Thursday, May 02, 2024

Hayley and the Crushers - "Unsubscribe"


Now this is kind of a big deal! Hayley and the Crushers have released their first original song since the fall of 2022. Given the way the Crushers have been evolving and growing musically over the last few years, I was intrigued to hear how they'd sound on their new single "Unsubscribe." A lot can happen in 20 months, and I had a feeling that "Unsubscribe" might reflect that. Spoiler alert: I was not disappointed! "Unsubscribe" is vintage Crushers but by no means a copy of the group's past hits. It's a punky earworm that will have you dancing around the house, but it's also vaguely haunting and quite deep lyrically. A lesser writer might have come up with that one great line "Unsubscribe from the underground" and done something obvious or superficial with it. But obvious and superficial are not in Hayley Cain's playbook, and "Unsubscribe" is a fascinating reflection on the tensions that exist within music scenes: between the old and the new, between tradition and change, between the past and the future. As many of these same tensions exist in other sub-cultures and within society itself, this song will be relatable far beyond the world of music scenes. Keep in mind that the lyrics are written from the point of view of a fictitious scene veteran and not Hayley herself — the Crusherverse will never be hostile to new ideas and new faces! 

Instrument tracks for "Unsubscribe" were recorded in lead guitarist Ryan DeLisio's Detroit basement, and the vocals were recorded at Kitten Robot Studios in Los Angeles. This combination gives the song a perfect mix of gritty punk energy and California pop polish. This particular Crushers lineup, which also features Gabe Masek on drums, is sounding fantastic. Dare I say that Hayley and Dr. Cain sound re-energized? If you like punk and pop or any combination of the two, you ought to be opting in on "Unsubscribe." A full EP called Unsubscribe from the Underground will be out in September on Kitten Robot. Now you'll have a reason to not be bummed when the summer's over!


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Sunday, April 28, 2024

Rich Ragany - "A Pleasant Fiction"


What can I say about Mr. Rich Ragany that I haven't already said before? This guy is one of the greatest songwriters in present-day rock 'n' roll, and he has been on some kind of roll. On six occasions, he has authored one of my top ten albums of the year. And the chances of that number increasing to seven in a few months are literally 100 percent. Following a couple of huge-sounding efforts with his band The Digression, Rags wanted to take a simpler approach with his forthcoming solo album You Can Get Dark with Me. Every song on the album was home-recorded on the day it was written and later fully developed in the studio. This technique was meant to capture the original solitary inspiration of the songs while still allowing for each track to grow to its full potential. The album will be out on Barrel And Squidger Records June 14th, and pre-orders are open now. With your order, you will immediately receive a digital copy of the album's first single "A Pleasant Fiction," which features Ken Mochikoshi-Horne of The Bronx guest-starring on guitar. The formidable rhythm section of Simon Maxwell and Ricky McGuire also appears on the track. Rags describes it as "black and white cinema with a rush of colour chorus." The song is a reflection on the emotion of addiction — in Rag's words — "where it leaves the person struggling through it and where it leaves that person's loved ones." It's an incredible song from an incredible album, and I urge you to reserve your copy of You Can Get Dark with Me today! 

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Silicone Values - How to survive when people don't like you and you don't like them


Out on Paris-based label SDZ Records, How to survive when people don't like you and you don't like them is a proper LP compilation of digital singles from Bristol's Silicone Values, who play original, fiercely intelligent music that brings to mind the more adventurous & experimental side of first wave UK punk. Mick Fletcher maintains that this band has not received the attention it deserves, and I wholeheartedly agree (while admitting I've been one of the guilty parties). These singles go back to 2020, and I have no explanation whatsoever for how I missed the boat on all of them. Can I blame COVID brain fog? This album title is absolute genius, and the songs more than live up to it. Across 15 tracks, the band opines on the sad state of the world with candor, insight, and dark humor. And the tunes are brilliant all the way through. Behold your soundtrack to the apocalypse! If the Wire/Fall/Swell Maps wing of first generation punk gets your heart racing, Silicone Values are your next favorite band. But you knew that already, didn't you? 

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Sunday, April 21, 2024

The Amplifier Heads - Songs from They Came To Rock


Songs from They Came To Rock, the fifth album by The Amplifier Heads, is the most essential soundtrack album to be released in a good while. They Came To Rock, Norty Cohen's immersive rock opera about an alien invasion of the most unexpected kind, debuted in Nashville in 2021. Sal Baglio, who wrote many of the songs which appear in the theatrical production, recently got together with a whole bunch of his talented friends and made a proper rock and roll album out of They Came To Rock. The concept for the story is the stuff of genius: in 1947, the birth of rock and roll brought aliens to our planet in search of these wondrous sounds they were picking up on their radios. 

It makes complete sense if you think about it. Alien civilizations with the advanced technology and brain power required to defy what we believe to be the laws of physics would not likely have been impressed by our centuries of human achievements — but then they would have heard rock and roll, and that would have been a mind-blower. What extraterrestrial society wouldn't be seduced by this miraculous form of music  — which immediately ignites the soul of any sentient being and provokes a frenzy of dancing and singing and uninhibited joy? Of course the aliens would have wanted in on the action! They would have marveled at how these tiny-brained Earthlings could have created something so sublime. Combining alleged true events with pure fantasy, this collection of songs tells the story of what happened when those little green men from galaxies far away came here with one single motive: to rock! The album mixes in various audio "transmissions" to give context to the songs, and I can't help thinking that I would have totally freaked if I'd heard something like this when I was six years old and space-crazed. It's like War of the Worlds meets "Let There Be Rock," and I am here for it! 

In style and sprit, the songs from They Came To Rock resemble what extraterrestrials actually would have heard if they'd be tuned into Planet Earth's airwaves in the mid–20th century. You'll hear everything from rhythm & blues to country to first generation rock and roll to '60s beat and garage rock to out-of-this-world '70s glam. Part of Baglio's brilliance was in picking the right vocalist for each song. Any aliens hearing Barrence Whitfield belt out the title track will immediately be scheduling return trips to experience the thrill of Earthling rock and roll. The legendary Allen Estes gives "They Heard My Radio" classic country vibes. "Dead Star" sounds like a song that Dan Kopko was literally born to sing. "That Girl Betty" succeeds in recreating the Phil Spector wall of sound for a variety of reasons, but mostly because of the extraordinary vocal talents of Jen D'Angora and Samantha Goddess. I'm such a fan of Jen D'Angora as a songwriter and musician that I sometimes don't fully appreciate what a great singer she is. Her lead vocal on the old school rocker "Something Went Down" is something special. Baglio is no slouch on vocals either, breathing extraterrestrial cool into "Bienvenue" and perfectly mimicking Elvis Presley on "The Moon Rocks." "Space Cadette" brings to mind dancing aliens on spaceships jetting across the galaxy. 

For They Came To Rock to succeed, the songs were going to have to be convincing. The premise doesn't work if you don't hear these tunes and believe that aliens would hear this stuff and totally lose their minds. Thankfully —  as this Amplifier Heads' soundtrack album demonstrates — these songs totally deliver. Songs from They Came To Rock can stand alone as a great spacey garage rock album and companion piece to The Amplifier Heads' third album SaturnalienS. On another level, you might find yourself getting lost in the story and eagerly awaiting a revival of the theatrical production. Get the CD now from  Rum Bar Records, your intergalactic home of the hits!

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Monday, April 15, 2024

The Reflectors - Going Out Of Fashion


Well if you know, you know: most of you don't need me to tell you that The Reflectors are one of the greatest power pop bands currently in existence. When a band of this caliber releases a new record, you buy first and ask questions later. That said, I think The Reflectors' third album Going Out Of Fashion (out now on Neon Nile) will surprise you a little. At the very least, it surprised me. With power pop bands, a sophomore jinx is rare. On the other hand, that third LP can be problematic. If your third album sounds too similar to the first two, people get bored. But if your third album sounds too different from the first two, people are disappointed. On Going Out of Fashion, The Reflectors have navigated this situation marvelously. Far from succumbing to the junior jinx, they've made their best album yet. They've accomplished this by going back to their punk rock roots but also progressing to a more mature style of songwriting. That almost sounds like a contradiction, but trust me, it's not. Going Out Of Fashion is by far the band's punkiest record, and as a result, its sound has been highly energized. This is a "Play loud or else!" type of record. You can hear the influence of classic first generation punk-pop coupled with the modern power pop sound that The Reflectors have helped define. At the same time, you can hear that the band's songwriting has not stagnated. Several of these tunes are more lyrically and musically sophisticated than anything these guys could have written a few years back. And I love the variety of this record. Vintage Reflectors songs like "All the Way Down," "I Gotta Run," and "Living in a Dream" will be crowd-pleasers in power pop circles. But just as good are more "grown-up" pop songs like "I Don't Know Anymore" and the extraordinary "Time Is All I Have." In the other direction, punk-influenced songs like "Limitation" and the stone-cold banger of a title track bring a much harder edge to The Reflectors. "Losing My Mind" is pure punk rock that will just about melt your face off! 

Resisting the temptation to just make Faster Action, part 2, The Reflectors have really stepped it up with Going Out Of Fashion. This is a fantastic album in every sense: the songs, vocals, production, and musicianship all knock it out of the park. This is still essentially a Reflectors album, but it's far from a copy of the band's previous efforts. In a world where melody, stellar hooks, and great songs are timeless, the title of this album certainly does not describe this truly excellent band. 

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Saturday, April 13, 2024

Cola Cubes - "Bold Street Beach" b/w "Dream Come True"


Well here's another release that will have most of you going nuts! Cola Cubes are a trio from Liverpool, and their debut single sounds like an unearthed treasure from 1980. "Bold Street Beach" lives at the intersection of power pop, punk, and surf, and it's a stone cold smash. It's catchy, rocking, and totally fun. This track is sure to get your heart racing if Nikki and the Corvettes and early Go-Go's are your jam. Backing "Bold Street Beach" is a really great cover of Dolly Mixture's classic "Dream Come True." What a way to make a first impression! Cola Cubes refer to themselves as "your new favourite band," and I can't say they're wrong! A physical release of "Bold Street Beach" on cassette tape is up for pre-order now.

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The Yum Yums - Poppin' Up Again


When I first heard The Yum Yums' new album Poppin' Up Again, I was blown away — not because it was anything unexpected, but because it was everything I had expected yet somehow far more than I had expected. The Yum Yums are one of those rare bands that can get away with making the same kind of album over and over — it would, in fact, be a tremendous disappointment if they didn't! If Morten Henriksen ever began playing jazz riffs or started writing seven-minute songs about late stage capitalism and the inevitability of death, the world would be a far bleaker place. So Poppin' Up Again basically sounds like a Yum Yums album, and of course that's a good thing. But what's remarkable after thirty years plus of this band is that there hasn't been even the slightest decline in quality. 2020's For Those About To Pop! was arguably the best album the band had ever released. For Morten to come back with another batch of songs that's every bit as good is pretty incredible. This is an all-time-great power pop band doing its thing as well as it has ever done it. If you like sugary melodies, crunching guitars, earworm hooks, and timeless lyrics about sweet girls, falling in love, and falling in love with sweet girls, Poppin' Up Again will take you to auditory heaven. How many bands wish they could write 14 songs this good in their entire career? If you want a master class on bubblegum power pop punk rock 'n' roll, school is in session, and your professor is Morten Henriksen! 

The Yum Yums' first album Sweet As Candy was a game-changer for me. It was my gateway from the Ramones to the Raspberries and Paul Collins Beat, and ever since then, power pop and pop-punk have lived in my mind as twin siblings with slightly different fashion aesthetics. Little has changed with The Yum Yums in the ensuing 27 years. If anything, this band is an even better version of what it once was — aging like the sweetest fine wine. Poppin' Up Again is a perfect power pop record, and we would expect nothing more or less from the mighty Yum Yums.



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