SPECIAL ARTIST FEATURE:

Andrew Taylor of Dropkick

by Eric Sorensen

After devoting my most recent “Jangle On!” column to a variety of new CDs and new tunes, I made one of my frequent visits to the Bandcamp website and discovered an abundance of new releases from one of my favorite artists – the already prolific Andrew Taylor.  For the past twenty years, Andrew Taylor has fronted the power pop band (and once a punk-pop band) Dropkick – with a changing lineup that has often included his brother Alastair.  Over the years, Andrew has released solo material, and in 2019 he joined forces with Spanish pop artist Gonzalo Marcos to release a full-length CD – Dead Calm – as The Boys With The Perpetual Nervousness.  Dropkick, solo Andrew Taylor and The Boys With The Perpetual Nervousness have all been mentioned in previous “Jangle On!” columns, and the collective works have been included in numerous annual “Best of Jangle Pop Samplers.”

Needless to say, I was delighted to learn that Andrew Taylor has recently released his latest solo disc – Lockdown Session: October 2020; Dropkick has released an expanded version of their 2007 album Turning Circles (with 36 bonus tracks!), and Songs From Another Life – the next The Boys With The Perpetual Nervousness CD – can now be pre-ordered.  To tease listeners, the single “Play (On My Mind)” is available for immediate download.  The single is yet another earworm from Andrew and Gonzalo that features chiming Rickenbacker 12-string riffs.

For those who have been following my columns, these releases are all in addition to the Andrew Taylor Lockdown Session: April 2020, Andrew Taylor Lockdown Session: May 2020 and the Andrew Taylor & The Harmonizers Lockdown Session: June 2020 releases.  If my math is accurate,  Taylor has released a total of 26 CDs with  Dropkick, as a solo artist and as a member of The Boys With The Perpetual Nervousness.  Songs From Another Life will bring that total to 27!  Clearly, the pandemic is not slowing Andrew and his musical colleagues down.

`           I’m pretty sure that I first learned about Dropkick through Ray Gianchetti’s Kool Kat Musik website.  The early references to another Scottish band – Teenage Fanclub – caught my eye.  The band also likes to cite the Jayhawks, the Byrds, Tom Petty and Wilco as influences.  Those references are well-deserved, and Dropkick excels at its own brand of catchy power pop that features melodic tunes, smooth harmonies, hooks galore and plenty of jangly guitar chords.   I assure Pop Geek Heaven readers that this is not derivative music – but a perpetuation of power pop perfection!  Long may you run, Sir Andrew and your respective musical collaborators!

You can seek out the back-catalog for Andrew’s group and solo releases through dropkickmusic.co.uk, Rock Indiana Records, Bandcamp and/or Kool Kat Musik.  Any or all of the 27 CDs that Andrew Taylor is affiliated with will make great stocking stuffers for the power pop fans on your Christmas gift list this year.

Until next time, jangle on!

ERIC