Slow Transmission” will do it for you, like hot tea on a winter’s night. The style of the album is a bit all over the place though. The smooth mellowness of “Here Out of Reach” and “Easy Now” is interrupted by the Replacements-like songs “All at Once” and “Breaking Up” Then we settle back into the nice Jayhawks-ish “Just a Little Girl.” This kind of sonic diversity will win over some fans, but may annoy others. Some songs feel like they belong on a different album, like the experimental “Clockwise” and dreamy “December Ghosts.” Most of the tunes are great mid-tempo alt. pop – especially real keepers like “Breaking Up” and the song “Afterthought” bears a striking similarity to the UK band Field Music. The end of the album starts to resemble Belle and Sebastian with precious melodies on “Caloused Hands” and “Let’s Get Down to it.” Like Matt Pond PA or The Trollyvox, it’s easy to listen to and enjoy. However the final track “Wasting Time” seems designed to put you to sleep. This group of songs definitely takes a bit more time to digest than others out this year, but most of it is a very satisfying listen.

Swivel Chairs website | My Space | Not Lame | Transit of Venus

Listen to “All at Once”