Weekend Roundup.

Goodman-What We Want. Goodman is Michael Goodman, a 22-year-old New York-area musician with some impressive pop chops. What We Want is his first full-length (he released an EP in early 2012), and it sounds like the work of a veteran singer-songwriter. Perhaps the artist Goodman most reminds me of is The New Pornographers' A.C. Newman in that his catchy pop is supported by a sense of nervous energy. Opener "Night Person" is a great example of this, with a restlessness right lurking underneath its frenetic melody. Elsewhere, "Waiting" offers a earworm chorus, and "Yawning" almost re-imagines Roy Orbison as an indie popper. My favorite track here is "Fever", which is pretty much a slowed-down "Sugar Sugar" that comes off as that song's neurotic (if not evil) twin. This is some impressive work, and Goodman has the potential to become one of the more interesting artists in the genre.

CD Baby | iTunes

John Amadon-The Bursting Sheaf. If Goodman's point of reference is AC Newman, John Amadon's is Elliott Smith, an artist he resembles vocally as well as stylistically (and geographically as well, hailing from Portland, Oregon). This was apparent on his outstanding debut (2011's Seven Stars) and on the follow-up he gives us more of the same. After clearing his throat with the fun 2-minute instrument "Saltwater Crocodile", Amandon gets down to business with the lovely and laid-back "Walking the Shoulder" which also owes a debt to Alex Chilton (another artist he bears a vocal resemblance to). The piano-backed "Set Stone" moves with purpose, and the midtempo "Two Hunters" features a slightly western noir sound that reminds me of Joe Pernice's "Bum Leg". But Amadon can also rock out a bit, as evidenced by "Sisters of the Blue Horizon" (which really does sound like something that came off Big Star's third album) and "Taking My Field Away" which wouldn't have sounded out of place on Smith's posthumous From a Basement on the Hill. This is top-notch stuff, and a welcome listen for those of us who miss his two greatest influences.

CD Baby | Bandcamp

Three for Thursday, 5/19/11

Since posting has been light lately, we're going with three for Thursday today instead of the usual two.

John Amadon-Seven Stars. At long last, here is the Elliott Smith album you've all been waiting for and thought you'd never get. Hailing from Smith's hometown of Portland, Oregon, Amadon channels that late singer-songwriter's XO/Figure 8 period, which means things lean to the Beatlesque side of Smith's sound than his earlier, folkier releases. And that's a good thing around here. The standout tracks here are "Let's Talk Without Talking", the soft/heavy dynamic of "All Patched Up" and the lovely "Bitter Tears". A real treat.

CD Baby | Bandcamp

Tim Culling-Goodbye Western Sun. It's hard to pigeonhole singer-songwriter Tim Culling's sound without resorting to generic categories like "adult alternative pop/rock" as he offers up a little bit of pop, a little bit of rock, a little bit of soul and a little bit of alt-country in his sound. It all adds up to a winning mixture on this 7-track EP, led by the outstanding title track, which has an insistent piano hook that will bury itself in your subconscious, "So With That Aside", its bookend, is another brilliant number with an upbeat melody, and in between the Wilco-esque "This Much I Can See" and the bluesy "I Got a Friend" are the highlights. Possibly 2011's top EP to date.

CD Baby | MySpace | eMusic

Khalid Quesada-On the Verge of Context. New Jersey's Khalid Quesada is a singer-songwriter sound who has a way with a pop hook, and he demonstrates that clearly on his debut EP. Coming in somewhere between the aforementioned Elliott Smith and Rivers Cuomo, Quesada is equally at home with both the power pop ("Radio Silence", "Proverbial Knives") and more introspective numbers ("Angel in the Dark", "World Without"). It's all melodic, and has me looking forward to his full-length debut promised for later this year.

CD Baby | MySpace