CD of the Day, 3/13/07: Mandrew-The Wonderful World of Mandrew

Last month I told you about Mandrew, and his great debut album on eMusic. Well, here's his new one, and it's another quality outing which falls somewhere between "power pop" and "indie pop". Whether it's the rocking "Burning" (which sounds like Paul McCartney fronting Collective Soul), the Jon Brion-ish "Expanding The Collection", the Beatles-by-way-of-Matthew-Sweet "I Can't Write", the Posiesesque "Obsceneries" or the AC Newman-influenced "Note to Self", the world of Mandrew is wonderful indeed, and this one needs to go to the top of your current power pop wish list. I know I'm going to have to make room in my top 10 for it.

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Hidden gems on eMusic.

Three discs have recently come to my attention on eMusic, all of which will be worth your while. The first is courtesy of an anonymous commenter to the recent Daniel Wylie post, who alerted me to the new disc from Michael Slawter, frontman of The Saving Graces.

It's called An Assassination Of Someone You Knew, and if you liked any of The Saving Graces' previous releases, you'll love this one. But perhaps you're not familiar with the Graces, so here's an additional pedigree: the disc is co-produced by Jamie Hoover. This disc touches all the power pop bases, from jangling guitars, to great harmonies to catchy melodies. You can get the 30-second sample blitz at the eMusic link, and listen to four full streams at The Saving Graces' myspace page. I'm pretty sure this one will show up soon at Not Lame and Kool Kat, so those in need of the actual disc should be in good shape.

Meanwhile, I've come across a couple of overlooked "oldies" that really deserve mention. First is the self-titled 2004 debut from St. Paul's Mandrew (short for Mike Andrew). If I could sum up Mandrew's sound in one word, it'd be "Lennonesque". Also I hear a lot of Jon Brion, Michael Penn and Plasticsoul as well. My favorite tracks here are the Beatle-y "Pick Up Your Floor" "Angry Mob" and "Rain or Shine Rain". Aside from the eMusic link, you can sample and buy the disc at the Baby, and listen to the whole thing via WeedShare (Warning: 44MB download link). And better yet, Mandrew has a brand new album about to be released, The Wonderful World of Mandrew. Catch four tracks from the new one at his myspace page.

Finally, here's an excellent overlooked 2003 disc from the Aussie band Halfday, titled Now We're Happy. They're fairly comparable to countrymen like The Wellingtons, Ice Cream Hands and Murphy's Lore and have a real jaunty, breezy sound. Highlights include "Turn Me On", "You Make Me Want to Clean My Room", "My Life in a Jar" and "In The Meantime". Myspace 'em here. Not sure where to pick up the actual disc, but they're also available on iTunes and via Snocap from the myspace page. However you get it, just make sure you get it.