Five songs in it looks like Colonizing the Cosmos is putting together a new album

By Henry Lipput

Back in 2010 I saw the Pittsburgh indie pop band Colonizing the Cosmos at a fundraiser for a local public radio station. I was knocked out and bought their latest album, The First Frontier, on the spot. It was my favorite album of the year.

Since then the band hasn't done much according to their Bandcamp page. But in October of last year the band released the wonderful “So Robo” a love song to the voice on a robo call. Yeah it’s a weird topic for a song but it has the bouncy, futuristic sound of The Final Frontier.

Last year also came “Made Up” and “Eyes Like A Swan” and two more singles arrived on Bandcamp this year (“Buzzards Bay” and “Clean Up”). When I saw the band in 2010 it was a full line up with horns and everything. Currently the band consists of Josh Moyer and Michael Savinsky but they’re still making a joyful noise. And with five songs under their belt it looks as if we might actually have their first new album since 2013'sThe House of War is the House of Peace.. And I for one can’t wait.

The first single from the new Greg Williams album is reviewed and he answers the Pure Pop Phive

By Henry Lipput

Australia’s Greg Williams has been known in his home country for his work with the band Splurge where he was principal songwriter and lead vocalist.

Williams is about to release Stone on Stone, a new solo album, on September 30^th and has already given us two singles from the album. The first, “This Life" (Bandcamp), hits you right away with it’s wonderful vocal and sparkling melody. For me, along with some others who know more about it, the tone of his singing and the sound of the song remind us of the late great Grant McLennan especially his solo work. And I can give Greg no higher compliment than that.

The Pure Pop Phive

Greg answers the PPP to make sure the cool kids know all about him.

How would you describe your music?

Rock/pop, heavy on guitars and melody.

What/who are your major influences?

My favourite music has great rhythm guitar, acoustic or electric, and great songs, songs, songs: Tom Petty, Beck, Radiohead, The Pretenders (80-81), The Beatles, Bob Dylan.

Do you perform live? Do you have any upcoming gigs?

When I saw Beck solo in early 2023, he said it was his first gig since the pandemic.
That made me feel better about not playing lately while I've been finishing the album.
My new gig idea is to play in record stores because that's where the people who like music go.

How do you support yourself so you can continue to make music?

What I make from music might buy me a coffee some days. In my other life, I've been a journalist, a website designer, and worked in corporate IT. That bought me a bit of a buffer, so now I have a house with a studio where I can work on music full time.

What’s an album you can’t live without (that's not one of yours)?

Only one. Jeez. They'd probably be all Bob Dylan albums anyway. This one especially because it blew my mind, aged 15: Bob Dylan, Blood On The Tracks

The Jimmy Webb of Glasgow

By Henry Lipput

On Making Tapes for Girls (Marina Records), the new album from The Pearlfishers (their first in five years), David Scott and company have brought to us a melodic bounty. It’s an album full of wonderful tunes and arrangements recorded by a talented group of musicians and singers.

Why is Scotland’s David Scott the Jimmy Webb of Glasgow? Scott and his co-writers tap into melodies and tales of regular people just the way Webb has done. One of the best examples on the current album is “Kisses on The Window." This is not the first time I’ve noticed Scott’s affection for Webb. On 2019’s Love & Other Hopeless Things I wrote in my review for CoolDad Music about the song “You’ll Miss Her When She’s Gone” “it could have been written by Jimmy Webb in the mid-60s and sung by Glen Campbell.” Both Pearlfishers songs have lovely string arrangements that recall the strings used in Webb’s songs. And like the people in the songs of Jimmy Webb, one of them has left and another one is leaving.

Of course, two of the highlights from Making Tapes for Girls are the singles that came out prior to the album’s release. Both the title song and “We’re Gonna Make a Hit Record, Boy” are trademark pop from The Pearlfishers. If you liked “You Can Take Me There” from Love & Other Hopeless Things (and who doesn't?) you’ll really love these two.

“Yellow & The Lovehearts” (a twist on lonelyhearts?), about an imagined psychedelic 60’s California band, has a lovely Bookends-like acoustic guitar segment that takes over the last third of the song. The beautiful closing track “Sweet Jenny Bluebells” has Scott recalling early morning rendezvouses with a teenage love.

On “Hold Out for A Mystic” and “Put the Baby in The Milk” Scott pulls off the neat trick of having an uplifting message without being preachy. “Hold out for something spiritual/Hold out something magical,” sings Scott, “Hold out for something that makes you breathe like a child/Hold out for a mystic.” In addition to the song’s positive message “Hold Out for A Mystic” is a pop treat. “Until I Knew Happy” is just gorgeous. It may be Scott’s best vocal performance on the album and there’s the cool use of a banjo in the mix.

What a day for a Daysdream

By Henry Lipput

The Shop Window’s great new album Daysdream (Jangleshop Records) is the band’s first new album in two years following A 4 Letter Word in 2022. After a clutch of singles promoting Daysdream the expectations were high for the new release.

The new album more than meets the challenge. The Shop Window has, starting with their 2019 single “Signpost,” always been a really tight band but with Daysdream they’ve hit a new high. The band sees this double LP as being two mini albums with one being Days and the other Dream. The Days disc is filled with upbeat jangle and indie pop sounds while the Dream disc is more melancholy with its dreampop/shoegaze elements.

Disc One of Daysdream kicks off with “I Run” and we’re introduced to this disc’s emphasis on the sound of Carl Mann and Syd Oxlee’s two-voices-singing-in-one-mic vocals as well as Mann’s patented 12-string jangle (it appears that Mann has never met a jangle he didn’t like and he comes up with his own on Daysdream). Second guitarist, programmer, and sax player Paul Reeves, bassist and synth player Martin Corder, and drummer Phil Elphee join Mann and Oxlee to create a rewarding listening experience (one that is made even more special when you get to hear it the album on vinyl).

Disc Two, Dream, starts with “Miracles” and the songs on these two sides are a showcase for all the band’s talents. These songs make more use of Reeves’s programming and Corder’s synths, Elphee’s drums are more prominent, and the guitars of Reeves and Mann work side by side. Daysdream closes with the sweeping “Made In Heaven,” a seven-minute glorious beauty.

Playing it forward

By Henry Lipput

Stands for deciBels, the debut album by North Carolina’s The dB's, has been re-released by Propellor Sound Recordings. It’s been remastered and is available for the first time on vinyl in the U.S (the new CD edition of the album includes the bonus track “Judy” which was not included on the original release).

The sounds on Stands for deciBels are made up of both older bands that had influenced The dB's but also newer musical trends that members Peter Holsapple, Chris Stamey, Gene Holder, and Will Rigby clicked with.  The album contains songs like “The Fight” with a prominent jagged guitar right out of XTC and “Tearjerkin’” has the electro-pop of Gary Numan but with extra pop. 

Both “Bad Reputation” and “Big Brown Eyes” have a real 70’s power pop glow with the first channeling The Romantics and the second right out of the Raspberries’ song book and “Moving in Your Sleep” recalls the hazy sound of Big Star’s Third. My favorite of these musical tributes to bands of the not-so-distant past is the wonderful Beach Boys-flavored “She’s Not Worried.”

But Stands for deciBels isn’t only about looking backwards; the album became an inspiration for bands that were just starting out but also those who were yet to be. Mike Mills of R.E.M. said about hearing the album for the first time: “This is the one that let me know we were not alone, that there were others out there with the same curiosity, the same willingness to dive into melody, structure, and pop sensibility,”

And although you can hear what Mills is talking about when it comes to the album’s melody, structure, and pop sensibility, it’s the first song on the dB's album, “Black and White,” that more than likely hit the nail on the head for him and his new band.

A dream is a wish your heart makes

By Henry Lipput

Dreamers On The Run, the new album by BMX Bandits (Tapete Records), with its wonderful arrangements of instruments and both backing and choral voices, is, in many ways, the band’s Pet Sounds. (Need convincing? Check out the stereo mix of Pet Sounds created for the Pet Sounds Sessions box set in 1997.) “I am dreaming all the time/Not just when I’m asleep” sings lead Bandit Duglas T Stewart on the opening track and title song. Dreamers On The Run is full of tales of dreams achieved, hoped for, and sometimes dashed.

In my review of “Setting Sun,” the first single from the album, I referred to it as “jaunty pop.” Both it and the next song on Dreamers On The Run, “Time To Get Away,” are about dream vacations, whether real or imagined, and contain this type of uplifting vibe.  On initial listen so does “Hop Skip Jump (For You Love” with its Bo Didley riff.  But sometimes in a relationship, no matter how hard one tries, you don’t make the grade. “My best was never good enough/I go so far to win your love” – so “I’m sick and tired of running after you.” 

On the segue that connects “Time To Get Away” and “What He Set Out To Be” we hear the tide that has washed away the dreams of the man in this song. “He thought too much of himself/And not enough of she/He can’t replace her smiles/Not if he walked a million miles.” Both musically and lyrically it can remind you of a Ray Davies song from mid-period Kinks, as this sad and lonely man may be the figure watching lovers crossing Waterloo Bridge each evening to meet.

With “My Name Is Duglas (Don’t Listen To What They Say)” one is also reminded of The Kinks, this time from their Schoolboys in Disgrace album. The voices that introduce “Jack The Idiot Dunce” have the same dismissive tone of people who have no regard for others who are different. The BMX Bandits track gives both Duglas and Jack a chance to respond to the haters.

Tucker Bingo’s new album is reviewed and he answers the Pure Pop Phive

By Henry Lipput

Like a master carpenter building and assembling a sturdy dining room table, Tucker Bingo has been building and assembling a sturdy body of albums and EPs. Working in his Philadelphia basement (I first heard his music on 2021’s The Basement Sessions EP) he’s been using the same rudimentary tools as most DIY solo musicians (his Bandcamp page’s bio includes this information: “Player of guitars, synths, piano, and percussionist)”.

His latest, Cattle & Canes (Bandcamp), continues this trend while also bringing something new to the mix. It’s had not to think the title isn't a nod to Grant McLennan’s Go-Between’s hit. As a result, the new album, more than his other releases, has more of a pop sensibility (and if you’ve read more than a few of my posts on this blog you know what a big thing that is for me). And he’s also more confident in his songwriting, playing, and mixing. For me, Cattle & Canes is a game changer and, if you support indie music (and if not -- why?) this is a good place to continue that support.

The Pure Pop Phive

Tucker Bingo takes the PPP and all the cool kids in Philly are waiting to hear his answers.

How would you describe your music? 

Not sure. It’s all over the place, a bit of this, a bit of that. I still get confused by genres. Just rock and roll.

What/who are your major influences?

Too many to count. Some, off the top of my head, are the Flaming Groovies, Velvet Underground, The Supremes, Iggy Pop (with Bowie), The Nerves, The Clean, The Smiths, The Clash, etc.

Do you perform live? Any upcoming gigs?

Not at the moment. Still looking for musicians who will want to just play the songs.

How do you support yourself so you can continue to make music?

I work in construction.

What’s an album that you can’t live without?

It would be a mix tape. I’m more of a one-hit wonder guy. I get tired of the same stuff. I go through “music phases.” I’m selfish and impatient with tunes. I treat music like a drunk one-night stand. I’ll listen to a song 150 times in two days then forget about it for a year. But it I absolutely had to choose it would be Iggy Pop’s Lust For Life album as I’d never turn it off.

Even odd socks can find pairs

By Henry Lipput

The Odd Sox collection (Bandcamp) of the Leeds UK band Nervous Twitch is composed of home demos, B-sides, and compilation tracks. It has songs that, like the odd socks in your own dresser drawer, are made up of various colors, textures, and shapes. And after five albums into their recording career, the band, made up of Erin Hyde (vocals, bass, and keys), Jamie Churchley (guitars, keys, and backing vocals), and Ashley Goodall (drums), have a lot to share.

Hyde’s vocals on most of the songs have a real don’t-mess-with-me vibe. On “Your Cruel Ways” she and the band’s punk roots are showing; “I Love You Honestly,” has a big beat sound to match.

“This Song About You” relates the story of a song that was written and recorded quickly, it was never considered as a single, and was probably never going to be played live; to my ears it's describing a relationship that was never considered serious (but there are serious. very cool organ fills going on). “Keep On Moving” has a country-rock feel as it gives a friend some encouragement to get their act together and to help them get off their couch and back in the game. The song ends with nearly a minute of an almost mantra-like repeating of the song’s title.

The Odd Sox collection also includes a few instrumentals, some fully formed and others waiting for the right time to blossom. “The Birdman Stomp” is a fab callback to the early ‘60s to bands like The Shadows. “Tarantino Hangover (Acoustic Demo)” is a short piece that would fit nicely as soundtrack music for someone’s next film (but from what I’ve heard he’s not making them anymore).

“Persistent Itch” is a rocking full band workout and although Hyde doesn’t have a vocal on this track her bass is up front and center; in addition, Churchley’s guitars and Goodall’s drums also get their time in the sun. 

Steve Conte, Andy Partridge, and Record Store Day

By Henry Lipput

Steve Conte’s new album The Concrete Jangle (Wicked Cool Records) is being released this Saturday on Record Store Day! So find a store here and get there early!

New York-based rocker Conte has worked with The New York Dolls and Michael Monroe and for The Concrete Jangle he has joined forces with Andy Partridge of XTC and, most recently, last year’s The 3 Clubmen EP. Conte and Partridge co-wrote the five songs on side one of the album and Conte went it alone for the five songs on side two. “I knew they’d have to stand up next to the Partridge co-writes,” said Conte in the album’s press materials about the songs on the flip side, “so I pulled some of the more psychedelic, adventurous, soulful songs from the Beatles/XTC/Motown side of my musical brain.”

The Concrete Jangle kicks off with the lead track and the first single from the album “Fourth of July.” The song is a burst of pop goodness and although it has trademark Partridge lyrical flourishes Conte brings the vocal and guitar licks for which he is known to make the song his own.

“Hey Hey Hey (Aren’t You The One”) starts off with a guitar riff reminiscent of Wasp Star’s “Playground” and continues with more riffs, a clean, melodic guitar solo, and some neat farfisa organ fills. And then there’s Partridge in love-struck mode: “Aren’t you the one/The one set to stun/Zap my heart just for fun/Are you the one.” Partridge was given co-producer credit for the co-writes and this is most apparent on “One Last Bell” a song whose arrangement recalls XTC songs like “The Last Balloon” and “Harvest Festival.”

Side two is all Conte all the time. Highlights (and there are many) include “All Tied Up.” It’s a cool tune about the many faces of love and features a terrific vocal from Conte as well as some of the best guitar work on the album (and there are handclaps!). “Girl With No Name” is a power pop treat with a tune and arrangement that could have been a mid-Sixties AM radio hit (and might just be one now on the interwebs radio).

Conte also said in the press materials that he told Partridge that for one of the songs “we should put on our Dukes of Stratosphere hats.” I don’t think any of the co-writes on side one of The Concrete Jangle fit that description but one of the songs on side two, “Decomposing A Song For You” is just that. It may be my favorite song on the album. Conte has rummaged through the Beatles side of his brain to fit together a “Penny Lane”-like piano, "Walrus" strings, and treated vocal and used the ingredients to bake a Dukes-like treat. And there’s even a bit of sitar at the very end!

Peter Hall continues to bewitch

By Henry Lipput

It’s been four years since Peter Hall’s initial solo outing, the There’s Something Wrong With Everyone EP, where we first became aware of his extraordinary gift for melody. Hall doesn’t rock, he swoons; and we swoon with him.

His ability to write and record songs that touch both the head and the heart has continued through EPs and albums. Hall’s latest, his What Are You Waiting For? EP (Bandcamp), continues this more than ever as Hall has become a singer-songwriter to reckon with especially if you, like me, appreciate the kind of melodic pop that reverberated throughout the 1960s.

The new four-song EP contains the brilliant “I’m In Love With You” which first saw the light of day on February’s Daisyland Acoustics EP which also included striped-down versions of three songs from previous releases (all of which deserve your attention and all of which can be found on Hall’s Bandcamp page).

Hall’s lyrics are all about love: looking for love, finding love, and losing love. “Two Twenty Two” from 2021’s glorious Light The Stars is a song about found love and all but name checks The Beatles' first single. “Waiting For Nothing” from last year’s wonderful About Last Night is, on the other hand, a look at love slowly coming to an end. His music as well as his choir boy voice, as expected, match his words and can be both joyous and heartbreaking.

Tall Poppy Syndrome sets their eyes on tomorrow

By Henry Lipput

On “This Time Tomorrow” (Tres Melo Musique), Tall Poppy Syndrome’s take on Kinks’ wistful, acoustic look at the future, the band plugs in their amps and turns up the volume.

As a long-time fan of The Kinks (my second favorite band after The Four-Headed Monster) – well, since 1979 but I then searched New York City record stores to find past releases and bought future albums and EPs as they came out -- this cover of “This Time Tomorrow” is a welcome addition to other cover versions of Kinks songs that get it just right. Don’t take my word for it – original Kinks drummer Mick Avory has told Tall Poppy Syndrome he likes it!

Tall Poppy Syndrome is the classic Bee Gees Vince Meloney on electric guitars; the multi-dimensional Jonathan Lea on electric guitars, mellotron, and tambourine; the legendary Clem Burke on drums; and, from the Strangers in a Strange Land band Paul Kopf on vocals and Alec Palao on bass and electric piano.

The Jack Rubies are back for another shot

By Henry Lipput

Clocks Are Out Of Time, the terrific brand-new album from The Jack Rubies (Big Stir Records), their first in over 30 years, doesn’t turn back in the clocks in a daylight savings time sort of way as much as it continues the streak the band had in the late 80s and early 90s. Or to put it another way: 2024 is sounding a lot like 1988.

And although a lot of the music on Clocks Are Out Of Time can remind you of bands and musicians like The The, Lloyd Cole, and Nick Cave it’s important to remember that The Jack Rubies, along with others at that time, were soaking up influences not unlike the bands in the 60s; it was in the musical water supply and available for the taking. And it doesn’t hurt that the band on Clocks Are Out Of Time is composed of the original line-up of Ian Wright (lead vocals and guitar), SD Ineson (backing vocals and guitar), Steve Brockway (bass), Lawrence Giltane (percussion), and Peter Maxted (drums and also the album’s producer).

For me, there are two very different musical styles on Clocks Are Out Of Time. There’s the “slightly bruised and battered positivity,” as singer and songwriter Ian Wright put it, of the songs. On the “slightly bruised” corner is the noirish “Hark” with its line “Does anyone know the way back?” “Poltergeist” is a rollicking scare fest and “Read My Mind” is a love song doubling as a warning. Wright’s vocal does nothing to reassure the listener/target he only has good intentions.

It should come as no surprise my favorite set of songs are the ones falling under the “battered positivity” flag. Even though The Jack Rubies were a year of two late to be included in NME’s fabled original C86 collection, the songs “Angeline Soul” and “Heaven Shook Me” would have not only fit perfectly on that cassette but would have made a killer double A-side single. You can listen for yourself here:

“Heaven” is the best of the best. It has a big, brassy arrangement and tight playing by the band. It’s a glorious track and if there’s any justice in this world it should be the next single from Clocks Are Out Of Time but also a major hit.

Suzy Goodwin’s not taking it anymore

By Henry Lipput

If there wasn’t such a thing as Australian Motown already there certainly is now.

Suzy Goodwin’s full-throated, heart-felt vocal on her dazzling debut solo single, “Ain’t No Next Time," hits you right between the ears. Accompanied by pounding piano and drums, along with classic organ fills and a horn section that works hard to keep up with her vocal, Goodwin puts her foot down and tells a roaming lover that if he leaves there won’t be a next time.

Goodwin has been a long-time staple of Australia’s inner west music scene and a pivotal member of the indie rock/alt-country band Fallon Cush (which Bandcamp notes is “enigmatic”) providing wonderful backing vocals and harmonies; Steve Smith of the band wrote and produced “Ain’t No Next Time.” Goodwin also leads (no surprises here) the popular Motown covers band Suzy & The Snakepit.