Back in the swing.

Thank you to everyone who wished well in the comments to my last post, and thank you all for sticking with the site while I got through the last month. Now it's time to get back in the swing and since I have a backlog of quite a few releases that I want to cover, this post and the next one or two to follow will be in a slightly different format - I will cover many more than the usual 3 releases but only write a few sentences on each. I know the priority for most of you reading this site is discovery of new music, not my purple prose, so here goes:

Ottopilot-Life After Love and War EP. California band with a "modern rock" sheen but accomplished in power pop ("Loaded Gun") and country rock ("Count on Me"). Radio-friendly (even with today's radio) stuff.

iTunes



Richard Turgeon-In Between the Spaces. If you like your power pop with no frills, then Richard Turgeon's the man for you. Just 10, rockin', power-poppin' tracks that tackle Bigfoot, turning 30, frostbites and gravity. Uniformly hooky and tuneful. UPDATE: Now available in CD format on Kool Kat.

iTunes | Kool Kat



Shake Some Action!-Crash Through or Crash. James Hall, everyone's favorite jangle-rocker of the last 10 years, returns with his sixth album. The latest is 14 new tracks of what we've come to expect from Mr. Hall, which means no syrupy ballads, no weird electronic flourishes and no spoken-word interludes. Just guitars, guitars and more guitars. FYI: he also has just released a deluxe 10th anniversary edition of SSA's self-titled debut, chock full of bonus tracks and demos.

iTunes



Bubble Gum Orchestra-Sixthoverture. Michael Hildebrandt returns with his sixth BGO album, and this one might be his best. Here he trades in his sometimes slavish (but always enjoyable) imitation of ELO for a sound instead more ELO-informed, and the result is liberating, from the joyous "A New Kind of Love Song" to the a tribute to the band that influenced ELO the most ("The Beatles Made Me") to the fine piano ballad "Elizabeth". Only available as a download from the BGO website.

Buy and listen to here

Static in Verona-Secrets Like Shadows. Yet another vet of the AbPow pages returns with a new one as Rob Merz' Static in Verona releases its fourth full-length. If there's such a thing as "ethereal power pop", Merz has invented it as tracks like "Madeline" and "Sleeping In (Dreams)" have an atmospheric quality without sacrificing melody or drive, and some can even approach the anthemic ("The Royal We"). Available as a "name your price" download on Bandcamp.

iTunes



The Obleeks-The Obleeks. Fine debut from this Big Star-influenced Chicago band. After the opening 30-seconds of "Break Forth, O Beauteous Light", the drums and guitars kick in with "After the Sunrise" and the fab "Have You Thought About Me Lately?", making a great 1-2 (or 2-3) punch. Other standouts include "I'll Wait" and "Poisoned Well", with the latter featuring a insidious riff. Best part? All ten tracks clock in at 2:40 or less, making for a breezy listen.

Bandcamp

Late September Roundup.

Bubble Gum Orchestra-Sticky Love Songs Vol. 1 and 2. If it's the classic ELO sound you desire, you had to have been excited last fall when Jeff Lynne released a new album as "Jeff Lynne's ELO". It turned out to be fine, but it sounded more like a latter-day Jeff Lynne solo album than ELO in its heyday. This of course meant your next option was to wait for Michael Hildebrandt to release another Bubble Gum Orchestra album. That wait is over, as not only is there a new BGO album, but there's the equivalent of 2 new albums as Hildebrandt has gone Out of the Blue here with the 20-track Sticky Love Songs Volume 1 and 2. With 20 tracks to play with, Hildebrandt spreads out a bit here. Of course you get the vintage ELO sound in tunes like "You Called to Tell Me" and "My World Blue" (a Jeff Lynne title if there ever was one), but you get the straight-up Beatlesque "Peppermint Smile", the more rocking "You Gave Up on Love" (with guest vocals from Lannie Flowers), and even some acoustic guitar on the acid love song "You're Not the One That Got Away". Closing it all is the self-referential "BGO Motel", a track as catchy as it is clever. You won't find this at the usual sites, so click on the link below to listen and purchase.

Sample and buy here

Greg Pope-Guiding Star. The man I named the Pope of Power Pop is back with his sixth full-length solo release (not counting the Pete EP and his best-of compilation) and once again he's delivered another fine collection of southern-fried power pop. Featuring a Stranger Things-inspired cover, Guiding Star demonstrates why Pope is the one of the more consistent artists in the genre. Opener "Innocent Breakdown", with its nervous, insistent beat shows Pope (a one-man band who can drum with the best) isn't content to sit on his laurels, while "Four Leaf Clover" lashes at the singer's dudebro ex in service of a catchy chorus. Elsewhere, "Sun is Gonna Rise" rocks with gusto, the acoustic guitar-based shuffle "I Think Not" is classic Pope, and "If You Want Answers" may or may not have them, but it's a great listen and could have been a hit in another era. No longer the "company man" he was back in his Edmund's Crown days, Pope is now older and wiser and Guiding Star is as humanistic as power pop gets.

Bandcamp



Ryan Allen & His Extra Arms-Basement Punk. Every time I turned around there's another great new release from the Michigan power pop scene. Last time out it was the latest from Nick Piunti and today it's Ryan Allen and His Extra Arms. (Next time it may be The Legal Matters, who have a new one out in a few weeks). Basement Punk is Allen's third album and builds off the promise of last year's Heart String Soul. "Watch Me Explode" is the kind of frenetic rocker that's perfectly situated as the album opener, and "Chasing a Song" is a brilliant bit of pop in the vein of Big Star. "Mal n' Ange" is another winner, sounding like an early-70s English classic rock track complete with guitar solo between the second and third verses, while "Gimmie Some More" is a fun "In the Street"-style rocker. Between the Greg Pope album above and this one, it's a great time for one-man bands.

iTunes

Friday Roundup.

Bubble Gum Orchestra-Beyond Time. Michael Hildebrandt, a/k/a Bubble Gum Orchestra, returns again with Beyond Time, another collection of ELO-inspired tunes. Just as last year's The Discovery was a riff on ELO's Discovery, this follow-up takes its cue from ELO's Discovery followup, Time (I'm guessing the next BGO released will be some variation of Secret Messages). Anyway, I probably don't need to tell you that if you're an ELO fanatic this album is a must, from the rocking "23rd Century Woman" (which goes beyond ELO to borrow the guitar riff from Foreigner's "Long, Long Way from Home") to the futuristic "I'm in Love With a Robot" (BGO's nod to ELO's "Yours Truly, 2095") to the catchy "Return 2 4 Ever". But the quintessential BGO track is "ELO Forever", the lyrics to which are primarily comprised of ELO song titles (example: "Mr. Blue Sky met his Sweet Talkin' Woman/they fell in love and their hearts Turned to Stone"), the best track of its kind since Bob Dylan used Springsteen song titles to write the Traveling Wilburys' "Tweeter & the Monkey Man".

CD Baby | iTunes

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Peter Buzzelle-Sea of White EP. Boston's Peter Buzzelle is a classic power popper who released a pair of fine discs in 2010 and 2011 but were overlooked on this site. I can't ignore him any longer, though, thanks to his outstanding new EP that's the first power pop disc I've heard with the subject of marrying and marriage as its concept. Opener "I'm Gonna Know You" might be the best power ballad I've heard in years, with a swelling, catchy chorus, while "Til Death Do Us Part" and "Happiness and Misery" are a couple of excellent Posies/Matthew Sweet-styled rockers, and "Our Life is the Song" closes things out in hooky fashion. This might be the best EP of 2014 to date, and I'd daresay you'll like it some much you'll want to marry it.

CD Baby | iTunes

Weekend Roundup.

Bubble Gum Orchestra-The Discovery. A 2013 release I missed was the latest from Michael Hildebrandt, a/k/a Bubble Gum Orchestra. As there haven't been any hints of Bleu and Mike Viola reconstituting L.E.O., this is where you'll have to get your fix of new "ELO" music. As on his previous releases, Hildebrandt is anything but subtle with his ELO homages and the title of this disc alone indicates that. So it wouldn't be a surprise that the best track on the disc is an "Evil Woman"-styled proto-disco/rock track called "Evil, Evil Girl". Other treats include ihe jaunty "Lovely Days, Lovely Nights", which has a hint of "Mr. Blue Sky" about it; the frenetic "There Goes My Baby", and the catchy "Until You Say Go". Fun stuff, and since Jeff Lynne isn't going to be walking through that door anytime soon, a must for ELO fans.

CD Baby | iTunes

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Baby Scream-Greatest Failures. Juan Pablo Mazzola has had enough releases as Baby Scream to warrant his first-ever compilation, which he's self-deprecatingly titled Greatest Failures. While they may be "failures" from a commercial perspective, there's no failure of quality here and for those who have until now been immune to the charms of his Lennon-esque musical stylings this is a great opportunity to catch up. Thanks to Bandcamp, you can visit (or re-visit) all these tracks yourself, but if you want to know my favorites they're the languid "Mars", the sneering rocker "Every Day (I Die a Little Bit)", the gentle and melodic "The Riots", and the twisty "Nicole". How does the old song go? "I scream, you scream, we all scream for Baby Scream".

Bandcamp | iTunes

Friday Roundup.

Oberon Rose-Wunjo. With Wunjo, Connecticut's Tom Oberon has crated a stunning debut of melodic psych-pop that stakes out the early pole position for the best of 2012. Drawing from influences both classic (The Kinks) and modern (Elliott Smith, Wilco), Oberon cranks out one quality tune after another here. "Young Goodman Brown", the opener, sounds as if it could have been a featured song in a Wes Anderson movie, while the jangly "One Man Show of Sorrow" recalls Bill Majoros' brilliant Foreign Films album. The title track and ballad "Without Feathers" bear a heavy E.Smith presence, and the Beatlesque "Ballad of the Taller" could pass for one of Robert Harrison's slower tunes with Cotton Mather. Elsewhere, "Buried Alive" makes nice use of a slide guitar hook to go with a catchy melody, "Dance of the Bee" adds a touch of glam, and "So is the Flow" is grade-A psych pop. This is quite possibly the best album of its kind since the aforementioned Foreign Films and it's kind of disc that should find fans outside of the power pop subgenre.

CD Baby | iTunes



Bubblegum Orchestra-Out of This World. This is where David Bash's year-end lists come in handy even for someone as immersed in the power pop genre as I am - there are always a few I still miss as this 2011 ELO homage would have warranted a place in my year-end list as well had I heard it then. And when I say "ELO homage", I'm not kidding around here. Whereas Bleu's LEO project was more a subtle, Rutles-like ELO tribute, BGO here has basically taken its mission to reimagine the double-album classic Out of the Blue, right down to the double-album length, the title, the cover art and references in the songs. Sonically though, it might be more the ELO of 1981's Time as the opener "Agnes is Back" makes clear with the lyric "here is the news". I could spend all day cataloging the ELO references ("Night in Shangri-La", the interstitial "Where Are You Now, which sounds like - and quotes- OOTB's "Believe Me Now"), but I'll just leave it by saying that although it's no Alpacas Orgling, it's quite an enjoyable ride and a must for ELO fanatics.

CD Baby | iTunes | Sample at Official Site