Power pop
News: Indie power pop royalty Sunnyboys announce Australian tour in July.
The appropriately named Sunnyboys – the band that possibly did more to bring indie guitar music in a power pop guise into the mainstream in the eighties in Australia than other band – have announced an Australia wide tour. They will be supported by the venerable Even in Sydney and Melbourne while former Screaming Tribesman …
Album Review: Luke Seymoup’s ‘Tales of Suburban Angst’ is an effervescent collection of power pop punk gems.
We met Luke Seymoup with the release of the single ‘Paint’ – a gloriously hyperactive piece of power pop – and he has now released the album ‘Tales of Suburban Angst’. Seymoup has continued with what he started out with: a collection of danceable, anthemic pop gems that glisten and sparkle with a self-deprecating sense …
Track: Sydney’s power pop maestros The Nature Strip return to the fray with a bit of essential ‘Surgery’ and a launch gig.
It’s been a while since The Nature Strip brightened our world with their brand of quirky, intelligent power pop (last seen back in 2018 with the EP ‘Past Pacific’, reviewed by me here). In the intervening time, however, they haven’t really left us at all – John Encarnacao’s Warmer project and Pete Marley’s Marveline project …
Track: New Zealand power popsters The Beths unveil ebullient fizzy single with a dark message ‘A Real Thing’, and announce signing to Ivy League Records.
New Zealand band The Beths‘ ability to delivery frenetic ebullient pop is never more evident than in their endearing new single ‘A Real Thing’: a powerhouse of a track that bubbles and sparkles like an opened bottle of shaken fizz. There is an almost naïve delivery, certainly a low-fi blitz and a dash of yearning …
Live Review: Pastiche / T A D H G – Upstairs at Whelans, Dublin 11.11.2021, plus galleries
In the intimate upstairs at Whelans, two future pop stars peddled their significant wares to a enthusiastic sold out crowd. Opening up was singer-songwriter T A D H G, who played a half hour set on the piano, sounding and performing a bit like Elton John, as if there were ever a better compliment. T …
See: Novelty Island invites you to his Mersey archipelago for the baroque piano pop of ‘Listen’
NOVELTY ISLAND, much like Coral Island but not so much Hilbre Island, though that’s weird in its own way, is part of the mythical archipelago of offshore Liverpudlian islands of the musical mind. Castaway under a solitary palm on this particular shore, with a whole Bond-villain musical laboratory accessible through a hidden hatch, is the …
See: Teenage Fanclub – ‘The Sun Won’t Shine On Me’: Glaswegians pull back the curtain on their tenth
BELOVED Glasgow band Teenage Fanclub present their tenth album with a new single, “The Sun Won’t Shine On Me” – as Norman Blake said, a rare 3/4 track for the band. This is the third single anticipating the album, after “Home” and “I’m More Inclined”. It follows in the mellower imprint the band has taken …
Track: Sydney’s Steve Smith unleashes a vibrant slice of Americana power pop in ‘Runnin’ Red Lights’
Steve Smith has a lot of very impressive form in Sydney’s indie scene, stretching right back to his early solo career (as Steven Smith) with the famous Green Fez/Citadel Records in the eighties and membership of Catherine Wheel. More recently, Smith has released a series of lauded albums that has seen him move towards a …
Say Psych: Video Premiere: Radio Days – Lose Control
‘Lose Control’ is the third single from Milan’s Radio Days forthcoming LP Rave On! due out on 21 May via Ammonia Records, and BSM is proud to present the premiere of their new video. The powerpop trio have been on the scene since 2008, playing in their current line up since 2015. They are an …
ALBUM REVIEW: Pale Waves – Who Am I?
It is a truth universally acknowledged that a band in possession of good reviews for their first album must find the second difficult. Debuts are, after all, borne out of years of hard graft and fine-tuning, whereas follow-ups are often written and recorded amongst a brand-new dizzying schedule of touring and promotion and under the …