Kurt Baker’s first full length release ‘Brand New Beat’ was an instant power pop classic. Despite all of the tunes being appropriated from the catalogues of Joe Jackson, Nick Lowe and The Cars, Baker’s abilities for penning a great chorus along with his insistence on bringing a party spirit ensured his enthusiasm and talents shone through almost every moment of every track. A companion disc comprising ten session leftovers – ‘Brand New B-Sides’ – was worth the price of admission for his take on Nick Lowe’s ‘So It Goes’ and an ode to actress Emma Stone (the appropriately titled ‘Emma Stone’) alone.
Tag Archives: retro
TREVOR AND THE JONESES – There Was Lightning
Las Vegas based quartet Trevor and The Joneses care not for fashion. Parts of ‘There Was Lightning’ – their debut LP from 2012 – could have been recorded at the same time as The Stooges’ ‘Fun House’, while also showcasing material that’s clearly channelling a lo-fi equivalent of Neil Young’s ‘Zuma’ with occasional nods to the underground of the late 80s. In theory, this sounds like a disjointed mess…and true enough, it doesn’t sound so special the first time you hear it. After allowing the tunes time to mature and to properly sink in, however, you’ll discover an album celebrates retro rock styles in a huge fashion. …And although the material is varied – drawing influence as it does from over three decades of rock – the band have developed a surprisingly confident style.
THE NAKED SUN – Pickled Hearts
At the end of the first quarter of 2013, underground Americana band The Naked Sun dropped their first studio EP, ‘Space, Place and Time’, a brilliant mix of sounds that borrowed heavily from Neil Young and Wilco, with passing nods to the quieter strains of The Great Affairs and The Grateful Dead. In terms of blending classic Americana sounds with a little psych and a pinch of rock, it provided a great – if all too short – listen. Two years on, ‘Pickled Hearts’ picks up where the first EP left off, and for those who enjoyed their previous slice of slow-burning Americana, it will not disappoint. In fact, there are a couple of numbers where the band shows an increased confidence in their abilities; thankfully, though, any improvements are not made on a sonic level. Recorded live in the studio, ‘Pickled Hearts’ provides another brilliant glimpse of the band’s warts ‘n’ all style.
THE CONNECTION – Labor Of Love
For garage rock fans, New Hampshire’s The Connection are a band that needs no introduction. For everybody else, here’s the skinny: they’re much loved by Little Steven Van Zandt and get regular play on his Underground Garage radio show and they count Andrew Loog Oldham among their many fans. That seal of approval should be enough for the curious to take a listen, but more than that, these are musicians with a pedigree. The hardest working gang in the state, The Connection features Brad Marino (also of the New Trocaderos), Geoff Palmer, Craig Sala and Kris “Fingers” Rodgers (all of whom have served time as members of the Kurt Baker Band and Wimpy and the Madallions). Their music is retro, but often much friendlier on the ear than so many garage rock outfits, since they’re often keen to mix in a hefty dose of power pop, and on ‘Labor of Love’ – their second full-length – they’ve got choruses and musical hooks aplenty…
DEAD SHED JOKERS – Dead Shed Jokers
Following the release of their debut album in 2013, Welsh hard rockers Dead Shed Jokers were praised by UK’s Classic Rock Magazine and picked out as a band whose star was very much on the ascent. Two years on, their self-titled follow up brings the rock in a hugely unsubtle fashion, mixing heavy blues riffs with a truckload of distortion, a post-grungy attitude towards the more angular and a frightening amount of bravado.