WHAT’S NEW – LATE JUNE
Well, this one is overdue! I like to try and do one of these every 2-3 weeks but this one is four weeks. Better late than….well, you know! Hey, before I forget, if you have any news that you want to share with the PGH community here and your fellow Pop Pioneers here, please send it along to me. Don’t be shy. If you think it’s relevant to the power pop world and that we’ll all find it interesting, helpful or cool, email me at: popgeekheaven@gmail.com
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First up, I came across a cool indie label from Austin, Texas last week. I had NO idea about them and I sure wish they knew about PGH. I’ll drop a note when get through all the work I have going on right now but I wanted to let you know about the very interesting work they are doing and let you explore on your own. The label is called CHEAP REWARDS and they are reissuing very obscure power pop(though, not exclusively ‘power pop’) on vinyl. I am familiar with some of the releases they are working on and can attest to the high quality of the music but there’s a lot, I’m not familiar with and that, frankly, gets me super excited because I’m always on the look out for my next, new favorite band. They have some audio you can sample but got to THIS LINK and start exploring and, hopefully, ordering. Some of the releases are already out of print and most of them are seeing pressings of less than 500 copies. They also have an excellent blog HERE.
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One of their latest releases is called “RADIO READY – Lost Power Pop Hits 1978-1983: Texas, Vol 1”. Come on, how can you NOT be intrigued with that title, right?! Damn right! Here’s how they describe the release(vinyl only but comes with a download card). “RADIO READY is a new regional compilation series that features lost power pop gems from the 1978-83 era. This first installment focuses on groups from Texas and spans Houston, Austin, Dallas, and even Amarillo! These 13 “shoulda been” hits were culled from hard to find singles and unreleased demos. Fully authorized by all the bands and expertly mastered from original source materials, these songs have never sounded better. Some of them are being presented on vinyl for the very first time. Stunning cover art and deluxe gatefold packaging with extensive liner notes gives these long overlooked bands a second chance to be discovered. Includes digital download card.”
You can buy and listen to samples from the tracks here: http://radioreadytexasvol1.bandcamp.com/album/radio-ready-lost-power-pop-hits-1978-1983-texas-vol-1
Anyway, I have no skin in this game – I don’t even know the person running the label but if they were here right now in front of me, I’d be buying them a drink or three at the bar around the corner from my office in a heartbeat!
ALL KINDS OF POP SHIPPING IN JULY AT POP GEEK HEAVEN: Time to too my own horn – never done that here inside of “What’s New” but this is a good time to. Why? Well, there are three projects all arriving in last week of July. Two of them a few months late(I’ve emailed the folks who have pre-ordered them as to the reasons, no need to repeat here) but are completed and turned in for the final stages of design and shipping the last days of this month.
So, indulge me and I’ll go over them, very briefly:
[linebreak style=”simple”]SHIPPING on the last week of July: “Power Pop Planet – Volume 2” (2 CD set) 30 bands, 2 CDs, proceeds from this project help fund this site. Digging what you consume, read and listen to here? Here’s where you can show your appreciation. $12 for the 2-CD set until July 24th. LIMITED to 500 copies and only 80 copies remain so don’t wait too long. (regular retail is $16) (“Volume 1” sold out a week after it shipped) Pre-order your copy – Click HERE
[linebreak style=”simple”]SHIPPING on the last week of July: “Power Pop Prime – Volume 3: 2000-2001” (book w/ CD) A big, thick book filled with pure power pop awesomeness. The roughly 280 pages in this volume contain the first fifty essays covering “The Top 200 Indie Power Pop CDs of the 00s”, part 3 of 4 covering the history of the Not Lame label, high-resulution scans of the printed Not Lame mail order catalogs(a fascinating historical document featuring hundreds of releases from this era) and the first list of 50 CDs that covers “The Best Reissues & Compilations of 00s”. Each book in the series comes with a professionally designed CD as a bonus. Pre-order price is $34.95 and will be good until JULY 24th(after this date, it will be $44.95). Pre-order your copy – Click HERE
[linebreak style=”simple”]SHIPPING August 1st and 2nd: “International Pop Overthrow – Volume 16” (3-CD set) 3 CDs and 68 bands! Each year, the International Pop Overthrow festival kicks off its yearly celebration of power pop in Los Angeles and without fail, for 16 years, the 3 CD set that honors the festival ships on August 1st. The three CDs comprising “IPO – Volume 16” are now available at the very special pre-order price of $16. This price will be good until July 24th and after that date, the price will be $20 for the 3 CD set. Pre-order your copy – Click HERE.
RICHARD SNOW – FREE ALBUM DOWNLOAD: Just got this from Richard Snow: “In celebration of it’s 2nd anniversary, all through July I’m offering the album “Am I Really That boring” totally free in download format. Go to CDbaby : http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/
NEW POWER POP BLOG – Just came across this blog last week and it’s filled with all kinds of obsure and not-so-obscure power pop(and non-power pop) with a strong emphasis on Australia. PETE’S POWER POP blog is a nice destination to get lost and discover a bunch of bands you’ve never heard about – ENJOY! http://peterspowerpop.blogspot.com.au/
TWO OLD POWER POP BANDS RE-SURFACE: If you were around during the Not Lame years in the early 00s, VAN GO and the NAKED CHOLLAS were commonplace on the Not Lame web site and printed catalogs. Both have re-appeared and you can check them out in the Surprise Box – HERE and HERE.
Actually, make that THREE artists that re-surfaced! ADAM DANIEL just released his new album, “Pop, Baby”. It’s been 14 years since his debut “Blue Pop” arrived and took the indie power pop world by storm but then…well, not a lot. The gap of years is well worth the wait. Grab a new song from the album in the Surprise Box at THIS LINK.
The FDR label has a tribute album arriving on July 23. It’s called “My Hometown: a Tribute to NJ” and all proceeds will its sale of the album will go to http://sandynjrelieffund.org/ It will be available on CD and as a digital download. “My Hometown” is a 18-song collection of songs originally recorded by NJ artists – covered by an eclectic mix of super talented indie bands. Here’s some more info from their press release: “For this collection, no song or band was too obvious or too obscure. The great NJ band The Grip Weeds unearthed a classic tune by the Knickerbockers. While Trenton’s The Cryptkeeper Five kicked the dust off the Springsteen anthem “No Surrender”. The Successful Failures paid homage to an early-album Fountains of Wayne song while Cliff Hillis and Steve Butler (Smash Palace) actually recruited a Smithereen (bass player Severo) to record the Simthereens’ pop tune “Listen to Me Girl”. ” PRE-ORDER HERE: http://www.fdrlabel.com
THE 88 took a few years off and they have a new album that just was released last week. I’ve not heard it yet(but I am a fan of everything in their catalog, especially their debut). Check it out: http://www.the88.net/
YOUR GRACIOUS HOST has released a new album. The entire released out put of the band is extremely highly recommended and the new one is no different in my praise. This is classic, archetypal power pop that most of us still find a way to get worked up over. Info, links to purchase and samples to listen to at the main site: http://www.gracioushostmusic.com/
Do you wanna have some (browsing) fun?! Go to Ebay in the US or Canada and to the area where they sell music and type in ‘power pop singles’ or ‘power pop 7″ singles’ or ‘rare power pop LPs’. You’ll discover all kinds of obscure releases you’ve never seen before. Granted, they could be wildly over-priced relative to the quality of the music but just looking at the scans of the covers of the singles is a lot of fun. Click HERE and you can see an example I did with the Canadian Ebay site.
Another power pop podcast/radio show. This one courtesy of CRAP FROM THE PAST – Download the latest shows at THIS LINK.
SUNSHINE POP: Thanks to Pop Pioneer KC Carlson for turning us all onto to a great podcast that focuses on all things sunshine-y. This from Andrew Sandoval, who is one of the more respected journalists and musicologist in pop. Sandoval has done some of the most intesting and insightful liner notes on dozens of reissues over the past 25 years(and has recorded some fine power pop under the name “ANDREW”). Listen in to COME TO THE SUNSHINE: http://cometothesunshine.podomatic.com/
Speaking of Andrew Sandoval, he wrote the liner notes that come along with the recently released 13-CD box set from HARRY NILSSON. CLICK HERE to get the details on Amazon.
ALAN HABER’S PURE POP Radio Show is a show I’ve mentioned a few times here over the past two years and if, for some reason, you’ve not checked it out yet – do so. Listen in here: http://loudcity.com/stations/alan-haber-s-pure-pop Haber has a nifty Facebook page that builds on the information and music in the radio show and more – “Like” it here: https://www.facebook.com/AlanHabersPurePopRadioUpdatesAndAlbumReviews
LISA MYCHOLS(ex-Masticators) has a new solo album that came out back in June. How can you not check out something that’s described as “Sunshine-soaked California pop, with touches of The Beach Boys, Susanna Hoffs, Rooney, The Monkees and The Chantrellines.”? Listen to samples and purchase here: http://www.cdbaby.com/cd/lisamychols
SOOO, why does music matter so much to geeks like us? Well, it’s not just music fans like the folks at Pop Geek Heaven, it’s everyone. I came across this interesting article from the New York Times a few weeks ago. Read it when you have a chance: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/06/09/opinion/sunday/why-music-makes-our-brain-sing.html?_r=1&
THE SHAZAM: I can’t resist. There will be some cool ‘n big news related to the band that will be announced in the not-too-distant future but as I was getting amped up with the news myself, I went and found this AWESOME professionally shot live show from 2003 from the band. It’s a full-set and features interview snippets with Hans Rotenberry. ENJOY.
VINYL COLLECTORS get ready to cringe with this most unusual tip to clean your LPs. (Thanks to Pop Pioneer Patrick Cachat for this shocker!) Watch below – it’s a hoot and a bit strange.
