X Price: $10.00 Artist: Go Time! Description: RELEASE ON THE KOOL KAT LABEL! Longtime Chicago garage poppers Go Time! are back with their appropriately titled tenth album - “X”. The release is their first on the Kool Kat label. Formed in 2009, the band has received both worldwide airplay and critical acclaim over the years. During the making of “X” the band has had to overcome health issues that included a member with neuropathy, a member with a brain bleed, torn back muscles, and a family death. Scott Niekelski is the band’s song writer, engineer, and mixes all Go Time’s releases. “X” has already received some pre-release praise. “Highlights their greatest strengths: tight musicianship, an unapologetically rock-driven sound, and just enough experimentation to keep things fresh. Niekelski delivers lyrics that are both personal and accessible, touching on themes of struggle, resilience, and hope. His vocals bring just the right balance of grit and warmth, anchoring the band’s sound with authenticity.” - Melody Maker Magazine “This 17-track powerhouse blends raw energy, heartfelt emotion, and inventive arrangements, all while capturing the essence of what makes Go Time! a staple of the Chicago music scene. Musically, they are at the top of their game. Niekelski’s versatile vocals (very reminiscent of Hoodoo Gurus’ Dave Faulkner) and songwriting shine throughout, from the anthemic choruses to the more introspective verses. Steve Grzenia’s percussion drives each track with precision and energy, while Paul Schmidt’s guitar work and Mark Marketti’s bass lines add depth and character to every song. Together, the band delivers a cohesive sound that’s as tight as it is dynamic. In the end, ‘X’ is a celebration of resilience, creativity, and the enduring spirit of rock. It’s an album that will please longtime fans while undoubtedly drawing in new ones. With its infectious energy and heartfelt storytelling, ‘X’ leaves listeners wanting more - and that’s exactly what Go Time! does best.” - IndieShark If you dig the Hoodoo Gurus, you’ll really dig Go Time! GREAT!! ... read more » Quantity in Basket: none

Lost In A Sound Price: $14.00 Artist: Ian M Bailey Description: RELEASE ON THE KOOL KAT LABEL! The critically-acclaimed songwriting partnership of Ian M Bailey and Daniel Wylie (Cosmic Rough Riders) once again have joined forces on their fourth effort together to create the hauntingly beautiful "Lost In A Sound”. "Lost in a Sound" is a psychedelic-tinged masterpiece, born from the haze of drug-induced nights in the desert and the depths of the deep blue ocean taking the listener on a journey through the highs and lows of life, love and redemption. Drawing from their respected influence’s, Gram Parsons, David Crosby and Gene Clark, the album's 10 tracks are a sonic exploration of the human experience, with songs like "White Whale" and "Deep Blue Water" conjuring up images of vast, open spaces and the search for meaning in a chaotic world. Songs "Desert Star", "Welcome To The Desert" and “Never Read The Signs” capture the surreal scenery fuelled by music and the endless possibilities of the desert and beyond. There’s a definite West Coast-vibe to the record which, at times, simultaneously reads like both a lost Byrds album and sonically to Beach Boy Dennis Wilson’s “Pacific Ocean Blue”. Ian’s ever-expanding expanded sonic pallet adds a new, subtle depth to the top-notch songs of a seamless, beautifully-flowing effort! “At the core of Bailey’s music is a jangly Rickenbacker backed by a firm rhythm line around which, in various hues and textures, flow lush harmonies, keys and some very fine steel guitar. The Byrds and Gene Clark are the foundations upon which sit REM, The Jayhawks and The Doors. Top that off with The Beatles and The Association and you are in the house of Ian M Bailey.” - AmericanaUK It’s a “chill” record for sure that doesn’t get much better than this! GREAT!! ... read more » Quantity in Basket: none

Stories With Guitars Price: $14.00 Artist: Joe Giddings Description: RELEASE ON THE KOOL KAT LABEL! Joe provides the backdrop for “Stories With Guitars”, his second terrific release on the Kool Kat label: “The writing and recording of the album started in March 2024. I wrote ‘Then Came Madeline’ for my daughter, and that started the ball rolling. It was therapy. The muse had been awakened, and I started writing and recording constantly. For months I was playing a new song for my wife, Rachel, nearly every other week. She actually helped a lot with phrasing and getting me to belt it out and change things up, vocally.” A limited vinyl pressing of the record was released in late 2024, and has already garnered some high praise! “Exquisitely crafted pop rock up to the usual Joe Giddings standards, but the biographical subject matter makes it even more special! The vocals are stunning, and the guitar work outstanding. This album has everything I love about the classic rock era without sounding like a ripoff or a parody!” - Dwayne Jones “The mastering is pristine, guitars soar, vocals are top notch and the lyrics will make you laugh and cry. Dedicated to the late Jim Palermo who I miss everyday, I hope these frequencies reach heaven, cuz it’s going to be rocking up there!!” - Aiden Stewart “Joe’s previous release, ‘Better From Here’, was one of the very best of 2020. Flash forward to the present, and ‘Stories With Guitars’ is fabulous! and it's fabulous! The high quality we've come to expect from his many projects (Star Collector, JTG Explosion, etc.), this is sure to be one of the very best albums of 2025! Bravo sir!”- Scott Theabo “Joe Giddings knows power pop from all the way back to his band Star Collector in the late 90's! And this one has plenty of power and pop! It harkens back to that fabulous Star Collector 1999 album ‘Songs for the Whole Family’. Joe, you are such a talented musician and songwriter. You deserve a much bigger audience!” - Brian Bunn AGREED!! GREAT!! ... read more » Quantity in Basket: none

Livin' On A Prayer On The Edge Price: $11.00 Artist: Ryan Allen Description: “Livin’ On A Prayer On The Edge” is Ryan Allen’s a tribute to staying up late and watching videos by Lemonheads, Matthew Sweet, Teenage Fanclub, and more on MTV's "120 Minutes". The record contains 12 super catchy, crunchy, alt-rock bangers that flirt with power pop, shoegaze, punk, and psyche. It's the most "me" (referring to himself) record Ryan says he’s ever made. So much so, that he played all the instruments on the record and recorded it himself at home. “A collection of songs varying in tempo and influence, ‘Livin’ on a Prayer on the Edge’ leans on his innate sense of harmony, big guitars and bigger hooks. It’s also worth mentioning that it may be his most diverse yet. ‘I Should But I Don’t Really Wanna’ offers all the trappings from a memorable chorus to a beautiful, chiming guitar. ‘After I’m Dead’ isn’t a new theme for Allen but the glam twist on it as a real treat. The shoegaze-y ‘Anxious All the Time’ is also a real winner. His punkier side pokes its head out with ‘Devil’s Juice’. Add the aforementioned ‘After I’m Dead’ to ‘When I’m Gone’ with its sing along chorus, short but poppy, and a pattern starts to take shape. I keep waiting for a dud from Ryan Allen. Not this time. A collection of songs varying in tempo and influence, ‘Livin’ on a Prayer on the Edge’ leans on his innate sense of harmony, big guitars and bigger hooks. For fans of Sugar, Swervedriver and Teenage Fanclub.” - PowerPopNews GREAT!! ... read more » Quantity in Basket: none

Rosalie Price: $16.00 Artist: Silver Synthetic Description: If the sanguine cedar scent of Cosmic Americana and the bright jingle jangle of Neo-Psych Rock has led you through the last couple of years, then chances are good you’ve had a brush with Silver Synthetic. The members of the New Orleans band ditched the dirtier riffs of their past projects (Jeff The Brotherhood, Bottomfeeders) for a West Coast curl that balanced country twang and honeyed harmonies with a rhythmic stomp that fishtailed through the speakers with glee. An eponymous full length on Third Man Records fully distilled the scope of their sound, turning stage-battered ballads and barroom burners into one of 2021’s most promising debuts. They return wioth “Rosdalie”, a second salvo, honed with a tour-tight symbiosis and some ace drop-ins from southern slingers Luke Schneider (pedal steel) and Rex Gregory (sax, flute). “Rosalie” finds Silver Synthetic refining their sound, softening their approach, and letting a breeze of 70’s AOR weave among the country swagger. Between the tanned riffs, the band also balances societal burnout with sunshine, transforming scoffs and sneers into smoke-curled sighs draped in a windows-down aura. They made their way to Curation Records for the new outing, a welcome home for the band’s sun-streaked Americana, turning “Preflyte” Byrds, JJ Cale grooves, beach-bound Neil, and “Water of Love”-era Dire Straits into an album that smooths the seams and steers the listener towards new horizons. GREAT!! ... read more » Quantity in Basket: none

The Lonely Bulls Price: $14.00 Artist: The Lonely Bulls Description: RELEASE ON THE KOOL KAT LABEL! "Bourbon, bolo ties, and bad jokes." Back in the late 80’s, Los Angeles was ready for a band with great songs, strong vocals, soaring harmonies, and a solid backbeat. The Lonely Bulls were that band. And they almost made it. What happened? Cut to 1984. South Florida expats, Bruce Witkin and Jeff Levine, moved to LA with stars in their eyes and no money in their pockets. Bruce came with his band, Miami favorites, The Kids, with Bruce on bass and vocals, and writing most of the radio-ready tunes (and also featuring a young Johnny Depp on guitar). Jeff had done all kinds of work as a guitar slinger and singer. After Bruce disbanded The Kids and spent some time playing around the LA pop scene, he and Jeff started writing together in a project they loosely called The Lonely Bulls. They had a couple dozen songs, but decided that, rather than performing as an acoustic duo, they would keep the acoustic guitars but add a solid backing band. They recruited drummer Mike Morrison, keyboardist Roger Kahn, bassist Steve Rosenbaum and started hitting the LA bars. The Lonely Bulls became a fixture at Sunset Boulevard's The Central (later the Viper Room) and North Hollywood's Palomino. And the crowds started coming. Known for their “Rubber Soul”-era Beatles-influenced songs and Everly Brothers harmonies, those in the know in LA could not get enough. Soon every show was an event. Next thing you know, there was a buzz and, of course, the labels started coming around. It seemed that success was right around the corner and the Bulls did a demo, produced by Tom Petty/Heartbreakers’ Benmont Tench, for a major label that went all the way up the flag pole before, sadly, they were not picked up, leaving a long trail of heartfelt songs, great sounding recordings, and memories of hot nights of playing to sold-out crowds. As time went by, Bruce moved on to other projects, notably his band Supremium, which made a couple of great records in the 90’s, while Jeff became a movie producer in Hollywood. Luckily, the recordings live on. Maybe the world is finally ready for a band with great songs, soaring harmonies, and a solid backbeat. Finally ready for The Lonely Bulls - adding another missing piece to the pop puzzle! GREAT!! ... read more » Quantity in Basket: none

The Direct Records Story Volume One Price: $16.00 Artist: Various Artists Description: RELEASE ON THE KOOL KAT LABEL! The Direct Hits’ Colin Swan provides the backdrop to this new series - “The thing to remember when listening to this CD is, we had very little equipment, cheap guitars, a low noise threshold in both Geno Buckmaster and my council flat bedrooms, and to be honest, a lack of real musical ability, but that’s the charm of it! However, what I think we did have was some good tunes. Somebody must have liked what we were doing, as we sold hundreds and hundreds of these homemade DIY cassettes. Consequently if you’re expecting an audio delight, that’s not what’s on offer here! These tracks are culled from between 1982 and 1984, of which there still remains ‘hundreds’ of unreleased tracks. What you hear on ‘Volume One’ is a host of people in their early/mid 20’s fighting against what was mainstream in the charts at the time. Sheer enthusiasm, a ‘this-is-the-only-way-to-do-it ‘, DIY approach to produce something that only a small amount of like-minded people dug. I did some ‘ghosting’ on some of the vocals, usually only because the band in question asked me to, or weren’t confident enough to do it themselves, but not very often. We had a bunch of people who lived in South London who came along and helped out, some disappeared, some are still friends today and some I just can’t remember! But it was always about the feel. Geno had his demo studio at home in Battersea, I had mine in Tooting. The plan was to write songs as we always did, and those that weren’t deemed suitable for The Direct Hits would then be given to different singers or bands to record versions of. We did release covers as well, if we thought they were really good covers. This compilation, although not technically brilliant, is made for all the people who bought the cassettes using the old fashioned pre-internet, pre-download, pre-Paypal methods to buy the music they wanted. Many of these tapes went to the USA, Canada, Japan, Australia, Moscow, even Israel and far flung corners of Europe, particularly Germany, which is how we ended up touring there. I often wonder how many of these tapes are still intact in someone’s attic or basement! We approached Kool Kat Musik to work on this re-issue program mainly because label head Ray Gianchetti was a fan club member back in the 80’s, so it was a no brainer to work with someone who not only knew the history of the label, but who now runs the premier, highly respected pop label and mailorder company dealing the hard-to-find-but-special music that would be otherwise dead and buried.” Direct Records actively released material from 1982 till around 1987, and although the label didn’t release cassettes after that, the studio was moved from Tooting to Love Lane London with a much improved set up and sound and continued to produce recordings by various artists. Some of these found their way onto now out-of-print Direct Records compilation CD's that were only available through the fan club. There are some familiar names other than The Direct Hits, Colin Swan and Geno Buckmaster. A pre-Mood Six Phil Ward did a batch of solo recordings for the label. But the rest here are well worth discovering! “The Direct Hits fan club, along with The Freshies fan club, were two of the best in terms of bang-for-your buck. I have 30 DHFC fan club-only cassettes from that time period. I was thrilled and honored when Colin reached out to me to release the ‘Direct Records Story’ series of CDs. Thinking back to the 80’s, who would have guessed that today I’d be helping document the Direct Records story!” - Ray Gianchetti In the end, it’s all about the music though, isn’t it? Of course, GREAT!!! ... read more » Quantity in Basket: none

POP AID 2: A Pop Compilation To Benefit Those Affected By Hurricanes Helene & Milton Price: $22.00 Artist: Various Artists Description: RELEASE ON THE KOOL KAT LABEL! In August of 2022, “POP AID – A Power Pop Compilation to Benefit the Citizens of Ukraine” was released on the Kool Kat label. The 3CD set, which featured 63 (almost all exclusive) tracks from artists from around the world, has so far generated over $4,000 for the work of World Central Kitchen. Our attention is now turned to the people in the US as they attempt to recover from the devastating damage/losses caused by hurricanes Helene and Milton. Once again, 23 pop artists/bands from around the world stepped up to contribute exclusive tracks to “POP AID 2 - A Pop Compilation To Benefit Those Affected By Hurricanes Helene & Milton”. Participating artists are Mothboxer, Rinehearts, Star Collector, Dave Cope & The Sass, Ronnie D’Addario featuring The Lemon Twigs, Vegas With Randolph, Joe Giddings, The Anderson Council, Lava Fangs, The Second Summer, The Weeklings, Sergio Ceccanti, Thrift Store Halo, Janne Borgh, Armchair Oracles, The Grip Weeds, The Successful Failures, The Overtures, Cliff Hillis, Brent Seavers, Dream Phases, Richard Turgeon and Sonata Form! “Numbers help tell the tragic story. Classified as a tropical storm by the time it charted its path northward from Florida, through Georgia and into the heavily wooded mountains of North Carolina – Helene brought some 14 inches of rain to Asheville in a three-day period at the end of September. The storm caused two major rivers to swell 20-plus feet above their normal depth. Helene caused nearly 2,000 landslides and more than 100 deaths in the region. Residents went without plumbing for two weeks, and without drinkable tap water for almost two months. Despite the assistance of FEMA, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and scores of volunteer organizations and individuals, months later, many Western North Carolinians are still without jobs and/or homes. Yet numbers fail to convey the full nature of the disaster. As it must, life began to return to (a new) normal. But the after-effects – physical, economic and emotional – of the devastation linger on. It’s easy to feel powerless in the face of disasters, but initiatives like this compilation CD allow participants (the recording artists and those who’ve purchased the disc) to help in their own modest way. Please know that it is appreciated.” - Bill Kopp The CD will support the work of the American Red Cross, with 100% of net profits going directly to the American Red Cross! Great music for a great cause at a great price! ... read more » Quantity in Basket: none

The Direct Records Story Volume Two Price: $16.00 Artist: Various Artists Description: NEW RELEASE ON THE KOOL KAT LABEL - AVAILABLE MAY 9! Presenting a second raid on the historic Direct Tapes archive! Like “Volume One”, it features a host of tracks from the four Direct Tapes releases plus many unreleased recordings. Label boss Colin Swan writes: "The amazing thing about this project, now into its second volume, is the realisation of how many tracks we recorded over a period of almost 25 years. We continued to record material long after the Direct Tapes label had stopped putting material out, while myself and a few other friends continued to write and record music for the sheer fun of it. When CD’s became a home marketable option, we re-started the programme with the re-release of the first two Direct Hits albums, followed by re-mastered versions of the original tracks from the four Great British Beat tapes, some previously unreleased Direct Hits material, and some of the tracks taped by other artists who had recorded at the Love House studios in Love Lane, London in the first few years. The quality of these recordings got better and better as we improved on the instruments, recording equipment and musicianship. Sadly the majority of these tracks didn’t see the light of day, even though many of them are among the best recordings we ever produced. Through this series of releases, we hope to rectify that, combining early recordings from 1982, right up to the early 2000’s when we finally closed the studios for good...well, for a long time anyway" Artists featured on this volume are: The Activation, Sheila Takes A Trip!, The Direct Hits, Tina Butler, Jenny Brett, The Tic-Tocs, Geno Buckmaster, Colin Swan, The Northwoods, The Page Boys, Ricky And The Teendreams, The Open Door, The Mixers, Tall Paul, The Lola Jones, The Sound Of ‘69, Julienne Clark, The Seagurls, The Pyramids, and Suzanne Tappett. TAKE ADVANTAGE OF OUR EXCLUSIVE 2FER OFFER - GET THIS AND “VOLUME 1” FOR JUST $28! IF PAYING BY PAYPAL, YOU WILL BE REFUNDED THE APPROPRIATE DISCOUNT. IF PAYING BY CREDIT CARD, YOU WILL BE CHARGED THE CORRECT 2FER PRICE! GREAT!! ... read more » Quantity in Basket: none

The Shadow You Cast Price: $14.00 Artist: Yours & Mine Description: RELEASE ON THE KOOL KAT LABEL! A big shout out to Don Valentine of IDHAS for hipping is to Yours & Mine! So who better to provide the lowdown on this fab group! “As a paid up member of the Jon Auer fanboy society, I think we should bang on his front door until he finally gets a new solo album out, it is nice to hear something similar. The New York Trio of Greg Baldwin, Kris Hayes and Dan Wintersteen have fashioned up a great debut album that gets pretty close to that Posies vibe. Their sound is Posies-like with big riffs and choruses, but Baldwin's vocal gets close to Lindsey Buckingham at times or like a restrained Liam Gallagher. For all intents and purposes, the band come across as a Power Trio who are locked in and provide a great Power Pop or Guitar Pop sound, whatever your preference of genre naming is. ‘I'm Not Ready To Go’ is a great opener, jumping in with an ace summer vibe, all riff, a restrained melodic vocal and a killer chorus. ‘Shadow’ shows a slightly different side to the trio, slight rockier, more Indie Rock with a meandering accompanying Guitar that sound more US 90’s College Rock, even a little Britpop. ‘Our Own’ even sounds like a rocked up Dropkick with a massive Glasgow chorus. There is also great ‘Keep On’ is very UK New Wave, even a little Glenn Tilbrook and ‘Who Knows’ is wonderful restrained Jangle Pop. ‘The Kid’ gets into Cotton Mather territory and ‘The Here And The Now’ is a rare moment of slowing it right down and the band prove themselves just as adept at that. They even close the album with a slice of UK Beat on ‘Gimme Gimme Rock & Roll’. ‘The Shadow You Cast’ is a splendid listen.” - I Don’t Hear A Single GREAT!! ... read more » Quantity in Basket: none