Party like it's 2006.

New releases from two bands that are back with their first new music since they were reviewed on this site's early days in 2006:

Barnacle Bill-Barnacle Bill. As alluded to above, we first made our acquaintance with this NYC band some five years ago with their excellent debut Towards The Pebbled Shore. In the time that's passed, they show they haven't missed a beat on their self-titled followup. The one-two punch of Yianni Naslas and Stu Klinger alternate tracks again, and fans of Fastball and Fountains of Wayne will want to give this disc a spin. Lots to like here: the "yeah-yeah-yeahs" of "Like You're Supposed To", the midtempo "The Things I've Done", the catchy power pop of "Running Away", and the FoW-esque "nth Street Girl". Let's hope album #3 comes sooner than five years.

CD Baby | MySpace | iTunes

Onestop-Labor of Like. We head down the east coast to catch up with Onestop, whose debut Pop Shop owed a lot to the sound of Barenaked Ladies. This time around, they have more of their own pop sound and "Treats Her So Bad" is a rock-solid opener, touching all the power pop bases. "Right Beside You" is another winner that has more in common with a different Canadian band, Sloan. Other standouts include the manic "On Your Mind", the hook-heavy "Out of Touch", and the shuffling "What Went Wrong". A true leap forward from the debut, and a labor you'll like.

CD Baby | MySpace | iTunes

CD of the Day, 2/17/06: Barnacle Bill-Towards The Pebbled Shore

Avast ye maties! Yar, today's CD for ye is Barrrrnacle Bill's Towards The Pebbled Shore. (When I picked this one out a week or so back, I promised myself I wouldn't go with the pirate talk. But I'm weak, I tell you, weak.) BB is a 3-piece out of NYC featuring two principal singer/songwriters: Yianni Naslas and Stu Klinger. I've always considered it a good thing for a band to have at least two creative voices of relatively equal ability; instead of getting one guy's sixth to tenth-best tracks, for example, you get a different guy's best five. The ultimate example of this dynamic was The Beatles, but even contemporary power pop bands like Fastball (Scalzo/Zuniga) and Sloan (Murphy, Pentland, Ferguson *and* Scott, except on the last one), have demonstrated the value in this arrangement.

For Barnacle Bill, the Fastball comparison is apt. Klinger is the Scalzo of the band, more of the classic power popper, sounding a lot like Fountains of Wayne on the leadoff track "Best For Last" and "Santa Fe", while Naslas is the Zuniga, a bit more laid-back, although he can turn it up as well, as demonstrated on "See You Through". This is a fine debut, and once it gets in front of the right ears, I can see it becoming a popular release in the power pop community.

The good news is that you can stream this album in its entirety (although you have to select one track at a time) at their website. And of course it can be purchased at CD Baby for $10. Yarrrr!