The Umbrellas — Fairweather Friend (Slumberland)

The Umbrellas’ second album opens with a shimmer of cymbal, a bobbling pogo stick of bass, a jagged slash of guitar, hitting harder from the get-go than in the dream-poppy self-titled. Two distinct personalities emerge from songs which alternate lead singers. “Three Cheers,” and indeed, all the cuts lead sung by Matt Ferrara, leans hard into Postcard Records/C86-ish pop. Here especially, Ferrara’s scrappy heartfelt vocals give off a good whiff of Orange Juice’s Edwyn Collins, and his dueling, scrabbling guitar jangle with Morgan Stanley evokes harder, more angular bands of the era, like Fire Engines.

Then, when Stanley takes the mic, the sonics turn softer and more expansive. In careening “Goodbye,” she starts the verse against the dry tinder of drumming (that’s Keith Frerichs), the playful hop of bass (Nik Oka) then twirls and swirls in giddy “bah bah bahs” at the chorus. Her songs have the barbed sweetness of the Aislers Set and Camera Obscura.

The two switch off, both between and within songs, and some of the best cuts are the ones where they both sing. “Gone” jangles dizzily around Ferrara’s rough, pitchy romanticism, while Stanley volleys in angelic, perfect descants in a dream-scented soprano.

The Umbrella’s debut was a pleasure, but Fairweather Friend aims at deeper feelings, sharper guitar play and more rambunctious rhythms. The closing “PM” feels like it’s going to be an introspective ending, as liquid, lyrical guitars crisscross and Ferrara channels hurt and confusion. But it kicks up in a surprising way, ratcheting up the power chords, rumbling up some drums, and inviting Stanley in from the wings to lead feathery layers of melodic ecstasy. The Umbrellas have always offered bashed up, joyriding sweetness, but here they reach at—and intermittently attain—a Spector-esque wall of rock ‘n roll sound. Even better, that larger scale doesn’t undermine the vulnerability of their songs, but instead amplifies and clarifies it.

Jennifer Kelly

The Pastels - Crawl Babies

BROKEN LIUT You And Me I

New LO FI Garage Rock I 

Song of the Day | 11.11.2023: DUBppler Inverso (Dub Version) by Lentamente, I Keys Dub

today's purple album of the day is: Heaven knows by Pinkpantheress!

I may be dead but my heart is still alive

But i'm not ready and just to say goodbye

I'm gonna haunt this town

'till my lonely love life is set to rest

Obituary — Agent Ribbons

welcome to cat heaven😻

another link for this dead blog

The Cowboys — Sultan of Squat (Feel It)

Sultan of Squat by The Cowboys

The Cowboys, on this sixth album, edge further and more precariously out onto their psychedelic rainbow bridge, pushing garage pop into increasingly ornate and baroque directions Of Room of Clons in 2020, I wrote, “Out with the Wire in and in with the XTC. The Cowboys lilt and tiptoe and swoon in fey, unmistakably British ways that evoke Syd Barrett, Television Personalities and the Cleaners from Venus,” and the trend continues here. The band may be from middle America (Bloomington, Indiana to be specific) and the title track may reference the All-American pastime, but there’s something very old-world decadent about these prancing, gesturing tracks.

Indeed, “The Sultan of Squat” barrels into view on roadhouse piano, an exuberant “bop-bop-bop” chorus incanting jittery, high-kicking energy into an already nervy anthem. The piano makes the cut sound like Gorky’s Zygotic Mynci, minus the pathos. The piano reappears, boogie-ing and woogie-ing in “Token Drifter”

As before, the singing is fantastically mannered, warbling and crooning through thickets of stinging guitar. “Red Headed Playa” is perhaps the disc’s heaviest cut, launched with crushing chords and riotous drums. Yet even this one dances off on staccato upbeats and rickety choruses. And “Raining Sour Grapes” may strike a Who-like pose with windmilling power chords and abrasive dissonance, but it quickly gallops off towards glam-rock territories, a latter day Mott the Hoople in the wings.

Not to say that this band wouldn’t be a barrel of fun live, or indeed, that this giddy full-length doesn’t have its appeal. It’s a playful joyride, a sped up carnival trip through florid emotions, and if it doesn’t feel real, especially, it doesn’t feel false either. It’s just that the colors are unnaturally bright.

Jennifer Kelly

The Clean - Dunes

https://sweetsweetmusicblog.wordpress.com/2022/06/18/the-31-best-power-pop-records-of-2022s-first-half/

Montreal Garage-Pop Group The Wesleys Released Debut LP

Photo by Daniel Takacs Montreal’s Garage-Pop Provocateurs, The Wesleys, have just released their highly anticipated Self-Titled debut LP on Little Village Records. The debut album, on both digital and vinyl formats, is a dynamic exploration that builds upon the band’s distinct sound initially introduced in their acclaimed EP, Outside Voices. Across nine tracks, this album ventures into a sonic…

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this album is absolutely STUNNING. to me, it's about finding hope despite it all. about what it means to continue, and how our connections grant us the strangth to do so.

from the great minds that brought you: