(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 with Day Three!
(if you missed, Day One – click HERE)
(if you missed, Day Two – click HERE)
(if you missed, Day Three – click HERE)
(if you missed, Day Four – 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.
MICHAEL SIMMONS
From Micahel: Hi I’m Mike Simmons. I like to record things. I’ve been in sparkle*jets u.k. for over 20 years, and this year we celebrated that anniversary by releasing a new 45 vinyl record of Big Star covers that we recorded with Jody Stephens at Ardent Studios in memphis. Same mics, same room, same gear, even the same drummer. I’ve included a link to the studio video that has not been released yet, and you can get the gorgeous 45 from Big Stir records! I also put out my first solo album in over 20 years recently. You may have heard ‘No More Girls’ which was the most strictly power-pop of the bunch, but folks really seem to like the whole dang record. Five years ago (recent, for me) I put together a record with some students of mine at the time called Yorktown Lads. It’s VERY much a power pop record that you should investgate! I also have put lots of covers on youtube and bandcamp over the years, many of them with the Popdudes. I am a director of high school rock program and we do amazing things, but that keeps my music writing down to a song a year if I’m lucky. All my stuff is on Bandcamp.com, and most of the releases from me and my two main bands are also available from Big Stir Records, an outfit that I am very proud to be a part of.
NOTE FROM BRUCE: from a person who’s music life(and arguably, much of the direction I eventually travelled as an adult w/ what I chose as a profession the music business) was changed by Big Star on January 10, 1975, the new video of Michael’s band, Sparkle*Jets U.K. playing with Jody Stephens at Ardent Studios below is…well, special. A must watch, a great tribute single, too.
7″ single just released: https://www.bigstirrecords.com/sparkle-jets-u-k
Michael Simmons related releases here:
https://www.bigstirrecords.com/sparkle-jets-u-k
https://michaelsimmons.bandcamp.com/
17-song compilation for free download from PGH post from 2017: http://www.popgeekheaven.com/music-discovery/michael-simmons-is-a-genius-january-2013-digi-comp
Fun Documentary about “First Days of Summer” – Click HERE
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TWO SHEDS JACKSON
Flying under the radar in the power pop world for over 10 years, Two Shed Jackson made their move in 2018. Not too many bands come from Frankfurt, Germany that break out awareness beyond the country’s borders, let alone power pop bands, there’s a certain hunger to make relevant music to a larger, less pandering world that Two Sheds Jackson push forth. Their presence on the “Best Power Pop of 2018” is likely to be the first of many highlighted designations and honors by fans of the genre in the coming years.
The band have put together some great, free and exclusive tracks for Pop Geek Heaven folks below. Thank them, not me! Email: mail@twoshedsjackson.de
1. some exclusive instrumental versions of our “string ballads”:
as *.mp3
www.twoshedsjackson.de/two sheds jackson – read my mind – instrumental.mp3
www.twoshedsjackson.de/two sheds jackson – sea of bloom instrumental.mp3
www.twoshedsjackson.de/two sheds jackson – where the sunflowers reign instrumental.mp3
as *.wav
www.twoshedsjackson.de/two sheds jackson – read my mind – instrumental.wav
www.twoshedsjackson.de/two sheds jackson – sea of bloom instrumental.wav
www.twoshedsjackson.de/two sheds jackson – where the sunflowers reign instrumental.wav
…and three songs from our albums memory lane” and “some kinda live”:
as *.mp3
www.twoshedsjackson.de/two sheds jackson – if i ever lose this love.mp3
www.twoshedsjackson.de/two sheds jackson – port of amsterdam ft wim oudijk.mp3
www.twoshedsjackson.de/two sheds jackson – prism of time.mp3
as *.wav
www.twoshedsjackson.de/two sheds jackson – if i ever lose this love.wav
www.twoshedsjackson.de/two sheds jackson – port of amsterdam ft wim oudijk.wav
www.twoshedsjackson.de/two sheds jackson – prism of time.wav
Two Sheds Jackson URLs are:
twoshedsjackson.com
and
facebook.com/twoshedsjacksonmusic
Spotify:
https://open.spotify.com/artist/6B4YDeJF0vmh6DVqICBg6w?si=bbcUKsE-SEWtRESPMuDXnA
iTunes:
https://music.apple.com/de/artist/two-sheds-jackson/258646219
THE MYLARS
It’s been quite a busy year for New Jersey’s power pop rock quintet, The Mylars. Immediately following a successful Fall tour jaunt with Rick Springfield, and NYC area dates with UK rockers, The Vapors, The Mylars headed right into the recording studio to begin work on the followup to their debut record, Melody Records.
Keep an eye out for the, as of yet untitled, record to hit shelves and the web just in time for Christmas 2019. Also keep a close eye on their web page as Fall and Winter tour dates are being announced very soon.
Check all things “THE MYLARS”:
www.reverbnation.com/themylars
VAN GO
Chicago rockers, Van Go, return with their long-awaited 6th release, and Kool Kat Musik label debut “Everyone Loves You When You’re Gone”, that finds the guitars big and crunchy, the drums even bigger and unrelenting, with bold and impassioned vocals, all arranged tightly together with dynamic, hook laden precision. The band (Lou Galassini on bass, Steve Brown and Jeff Shapuras on guitars, Bryan Thomas on drums, and Dave Sippel singing), formed in Chicago in 1996, with “Amsterdam”, the debut LP released in 1997, followed by “Super Genghis” (1999), “We Happy Few” (2002), “Pop Your Heart Out” (2005), and “The Long Lost Last Call” (2010). “Everyone Loves You When You’re Gone” has been described as ”one of the best albums I’ve heard in years” and “best Van Go release yet”, on this “all killer, no filler” effort, “the band sounds astonishing”, grabbing the listener from the start and not letting go, finishing with a blistering cover of Paul Collins’ classic “Walking Out On Love” after eleven stunning originals. Behind the robust, shiny and polished exterior of the music, lie darker lyrical themes: “at times ironic, tender, and blackly humorous”. Van Go has been around the block more than a few times, and is more than willing to share tales of life gone good, bad, and in between at your local dive bar between sets, over a pint or two.
Buy the CD at Kool Kat Musik – Click HERE
Listen to Da Band at Bandcamp: https://vango4.bandcamp.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/vangorock/
Review of “Everybody Loves You When You’re Gone” at Power Pop News: click HERE
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 5”
(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 5”
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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So you payin’ attention, ‘ole friend?! Going through these posts and enjoying the Discovery Journey? Well, right on! Here’s some extra tuneage, which if you are new to these parts in the last 3 years or so, you’ve not seen. This is from some years back when I was going through the archives of my entire 20+ year music business journey(not even including the years I worked in the music biz in L.A. in the 80s). Not Lame Recordings released over 120 CDs and distributed well over 5,000 indie power pop-oriented artists and small labels in its time(1994-2010). Catch a small bit of that legacy here. There was so much that I was just sharing and giving away for the only reason of ‘keeping the music from these great artists alive’. Keep the Fire Burning, Pop Fans!
(note: this link will only be live during these Discovery Days – go below)
