Did your nervous laugh meet mine when I gave a sign?

From 2016.

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Bob Beland 7" (1980, Deli Platters)

Here's a sweet turn-of-the-decade slice of power pop, from an artist I've had minimal acquaintance with but am anxious to hear more from. Bob Beland, got his start in a mid '70s L.A. combo, Southpaw that also featured the soon-to-be higher profile Jules Shear, though I wasn't able to confirm if anything was recorded.  Beland's first bona fide album, Amnesia Lane, wouldn't drop until 1994, but the early '80s saw the release of an ep in 1982, and this 45 two years prior.  The urgent "Stealin' Cars" shifts into punky gear, with a dash of keyboards, and more substantially, an irrepressible hook. "I Can Walk Away" turns a linear power-pop corner, not far removed from Dwight Twilley, or god knows dozens of contemporary unknowns, the kind compiled on ace fan-compiled compilations like Teen Line, etc.  Quality stuff.   

Stealin' Cars

I Can Walk Away

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Bel-Fires - Fall For the Sky ep (1985, Birdcage)

Here's one of my better browsing-in-the-wild finds, though I have little in terms of pertinent details to disclose about the Cynthia Isabella-fronted Bel-Fires.  Sort of what Let's Active might have come up with if they were aiming for the middle of the radio dial.  Melodic as all-get-out too, with this record's bookends "Fame For a Dime" and "Letter" wafting sky-high into the atmosphere.  Fall for the Sky ever so vaguely suggests what likeminded combos the Hummingbirds and the Millions would have in store for us in just a few years.  Looking forward to checking out the Bel-Airs subsequent '88 platter, What You Need, sometime in the not-too-distant future. 

01. Fame For a Dime

02. Anonymous

03. Fall For the Sky

04. Not For Me

05. Letter

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Taking time, writing out the dates all our friends die.

From 2010. Springtime is upon us, but this is truly a band for all seasons.  

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Paper Route - Go Get It (1997, SSG)

Was under the weather this week, and was unable to digitize any analogue goodies for you, bur in lieu of that I have this sterling nugget.  A friend tipped me off to the Paper Route well over a decade ago, but after much sleuthing I only found their cd in recent years.  Hailing from either Ontario or Quebec (big difference to be honest), this trio stick to the basics - guitar, bass and drums but how they wield them is their secret sauce.  Frontman (Simon Nixon) whose timbre slots somewhere between Eric Bachmann (Archers of Loaf/Crooked Fingers) and Elvis Costello guides his threesome through a relentless passel of bratty, power-pop zingers, bearing a scuzzy indie rock underbite, not to mention more sophistication than I was ever expecting.  Virtually nothing useful about Paper Route exists online, so if any of you have any basic details, fire away in the comments.  Cheers.

01. Where Will it Go

02. Can't Be Satisfied

03. Clean Me Soapy

04. Reservoir/Altamont Speedway Revisited

05. Children of the Revolution 

06. Come Around

07. Countdown/Jeanine

08. Saved by Video

09. Dead Horse

10. No Life

11. Polaroid

12. TV Screens/Want to Get High

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Remember, competition is necessity...

An archival trove of recordings from a neglected Ohio power pop outfit that only released a single in the mid '80s.  

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Big Home Orchestra - Fairytale ep (1989, BHP)

Employing a full-time violinist, this Aussie bunch exude heavy pastoral vibes if anything else.  I wasn't sure what I was getting myself into when I encountered Big Home Orchestra, just not quite what Fairytale had in store. It's about as "folk" as say, the Proclaimers, but thankfully not nearly as precious or aggravating.  They're adept and polished performers for sure, it's merely a matter if you're game for the lilt they opt to finagle with.  One striking anomaly is the concluding "Goodbye," structured around a more guitar-centric motif, that's not terribly far removed from the Go-Betweens, and is stimulating enough to beg repeat listening.  

01. Kingdom of Rain

02. As Long as a Heart

03. New Horizons

04. Poison and Thunder

05. Dark Star

06. Goodbye

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half string - oval 7" -

At some point in 1992 I summoned up the misguided notion I could count all of the shoegazer/dream pop bands in the world on my fingers and toes.  Turns out I was off by several extremities. Deeper into the '90s as the movement seemed to wane I was stunned by the sheer depth and breadth of what still existed, and of course, the number of bands that had passed that I was belatedly becoming acquainted with.  Arizona's half string were one such later discovery.  Not necessarily bringing anything out of whole cloth to the table, h/s took a more subtle approach, mirroring the melancholic, contemplative hues of Springhouse and early Moose, never nailing you over the head with anything too sonically dense of engulfing.  This is ripped straight from my 45 with plenty of surface noise intact.  Unblemished versions of these songs can be had easily enough on the 2012 reissue compendium, Maps for Sleep.  

a. oval

b. sun less sea

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We're just two deep space lovers and this feels alright...

Chilled out grooves from 2012.  A recent favorite of mine.

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Dark Side - Rumors in Our Own Time, Legends in Our Own Room (1980, Gohog)

Though they were once the pride of Towson, MD, I'm not sure if Dark Side were exactly my bag.  Not precisely power pop or punk, this combo definitely strode on the sardonic and livelier side of the moon.  Intermittently peppered with surges of organ and sax, Rumours In Our Own Time, in my opinion satisfies optimally when the fellas flex melodic guitar chops on "Lamented Love" and "Down the Tubes."  Dark Side also sport no shortage of personality, with a highly animated mouthpiece in the guise of David Jarkowski.  The overall effect bears mild resemblances to the Tuff Darts, New York Dolls, The Sweet, and I'm sure you'll be motivated to draw your own conclusions.  This album and a host of additional numbers made it into the digital era in 2005. 

01. #1 Man

02. Lamented Love

03. Good Boy

04. Scared Straight

05. Bondage

06. Nobody's Girl

07. Can't Get Used to It

08. Fun in Nicaragua

09. Back on the Streets

10. Blow it Up!

11. You Should Envy Me

12. Rendezvous

13. Down the Tubes

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We were shaking off the shade from the Missiles of October...

A lo-fi masterclass recorded in 2010, but released two years later after multiple, painstaking revisions.

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Yazoo Beach - Binge (1993, N-Beat)

Not only have I already introduced you to Yazoo Beach (over a decade ago in fact), I've also enlightened and entertained you with phenomenal music from guitarist Scott Coopwood's prior two bands, The Square Root of Now and Perfect Strangers.  Binge was Yazoo's somewhat belated follow-up to their inviting 1988 debut, The Solace and the Blaze, and is demonstrably more mature. Playing it right down the middle, a la fellow deep south contemporaries Dreams So Real and the Windbreakers, this is guitar pop of the collegiate, "new south" variety offering a bevy of pretty persuasions.  Generally, the R.E.M,-isms are on the downlow, but glints are lovingly apparent on "By the Hand" and "Shades of Solitude," amidst other scattered offerings.  Binge's acoustic traipses, specifically "Islands" and "Heaven Coming Down," fall loosely between the confines of The Moody Blues and Workbook-era Bob Mould, albeit not as engrossing.  Though said to be available on CD, I was only fortunate enough to happen upon a cassette, which is where his rip is derived from.  

01. Last Until Tomorrow

02. By the Hand

03. So Much is Love

04. Caroline

05. Heart So Heavy

06. Heaven Coming Down

07. Shades of Solitude

08. Wooden Horse

09. Piece of Her Mind

10. World Inside Your Heart

11. Islands 

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