Friday Roundup,

Sheboygan-Triple Fantasy. Austin, Texas's Sheboygan (no, they're not from Sheboygan, Wisconsin) return with their first record since 2008's It's OK Say Yes, their third (hence the album title). In large part they pick up where they left off, serving up another delicious disc of power pop. Opener "Needle Hits the Groove" is classic power pop in the style of The Rubinoos and The Singles, while the midtempo "Come Back Around" recalls Badfinger with a touch of Jellyfish. With 14 tracks in all, they mix and match quite a few pop styles - the raved-up "1000 Eyes", the jangle-pop of "Minutes Last Forever", and the Brian Wilson-esque piano ballad "Morning Sea Waves" are just a few of the varieties in play here. These guys know their way around a tune, and there's something to like her for everyone.

CD Baby | iTunes

Timmy Sean-East Coast Girls EP. Ex-Luzer frontman Timmy Sean made quite an impression in 2010 with Music From & Inspired by Noisewater, which placed at #5 on my best-of list that year. East Coast Girls is his first proper release since then, and it's five blazing tracks of put-the-top-down (or at least roll the windows down) sunny, high-energy pop that might be what Fountains of Wayne would sound like if they hailed from California instead of New Jersey and were a bit less smart-alecky. The title track and "She's Mine" are certainly in FoW form, which their infectious melodies, crunchy guitars and insistent synths. "This Time Around" and "You're Still on My Mind" are highly melodic and rocking as well, and closer "Back to the Middle" deviates from the formula ever so slightly, which throws a lively sax and some "shoo-be-doo-wah" backing vocals into the mix, making it perhaps the most fun track on the EP. While maybe not quite as inventive or flat-out awesome as Noisewater , any new music from Timmy Sean is a good thing and nobody will regret adding this EP to their ocllection.

CD Baby | iTunes

CD of the Day, 2/4/08: Sheboygan-It's OK Say Yes

First things first. Sheboygan is not from Sheboygan, Wisconsin. (Or as the English would say, Sheboygan are not from Sheboygan, Wisconsin. Why is it that the English treat singular nouns that refer to a collective entity, such as a sports team or musical group, as plural when it comes to subject/verb agreement? I'll never know). They're actually from Austin, Texas, but what Sheboygan lacks in geographic accuracy they more than make up for with great power pop, as their full-length debut It's OK Say Yes realizes the promise of their 2004 self-titled debut EP, itself an overlooked gem.

One thing Sheboygan has going for them on this disc is that they feature two equally talented songwriters, always a good thing in a band (cf. Sloan, Fastball, XTC and some guys called The Beatles). Here it's Chris Gebhard and Cory Glaeser. Glaeser, who wrote all the songs on the debut EP, is the more traditional power-popper of the two: alternating crunchy-guitar based numbers a la Matthew Sweet such as "The Stars and the Moon" and "Got No Game" with piano and keyboard-based tracks like "Everybody Knows" and the absolutely fab "Birth of Venus". Gebhard, meanwhile, has a more languid pop sound: "Star Child", "Dream" and "I Got So Sleepy" are Cloud Eleven crossed with Jellyfish, while "Time Machine" has a jangly, Teenage Fanclub sound. The combination of the two (who generally alternate tracks on the disc) makes for an outstanding album and an early best of 2008 contender. If they keep making discs like this, they can call themselves Yeehaw Junction for all I care.

CD Baby | MySpace

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.