Further Observations of a Jangly Music Fan

With all the political hoopla now fading from the American media, residents in my area of the country (the mid-Atlantic) can "take a deep breath and relax" … and enjoy the mild, colorful autumn weather that we are fortunate to experience in November. As darkness occurs earlier with each passing day, it provides me with an excuse to go inside and sample the assortment of new pop discs that have arrived in recent weeks. Here is a brief summary of the new discs and tunes that have caught my ear this past month:

On a track-for-track basis, it's hard to beat the jangly, strummy songs that appear on Break Up With by Water School. The band I am most reminded of is the Hippycrickets … but I also hear early REM, Javelin Boot and Shambles influences in Water School's songs. "All God's Children" even features some power pop crispness that is reminiscent of Teenage Fanclub. If you're in the mood for simple, pleasing, melodic and strummy tunes, look no further than "Talkin' Bout Us," "The Home We Never Had," "Andy" and "Southern Belle."

It's also hard to compete with the jangle factor that is present in Evolver - the 27-song compilation of Thanes tunes. This is retro-pop straight out of the 60s - Scotland's answer to the Chesterfield Kings. Ringing, chiming and jangly guitar riffs are featured on many of the tracks, but Byrds fans will delight in "Lost Or Found" and "Never Make Me Blue."

The Ringles' new disc, Take A Ride, also features 60s psych/pop ala the Chesterfield Kings and the Blues Magoos. Some of the tracks favor a lo-fi approach, but there are jangly guitars aplenty on tracks like "Daddy's Girl," "She's Sleeping My Love" and "Farewell."

The new disc from Stratocruiser, Suburban Contemporary, has more of the crunch associated with power pop. The album showcases Beatlesque pop tunes and jangly riffs on "Blue Sparkle Daydream," "Gold Circle" and "Edgewise."

The Day Traders' self-titled disc may not be overtly jangly, but it is a start-to-finish collection of catchy pop tunes. I hear the Connells and Jimmy Eat World in many of the tracks, and some terrific latter-day Bee Gees harmonies. This is about as strong a debut disc as an indie pop band can hope to release. Give this disc a spin, and you will be replaying it with frequency.

Equally appealing, on a track-by-track basis, is Things May Change by Big Circle. The band straddles the fence between pop and rock and their bright CSN-like harmonies shine through on many tracks. "Sister Redemption" features a second lead vocal that will remind SGGL fans of Rusty Speidel. Even though these guys don't use as much treble setting as I favor, the hooks in songs like "My Bad Friend," "Things May Change," "I'm The One," "That Child" and "Mrs. Freeway" are as radio-friendly as indie pop can get.
Fix It If You Hate It is the second disc by the Riffbrokers - and it clearly demonstrates the band's development in the pop/roots-rock genre of bar band music. This guitar-driven band reminds me of a blend of the Rumors, Social Distortion (on "Accident"), Pete Droge and the Viceroys. Long may you run, Sir Mick and bandmates!

Speaking of roots-rock, my favorite current band in this genre is Ol' Yeller. Their fourth disc, Sounder, continues to showcase their ability to blend vintage roots-rock (Neil Young and Crazy Horse) with the more contemporary sounds of Uncle Tupelo and the Bottle Rockets. "Solitaire" has enough chiming guitars to appeal to many jangle'n'twang roots-rock enthusiasts.

Talented indie artist Ed James serves up a generous amount of primo pop tunes on his latest disc, Big Time. James is a pop chameleon: he can emulate the Beatles, the Who or any pop artist with ease - and he masters the sound of the Cars on "Shiver And Shake." "Best Laid Plans" and "Don't Follow Me" should appeal to jangle candy enthusiasts.

Outrageous Cherry is due to release another full-length disc in early 2005. Until then, fans of this psych-pop band should be thrilled to hear the five songs on the CD-EP Why Don't We Talk About Something Else. This talented foursome represents the Rainbow Quartz label very well!

Planet Nine, by the Boswells, features lots of crisp power pop tunes and enough jangly tracks (including my song of the month - "Samuel") to merit jangly music fans' attention.

Face Down Records just released a disc that features alternating tracks by two of its label bands - Audible and Swivel Chairs. As the disc progresses, it becomes harder to distinguish between the bands as you listen to the disc … and elements of many genres of pop music (including the jangly tracks "Just Right" and "Sound Makes A Circle") are represented in the mix.

Last, but not least, in this month's play stack is the 48-track two-CD set - Destination: Bomp! The Best of Bomp Records' First 20 Years. Sadly, this excellent compilation was released just prior to Bomp founder Greg Shaw's death. After doing some INTERNET research to learn more about Greg Shaw, I have to agree with Fufkin editor Casey Fundaro that the indie pop world has suffered a tremendous loss. Shaw's pioneering spirit and support of DIY pop will be appreciated for years to come. If you are unfamiliar with the Bomp! label, this compilation is a great place to start recognizing the Bomp legacy. There are plenty of cool jangly tracks in this undervalued set.

Last month, I mentioned that the UK band, Diesel Park West, was still recording excellent original tunes for albums that will be released sometime in the future. John Butler, Rick Willson and bandmates have already recorded and submitted their cover of "Hung Upside Down" for the Buffalo Springfield tribute disc (to be released in the spring of 2005). Band archivist Keith Beck also sent me a dynamite live Butler/Willson acoustic version of "Bluebird" and a terrific live Butler/Willson version of "Rock and Roll Woman." If I had to nominate one band on the European side of the Atlantic to perform a Buffalo Springfield tribute show, Diesel Park West would be that band!

While I'm on the hypothetical subject of bands that could perform a Buffalo Springfield tribute show, the band on the North American side of the Atlantic that could pull off this feat is Byrds Of A Feather. This assemblage of pop "super stars" (Andrew Gold, Jeffrey Foskett, Randell Kirsch, Nelson Bragg, Jimmy Caprio, Pat Robinson and Stephen Arti) has been performing circa 1965-1966 Byrds songs on a catch-as-catch-can basis in California for the past few years. Recently, their live repertoire expanded to include circa 1966-1967 Buffalo Springfield tunes. Having heard their version of "Bluebird," the instrumentation and harmonies are spot-on!

An acquaintance turned me on again to a track I haven't listened to in four years - the title track from the Counting Crows' 2000 album, Hard Candy. This is as chiming and Byrdsian as an alt-rock band can get!

Until next month, enjoy the autumn season wherever you reside - and jangle on!

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