Best Of PowerPopSquare Mix Tape (2010-2014)

It's time for a first recapitulation of PowerPopSquare: More than four years - and a whole lot of good music. That was fun. 

To celebrate this I made my personal Best Of PowerPopSquare Mix Tape (2010 - 2014). Hope you enjoy it!

Below you find the tracklist and the iTunes samples. I had to alter some of the songs at iTunes because some of them aren't available there.

Disc 1
01 Bleu - Ya Catch More Flies With Honey Than Vinegar
02 Taylor Locke & The Roughs - My only drug
03 Mike Viola - So Much Better
04 Farrah - Swings & Roundabouts
05 The Nines - Virginia
06 Regina Spektor - Us
07 Owsley - Coming Up Roses
08 Ben Folds - Gone
09 Pelle Carlberg - Riverbank
10 Jellyfish - That Is Why
11 Ben Lee - Catch My Disease
12 Jeremy Messersmith - Tourniquet
13 Bleu - Grasping At Straws
14 Spoon - The Book I Write
15 OK Go - End Love
16 Sondre Lerche - Let My Love Open The Door
17 She & Him - In The Sun
18 Teitur - You Never Leave LA
19 Jim Boggia - I Hate New York
20 Dan Wilson - Even The Stars Are Sleeping

Disc 2
01 Mike Viola - The Strawberry Blonde
02 Bleu - How Blue
03 Jeremy Fisher - Scar That Never Heals
04 Kelly Jones & Mike Viola - Loving You Baby
05 Pugwash - Fall Down
06 Parks - Sweater Weather
07 Dan Wilson - Game
09 Mumm-Ra - Shes_got_you_high
09 Ron Sexsmith - Happiness
10 Bleu - Singin' In Tongues
11 Ben Folds - Rock Star
12 Coldplay - Warning Sign
13 Nik Kershaw - If it gets much better than this
14 The Damnwells - The Great Unknown
15 KT Tunstall - Other Side Of The World
16 Ken Stringfellow - You're A Sign
17 Aqualung - Fingertip
18 Eric Barao - In Love With a Broken Heart
19 Bleu - We'll Do It All Again
20 LEO - Sukaz Are Born Every Minute

Disc 3
01 Ben Folds - Annie Waits
02 Darwin Deez - Radar Detector
03 Bleu - Merry-Go-Round
04 Jim Boggia - So Full
05 Mike Viola - That Thing You Do!
06 Guster - Bad Bad World
07 Ben Kweller - Penny On A Train Track
08 Jason Falkner -  Jet Silver
09 Owsley - Changes
10 The Major Labels - Hummingbird
11 Farrah - No Reason Why
12 The Nines - Darkening Sky
13 David Mead - Rainy Weather Friend
14 Jeremy Messersmith - Violet!
15 Travis - Selfish Jean
16 Brendan Benson - Alternative To Love
17 Bleu - No Such Thing as Love
18 Teenage Fanclub - Baby Lee
19 Jon Brion - Here We Go
20 The Major Labels - Aquavia

Disc 4
01 Coldplay - Don't Panic
02 Ben Folds Five - Army
03 Bleu - It's Not Over 'Til It's Over And Done
04 David Mead - Wherever You Are
05 Mike Viola - Rock N' Roll Denny's
06 Rilo Kiley - Silver Lining
07 Belle & Sebastian - For The Price Of A Cup Of Tea
08 Feist - 1234
09 Jason Falkner - Say It's True
10 Ben Kweller - Jealous Girl
11 Jellyfish - New Mistake
12 Parks - Modern Fiction
13 Sunday Sun - Summer Holiday
14 Bleu - Somebody Else (Redhead Record Club version)
15 Attic Lights - Say You Love Me
16 Travis - Don't Be Shy
17 Ben Folds Five - Draw A Crowd
18 Ron Sexsmith - Brighter Still
19 Mike Viola - I'm Your Dog
20 Uncle Devil Show - I Had A Drink About You Last Night

 

Guster - New record

Another crowd funding campaign is on: the new record of Guster.
Read all about it HERE!

Here's the message from the band:

Hello from Guster! 

We’re so proud to announce that our new album is finished and set for a release early next year. Like presidential elections and the World Cup, these things only seem to happen every four years. Which is why we’ve stacked this here website with ways for you to get involved with our band – from pre-ordering the album to some seriously interactive Guster Fantasy Camp stuff. Take a look.

When you pick up a new Live Album (Parachute, Lost & Gone Forever, and KIT are all live on cd now), pre-order the new album, or decide to get involved in any of the creative ways we’ve come up with – you’re making it possible for our band to make music, shoot videos, tour the world, and ultimately put out our first independent album since 1997 (!)

So that’s why some things are pricier than what you’ve come to expect from Guster. It’s totally cool to pick up our albums when they’re properly released for a bit less, but this is an opportunity for you to show us some love, knowing we’ll send it right back. Everyone who orders anything at all via Pledge gets added to our All Access Pass list where you get first access to tracks, album commentaries, videos, tour dates, etc. and you’ll be eligible to win some of the completely ridiculous prizes we’re giving away… such as:

- The Guster Concert Ticket Passport (2 tickets for you to every Guster headlining show in 2015)

- Assistant Guitar Tech for the day at a Guster concert near you

- Autographed vinyl test pressing of the new record

- 1 of every merch item in the Guster web store

- Never-again Guster bobble heads

- Two painted union suits from the “Do You Love Me” video

- Entire Guster studio album catalog transferred to cassette with a handwritten track list

- Autographed Taylor GS mini acoustic guitar

So please dig in, discover Ryan’s cd-of-the-month club, order a bloody bongo head necklace from Brian, ride bikes around NYC with Luke, or go surfing with Adam. There are more ideas forthcoming too, so check back often to see what we come up with. This was a fun album to make and getting involved with you guys for the release is something we plan to have a lot of fun with too.

Onward!

Guster

The first song is called "Long Night":

Vacationer - Relief

If you're still looking for the perfect summer-record, I think I can help you there: Vacationer - a group from Philadelphia - just released their second album Relief.  

Vacationer are Kenny Vasoli, Matthew Young and Grant Wheeler.

Relief is not just the title of the record - it's the record's proposition.
From start to finish the album is the musical image of vacation, palm trees, wide sand beach and blue sky (the cover fits quite well).

Vasoli says: “Whether through love, exploration or relaxing, we all strive for relief. It’s just a quick flip-of-the-switch away, and think it’s good to be reminded of that.”

Relief is available digital, on CD any beautiful translucent blue vinyl at amazon.com or directly from the band HERE.

Make sure you listen to: Onward & Upward, The Wild Life, Paradise Waiting, In The Grass and Heavenly

Official website: vacationermusic.com

The Britannicas - High Tea

The Britannicas are Herb Eimerman (USA), Magnus Karlsson (Sweden) and Joe Algeri (Australia). They are separated by thousands of miles of ocean but they use modern technology to make old-school pop music.
High Tea is their second album. And if you like 60s pop music it may be perfect for you.

Recommended tracks: Got A Hold On Me, Come on Boys, A Shag And A Cup o’ Tea, Talkin' 'bout Summer

The songs of "High Tea" can be previewed & bought at CDBaby.com.

Here Comes The Reign Again: The Second British Invasion - Update

If you have a look at the right side of this blog, you'll find a complete index of artists I wrote about in the last four years. A great deal of these musicians came together on Here Comes The Reign Again: The Second British Invasion. I am lost for words...

...well, not completely: Here Comes The Reign Again is a compilation by Andrew Curry. It's his second project, his first was Drink a Toast to Innocence.

Here is the Kickstarter.com campaign:


Find all information and updates also at the Facebook page of Here Comes The Reign Again.

Track listing:

• Life In A Northern Town – Chris Collingwood
• Do You Really Want To Hurt Me – Rachael Yamagata
• Save A Prayer – David Mead
• Dancing With Myself – Taylor Locke
• Promises, Promises – Freedy Johnston
• Life’s What You Make It – The Nines
• Everybody Wants To Rule The World – Mike Viola
• Relax – Mike Doughty
• Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This) – Tracy Bonham
• Goody Two Shoes – Jim Boggia & Pete Donnelly
• Something About You – Kelly Jones
• Every Time You Go Away – Linus Of Hollywood
• Digging Your Scene – Ken Stringfellow
• Don't You Want Me – Chris Price
• They Don’t Know – Graham Alexander
• Tainted Love – Eric Barao
• Only You – The Wellingtons
• Cruel Summer – People On Vacation
• Tenderness – TeamMate
• Our House – The Corner Laughers
• West End Girls – Secret Friend
• Don’t You (Forget About Me) – Bleu
• Freedom – The Davenports
• Wouldn’t It Be Good – Cliff Hillis
• Kids In America – Big-Box Store
• True – Minky Starshine
• No One Is To Blame – Eytan Mirsky & Alyson Greenfield
• Things Can Only Get Better (kickstarter-only bonus track) – An American Underdog

Short biographies from some of the artists:

Taylor Locke

Taylor Locke co-founded the LA rock band Rooney in 1999, and was signed to Geffen Records in 2002. After 3 albums and a decade of international touring, he shifted his focus to his own group, Taylor Locke & the Roughs . After 2 albums with that group, he has gone completely solo and is about to release his solo debut, "Time Stands Still".

Eric Barao

 

Eric Barao is a singer-songwriter from Massachusetts and co-founder (with guitarist/songwriter Jeff Caglarcan) of the powerpop/rock band The Cautions. In 2001, The Cautions released a critically-acclaimed debut EP, and had risen to top 10 finalists in the AMA New Music Awards, a national contest sponsored by Dick Clark, Coca-Cola, CMJ and The American Music Awards. In 2005, they released their full-length follow-up album Proceed With...The Cautions, and continued to perform throughout the Northeast. Eric currently performs with a lineup of veteran musicians from the Boston/Providence area, including Matt Boynton, Carlene Barous, Matt Lydon and Matt Gillooly.

Eric has recorded music for radio and television, and film soundtracks including the indie film Turbocharged and the critically acclaimed new documentary, Raising Matty Christian. He also contributed music to the film Balls of Fury, starring Christopher Walken.

His 2013 self-titled release, co-produced by powerpop icon Bleu, appeared on multiple year-end "Best Of" lists. Check it out here: http://ericbarao.bandcamp.com/album/eric-barao.

Tracy Bonham

A native of Eugene, Oregon, Tracy Bonham began singing at age five, playing the violin at nine and piano at age 14. On her 1996 debut, The Burdens of Being Upright, Tracy established herself as a brash rocker with ironic nods to the emerging music of punk girl bands. With blunt, direct observations on love and loss, the album went gold and earned the singer Grammy nominations for Best Alternative Music Performance and Best Female Vocalist.

"Mother Mother", her first single, not only became a nationwide anthem, but also was a #1 hit on the Billboard Modern Rock charts, earning Tracy an MTV Video Music Awards nomination in the process. From the late 1990s to the mid 2000s, Tracy steadily recorded and performed both individually and with numerous groups, appearing with everyone from Blue Man Group and Aerosmith to Ron Sexsmith and Juliana Hatfield. Following 2005's Blink the Brightest and the 2006 EP In the City + In the Woods, the singer took some time to focus on other things, before re-emerging with the deeply personal Masts of Manhattan in 2010.

Ken Stringfellow

Ken Stringfellow is most widely known as a founding member of The Posies, as well as for his long-standing work in studio and on stage with REM, Big Star, and much more. Producer of acclaimed albums by Damien Jurado, the Long Winters, etc, Ken has also released four solo albums, all of which received high marks from Pitchfork, Mojo, and other gold standard indie media. His latest release, Danzig in the Moonlight came out in 2012.
"An artist worthy of respect and a listen from any true fan of classic pop....uniformly flawless" - Pitchfork

"Stringfellow is one of the most underrated songwriters of our generation" - Billboard Magazine

"Stringfellow's clear, composed croon forgives all sins" - Rolling Stone

"Lush pop perfection" - Mojo

David Mead

After signing to RCA in 1998, David Mead released a pair of critically-acclaimed records, The Luxury of Time and Mine and Yours. Honing a songwriting gift that embraces elements of Broadway, The Beatles, Prog and New Wave, Mead has since continued to release albums (Indiana, Wherever You Are, Tangerine, Almost and Always) full of “infectious melodies” (The Guardian) sung in a voice “honeyed and compelling” (Entertainment Weekly) while touring relentlessly over five continents, sharing the stage with the likes of Fountains of Wayne, Joe Jackson and Shelby Lynne.

His music has enjoyed exposure in television and film, as well as praise from some unexpected admirers: “David Mead is one of my favorite singer-songwriters,” said John Mayer, and Taylor Swift recently covered his song “Nashville” in concert. In 2011, Mead’s fans rallied around him and raised over $20,000 to fund the recording of his new album, Dudes, a work of pure pleasure filled with humor, mystery, and emotional wallop.

Bleu

Bleu is a critically acclaimed singer, songwriter, producer, and mixer who's been releasing his highly stylized musical manifestos since 1999. His work as a solo artist has included collaborations with a who's who of cult-pop icons such as Andy Sturmer and Roger Joseph Manning Jr. of Jellyfish, Hanson, and Steve Gorman of The Black Crowes. As a writer and producer for other artists, he's reached the masses through gold and platinum selling acts such as Meat Loaf, Demi Lovato, Selena Gomez, and The Jonas Brothers. 2013 saw Bleu involved in many more collaborations, and side-projects. He contributed an awesome version of "Baby Come Back" to our last project, Drink A Toast To Innocence: A Tribute To Lite Rock, and he released his fifth full-length album, To Hell With You.

Mike Viola

A prolific Los Angeles-based singer, songwriter, producer and recording artist, Mike Viola first entered the national spotlight as founder and front man of the Candy Butchers. Mike became known not only for creating music for award-winning films (“Get Him To The Greek,” “Walk Hard,” “That Thing You Do!”), but also for writing and producing for other artists (Mandy Moore, Rachael Yamagata, Tim Christensen, Gin Wigmore, Karise Eden). Mike’s latest release is Ghoul, an innovative project that's one part new album and another part trading card game! Mike can also be found on our last release, Drink A Toast To Innocence: A Tribute To Lite Rock, turning in a fantastic version of "Steal Away."

Chris Price

Chris Price is a songwriter/producer/multi-instrumentalist from Miami Beach, Florida. He has released one album to date, the independently released, critically lauded 2012 LP "Homesick", which he recorded using only his iPhone 4. Most recently he produced Linda Perhacs first album in 44 years, The Soul Of All Natural Things, and is in the process of making new albums with, respectively, Emitt Rhodes and Roger Joseph Manning Jr. He is also the co-writer and co-producer of all Taylor Locke & the Roughs material, and in addition to all those wonderful people, he has performed on records by or played shows with artists such as Beck, Bleu, Mike Viola & Low. Chris currently resides in Los Angeles, California.

Rachael Yamagata

Rachael Yamagata has been called ‘the troubadour of heartbreak’ by the press and fans are drawn to her ability to ‘turn emotion into song’. She’s got the old soul singer songwriter essence that calls upon Todd Rundgren, Carole King, Joni Mitchell, The Carpenters and Elton John and sonically gravitates towards the darker stylings of Nick Cave, Tom Waits, P.J. Harvey and Danny Elfman.

In September 2002, Rachael landed a deal with Arista's Private Music, and her self-titled EP arrived in October. Her first full-length album, Happenstance, followed in June 2004. Featuring production from John Alagía, who had previously helmed such albums as John Mayer's Room for Squares and Dave Matthews Band's Busted Stuff, the album's pop-tinged sound found its way onto several TV shows, including The O.C. and Alias. Happenstance also endeared Rachael to such musicians as Ray LaMontagne, Jason Mraz, Ryan Adams, Conor Oberst, and Rhett Miller, all of whom invited her to perform on their albums as Yamagata readied her sophomore effort. Boosted by such support, she returned in 2008 with Elephants...Teeth Sinking into Heart, an eclectic release that featured both intimate material and PJ Harvey-inspired rock.

Rachael has since gone the independent route, releasing subsequent records on her own label, Frankenfish Records. She launched a Pledge Music campaign to raise funds for her third full length LP, Chesapeake, and reached her goal in three days thanks to a loyal following that continues to support her.

Cliff Hillis

In baseball terms, Cliff Hillis is a valued, multi-talented utility player: He plays guitar, bass and keyboards, he sings, he writes, and he’s an in-demand studio whiz that’s recorded, produced or mixed many artists. Cliff can also be seen performing with the popular Philadelphia-area bands Ike, Love Seed Mama Jump and the In the Pocket: Essential Songs of Philadelphia project.

Cliff's most recent album is the critically acclaimed Dream Good, which includes collaborations with Scot Sax, Danny Wilde of The Rembrandts, and Philip Price of Winterpills. His two previous albums (Better Living Through Compression and The Long Now) garnered praise from USA Today, Los Angeles Times, Absolute Powerpop, Amplifier, Goldmine and many more. His original songs have been featured in TV shows (All My Children, Party of Five, Roswell, Life Unexpected and more) and films (Enough, After Sex, Waking Dreams, Mayor Cupcake). Hillis has also won national songwriting and jingle awards and contests. Cliff also contributed a fantastic rendition of "Shake It" to Drink A Toast To Innocence: A Tribute To Lite Rock.

Big-Box Store (Joe Seiders)

Big-Box Store is a musical covers project by Los Angeles drummer/multi-instrumentalist Joe Seiders. Joe has been touring and recording for 15+ years with artists such as Bleu, The Everyday Visuals, Beat Club, Tracy Bonham, Juliana Hatfield and many others. Big-Box Store covers primarily female artists in the pop genre, stripping away the top 40 production to expose the great songwriting often overlooked. Channeling artists such as Iron and Wine, Sufjan Stevens and David Bazan, Joe chooses a low-fi approach to recording, often enhanced by the mixing talents of Bleu. Big-Box Store’s debut EP “Love Songs" was released on iTunes in late 2013.