{"id":29506,"date":"2025-06-04T05:30:09","date_gmt":"2025-06-04T09:30:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=29506"},"modified":"2025-06-04T07:43:43","modified_gmt":"2025-06-04T11:43:43","slug":"hundred-word-reviews-june-2025-powerpop","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2025\/06\/04\/hundred-word-reviews-june-2025-powerpop\/","title":{"rendered":"Hundred-word Reviews June 2025: Powerpop"},"content":{"rendered":"

Four recent releases in a decidedly powerpop vein. For those who enjoy that style, these guys all get it. All are recommended. And they\u2019re available from Kool Kat Musik<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"Yours & Mine \u2013 The Shadow You Cast<\/i><\/b>
\nWith a spirit that may remind listeners of Sugar crossed with Gin Blossoms, New York\u2019s Yours & Mine combine a muscular uptempo power trio instrumental approach with chiming, melodic songcraft and heartfelt vocal delivery. A nice balance of oomph and jangle is the winning recipe for this collection of 12 sharply rendered, memorable songs. Yours & Mine displays consistency without sameness on these tracks; Greg Baldwin\u2019s lyrics showcase a perspective of someone who\u2019s lived and learned along the way. They\u2019re equally credible on ballads (\u201cThe Here the Now\u201d) and speedy would-be anthems (\u201cGimme Gimme Rock & Roll\u201d). A fine set.<\/p>\n

\"\"Ian M Bailey \u2013 Lost in a Sound<\/i><\/b>
\nOpening track \u201cRooks\u201d calls to mind both the groundbreaking British folk rock of Fairport Convention and some of Denny Laine\u2019s Wings-era tracks. Bailey\u2019s Lancashire roots shine brightly on these tracks; his version of country has more in common with, say, Brinsley Schwarz than Lefty Frizzell. There\u2019s a contemplative vibe to these songs, one that \u2013 rather than feeling insular \u2013 draws the listener into Bailey\u2019s world. His finely-honed vocals are supported by shimmering guitars that deliver (but never overpower) the melodies. The \u201cbig\u201d yet never flashy production values of songs like \u201cWhite Whale\u201d provide just the right sonic context for his tunes.<\/p>\n

\"\"Joe Giddings \u2013 Stories with Guitars<\/i><\/b>
\nThe title of Giddings\u2019 latest album is so on-the-nose that one wonders why nobody\u2019s used it before now. The title does suggest a kind of singer-songwriter character, but the sound here has much more to do with Raspberries and Cheap Trick. His multi-lead guitar approach suggests Thin Lizzy or Boston, but his lyrics \u2013 mentioning bands like Jellyfish \u2013 plant him in a later era. Giddings swings for the fences with his concise powerpop tunes, and more often than not, he hits it out of the park. His emotionally forthright lyrics hold up on close inspection; just witness \u201cDavid Stepanski\u201d for proof.<\/p>\n

\"\"The Dynamo Hymn \u2013 s\/t<\/i><\/b>
\nThe Zappaesque name notwithstanding, as soon as I popped in the disc, I recognized the warmly familiar sounds of three-fourths of Play This Intimately (As if Among Friends)<\/i>-era Pugwash. Shaun McGee, Tosh Flood and Joe Fitzgerald backed Thomas Walsh on that album and tour. Not to take anything at all away from Thomas, but even without him they craft music of similar character, emotional depth and melodic quotient. In the same way that Wizzard and ELO were cut from similar cloth yet different, this trio makes scintillating and finely-crafted music that Pugwash fans simply cannot miss. Buy this record now.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Four recent releases in a decidedly powerpop vein. For those who enjoy that style, these guys all get it. All are recommended. And they\u2019re available from Kool Kat Musik. Yours […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":29508,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49,55,62,65],"tags":[5700,5701,1259,5699,5698],"class_list":["post-29506","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-new-release","category-powerpop","category-rawk","category-review","tag-ian-m-bailey","tag-joe-giddings","tag-kool-kat-musik","tag-the-dynamo-hymn","tag-yours-mine","cat-49-id","cat-55-id","cat-62-id","cat-65-id","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29506","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=29506"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29506\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":29535,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/29506\/revisions\/29535"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/29508"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=29506"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=29506"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=29506"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}