Continuing with these round-up posts. This time we are circling around the foundation of the blog, so instead of sad country songs, here’s some great melodic alternative rock, power pop, folk rock for your listening pleasure.
Let’s kick off with the Swedish power pop heroes The Genuine Fakes. The days when Swedish pop music ruled the world might be long gone (referring to the golden age of Popsicle, The Wannadies, The Merrymakers etc, not ABBA. Not that I have anything against ABBA either. On the contrary, but hey it still ain’t no Popsicle), but things aren’t looking so bad now either. Popsicle played a few shows and the classic albums were reissued, David Myhr already gave us a super catchy pop album earlier in the year and now we have a new The Genuine Fakes album Issues that came out on Pristine Music / Rock Indiana on the 26th of October. If you need an extra namedrop to spark an interest, Jon Auer of The Posies also appears on the album. Here’s a melodic treasure called My Very Best. I’m sure your head, heart and bellybutton will enjoy this slice of pop heaven.
I just stumbled upon this Portland-based band Stoner Control and their album Alone In The City yesterday and I really like it. I’d like to say that I found it from some cool mag or blog, but actually it was the damn spotify algorithm that had this as the first recommended album to me. This one falls more into the 90s and early 00s US indie rock / alternative rock instead of power pop, but it does have its fair share of great melodies too. This song Local News in particular is really awesome, but everything else works too.
Next up is the new Steady Hands album Truth in Comedy that came out on the 19th of October on Lame-O Records. They are a folk-punk band from Philadelphia led by Sean Huber and they have written a damn catchy record. Actually maybe not the closest thing to my taste, but I’m too old to have any prejudices and I just enjoy every second. Especially New Tattoo and Indiffirent Belushi are just magnificent.
And last stop this time is Tampere, Finland and the debut full-length album from Mahonies that came out on Iso Pinkki on the 21st of September. Pouring From an Empty Cup is an impressive debut that bounces around the fields of alternative rock, americana and power pop. This is excellent For the Hundreth Time from the album.