[engl] Founded in Helsinki in 2018, The Mike Bell Cartel is a mix of the best aspects of 60's garage rock and pop: guitars ring, melodies seduce, fuzz growls, farfisa rumbles, stammer rumbles and rhythm takes your feet down. The band includes familiar faces from the Helsinki underworld: Miikka Siira aka Mike Bell (Mike Bell & The Belltones), Pekka Laine (The Hypnomen), Ville Särmä (Dancing Bear), Samuel Abaijón (The Valkyrians) and Aapee Heinola (Hard Action). The Mike Bell Cartell’s debut album will be released in early 2022.

[engl] Illustrious Memphian creative Alijca Trout (Sweet Knives, Lost Sounds, River City Tanlines) returns with a new single under her solo-slash-group venture, Alicja-pop. Following in the haunting garage-pop reverberations of 2021's, "Howlin'", A-pop weave together a crisp double-A side of wistful r'n'r gold. "I'm Here I'm There" rides a driving rhythm beneath Trout's icy cool and confident layered vocals. Both propulsive and ethereal - stretching seamlessly to the flip, "Not Gonna Be Dumb", a euphoric dip into post-punk. Coated in synth and a piercing guitar lead, chants of "Time...it wa-a-a-aves you on" harmonize in a chilling finish to Alicja-pop's latest slice of brilliance.

[engl] Powerpop Pearls!

[engl] Copenhagen punk rock/power pop band BIG MESS is a pile of hooks and energy. Taking their cues from the timeless masters of melody, loud guitars and high BPMs, their music packs an infectious punch. CLEANING UP WITH is the band's fourth full length and its first collaboration with UK-based label Specialist Subject. The album shows Big Mess at their most accomplished yet, and shows total dedication to reaching the ultimate in hit making. Imagine a singles compilation by your favourite band and you get the idea. Songwriting is key for Big Mess - as much Brill Building sparkle as hardcore punk economy, with no room for duds. Lyrically, the songs are heartfelt and occasionally stupid, with the dangers and difficulties of existence and the joys of rocking holding equal importance. Having been a band for nearly a decade, Big Mess’ playing is instinctive, effortless and relentless topped with vocals that combine a hooky sense of melody and rhythm with the right amount of desperation. This time the band adds a refreshingly shameless amount of backing vocals and harmonies that only add to the effective singalong quality.

[engl] perfect Powerpop from 1981.

[engl] This one is subtitled 'The Lost Tapes,' but it is not a reissue because in fact it was never released - until now! Forty years after their final recording session, Los Angeles-based power pop The Bings is releasing its debut album. The 16-track master tapes sat forgotten in a California bedroom closet until they were discovered in a filing cabinet during the 2020 lockdown.The Bings' 'Power Pop Planet - The Lost Tapes' is a literal time capsule from the pre-MTV 1980s, when new wave, punk, and power pop were still underground genres that flourished mainly in New York and Hollywood clubs. Driven by the songwriting of David Chrenko, and fueled by big guitars and 3-part harmonies, what you are listening to is the great "lost" album of the 1980s from The Bings: 'Power Pop Planet - The Lost Tapes.'LP comes with insert (liner notes and photos).

[engl] What do you expect when of the best Rock’n’Roll groups of today come down with the godfather of punk to write and record music? The result is “Mars is for Martians”, one of the best songs of the Martians to date. They wrote the music, Iggy the lyrics and they recorded it together.

[engl] Second Album from Brad Marino (The Connection, New Trocaderos, Rydells).

[engl] BUZZSAWS is the debut album by BROWER, the solo project of Nat Brower, resident of Ridgewood Queens and erstwhile NANCY and METALLEG compatriot, already championing the spirits and sounds of our most cherished Punk and Rock musical varietals the world over. After last spring’s Little Big EP (DIG007), BROWER is back, and the fire behind that ass is simply inextinguishable! Enter BUZZSAWS – a glam’d-out glitter-bomb of fuzz guitars and giant vocal melodies within the Venn diagram of Bolan, Bowie and Brett (Smiley). Like Little Big, each song is jammed full of sugarcoated harmonies, laser-beam licks and unearthly hooks. Unlike LITTLE BIG, BROWER shows his teeth on BUZZSAWS – and they’re gnarly, thanks to all the sugarcoated harmonies – with several dbs of gain and big city grit added to the mix. From the first crack! of the snare on “Real Girl”, the album opener, a barrage of big guitars and bonafied boogie – missing even in this year’s finer Rock’n’roll offerings – takes hold for a satisfying spin the whole way thru. Loyal glam-o-philes will clap their feet and stomp their hands to “Hacksaw” and “U N Him”, two of BROWER’s heaviest headbangers to date, pulling together the swagger of T. Rex or Iron Virgin with the whirring guitars and sneering ‘tude of Hubble Bubble. While “My Father’s Name Was Cat” – a storybook ode to our animal ancestors and dads who look like Cat Stevens – offers a psychedelic respite compliments of tripped-out, blissed-out synth layers; “Better Days” showcases BROWER’s tender side – in full display on LITTLE BIG – replete with dulcet sitar strums. AMANAZ covers closeout each side of the album, for two Zam Rock heavies re-interpreted as indispensible power pop bangers, epitomizing the eclectic Rock’n’roll DNA evolving in the BROWER petri dish. Recorded and performed entirely by the BROWER boy himself, Nat has somehow captured the over-produced gleam of the glam era from his bedroom home studio. In the flesh, Nat has recruited the perfect band (featuring members of DIRTY FENCES and VELVETEEN RABBIT) to get the BROWER show on the road, heralding the coming year, THE YEAR OF THE BUZZSAWS…

[engl] From the foxhole of the Rust Belt, Choncy fleshes out a frenzied, multifaceted approach to punk with their sophomore album, 20X MULTIPLIER. The Cincinnati four-piece delivers an intoxicating 9-song 12” tinged with personality and dumb luck following Community Chest, their 2023 debut on Feel It Records. 20X MULTIPLIER was recorded to tape at The Bomb Shelter in Nashville by Joe and Jack Tellman, providing a raw and unhinged sound. Choncy hones in on their sonic persona by bridging the gaps between angular post-punk and abrasive hardcore, pushing their sound to its absolute limits. With a chaotic mix of relentless bass, sharp drums, splintering guitars, and off-kilter vocals, Choncy provides a glimpse into the grotesque realities of life. Lead single "Dead Meat" shows the group putting their own spin on contemporary punk, segueing into "Default", an anthem for those who will be forever indebted to the neoliberal institutions. The album is filled with profit margins, budget cuts, and man-made horrors beyond your comprehension. Choncy’s 20X MULTIPLIER displays a maniacal yet ingenious approach to punk that can only be compared to hitting a slot machine jackpot or maybe committing tax fraud and running for the Secretary of Defense. Let this record be a proclamation of what could have been - if only they knew the right numbers to pick.

[engl] Choncy’s 'Community Chest' is an itch-scratching debut album shaped by post-punk, garage, and hardcore-adjacent music. The album confronts the trials and tribulations of the modern day workforce culture day-by-day in the Rust Belt. The four piece band out of Cincinnati, Ohio embraces their original punk sound through uniquely biting vocals and fluctuating shrill guitars, all kept together with a potent and driving rhythm section. The album was recorded to tape at Amish Studios with Joe Tellman in Nashville, Tennessee. “Company Man”, the album's lead single, capitalizes on its post-punk rhythm and witty vocals, while “Beehive” parallels modern hardcore music. Choncy passionately shape their Midwestern identity across 'Community Chest' with an original sonic and visual prowess.

[engl] You surely know that Japan is crazy for Powerpop in any direction, they just LOVE it, the Bubblegum or 70ties blended, the rocking and rolling type, the kind of that make your hearts explode (sic!).... and of course there are hundreds of powerpop bands there - and MOST of them are actually pretty good, but few stand out, and THE CHOOSERS are definitely in the Top 3.

[engl] If you've ever spent any time in the darkest recesses of the internet, you'll know that 'powerpop' is an emotive term. For every pockmarked tenderfoot flying the flag for some fuzzed-out alterna-rocker's harmony-drenched new single, there's a grizzled veteran insisting that there's not enough jangle, not enough hook, not enough oomph on display ('I hear the pop, but where's the power?'). Basically, if you thought 'what is punk' was a granular debate, trust me: you ain't seen nothing yet. Anyway, sidestepping the fact that I clearly am one of their kind, let's just say a quick 'fuck those nerds'. This is where Class come in. Class are a four-piece from Tucson, AZ, who are most assuredly all the power, all the pop, all the time. They've served time in a bunch of bands you already know and love - most notably everyone's favourite 'delinquent slobs' Rik And The Pigs - and Matt Rendon of their citymates The Resonars is the guy behind the mixing desk, so you know whatever comes out is gonna be good. '2-4-1' compiles the two cassettes they've released on Cincinnati's Feel It Records (which also released their debut LP proper, 'Epoca De Las Vaqueros') and it's absolutely rammed with new pop classics. 'Steady Hands', 'Wrong Side Of Town', 'Inspect The Receipt', 'Left In The Sink'... get learning these titles now, 'cause you're gonna get very well acquainted when you spin 'em until your needle's worn down to a flattened-out nub. Sound-wise, it's pop music as envisioned by the punks - straight to the point, no fucking about. Some of these songs feel like Alex Chilton playing 'September Gurls' on a curious cocktail of cheap speed and wayyy too much sugar; others are kinda like the aforementioned Resonars if they ditched their British Invasion records and got obsessed with a heady mixture of The #1s and Richard Lloyd's 'Alchemy'. Sometimes it just sounds like a forgotten late 70s punk classic, so I think we're all in the right place here. It's scuzzy and scuffed up in all the right places, with blazing guitar solos and crashing drum fills designed to get you where you need to go, with a minimum of fuss. 'Class' is an apt name. As you'd expect from a band with three vocalists, there's more than one style at play here, meaning this record pulls from enough varying strands to keep things interesting without sounding unfocused. There's no time to get bored, unlike when reading my drivel. What the fuck are you waiting for? This is power pop at its best, punk at its funnest, a whale of a time in less than 30 minutes. Let the nerds wage war on each other - clearly, I'll be reading it - and claim your own victory by playing this one to death. This band are in a class of their own, and if I've not laid it out explicitly enough, you need to start listening. Now.

[engl] CLASS are back with 'But Who's Reading Me?', their third outing since teaming up with Feel It Records in June 2022. Recorded at Midtown Island Studios in their hometown of Tucson, Arizona, CLASS kick off their 2023 output with four stellar new cuts rounded off by alternate versions of two from their latest full length, 'Epoca de Los Vaqueros'. Fourteen minutes of punk, glam, garage, and power pop sounds swirled into one glorious EP from a group capable of writing and cranking out the hits on par with the best of 'em. The sky truly is the limit for the desert-dwelling geniuses in CLASS.