Radiophonic Supersonic Price: $10.00 Artist: Dave Caruso Description: “Radiophonic Supersonic” is the followup to Dave’s 2017 “Buddah Pesto Manifesto” release. Dave explains “On this album I had more studio experience, I’d gotten better on guitar, I’d become more patient with my voice, and I was more equipped as a songwriter and arranger to get the sounds out of my head and into the tracks. With Brad Jones and Andy Reed on board, I knew the record was in the best of hands.O” “I knew this record would be a great pop rock album, but more than that, the influences here are widely spread. Compare the Philly/Motown sound of ‘Indelible’ to the big 80's AOR vibe of ‘Tuesday's Gone’ and you get the gist. His gentle vocal stylings generally lend itself to the laid back, but that doesn't stop the pop ringing through. Catchy verses are linked to memorable choruses, never more so on ‘I Won't Wait For You’. ‘Heaven Minus Love’ is a great 70's singer/songwriter on the keys ballad, whilst ‘Atomic Smile’ verges on Bossa Nova, it’s certainly a lounge shuffle. ‘Throwing Out My Baby With the Bassinet’ is a real 20's/30's ragtime joy. For all this variety, the home runs are when the catchy pop rings out. ‘A Piece Of The Action’ is great pop rock and the outstanding ‘Little Miss Sunshine’ is a beauty of a song - very California harmonic pop with little hints of Toytown. All in all ‘Radiophonic Supersonic’ is a more than great listen.” – IDontHearASingle.com “There are an abundance of ‘single-worthy’ songs here which is a nice problem to have. ‘Atomic Smile’ is both uber-catchy and very, very clever. ‘Indelible’ will transport you right back to 60’s AM radio. On “Little Miss Sunshine”, Caruso channels his inner Elvis Costello with one of the most engaging songs of 2020. It’s brilliant, bouncy, radio friendly guitar pop with a big payoff – a chorus that you can’t help but sing along to. Anyone who has visited PPN with any regularity knows my penchant for artists with a sense of humor. Caruso delivers big with ‘Throwing Out My Baby With the Bassinet’, a humorous look at a relationship that must end. The quick tempo defies the sour subject matter, making for a rather delightful send up. The wonderful harmonies on ‘Tuesday’s Gone’ make it sneaky good. With his best work to date, expect ‘Radiophonic Supersonic’ to make an appearance in this site’s end of year list of top power pop albums.” – PowerPopNews.com GREAT!! ... read more » Quantity in Basket: none

This Time You’re On Your Own Price: $11.00 Artist: Foxycontin Description: Philly’s Foxycontin are four men devoted to playing high-spirited, pop punk. Formed in 2003, the band features members of Philly punk legends The Electric Love Muffin and Krhissy. Over the course of their career, they have endeared themselves to the Philly music scene for their high energy live performances, crisp well-structured songs, and tight execution. On this, their long awaited debut LP, the band has captured a sound that echoes the halcyon days of Stiff Records as well as the raging melodiousness of Stiff Little Fingers and The Ramones. “On record, they sound like the seasoned live band that it obviously is. The songs are well-crafted, tightly-executed, and bound to stick in your head. Coming on strong with the soulful title track and the Stiff Little Fingers inspired ‘The Whole World Knows I'll Never Get Over It Now’, the record will grab you from the get-go and keep you hooked to the end. Songs like ‘Starting To Show’ and ‘Shiver’ are master displays of how to rock with maturity and sophistication, yet the band is not reluctant to lean on the simplicity and pure energy that will forever be the lifeblood of rock and roll. ‘Alive In Interesting Times’ is melodic punk at its most urgent and satisfying, while ‘But You'll Never Listen’ summons the spirit of a young Elvis Costello and The Attractions. ‘Fine...Fine!’ is straight-up garage rock that really hits the mark. Their cover of the Chris Farlowe B-side ‘Headlines’ is one of the album's highlights. While it might be a little unusual for a full third of a band's debut album to be covers, I think it was a smart choice for Foxycontin. It gives the album the feel of a live set, and it really shows off the band's chops. The material is strong, and the musicianship is lights out! You would expect a lot from a debut album that was essentially a decade and a half in the making that delivers in full. If you're into great American indie rock and roll bands like The Figgs and The Safes, Foxycontin is highly recommended!” – FasterandLouder.com Other covers present are Nick Lowe’s “Heart Of The City”, Fred Neil’s “The Dolphins”, “Little Willie” (The Sweet), and “Headlines” (Chris Farlowe). GREAT!! ... read more » Quantity in Basket: none

No Weapon But Love Price: $20.00 Artist: Icecream Hands Description: “No Weapon But Love” is the seventh full-length studio album from these Aussie power poppers. The album explores the idea of love as a powerful force; love lost, love unrealized, love gained, love forgotten and remembered and the uplifting kind as well – an antidote for the struggles of 2020. Here are 13 songs dripping with the irresistible hooks and harmonies that have gained the band critical praise around the world since 1992. “For a masterclass in not just the art of songwriting but the joy of it, you can start with this record. Icecream Hands are not just a melodic guitar band, although for close to 30 years they have been delivering rich, melodic guitar-driven tunes that lift the listener up and steer them through the dark times and the good. They are not just a harmonies band, although for most of that time they have been writing songs where massed harmony vocals are not just something tacked on but central to the core. There is a reason we don’t hear much great vocal harmony work in rock music any more, the kind of thing which so elevated the music of bands from The Beatles and Beach Boys to the Mamas and Papas and Fleetwood Mac. That’s because it is hard to do, especially if you are playing an instrument on stage at the same time. These guys are masters of it.” – MusicTrust.com.au “What? They’ve been away? I don’t mean the songs sound the same after a break of more than a dozen years, but rather that the Icecream Hands principles are unchanged. And those principles are solid. As easy to understand as they are to recognize. Here are a few. Keep not just the songs but the people in them human-scale; melodies are your friend, not the first hurdle to clear; if you’ve got fine harmony singers in the band, use them; just because you’ve got fine harmony singers doesn’t mean you use them at every opportunity; yes, you’re a guitar band, but make the guitars work for you, not lead you; don’t be scared of the pretty or the amusing, embrace them; if you’ve got a chorus with a hook that grabs, why wait to get to it?; did I mention melodies?” – Bernard Zeul GREAT!! ... read more » Quantity in Basket: none

Better From Here Price: $14.00 Artist: Joe Giddings Description: RELEASE ON THE KOOL KAT MUSIK LABEL!! Over two years in the making (not the record, but Joe’s decision to finally release it after remixing and tweaking it) after we first spoke, ”Better From Here” - here comes the cliché – is a power pop gem that truly was worth waiting for! “This is top notch power pop rock from one of the genre’s best exponents over the past two decades. His vocals are enhanced in a wall of sound. Brimming with melodic from start to finish, it’s an outstanding album from not only a major talent, but a real unheralded gem.” – IDontHearASingle.com "Power pop with real power. Well-crafted tunes delivered with panache and drenched in melody, sounding like a less ornate, harder rocking Jellyfish. Meaty guitar licks flying all over the place. A year-end top 10 contender, for sure!" - John Borack “While there’s a Beatles influence evident throughout, it is amazingly diverse. The melding of a variety of pop influences and brilliant, radio friendly production sensibilities make it really shine. Maybe it’s the guitar crunch of ‘Amity Horror’ that’ll grab you, or the spot-on harmonies of ‘Gone So Far’, or the FOW/Cars approach to ‘Tin Foil Crush’ that’ll hook you. Could it be the muscular guitar of ‘Rock and Roll’? For me, it was ‘Irrelevant’, with guitar muscle out front, production and arrangement reminiscent of The Sweet or T-Rex, where everything is boiled down to its most impactful ingredients. It’s all hook, swagger and smarts. Did I mention that he can really, really sing? Every once in a while I hear someone say ‘they just don’t make ‘em like they used to’. Next time you hear that, hand them a copy of ‘Better From Here’!” – Rich Rossi/PowerPopNews.com “Joe tells us right away ‘I don’t want to sing like the Beatles again, but I’m gonna do it anyway’ on the title track. His songwriting skills are in top form, evidenced by ‘Always Raining Somewhere”. His guitar can shred with anyone, as he plays with a post-punk sprightliness and a less overtly British Invasion-inspired melodic sense that's closer to the power pop greats of the 90’s. Fans of Velvet Crush and Fountains of Wayne will enjoy ‘Amity Horror’ and ‘Rock and Roll.’ The high harmonies just burst in on ‘If I Don’t Have Love.’ This is looking to be in my top 10 of 2020!” – Powerpopaholic.com “Joe Giddings’ pop world is a place where fans of Jellyfish and Redd Kross gather in animated huddles to discuss late-era Beatles. It is also a place where the go-to guitarist is Brian May. Lyrically, Giddings tries to eschew thoughts of stardom but simply comes across as self-effacing, he tells us it’s ‘always raining somewhere’ but also why we should still be all smiles. Musically, he is full-throttle but always inventive, he can deliver a heavy crunch when needed but then rounds things off by creating a slow burning, bright full glow.” – John Bottomley/BucketfullofBrains.com GREAT!! ... read more » Quantity in Basket: none

Shiftingears Price: $12.00 Artist: Rich Arithmetic Description: Rich Arithmetic is back after a prolonged absence with “Shiftingears”, an album that expands on the pop promises he made on 1995’s “Sleep In A Wigwam”. If you’re looking for catchy guitar riffs, you’ll find ‘em here. Looking for interweaving harmonies? They abound here. Melodies that don’t stop when the music’s over? Want something to challenge a few indie-pop assumptions while still adhering to melody-first expectations? They’re all here, in spades! Whichever way you choose to read the title of the album – as “Shiftin’ Gears” or as “Shifting Ears” – it’s a perfect description of what you’ll find here. The record charges out the gate with an all-cylinders-firing tribute to a 60’s should’a-been superstar band, The E-Types (he covers their “She Moves Me“ on the record). That opening salvo is then followed up in a Beatles-inspired vein (“Do You Remember (What The Music’s For)” that recalls the music and DJ’s of 60’s AM radio. He “shifts gears” and “shifts ears” with an eclectic collection of pop-and-harmony songs that draw from a variety of influences while still establishing his own unique pop credentials. Familiar to fans will be the influence of The Beatles, of course, and XTC, naturally, along with incorporations of criss-crossing “ba-ba-ba” harmonies inspired by Brian Wilson, punctuated by surf-guitar riffs here and there. The influences do not obscure Rich’s own unique pop approaches to tune-making. New this time around are several piano-based numbers, a moody Chris Isaak-esque introspection that eventually flings itself into Mamas & Papas harmony sunshine. There are melodic hooks disguised in bar-band clothes, and a couple of pieces that borrow from the extended-song approach of the late 60’s and early 70’s. There’s also a flirtation with Baroque pop (“Before For The First Slice”) that sees him accompanied by a string quartet that back in the day would have made The Left Banke proud. In the meantime, another piece with a 50’s chord progression is followed up by a droning “I Am The Walrus”-like organ-guitar-and-cello song (“Waiting For The Isaac”). Along the way, Rich is assisted by special guest Maura Kennedy from folk-pop duo, The Kennedys. In addition, Ray Carmen (from Librarians With Hickeys) and Christopher Earl (aka Squires of the Subterrain) share songwriting credits with Rich on a couple numbers. Welcome back Rich!! TAKE ADVANTAGE OF OUR EXCLUSIVE 2-FER OFFER! GET THIS AND RICH’S CD “SLEEP IN A WIGWAM” FOR ONLY $20! IF PAYING MY PAYPAL, YOU WILL BE REFUNDED ACCORDINGLY. IF PAYING BY CREDIT CARD, YOUR CARD WILL BE CHARGED THE 2-FER PRICE. GREAT!! ... read more » Quantity in Basket: none

Better Days Price: $13.00 Artist: Rick Hromadka Description: The solo album Rick Hromadka (Double Naught Spies/Maple Mars/Ruby Free) has been toiling with for well over a year has been done since before the pandemic, but there was no way he was gonna release it while the world stopped turning. But…Rick states “I finally realized that waiting for the world to get better is like chasing your tail. So here's to ‘Better Days’! Unlike my last solo record, which was very ‘solo’, this time 'round I wanted to include a bunch of my musical friends, many of whom I've admired for years and finally got up the nerve to ask to play on this record. I can't tell you how unbelievable it was to work with so many talents. Receiving recorded tracks from these people was like opening gifts at Christmas!” "Hromadka and a batch of his musical pals have created an album that is one of the best power pop releases in memory, a surging and artful effort that is bolstered by excellent song craft, experimental flourishes aplenty and nuanced musicianship. It’s the perfect find for those in search of music that is melodic, memorable and expertly crafted. "- Robert Kinsler/Rock 'n Roll Truth "A top-flight collection of wonderfully-realized pop ‘n’ roll songs!" - Alan Haber/Pure Pop Radio "A powerhouse of an album!" - Pseu Braun/WFMU “This is one of the best albums of Rick's career. It’s up there with the magnificent 2010 Maple Mars album, ‘Galaxyland’. Yes, that good.” - Mike Lidskin/Woody Radio GREAT!! ... read more » Quantity in Basket: none

Lost Price: $14.00 Artist: SLD Description: RELEASE ON THE KOOL KAT MUSIK LABEL!! The ultra-melodic, 60’s drenched, 17-song “Lost” represents SLD’s (Sounds Like Digging) sophomore effort (and Kool Kat Musik label debut), a record that Paul Constanza and Tom Parisi have delivered that will immediately appeal to fans of The Beatles, Badfinger, and even more current artists like Cupid’s Carnival! Paul explains “The four years since we completed ‘Indigo Gray’ have been at times tumultuous. I thought we'd have trouble coming up with enough songs for another album but the dam sort of burst towards the end. I'm always tempted to cover the songs I love, but knowing that I'll never outdo my exemplars keeps me in my lane. Instead I'll take a song or an artist I love and try to create something in their style. Songs on ‘Lost’ run from the relatively unknown - Greg Laswell in ‘Fly Away,’ or Del Amitri in ‘You Went Along With It’, to pop icons like Squeeze in ‘Midnight Eyes,’ or XTC in ‘12 to 5, to legends like Stevie Wonder in ‘No Way,’ or Burt Bacharach in ‘She’. Or I might just try to recapture the feel of a certain song I love, where a guilty pleasure like ‘A Groovy Kind Of Love’ turned in to ‘Don't Want To Get Over You.’ I'd love to say this one was a labor of love, but it was mostly labor sprinkled with moments of sheer joy. The way Tommy and I work is unique as we're never in the same room when we do our tracks. It adds an element of fun and surprise when we get to hear what the other has done.” “’Lost’ has been on constant repeat in my car’s CD player. Anyone familiar with my ‘The Music Authority’ podcast, knows that the key elements to a GREAT song are melody, harmony, and lyrics that have meaning...jangly guitars, a driving back beat, and a bass line that makes sense. I find myself getting ‘lost’ inside the songs each and every time I play this. Songs of wonder, of joy of life, of snippets of occurrences that do touch us all, that have been captured as sound pictures, and masterfully done, might I add! Influences? I hear touches of Raspberries, Beatles, tinges of Emitt Rhodes and Elliott Smith...yet the sound is strictly theirs.” – Jim Prell “Like a breath of fresh air from the summer of 1975, ‘Lost’ will assuredly help your mind get lost in AM radio nostalgia. It is a testament to the songcraft that the melodies, harmonies, and instrumentation can take a listener back 45 years. You are sure to find a new favorite with each listen. In the true nature of power pop, there is a new twist around every corner.” – Howard Byrne “With 17 tracks, this is like a double album. ‘Fly Away’ is a McCartney-like piano gem, with an upbeat ‘ooh-la-la’ with rhythmic harmonies and wicked guitar break that begs for repeat listens. ‘Don’t Want Get Over You’ is a wonderful jangling pop gem full of great chord changes and Tom's guitar riffs are supported by Paul's bright vocal that defines the SLD sound. There are many other highlights here: ‘12 to 5" has brilliant harmonies across each verse, the titleis smooth pop brilliance and "Last Night" is a polished, atmospheric song with an expansive melody. Using synths and an 80’s slow pop rhythm, "Circles" could've been a Tears For Fears hit. Highly Recommended.” – Powerpopaholic.com GREAT!! ... read more » Quantity in Basket: none

Northern Songs Price: $12.00 Artist: The Asteroid No. 4 Description: The Asteroid No. 4 have always worn their influences on their collective sleeves and the tongues firmly planted in their cheeks. A heady collective of musicologists, their albums have ranged from Cosmic Country Americana to “Rubble”-styled beat, hallucinatory psychedelia, and many other flavors of the musical rainbow in between. Their records always glisten. “They take you on two simultaneous journeys on this outing; one is high octane and otherworldly, the other walks through English music history, (whether intentionally or not). It’s an intense juxtaposition and placement of sound that is bravely, and perfectly, executed.” – BackseatMafia.com “Kicking off with ‘All Mixed Up’, the A4 sound as if they’ve been revisiting their Roy Orbison records – a 50’s pastiche of bravura choruses, swelling strings, and strident testosterone-drenched vocal pyrotechnics to do the Big O proud. But then it’s back to their Spacemen 3 forebears with the otherworldly vibrating, tingling electronic buzz of ‘Hand Grenade’ with amps and guitars set to ‘Stun’! ‘Paint It Green’ changes horses again, toe-dipping into Bowie territory, circa ‘Heroes’. ‘No One Weeps’ is a groovy rewrite of Donovan’s ‘Sunshine Superman’ as interpreted by Brian Jonestown Massacre, and ‘I Don’t Care’ is one of those big anthemic fist-pumpers that were all the Britpop rage when bands like Oasis, Pulp, Charlatans, Blur, Ride, and Jesus and Mary Chain ruled the airwaves. If anyone released singles anymore, this would be a sure chart-topper. Other unforgettable earwigs include the paint-peeling wall of guitars shoegazey elegance that rages throughout ‘Juniper’, guitars that change to glistening waterfalls of crystalline sunshine on the title track. Closing out with the spacey freefalling ‘The After Glow’, the band live up to their name with an expansive journey to the stars that may extend a top of the dome to M83, but keeps their feet firmly planted in Anglaterra firma. One of the best releases we’ve heard this year.” – PsychedelicBabyMag.com Early (Syd Barrett period) Pink Floyd is a good reference point. GREAT!! ... read more » Quantity in Basket: none

Songs From Another Life Price: $14.00 Artist: The Boys With The Perpetual Nervousness Description: RELEASE ON THE KOOL KAT MUSIK LABEL! TBWTPN are an atypical music group on the frontiers between indie pop, jangle pop and power pop. “Songs From Another Life”, their second effort was initially going to be a Bobo Integrel Records vinyl-only release – but that was until the Kool Kat mafia stepped in and made an offer Madrid’s Gonzalo Marcos (El Palacio de Linares), and Edinburgh’s Andrew Taylor (Dropkick) couldn’t refuse to make a CD available on Kool Kat! Here, the boys open the range of influences, more American, more exuberant and present a powerful sound with arrangements that make us dream of better days. In addition to Teenage Fanclub, Big Star and The Byrds, there are sonic references to Fountains Of Wayne, Matthew Sweet, Weezer, R.E.M., The Lemonheads, The Beach Boys and there are even distorted breaks à la Dinosaur Jr. or Sugar. Recorded separately, in two parts, applying social distance before it was an obligation. These songs so beautiful, so bright, so stimulating, this gorgeous guitar and harmony-filled music of heavenly guitars, can only come from another life, from a life that might never return. “You could line up a whole host of driven, melodic, harmonious power-pop bands, blindfold yourself and stick a pin in one of them and the chances are that the very best of the chosen p(r)icked act, will sound much like this. Following precisely on from the sheer and absolute jangled beauty seen in 2019’s ‘Dead Calm’ album and dares to tread just that little bit further into the more gregarious, dynamic power-pop territory that is frequented by the most well known of today’s power-pop acts…and even has the temerity to do it better. As ‘Waking Up In Sunshine’, ‘How I Really Feel’ and ‘I Don’t Mind’ slide over the edge of ‘just genuine pretty’, by increasing the tempo and adding a subtle sense of ‘more’. More noise, more tempo, more percussion, just more. When the tempo decreases and the harmonies usurp dynamism, we see the band return to the sheer laconic grace of their debut, with ‘Can’t You See’, ‘Falling Through’, ‘Lethargy’ and ‘In Between’, providing the perfect vehicle for Taylor’s voice to smoothly reverse into. Never hurried, never wavering, without the quirky inflections that much musical modernity insists upon in their frontmen, Taylor’s is possibly the most perfect voice in jangle/power-pop at present (sorry Teenage Fanclub fans!). A genuinely stunning album…as if there was ever any doubt it would be!!?” – JanglePophub.com GREAT!! ... read more » Quantity in Basket: none

Fall Back + bonus disc Price: $16.00 Artist: The Junior League Description: RELEASE ON THE KOOL KAT LABEL!! The latest from The Junior League (Joe Adragna) is a remixed, remastered, resquenced and in some cases re-recorded collection of songs initially recorded and released in 2010 as a Joe Adragna solo release. Featuring with new artwork and now released under The Junior League moniker, the album features Joe playing most instruments himself, but boasts contributions from Scott McCaughey, Susan Cowsill, Peter Buck, Peter Searcy and Casey McAllister. “’Fall Back’ signals Adragna’s maturity in taking his influences (1969 Beatles and 1971 Kinks) and applying them to this well-recorded effort. The deep production, careful arrangements, and catchy vocals remind me of Joe Pernice, who works along similar lines. Adragna has a profound respect for a lovingly well-crafted tune, and it shows over and over.” – BigTakeover.com “The Buck/McCaughey influence is most notably heard on the janglicious "You're Gonna Die Alone", the disc's best track. Combining Rickenbackers and the vitriol of an Elvis Costello with a catchy melody (and featuring harmony vocals from Susan Cowsill), it's almost worth the price of admission alone. Along those lines, ‘Leave Me Resigned’ also has that early-REM/Young Fresh Fellows feel, and the shuffling ‘Ladders’ recalls Bobby Sutliff.” – Absolutepowerpop.com COMES WITH AN EXCLUSIVE BONUS DISC - JUNIOR LEAGUE WITH SCOTT THE HOOPLE'S (SCOTT McCAUGHEY) "SUMMER OF LIES" EP. PREVIOUSLY A 4-SONG DOWNLOAD-ONLY RELEASE, THE DISC CONTAINS A FIFTH SONG THAT WAS NOT ON THE DOWNLOAD RELEASE - A COVER OF THE BEACH BOYS' "TIL I DIE”! GREAT(ER)!! ... read more » Quantity in Basket: none