POWERPOPULIST

Sunday, August 19, 2007

Sun Day: Guided by Voices, The Information, Bishop Allen, The Swear, Pernilla Andersson, Marit Bergman, Pia Fraus, Mahogany, Airiel

Pia Fraus and Herrs (vague feeling of mistranslation. . .)

Team Powerpopulist doesn’t always display creativity or logic in its rationale for posting particular songs in particular posts. Some of the fault owes to the filing system. True, it’s hard to blame something that doesn’t exist, but all of this is to say we’ve come across some songs we’d intended to post back in earlier days of the venture but somehow lost track of. There are at least ninety and nine more in similar situation, so we hope to rescue and post them, too.

Male Voices
Guided by Voices - Everybody Thinks I'm A Raincloud (When I'm Not Looking) mp3
The Information - A Simple Plan mp3
Bishop Allen - Things Are What You Make Of Them mp3

Female Voices
The Swear - The Sleep Inside mp3
Pernilla Andersson - Alright mp3

Marit Bergman - No Party mp3

Shoegazers
Pia Fraus
Mooie Island mp3
400 & 57 mp3

Mahogany
My Bed is My Castle mp3
Supervitesse mp3

Airiel
Cinnamon mp3
Firefly mp3

Around the Blogosphere & Happy Birthday, indie mom

If we'da known Saturday was indie mom's bday, we'da baked a cake. Course, we'da had to eat it ourselves, as our fiber optic doesn't transmit foodstuffs. Anyway, my new friends - and yes, both indie mom and alt gramma over at the excellent Speed of Dark kindly extended the bloggy hand of friendship to pplist - celebrated indie mom's thirtieth with an excellent post. (You gettin' all this, hmmm?) indie mom has the clever plan of posting a song from each of her thirty years so far and began today with '77-'81. Below are the three I like best. Oops, and of course, Happy Belated Birthday, indie mom! I'm looking forward to many happy returns to Speed of Dark!

Fleetwood Mac – Never Going Back Again – Speed of Dark
Dire Straits – Sultans of Swing – Speed of Dark
The Cure – A Forest – Speed of Dark

Other bloggers were of course busy at it today as well, so here are some you might like.

The Jealous Girlfriends – How Now – Obscure Sound – Can you wait until the 19-second mark before taking any drastic action? I’m glad I did.
Stiff Little Fingers - Who Died and Made You Elvis? - The Glorious Hum

Retro Music Snob tracked down three Jesus and Mary Chain covers by groups I heartily like.

The Shop Assistants - You Trip Me Up - Retro Music Snob
Elf Power - Upside Down - Retro Music Snob
Tralala - Never Understand - Retro Music Snob

Thanks, hosts and hostesses.

Saturday, August 18, 2007

Around the Blogosphere: Matthew Sweet, Collective Soul, Marshall Crenshaw, Built to Spill, Chapterhouse, Game Theory, ELO, et. al.

You want variety, you got variety. The brave and bounteous bloghosts continue to make our lives just that much fuller. I'm doing this bloggy style, i. e., the songs are listed pretty much in reverse chronological order. If you're in a 70s mood, pop right down to the end of this post. I was obviously impressed with the rich fare offered by my new friends (who don't know me) at Speed of Dark and bag of songs. I do not know if Tom at bos capitalizes any part of his blog's name, so I'll certainly correct it if needed. (Also, I keep wanting to type "speed of dork" but won't. It has nothing to do with the excellent blog itself, btw.)

00s
Crooked Looks - Pay Day Baby - Instrumental Analysis
Golden City - Diamond Suits - Can You See the Sunset from the Southside?
The Secret Handshake - Summer of 98 - Can you See the Sunset from the Southside?
Collective Soul - Hollywood & New Vibration - The Modern Music
Matthew Sweet and Susanna Hoffs - And Your Bird Can Sing (Beatles cover) - Speed of Dark
New Order - Crystal - Dead Flowers: Anglophiles Anonymous

80s/90s
Tobin Sprout - All Used Up - Speed of Dark - Former GbV
Built to Spill – Made Up Dreams – Badminton Stamps
Chapterhouse - Breather & Pearl & Track 11 & We Are the Beautiful & Everytime & Deli – Speed of Dark - Six songs, one word: SHOEGAZE!!!!
Marshall Crenshaw - Let Her Dance (Bobby Fuller Four) - Speed of Dark
Game Theory - Room For One More, Honey - Gaper’s Blog - The first of what looks to be a terrific series

70s
Electric Light Orchestra - Strange Magic - bag of songs
Orleans - Dance with Me - Retro Music Snob
Manfred Mann’s Earth Band - Blinded by the Light - Retro Music Snob - Springsteen cover, you knew that.
KISS - Deuce (live) - Bleedin Out - For the firepot explosions alone this is worth it. Plus it's a great song, and don't even try to convince me otherwise, POPPERS. (I love you, poppers, else I wouldn't be doing this thang.)
Pilot - Magic - bag of songs – “Oh, ho ho, it’s magic.” – that one

Friday, August 17, 2007

For Friday: Sambassadeur, Pash, Strawberry Story, Penny Century, Tiny Masters of Today, New Young Pony Club, Le Fits, Goldenhorse

Quite excited I was - and am fairly certain some of you will be - to find the new single by Sambassadeur at the mighty Pitchfork. I adore this Swedish band (pic), as I've made clear. Everyone I've introduced them to (personally, anyway) immediately falls. I've also got some other really nice tuneage emailed to me and discovered yither and hon the past few days. So perhaps the time has come to post, kick back, and listen. Have a great weekend, everybody.

Sambassadeur - Subtle Changes mp3 - From the “Subtle Changes” single due the 29th of this month

Pash - ABCD mp3 - Thanks to Dave Clifford at Fanatic Promotion.
Strawberry Story - Gone Like Summer mp3 - There are three more downloadables at their MySpace site. (Click band name.)

Penny Century - Nothing Burns Like Bridges mp3 - Released as a free download single by Letterbox Records

Tiny Masters of Today - Wise beyond their years

Bushy mp3

Stickin It To The Man mp3

New Young Pony Club - The Bomb mp3 - From Fantastic Playroom (out August 28th)

Le Fits - Ball of Twine mp3 - From Fits Near Fits

Goldenhorse - Fish mp3 - Thanks to chromewaves, who has one more.

Thursday, August 16, 2007

Around the Blogosphere: Beatles, Hives, Flop, Boomtown Rats, Sniff n the Tears, Stars, Ether Aura, Billy Bragg, Fathom 5, Yeah Yeah Yeahs

I made a vow of sorts I would not put more than five songs from Retro Music Snob in any one post. How ludacris,*** but I've stuck to it so far. Anyway, there's a lot of groovy stuff out there right now just waiting to be "sampled." For example:

The Beatles - Help! - Retro Music Snob
The Hives - Tick Tick Boom (Ruisrock 07 live) - Retro Music Snob
Flop - A. Wylie - Retro Music Snob - Silly name, excellent group, from the several songs I've heard so far.
The Boomtown Rats - Up All Night - Retro Music Snob - Apt title
Sniff n the Tears - Drivers Seat - Retro Music Snob

Stars - Ageless Beauty - Dead Flowers: Anglophiles Anonymous - Absolutely pins me.
Ether Aura - Twist & Tell Me That I’m Nothing - Hits in the Car - I'll long be grateful to Morten for introducing me to these Detroiters, one of the treasures of the last year. . .and decade.
Billy Bragg - Take Down the Union Jack (Remix) - Songs: Illinois
Fathom 5 - And the Words - Coast is Clear - One word: shoegaze.
Yeah Yeah Yeahs - 10 x 10 - The Glorious Hum - Notice the first/last connection? I only just did.
Yeah Yeah Yeahs - Gold Lion - Instrumental Analysis

Thanks, hostpersons.

***Please don't laugh, but at first I spelled it "ludakris!" Duh.

Wednesday, August 15, 2007

Humptaggin' with Action Painters, The XYZ Affair, Boddicker, illuminea, Bella, Hyperbubble, Sonic Youth, Bloc Party, Pixies

There, I think I've said quite enough, let's to the tuna. I might just mention that I gave a good bit of thought to the three groupings, in case it's not all that apparent. Need more info? If you click the artist names, it will come. Oh, and of course, Happy Humptag.

Action Painters - Absolutely Clear mp3 - Ta, spin.com.

The XYZ Affair - Little Fool mp3 - Ta, spin.com.

Boddicker - Mississippi (mp3) - Ta, Toolshed, for the music of this Oxford lad.

Bella - Give it a Night mp3

illuminea - Homewrecker mp3 (pic)

Hyperbubble - Airbrushed Alibis mp3 - Some poppers might object to some of the musical jiggerypotpourri in this one, but what can I say, I like the song. So maybe this is kind of a caveat.

Sonic Youth - Incinerate mp3

Bloc Party - Helicopter (Whitney Remix) mp3

Pixies - Debaser mp3

Tuesday, August 14, 2007

Around the Blogosphere: Tegan and Sara, The Apples in Stereo, House of Love, The Judybats, Holly and the Italians

If you've been there yourself (or even as someone else), you know Retro Music Snob is a fabulous source of links to recent postings. I go there regularly and from the many attractive offerings, choose the ones that are either personal favorites or fit in best with the categories of "powerpop," "Indie," and "whatever we like." The latest:

Tegan and Sara - Hop a Plane - Retro Music Snob

The Apples in Stereo – Green Machine – Retro Music Snob

House of Love – Never – Retro Music Snob

The Judybats – Lullaby – Retro Music Snob - Hurry on this one and the next.

Holly and the Italians – Tell That Girl to Shut Up – Retro Music Snob

The Pipettes, The Moonbabies, The Get Quick, The Sharp Things, B.C. Camplight, Voxtrot

Still awash with music and trying to come clean. Click the band names for additional information. And enjoy, I do hope.

The Pipettes - Pull Shapes mp3 - Thanks to Team Clermont, which also has songs by Architecture in Helsinki, Loney Dear, Headlights, Gruff Rhys, and Dark Meat

The Moonbabies - Sun AM mp3

The Get Quick - Seem mp3

The Sharp Things - An Ocean Part Deux - They appear sharp enough to have learned a thing or two from Prof. Bob Pollard, GbV

B.C. Camplight - Blood and Peanut Butter mp3

Voxtrot - Missing Pieces mp3

Around the Blogosphere, Mini Edition: The Chills, Martha & The Muffins, Cat Stevens, Rogue Wave, and The Dandy Warhols

Here are a few nice ones I found while making the rounds Monday night. Maybe if I post these as soon as I find them, we can avoid the alarmingly long lists I've been laying out of late. So far no one's complained, but they're (you're) probably just being polite. Speaking of which, I do thank the hosts and hostesses for posting these songs.

The Chills - Heavenly Pop Hit - Some Velvet Blog - One of my favorite songs of the early 90s
Martha & The Muffins - Echo Beach - Some Velvet Blog
Cat Stevens - Bitterblue - Some Velvet Blog
Rogue Wave - Lake Michigan - My Old Kentucky Blog
The Dandy Warhols - Cool Scene - Instrumental Analysis

Sunday, August 12, 2007

Sunday Poppin': Telepathic Butterflies, 88, Aislers Set, Dora Flood, California Oranges, Herman's Hermits

Nein? Okay, then, let's try telepathy.

Okay, on the seventh - or first, whatever - day of the week we rested but we also posted a nice little set of poppers, both power and indie. I'm indebted to Steve Simels and NYMary over at PowerPop blog for pointing me toward the Herman's Hermits classic, "No Milk Today." You will find several more at head Hermit Peter Noone's webpage. You'll also find some more by fabulous Manitobans The Telepathic Butterflies at their bandsite. The same applies to my new heartthrobs Dora Flood, The 88, and The Aislers Set. Be sure and check out the song, "Run Away" at the California Oranges site. I hope to be able to post it here someday.

The Telepathic Butterflies
All Very Hoopla! mp3
The Cutting Elm mp3

The 88

Sunday Afternoon mp3

All The Same mp3

The Aislers Set

One Half Laughing mp3

The Way to Market Station mp3

Dora Flood

Capsule Life mp3

Two Passing Shadows mp3

California Oranges – Falling Back mp3

Herman’s Hermits - No Milk Today mp3

Saturday, August 11, 2007

Around the Blogosphere: Weekend Edition

(Inane introductory paragraph removed by blogger.)

No problem at all finding our lead story today.

The Beatles - Two of Us (Let It Be. . .Naked version) - The Rawking Refuses to Stop - Also has video of the final, rooftop concert

I'm still new enough at this bloggig that I thrill whenever some "colleague" chooses to add me to his/her blogroll. When I find s/he is posting high quality stuff I can't resist, it's even better. Such happened with--and here I can accurately use the word "friend" even though she doesn't actually know me, etc.--Ginny over at My Little Ghost Friend. Tesco Chainstore Mascara were one of my earliest posts, but I'll not add a link because the song I posted's been cut off at the source. Sigh. Ginny's posted two superdupers, including an excellent cover of "That Thing You Do," penned by Fountains of Wayner Adam Schlesinger.
Tesco Chainstore Mascara - Sun’s Shinin’ For You & That Thing You Do - My Little Ghost Friend
If all I had found were these two songs, 'twould be a bounteous harvest. But wait, there's more.

(Embarrassing transitional paragraph removed by blogger. Really.)

Current and Recent
Airiel - Thinktank - The Cropper - Shoegaze magic; I'm not bragging or nothin', but I also put one up by these guys here.
Airiel - Sugar Crystals (feat Ulrich Schnauss) - The Muso
Panda Bear - Ponytail - The Muso

Hari and Aino - Your Heartache and Mine - The Yellow Stereo - I posted "Second Song" here, if you want to save PJ some bandwidth.
Johnny Boy - You Are The Generation. . . - The Yellow Stereo - Title of The Yellow Stereo post is “Johnny Boy Gives You What You Deserve" - Brrrrrr.
Mew - The Zookeeper’s Boy - Music for Kids Who Cant Read Good

80s/90s Blissout
The Stone Roses - Made of Stone - Some Velvet Blog - My favorite song by one of my all-time favorite bands; one of the songs in an excellent tribute to Madchester maven Tony Wilson, dead of a heart attack at the age of 57
Guided by Voices - On The Tundra - Badminton Stamps - Hilarious and well-stocked Philly blog I just discovered tonight. Read the takes on Canada and the Corn Flakes/Special K foodfight. What a blog's like when the blogger is cool, connected, and can write.
The Smiths - There is a Light That Never Goes Out - Slave to Shuffle - My fave by The Smiths
Echo and the Bunnymen - Lips Like Sugar - Slave to Shuffle
Joan Jett - I Love Rock N’ Roll - Some Velvet Blog

Retro Music Snob Picks of the Picks
Sex Pistols - EMI - Retro Music Snob
Billy Joel - Sometimes a Fantasy - Retro Music Snob
Red Rockers - China - Retro Music Snob
The Police - Next to You - Retro Music Snob
Al Stewart - Time Passages - Retro Music Snob

What can I say? Hostesses and hosts, you are scrumdiddlyumptious.