Fall Singles Roundup.

Michael Carpenter-The Start of Being Alone. Michael Carpenter may have "retired" from straight-up power pop, but he remains busy writing, producing and collaborating and his sense of melody and songcraft isn't retired. He bills this new single as alt-country but to these ears it's more rock than twang and in the vein of Tom Petty.

iTunes



Dave Sheinin-The Lies of Summer. The debut album from longtime Washington Post sportswriter Dave Sheinin was perhaps the most pleasant surprise of 2018, finishing #8 on my year-end list, and he's back with this fine Andy Bopp-produced track.

iTunes



Andrew Stonehome-I Am King. Normally I don't seek out singles from artists I'm unfamiliar with, but this tune from Portland's Andrew Stonehome caught my ear and hasn't let go. Bright, crunchy power pop that sounds like Cheap Trick crossed with Big Star. This song is apparently a teaser for an upcoming full-length album due in 2020, and I for one can't wait for it.

iTunes



Peter Baldrachi-The Suffering. My last singles roundup several months back featured his great tune "Breathe", and Baldrachi continues to release new tunes in advance of his upcoming full-length next year as well. This is one is 2:19 of his usual ear candy, and despite the title no suffering is involved.

iTunes



The Hangabouts-Who Wants Cilla?/Mrs. Greene. One of our favorite Detroit pop bands returns with a double-sided single, which I'll let them describe for you: "A throwback to Phil Spector pop backed with a Kinks-ish ode to your favorite teacher". Can't go wrong there.

iTunes



Dave Hill-Parking the Moose. Comedian/author/rocker Dave Hill, best known around here as the frontman of Valley Lodge, has a new book out which provides his unique twisted perspective on Canada, and his promotional theme song for it is pretty much what you'd expect: a fun tune with goofy lyrics name-dropping everything Canadian.

iTunes

It's singles time!

Normally I don't write about singles, as often they're just teasers for albums I'll review later or just because I'd rather spend my time on an artist who puts out a full album rather than merely a single. But recently several artists I've featured here before have new singles out, so it's time to round them up in one post in case many of you have missed one or more of them.

David Myhr-Spellbound. While we're still waiting on the full-length followup to 2012's great Soundshine, the ex-Merrymaker regales us with this brilliant ELO-and-70s-pop-inspired single from the soundtrack of Flykten till Framtiden, a Swedish time travel movie likely not coming to a theater near you. If only Myhr himself could master time travel, he could have released this in 1974 and knocked "Hooked on a Feeling" off the top of the charts.

iTunes



The Tories-We Still Shine. Yes, you read that right - it's The Tories, reunited for their first new music in 15 years. While Steve Bertrand and James Guffee have given us some fine solo albums over this time, it's great to see them back together and hopefully this single is the forerunner of a new full-length album. The new song captures the pop style that allowed them to break out of the "power pop ghetto" around the turn of the century and is worth your time.

iTunes



Michael Carpenter and Allan Caswell-Back When I Was Older. For someone who was supposedly retired when he announced that last year's The Big Radio would be his final solo album, Michael Carpenter sure has been busy in 2016. First, he released a new album with The Cuban Heels and now he's teamed with Australian country music legend Allan Caswell for this fine single. The song shares a theme with Dylan's "My Back Pages" ("I was so much older then/I'm younger than that now") and is an enjoyable, catchy country rock tune that's of a piece with Carpenter's Cuban Heels work.

iTunes



Mark Bacino-Not That Guy. NYC popster Mark Bacino re-emerges for the first time since 2010's Queens English with a wonderful new single that finds him at his melodic best. It's a jaunty, McCartney-esque track that reminds us of how much we've missed new music from him.

iTunes



John Faye-Miss America. Ex-Ike guitarist John Faye comes to us just in time for this contentious election season with a track that isn't about a beauty queen but about the state of nation as he small-m miss(es) America. Although the lyrics are social commentary, they're not particularly preachy, and the sound itself is classic Faye - crunchy, loud guitars and a hooky melody. In other words, classic power pop.

iTunes

Early June Roundup.

Michael Carpenter & The Cuban Heels-Ain't Nothing Left to Say. When we last left Michael Carpenter the previous autumn he had released our album of the year, The Big Radio, which was billed as probably his last solo record. But that doesn't mean we've heard the last of him, and a scant seven months later he's returned with The Cuban Heels, his rotating band of fellow Aussie pop/rockers including Russell Crawford, whom we've featured here in his own right. The difference between a Cuban Heels album and a proper MC solo joint is that he turns to a more alt-country/Australiana sound but his gift for melody and the catchy tune isn't diminished by addition of some twang or pedal steel. In fact, the title track with its "na na, na na na na" backing would fit right at home on one of his pop albums, and "Photo" is more power pop than country. Still you do get some twang here (which in my book is welcome) with "I Should Have Told You" and "Wasted Years, Wasted Time". I could go on, but this is new Michael Carpenter music. I don't need to tell you it's worth a listen.

Bandcamp



The Person & The People-Dark & Low. This Minneapolis band has been kicking around the better part of a decade and Dark & Low is their fourth release in that time so it's long past time I mentioned them on these pages. Their sound is highly melodic indie rock, and although they mention Ryan Adams and Weezer as RIYL artists on their album page, I hear more Teenage Fanclub as covered by Superdrag. Anyway, it's an interesting brew and this album features such gems as the almost-jangly "Hot Summer Nights", the 2:08 burst of "Sleep All Day" and the crisp rock of "Until the Morning". And after you get into this one feel free to dive into their back catalog, which is quite good as well.

iTunes



David Brookings & The Average Lookings-David Brookings & The Average Lookings. Also back on our pages again is David Brookings, who this time bills himself with his backup band The Average Lookings. This is his seventh album and another great collection of his jangly, breezy west coast pop. Crediting the backup band here is appropriate as Brookings has a fuller sound here, heard on tracks such as "Time to Go", "The Optimist" and "You're Right, it Went So Wrong", which are Grade-A power pop. Also of note is the alt-countryish "I'm in Love With Your Wife", which considers the famous George Harrison/Patti Harrison/Eric Clapton love triangle, and the shiny pop of "Place We Can Go", perhaps the quintessential David Brookings track. They may consider themselves "average looking" but this is some pretty handsome pop.

iTunes

Mid-November Roundup

Elvyn-Valley of the Kilowatt Hour. After releasing The Decline in early 2010, an album that so impressed me it ended up at #4 on my year-end list, Elvyn is finally back after 5 1/2 long years with Valley of the Kilowatt Hour, a followup that they had been teasing for over a couple of years now. They released the single "AM" in September 2013, and since then Valley has been one of my most anticipated albums. So was it worth the wait? The answer is pretty much yes. Following on with more of their sound which finds the sweet spot between power pop, classic rock and Americana, there are a number of excellent tracks to be found here. Opening single "Ellie" recalls Teenage Fanclub, "This is the End" is the kind of jangly power pop you'll hear from Tom Petty or Paul Westerberg, and "Here We Surrender" has a "Things We Said Today" Beatlesque feel to it. Elsewhere, "Landslide Cities" channels Sloan circa Navy Blues, "Turning Me Down" finds them going alt-country, and the poppy "True Luv Can't Hide" finds them at their melodic and harmonic best. Plus, "AM" still rocks two years later in its vaguely Smithereens-ish way. The bottom line: another top 10 finish this year seems assured.

iTunes



Michael Carpenter-The Big Radio. And oh yeah, Michael Carpenter has a new album out too, his first release of all originals since 2009's Redemption #39. That's the good news. The bad news is he has said this will be his last solo album of new material. This would be a disappointment of course, but he's given us so much wonderful music over the last 15 years of so that I can't begrudge him moving to other endeavors. And if The Big Radio is his swan song, it's a helluva finale. Distilling everything we've come to love about his music (which would have made him a superstar in 1975), The Big Radio has one killer track after another, from the catchy opener "Don't Open the Door" to "She's in Love With Herself" and "I Kissed That Girl" (which put the power in "power pop") to "Chrissie Hynde", a tribute that honors her lyrically and musically. And "Run Away" might be my new favorite track of his. Most Michael Carpenter albums sound like a greatest hits album of songs you haven't heard yet, and The Big Radio is no exception, finding him at his best. Currently, it's only available as download from Bandcamp but will be on CD in January.

Bandcamp

Two for Tuesday, 7/3/12

Michael Carpenter-S.O.O.P. #5. Michael Carpenter concludes his 5-disc covers project with a twist - it's a duets album. This development jolts some life into the series, and features contributions from fellow power poppers such as Marty Rudnick, James Cooper and Chris Murphy. Although its stumbles out of the gate with "Where the Bands Are" (Carpenter strains to replicate Bruce Springsteen's gruff vocals), high points abound: Rudnick's Roger McGuinn-like vocals make The Byrds' "She Don't Care About Time" a treat, Dominique English guests to fine effect on Fleetwood Mac's "I Don't Wanna Know" and Carpenter & Cooper team up on what could almost be called a bubblegum version of George Harrison's "Awaiting on You All". The combination of covering deep album tracks for the most part ("Wouldn't it Be Nice" and "Already Gone" being the exceptions) and the duets elevate this one to more than a karaoke exercise and close the project on a high note. But now here's hoping his next release is original material.

Bandcamp | iTunes



Dave Birk-Speed Queen Mystery Date. Fountains of Wayne fans, this is the record to tide you over until Chris Collingwood and Adam Schlesigner put out a new one. Minneapolis' Dave Birk captures the essence of FoW, from their high-gloss power pop to their suburban smart aleck worldview. It's an influence Birk does nothing to hide - the title of the opening track, "Hey Jody", recalls FoW's "Hey Julie"; "All Things Retro" borrows its melody wholesale from Utopia Parkway's "It Must Be Summer", and the title track tells a detailed story of a possible relationship between young urbanites. Plus there's "Country Music 101", a primer on writing country music that threads the needle between mocking the genre and celebrating it. So while Birk hasn't reinvented the power pop wheel here, I have to say I enjoyed Speed Queen Mystery Date more than any FoW album since Welcome Interstate Managers and there's some real talent at work here.

Bandcamp | iTunes

News from Down Under.

Lots of interesting power pop developments coming out of Australia lately, and here are the highlights:

* Michael Carpenter. If the group of artists we feature on this site who continually work together on different projects can be called the Australian Power Pop Mafia, then Michael Carpenter is The Godfather. And Don MC is back with a couple of projects.

First up is the O'Neders, a gathering of Carpenter and like-minded power poppers who came together to record a live album of power pop covers from contemporary artists such as Sloan, Fountains of Wayne, Teenage Fanclub, Jellyfish, Matthew Sweet as well as classics from The Beatles, Big Star, The Byrds and The Who among others. It's a real hoot and a real treat and you can listen and buy the whole shebang at Bandcamp. Titled That Thing We Done, it's a real wonder. (Unfortunately the CDR version is sold out, so you'll have to digital on this one).

MC is also hard at work on his ultimate Cuban Heels project. You may recall the pair of EPs he's put out in the last couple of years with this crew, and now it's all coming together with The Incomplete Cuban Heels, a collection of the 2 EPs plus a bunch of new tracks. Like other artists these days, he's offering a "buy-in" of sorts to help finance the project and has two levels of support you can give with plenty of goodies available for each. Get all the details at his site.

* The Sunshine Ponies. You probably haven't heard of the band name, but I'm sure you're familiar with the players. This is the aforementioned Aussie Power Pop Mafia in its full glory, as Popboomerang honchos Scott Thurling and Sarah Halligan have called in the gang to record an album set to their love poetry, and in addition to Mr. Carpenter, AbPow faves like Bryan Estepa, Adrian Whitehead, Tim Reid, Kelly's Heels and Danna & The Changes are on board to provide the music and voices for these song-poems. Like the O'Neders project above, you can hear and buy it all at Bandcamp.

CD of the Day, 9/10/09: Michael Carpenter-Redemption #39

About three months ago, I touted the release of this disc from one of power pop's leading lights, but realized I never gave it a proper review. It's an oversight that needs to be corrected because it's one of 2009's better releases. While Michael Carpenter discs have always been melodic delights, and he's always been a strong lyricist, here he takes his game up a notch with songs that have both melody and meaning.

Therefore, it's fitting that the opener here is "Can't Go Back", a clear-eyed look at both a relationship and one's life to date complete with Carpenter's patented pop goodness and Beach Boy/Beatles-styled backing vocals. The title track follows, with the title itself and Carpenter's lyrics and vocals getting as close to Dylanesque as he's ever attempted but without sacrificing his sound. Carpenter then offers up his solo take on "Workin' for a Livin", a track he first released with the Cuban Heels on one of their 2008 EPs. The song sounds like a country classic that's been around for years, tackling the familiar theme of (un)employment. "I'm Not Done With You" is a gentle midtempo number that finds Carpenter at his tuneful best and features a lovely guitar solo.

Unlike many other artists in the genre, Carpenter is plugged into the power pop scene (see his SOOP #2, a cover album of contemporary power poppers like The Shazam, David Grahame and the Myracle Brah), and he pays Queen, Jellyfish and all of their power pop acolytes homage on "The King of the Scene", a tune that deserves to be the first single off the album if such a thing really existed these days. There's plenty else to dig here as well, from the lilting "Don't Let Me Down Again", the pure power pop harmonies of the "Middle of Nowhere" (which with its introspective lyrics and classic Carpenter sound, could serve as the soundtrack of his life), the textbook power pop of "I Want Everything" and the languid but affirming "Falling Down".

As anyone who follows my Twitter feed knows, I'm a big baseball fan. And the analogy that can't help but come to mind for Michael Carpenter is Albert Pujols. Both are so good and so consistent at what they do, we tend to take them for granted. If this were a debut album by a heretofore unknown artist, I'd probably give it a siren and be touting it from here and every other bit of social media I could get my hands on. Instead, I kind of left it on the back burner of this site, perhaps subconsciously thinking that everyone who reads this blog already has this disc or has otherwise heard it. But then I stopped to listen to it again, and I realized that it doesn't matter if he's put out about a half-dozen excellent records before. Each one is its own discovery, and it's not a stretch to say that this is his best yet.

Kool Kat | Not Lame | MySpace | iTunes

New Michael Carpenter album on the way!

Here's some good news to brighten up your back-to-work-from-a-long-holiday-weekend morning: Michael Carpenter is set to release his first solo album since 2004's Rolling Ball - and you won't have to wait long for it. Redemption #39 will be available on June 8 from the usual suspects (Not Lame, Kool Kat, Jam). Much as Carpenter has done with previous releases (such as Rolling Ball and the Supahip album), he'll be offering a limited edition bonus disc containing a stripped-down, acoustic version of the album, so get it early.

Here's a video for the album's opening track, "Can't Go Back":

It's Michael Carpenter's world...

...and all of us power pop fans are just living in it. Two new releases highlight the man who's at the top of the power pop game as a performer and producer.

First is his latest new material, and it's a slight departure from his usual work. He assembled a country band called The Cuban Heels, and they've released a 7-song mini-album titled New Dog - Old Tricks, which was recorded in one day barely over a month ago (August 2 to be precise). It's a fine collection of new material and covers, including the Hank Williams (Sr.) classic "Jambalaya". Carpenter got the inspiration for the band while doing a show with Bryan Estepa, and the opening track on the disc, "The Ballad of Ambivalence", is a country-rock number much in the style of All The Bells and Whistles, the album he produced for Estepa. "Some Days are Worse Than Others" is another quality original, a Band-style midtempo number drenched in pedal steel, and "If You Ask Me" (co-written with Cuban Heel Russell Crawford, for whom Carpenter produced a great EP in 2006) is a high-quality ballad with a strong buildup. This is really a must-get, and a contender for the year-end list (EP or full disc). But if you want it on disc, it's extreeemely limited (100 copies) and Not Lame has 40 of them, so click here and act fast. Otherwise, it's available as a digital download (a redundant phrase as I don't think it's possible to pull off an analog download) from MC at Big Radio.

Meanwhile Carpenter's original band, The Finkers, who put out two discs around the turn of the century, are anthologized in Epilogue, a 2-CD set that collects all of their studio recordings. If you're a fan of Carpenter's solo material, this will be right up your alley, especially if you're like me and only came into MC about four years ago. All of their albums, EPs, and contributions to tribute albums to The Stems, The Replacements, Gene Clark, The Flamin' Groovies, The Real Kids and Radio Birdman are included, and if you missed out on them, it's like getting 2-3 brand new MC albums. I don't do a year-end reissue list, but if I did this would definitely top it.

Not Lame | MySpace

CD of the Day, 3/25/07: Simon Morel-Record #2

Last year, one of the first discs we featured on this blog was Simon Morel's Songs From The City, and the Australian is back with his second disc, Record #2 (the time spent coming up with that album title must have been incalculable). #2 is a bit different than Songs From The City, feauturing a little more harder-edged pop sound than its predecessor courtesy of production from the legendary (in power pop circles) Michael Carpenter.

Carpenter's production is apparent right off the bat with the power pop gem of an opener, "Tomorrow's Maybe", and the rock of "As Time Goes By" (not a remake of the Casablanca standard). Other uptempo standouts include "Don't Give Your Love Away" and "Sadness In a Small Town", possibly the catchiest track on the disc and featuring great harmonies on the chorus. Fans of Morel's softer side won't be disappointed either; "No Coming 'Round", "Saving Grace" (co-written with Carpenter), and the closing "Place For Us" are all high-quality ballads.

Stream a few tracks at his official site, or at his myspace. And of course you can check it out and buy here: