Mo Troper has a great year. After producing a great album for Diners, he is now here with his own full length. He dedicated it to Jon Brion. Colin Cutler from North Carolina dedicated his album to Flannery O’Connor. Every song is a reflection on one of her characters. Sheer Mag from Philadelphia has a new single. Jake Roberts (ex Ausmuteants, Hierophants) is back with another Alien Nosejob project. Power pop power is represented by Nick Frater from UK, Marc Bailey from Iowa and Thomas Walsh from Ireland. King Louie Bankston nowadays performs as a one man band. Jaimie Branch was a New York trumpet player who had a series of Fly or Die albums. The latest one came out this year, unfortunately posthumously. Lastly, we have a tune from Ivar and Tommy go to Hollywood and I don’t know anything about them.
Finch – Nothing Like the Sun
Colin Cutler – A New Tattoo
Sheer Mag – Playing Favorites
Sheer Mag – Blood from a Stone
Alien Nosejob – RnR Rubbish Bin
Alien Nosejob – I’m Lost
Ivar & Tommy go to Hollywood – I Poke Bears
Librarians With Hickeys – Ghost Singer
Nick Frater – The Town of Opportunities Suite
Mo Troper – Citgo Sign
Diners – From My Pillow
Marc Bailey – Kite Strings & Fight Scenes
Thomas Walsh – All This Hurt
Swampmeat Family Band – Do it All
King Louie Bankston – Gone Too Far
Jaimie Branch – Take Over The World
Leyla McCalla & Hurray for the Riff Raff – Zanj
We begin the first weekly review of the new music and events in the rock world. Tim Lee and Susan Bauer are back, this time under a new band name Bark. Galileo 7 from the Medway area amd Pugwash from Ireland are back with their own brand of refined power pop. Part Time Lover from Cleveland have a new single, and we check out the B-side. We also introduce Bed Wettin’ Bad Boys from Sydney, Australia. We also pay tributes to Fast Eddie Clarke, the last remaining member of Motörhead classic line up. Ray Thomas of The Moody Blues also passed away this month. Oh, and by the way, it’s been 17 years since this little show started out.
It’s almost summer. The weather is warm, Sun is shining, Venus is crossing. It’s weather for power pop, it’s weather for the Beach Boys. In today’s show we review the most interesting power pop tunes of today and among them, the new return for one of the biggest inspirations for power pop – the Beach Boys. Mike Love, Al Jardine and Brian Wilson are back together with the new album called That’s Why God Made The Radio. Talking about the Beach Boys, we also have the new record for Nelson Bragg, who played with them for awhile. Then we have Pugwash from Ireland who can definitely harmonize like the Beach Boys. Golden Boys are not so close to the beach, they are from Austin TX and their new record Dirty Fingernails is one of the most exciting records this season. New band and a fine example of good power pop are the Successful Failures who named themselves after a Jack London short story and they come from New Jersey. Tom Oberon comes from Connecticut and he’s a one man power pop band called Oberon Rose. His album Wunjo is free of charge on his soundcloud website. Lemon Clocks come from Liverpool and they have deliberately old fashioned sound on their new album Now Is The Time. Sea of Bees are two ladies with esoteric pop sound and finally, Songs For Snakes come from San Francisco and they bland fine melodies with loud guitars.