Once upon a time, pop and rock came together and made a baby, and its name was Pop-Rock. Very strictly speaking, Pop-Rock is a fusion genre that mixes a catchy pop style and light lyrics in its (typically) guitar-based rock songs. Other genres that bear similar traits would be Powerpop, Melodic Rock, Soft Rock, Jangle Pop, Glam Rock, New Wave, Indie Pop and of course, Rock ’n’ Roll.
To be honest, I was rather freaked out the first time I heard Talking Heads. That was in 1980 with Remain in Light, the band’s fourth album, which involved ground-breaking pop-rock experiments with African rhythms. And of course, when I first heard David Byrne’s voice, it took some getting used to as well. But when the follow-up, Speaking in Tongues was released in 1983, I found myself enjoying the catchy songwriting especially “Burning Down the House” and “This Must Be the Place (Naive Melody)”. Presumably that is why I consider Little Creatures to be my favourite Talking Heads LP as it featured more conventional pop-rock, not to mention the introduction of country-folk into the dynamic.
Continue reading POWER OF POP RECOMMENDS: TALKING HEADS – LITTLE CREATURES (1985)
Second EP from these Perth-based smart poppers finds them in the sweet G-spot between British post-punk and American new wave. Simply put – infectious melodies, bouncy rhythms, quirky lyrics and cool vibes overall. Seriously folks, they don’t make pop music like this anymore. This is the kind of pop, Power of Pop was established to drool over!
The title track is a masterwork of tightness and economy, crammed into its 3:31 minutes is more absolutely gorgeous pop (is there a better middle-eight/bridge from anyone else in 2014?) than anything most of the post-punk revivalists will be able to muster in their unreasonably overlong careers (you know who you are!)
Amazingly, the other four tracks do not fall too shy off the pop perfection of the title track. “I Disagree With Myself” is a brilliantly clever pop single that the likes of XTC and Split Enz would be proud to call their own with an irresistible chorus hook to boot – “I don’t wanna be dumb and bored”. No danger of that!
“Far From the Moment” and “Don’t Look at Me” have similarly mellifluous refrains – sweetness perfected in hooks and riffs that dig deeply into the ear. And of course, opener “Uppers and Downers” is a wonderful study in tone – offbeat, sinister and yet funny at the same time. No mean feat.
The Disappointed – check them out cuz believe me, you will not be!
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THE SOPHOMORE SLUMP
You know the saying, a band takes a lifetime to write and record its first album and then six months to record the follow-up. Sometimes, this results in a poor second album and whether a band can overcome this setback or not is never a certainty. We look to the 80s for 4 examples of how bands coped with the second album syndrome.
THE KNACK – But The Little Girls Understand…
The band’s debut album, Get the Knack, was 1979’s best-selling albums, holding the number one spot on Billboard magazine’s album chart for five consecutive weeks and selling two million copies in the United States. It’s biggest hit – “My Sharona” was the song of ’79. The band rush-released But The Little Girls Understand… (in early 1980) which came across like an inferior version of the debut LP. Although, the album still went gold, the album left fans and critics unimpressed and the third LP – Round Trip – was a flop. But in hindsight, the album is really not as bad as it sounded back in 1980…
“I’m just as fucked up as they say…”
Canadian band Metric is a true-blue indie artist in every sense of the word. Formed around the nucleus of singer-keyboardist Emily Haines and guitarist Jimmy Shaw in 1998, Metric has made its distinctive music on its own terms. Synthetica is the band’s 5th album and quite possibly its best yet.
Continue reading METRIC – LIVE IN SINGAPORE : SYNTHETICA REVIEW
The Cars are back and why not? Watch the video of Sad Song, off new album Move Like This. It’s basically what you’d expect – driving rhythms, buzzing synths & geek rock vibe – almost like they never left…this ones a definite grower.
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Back before streaming and downloading providing anyone with an internet account access to any song ever recorded, the only place you could listen to music (other than the radio) was the record store. In Singapore, before Tower Records introduced listening booths here, one had to actually get the store clerk to play the record of your choice over the PA in order to find out how it sounded like. Or sometimes, if you’re lucky, somebody else would be testing the record and you’ll hear something you like.
That’s where I first heard Huey Lewis & the News sometime in 1982. The song was Do You Believe In Love? (actually written by Robert ‘Mutt’ Lange!) from the album, Picture This, the band’s sophomore album. Based on that, I purchased the album and this ‘new wave’ standard-bearer has remained a favorite of mine.
THE LUCY SHOW …undone (Words On Music)
Rock history is littered with the debris of promising bands who never quite fulfilled their full potential. You could say that The Lucy Show certainly qualifies. During their brief existence (from 1983 to 1988) the band released two critically well-received post-punk/new wave albums that never got the label marketing support required to sustain the commercial momentum to survive the cut-throat music industry.
US indie label Words On Music has done its part in re-issuing the two Lucy Show LPs in an attempt to expose the band to the modern day rock audiences. …undone is the band’s debut (1985) and is reminiscent of the Cure and the Comsat Angels in its use of sonic atmospherics and affected vocals.
Tracks like the REM-channeling Remain, the other-worldly Ephemeral (This Is No Heaven), the fragile Wipe Out, the dynamic Undone and the psychedelic Dream Days are excellent representations of the kind of post-punk that continues to be deeply influential to this day on bands like the White Lies, the Editors and the xx.
A relic from a different age.
Official site
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VAMPIRE WEEKEND Contra (XL)
Loved Vampire Weekend’s eponymous debut CD – found it truly refreshing. Which is ironic when you consider that Vampire Weekend’s music is at its core a simple channeling of Paul Simon’s Graceland, Talking Heads’ Remain in Light and the early edgy post-punk of XTC. But… it’s refreshing nonetheless.
Same applies to Contra (a thematic response, it seems to The Clash’s Sandinista), Vampire Weekend’s superb sophomore effort. Like so many of their peers, Vampire Weekend’s debt to post-punk/new wave cannot be over-stated. That does not change the fact that Contra is an irresistibly fun record, it comes across like an in-joke that only those in the know can truly appreciate.
The blending of African rhythms, classical music, edgy guitar and electronic pop elements along with cool melodic constructs make for a pleasurable listening experience, especially for fans of 80s pop music. Songs like the quirky Horchata, the bouncing White Sky, the jumping Holiday, the frenetic Cousins are impossibly catchy and will win over easily any true-blue pop lovers. And this is what “pop” is (and should be) all about!
Official Site
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KEVIN MCADAMS It’s My Time To Lose My Mind (Self-released)
Drummers are a special breed eh? Especially when they also sing and write their own music. Notable examples – Ringo Starr, Phil Collins, Don Henley and Andy Sturmer. Well, Kevin McAdams played drums for indie rock outfit Elefant and his new solo album It’s Time To Lose My Mind is proof that there are more to drummers than the cliched jokes will let on.
With Elefant guitarist Mod Alien on board as producer, this enjoyable album is a fine blend of powerpop, new wave and post-punk influences and styles, with an emphasis on catchy melodies throughout. McAdams primarily instrument here is keyboards and without degenerating into fey Keane/Coldplay histrionics, McAdams utilizes different keyboard sonic approaches in a fashion recallin the likes of Todd Rundgren, Ivy, Paul McCartney, Grandaddy and the Cars.
There’s a freewheeling, devil-may-care, eclecticism in memorable tracks like Start Over Again, The Bannerman Nightmare, Hourglass, Small Town Livin’ and the like. Fans of modern-day D-I-Y pop masters like Jason Falkner, Jon Brion and Brendon Benson will thrill to Kevin McAdams.
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