The Junior League & Nick Eng.

The Junior League-Eventually is Now. Joe Adragna is back as The Junior League for the first time since 2015's Also Rans, and he delivers another fine collection of jangly roots-pop. As on his past two albums, Adragna is assisted by Minus 5 frontman and R.E.M. sideman Scott McCaughey, who thankfully is recovering from a stroke suffered last fall. And in case you wondered where Adragna is coming from here, the album opens with the six-string bliss of "Teenage Bigstar" which of course sounds like the two bands referenced in the title and speaks to the power of music over the course of one's life. The languid "Say Please and Thank You" recalls latter-day Marshall Crenshaw and "The Wrong Kind of Blue" is positively gorgeous with its strings-and-piano backing and if Roy Orbison were alive today I'd love to hear him cover it. Meanwhile, McCaughey takes the mic on the piano ballad "You Didn't Miss a Thing", and although the general tone of the album is more subdued than previous Junior League releases, the uptempo "I Only Want to Begin Again" hearkens back to Adragna's classic sound. Another gem from the man from the Big Easy. UPDATE: For those of you who need physical media, Kool Kat will have the CD for sale come April.

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Nick Eng-Nick Eng. On his self-titled debut, Nick Eng sounds more like he's from Reading, England than his hometown of Reno, Nevada with this decidedly retro-sounding collection of 60s-influenced pop. "Reminiscing" starts things off in grand fashion, sounding like a track from an artist who was recording at Abbey Road in 1965 for George Martin when The Beatles were otherwise occupied. Speaking of the moptops, "On Cloud 9" has a real element of the early Fab Four in its DNA, while "Someday Someone" is irrepressibly jaunty (and catchy). And no 1960s-Merseyside-sounding pop album is complete without a story song about some older gent of the neighborhood and "Mr. Greene" fills the bill here. There's not a bad track among the ten on the album, and this is an early front-runner for the year-end list. The 21-year-old Eng may have been born 50+ years too late, but it's nevertheless encouraging to see someone under the age of 40 carry the torch for the sounds of the 60s.

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Mid-September Roundup.

The Junior League-Also Rans. Joe Adragna is back as The Junior League with his latest opus, but the title is false advertising (or false modesty) as these tracks are anything but "also-rans". Like last time out (2013's You Should Be Happy), Scott McCaughey helps out, and this time Sloan's Jay Ferguson contributes keyboards and vocals on "On Off", one of the album's top tracks. Other standouts include "A Dagger and a Kiss" with its insistent guitar hook, and the bright power pop of "Before You Go". You can pre-order the CD from Kool Kat as well.

Kool Kat | iTunes



Static in Verona-Odd Anthem. Another returnee to this pages is Rob Merz's Static in Verona. With each passing release, Merz has gone with a more ethereal, dream-pop sound, and Odd Anthem continues the progression. Still, opener "Anyone Anymore" could pass for traditional power pop while tracks like "Future Ghosts" and "Blink" marry Merz' experimentalism and traditional pop structures. The highlight here is "Then a Hush", which melds psychedelia and shoegaze pop into an intoxicating mix.

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John Dunbar-From Expectation to Surrender. Despite being a New Yorker, John Dunbar always registers in my mind as a Brit, no doubt thanks to his British-sounding pop which recalls Ray Davies, Glenn Tilbrook and the like (in fact, Dunbar even released a Rutles-like parody of The Kinks as "The Kunks" back in 2007). His latest (and to my surprise, the first I've featured on this site) is another example of his sardonic, wry look at life and its many characters, and titles like "Two is the Second Loneliest Number", "I Love the Girl You Won't Leave Your Life For" and "The Charlie Brown of Love" should give you an idea of Dunbar's perspective. Of course being wry and clever is all well and good, but the tunes need to keep up with the wordplay and here they do. So make sure to check out Mr. Dunbar if you haven't already.

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Friday Roundup.

The Junior League-You Should Be Happy. Joe Adragna has had a bit of a musical identity crisis. After releasing two top-notch discs as The Junior League in the latter half of the last decade, Adragna re-released the Junior League material under his own name and then gave us 2010's fine Fall Back. He's even called himself Parlophony from time to time. But now he's dusted off The Junior League name for his latest collection of tunes, and the famous Shakespeare quote about roses and names comes to mind as You Should Be Happy continues Adragna's string of excellent releases. As on Fall Back he's assisted by Scott McCaughey, which dovetails perfectly with his Marshall Crenshaw-meets-R.E.M. sound and opener "Keep it Home" with its roots-pop sound and prominent harmonica is its exemplar. The jaunty piano-backed "Hey Misery" is both Brian Wilson-esque and Beatlesque, and the lovely, lightly-jangly "One Step Forward (Another Step Back)" finds Adragna just as home with more introspective numbers. And the legendary Susan Cowsill adds vocals on the raved-up title track and the gorgeous ballad "I Don't Think I'm Kidding (This Time)". So many of the artists I feature on this site are deserving of a much wider audience, but Adragna's songcraft and musicianship really ought to have him prominent in the adult-alternative/Austin City Limits circle of music today. I'll take him over Mumford or any of Mumford's sons.

CD Baby | iTunes



Bobby Emmett-Brighter Days (Mono Edition). Bobby Emmett came out of nowhere, wowing us with 2009's Learning Love, making my top 10 that year. Instead of making that Brendan Benson-meets-Big Star type of album again, Emmett has gone full retro on this one, releasing it in mono and making it sound like it came out in 1966. (The album is billed as the "mono edition", but I don't know if a stereo edition is in the cards or not). Brighter Days is full of mid 60-style reverb, British Invasion guitars and the like, and it's a groovy treat. "Poison Love" kicks things off with a bang - there's even a break where Emmett screams "Yeaaahhh!" - and immediately segues into "Stay All Night", which sounds like a lost early-Beatles track. Elsewhere, the Kinks-ian "Never Take Me Alive" is another standout, as is the Strawberry Alarm Clock-like title track. Brighter Days does such a good job of capturing the essence of 1960s rock that I almost hope there isn't a stereo edition.

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CD of the Day, 11/29/10: Joe Adragna-Fall Back

If the name Joe Adragna doesn't leap right out at you, it's because he's been recording for the past few years as The Junior League, with two fine discs under his belt. Now he's decided to claim his own name, and earlier this year he released a best-of the two Junior League discs titled Parlophony. For his first Joe Adragna album proper he's taken a slightly more introspective approach from the Marshall Crenshaw-styled power pop of the League, enlisting the help of Peter Buck and Scott McCaughey, who need no introduction.

The Buck/McCaughey influence is most notably heard on the janglicious "You're Gonna Die Alone", the disc's best track. Combining Rickenbackers and the vitriol of an Elvis Costello with a catchy melody (and featuring harmony vocals from Susan Cowsill), it's almost worth the price of admission alone. Along those lines, "Leave Me Resigned" also has that early-REM/Young Fresh Fellows feel, and the shuffling "Ladders" recalls Bobby Sutliff. It's not all fun and jangle, though. The moody opener "In a Place (Looking Around)" recalls Salim Nourallah with a slight touch of electronica, the laid-back, beautiful "Like Nothing Else" feels like comfortable clothes put on after a hard workday, and "Far Away" is an outright country weeper, complete with pedal steel.

Adragna comes in for the finish with "Swezey's", a return of the jangle, the feedback-drenched "Depot Park", and the bright and breezy "Help, It's Strange", which is right in his sweet spot. The title track closes things out on a perfect note, a combination of regret, hope and those jangly guitars as it fades to a "bah-dop-bah" refrain. Adragna has really taken a leap forward here, and I can see why he chose to release this under his own name.

CD Baby | Bandcamp | iTunes