Early February Roundup.

John Rooney-Joy. John Rooney may hail from Australia, but his latest release is southern-fried power pop mixed by Mitch Easter and produced by Don Dixon. Rooney, who in the previous decade released music under the Coronet Blue name, comes swinging out of the block with "Don't Give Up Now", a fun tune featuring horns and having an R&B feel, "Grant Me Peace" has a Van Morrison vibe, and "What Could Have Been" and "Delicious" bring the pop. Fans of a more soulful power pop sound will want to check this one out.

iTunes



Four Star Riot-Daylight. Catching up on a 2018 release which made my top 100, Four Star Riot hail from my backyard of Clearwater, Florida but it's not local favoritism that finds them here, it's ten tracks of top-notch pop/rock. There's plenty to like here - from the midtempo Petty-esque opener "Slayed Pretender" to the Gin Blossoms-influenced "Almost Daylight" to the 80s rock of "Oxygen" (which features assistance from Roger Joseph Manning Jr., who seems to get around a lot these days). Other standouts include the dense guitar rock of "Tunnel Vision" and the bright pop of "Anyone".

iTunes



Roving Reporter-Joie de Vivre EP. Roving Reporter is Seattle-by-way-of-New Orleans's Brett Barrilleaux new project and this 4-track EP is a solid debut of Elliott Smith-meets-Wilco indie pop/rock. "Forget About Me" recalls Smith's poppier offerings circa XO and Figure 8, while "Patterson Brown" is a catchy keyboard-based number. And "Another Note" is a warm, lovely track that goes down smooth. As the cliche goes, I'm looking forward to the full-length here.

iTunes



Todd Lewis Kramer-January EP. Todd Lewis Kramer is nominally country, or Americana, because he sings with a bit of a twang but his new EP is pretty much ear candy pop (or Popicana, if you prefer). "All of My Days" is one of my first favorite songs of 2019, a buoyant tune which the Gary Louris version of The Jayhawks would be at home with and "She Knows" is another uptempo pop confection, while the closing "Do I Ever Cross Your mind?" is from the Ryan Adams playbook of dusky ballads.

iTunes

Monday blurbs.

Time to highlight some discs I've been meaning to mention on the site:

Arch Stanton-Highland & Marine. Outstanding EP from these Minnesotans . "Steady by Your Side", "Take It Back" and "Through the Motions" make this one a top-10 EP contender. I like their influences list on MySpace, and they do them proud here. CD Baby | MySpace

Hundred Air-Makeout City. Hundred Air is the new band for ex-Mayflies USA (a late lamented NC power pop band from the turn of the century - check em out when you have the chance) Adam Price, and they kind of straddle the divide between power pop and indie rock. I love the title track (which reminds me of the Old 97's "Barrier Reef") and the other seven on this mini-LP aren't bad either. CD Baby | MySpace

Jeff Tracy-Moments In Time. The Blue Cartoon frontman steps out on his solo debut, and provides a pleasing set of power pop (and gives me a chance to show off some mean alliteration). With tracks titled "New Blue You" and "Out of the Blue", he's obviously drawing song-naming inspiration from Jeff Lynne. CD Baby | MySpace

Coronet Blue-Welcome to the Arms of Forever. Aussie John Rooney is back with his power pop supergroup/collective (featuring Mitch Easter, Don Dixon and Ian Mclagan of The Faces) for the followup to their self-titled 2002 debut, and it's quality midtempo/slightly retro-sounding pop in the vein of Third of Never, another similarly situated group. CD Baby | MySpace

ShyAway-Rise and Shine Little Sleepyhead. Nice "little" EP from Lincoln, Nebraska's Tim McCarty, and it features the kind of Midwestern popicana that we know and love around these parts. "Sleepyhead" sounds like a lost track from The Jayhawks' Rainy Day Music, and the rest follow in a similar manner. CD Baby | MySpace