E-I-E-I-O - That Love Thang - 1998

Wisconsin roots-rockers E*I*E*I*O run the gamut of all-American revivalist styles: rockabilly, country, blues, folk, and good old-fashioned rock & roll. Vocalist Steve Summers and bassist Richard Szeluga write most of the songs, supported by guitarists Rob Harding (formerly of Off Broadway) and Mike Hoffman, and drummer Tommy Ciaccio. This 1988 CD is the band's 2nd (and sadly,last) release following their stunning 1986 debut Land of Opportunity. It is every bit as good (and overlooked) as that release. It's a shame these guys never got the attention they so deserved. - Amazon.com




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The Frampton Brothers - I Am Curious (George) - 1991

The Frampton Brothers' debut album is a bit lacking in the production department; the sound leans to the thin side, and Sean Lally's guitar lacks the punch it deserves. But the band's very real charm is on prominent display, and Ed Masley was already proving himself to be a songwriter of distinction. If his reedy voice doesn't sound like a typical rock star's instrument, Masley's lyrics work overtime to illustrate he's no rock star; he commiserates with losers lost after high school, wonders why his girlfriend had to have sex with one of his favorite songwriters, thinks about Brian Wilson's creative fate, and refuses to go dwarf bowling with his brain-dead friends. I Am Curious (George) is funny and thoughtful throughout, and if the songs deserve better production values, the melodies are there if you listen.-AMG

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American Mars - No City Fun - 2001

When Detroit's American Mars released their debut album, Late, in 1997, they happened upon a music scene already too wrapped up in punk's past and techno's cynical yet futuristic soundscapes. Depending on who was singing, either Thomas Trimble or Karla Richardson, the band could sound like a vulnerable, hyperactive version of the Velvet Underground or like a less-frenetic version of Fire of Love-era Gun Club. But they were a pure rock & roll construct who reflected brightly on the city that birthed them. Four years later American Mars returned with a slew of different personnel and a new sound. Gone is the rage and the sense of urgency from their debut, and also gone (almost) is Richardson -- though she appears here singing backup vocals on a number of cuts and even playing bass on one. But the band who created No City Fun is even more compelling, with songs of loss, grief, deep self-examination, and disillusionment that are architected with the guitar as their cornerstone. Trimble plays all kinds of guitars here, the ones that whisper, the ones that scream, the ones that wail, the ones that shout, the ones that crunch, and even the ones that lilt. Veteran Detroit producer Dave Feeny accompanies him here on pedal steel -- which becomes the atmospheric thread that links these songs and their disparate emotions and scenery and vocals; he is his partner in loneliness and wonder. Bassist Garth Girard has officially joined the touring outfit, as has drummer Mike Popovich; they make several appearances on the record as well.
There isn't a weak moment on No City Fun. American Mars, during the years between recordings, has become a leaner, more confusing, and profound rock & roll band by aiming for the lyrical places where only ghosts dare to whisper and the musical spaces where past, present, and future bleed into one another as the timelessness of one endless twilight sky. -AMG



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The Cells - Mayday - 2006

The Chicago band the Cells consists of singer/drummer/guitarist Cory Hance, drummer Randy Payne and guitarist Pat McIntyre. The group's debut, We Can Replace You, emerged in the summer of 2002 and featured revved-up rock and snotty pop-punk topped off by the pre-pubescent-sounding vocals of Hance. The members of the Cells, who are veterans of such local bands as Dead Man's Wallet, Nine Day Wonder and Box-O-Car, originally moved to Chicago during the 90's, inspired by many of the acts that had emerged in that city. Hance and Norwegian bass player Brede Hovland formed the group in 1998. The Cells eventually fell into a solid lineup after Hovland dropped out to pursue a career as a movie producer and Payne and McIntyre stepped in. Frequently, guest bassists such as Rick Ness (ex-Figdish) and Skid Marks (Box-O-Car) have rounded out the combo. The group got together with Andy Gerber (Caviar, Local H) of Million Yen Studios to record their 2002 debut, which was released on the California label Orange Recordings. -AMG



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Bryan Estepa - All The Bells and Whistles - 2006

Bryan Estepa’s fate as a singer-songwriter was set even before he was old enough to pick up a dusty acoustic. “I can remember my mum and uncles singing and playing Beatles and Simon & Garfunkel tunes when I was young,” says Estepa. “Even at that age of 7, pop music made a whole lot of sense to me.” A fixture on Sydney’s indie circuit since the mid-‘90s, Estepa’s honed his songwriting in numerous bands, from power-pop upstarts Swivel (1998-2000) to psych-poppers Hazey Jane (2004-2005). It was during a stint working in the States, rediscovering classics by Elliott Smith and Whiskeytown, that Bryan found a renewed love for his acoustic guitar and returned home to branch out on his own. Performing under the alias Adeline, he released the pocket gem “Start Again” in 2003, to positive reviews and regular airplay on Sydney and East Coast US college radio. His debut album, “All the Bells and Whistles”, began taking shape in late 2005 and was recorded in early 2006 with acclaimed producer Michael Carpenter (Jason Walker & the Last Drinks, City Lights, Youth Group). Featuring special guests Jason Walker and Brian Crouch (Jason Walker & the Last Drinks) and Mick McGinty (ex-Hazey Jane/Cropper), the album is a stunning collection of pop gems glazed in head-nodding hooks and romantic longing, spanning a sonic spectrum that echoes Gram Parson’s lilting alt-country to You Am I’s crunching mod-rockers. With its warm familiarity and lack of pretence, Estepa’s sound is as refreshingly unassuming as it’s composer. "I don't tend to have any preconceived notions when I write," says Bryan. "In fact, I'm such a lazy songwriter that when inspiration hits, I know well enough to milk it for all it's worth! ….I wear my influences clearly on my sleeve, but I tried to stamp my own distinct signature on each of these tunes." Bryan Estepa has been described before as "one of Sydney's best kept musical secrets". It's high time you discovered for yourself. -CD Baby



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Utopia - Swing To The Right - 1982

Utopia wandered into the wilderness with Deface the Music, losing much of the audience they won with Adventures in Utopia. If its follow-up Swing to the Right is any indication, the band didn't really care, since they doggedly pursue a weird fusion of new wave pop, arena rock, and soul, all spiked with social commentary. According to some reports, Bearsville didn't want to release the album, relenting only after considerable pressure from Rundgren, who defended it as the group effort it certainly is. In fact, Swing to the Right marks the beginning of Utopia Mach III, when each member pulled equal weight as composers and frontmen -- at times, it's hard to tell who contributed what, or even who takes lead vocals. Admittedly, Rundgren's efforts are the strongest -- "Lysistrata" condenses a Greek play into a three-minute pop gem, and "One World," a silly but catchy "love is all you need" chant. Both songs accentuate the anti-Reagan theme of Swing to the Right, which is clearly telegraphed by the album's title. True, the message can be a little fuzzy, yet each song has a loose anti-conservative theme, including their cover of the O'Jays' "For the Love of Money," which also provides a musical keynote for this new wave-soul-inflected record. Unfortunately, this all reads better than it plays. Apart from the aforementioned Rundgren numbers and (possibly) the title track, no songs make a lasting impression, as Utopia's pop instincts fail them for the first time since Oops! Wrong Planet. As a Reagan-era curiosity, however, it's intermittently fascinating. -AMG

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Skycycle - Ones and Zeros - 1999

Los Angeles-based alternative rock band Skycycle was led by singer/songwriter Steve Isaacs, a onetime graphic artist and website designer who also performed the lead role in the Broadway touring company of the Who's rock musical Tommy. He formed Skycycle (so named in honor of the two-wheeled rocket in which Evel Knievel attempted to jump the Snake River Canyon in 1974) with guitarist Sven Shenar, bassist Kelly Castro and drummer Rob Brown; the group's debut EP, Breathing Water, was issued on MCA in 1998. Ones and Zeros followed in 2000.-AMG

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The Love Me Nots - ... In Black & White - 2006

The Love Me Nots from Phoenix, Arizona, have released one hell of an album, produced by Mr. Jim Diamond on their very own Atomic A Go Go label. Two real stylish hot chicks and two smart guys dressed in black suits have come up with one of the wyldest garage-punk platters of the last few years. With a big fat organ sound and a tremendous fuzz explosion, they blow the earwax outta your auditory canals. Chaunteuse Nicole has a great soulful voice, backed by an extremely tight and pounding rhythm section that makes you wanna dance from the beginning to the very end of this excellent record. All you garage-heads and beat-freaks out there, buy this CD! A true must-have for all fans of bands like The Staggers, The Cynics, The Lyres, ? & The Mysterians and Fortune & Maltese. - Soundflat Records

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The Its! - The Its! - 2006

A seamless updating of the new wave era, specifically that brief point at which the hottest band from the American South was the dB's and not R.E.M., the self-titled debut from Chicago's extravagantly punctuated the Its! is quirky and catchy in equal measure. The best songs, like the jittery "Take a Number," blend singer/songwriter Maciej Padowski's wide-eyed and boyish vocals with jangly guitars and ricky-tick organ over an amped-up rhythm section that keeps threatening to move things leftward into Gang of Four-style dance-rock. Lesser material keeps the overall sound but lacks the essential spark of melody and lyrical wit that shines through tunes like "You're Not My Girlfriend" and "Wake Up." Still, at a time when it seems like most young bands have followed the Strokes and Interpol into rehashing the best of the U.K. post-punk scene, it's refreshing to hear a group stick up for the Americans. -AMG

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The Shakes - The Rise And Fall Of Modern Living - 2006

The trouble with living in a cool neighborhood is that nothing stays cool for long in America these days, and once you and a handful of your friends find reasonably priced apartments in a part of town that's livable but off the beaten track, it's only a matter of time until the real estate values go up, developers start renting lofts to clueless trust-find hipsters, and the corner bar turns into a bistro selling nouvelle cuisine that sets you back a week's salary. Peter Gilabert and Janet Housden of the Shakes have been watching this sort of thing happen in their corner of Los Angeles' Silverlake district, and the rise and fall of their community provides the back story for the group's third album, The Rise and Fall of Modern Living. In the early innings of their story, the Shakes have to contend with obnoxious homeless people ("The Greeter of Sanborn Avenue") and unpleasant landlords ("Mr. Fix-It"), but there are also plenty of attractive neighbors ("Right Down the Hall"), and prime trash picking after deadbeat neighbors move out ("Modern Living"). Then "Gentrification Blues" set in, and soon the neighborhood is overrun with yuppies and their screaming children ("Little Babies") and joints where beer is eight bucks a bottle ("Ballad of a Carpet Bagger"), forcing the folks who lived there in the first place have to pick up and move elsewhere. Thankfully, the Shakes are able to communicate the joy of the salad days as clearly as their annoyance with the slide downhill, and they serve up some sharp pop-influenced garage rock (or garage-influenced pop/rock) that boasts plenty of ringing guitars, chunky hooks, and imaginative textures (the cool acoustic feel of "Broken Beds," the neo-mariachi "Yo Quiero Dinero," and the grand orchestral finale). The Rise and Fall of Modern Living is fun and engaging stuff even when it's talking seriously, and it confirms the Shakes deserve a higher profile along with comfortable, rent-controlled living quarters. -AMG

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The Skyline Drive - Get It Together - 2004

Skyline Drive, heavy pop at it's finest! Formed in late 2002 by Dave, formerly of Warner Brothers recording artists "Tidewater Grain", and Hans, from Triple Crown recording artists "Out To Win" (formally "Mushmouth"), just as something to do on the side. However, they gelled immediately and knew that they were on to something. Realizing the potential that Skyline Drive had, Dave and Hans left the bands they were in and focused 100% on their new project. They recruited drummer Jared, from the now defunct emo band "Thirteen Over Eight", and bassist Justin, formerly of the hardcore outfit Dysphoria, to add to the Skyline Drive sound. The CD "Get It Together" contains some of the most infectious power pop rock since early Cheap Trick and Foo Fighters. The band has recorded and full length album that is available on drp records. Look for the band to waste no time getting on the road and getting this great project to the next level. -CD Baby

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The Spinanes - Arches And Aisles - 1998

On their third album, singer/songwriter Rebecca Gates' Spinanes lay out a more melodic and lyrically enticing platter, nearly achieving the scarred beauty that their past two efforts merely hinted at within the grooves. Gates receives more than a little help from various studio pals this time around, assisting her in her obstinate quest for indie pop splendor. Arches and Aisles appends its folky lo-fi tunes with a solid backbeat, eliminating much of the oblique posturing from past albums and focusing instead on the crispness of the songs. Gates can still be elusive at times, even cryptic in her meandering wordplay, and some of the songs still crawl around barren indie territory with nowhere to go. But the sweet and sour samples mixed into Arches and Aisles make it the Spinanes least confining, and most listenable, album. -AMG

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The Milkshakes - Nothing Can Stop These Men - 1984

When his punk band, the Pop Rivets, broke up in 1980, Billy Childish formed a new group with Mickey Hampshire, a Pop Rivets roadie who had been performing in a group called Mickey and the Milkshakes. The two began writing songs together and released their first LP, Talkin' About, in 1981. With Childish on guitar and vocals, Hampshire on guitar and vocals, Bruce Brand on drums, and Russ Wilkins (later replaced by John Agnew) on bass, the Milkshakes sound was a primitive blend of British beat groups, like the early Kinks at their toughest, and hard-rocking American guitar instrumentalists, like Link Wray. This sound came to be known as the "Medway sound" and Childish has been playing a variation on it throughout his whole career. The Milkshakes were a very prolific group, recording nine records in their six years together. Childish and Hampshire split the lead vocal duties and the band was very much a blend of Childish's primitive songwriting and Hampshire's more melodic leanings. The group also masterminded and backed a Medway girl group, the Delmonas. The Milkshakes broke up in 1984 and Childish, Brand, and Agnew went on to form Thee Mighty Caesars where Childish's raw punk-blues could roam untainted by any semblance of professionalism.-AMG

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Four Hours Sleep - Love Specifics - 2006

With a large supporting cast around them, Four Hours Sleep make some very lovely, mid-tempo and smart adult contemporary pop. This is evident on the refined and glistening "I Know I Shouldn't (But I Can't Help Myself)" that glides along like a great lush track by the Beautiful South or a tamer version of Pulp. From there the band gets the party started with a catchy, hook-riddled "I Love That Woman" that brings to mind Fountains of Wayne, Teenage Fanclub or a sullen Guided by Voices. Here the song finds its groove and the band rides it for all it's worth. However, the album's biggest asset might be how often the group changes gears, with "Who Ya Gonna Love?" being a tender ballad that resembles a duet between Bono and Ryan Adams. Just as fine is the ambling "Goodbye Song" that features Angie Hart and could be mistaken for a fantastic cover of something performed by Be Good Tanyas or the Waifs. This feeling continues on the soft, roots pop that makes "Original Lover" another well-crafted effort. Here Ollie Olsen's raspy, deep delivery makes one envision what Nick Cave might do to this warm ditty. The first true miscue is "Very Strange, Very Cool," a somewhat seedy, bluesy and raunchy track that veers off into a dreamy chorus with mixed results at best. A better effort on this vibe is has Paul Kelly leading the way on the deliberate, funk-tinged "If I Had My Way."-AMG

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Poppy Nosh - We Turn On - 2006

Their third effort, very light Psych Poppy throughout, was co-produced by Mitch Easter and also features his guitar work on some of the tracks "These guys prove that the Spongetones aren't the only band from North Carolina that does Beatle stylings the right way. Unlike their compatriots the Spongetones, Poppy Nosh delves into '70s-era Lennon and Harrisonisms, but keeps things interesting by adding other elements to the Beatle foreground!" - David Bash/IPO once stated. And right you are, David! The boys continue that "Beatle-ism" vibe, both instrumentally and vocally, on this one as well! The vocals on "Paperboy" sound like Pye Hastings of Caravan! And that's a good thing! EXCELLENT!!! -Kool Kat Musik



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Get 'em while they are hot!

I have just received a bunch of links from friend of PPO Angel for all to enjoy.

Tearaways-Ground´s the limit (97)
Marlowes- Same dog barks
Marlowes - Nuclear suitcase
Jennifers- Nine day wonder (94)

Dt's- widow of all-american (96)

Neighbors- Third album (on Bam ba lam records, spanish label)

Who hit john-hey buffy

Spinning Jenny (aka The Jennys)- Piñata full of bees (95)

Juju Eyeball- s/t pt1 Juju Eyeball- s/t pt2

Cheers

Curty Ray

Walter Clevenger - The Man With The X-ray Eyes - 1997

Clevenger serves up power-pop with a rootsy flavor on The Man With the X-ray Eyes; comparisons to Nick Lowe are not only obvious, but unavoidable -- "Yesterday's News Now" is a virtual rewrite of Lowe's "They Called It Rock," while tracks like "Angels," "Love You Like a King" and "Love (A Misunderstood Thing)" feel like nothing so much as Rockpile outtakes. Still, the album is largely successful; Clevenger is a fine songwriter with a knack for catchy hooks, and his affection for classic pop music is clearly genuine -- "Yesterday Come Back" is a jangly gem, while "My Little Girl" and "Lose My Mind" are excellent acoustic rockers complete with soaring Rubber Soul-era harmonies. -AMG

Mediafire

The Pandoras - Stop Pretending - 1986

Formed as a garage punk band in Los Angeles during the early '80s, the Pandoras debuted with a 7" EP in 1984 on the Moxie label. That same year, the group recorded It's About Time with producer Greg Shaw, but splintered later in the year. Vocalist/guitarist Paula Pierce recruited three new players, while the old band toured for a short time, using the Pandoras' name as well. Pierce and her new lineup released Stop Pretending in 1986 on Rhino, and then moved up to the majors with an Elektra deal. An album (Come Inside) was recorded but never released, and the Pandoras were summarily dropped from the label, only to re-surface in 1988 on Restless. A far cry from their beginnings, the Rock Hard EP contained several libido-obsessed homages to crotch rock, as did the Live Nymphomania LP, recorded at a Dallas concert.-AMG



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