Late March Roundup.

Broken Promise Keeper-Broken Promise Keeper. Georgia's Rob Stuart is back for the first time in six years as Broken Promise Keeper, and BPK doesn't break the promise of prime power pop this time around with Stuart's best effort to date. The sound here is similar to fellow southern power poppers The dBs and Scott's Garage, with the standout tracks being the effervescent "She's So Cool", the Merseyside-influenced "Sasquatch Love" and the jangly "Get My Message". Don't miss out on the bouncy "Play Ball" either.

iTunes



Latvian Radio-Until Tomorrow Gets in the Way. One of my favorites, this New York Band which I've compared in the past to Brendan-Benson-meets-The-Shins is back with another collection of bubbly pop tunes. The indefatigable "Power Lines and Bedroom Blinds" is an instant favorite, while "From the Top of a Building" and "Weight of the World" are shining exemplars of their signature frenetic pop sound. They even use the Bo Diddley beat on "Letter to the National Enquirer", and close out the album with the lovely, reflective title tune. Don't let tomorrow get in the way of adding this one to your collection, get it today.

iTunes



Dropkick-Balance the Light. Speaking of bands that release consistently excellent albums, perhaps none are more consistent than the Scottish roots-poppers Dropkick, who with Balance the Light release their 12th or 13th (I've lost count and am just guessing) full-length album. This one's another fine addition to their canon and if you've liked their Teenage Fanclub-style pop in the past, you'll love this one. Tracks to go on your Dropkick best-of: the breezy "Slow Down", the pensive opener "Save Myself", and the brilliant "Out of Love Again", which perfectly distills their sound.

iTunes

Mid-March Roundup

VA-If it Feels Good Do It-A Sloan Tribute. Keith Klingensmith & co at Futureman Records have put together one of the best power pop tribute albums I've heard, and given how long Sloan's been out there I'm kind of surprised it took until 2016 to get one. What makes Sloan such a great band for this kind of compilation is that they're the rare band that has four legitimate singer-songwriters. Specifically, you have the 70s AM radio pop of Jay Ferguson, the traditional Shoes-style power pop of Chris Murphy, Patrick Pentland's classic/hard rock-influenced tunes, and the Pink Floyd-esque art-pop of Andrew Scott. So that gives the contributors some extremely fertile ground to draw from, and the results here are pretty great. I'm personally partial to Ferguson's tunes, and here Stereo Tiger and Klingensmith open and close the comp with fine covers of "C'mon, C'mon (Let's Get it Started)" and "I Wanna Thank You" respectively (both from Sloan's career-great Navy Blues album). Another Ferguson track that finds the perfect match of artist and material is The Well Wishers' version of "The Lines You Amend", which sounds like one of Jeff Shelton's creations to begin with. Nick Piunti rescues "Right or Wrong" off Sloan's somewhat forgettable Action Pact and also makes it his own, while other standouts include The Anderson Council's take on Pentland's great rocker "Iggy & Angus" and Andy Reed's fine reading of Murphy's "I Love a Long Goodbye" from the underrated Pretty Together. The only misstep here is an odd version of Ferguson's "Don't You Believe a Word" which Hidden Pictures chose to cover with processed, synthesized vocals (I'm hoping there's a version of that track where they sang it straight as they looked a good match on paper for the tune). The only omission that disappointed me here is that nobody covered Murphy's brilliant and complex "Fading into Obscurity" from the song-medley album Never Hear the End of It. I make rare exceptions for compilations on my year-end lists (like 2013's #1 Drink a Toast to Innocence), but I just might be doing so again in 2016.

Bandcamp



Cheap Star-Songs for the Farrelly Brothers. The French band with my favorite power pop legend-based hybrid name is back with their first full-length since 2009's Speaking Like an Elephant, and it's an excellent return. They're kind of an auxiliary Posies, as they've toured with them and Jon Auer and Ken Stringfellow play on all their records (including this one) and have produced them as well. So yes, there's an obvious Posies influence here, as well as bands like Nada Surf and Teenage Fanclub. Just about all the tracks here as equally as good, with the moody, driving "Memories", the very Posies-like "Separated from You" and the rocking "What's the Point" more equal than others. (NOTE: I was too lazy to reach out to them to see if these were tracks actually written for a Farrelly Brothers movie, but if not it's a helluva random title).

iTunes



Propeller-Fall Off the World. First of all, let's talk about that cover. It's an homage to the classic K-Tel album covers from the mid-70s, specifically Music Express, which I once owned and you can see here, so they grabbed my attention there. And the San Francisco band has backed it up with ten seriously power-poppin' tunes, any of which would have proudly found their way onto one of those K-Tel albums. Their sound is kind of a more rocking Teenage Fanclub or a poppier Replacements, and tracks like "Can You Hear Us Now" and "Mismatched Shoes" will have your head bobbing and toes tapping right along, while "Wish I Had Your Picture" channels The Raspberries to great effect. No gooey ballads here, just one kick-ass track after another that can serve as the soundtrack to summer 2016. And it's "name your price" at Bandcamp.

Bandcamp

Mid-February Roundup.

Today's a bit different as we feature one brand new album, one from last year, and a gem from six years ago that I just recently discovered.

Scott Warren-Good Love. Between his stellar work with Signal Hill Transmission and his solo output to date, Scott Warren has gone down in my book as an underrated pop genius. Good Love is his first album since 2012's brilliant Dyed in the Wool (my #3 album that year) and a bit of a throwback to his Signal Hill Transmission days in that's more of a straight-ahead rock album. "Good Love" and "Cold Feet" offer a melodic 1-2 punch that puts the "power" in "power pop", "Why Won't You Come Around?" finds Warren more reflective, and "I Love You, I Love You" has a rollicking, vaguely honky-tonk feel to it. Elsewhere, the lovely country-tinged ballad "Fall in Line", and the gentle McCartney-esque "Life" are standouts, and Warren closes with a nice cover of Lindsey Buckingham's "Trouble". While there's nothing here as mind-blowing as "A Sinking Feeling" and "Tongue-Tied" from his last album, Good Love is a great collection of pop/rock tunes and an early best-of-2016 contender.

Bandcamp



Eugene Benjamin-Life. Eugene Benjamin's Photograph was of 2014's nice surprises for me, and late last year he followed that up with Life, another fine collection of roots-influenced rock in the style of Tom Petty, George Harrison and John Hiatt. Tracks like "His Town", "She Got Soul" and "Reunion" go down smooth and easy as well as the louder rockers like "Baby Grace". You can slot this in somewhere around the middle of my 2015 year-end list had I heard it in time.

iTunes



Ray Pearen-Everything is Spinning. I don't normally seek out albums from six years ago, but I stumbled across this album after a track from 2007's The Holy Fields EP came up on shuffle and got me to wondering if they'd released anything since. Typically, bands I don't hear from in many years have broken up, so I'll Google the frontman and see if he's released anything under his own name or with a new band. This led me to finding out The Holy Fields' Mike Gennaro played on this 2010 release from Ray Pearen, a Canadian musician who happens to based out of my home area in Tampa. So I gave it a listen and it's one of the best power pop-meets-Americana albums I've heard in recent years and easily would have made my top 10 of that year. The opening track "Drive" has fast become my new favorite song, one of the best songs Tom Petty never wrote, while the title track rocks in the same vein and "Waiting" has a kind of timeless pop pedigree in which I hear traces of Buddy Holly and The Beatles. "Run Away With Me" is another dazzling rocker, and while the album closes with three ballads, they're all of top quality. It's a shame this got overlooked in 2010.

iTunes

Early February Roundup.

Joey Sykes-Classic New Rock. Those of us in the power pop community have known Joey Sykes over the years for his former band New English and his fine 2010 solo album Human, Being Human (which placed #27 on my year-end list then). Lately, though, he's been getting more exposure as the new guitarist for 70s/80s hitmakers The Babys, and with new fans on board he's released another solo album. The title both sums up Sykes' sound and his career and this is top shelf power pop that recalls the likes of Badfinger and Wanderlust (as well as solo Rob Bonfiglio). Not a bad track here, but "That's American Life", the piano-backed "When Life Goes Right" and the midtempo "Finish Line" are the standouts. One of 2016's best out of the gate.

Kool Kat



Johnny Stanec-Farewell, Sadness. Johnny Stanec is no stranger to this site, staying prolific over the last 6-7 years with numerous releases from his band First in Space, which broke up in 2014, and as a solo artist. His latest is another fine collection of Heartland pop/rock, somewhere in the sweet spot between Ryan Adams and The Gin Blossoms. So at one end you get singer-songwriter-styled tracks like the opener "Tired of Today" and the other there are quality rockers like "The Sky is Falling" and "Find Your Place". And "In Conclusion" is a perfect album closer, a wonderful track about finding humility in life.

iTunes



The Four Chords-The Four Chords. I haven't been able to find out a whole lot about this band after finding them on Bandcamp, so I'll just let their music speak for themselves: Straight-ahead classic power pop that's implied by their one-chord-too-many name. Or as they put it, "The Four Chords have a keen pop sense and combine multi-part vocal harmonies with a large dose of over the top rock n' roll--power chords, big guitar solos and guilty pleasure arena rock." Just stream it below, and if you like you can name your price at Bandcamp.

Bandcamp

Cleanup time.

Time to get in the 2016 swing with a quick look at some late 2015 releases I didn't get to in time and a few from the new year.

The Modulators-Try Try Try. Kool Kat released this one late in 2015, and it did manage to squeeze onto my year-end list. These guys have been around since 1980, and this is their second album after re-forming in 2009. Their sound is classic 70s/80s power pop with a bit of the "skinny tie" element. Standout tracks here include "Upper Hand" (with its recurring riff that reminds me of "Picture Book"), the jangly "What's on Your Mind", and "Lucky Stars", which would have been a hit in 1971. Get it a Kool Kat with a bonus EP.

Kool Kat



Hector & The Leaves-Little Bee EP. London's Tom Hector and his Leaves have given us 2016's first standout EP with four tracks of sunshine-y pop that I'd describe as Brian Wilson meets Badly Drawn Boy. Matt Williams (known to readers of this site as The Brigadier) helps out, and the best part is that EP is free to download on Bandcamp.

Bandcamp



The Matt Truman Ego Trip-AM 1670 EP. And the second standout EP of 2016 comes from Ohio's Matt Truman. He says the EP is inspired by 1970's AM Radio, and that will be obvious once you take a listen. "Starry Eyes" and "Hard to Get" just the right mix of rock and melody a la Badfinger/The Raspberries, while "First Kiss" is just the right kind of mellow. And I swear I once had a receiver that looks just like the one on the cover.

Bandcamp



One Like Son-Ugly. And finally we have the incredibly prolific One Like Son, who put out two albums in 2015 (New American Gothic and Classic) or four, if you count this one and Leftovers (an odds-and-ends collection) which were released to Bandcamp on December 31. This one's going on my 2016 ledger, and it's a bit of a departure for the boys who normally go the high-energy route with their sound. In fact you could say the title's ironic as this might be the prettiest collection of tunes they've released, from the father-and-son-themed opener "Crimes and Misdemeanors", to the nearly folky "Stella" to the power balladry of "Midwest Summer Nights". When most artists go years between releases, these guys keep cranking them out and so far the quality has kept pace with the quantity. Guess I'll be writing about them again in six months.

iTunes

The Absolute Powerpop Top 15 EPs of 2015.

1. Jeff Litman-Primetime
2. Jay Gonzalez-The Bitter Suite
3. Zugzwang Neutral-The Faded Promise of a Rise and Rally
4. Evil Arrows-EP 5
5. Andy Reed-Relay Vol. 1
6. Labradors-Hate Summer
7. Torbjorn Petterson-EP1-Summerbound (name-your-price download at this link)
8. The Weightlifers-St. Paul
9. Nick Capaldi-Lovers Leap
10. Steve Eggers-Illumination
11. The Key Frames-Monophone Heart
12. LaFleur Fatale-When Darkness Fall
13. True Stories-Pop
14. Wesley Who-17 Minutes in Heaven
15. The Hope Trust-Silver & Lead

The Absolute Powerpop Top 100 of 2015, #1-50

So here it is, the top 50 of 2015. 51-100 can be found here, and the year's top EPs are coming tomorrow. One special mention that I didn't include in the list was Jon Latham's Real Bad News. It's an Americana/alt-country album that probably didn't fit in on a power pop list (although it's a fine line involved in leaving it off, given some other selections). Had I included it, it would have been in the middle of the top 10. Some other random thoughts: If this really is Michael Carpenter's last album, he's going out on top; if someone told me at the beginning of the year that Bryan Adams would make my top 10 I would have laughed, but I enjoyed his new Jeff Lynne-produced album more than the one from the man himself; Mitch Gettman is an artist I haven't written about, but I've really enjoyed his last few albums, so I'll advise you to check him out; and it didn't get much buzz, but warhorse singer-songwriter Freedy Johnston came back with his best album since his early-mid 90s heyday. Finally, you probably already have, but if you haven't check out Powerpopaholic's top 25 of the year as well. Our top two are the same (albeit in different order), along with 3 others that both make our top 10. And then we each have some the other doesn't list at all, proving that there's a ton of great music out there from 2015. Here's hoping 2016 lives up to its predecessor.

1. Michael Carpenter-The Big Radio
2. Reno Bo-Lessons from a Shooting Star
3. Mooner-Masterpiece
4. Wade Jackson-Whiskey Alpha Delta Echo
5. Elvyn-Valley of the Kilowatt Hour
6. Nick Piunti-Beyond the Static
7. Sam Vicari-Giving Up
8. Bryan Adams-Get Up
9. Martin Courtney-Many Moons
10. Coke Belda-Nummer Zwei
11. Tobias Jesso Jr-Goon
12. Pop4-Summer
13. Steve Robinson & Ed Woltil-Cycles
14. Three Hour Tour-Action and Heroes
15. Tad Overbaugh-Beauty & Barbed Wire
16. Marco Rea-Wallpaper Music
17. The Nines-Night Surfer & The Cassette Kids
18. Mitch Gettman-Dichotomy
19. Michael Collins-Last Laugh
20. Freedy Johnston-Neon Repairman
21. Jeff Lynne's ELO-Alone in the Universe
22. Minky Starshine-Pop Jewelry
23. Greg Pope-Fanboy
24. The Orange Humble Band-Depressing Beauty
25. The Ravines-Everything's Fine
26. Stereo Tiger-Two Weeks
27. The Junior League-Also Rans
28. Sports Fan-Minor Hits in Major Keys
29. Ryan Allen & His Extra Arms-Heart String Soul
30. Yorktown Lads-Songs About Girls and Other Disasters
31. Tommy Keene-Laugh in the Dark
32. Cloud Eleven-Record Collection
33. Zombies of the Stratosphere-In Technicolor
34. Kontiki Suite-The Greatest Show on Earth
35. The Roseline-Townie
36. Mark Pountney-Mark Two
37. The Small Square-S/T
38. Taylor Locke-Time Stands Still
39. Hidden Pictures-Ottomans
40. People on Vacation-The Chronicles of Tim Powers
41. Ocean Carolina-Maudlin Days
42. Brandon Schott-Crayons & Angels
43. Scot Sax & Suzie Brown-Our Album Doesn't Like You Either
44. Kevin Martin-Future Friends
45. Wilder Embry-Smolderoldingpictureaid
46. Kyle Vincent-Detour
47. Dan Israel-Dan
48. Billy Shaddox-I Melt, I Howl
49. Tom Rich-American Fantasy
50. Ryan Hamilton-Hell of a Day