The Make Three - You, Me & The Make Three

 

The Anderson Council's latest album has been the most popular review on IDHAS this year. The Brixton Riot remain one of our favourite bands. You can read our reviews of both here and here. So how about a Power Pop Trio featuring the leaders of both bands with Chris Ryan, the ex drummer of The Anderson Council?

Glad that I've got your attention! Peter Horvath, Jerry Lardieri and Ryan provide exactly what you want and expect bringing the best of both bands with a rocked up brand of a genre that appears to be slowly making a well intentioned revival.

Part of the decline came not because of the bands, but due to the fans arguing about what and wasn't Power Pop and dissing anything that was new from non established bands. A younger generation have led the revival, but it is now particularly pleasurable to see veterans if you like join the revival.

It will also allow writers and reviewers to return hopefully. They can now mention Power Pop again, not having to try and name it something else. The Make Three adopt the Trio format that generally provides the best of the genre.

The band only come up for air on a couple of occasions, this is mostly up and at 'em stuff. Parts Unknown is one of those slower moments and is one of the best things here. It is brooding, slightly jangly in a TFC way and underlines that these 10 songs offer great variety.

Having said that, the standout song is Emily Strange and demonstrates perfectly what the best of both bands brings. The album is released on 21 July, so not long now. You can pre-order now and I will add and I heartily suggest you do. You'll love it! Highly Recommended.

You can pre-order the album here. I will embed two more songs on release.

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The Brixton Riot - Close Counts

I am back on home territory with The Brixton Riot in New Wave Pop Rock territory. They hail from New Jersey and you can hear the influences of The Beat and The Plimsouls, although more of the sound reminds me of the UK and have you have the band name tie in too.

The band remind me a lot of the better end of that UK scene and also the US Bands that came over. I'm thinking Pezband and The Sinceros, although there are Mod Pop overtones at times. I used to hear a lot of this type of material, now there seems less and less and what there is badly done. Not so Close Counts, this is a particular type of Power Pop done to perfection.






Hector Quaser is very Bram Tchaikovsky like and the Call And Response of Easier Said Than Done is really addictive. The Ballad Of Pete Best has a driving rhythm that equals any of the best Mod Pop around. Talk About Nothing has a killer riff, so Paul Collins.

Little Spark's verse is very Graham Parker with a killer chorus and the album slows down on the closing, Surrender To The Voice, which again is very Graham Parker with it's Brinsley Schwarz guitar. Throughout the album, I was trying to pin the drum sound, it's very Clem Burke.






I realise that I've made more references to bands that The Brixton Riot sound like than I would normally. That's because this is a beautifully produced album, plenty of hooks, some great choruses and a thankfully minimal amount of Guitar breakouts. I love it.






You can listen to and buy the album here.