Wednesday, February 28, 2007

Sister Vanilla

The Reid brothers of the well-nigh peerless Jesus and Mary Chain continue the collaboration they began with their Reid sister Linda on Munki. The name notwithstanding to the contrary and other stuff, it's anything but vanilla. The mighty Pitchfork has two of them, so go get the other one there. Merz at Mars Needs Guitars has another one by Sister Vanilla, Ms. Reid's terrific Munki-shining "Moe Tucker," and several other JAMC goodies.

Tuesday, February 27, 2007

Tuesdaytunes

Hope you weren't expecting a lot of words? Goooood. . . (The Persil pic captures my joy.) Click thou the artists' names and receive thou enlightenment.
Blonde Redhead - 23 mp3 - Thanks to AOL's Spinner.com page. - Lots of goodies

Monday, February 26, 2007

Monday Mood: Grimskunk, Paybacks, Dirty Fuzz, Fish Karma, Tullycraft

Feeling a bit lethargic today, so maybe these first four will get things moving. If it works, we'll be ready to be wispy again with #5. All five bands are scheduled to be at SXSW next month. Attention, new visitors: this is not our usual fare, so do scroll down the page for less caustic product. If The Paybacks and Dirty Fuzz aren't working, click to go to the SXSW site and you can hear them. They've been kind of off and on. It's pretty easy to tell who's raising a lovely little stink in the picture.

GrimskunkWakin and Bakin mp3
The PaybacksCall When You’re Ready mp3
Dirty FuzzLove’s a Gun mp3
Fish KarmaFifty Caliber Christ mp3
Tullycraft - Stowaway mp3

Sunday, February 25, 2007

Heet is Hot

I recently found a Dutch blog that is fast becoming one of my favorites. Hot Stof is the English version and extension of Heet Stof, which began operations in January of last year. Heet likes a lot of the same artists I like, but he's also tracking down lots I hadn't yet encountered, which, when the music's good, is always exciting. I'm posting below some of my favorites I found there (they're all available at record and band sites), plus a link to the original post at HS. Each post has one or more additional songs by each artist. [P. S.: Are we through with SXSW artists? Not necessarily.]

The Makes Nice - Candy Wrapper mp3 - More here.
The Daysleepers - The Soft Attack mp3 - More here.
The Micragirls - My My Micraboy mp3 - More here.

Saturday, February 24, 2007

Friday, February 23, 2007

Little Hits Faves - Part Deux

Unless my eyes or some other body part(s) deceive me, it's Friday, and that can only mean--ta da!--Little Hits Faves. I did the setup here but don't mind repeating: clicking below takes you to the Little Hits post where the song is found. Once at Little Hits you (or an accomplice) click the blue artist name/song title to launch the song.

The Princes of Peace – X-Ray Proved
The Maryland Cookies – Don’t Lie to Me
The Nashville Ramblers – The Trains
The Tweeds – Underwater Girl
The Hollies – Baby That’s All

Thursday, February 22, 2007

SXSW 2007, cont'd: Fiver

No big setup needed, as we continue our preview of some of the talent soon to descend on Central Texas. . .Yeh, everybloggy uses this picture, but that's cuz it's a cool picture.


Wednesday, February 21, 2007

SXSW 2007, cont'd: More News & Knowns

As with yesterday, I'll here post five South by Southwest Festival artists that are new to me and five I've known for awhile. Click artist names for more information. Oh, and today's award for Track That Was Originally Working Fine But When Shove Came To Push Refused To Work Properly goes to: none of the below; they're all working mighty fine (at final check).

News
BigbangSaturn Freeway mp3
The CynicsI Want It All mp3
Midnight MoviesPatient Eye (Edit) mp3
Swan Island - Crumble mp3
WaxplanetTurn Me Up mp3

Knowns
Headlights - TV mp3
MaritimeTearing Up the Oxygen mp3
Kristoffer Ragnstam - Breakfast by the Mattress mp3
The Summer WardrobeNed Kelly mp3
The Village GreenWhen the Creepers Creep In mp3

Monday, February 19, 2007

SXSW 2007, cont'd: 10 More

After knockin' ya upside the noggin' with 35 big ones yesterday, we'll tone it down a touch. Here are ten more from bands scheduled to play at Austin's South by Southwest Festival next month. Glancing up at the old Powerpopulist masthead again, I would say these tend more toward the "indie" and "whatever we like" side. Not to every taste perhaps, but each had some tone, grind, hook, voice, quirk, or whoknowswhatery I somehow needed. Except for Calla and Protokoll, each was new to me (so feel free to smirk condescengingly, cogniscenti!!!). I'm ready to post a lot of songs by better-known groups, the kind that are flooding the blogs right now. I'll post those in a few days, but for now, I thought it might be nice to hear some lesserknowns. I do hope you find some to like. Oh, and if you want to feast on a clickable list of what appear to be all the mp3s submitted by SXSW bands, click Hear Ya! (Thanks to Dodge at My Old Kentucky Blog for the headsup--as if that Lord of the Blogs would ever notice this lowly netserf. Still. . .I do thank his lordship.) Once again, this idiot Blogger program (or maybe it's just this idiot blogger) is messing up. You'll probably have to click on the band name and go to Finn's Motel's SXSW site to hear their song. It's worth the click.

BlacklistLanguage of the Living Dead mp3
Calla - Swagger mp3
Experimental AircraftWalk Away mp3
Finn’s MotelOf Cycles and Engines mp3
Hello StrangerTake It to the Maxx mp3
The High StrungThe Baddest Ship mp3
MinipopLike I Do mp3
Monahans - Undiscovered mp3
ProtokollMoving Forward mp3
The StitchesCars of Today mp3
Turn Me On Dead ManGalaxina mp3
UnbustedYeah Right mp3

Sunday, February 18, 2007

SXSW 2007: Big Bloc 4

It's always exciting when South by Southwest announces its schedule and posts songs by many of the bands that will be appearing at the festival. I just spent several--okay, six--pleasant hours making my way through the entire list from Aa to zZz (I skipped +/- because they didn't provide a sample mp3). I admit I didn't listen to every single song. Certain categories didn't really interest me, not yet at least. But I did give ear to everything labelled rock and pop that I didn't already know, plus a few others. I actually want to go back and listen to a few more categories, but I've compiled a list of a couple hundred tunes that I liked. The eternal question at a blog: to post only a few at a time or post the whole lot? I know it's daunting to see a long list, so if you're interested, you might only want to sample a few at a time. Hopefully they'll be here for awhile. SXSW seems to leave them posted semi-permanently, as I showed with my recent posts for SXSW 2005 and SXSW 2006. Anyway, enough chatter, let's to the tunes. I begin with the ones that comport most closely with two of the three terms at the masthead of this blog: powerpop and indie. I've got a bunch more, especially of the indie variety, but most of those have pp tendencies. I'll be posting some of them over the next couple of days. Here are a stingy baker's three dozen. Links are provided to the SXSW band sites.

Air Traffic - Charlotte mp3
The Apples in Stereo - Energy mp3
The ArkOne of Us Is Gonna Die Young mp3
The Awkward StageHeaven is for Easy Girls mp3
Bang GangFind What You Get mp3
The Breakup SocietyRobin Zander mp3
Broadfield MarchersKingdom for Lions mp3
The Capitol YearsYou Can Stay There mp3
The ComasNew Wolf mp3
The DagonsIt Flies Out mp3
E>K>U>KKeMo Thera-P mp3
ElectricoLove in New Wave mp3
Elemeno P - 1157 mp3
The EndsNice Quiet You mp3
The Explorers Club - Forever mp3
FernandoHoward Hughes mp3
Future Clouds and RadarQuicksilver mp3
The GearEight Arms to Hold You mp3
Going HomeAct 7, Scene 8 mp3
GoldenboySummer of the Evening mp3
The Jellydots - Bicycle mp3
The Little OnesLovers Who Uncover mp3
Los Abandoneda la mode mp3
Luminous Orange - EverySingleChild mp3
The MoogI Like You mp3
Paul Collins Beat - Helen mp3
Patrick PikeBeautiful Thing mp3
Pop LeviSugar Assault Me Now mp3
The ProcessionMajor and Minor mp3
StarkyHey Bang Bang mp3
The SternsSupreme Girl mp3
The TeethTrumpet Blared mp3
WinterpillsBroken Arm mp3
The Yoko CasionosLoose Cannon mp3
The ZebrasYou Look Ready mp3

Thursday, February 15, 2007

Little Hits Faves

One happy night back in the Fall of 2005 I discovered the fabulous Little Hits, a blog devoted to obscure indie and powerpop songs of the recent and distant past. I was so excited that first night I went through their entire archives up to that point, sampling everything they had posted. I quickly assembled a long list of faves, with an "Almosts" list of another 50-60 fine tunes. Little Hits became a part of my daily rota of mp3 blogs, and by the end of the first year, I had another five or six dozen favorites and more "Almosts." I got to thinking that some of you who visit Powerpopulist might enjoy some of the same Little Hits that most pleasingly plunked my twanger. After discussing this idea with Stewart Mason, the new main blogmeister there, we decided it would be best if I didn't link directly to the songs themselves but to the posts where the songs are found. This will require an extra click on your part, but, who knows, it might be worth it. If it's not working for you, no harm done. You might also enjoy digging through their Archives yourself. Anyway, here's our first post of Little Hits Faves. Once at Little Hits, just click on the blue Band Name - Song Title.

Rotjoch - Tomorrow
The Boys from Nowhere - Beg
Blue - Danger Sign
The Spliffs - You Know What They'll Say
Band of Outsiders – Dutch Girl Concern

Dinosaur Jr: Way Beyond "Almost"

Hey, DJr fans, here's the way we remember Dinosaur Jr, as if they'd never been away. Sadly, of course, they kind of have been, but Beyond, their first album in ten years, is due for release on May 1. Very darned exciting, this! And the song? Goofily grinning 360, laughing aloud with pleasure. Thanks to the mighty Pitchfork for making it available!

Dinosaur Jr - Almost Ready mp3

Wednesday, February 14, 2007

FanoFanatic: Safes, Black Watch, Cezanne, Bang Gang

Mark over at Fanatic Promotion sent some very satisfying listens my way today, and here're what I liked best. Links are provided for more. Among other things, you are visually beholding Chicago's The Safes.

The Safes - Fairytale Tomorrow mp3
The Black Watch - Williamsburg mp3
Cezanne - Hells Bells mp3
Bang Gang - Find What You Get mp3

Monday, February 12, 2007

Recent Finds

Nice tuneage, imho. Click names for info. Sorry, no time for exposition. Please forgive/thank?

Language of Flowers - Tara Mascara mp3
The Purrs - Loose Talk mp3
The Rifles - Local Boy mp3
Track A Tiger - All These Accidents mp3
Nom de Guerre - So Long Sister mp3
Bonk Life is Noise mp3 - Raucous Alert: Tender plants, beware.

Sunday, February 11, 2007

Loney, Dear

There's a lot of love out there right now for Sweden's Loney, Dear, as well there should be. Yesterday I posted the popular "I Am John," but some of you might have missed my December posting of "The City, The Airport." (After all, those were the early days of Loneymania.) So here it is. You can also hear a number of samples at the Loney, Dear song site and full-length streams at his MySpace site. Enjoy.

Loney, Dear - The City, The Airport mp3

Saturday, February 10, 2007

Big Bloc 3: Get the Parasol

Rain or shine, the folks at Parasol gotcha covered. (Snow is problematical.) I selected the following from four pages of info and offerings, leaving behind probably two to three times as many free and downloadables as are posted below. Information on each artist is available at the Parasol website. The links to pages 2, 3, and 4 are found at the bottom of the website's first page.

The Apples in StereoNew Magnetic Wonder
Energy wma
Skyway wma
Sunndal Song wma
Sloan - Never Hear the End of It
I Understand wma
HFXNSHC wma
Yo La Tengo - I Should Have Known Better wma
Headlights - Lions wma
The Legends - Darling wma
David & the Citizens - Out Of My Hands wma
Aberdeen - The Boy Has Gone Away wma
Sparklehorse - Shade And Honey wma
Ashley Naylor - Merry-Go-Round wma
The Embassy - Stage Persona wma
Pink Nasty - Thirsty Thursday wma
Leopold - Johnny wma
I'm From Barcelona - Collection of Stamps wma
Clinic - Tusk wma
Black Belt
Road Crew wma
Hold On wma
Loney, Dear - I Am John mp3
Peter Bjorn And John - Young Folks wma
New Ruins - Ships mp3
Voxtrot - Trouble wma
Unnatural Helpers - Lights Down Low wma
Electric Blankets - Hanging On The Telephone wma
Richard Lloyd - Watch Yourself (original) wma
Broder Daniel
Cruel Town wma
Shoreline wma
When We Were Winning wma
Honey is Cool
On The Beach wma
The Lion wma
The Secret Ink
Neverafter wma
Boomerang wma

Saturday Spin: Adored, Oranger, Broken West, Meeting Places, Matson Jones, Rocky Votolato, Page France, Shout Out Louds

This post pretty much empties my vault of recent acquisitions at Spin.com's Artist of the Day site. As Der Govnah puts it, though, "I'll be back."

The Adored - Tell Me Tell Me mp3
Oranger - Crooked in the Weird of the Catacombs mp3
The Broken West - Down in the Valley mp3
The Meeting Places - Hall of Fame mp3
Matson Jones - A Little Bit Of Arson Never Hurt Anyone mp3
Rocky Votolato - White Daisy Passing mp3
Page France - Junkyard mp3
Shout Out Louds - Hurry Up Let's Go asx - Try VLC media player: http://www.videolan.org/ if yours doesn't work; VLC worked for me

No Need to be Humble

My explorations at IndiePages earlier in the week led me to Humblebee Recordings, where I found the following delightful offerings. I wasn't sure if I could link directly to these songs and therefore thank Chris at IndiePages for giving the green light. As I said before, he has a host of good sounds at your beck.

The Airfields Lonely Halls mp3
Sleepy Township - Monument mp3
Postal BlueThe World Doesn’t Need You mp3

Friday, February 09, 2007

Heyday Revisited: Game Theory

Yes, I've loved Game Theory very much for a long time now. Beautiful instrumentation, incredibly clever lyrics, some production by Mitch Easter: does it get any better? A friend even got me Scott Miller's autograph, along with a personal message to someone he didn't even know. Wow! As best I can tell, GT's products are no longer available new, and the used versions are higher priced than standard, but well worth it. (Just to clarify, if you click the Amazon link, I am not referring to "Game Theory" by The Roots. Not at all.) I've kicked myself many a new one for not buying Lolita Nation in CD back in the day, but at least I have precious vinyls of it, along with vinyls of all their other lps. Please read the AllMusic summary, where you will note that Miller went on to form a new band, The Loud Family, who just released a new album, What If It Works?,this past fall. You can disport yourself happily at The Loud Family website, reading cool insights by Miller and downloading beaucoup mp3s by both TLF and GT. I think you will agree that the producers of a popular t.v. series wisely did not choose the following as the theme song. If all goes as planned, it will be posted for seven 24's.

Game Theory - 24

MoGloNo: Strokes, Elf Power, Thermals, White Stripes, Fortune & Maltese

Yes, there are even more than previously posted. Generous, generous Glorious Noise! I have but scratched the surface. I will not claim to be the fiercest fan of The Strokes, but this one I liked very much.

The Strokes - 12:51 mp3
Elf Power - An Old Familiar Scene mp3
The Thermals - Here's Your Future mp3
The White Stripes You’re Pretty Good Looking mp3
Fortune & Maltese - Bewitched mp3

Tuesday, February 06, 2007

At hhbtm: boyracer, Poison Control Center, Smittens, Keith John Adams, Maybellines

I highly recommend the excellent Obscure Sound’s post on Kentuckians Ideal Free Distribution. Following his cues took me to hhbtm records, where I found links to songs by boyracer (left) and Poison Control Center I already owned but also to a bunch of nice things by artists I didn’t know and am glad I now do. I hope you’ll like them, too. I'll post five for now. To avoid possibly fatal confusion, I should note that hhbtm lists The Maybellines under the category, "Inlaws." Clicking the artists' names below should augment your knowledge and put you in touch with other of their recorded product.

boyracer - Where To Place Your Trust mp3
Poison Control Center - Kennedy mp3
The Smittens - Stop The Bombs mp3
Keith John Adams - Never Look Down mp3
The Maybellines - Battleship mp3

Linked at Last: Brother Kite, Camera Obscura, Radio Dept., Five Blank Pages, Youth Group

I'm very glad to have found links to the following faves. Click band names for info. Apologies for skimpy verbiage.

The Brother Kite - I'm Not The Only One mp3
Camera Obscura - If Looks Could Kill mp3
The Radio Dept. - The Worst Taste In Music mp3
Five Blank Pages - A Point Of Reference mp3
Youth Group - Sorry mp3

Monday, February 05, 2007

The Yoko Casionos

The excellent Chromewaves posted The Yoko Casionos back in October, but I only caught up with them today. These Vancouverites lay out fabulous powerpop in no uncertain terms. I'm posting "Cameras On," which is available at the band's website. You can hear more at their MySpace site and download the equally superb "Loose Cannon" at Chromewaves. Thanks to Frank for this exciting discovery.

The Yoko Casionos Cameras On mp3

Sunday, February 04, 2007

Super Sunday: Superfantastics, superfallingstars, Year Zero, Charade

Here's the perfect antidote to a testosterone-drenched Sunday (this side of the Atlantic/Pacific, anyway). I'm sure some of you found IndiePages'ssss Best of 2006 lists long ago (maybe even in 2006). My embarrassment at having done so only tonight is as nothing to the pleasure derived from what I found there. Please click on the IndiePages link if you haven't already been. You will find an abundance of great music. BTW, can you tell by their zany antics and the smidge of letters I left whom are pictured? They are sending a message. (Apologies to band members whose feet and/or toes were excised so that the clues would not be too obvious.)

The Superfantastics - Tapestry mp3
superfallingstarsI’m Not Really Sure mp3
The Year Zero - The Truth About Stars mp3
The Charade
Monday Morning mp3
A Tough Decision mp3
My Song to You mp3

Saturday, February 03, 2007

Big Bloc 2: SXSW 2005 Roundup

The response to last week's Big Bloc 1 posting of selected mp3s from SXSW 2006 was vast, although largely invisible but to the practiced eye. Here's a list I put together of three dozen songs I like from SXSW 2005. Again, if you find yourself wanting more, click on the two SXSW's above. As I did for Big Bloc 1, I am retaining original spelling, deleting "mp3" so as to make it easier to browse the list, and leaving it to you to Google for more artist info. So here we go with Big Bloc 2, chip off the. . .nevermind.

Boyskout - Jesse James
Crooked Fingers - Call To Love
Cruiserweight - This Aint No Beach Party
Dirty on Purpose - Mind Blindness
Dwight Twilley - Walking on Water
Earlimart - The Hidden Track
Epo-555 - le beats on fire
Head of Femur - Curve That Byrd
Jason Falkner - Lost Myself
Joy Zipper - Out of the Sun
Limbeck - Julia
Low Frequency In Stereo - Man Dont Walk
Maximo Park - The Night I Lost My Head
Novillero - The Hypothesist
Of Montreal - So Begins Our Alabee
Tegan and Sara - Walking With a Ghost
The Capitol Years - Mounds of Money
The Chapters - Its All Too Much
The Crash - Gigolo
The Czars - Paint The Moon
The Damnations - New Hope Cemetery
The Dawn Parade - The Underground
The Dears - Lost In The Plot
The Emeralds - LOVE FIRE
The Deathray Davies - I regret the day I tried to steal daniels ego
The Ends - Pucker Up
The Grip Weeds - Realities
The Lackloves - The Radios Mine Radio Edit
The Lashes - Sometimes the Sun
The Oranges Band - OK Apartment
The Panda Band- Eyelashes
The Paybacks - Bright Side
The Pretty Please - The Rockstar Guide to Falling Apart
The Salteens - Time You Have Been Wasting
The Silent League - Breathe
The Telepathic Butterflies - A Final Word

Friday, February 02, 2007

Friday Night Finds

Making the rounds tonight, I found some hostings you might like. First, several blogs are posting songs off The Shins' new album, Wincing the Night Away, which I recently posted on, as well. Music for Kids Who Can’t Read Good has "Australia," Bows+Arrows has “Sleeping Lessons,” and An Aquarium Drunkard has “Sea Legs.” I don't know if Heather over at I Am Fuel, You Are Friends is projecting, but she is posting one of my very favorite songs by Guided by Voices, "Chasing Heather Crazy." She also posts The Smithereens covering The Beatles' "All My Loving," off the recently released tribute album Meet the Smithereens. The always excellent Mira el Péndulo has songs I enjoyed/downloaded by two lesser known groups, Sourpuss and Tender Engines. (Click the band names for Mira.) This next song didn't immediately kick into me, but it began to make nice moves after a bit: The Wannadies' top 20 British hit, "Hit," found at the consistently rewarding mp3hugger. And, yes, I will myself post a song by super Canadians Sloan that I found at the ever-generous Amp Camp. Sloan are picced, which may or may not be a word, but this is a colorful freakin' post, man.

Sloan - Even Though mp3

Go, Janne, Go!

Janne over at Evil Robotics has a fantastic series of classic powerpop tunes up and running. So far he's six-for-six, with postings by Really 3rds, The Keys, The Nerves, The Beat (Paul Collins'sss), Artful Dodger, and The Only Ones. A few clicks and I've no doubt you will agree that Janne be good!

Heyday Revisited: Material Issue

In case you're new to this blog, for several weeks now I've been posting three or four favorites per week from the late 80s/early 90s. This was a heyday of musical discovery for me, hence the incredibly clever title of the series. Chicagoans Material Issue were definitely one of my favorite bands from the era, producing pure powerpop produced (on two albums) by fellow Hoosier Jeff Murphy, member of one of the purest of all powerpop bands, Shoes. (I've posted about Shoes here, here, and here.) As usual, I'll let the music do the talking. Read a good summary of Material Issue here, sample and buy here and here. "Renee Remains the Same" is off their debut full-length, International Pop Overthrow. The song is posted for one week. (There are lots of links in this paragraph, so hover and discover.)

Material Issue - International Pop Overthrow - Renee Remains the Same
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