JANGLE ON! – March 2022

by Eric Sorensen

Searches of my favorite online sites (Bandcamp, Powerpopaholic, Kool Kat) have yielded some excellent new material for my music library.  Fellow jangly music fans should check out the following tracks and CDs that feature jangly, chiming guitar riffs:

            Real PoPtastic – the Boolevards.  This Chicago pop band channels the AM radio sound of the mid-1960s (before the term “power pop” existed)  into 14 well-crafted, hook-filled tracks on their latest CD.  The sound of a Rickenbacker 12-string is quite pronounced on tracks like “One More Day,” “It’ll Be Alright,” “Can You Tell Me,” “Harder To Find,” “Nothing Ever Satisfies You” and “Master of Lies.”  This is pseudo-60s pop at its finest!

            Two wonderful new jangly and melodic tracks – “Trippin’ Back” and “The Slow Riders” – by Scottish pop artist Kevin Robertson.  Robertson fuses classic elements of the Byrds and Beach Boys with more contemporary artists like the Cosmic Rough Riders, Dropkick and Teenage Fanclub.  The result is music that will always leave you smiling and hitting the “replay” button!

            “Better Lost Than Found” – by Salt Lake Alley.  It always pays to explore some of the deep tracks on releases by artists with the “power pop” moniker.  One never knows when you will find a Byrdsian gem like this track – tucked away into less jangly mid-tempo tunes.  This song quickly jumped to the top of my playlist after I found it.

            Noteworthy singles from the past month include:  “Sheepskin Hollow” by Powderhouse (borrowing very successfully from the folk-rock of prior decades); “Your Starlit Eyes” by Ashenden Papers; “Dark Side” by Roy; “Don’t Call Me Out” by Bridge Dog; “Summerlong” by Kathleen Edwards (from the soundtrack to “Elizabethtown”); an excellent cover of the Someloves’ “Sunshine’s Glove” by Keith Klingensmith; “Buggin’ Out” by Nick Frater; two recent single releases by the Flashcubes – “Tomorrow Night” (with the Shoes) and “Alone In My Room;” “My Head Was In The Clouds” by David Heatley; and two blasts from the past – “Small Circles” by the 1980s pop/rock band the Grapes of Wrath and “She Said” by the underheralded Swedish pop band Hello Helen.

            Until next time, jangle on!  ERIC