Tag: Lisa Mychols

Szuters and Lisa Mychols & Super 8

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The Szuters “Sugar”

The Szuter brothers; Mike and CJ were always guitar heads that played melodic rock, much like The Lund Brothers. In the late ’90s they formed The Szuters and let loose a great rare LP in Japan, but then changed the band to heavy alt-rock and their name to Magna-Fi. They ended up at Ozzfest in 2004 supporting Sevendust, but the band faded from view six years later.

Coming back to their power-pop roots, “Sugar” is everything we missed from The Szuters, and it lives up to the title. Opening with the Beatlesque “Two We Will Always Be” its a super catchy melody with sticky sweet harmonies. The piano-based “Don’t Lie To Me” is another winner, with a wild psyche-pop riff mid-break. Fans of  The Raspberries and Cheap Trick will love “Baby Don’t You Be So Blue,” and “She’s Coming Home With Me.” The Beatlesque gems return with “If You Only Knew” and “I Don’t Wanna Cry.” They turn up the amps for the heavier “Good Thing,” and not a note of filler anywhere. It’s a perfect balance of melodic sweetness and guitar crunch. Easily gets a top ten nomination for my year-end list. Highly Recommended.

Amazon

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CN9i0UaRZx0

The Yum Yums

Lisa Mychols & SUPER 8 “Lisa Mychols & SUPER 8”

The “Queen of Power Pop” Lisa Mychols joins forces with British psyche-popper Paul “Trip” Ryan to deliver this playful confection for the ears.  Lisa’s light harmonies open thing on “What Will Be?” a hippie-infused psychedelic intro that seamlessly blends into the bouncy “Trip & Ellie’s Music Factory” and this is where the chemistry of the two artists play to each other’s strengths.

“Time Bomb” is another great example of kaleidoscopic pop. The tone of the music ebbs and flows from romantic (“Honey Bee”) to wry humor (“The Monkee Song”) but never loses momentum. It does mellow significantly towards the album’s second half with “Your Summer Theme” and “Laguna Night To Remember.” Mychols vocals are as lovely as ever, and Trip even adds his vocal lead to the acoustic “Peaceful.” This is music designed to relieve stress, so spin it and snap along to the music. Highly Recommended.

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Lisa Mychols and Three Hour Tour

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Lisa Mychols

Lisa Mychols “Sugar”

The queen of Power Pop is back! Mychols blend of catchy melodies and girl group harmonies are in full swing on the appropriately titled Sugar. Her light vocal blend and psyche pop groove on the opener “One Revolution” does remind me of Karla Kane in spots. Stylistically Lisa visits different directions from the bubblegum of “Loving You Baby” to the coy balladry of  “My Friend And Me.” I did notice that “Endless Daydream” is a medley of three different songs stitched together.

Like most of Lisa’s discography, there is no filler here. The highlights include the rocking “Domino,” the sunshine pop of “Don’t Wanna Close My Eyes,” “Goodbye All Carousels” and the jangling gem “He’s Got Me Dreaming.” It’s tough to pick out favorites here, as the songwriting is strong all around. Highly Recommended and a contender for my top ten list of 2018.

Amazon | CD Baby

Three Hour Tour

Three Hour Tour “You Never Know”

It’s another tour of duty for the Champagne, IL band lead by singer/songwriter Darren Cooper. He’s joined by Adam Schmidt and Brad Elvis (The Elvis Brothers) to create a clean sound that will appeal to fans of Tommy Keene, Matthew Sweet, and The Well Wishers. He’s always created reliably catchy hooks, and starting off with the title track “You Never Know.” The mid-tempo gem describes a meeting with a classic rocker and closes with a sweet guitar solo. “Fallen Angel” is more typical, with a sing-along chorus and descending bass line. The chiming riffs of “Gray Waves” is another highlight, full of beautifully layered guitar rhythms.

Cooper gets notably Who-like on the brilliant instrumental “Pascal The Hypnotist,” and the starry-eyed hero worship of “The Ballad of Buddy Rich,” reminded me of Weezer a little, but overall there isn’t any real filler. This is a Three Hour Tour you’ll want to repeat often. Highly Recommended.

Amazon | Kool Kat Musik

Compilation Fridays: More bands! More music!

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Power Popaholic Fest is coming on June 16, 17 (next week) at Bar Matchless in Brooklyn, NY. Each year we have a soundtrack made with songs by some performers and like-minded artists. Your purchase helps fund the continuation of this long-running music festival dedicated to power pop artists. This year’s soundtrack features Somerdale, The Successful Failures, Lisa Mychols, Lannie Flowers, Cirrone, The Brittanicas, Jose Estragos and The Pop-Coop. Note: Limited time! Some tracks will only be available during the month of June.

Another compilation that we promote regularly is the Coop Communique, championed by artist/writer Dw Dunphy. This is the third and most impressive volume yet. With an array of favorites including Josh Fix (!!), The Ravines, Greek Theatre, Son of Skooshny, Brandon Schott, Andy Klingensmith, Vegas With Randolph and much more. Best of all its a FREE download!  Between Dunphy and Ice Cream Man, you can fill up the old music player on my phone really fast!

Power Popaholic Fest Soundtrack Vol.3 release party!

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It’s finally here! The Power Popaholic Original Soundtrack Volume 3 is ready for you! 16 tracks of can’t miss rock and roll all in support of this summer’s Power Popaholic Fest in Brooklyn, on August 29 & 30. Some of this music has never been released anywhere yet and other tracks are exclusive to this collection. This is currently only available as a download on Bandcamp. We will have some special CD versions for sale at the show. This video above is the Lisa Mychols Three with the opening track! Listen and enjoy!

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