Here is a real “Hollywood-styled” success story. Josh (piano and vocals) and Dan (guitar) Ballard played music together growing up in Arizona before taking a leap of faith and moving to California. They both agreed that if they didn’t “make it big” in the music business by June 2006, they would move back home. Working at Starbucks, Josh met producer Brian Garcia and the rest is music history.

Inspired and lush, this album is a tapestry of falsetto and piano. The album is essential listening for any one who likes melodic “heartbreak” themed songs. Josh and Dan Ballard really put joy and pain into each song, not unlike Coldplay or Keane. “Unnoticed” is a good Ben Folds-type of tune. “All I Have” is a good mid-tempo song that borrows a bit from U2 and “What I’ve done” has a sweeping majestic chorus. Unfortunately, because the mood of each song is downbeat, it tends to weigh the album down. You almost forget this is a Christian pop band until “You Do” at the end of the album. Geared toward moody young people, it should do very well. The website is also beautifully done with streaming songs to listen to. Enjoy!

The Until June Website | My Space | Amazon

The Grey Race, a new power pop group from Brooklyn does a great job of setting up a cool soundscape. The songs are best described as “sweet and sour” and reminds me a bit of 10cc and late-era Badfinger with multiple listens. “On the Chin” and “Bottom” are emotionally dark and amazingly cool. The one sunny spot on the CD is a cover of The Zombies “Care of Cell 44” – this is very nicely done, although it isn’t going to make me forget about Susanna Hoffs’ version last year. I feel The Grey Race does have some greatness potential in the brilliant song “Screamings not an Option” and vocalist Jon Darling’s scathing comment on a break up that is an effective mix of Pink Floyd’s desparation and The Beatles melodicism, and my favorite track here. I look forward to a full length release in September.

The Grey Race Website | My Space

Also new on e-music is a worthy download. This is a classic of the genre: Any Trouble “Where are all the nice girls?” This 1980 gem mines the Elvis Costello/Joe Jackson era sound perfectly. Essential listening.

Cross Elvis Costello and Tom Petty with some Neil Young and you get Carlos Oliver from The Pauls, a pop group from Madrid, Spain. As a band, The Pauls compare with The Wallflowers or The Black Crows a bit and play with a gritty American 70’s type of sound. On some songs the melodies are great, like “Fingers through your hair and rock and roll” or “Can’t Shine Tonight.” Other songs it sounds like Oliver is channeling a stoned Bob Dylan playing with Steely Dan in songs like “The Princess of the Moon.” Lots of nice guitar work with organ, horn and harmonica flourishes on plenty of songs that make for an enjoyable album. Having heard earlier albums, this one is a bit more rock and less pop, but it suits the band better. Once in a while, the songs drift into lyrical incoherent sounds like in “Too hot for spring” but at other times it all falls in place, like on “Wicked Man Blues.” “Some like of love” has a little bit of a Lenny Kravitz feel and that’s good too. The album has a spontaneous “live” feeling, complete with occassional feedback and studio noises and this gives the album some of it’s charm. Check it out.

The Pauls Website | Not Lame | Kool Kat | My Space

Listen to “Wicked Man Blues”

Listen to “Miss Tokyo”

Here is a criminally unsigned band from overseas that is just amazing. The Wonderful Guinea Pigs are Dan Johansson and Joakim Paulsson from Linköping, Sweden. With the addition of Jens Mårtensson(guitar), Magnus Samuelson(bass guitar) and David Pärsson(keyboards) completing the line-up, the Guinea Pigs recorded a bunch of songs that got on the local radio. They were voted “best unsigned act” at Manifestgalan 2007 (that’s a local indie music fest over there)! This is a great opportunity to have a label take these talented guys and set the power pop music world on fire. Currently they have a CD-R of demos completed last year and if you want to hear this click on the link below. The sound is not unlike Big Star, Popsicle, and especially Teenage Fanclub. The sound is very clean and polished with melodic harmonies and stuffed full of hooks – In fact, this is the best unsigned demo I heard this year. I wish them much good luck.

The Wonderful Guinea Pigs MySpace Page

Another one of those “it-ain’t-power-pop-but-I-like-it” reviews: Named after a nearly vertical part of Mount Everest, The Hillary Step is a folk pop duo. It consists of Rob Schiffmann and Jon Rothstein, with a capable supporting cast. Their album, “Knee Deep in Giants” has some really gorgeous moments. The single “Olio” is a great song that rivals the best of Dan Fogelberg or Kenny Loggins. The albums opener, “Meanwhile” is another gem and a great example of the harmony filled greatness they possess. “The Only Thing” is a country-flavored pop tune that is also downright catchy, like classic Toad The Wet Sprocket. The production is slick, yet clean and lets the voices shine through perfectly. Occasionally, the songwriting is brilliant, telling compelling stories with great vocalizing like “Jackie” and “Midnight 1958.” You will find bits of classic Paul Simon mixed with lounge AOR-styled pop here as in “Coffee in Bed” with a vocal by Suzanne Morris. But some songs still border on the maudlin with Kenny G styled sax flourishes, like “Shine all your love.” However, the good easily outweight any bad here. The Hillary Step website has lots of great content too (Better than 95% of the artist with sites). Worth the trip, really.

The Hillary Step Website | My Space | CD Baby | itunes