The June in November

The June - Barber Shop mp3

from Magic Circles,

their August 2009 Rainbow Quartz debut

We love the Parma trio's psychy Beatlesqueries and have reserved a large chunk of the debut for this month's buyfest over at eMusic. Another excellent Junetune awaits you at the band's Rainbow Quartz page should you care to partake.

MySpace | eMusic

Music of the Sphere: Icecream Hands, Nines, Even, Wellingtons. Hummingbirds, Church, XTC, Stealers Wheel, Squeeze, Beatles, Guadalcanal, Ramones, &c.

Picture Credit

I really hadn't planned on doing another spherepost so soon, but if you were to miss these, I would be very sad, and we can't have that. Be sure to thank the hosts, as I do most fervently. (Click to visit.)

Icecream Hands - Yellow And Blue - Peter's Power Pop

The Nines - Hard Luck - Peter's Power Pop

Even - Seconds - Peter's Power Pop

The Wellingtons - I Get My Heart Broken Every Day - Peter's Power Pop

The Hummingbirds - If A Vow - Peter's Power Pop - Long-time favorites always give me a (love) buzz.

The Church - Almost With You - Peter's Power Pop

XTC - The Mayor of Simpleton & The Loving - Peter's Power Pop

Stealers Wheel - Star - Peter's Power Pop

Squeeze - Another Nail In My Heart - Peter's Power Pop

The Beatles - A Hard Day's Night - Peter's Power Pop - Excellent new-to-me's with an extensive back catalogue. I will definitely be checking them out.

Guadalcanal Diary - Watusi Rodeo - Barely Awake in Frog Pajamas
Dire Straits - Romeo And Juliet - Barely Awake in Frog Pajamas

The Ramones - Pet Sematary - Barely Awake in Frog Pajamas
Wall Of Voodoo - Mexican Radio - Barely Awake in Frog Pajamas

The Raveonettes - Heart of Stone - Dead Flowers - I only placed them last so they could be close to themselves. (See most recent post below.)

The Raveonettes: "The Chosen One"

The Raveonettes - The Chosen One mp3

Bonus track to Danish duo's October Vice Records release,

In And Out Of Control

In our laconically raving way we previewed the LP back in August. Realizing, though, that some of you might not enjoy the retrofitting process, we hereby post all the free and legals we've got and strongly encourage you to visit eMusic for more. It's gonna sound kinda trite, but we don't care: Rave on.

The Raveonettes - Suicide mp3

The Raveonettes - Last Dance mp3

The Raveonettes - Last Dance (demo) mp3

The Raveonettes - Black/White mp3

The Raveonettes - Dead Sound mp3

MySpace | Bandsite | eMusic

(Thanks to Tonia Samman at The Orchard for the bonus!)

Sambassadeur: Always Happy Days

I've expressed my deep love for this superb Swedish band on previous occasions and put my kronor where my mouth is. I tingled to learn a new LP is forthcoming in January on the fabulous Labrador label. Here's the new single.

Sambassadeur - Days mp3

Hmmm, "Days." Now what does that remind me of? Oh, yes, of course, hence a slight but very important diversion. (We're still in Gothenburg, though.)

Days - Simple Thing mp3

MySpace | Thanks to the most excellent Shelflife.

Now back to Sambassadeur.

From Sambassadeur (2005):

Sambassadeur - Between the Lines mp3

Sambassadeur - Kate mp3

From the New Moon EP (2006):

Sambassadeur - New Moon mp3

From Migration (2007):

Sambassadeur - Final Say mp3

Sambassadeur - Subtle Changes mp3

MySpace | Bandsite | eMusic

Nuzzle Muzzle & Pris & BTO, The Treatment, Common Heroes, Tolkien, etc.

Welcome to Powerpopulist, where all talk is small talk, especially when we got our Muzzle on.

Muzzle - Jenna Fine mp3

Muzzle - What a Bore mp3

And just who are - or were - Muzzle? Well may you ask. Please read on.

Muzzle were a 90s Seattle band drummed for by Burke Thomas, aka “BTO.” Thomas – or “Burke” – is a highly talented musical savant associated with a number of bands, including Pris. Pris were the powerpoppin' media through which I came upon him, so to speak. I bought a baker’s handful of their songs back in February, a fact fairly well, if not conclusively, documented here. So when I started hungering for more information on the four-letter word, I arrived here and found these from 2004's The Kiss Off:

Pris - Theet the Moth mp3

Pris - Tightey Whitey mp3

Of course I already had one of those, as documented, but maybe you don't and now we do!

Plus I found these:

Common Heroes - The Rescue mp3

The Treatment - Give It Up mp3

Yummy.

But wait, there’s more (mp3s). (Clicky clicky.)

And if what you really crave is more of the story of the various bands with which BTO has been associated, click here.

And that's all I'm gonna say, for now.

MySpace | Bandsite | eMusic

Music of the Sphere: Elvis C, Sloan, Wellingtons, Seekers, ELO, The Move, Midnight Oil, Rough Bunnies, Elephant Stone, et. al.

We got starry-eyed and laughin' when a wonderful blog we subscribe to, My hmphs, introduced us to the superb antipodean blog, Peter's Power Pop. The tunes below are but a small measure of the treasure that awaits you down under.

First, a few by some groups we didn't know and now want to.

Magic Dirt - Dirty Jeans - Peter's Power Pop

You Am I - Berlin Chair & Mr. Milk - Peter's Power Pop
DM3 - One Time Two Times Devastated - Peter's Power Pop
Ratcat - That Ain't Bad - Peter's Power Pop

Next, a few by some we do.

Elvis Costello and the Attractions - Lip Service & No Action - Peter's Power Pop

The Seekers - A World of Our Own - Peter's Power Pop - long-long-time faves; glorious!

The Wellingtons - Song for Kim - Peter's Power Pop
The Muffs - Really Really Happy - Peter's Power Pop

Electric Light Orchestra - Do Ya - Peter's Power Pop
The Move - Do Ya - Peter's Power Pop
Midnight Oil - Dreamworld - Peter's Power Pop - Peter also has a live version; we saw MO do this one in Austin on the Diesel and Dust tour back in '88. What a night! (eMusic has a bunch of their lps here.)

Finally, here are a few other nice things we found oot and aboot.

Sloan - Coax Me - Six Eyes

Rough Bunnies - Dance With Your Shadow - Swedesplease

The Yes Pleases - Don't Say We're There Yet - Obscure Sound
Alligators - Where Does It Hide - Obscure Sound

Crocodiles - I Wanna Kill - Obscure Sound

Elephant Stone - How Long & I Am Blind & The Straight Line - Obscure Sound - We hope it won't seem officious to mention that back in April we posted a song by Elephant Stone here, along with five songs by Rishi Dhir's former band, The High Dials, all highly recommended.

Thanks to all the hosts!

Friendly Foes: I Wanna Be A BFFOFF

Photo Credit to Jerry Wald

Friendly Foes - Couch Surfing mp3

Friendly Foes - My Body is a Strange Place to Live mp3

from Born Radical,

their 2008 release

on Gangplank Records

We're loving the pure pop of this Ferndale, Michigan outfit.

MySpace | eMusic | Amazon | CD Baby

The Black Hollies Give Good Gloom

The Black Hollies - Gloomy Monday Morning mp3

from Softly Towards The Light, released last week

by Ernest Jenning Record Co.

Maybe we should have waited until mañana to post the above, but what the hey. We've been enjoying this Jersey City band for quite some time now, including this previously posted fave.

The Black Hollies - Paisley Pattern Ground mp3

(That post, this post, and this post have some other nice tuneage as well, if you're interested in that kind of thing.)

Thanks to Chris Vinyard at Big Hassle Media.

MySpace | eMusic | Amazon

Music of the Sphere

Ye Olde Blogosphere As Rendered Here (For Which, Thanks)

Very nice fare, spoiled only by the lamentable tentfolding of dear merz over at Mars Needs Guitars. (Ya, sure, go ahead and click if you're into that kind of self-abuse.) I do sincerely appreciate all the great music he turned me on to and thank him for doing so. Likewise, thanks to the bloggers hereinafter cited.

R.E.M. - Radio Free Europe - AWMusic
Said The Whale - The Magician (Camilo) - AWMusic
The Beatles - I Need You & Hey Jude - AWMusic

The Beatles - Run For Your Life - Star Maker Machine
Nick Lowe - Rose Of England - Star Maker Machine
Fountains of Wayne - Utopia Parkway - Star Maker Machine

The Weakerthans - Tournament of Hearts - Star Maker Machine
Big Star - September Gurls - Star Maker Machine
Fairport Convention -Who Knows Where The Time Goes - Star Maker Machine

The Kinks - Autumn Almanac - Star Maker Machine
XTC - The Ballad of Peter Pumpkinhead - Star Maker Machine
AC/DC - Up To My Neck In You - Star Maker Machine

The Shrinking Islands - Swallowed In Grace & Blood Rays - Bag Of Songs
Horse Shoes - Changing Winds - Milk Milk Lemonade
Sunbear - Flutterbye - Mojophenia

Elusive Parallelograms

Elusive Parallelograms - Orange mp3

from And Everything Changes,

released 9 June of this year

Almost a tautology, as I have always found it difficult to express adequately the strange allure of the parallelogram. This Milwaukee band's attractions didn't elude at all, though, and I've already staked out claims to a number of numbers over at eMusic. Would you like to know which ones? No? Okay, 'scool. Go check 'em out if you like. I left the other free and legal mp3 back at the incomparable Rainbow Quartz site, too, so you might want to pay at least two visits presently.

MySpace | Bandsite | Buy

Dog Day Evening

Dog Day - Synastry mp3

from their Elder Schoolhouse EP

We got this tonight and already we're woofin' and waggin'. Thanks to Matt Charlton at Pigeon Row.

We're still very much enjoying these Halifaxers' previously posted songs from Concentration, released earlier this year.

Dog Day - Rome mp3

Dog Day - Happiness mp3

MySpace | Bandsite | Buy Buy

The Love Kills Theory - Suicide Girls mp3

from Happy Suicide, Jim!

Machine-gun drumming and perfectly timed right-to-left-ear action are but two of the weapons in this NYC gang's well-stocked arsenal.

MySpace | Bandsite | Buy Buy

Black Whales

Black Whales - Young Blood mp3

from Origins EP, released last mo.

We dig the way they sound.

MySpace | Bandsite | Buy

lAPPINg up tHe sWIMMERs

tHe sWIMMERs - A Hundred Hearts mp3

from pEOPle aRe sOFt, due 3 Nov.

I mUSt cONFESs to eNJOYINg tHEIr lOWEr cASE/CAPITALs tHINg, tOo.

Thanks to Lauren at Sneak Attack Media.

And we're still enjoying this previously posted number.

tHe sWIMMERs -Pocketful of Gold mp3

MySpace | Buy

And He Made ME Do This

Hush Arbors - The Devil Made You High mp3

from Yankee Reality, due Tue.

MySpace | Bandsite | Buy