Five 2018 Albums That You Should Own Part 2

Zombies Of The Stratosphere's fourth album is as great as you'd expect. New York duo, Jeff Hoffman and Arthur Smith excel in Pop Rock Territory. They tell you that their Record Collections are great and who is anyone to argue on hearing this.

The Physical Kids encompasses all that is great from the 60's to the 80's. Nite Wok is wonderfully meandering, A Minor Glam Rock, Winterman, 70's So Cal. All 12 songs are Easy Listening, built on great riffs and memorable choruses. An absolute joy to listen to.

Wisconsin's Car City offer up a poptastic 9 song debut. Jason Lemke's songs jangle chirpily around his bitter sweet lyrics. Think Housemartins in approach, indeed Hopeless is very Paul Heaton like. Hardest to believe is the US connection as Car City sound so English or more relevant UK.

These songs could hail from late Eighties Glasgow or late Seventies New Wave. The jingle is ace and the songs are so damn catchy. Hangman could be from the Liverpool Brit Pop revival. (Don't) Give Up On Love is Merseybeat in spirit. Challenger comes over all Psych Folk and Soul Jam is like Michael Stipe fronting The Searchers.

You can listen and buy the album from the band's bandcamp page, tagged earlier here. You can also buy the album on vinyl, a format it deserves, here.

Boston quartet, Glowbox, offer up their second album. It travels through Power Pop, Prog and Psych Pop although it's base is very much Classic Rock. Fossil Fuel is a wonderfully rounded album, beautifully produced and ready for all your Air Guitar moments.

From the AOR of No Connection, through the Psych Pop of Moonstone and the Light Prog of The Decoy, there is just no let up. Rolling It Over is Pure Mod Pop, Home Movies has a Cheap Trick jangle. What Did You Get Done Today reminds me a lot of Vegas With Randolph. Anodyne borders on Heavy Metal and what a Guitar Solo!

This is an album that should be listened to loud with a beer in your hand. It sounds like a Classic already.

Matt Adams's The Blank Tapes have been around for a while now, but that hasn't stopped the Los Angeles' outfit from getting better and better. Candy is a splendid laid back affair from a band that sounds like it should contain Brent Rademaker. At times you can hear that West Coast influence, particularly on the title track, but it's a different West Coast comparison that strikes me. At the times, they sound very 90's Liverpool.

The band is never in one place too long though. You have the Blues of Everything Will Fall Into Place, Thinking About You is The La's brand of Merseybeat, Last Night is pure schmooze. It's In My Mind and She's Your Baby are Brit Pop shuffles, whilst Other Places is Psych Pop of the highest order.

The Blank Tapes have fashioned up an inspired calmness here and at the same time added to their growing reputation.

New York City Trio, The Hasbros reformed to finally record their debut album. It appears 26 years after they split up and it's a great listen. Beautifully played, it's very IRS, think Husker Du and the melodic side of that US Post Punk early 80's period.

However, the band shouldn't be pigeonholed, they reel off that angsty period well and chirpily, but they could equally be compared to Late 70's UK New Wave and Mod Pop and there's even many hints of Power Pop.

There's plenty of variation, from the angry yowl of Nothing At All to a Police like intro on For The Best which is an absolute gem, pure Pop and the all encompassing, Kenny that rocks like a good 'un. The band have even tagged on four songs from their earlier recordings, almost three decades before.

The album is available everywhere, Vinyl is available from CD Baby here.





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Five 2018 Albums That You Should Own Part 1

Houston's Buxton have fashioned up an excellent laid back affair. A clever use of some old fashioned instruments and centring around an almost Lloyd Cole like vocal, Stay Out Late is wonderfully mellow. All 11 songs breeze by, but a special mention should be given to the splendid, "Jan".

Los Angeles's Ward White returns with his eleventh album and it is another deep beautifully written affair. White's vocal is a cross between David Bowie, Roy Orbison and Elvis Costello and Diminish may be his best collection of songs thus far. Wonderfully moody, heavy on words, it's an adventure from start to finish. It's hard to pick a favourite, but Titans, which I played on the Radio Show, is as good as anything that I've heard this year.

Johnny Stanec's 2018 album is a really accomplished offering. An album that I've been playing for a few months and it certainly deserves more than a few lines. But with a new album almost upon us, I'll save far more words for that. The Future Of Nothing is a heady mix of Classic Rock and Power Pop with Acoustic Interludes in between. It is at it's best when rocks, particularly on the poptastic, When I Was Strange. However, it's Rolling Like Time that hits all the spots for me. You can pick the album up for 5 dollars at present, you should.

When you see that an album is based on a film, the hills normally call you. Not a bit of that here, Nashville's Dave Paulson's Sandusky, Ohio is Piano Rock of the highest order. The album reminds me a lot of Bleu, in it's feel is a mix of great 70's Pop Rock, particularly on the excellent, Don't Let It Get You Down. Turning Around is joyous Power Pop with a great Synth breeak. The whole album stands on it's own as splendid melodic pop, it's well worth your attention.

To end, a real surprise, an album released by a Major that's great. Universal Japan have released J Rocking Duo, Glim Spanky's new album and it's a cracker. I know J Rock (or J Pop) isn't everyone's cup of tea, but Looking For The Magic is a fine album. The fourth album moves far more towards Psych Rock, than the band's more Classic Rock moorings and Hiroki Kamemoto is some guitarist. If you want to step away from the obvious, then this is an album you should grab.