Channeling Fleetwood Mac’s musical stylings with a hint of late-era Beatles, Family of the Year braid catchy melodies, stellar male/female vocals and personal folk tales to create some of the happiest and saddest music you’ve ever heard. Opening up with "Feel Good Track Of Rosemead" it's a delicate harmony and rock guitar combo, very much like The New Pornographers, or The Polyphonic Spree. Ac
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Tim Butler has a gentle pop sensibility, not far from his friend Cliff Hillis who plays guitar on "That's The Way You Want Me To Be." There is a personal honesty reflected in the lyrics as well, and the catchy, "Special Plan" is like Black Crowes lite, with a perfect blend of guitar and vocal melody. Tim’s vocal often carries the tune with a minimum of flash, just a simple clean production. The.
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OK Go | MySpace Music VideosThe band's new album, "Of The Blue Colour of the Sky," will be out in stores on Capitol early next year. This is the long-awaited follow-up to their acclaimed "Oh No" which spawned the 2007 Grammy-award-winning video hit "Here It Goes Again" (Yes that's the song with all those treadmills). Here is the first single "WTF?"power pop reviews, power pop and rock and roll ...
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The Beat Rats "A Cellar Full Of Rats"They made quite an impression at IPO, making Kenny's sound like The Star Club in Hamburg, Germany. This is Mersey inspired garage rock in all it's glory. Opening with the instrumental "Beat Rats Theme" is as catchy as The Surfari's "Wipeout." This is not so much a Fab Four tribute, as a scruffy, raw re-creation of the British sixties combo, so fans of The S...
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Nate Ruess (The Format) has decided to push some musical buttons here, much like Bryan Scary and The Shedding Tears by layering dense instrumentation, gospel choirs, electronic pulses and the kitchen sink. That kitchen sink includes pop god Roger Manning Jr. and producer Steven McDonald (Redd Kross). Opening with "Be Calm" it's deceptively sweet ballad opening ironically turns into loud theatri...
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I was so taken with the new album from Seattle band, Curtains For You - I got to interview both Matthew Gervias and Peter Fedofsky for Power Popaholic. You can click on the Artists Interview button or go to this link: Curtains For You interview. If you didn't catch the album review you can find it here.In my busy travels before IPO I got the chance to pose some questions to Shawn Fogel, aka Go...
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If you like Michael Carpenter, then chances are you'll enjoy Russell Crawford. A member of Carpenter's band, Russell broke out with his brilliant solo debut in 2006. Now Crawford has slowly pulled away from Carpenters orbit here. It's a straight pop album minus any gimmicks or needless bells and whistles. His music fits in the "timeless" category being rooted in piano, bass, guitar, drums appro...
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Musician, label owner, and producer Zach Curd has been a member of many bands, notably The Pop Project and has donated music to the masses before. Well this group from his Suburban Sprawl called it quits - The Recital from Detroit. Adam Kempa (Pop Project's drummer) is the Recital's bassist. A decent indie pop band with some quirky minimalist songs, they took all their leftover songs and create...
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St. Louis' Grace Basement is led by multi-instrumentalist Kevin Buckley who has quite a knack for writing concise pop gems. It’s pretty evident from the opening track "There He Goes" that the harmonies and chord minor changes are very infectious, and the addition of fiddle backing is an added bonus. The dance hall influenced melody of "Tilly Lingers" is another catchy gem along the lines of Har.
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Chad Curtis of The Saltshakers has created a more garage-styled follow up to the Up All Night LP. With the addition of guitarist Nick Woods (Box Social) and bassist Jamie Owart the band still has that high energy sugar shot that pop fans expect and admire. Similar to Weezer or The Buzzcocks in tone and relentless pace, it blasts through the catchy opener "Please Don't Walk Away" so well it soun...
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As the last note ends in IPO New York, I wanted to listen to the latest compilation, David Bash's International Pop Overthrow Vol.12. This year the bands are more varied and less constricted by genre orthodoxy and this makes for a better and more representative group of power pop bands. There are 3CDs full of 70 bands and 70 songs, so I'll pick out some of my favorite tracks here. Disc#1: Start...
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I will be reviewing IPO in New York tonight, but what else is there left to say about Paul McCartney? Former Beatle and knight of realm, the likely lad from Liverpool remains the iconic star of his generation. Possessing one of the great voices in rock ‘n roll, a magnetic stage presence and boundless energy, Sir Paul is a master showman and there are few greater thrills in live music than being
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You can't peg John Shaughnessy's acoustic-based power pop to one specific style, but you can listen in rapt attention to the great quality of the songwriting and melodies here. Assisted by Smash Palace's Stephen Butler and IKE's Brett Talley, John creates a wonderful organic sound that is naturally rhythmic and hopeful, influenced by classic 70's artists and the Beatles. The opening title track...
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When someone tells you "He arrived with great fanfare..." that pretty much describes how Eric Matthews arrived on the scene in 1995 with It's Heavy In Here. For a while he was considered the king of chamber pop, and then went on to explore other musical directions (jazz, glam, prog). It's been very tough for him to live up to this first album, but he does an amazing job covering Brian Wilson's ...
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International Pop Overthrow (or IPO, as it has affectionately become known) is a pop music festival which has been held for the past eleven years in Los Angeles. We have also held IPO for various years in Chicago, New York, Boston, San Francisco, Vancouver, and Toronto, as well as in Liverpool, England (at the world famous Cavern Club)! This is where you can hear the power pop stars of today a...
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Android Angel "Glow Worm"Paul Colto (aka Android Angel) set forth to create this album and right away his musical equipment was stolen. Continuing undaunted, the album has contributions from musicians along Paul's journey. This is not a standard indie pop album, as the opening track "Music of Android Angel" combines synth, guitar, drums, and radio sound bytes overlapping into a harmonious patte...
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power pop reviews, power pop and rock and roll opinions. Power pop and even more power pop and rock and roll.
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Just in time for Halloween, Bryan Scary and The Shredding Tears worked a bit of musical magic. The mad hyperactive piano of "Andromeda's Eyes" and even faster chorus makes it hard to enjoy, unless you're into a musician on a sugar speed overload. Thankfully, he dials it back down to earth on the follow up "(It's a) Gambler's Whirl" with a tight disco-pop composition. The next track is the best,...
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Now for a new band few have heard of from Rotterdam, Netherlands called The Madd. They follow in the tradition of European mid 60's garage-merseybeat revivalist like The Mellowmen, Bronco Bullfrog and The Winnerys. I can't tell you much about them cause I don't speak Dutch, however this local reviewer does and you'll hear all the English you need to know in the review. The opening track, "I Kn...
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So you've never heard of Stackridge? Well if you're not from the UK you are forgiven. The Anglophilic progressive pop band began to great fanfare in 1971, were predicted to be bigger than Genesis and even had an very well reviewed LP produced by George Martin right after his Beatles tenure ended (Man In A Bowler Hat). Then by 1975, they fell off the public's radar. I never heard about them till...
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