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.