Power Pop Round-Up

Here's a round-up of some of the power poppy kind of records I have added to the collection the last few months.

One of the records my lovely wife got me for my recent birthday is the latest from Scottish power poppers Attic Lights, Super De Luxe.  The best in Scottish power-pop has always been Teenage Fanclub, whose drummer Francis Macdonald handles production duty here. The band is kind of large, three guitarists not including one of the vocalists who also handles keyboards. All those guitars don't make for a Lynryd Skynyrd sounding album, instead we get a great bunch of 3 minute tunes. Very classic sounding Raspberries kind of power-pop. Album opener Say You Love Me sounds a bit too much like Weezer, but second track "Future Bound" has one of those choruses that make you jump. "Hit And Miss" and "Orbison" and album closer "Gabrielle" are the rest of the best of a really good set of smartly written songs.

Someone Still Love You Boris Yeltsin is an interesting band from Missouri. I first saw them when they were first on a bill with Two Door Cinema Club and somebody else who I already forgot. I have this feeling it was somebody I actually like quite a bit, but I am just spacing out on it right now. Anyway I liked them quite a bit and wound up leaving with their t-shirt. They do this jittery, lo-fi kind of power-pop.  Their new record is called Fly By Wire and it is OK. The production is a little hollow sounding, a real 80s British vibe permeates the record. The vocals are up in the high registers. Most power-pop doesn't need to be deep, but this is a bit more trifling than most. My head didn't really turn until we got to "Ms. Dot" at the end of the first side. It is a really nice, Shins-y number with a nice acoustic guitar line that lilts along. Second side openers "Loretta" and "Unearth" are nice mid-tempo numbers that bounce along. The record has the lyrics printed within gatefold of the record; I wonder why they felt compelled to do that. The lyrics aren't particularly deep, especially when compared to Attic Lights; they are the cryptic variety, back of the high-school notebook kind of stuff. One very cool thing is the vinyl disc itself; it's half red and half white and smeared in the middle thing so that when it rotates it wobbles. Very cool looking but it gives me a bit of a belly ache.

I heard of Big Eyes through a tweet from Dischord Records. They mentioned having CD copies of their latest record Almost Famous. I listened to a few tracks on Spotify and immediately found the record on Amazon (Dischord was out of vinyl). It has a harder vibe; when I shared it with my band-mate Patrick he mentioned I tend to like the crunchier, louder, more punky kind of power-pop. A buddy in college once told me the same thing, where he liked his power pop mellower and cleaner while I went the rough and teetering out of control kind. Lots of great tracks on this record, all of which would be perfect on Little Steven's Underground Garage: "Ain't Nothing But The Truth," "A Matter Of Time," "Nothing You Can Say," "You Ain't The Only One" might not have the best grammar but they have killer hooks. The record kind of blends into one another but it's hard and fast and gets in and out. Hey, that sounds dirty.

Lastly for tonight, we have Destroy This Place. I read about these guys in The Onion, where they and an article about good ways to market your band. I guess it worked because I checked them out and bought the record! Again, very noisy, fast, hooky, but with great singing and great harmonies. Great singing in that it fits perfectly with the vibe, not just screaming or yelling along but using the voice as part of the rock. Reminds me of bands like Heavy Into Jeff, bands I found hidden away in the Not Lame catalog and described as heavier Cheap Trick and Sweet.  Kind of Replacements-ish without the worry they might pass out at any moment. Bunch of really good tracks here: "Tight Sleeves," "Absorb You," "Born With Guitars In Our Hands," "Like Mice" and the killer album closer "Ghost Ride The Lightning."