Julian Cubillos - Julian Cubillos

 

It's been 7 years since the last Julian Cubillos album and all the way from Queens, New York comes an intriguing listen. Having spent the time in between as a collaborator, this self written and played album is an absolute joy.

His gentle vocal suits so much and here in delicious lo-fi, he wanders across the genres and when he occasionally Rocks out, he does it with verve across unusual inventive arrangements and fascinating riffs. The best example of this is the I Used To Be Someone.

But Cubillos can also be Poptastic, the strumathon of Haunted Paradise is somewhere between Indie Pop, Dream Pop and Guitar Pop. There's also a dance feel to Fruit Stripe as it races along at pace. Yet Portuguese Bend is soulful with an engaging vocal. A little 70s even.

Yet stripped down, he is just as good. The opener, Returning is a surprise choice, with all the left field arrangements elsewhere, it is a straight ahead Acoustic Pop song. Flesh & Blood has a driving bassline and is particularly Pastoral with a slight hint of Psych Pop.

Does It Hurt You is much more in the Psych Pop mould, again laidback, but instrumentally magnificent and hypnotic. It is a cracking listen that mixes the smooth with the Intelligent Indie. I usually try to provide total variance in my three embedded songs, but the more Electric stuff just knocks similar protagonists over the boundary. A real winner!

 

You can listen to and buy the album here.

......................

Vegas With Randolph - Drops Of Gold : The Best Of Vegas With Randolph

 

A celebration of the career thus far of Washington DC's Vegas With Randolph. It isn't deliberate, but this month seems to be celebrating releases by bands that we covered in our early months. This lot were one of the earliest.

We reviewed Rings Around The Sun in 2016, their third album, we weren't around for the 2008 self titled debut nor the 2011 follow up,  Above The Blue. That album remains one of my favourite albums ever, I still listen to it regularly and it sort of announced what we were about.

The band specialise in outstanding melodic Pop Rock. Two vocalists, Erick Kern and John Ratts, who sing lead on their own songs and the sheer harmony of their individual and combined vocals is matched by stellar arrangements and in particular, sing along choruses.

Collating 24 of their songs, remastered, particularly with Vinyl in mind across double Vinyl and double CD releases. There are also 10 bonus tracks on the Digital Edition with the Bandcamp purchase. It is a celebration of an 18 year career of mini masterpieces. Ecological thinking without shoving it down your throat.

That career shows that you can offer up big productions, without going over the top, everything is about the song. At times they fit into AOR and can be compared to likes of Queen and yet can produce great Power Pop or slow things down within get mawkish.

Drops Of Gold shows how great Pop Rock can be. Singalong,  foot tapping joy. Fair warning to look out for the Guitar solos, you won't believe what you are hearing. I've selfishly gone for my favourite VWR songs to embed, you can listen to a whole lot more on the link below.

You can listen to and buy the album here. It is available on Vinyl, CD and as a download.

.....................

The High Frequencies - The High Frequencies

 

I once called Lisa Mychols the Queen Of Power Pop. I still think of her that way. Pop of the highest order with that wonderful sugar sweet vocal. There is some of that here and she excels at it, but this, thanks to the locked in band element and it is a band album, this is a much rockier Mychols and it's great.

Mychols varies her vocals to the variety wonderfully well on both the Guitar Pop and the Indie Rock. She is far more important than comparing her to others, but a song like Clean Up Time is pure Debbie Harry Blondie and it suits her well.

Girl In Trouble is all Brass Revue, almost Motown and her phrasing on Nothing Really Stays The Same is totally ace. The Go-Gos spring to mind on. She even sounds temptress like on the opener with a vocal that reminds you of those Power Pop glory days.

But as the album progresses, the Rockier stuff largely takes over and it is really really great. It is a credit to the band that this suits her so well. The album loses none of the big choruses, riffs and solos, it just makes you shake your fist, memorably so.

Stratospheric is right in your face, it just stomps. Parasite is great 80s Big Rock and Can You Hear Me is anthemic, all attitude. Miss Me When I'm Gone has a hint of Ska, feels like a better produced Garage Rock, almost Rhythm And Blues.

Then there is the closer. Nexus Star, that allows Mychols to show off her vocal strength, solo in the first part. She sounds a little Rachel Sweet. The whole album is a revelation, hints of the past, but more aggressive in instrumentation in parts. The album is on the Jem Records label.

You can listen to and buy the album here.  It is available on CD and available as a download.

............................

Vanity Mirror - Super Fluff Forever

 

Today's 3 Reviews stay current and new, but also hark back to over a decade ago when we began our rise. We were much more of a place for Power Pop then. This second of the three is a cracking reminder of how great the genre is, particularly when it mixes Guitar Pop, Pop Rock and Psych Pop. This album encompasses all.

Vanity Mirror is a collaboration between Toronto's Brett Randall and Los Angeles Drummer, Johnny Toomey. Randall lays down all the songs and sends the songs to Toomey for the drums and it works really well, the drums suit the songs perfectly.

The first three songs sum up the directions perfectly. White Butterfly is wonderful Psych Pop with a hint of David Watts, the type that most regularly floats my boat. The Apple Tree is pure Badfinger head to toe and Anna M is very Andrew Gold in construction and sound. Great Piano Pop!

 Calling the album Power Pop may be a stretch as it progresses. The more Mellow songs are Piano led, the upbeat ones Guitar led. But when the two mix, it is absolute fireworks. many of the mellow songs are aided by a Great Guitar solo.

Jack Of All Trades is slice of Garage Rock and UK New Wave with a little Punk vibe. Plasict Heart goes all 80s New Wave and Painted Blue may be the best thing on display. McCartney Pop of the highest ordered, very late 60s that adds flute and a wonderful Ringo like Drum Pattern.

The whole album is beautifully presented. Unexpectedly, the slower songs grabbed me most. I never thought they would after hearing such an Electric opener. Super Fluff Forever is a splendid reminder of how melody stays with you longest. This is a cracking listen.

You can listen to and buy the album here. It is available on Vinyl, CD and as a download.

.................

Trolley - A Carnival Of Grey And White

 

I was talking to a friend about the dying days of Anything Should Happen. He thought I was through with the net, I did too. So he was surprised at my return. I stopped ASH because of tiredness of the Facebook groups I was in being full of participants telling everyone how crap all new music was. So IDHAS became a reaction, covering solely New Music, but with an ability to compare the new to the old.

I mention this because one of the very first reviews on the fledgling I Don't Hear A Single was Trolley's Caught In The Darkness. I can't take credit for Trolley, that was Power Pop Overdose's Curt Vance. One of the few still around from that time. He provides similar support to the knew that here does.

I never thought it would take 9 years to get another Trolley album, but tragedy intervened. Recording this follow up was halted in 2021 by the death of Mike Perotto. As part of the process of getting over Mike's death. Paul J Wall and Terry Hackbarth have meticulously finished the album, staying faithful to those sessions and the three decade of the band.

This is great Power Pop, still rooted in 60s Guitar Pop that strays into the Pop Rock of the 70s. The Psych Pop is less pronounced and the 60s sounding synths a little more abundant, but the whole album lyrically feels like a heartfelt tribute to Perotto.

There's even the addition of Brass on a couple of the songs which adds to the enjoyment rather than feeling gratuitous. The title track opens proceedings with a Telstar feel to the synth run, it could have been a Joe Meek production.

That is bookmarked by the closer, Since The Drugs Wore Off. A song that is dark lyrically, moody and magnificent 70s Pop Rock in touch with the New Wave, all to a Power Pop Drum Beat. In between you witness the Jangle Pop, almost Merseybeat, of As Long As I Can Find You.  Radio Silence has some wonderful Psych Pop Guitar to enjoy.

Starlight could be a Show Song if it weren't for the 60s overtone in the harmonies and the wonderful Brass. Leaving You Behind is great UK New Wave and the Psych Pop of Shiny Cars melts my heart. The Face you Brazened is Bowie-esque, splendidly moody and melancholic. All in all this is a great tribute and an album stands up in its own right.

You can listen to and buy the album here. It is available on Vinyl, CD and as a download.

.....................

Guerilla Toss - You're Weird Now

 

You would expect something produced by Stephen Malkmus to be a little off the beaten track. Guerilla Toss's sixth album, the second for Sub Pop, the same thoughts applying to that label as the previous sentence. However, this is wonderfully off the scale.

Mixing the likes of Pop Rock and Dance with what is essentially a Neo Psych album, you would think that the album would be a traditional boys toys affair, but Kassie Carlson lights up the album with an extraordinary effort. Her lyrics are incredibly adept too.

Carlson matches her vocal in such varied styles that suit the sheer weirdness of the instrumental arrangements. Recorded in Trey Anastasio's studio, the combination of him, Malkmus and the band's inventiveness lays on quite a ride.

The mix of Rock and Psych Guitar with the synth soundscape and Carlson's vocal delights considerably. The album is on the edge of our circle, but is a marvellous listen. It appeals to my love of Psych, yet is incredibly melodic and catchy, hypnotic essentially.

It is an album that requires a full listen, indeed repeated listens as you hear different things on each play. I've picked my faves. Red Flag To Angry Bull is probably the most commercial thing on show and is a little Gorillaz in feel, but largely great Indie.

Psychosis Is Just A Number is a cracking mix of US New Wave, almost Devo and Psych wonderment. Crocodile Cloud mixes all that they do into one song and it it is a lot, even containing a ROAR. You're Weird Now may be left field, but is such an inventive joy. Get on it now!

You can listen to and buy the album here. It is available on Vinyl, CD and as a download.

.................

Bird Streets - The Escape Artist

 

John Brodeur has played a big part of my online Reviewing time. People forget about his ace solo career before adopting the Bird Streets moniker. Anything Should Happen covered three of those four solo albums, it wasn't around for the first.

2018 brought the Bird Streets self titled album, made with Jason Falkner. It was only kept off the top slot in our Best 100 Albums of 2018 by Ex Norwegian. It remains one of the best albums of the past decade that fully realised what a great Singer Songwriter he is.

Lagoon followed in 2022 and again was high up in our Best Albums of that year. We even covered it twice, reviewing the Deluxe Edition the following year. Now Bird Streets are back with the third album and Falkner is back, indeed the album is largely played by the pair.

The Escape Artist is as great as you might expect. There is obviously a lot going on in Brodeur's head because lyrically the album is really dark. It is built on self doubt, claustrophobia and almost brokenness. So how does the man put these lyrics to such engaging, largely upbeat instrumentals.

The man can do quiet and loud engagingly. There is a great deal of variety on display and it is the incredible arrangements that allow this. In the 90s, we raved about the amount of quality singer songwriters around. There are much fewer now, so thank goodness for Bird Streets.

Trailed by three great singles. Run For Our Lives is wonderful 70s Pop Rock, It's A Start is beautifully arranged gentleness, part Folk, part late 60s Trip Out. Everyonewelovewillgoaway is built around a gobsmacking Bassline with Psych Pop Guitar, yet remains more UK Beat.

Elsewhere. Bedhead is a really interesting opener for someone essentially so electric. mainly Acoustic and accompanied with an Electric strum. Incredibly moving, almost Americana in feel, particularly the string arrangement. Mistaker is very different, all riff, a little Power Pop.

Wasted Years sounds more Brodeur of the earlier albums. A song story with a hypnotic riff, splendidly word heavy. Both Pride Is A Gun and Don't Be A Stranger both show the aforementioned quiet, melancholic and heartfelt.

Suite Amnesia is the big closer, epic in scope and part way through, it just rips in to something close to Garage Rock, it just underlines the strength of the artist. The Escape Artist shows a musician and the top of his game, few could write and perform an album of such scope. Just one question left! When are we gonna get that Jason Falkner solo album?

You can listen to and buy the album here. It is available on Vinyl, CD and as a download. You can find out more about Bird Streets here. You can listen to and buy John Brodeur's solo albums here.

.........................