Getting in gear with the new year.

Now the list-making is over (although I will share David Bash's exhaustive lists as usual), it's time to get 2018 in gear with a couple of releases, one that came out not long before year's end and one that came out just after and both of which feature artists you may be familiar with releasing records under names you're not.

Daydream Retrievers-Daydream Retrievers. Seeing as I often can't remember what I had for breakfast later that day, it's not a shock that I could have sworn I had this release in my top 100 last week but when I went to look up the rank I noticed it wasn't there. So better late than never to extol the virtues of the latest release from Ian Olvera, formerly of the Ian Olvera Band and Ian Olvera & The Sleepwalkers. Taking his name out of the equation entirely this time, Olvera nevertheless serves up a 9-song collection of catchy heartland power pop influenced by Tom Petty and Wilco. "Ballad of an Exit Strategy" and "Cars Can't Stop" have a bright but rootsy vibe not unlike Gary Louris' version of The Jayhawks, while "New Parade" rocks like Petty's Heartbreakers. Meanwhile, the 3-song run in the middle of the album of "Tuesday Night in America", "Right is Right" and "Hi How Are You's" channels Big Star, both in the rock stylings of the former, and the melacholy balladry of the latter two. And "Learning to Live With the End of the World" with its upbeat piano-based melody is Wilco meets Springsteen. Had I slotted this one on the year-end list, it would have been about #30.

iTunes




Rooftop Screamers-Vol. 1. Rooftop Screamers is the new project of former Throwback Suburbia drummer and songwriter Mike Collins, and its 8-track debut is the first top-notch power pop release of 2018. Collins isn't a singer, though, so to bring his compositions to life he's enlisted the help of various friends to sing lead including indie pop luminaries such as Kyle Vincent and Ken Stringfellow. "Sign Me Up" kicks things off, and it's a blast to hear Vincent sing lead on a rocker that's part Queen and part Cheap Trick instead of his typical soft pop. Stringfellow, who it seems lately has guested on more releases than Michael McDonald in the late 70s and early 80s, takes the mic on "Roses Again" and it's a melodic gem with Brian May-like guitars that comes across as a lost Posies/Jellyfish mashup. But even the tracks with the lesser-known Portland-area singers stand with the big names - Geoff Metts sings on "Have Mercy", a heartland rocker, while Andrew Paul Woodworth gives "Get Outta Your Way" a Beatlesque feel. This is a fun project as Collins is a top-notch power pop songwriter, and here's looking forward to Vol. 2.

CD Baby

It's a Giant Party!

Kyle Vincent and Tommy Dunbar of the Rubinoos are big San Fransisco Giants fans and in honor of the Giants' World Series win earlier this month, they've recorded "It's a Giant Party". It's a pretty good tune, unless of course you're a Texas Rangers fan.



It's also available on CD Baby for download.

CD of the Day, 3/2/09: Kyle Vincent-Where You Are

Call it pop, soft rock, MOR or whatever - nobody does that early 70s AM radio sound better than Kyle Vincent, and he's been doing it for years. His latest is Where You Are, his tenth album, and like fine wine (or a fine pop song), he gets better with age.

"It's Gonna Be a Great Day" serves as both the opening track and a description of when you first hear a Kyle Vincent disc, and it manages to capture that early 70s feel yet sound contemporary as I could easily hear an artist like Mika covering this song (albeit a bit more histrionically). The cheerfully uptempo "In Another Life" also recalls those salad days, in the vein of Godspell, while "The World is Upside Down" is a vintage Eric Carmen-style piano ballad.

Elsewhere, the lovely "Emily Standing" will appeal to Emmit Rhodes lovers, and "Goin' Down" is catchy in a Gilbert O'Sullivan kinda way. And there's no better way to establish your early 70s cred than by closing your album with a song called "Petals of Peace".

So basically, if you're man (or woman) enough to admit you dig Bread, Air Supply or any of those other early 70s soft poppers, you should make your acquaintance with Kyle Vincent, a man who was born about 35 years too late.

CD Baby | MySpace | iTunes

Or just listen to the whole thing right here: