(this short note below is repeated each day for those missed previous days)
I’m getting ready to release the latest installment in the “Best Power Pop” CD compilation yearly series in about a month. Each year I do something different and hopefully fun, adding an element of discovery to the process of the promotion of the latest in the series. Regardless of whether one decides to purchase the CD(and all its crazy, over-the-top bonuses), I try set up each day to be an experience, a pleasure rabbit hole to go down and encounter new music from the present and past that you might have missed – or just were not aware of.
By the end of the 7 days, you’ll have some great new discoveries and you will have been able to check out some of the 61 artists appearing on this year’s 3-CD set. You’ll hear about ordering it and the extra special package connected to it at the end of these seven days. But leave that all aside…let’s have some fun below!
So, to summarize – Three Sections. THE PRESENT and THE PAST and THE VIDEOS.
Scroll on and let’s continue on this journey!
(if you missed, Day One – click HERE)
Each day I’ll be spotlighting 4 bands that are appearing on the upcoming “Best Power Pop of 2018” release coming out in next month(October). Step right in, get to know some of the finer power pop artists of the last few years. Here’s the next batch of featured artists.
SCREEN TEST
In 1980, when the legendary Syracuse-based new wave/power pop group The Flashcubes disbanded, three of the four original members (Gary Frenay, Arty Lenin & Tommy Allen) set out on their own with a new sound and a new name; Screen Test. In their six years together, they opened shows for U2, Bryan Setzer and Marshall Crenshaw, toured extensively throughout the Northeast, appeared on MTV’s “The Basement Tapes”, and released two singles, three EP’s and a full-length cassette-only LP, SCREEN TEST 1986.
In the years since they broke up, bassist Frenay has become a successful solo act, with three CD’s released nationally and two SAMMY Awards as the area’s best songwriter.
Guitarist Lenin moved to New York City in 1991, touring internationally and recording with ex-CBS Records act, Paul Collins & the Beat, before returning to the CNY area in 1995, where he now performs regularly with Frenay as Frenay & Lenin (who won a 1999 SAMMY Award for ‘Best Acoustic Act’), and as The Neverly Brothers Band and The FabCats.
Drummer Tommy Allen left the CNY area in 1986, first for New York City, then to Malibu, CA in 1991, and finally back to NYC in the late 90’s. He toured internationally with Robin Beck and Paul Young (appearing with Young on “Saturday Night Live” and “The Tonight Show”) and has worked extensively as a record producer and engineer for such acts as The Raspberries, The Choir, Eric Carmen, The Sighs, Kara’s Flowers, Chris Von Sneidern, Will Lee, Mark Hudson and many others.
In the 21st century, they have begun to perform live again at select shows throughout the Northeast. Frenay & Lenin were inducted into the SAMMY Hall Of Fame in 2006, and, with Tommy Allen and Paul Armstrong, as The Flashcubes in 2012. Also in 2006, a CD of their recordings, Inspired Humans Making Noise, an anthology (1980 – 1986), was released in Japan by Airmail Recordings. That album was rereleased in the US on Northside Records in 2015.
https://store.cdbaby.com/Artist/ScreenTest
https://www.facebook.com/ScreenTestBand/
PARTHENON HUXLEY(P. HUX)
1) The biggest news from P. Hux this past year was the release of This Is The One, his first new album since 2013’s Thank You Bethesda. This Is The One‘s leadoff single, “Just Sayin'”, has been a mainstay on radio and the album appeared on every significant Best of 2018 list. Hux’s goal for This Is The One was to include “all my favorite sounds. Fat 70s drums, thick guitars, chiming guitars, weird guitars, big choruses, beautiful vocals, oddball percussion, interesting special effects.” The album opens with Greek cicadas recorded on the island of Naxos. Now that’s a special effect.
Purchase P. Hux THIS IS THE ONE
2) In Summer of 2019 P. Hux dropped a single from left field with his rousing cover of the Supreme’s 1964 chart-topper “Baby Love.” Hux’s guitar-centric version is Motown like you’ve never heard. You can download it for $0.99 here:
Download awesome P. Hux cover of “Baby Love”
3) P. Hux upgraded his Maryland-based band by adding keyboardist Dan Clarke to his live lineup of guitar, bass, drums and violin. Keyboards may seem like a simple addition, but Clarke is no ordinary piano man. Seen on tour with k.d. lang and Ryan Adams among others, Clarke is an improv maestro who draws crazy colors from his keys. Clarke contributed keyboards to both Thank You Bethesda and This Is The One and now the live versions are bringing the records screaming to life onstage. “My band is ridiculous. Non stop highlights,” Hux enthuses.
4) Hux’s live show is mostly uptempo, but his band can play at any gear. Here’s Lou Reed’s “Perfect Day,” covered on Aug 23, 2019.
Perfect Day live by P. Hux and his Ridiculous Band
5) Finally, Hux was honored to be featured on No Guitar Is Safe, the super-fun podcast hosted by Guitar Player magazine’s Jude Gold.
No Guitar Is Safe Parthenon Huxley
DANA COUNTRYMAN
Dana Countryman is a Seattle-based singer-songwriter, specializing in writing in the the AM- radio friendly styles of the late 60s and early 70s. He has worked with former and current members of The Brian Wilson Band, Jellyfish, The Spongetones, and Klaatu, to name a few. If he could go back in time, he says he would have loved to have released this kind of material in the late 60s.
Check out some of his songs for free download right below:
https://danacountryman.bandcamp.com/album/dana-countrymans-free-pop-a-licious-sampler
For more information, check out Dana’s website: (Bruce: which has one of the most hilarious initial landing pages you’ll see upon arriving!)
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dana_Countryman
KARLA KANE
Karla Kane is a California-based songwriter, singer and ukulele player. Best known for her work as the leader of The Corner Laughers, her music leads listeners into an intriguing land of acorns and tea leaves; feminism and fairy tales; pagan pop and pastoral protest songs; whimsical wanderings and sharp observations on the current state of the world. It’s a place for chronic worriers, hopeless romantics, Anglophiles, patriarchy smashers, and gentle dreamers, where sunny California indie meets melancholy English folk and the redwood meets the oak.
https://www.facebook.com/KarlaKaneOfficial/
https://twitter.com/cornerlaughers
Link to YouTube Channel with The Corner Laughers & Karla Kane Videos
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There are THREE parts to each day in ‘the past’ section.
The first part is a re-presentation of a promotion from 2 1/2 years ago called ‘the music discovery experience‘(what can I say, it’s a theme for me – ‘discovery‘) Each day there will be one folder for you to download. In each folder, there will be 5/6 songs of different varieties and sub-genres of the power pop genre, spanning the 60s-00s. These songs are truly off the normal track and go deep.
CLICK HERE to download “MDE – Day 2”
(there are six great ‘finds’ in this folder)
The second part is various fun tracks from the (mostly) 70s and 80s that are rare, unreleased and hard to find or completely unavailable. For the next seven days, I’m calling it…DISCOVERY DAYS. The folders that you will see from each day are similar to the ones right above here. These songs, though, I’ve pulled together just this last week, poring over almost a thousand other tracks before arriving at these. Going deep, going good.
Discovery. Let’s begin.
CLICK HERE to download “Discovery Days – Day 2”
The third part is even easier. If you have the time and inclination, just watch some of the videos I’ve pulled in from over the past 8 years of Pop Geek Heaven video activity.
As always, I leave this kind of activity from me with a simple request….ENJOY.
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