SPAZ reviews HELEN LOVE's Day-Glo Dreams!

HELEN LOVE

DAY-GLO DREAMS

BUY at IMPORTCDS.COM

BUY at DEEPDISCOUNT.COM

OK, let's be honest here: I'm not going to pretend that I know everything that there is to know about Helen Love.  I've always been an admirer from a distance.  I've picked up their CDs over the years and I've listened to them quite a bit. I'm most certainly a fan, but I've managed to remain happily ignorant to WHO they are, what kinds of cars they drive, what their favorite TV shows are, etc.  Here is what I do know:

1. Helen Love is a band AND a person (but I will refer to them as a band)

2. They are Welsh

3. They adore Joey Ramone, Debbie Harry and quite a few other original Pop icons

2. They love all sorts of pop culture but especially music

1. They make great Pop records

Roughly 20 years ago, they released their debut single, "Formula One Racing Girls", a slab of lo-fi Twee pop that was blessed with more imagination than musical chops, but it was obvious they were destined for bigger things... especially with their blend of 8-bit video game samples, Punk guitar and Girl Pop melody.  Over the next two decades, they've perfected that formula while losing members, gaining members, turning up the guitars, adding Techno to the mix, turning down the guitars, etc.  As they've moved towards an Electronic-based sound, their songwriting style hasn't changed.  They are still very much influenced by The Ramones, Blondie, Glam Rock, Bubblegum Pop, Girl Pop and whatever else suits their fancy.  It's really kind of interesting just how many different things they've added and subtracted to the mix and yet they remain uniquely Helen Love.

When Elefant Records released the excellent It's My Party And I'll Play What I Want To album back in 2007, it was a groovy platter that referenced everything from the 1910 Fruitgum Company to the Macca & Wings single "Jet" to Rodney Bingenheimer's legendary nightclub Rodney's English Disco. Their lyrical focus was still firmly in the past, but their music kept moving forward. the songs had more depth, more shadows and more light. To some, it may have seemed as if they were playing the same old song over and over, but if that was the case, it was a pretty damn great song!

Now, six years later, Helen Love return with an album that continues their forward trajectory without sacrificing a bit of who they were.  In fact, if you couldn't tell by the album's title, Day-Glo Dreams, the band has finally embraced the '80s and added a lot of great references to that era in their lyrics. "Spin Those Records" namechecks Michael Jackson and Culture Club in the bridge and middle eight and chorus! However, they certainly haven't turned their backs on their roots. "Atomic" may or may not be titled after the Blondie song (it probably is). "We Are The Lo-Fi Kids" references their Indie beginnings, but they sound much bigger and bolder than their initial run of singles.  More electronic than guitar oriented, Helen Love are a Pop band right down to the core.  There are so many hooks on Day-Glo Dreams that it should be sold in a Bait & Tackle shop in every beach town up and down the coast! 

Helen Love may not change the world, but they probably don't want to.  Their simple yet catchy pop tunes might possibly change YOUR world.  This is an album that will enchant Indie Pop fans as well as Electropop and '80s fans.  Helen Love are definitely charming and their tunes are quite delicious. Beloved by those that have fallen under their spell, Day-Glo Dreams will hopefully rope in a new generation of fans and maybe encourage the band to come out with something a little quicker next time around!  Until then, this is pure audio bubblegum that will keep us Pop geeks quite happy for the next 100 spins or so!

Peace, love and Pop
Stephen SPAZ Schnee

SPAZ reviews DRINK A TOAST TO INNOCENCE: A Tribute To Lite Rock

DRINK A TOAST TO INNOCENCE: 

A TRIBUTE TO LITE ROCK 
(2CD set)

Available NOW!

My most common reaction to various artist 'tributes' and 'covers' albums - I usually avoid them.

Maybe 20 years ago, I would have been more apt to give one a look or listen, but over the last few decades, there's been so many tributes and covers albums released that I've lost count.   To be honest, I think I lost all interest in them the moment a band would have a hit debut album and within months, there'd be a Goth tribute, a Bluegrass tribute, etc. Come on.... why pay tribute to a band with only one album in their catalog?  

My main problem with most tribute and covers albums over the years is that the artists didn't always 'connect' with the material.  They either tried too hard to change the material to suit their particular style... or they didn't try hard enough and the results were lacklustre.  And isn't a tribute album all about honoring the music or artists that inspired you?  Over the years, tribute albums became nothing more than a quick money grab.

So, for months, I've been hearing rumblings of a tribute to the glorious Lite Rock that I grew up on in the '70s and '80s. What is Lite Rock?  Well, some call it Soft Rock while others think of it as AM Radio Rock.  Basically, think of Player's "Baby Come Back", Rupert Holmes' "Escape (The Pina Colada Song)", Randy VanWarmer's "Just When I Needed You Most", and many of the other melodic hits of the era. Lite Rock artists wasn't mellow enough to be classified as Easy Listening/Pop (Olivia Newton John, The Carpenters) but they weren't as ballsy as many of their Classic Rock brethren (Journey, Foreigner). It was a style of music that appealed to wide range of music fans, young and old. It wasn't rebellious - it spoke from and to the heart.

When I read about some of the indie Power Pop artists attached to the project, I felt that there was hope.  I'm a guy who is passionate about his music.  I don't create music (you're welcome) but I'm passionate about what I listen to and how it moves me. So, I was more than interested to see how a talented group of modern artists would approach some of Lite Rock's finest musical moments.

I've always felt that the artist covering a classic song should be comfortable in doing so.  They should wear that song proudly like it was a new suit instead of their big brother's hand me downs. They don't have to be flashy - they just have to make it feel like it belongs to them.

Well, I'm glad to say that Drink A Toast To Innocence: A Tribute To Lite Rock works on all levels and is pure f***ing genius!

From song selection and artists right down to the actual recordings, DATTI is one of the few tribute albums that understands the concept behind 'tribute' and executes it perfectly .  And it just so happens to be the first 'tribute' album in 20 years that I've sat down with and played over and over again. Yeah, it's that good!

First off, I'm not going to lie - there are a few tracks here that feel a bit mediocre to me compared to the rest of the set, but those have grown on my over repeated listenings.  But let's focus on the high points here (and there are a lot of them):

LINUS OF HOLLYWOOD now owns "More Than I Can Say".  The song is great (of course), the arrangement is great and LOH's vocal performance is stunning. My apologies go out to Leo Sayer, but I feel that this is pretty much the definitive version of the song now.

Did MICHAEL CARPENTER write "We Don't Talk Anymore" for Cliff Richard?  Because I'll be damned if it doesn't sound like it.  Carpenter remains one of the most underrated Pop artists on the planet and has written and recorded some of the best Power Pop songs of the last 20 years or so. And like anything else he's involved with, he puts 100% of himself into this recording.  Funny thing is that his original material is just as good (if not better) than "We Don't Talk Anymore".

BLEU's version of "Baby Come Back" sticks damn close to the original recording but then again, there's plenty of that Bleu magic that brings out the heartbreak of this song and really drives it home.  I mean, this is "Baby Come Back", for chrissakes - a song that has already melted a few million hearts over the years.  Now, I fully expect Bleu to remind us all how easy it is to cry by listening to a great Pop tune.  Open the floodgates...

SETH SWIRSKY takes Henry Gross' "Shannon" and proceeds to break your heart (hell, that seems to be a theme with many of Lite Rock's finest moments). Seth's name has been in the news lately because of his most excellent documentary Beatles Stories, but he's been a successful songwriter and author for ages.  His best work (in my humble opinion) is not the hit songs he's written for the likes of Taylor Dayne and others... no, his best songs are featured on his solo albums and those with The Red Button.  And now, with "Shannon", too.  Damn, this guy's got more talent than anyone you've listened to this year!

And there are so many more: CLIFF HILLIS successfully tackles Ian Matthews' "Shake It", one of my favorite '70s tunes.  THE DAVENPORTS' rockin' reading of Randy VanWarmer's "Just When I Needed You Most" retains the utter sadness of the original while turning it into a modern Power Pop anthem. GREG POPE tackles Poco's "Crazy Love" and while it doesn't have all the harmonies of the original, it is still a hauntingly beautiful rendition of the song. JOE GIDDINGS seems to be having an absolutely joyful time with the late Alan O'Day's "Undercover Angel" and it shows. KYLE VINCENT does a beautifully heartfelt rendition of Ambrosia's "How Much I Feel" that gives me goose pimples. MIKE VIOLA's electronic stab at "Steal Away" took me by surprise at first but 30 seconds in, I was hooked (love his Michael McDonald-esque backing vocals and the Doobie Brothers reference, btw).   THE POPDUDES reminded me how great of a song "Magnet And Steel" is. Goodness, I could go on and on...

There are so many great things to love about this release that I don't have the time or space to list them all.. and I've probably said far too much already. But, for me, the sign of an album that hits all the right notes is that your favorites change from day to day. With DATTI, my favorites change from listen to listen (and that means quite a bit over the last few days).  Maybe a year from now, I'll finally decide with tracks are my favorites from the album, but for now, You can't go wrong with any of them.

This is a tribute that pays homage to the songs that inspired the very musicians that are playing on the album. It is an collection that will delight fans of the original versions of the songs, followers of the artists appearing on the album and will also turn a new generation of listeners onto some great tunes and artists.  Just like Lite Rock itself, this is music from and to the heart.

JC BROOKS & THE UPTOWN SOUND/Howl: Available May 21st, 2013!

JC BROOKS & THE UPTOWN SOUND

HOWL

5.21.13

"...enveloping stage presence and palpable charisma." 

--Rolling Stone

"JC Brooks looks and performs like a cross between Chuck Berry and H.R. of Bad Brains in their primes, but his skintight R&B and post-punk soul upend expectations of a retro act." 

 --Washington Post

"Brooks trained as an actor, and even by soul man standards he's an outsized showman (with an equally outsized pompadour), shimmying, swiveling, sliding and jumping around the stage, his singing ranging from Otis Redding raspiness to Curtis Mayfield falsetto sweetness." 

--Chicago Tribune

"JC Brooks and the Uptown Sound describe themselves as a post-punk soul band, but their sound is so much more expansive than that. Uptown Sound is on par with soul musicians from the heyday of the genre’s popularity." 

--Paste Magazine

With their forthcoming release Howl, JC Brooks & the Uptown Sound enters the next chapter of its soul sound evolution. In December 2012, the band holed up at Hotel2Tango Studio in Montreal to work with producer Howard Bilerman (Arcade Fire, Wolf Parade, Godspeed You! Black Emperor) and dove headfirst into previously unfamiliar sonic territories and tough-yet-transfixing lyrical matter. By approaching the new album with this direct and free outlook, what began with the raw soul of 2011’s Want More advances in new, exciting directions.

Throughout Howl – the Chicago-based quintet’s third full-length album and second for Bloodshot Records – the dark side of love and longing is explored by frontman JC Brooks’s starkly personal lyrics and the Uptown Sound’s willingness to bare all their influences and let the grooves fall where they may. A collective evolution has been made where influence meets experience, and this organic progression results in 11 songs that are more open than ever both in message and vibe.

Howl is soul music by children of the post-punk era. It’s the sound of a band that cut its teeth listening to Purple Rain and In On the Killtaker, is drawn to the theatrical-cum-creative auras of Tina Turner and Otis Redding, and has most recently hustled big festival stages where adventurous listeners come away rejuvenated and undeniably converted.

With a taut minimalist blend of rock and R&B punctuating JC Brooks’s potent delivery and brutally honest words, Howl creates a mystique at the same time it induces sing-alongs and hip-shakes. Tracks like the eponymous “Howl” and “Rouse Yourself” are pleas for snapping out of emotional apathy, as in the latter when Brooks first coos in falsetto and then belts a cautionary chorus in harmony, “If we had forever / I hope we’d just get better / that’s why it’s such a shame / the ways we stay the same.”

Just as it embraces past artistic influences, Howl covers the range of emotion from celebratory pop to crestfallen ballad. “River” is vintage gospel narrative, complete with Brooks’s solo show-stopping, open-throated vocal sear, and a rhythm section that could’ve backed the Memphis greats during the ‘60s. “Before You Die” struts with the carefree, party atmosphere of Tom Tom Club with auxiliary percussion, handclaps, and some Bernie Worrell psychedelic-pop wall of synth.

Formed in Chicago in 2007, JC Brooks & the Uptown Sound consists of JC Brooks (lead vocals), Billy Bungeroth (guitar), Kevin Marks (drums, vocals), Andy Rosenstein (keys, vocals), and Ben Taylor (bass). JCBUS has toured North America and Europe, attracting an enthusiastic grassroots following while garnering the support of the likes of NPRand AAA radio with their eyeopening cover of Wilco’s “I Am Trying To Break Your Heart” (which they performed with Jeff Tweedy at Wilco’s Solid Sound Festival in 2011). MOJO Magazine called them “one of the hottest US soul acts right now”. JCBUS spent 2012 on the road supporting their previous Bloodshot release, Want More, with electrifying appearances at Lollapalooza and Bumbershoot, and an incendiary World Cafe Live double bill with Gary Clark Jr.Now armed with Howl, the band is hitting the road for spring East and West Coast tours, and a European leg leading up to Firefly Festival in June.

Who The F*** Is JACCO GARDNER And Why Is He So AWESOME??

JACCO GARDNER

CABINET OF CURIOSITIES

Available NOW

I have a pretty fool-proof routine that I use when I get a new CD (or CDs) to listen to, blog about or add to my collection...  

First off, I will grab whatever new titles I have and skip through them on the way home from work.  It's usually a 45 minute drive so that gives me time to ingest a few titles and put them in the 'take back to work' pile or the 'load into iTunes for further listening' pile.

Next, when I get home, I load the more interesting titles into iTunes, add them to a folder called NEW. Then I spend the next few days hitting 'shuffle' in that folder and hearing  bits and pieces of all these new releases and really getting an interesting taste of the album by hearing various tracks in a different context than what the artist intended.  But when I hear a gem and then check to see who does that song, it is then I will listen to that album from start to finish.  Sounds like a lot of thought goes into this process, but, to be honest, I do it cuz it's easier  and I like the mystery of finding out who does this song or that song...

So, over the course of the last week, I keep hearing these amazing little gems that combine gorgeous melodies with a twist of both modern and retro production touches.  While there are many artists out these days who mix Beach Boys-like arrangements with hints of Psychedelia and Indie Rock, there was something unique and captivating about these songs.  And each time I looked at my iPod to see who the artist was, it always turned out to be JACCO GARDNER!

Who?

Well, it turns out that Jacco is a Dutch singer, songwriter, musician and producer who has been releasing some pretty amazing singles over the last year or so.  Now, he's just released his debut album, Cabinet Of Curiosities (on Trouble In Mind Records) and it is a corker!  From beginning to end, this is an album that is certain to be one of the best full-length releases of the year.  There's no pretension here - just a great batch of songs. 

I'd normally spend the next few paragraphs talking about those songs, but I thought I'd let you have a listen/look and judge for yourself. I am mesmerized by the album and it will appeal to anyone with an affection for a fine tune.  Hell, even the hipsters will like it (I've seen quotes from Pitchfork, which is considered the hipsters' online bible...).

So, do yourself a favor and get to know Jacco.  I may be behind the times as I offer up much praise for this album, but better late than never, right?