CD of the Day, 11/16/09: Parallax Project-I Hate Girls

Mike Giblin might not be a household name in the power pop community, but his bands certainly should. After being in the great Cherry Twister with Steve Ward and Ross Sackler, Giblin started Parallax Project in the early decade, putting together whoever he happened to be playing with at the time to release albums like Oblivious and Perpetual Limbo, discs power poppers everywhere should have in their collections. (Incidentally, the band is named after this Allegany University astronomy project, from Giblin's home state of Pennsylvania,) Now he's back with album #3 on the Kool Kat imprint, and he enlisted the legendary Don Dixon to produce and The Plimsouls' Eddie Munoz on guitar. The result is a pop gem that's catchy and soulful at the same time.

Opener "All the Same" sets the bar high, an uptempo treat that channels Squeeze and the Kinks, and built around a "Day Tripper"-style guitar riff. The tongue-in-cheek title track is in the same vein, as Munoz' guitar work on these tracks is a step above the usual power pop fare. Meanwhile, "Half" is a fun tribute of sorts to early Elvis Costello - Dixon provides Steve Nieve-like work on the organ a la "Radio Radio" here. Giblin's effective here when the beats slow down as well - "Watching the World Revolve Around Her" is one of the year's better ballads, and "The Day After Tomorrow" is an earnest yet melodic number. True to the spirit of the proceedings, the disc closes with a cover of the The Velvelettes' "Needle in a Haystack", a Motown chestnut that doesn't sound a bit out of place. And if you like that cover, let it be known that Kool Kat is offering up a bonus disc of covers if you order directly from them, featuring tracks like ELO's "Telephone Line", The Kinks' "Well Respected Man", and possibly my favorite Faces song "Cindy Incidentally".

Kool Kat (w/bonus disc) | CD Baby | MySpace | iTunes

Today would be a good day...

..to get an eMusic subscription. They added a massive number of CD Baby titles today that include many great discs that have been featured on this site in the past several months. (By the way, eMu is cutting the # of monthly downloads on each of its price plans in one week, but there's still time to lock in yearly subscriptions at the original plan rates, which can come to about 18 cents a track. The list in this post alone can keep you going for several months on the 40-download plan!)

First off, though, they added the new Saul Zonana disc, Love Over Money. As Bruce at Not Lame puts it, "Filled w/ the splendorous guitar, high energy hooks and expressive vocals found, the music falls into the schooling of such artists like Matthew Sweet, Rick Altizer, Michael Penn, Candy Butchers, Doug Powell , the Dotted Line and Greenberry Woods. It`s the type of power pop that would be right at home on most FM rock-oriented radio stations if radio played decent music."

And here are the rest:

Dave Stoops-Spill Your Drink. Bruce again: "Man, this album is so friggin` cool! Dave Stoops merges the a most interesting web of connection of cool, varied pop stylings with a most distinctive vocal style that evokes primo cool. Stoops sounds a lot like Karl Wallinger of World Party(and like Chris Bailey from The Saints), a very good thing and, in fact, much of the material sounds like the long, lost World Party album that fans have been waiting for the last 15 years or so."

Gary Henson-The Coast Is Clear. One of the very first discs we spotlighted on the site, and you can read all about it here. #27 on our current top 33 1/3 of 2006.

Kit Ashton-Blindsided EP. My favorite EP of 2006 to date. Here's my full take.

Mike Schmid-The High Cost of Living (A Love Story). Featured this one back in May as part of a singer-songwriter series.

Parallax Project-Perpetual Limbo. I don't think I mentioned this one on the site, but many power poppers will remember this one that came out almost a year ago to the date. Just missed my best of 2005 lists, and here's Bruce yet again: "But you`ll hear echoes, vague, happy reminders of not only Cherry Twister(naturally) but The Nines, Redd Kross, Splitsville, Raspberries, Shoes and early 70`s AM Radio summer hits(think Gallery, First Class and Gilbert O` Sullivan, for those in the know)."

Patrik Tanner-Soft. I briefly blurbed this one earlier, and to save a link, here's what I wrote: "This is a 2004 release I picked up early last year, and it's a good one. With an album titled "Soft", you're kind of know what you're getting. And Tanner delivers the goods - this is quality singer/songwriter pop. My favorite track is the Beatlesque "Hello Tomorrow", complete with chimes at the end."

Rick Altizer-Blue Plate Special. If you don't know Rick Altizer, start Googling and find out. I think we featured his Dum Dog Run project, but his solo stuff is compelling as well. This one from a few years back is a good a place to start as any.

Sheboygan-S/T EP. Great 4-song EP, check 'em out at their myspace page.

Stingray Green-Hard Numbers. Stingrays may be getting a bad rap these days, but these veteran Minneapolis power popppers put out a fine album that I overlooked earlier this year.

The Everyday Things-Lighten Up, Francis. From it's adoption of a classic line from Stripes to the fact it was produced by Jamie Hoover and released on Not Lame's own label, you can't beat this batch of punchy power pop in the vein of The Figgs, The Romantics and The Plimsouls.

The High Score-We Showed Up to Leave. As Splendidzine put it, "They`ve got Superdrag`s keen sense of melody, Sugar`s propensity for lacing pop songs with blistering riffs and a GBV-ish sort of ragtag charm".

The Humbugs-Twist The Truth. Bruce sez: "The Humbugs sound a lot like Tommy Keene playing with REM, Swan Dive and the poppy side of The Kennedys, a unique sound. There`s hints of Prefab Sprout, Crowded House, Aimee Mann, more modern day Pretenders and Trashcan Sinatras, as well."

The Slides-The View From Here. I really like this album a lot, and it's testimony to all the good music coming out this year that it's not on my top 33 1/3 list (but look for it on my special superduper year-end top 100 come the holidays).

Third Floor Story-Lonely City. I like this one even more, and it's #26 on the latest top 33 1/3. Great, great disc.

Wiretree-S/T EP. This was one of the great EPs of 2005, and a must-have. I elaborate about it here. Still waiting eagerly for the full-length.

So for any of you who have eMusic out there, bookmark this post in case you still have some leftover downloads at the end of the month, and for those who don't, it's still your most cost-effective way to legally get all this great power pop.