If you like your power pop with an edge, then check out Dany Laj and The Looks. Hailing from Totonto, Canada, Dany Laj and The Looks deliver a rather tasty slice of power pop here and I am not sure if it is Dany's looks (I watched the Chamberlain Sessions video before listening to the tracks on bandcamp) but I immediately thought of Elvis Costello when I saw him and listening to the mans music, I wouldn't be surprised if there is a fair amount of Mister Costellos music in his collection.
The tracks here remind me of a mix of early Elvis Costello and The Replacements and let's face it, they are two excellent reference points, but this isn't saying that this is all you get, it isn't, these tracks are pleasently raw, energetic, bouncy and seem to have a little punk ethos about them, I like that. In fact there is nothing here not to like, but, as always, take a listen to the tunes and judge for yourself, me, I am going to spend the rest of today playing this EP and the band previous EP "The Match." Enjoy.
Dany Laj Jeanette Dowling Vassil Mester
Dany Laj flies the flag for Power Pop in Canada. Bursting out of woods with the hooks and harmonies of Power Pop's mid 1970's heyday. This ain't no skinny jeans new wave revival band. This is pure pop.
Never before has the term, "Throw 'em to the sharks" sounded so appealing and now the quartet from Brixton have added another absolutely rip roaring EP to their excellent catologue, you will probably throw yourself to The Sharks......and why not!
The first two tracks "South of the River" and "Girls, Girls, Girls" thunder along at a hundred miles hour, turned up to eleven, the EP starts to slow down on the 3rd track, "She's gonna make me go blind" which is less punky but still edgy enough to let you know they mean business and the more poppy approach of the band continues onto the fourth and final track "Tokyo."
I absolutely adore this band, their energy, the prolific output of quality Punky Pop and the fact that they play gigs in their home, as well as other venues, these gigs are set to continue every month, even after a visit from the local constabulary and a noise abatement notice (someone wasn't listening properly!) these gigs are set to continue and be a positively raucous, but fun affair. If you want to get into one of these gigs, the best way to keep up to date with proceedings is to "LIKE" the bands facebook page.
Once again the band have a seperate striking image for each and every track on the EP as they have done on the 7 previous EP's.
Stream and buy the latest EP for a name your price fee (remember a small donation helps these bands to continue making music) here: Bandcamp
Contact, befriend, follow, like and love The Sharks here: Facebook
Bang 74, from Ferrol in Spain, shared the number one singles spot in my year end list last year with their fantatsic rendition on The Now's "Can You Fix Me Up With Her," and, needless to say, I have been waiting for the bands full length debut album with a certain amount of anticipation.
Well, did they deliver? Of course they did! The 11 tracks on the album were everything I expected and more, with a sound of classic power pop, blended with a touch of punk/rock and even a little country tinge in there, for example on opening track, "Cloud Of Rock & Roll."
With 2 EP's and a 7" single behind them and now the debut album, this band certainly look like they are really going places and quite rightly too, this debut album is full of catchy hooks and melodies as well as some rocky guitar riffs to beef it up beautifully, no doubt this album will end up in in many year end lists this year.
One of the bands that have me sitting on the edge of my seat in anticipation of their forthcoming album, an album that promises to blow out the cobwebs and give the music scene a good kick up the arse, for the first time since around 1977 is The Riots album "Time For Truth."
I haven't been so excited about an album release this much since The Jam released "In The City." A pretty long wait I think you will agree and maybe it is the fact that this band remind me a lot of The Jam circa 77, loads of attitude and great songs, mix that with a touch of Clash and you have a recipe sure to please the bored masses and The Riots promise to bring this party to you.
The album is due for release on March the 6th and hopefully I shall be reviewing/featuring it here on the blog. Watch this space!
Tour dates to support the release of the album are as follows:
06.03.2013 D - FRANKFURT - DKK Album Release Party :: versus C-TYPES
07.03.2013 F - BESANCON - Les Passagers du Zinc
08.03.2013 F - PARIS - Cafe de Paris :: versus FRENCH BOUTIK
09.03.2013 F - LYON - La Triperie :: versus CAVEMEN FIVE
10.03.2013 F - DIJON - Deep Inside Klub Rock :: versus THE CHEMIST & THE ACEVITIES
14.03.2013 D - FREIBURG - The Great Räng Teng Teng :: versus DELILAHS
15.03.2013 D - MÜNCHEN - The Atomic Cafe
16.03.2013 D - NÜRNBERG - Kulturbrauerei
17.03.2013 D - LEIPZIG - Conne Island Cafe
18.03.2013 D - HAMBURG - Yeah Yeah Yeah Studios
19.03.2013 D - HAMBURG - Yeah Yeah Yeah Studios
20.03.2013 D - HAMBURG - Hafenklang :: versus THE LAST THINGS
21.03.2013 D - KASSEL - Nordstadt
22.03.2013 D - BERLIN - Bassy Cowboy Club :: versus THE PIKES
23.03.2013 D - KÖLN - Sonic Ballroom :: versus THE MAKE
26.03.2013 D - BIELEFELD - Desperado Concerts
28.03.2013 A - VIENNA - Chelsea :: versus NORB PAYR + BAND
29.03.2013 D - PFARRKIRCHEN - tba
30.03.2013 CH - BASEL - Schiff *Mods vs Rockers*
31.03.2013 TBA - Secret Last show
Contact, befriend, like and love The Riots here: Facebook
The album will be available here Time For Action as are the bands earlier singles which are all well worth checking out, also check out the bands previous incarnation "The White Trainers Community" which is also excellent.
With an affliction of Brian Wilson's Smile and perhaps some ELO, this charming piece of work sets the mood for a sunny day, a day to be spent chilling and listening intently to the lush arrangements and harmonies.
"My music is a mix of a variety of styles, most of which have been defined at some time or another as "pop," with further elements drawn from the orchestral realm. Vocal influences include everything from the Beach Boys to the Mills Brothers and any group in between that made extensive use of close harmony."
SMILE LIKE A LEMON PEEL, KISS LIKE A PAPER CUT has the best record title of the year, bar none FULL STOP... PERIOD...if that wasn't enough, it's a classic US feisty Powerpop bounce-along, a little bit EDDIE & THE HOTRODS, a little bit ELVIS COSTELLO (with Attractions, natch), and a whole lot BESERKLEY... when Jeff gets to headline Madison Square Gardens THIS will be the tune the 19,522 punters scream for throughout the set... THIS will be the tune WINONA RYDER, PHOEBE CATES and MOLLY RINGWALD ressurect JOHN HUGHES for to retrospectively make the best US college flick EVER, solely to have it played over the closing credits... oh, and also features DOUG YULE and Helen and Steph from SHRAG, and as such is the past, the present and the future handily compressed into 2 minutes 56 seconds of MAXIMUM POP JOY... GRIN, SPIN, WIN... oh yes..
wiaiwya-7777777 is a series of seven 7" singles released during 2013, one on each day of the week, and always on the 7th of the month, in the 7 colours of the rainbow, with exclusive tunes from 7 of the most exciting indie, electronic, folk and alternative bands around... oh, they come in editions of 777 too...
the bands and release dates are:
Thursday 7th March (yellow) – Jeff Mellin
Sunday 7th April (orange) – Hong Kong in the 60s
Tuesday 7th May (violet) – Darren Hayman and the Long Parliament
Where possible I try not to draw too many comparisons with other bands when putting my features together on the blog, but I feel I really have to with The Unswept, not because they lack any originality, they really don't, but, the influences here are so much fun when brought together, I can't help myself. Imagine The Jesus and Mary Chain jamming with The Mighty Lemondrops (you remember them right?) and The Monkees swing by and add some 60's stylings to the equasion, what you would have is The Unswept.
I like this a lot, it is good fun and the O'Brien cousins obviously don't take themselves so seriously which is refreshing, see the video for the explanation of this statement.
The O'Brien cousins, Charlie and Ryan, grew up on the same estate in sunny Sheffield, UK and attended university near London. With a couple mates at school they formed The Council Walls, whose one and only independently released single, “Unimpressive,” managed to scrape the bottom rungs of the local indie charts. Following a show on a stifling summer night at the 100 Club that ended in a food fight, the band split. Charlie & Ryan soon found their way to the USA, eventually settling in Chicago, Illinois and forming The Unswept. They now write & record tunes in a small but tiny apartment in the Logan Square neighborhood.
The Unswept have been confirmed for the International Pop Overthrow Festival in Chicago this year, so go along there and catch the guys live, along with all the other great bands that the IPO book.
Check out more tunes from the unswept and download the EP here: Bandcamp
One of the "Ice Cream Mans" favourite mod outfits, rolls out a great new video for the stomper song, "Humans and Stars." Enjoy.
The Portland quintet took over a Portland Eagle's Lodge for the night and set up a Mod revival show complete with scooters and their friends dressed to the nines in retro attire.This is the official video for their second single "Humans and Stars" off of their first full-length album "Diary of an Old Soul." The video was shot mostly on Super 8 and directed by Michael Cogliantry.
"Paradise pulls enthusiastically from the same songbook as the Troggs or Small Faces, adding their own uniquely modern spin to those evergreen tunes with plenty of distortion on their flashy guitar chords and the occasional Farfisa organ mixed into their stripped down rock. The result is loud, brash, energetic and incredibly fun." IFC
This is wonderful! Stephen Lawrensons latest offering, his first on the "Kool Kat" label, really is something special.
From the very first few chords of opening track, "Your Karma," you know you are in for a real treat or 10 as is the case here, this album is beautifully immediate, no slow growers here within, this is one of the rare albums that grabs your interest from the word go and what is more it holds your interest!
Stephen makes quite a pop splash here on his 2013 Kool Kat debut! Playing every note on the record, he proudly wears his pop influences on his sleeve. 'Small White House" would pass for a Brian Wilson-penned song. His inner Jeff Lynne pops up on both 'Pale Yellow' and the 12-string laced 'Words To Say'." It's intelligent, well written, and completely catchy. Power pop, with loads of great hooks, melodies and harmonies. A masterful melange of 60's, 70's, and 80's guitar rock mixed and matched with no concern for the namecheck. That's how good this is. Five stars isn't enough. Six, maybe!" - MR Gomez --Mr. Gomez
"What do you think would happen if you threw The Goldbergs, The Beatles, Three Hour Tour, Teenage Fanclub (in their fuzzy period), Big Star, The Posies (circa 'Frosting On The Beater'), 'Pet Sounds' period Brian Wilson, and the Electric Light Orchestra into a giant pop blender? You'd get Stephen Lawrenson, that's what!" - Max Humphries --Max Humphries
I have to admit, that I didn't know much of Stephen's work until now and I certainly intend to look back at his back catalogue and see what I have missed, if it is anything as good as this album, then I have missed an awful lot!!!!!
Last year I featured Sam Page's EP "Waiting For Another Spring, which we all loved here at "ICM" and I am pleased to share the details of his new 10 track debut album.
The album has been released digitally so far on itunes, Spotify and other good download sites and the cd release will be available on March 29th.
This guitar driven pop/rock will sit very well with fans of Matthew Sweet, Weezer, Cake, Jack White, Dinosaur JR and Blur to name a few.
Sam Page is an independent singer/songwriter who creates guitar-driven pop/rock. In 2010, he began performing at open mics, learned to home-record, and made an EP (The Garage Band Files). Sam then formed a band in 2011 and did twenty gigs in southern California. In April 2012, he released a second EP (Waiting for Another Spring) that earned an encouraging amount of praise. Sam's first full albumBreach was released digitally in January 2013. In a past life, Sam scored a PhD in Philosophy and for five years was a full-time college professor. But then he needed a break from being rational. So he decided to pursue a music career . . .
This album is a real sparkler from start to finish, pleasently upbeat with plenty of guitar riffs and jangly guitars in abundance, if this fails to get you moving, then you must be dead!
Contact, befriend, follow, like, love and download the album at the following links:
Here is a really lovely video for the track "Riga In The Fall" by Gavin Guss, from his album "On High" which landed at number 5 in the Ice Cream Man 2012 year end list. Enjoy!
Last August I raved about "Surf School Dropouts" and they finished second in my year end list, which is no mean feat considering the copious amounts of great music I received last year, and to this day I am still playing the download on a regular basis. However, you can now own this superb, infectious piece of surf pop on vinyl, the ultimate format, since the band were, quite rightly, snapped up by one of my very favourite labels, "Sunny Day Records."
Surf School Dropouts are:
Andreas Jacobsen - vocals & keyboard/guitar/bass/drums, Christian Bendix - vocals & guitar/bass, Jari Nielsen - vocals, Martin Jensen - vocals.
As the name of the band suggests, these are sun soaked harmony, laden songs with catchy melodies that will warm you to the core, place a smile on your face and probably make you want to grab your board and head for the beach and soak up the surf.
Since 2009 Andreas, Christian, Jari and Martin have been on a mission to bring sunny sounds to the
frostbitten, Northern shores of Denmark. Based in Copenhagen, these guys may be far, far away from the
California sun and beach scenes they sing about. But they nevertheless channel their love of Brian Wilson
and infectious harmonies to great effect.
Above all, ‘Summer is a State of Mind’ is a celebration of the classic pop sound with 14 self-penned songs
featuring shared lead vocals by all four Dropouts and lots of catchy melodies.
Here is a rather charming EP that I wanted to share after stumbling across it on Bandcamp, 60's styled beautiful, dreamy pop in the vein of The Beach Boys, had they been blessed with a female voice of course!
I can't really tell you too much about the band, other than that they are a 4 piece from New Jersey, but I can tell you that you should download these three beautiful tracks and take a listen to the bands demos too which are every bit as beautiful!
The Twin Sets are back with their second EP, and once again, showing fine form with the extended play"Romance." I am never sure if a six track should be called an EP or a mini album, but what the hell, we get six tracks, not four and what great tracks they are too!
The last time I featured the band on the blog I was full of praise for their musical abilities, as I still very much am, but I criticised their tracks sung in English as being "quite nonsensical," it was a minor criticism but one the band obviously took to heart as they have certainly nailed the tracks in English on this offering, showing that they are a band that will strive to get it right and get it right, they have!
The Twin Sets are a band that will go far as they work towards getting everything right, from the driving Power Pop sounds to the perfection of the lyrics. Each and every one of the six tracks on "Romance" hit the mark.
So, this time around, do I have any positive criticism to share? Nope, nada, nothing at all, this record is brilliant, the future is looking extremely promising for this four piece from A Coruna in the north west of Spain and they are now sitting very comfortably besides my other favourite bands in the world of Power Pop and I am certainly looking forward to a long player from them in the not to distant future.
The Twin Sets are:
Denís Graña : Vocals, Acoustic Guitar
Borja Fernández: Electric Guitar
Nacho: Bass Pablo Pita "Lito": Drums
Stream and buy The Twin Sets "Romance" EP here: Bandcamp
Contact, befriend, like and love The Twin Sets here: Facebook
Once again, the wonderful Interplanet Janet joins us for an album review, this time for the amazing debut album from Jay Gonzalez. Jay Gonzalez Mess of Happiness
You may or may not know Jay Gonzalez as the keyboard player from the band Drive-by Truckers. I would like to introduce you to his first album flying solo. But first, rewind to a couple months ago. I received the album not really sure what to expect since I hadn’t previously heard anything by the Drive-by Truckers. I was delighted because the songs were like the type my friends and I loved years ago. We would take refuge in them when our usual shoegaze, grunge and alt-rock got to be just too much. We would point out certain observant and amusing lyrics, laughing away our seemingly huge but-you-ain’t-seen-nothing-yet teenage troubles. Fun, clever, retro-pop, that back in the 70s and 80s might have been called “rock” because the songs contain a few guitar solos. I listened to Mess of Happiness carefully, smiled and thought Music used to be so fun. Why is my music collection so serious these days? This question hung over me like Beijing smog.
Let’s examine the album in more detail. I’m not going to list all Jay Gonzalez’s influences, but if you are interested, you can find them posted on jaygonzalez.com— the pop greats Paul McCartney, Todd Rundgren and Joe Jackson feature. This is demonstrated in the quality of the songwriting with an added dose of humour and a dash of not-taking-oneself-too-seriously. Let me assure you though, that the unique and amusing nature of the album (which crosses over into the videos that are well worth a look) does not mean the listener has to sacrifice quality.
These are fine, well-crafted pop songs; well-sung and packed with personality. The random samples of sound that appear throughout, a child’s voice for example, only add to it’s charm. Some of the further influences I picked up on are Glen Campbell, ABBA, Wings and even the early 90s power-pop band, Jellyfish— but I’m not sure what Jay would say about that. It does go to show that this is a very eclectic bunch of songs and that a listen is essential.
It’s not easy to choose a few standout tracks because they all have something noteworthy about them, but I will start with the brilliantly-titled Turning Me On. Once upon a time, we made mixtapes. If after hearing this poptastic gem you do not have the immediate urge to put this on a mixtape for someone then there’s something wrong with you.
Also noteworthy is the punchy, peculiar and bass-heavy Skinny Little Fingers. It’s hard to place this song. Part of me feels it belongs nestled in an episode of Scooby-Do for it’s faux-scary murder mystery narrative. Also, if you are like me and enjoy compiling Halloween-themed mixtapes, this track would be perfect. I should add that Gonzalez gets a bumper pack of extra points from me for the insertion of “Teenage Fanclub” in the lyrics. If there is indeed such a thing as a Teenage Fanclub shiny mac, I want one and I want it now.
This is what I have decided. Mess of Happiness is an album that is needed in your record collection right now because it’s probably so unlike what is in your record collection right now. I admit I’ve been pretty big into deeply serious and tortured singer-songwriters who take you through their seemingly impossible quest for love and acceptance. I honestly have no intention of ditching them but there needs to be a balance. You need to hang out with a funny friend for a while, not just the friend with all the drama permanently attached. Interestingly, like the funny friend, you will find this album also has considerable depth under the surface. This is especially evident in it’s examination of relationships with friends and lovers. For example, in the tracks Short Leash, I Urge You and Louisa.
I’m pleased to have this album because it has forced me to realise the reason why my record collection has become so serious is because I have become so serious. The teenage me would regard this as a tragedy. All the more reason why, starting with Mess of Happiness, this should be the year for music to make you smile. Despite the mess.
Interplanet Janet
Contact, befriend, follow, like and love Jay Gonzalez here: Facebook
Visit Jay Gonzalez Official web site for more music and photos here: www.jaygonzalez.com
Hot Nun is a band led by former Spinning Jennies and Well Wishers main man, Jeff Shilton, joined by Braden McGraw (Disastroid/Headslide) and together they take Power Pop to the rockier side with the volume turned to eleven.
This album is what I would term as a driving album, stick it on the car stereo, wind the windows down and drive out on the open road, head bobbing up and down and drumming on the steering wheel, then when it comes to an end, you start it all over again and drive a bit further!
This is not Jeff Shelton or Braden McGraw but a "hot nun!"
Fans of The Well Wishers or Spinning Jennies may be looking within to find the chiming guitars that are the trademark of those bands but will not be disappointed with this 8 track album, the melodies are there, the riffs, the harmonies, it is just that this one goes to eleven and the guitars drive proceedings along very nicely.
So, what are you waiting for, get the car polished up and ready to go, download the album and go for a drive!!!
