Alan Haber's Pure Pop Radio

2015 is quickly shaping up to be a banner year for melodic pop music. With only a month and a few days behind us, we’ve already seen some pretty wonderful sounds coming across our desk and leaping from there onto our playlist.

Today and tomorrow, we’re bringing you the latest adds to our station: a marathon, two-day communique detailing the new (and heritage) artists and songs now playing in rotation on Pure Pop Radio.

Our playlist is now 6,200 songs strong. We’re excited to bring to you what we feel is the best of the best–the greatest melodic pop music in the universe!

Here is what’s new today. Stop back tomorrow for more.

Vegas With Randolph | “I Could Be the One” The latest from Washington, D.C.-area popsters Vegas With Randolph is a sweet slice of pure pop with a bugglegum center. Punctuated by Archies-esque electric piano and bass stabs, and a catchy melody that instantly hooks, “I Could Be the One” may well be Vegas With Randolph’s most wonderful song yet. Now playing in rotation.

The Weeklings | The Weeklings It is our great pleasure to welcome New Jersey’s most famous sons to our radio stage. Meet the Weeklings, everybody! The Weeklings, featuring Bob Burger and Glen Burtnik, play a retroriffic brand of Merseybeat-style pop and roll (think early Beatles) that will put a smile on your face that will no doubt stretch from the New Jersey Turnpike to the California coast. On the musical menu is a delicious mix of period-esque originals and energy-fueled covers of songs that Lennon and McCartney gave away during those golden days of the 1960s. We are so in love with this album that we couldn’t bear to pick and choose tracks to play on the air. So we’ve added the whole lot, and they’re now playing in rotation…in glorious monophonic sound! A full review will follow. Here’s what we’ve added: “Little Tease,” “Leave Me With My Pride,” “You Know What to Do,” “One and One is Two,” “I’m In Love,” “Mona Lisa,” “Breathing Underwater,” “If I Was in Love,” “Oh! Darla,” “If You’ve Got Trouble,” and “That Means a Lot.” The CD drops at retail on March 10 (vinyl on April 7). It’s fab!

Vanilla | “Monkeypox” The award for the funniest, cleverest, geniusist, creativeist and primateist song of the year so far without question goes to Jayson Jarmon and the musicians and general mirth makers behind the crazy musical creation that is “Monkeypox.” There are no words that can further describe this quirky tune that will be part of the forthcoming album 2.0, but here are some anyway: You will never get this song out of your head. You will marvel at the spot-on Brian May guitar-as-horn-section solo. And you will fall to the ground when you hear the song-ending Beatles quote. If you’re sitting, you will fall off your chair. You will also be singing along with the chorus the first time it rolls. “Hey kids,” the announcer guy intones at the start of the song, “it’s time for the Zippy the Chimp show. In tonight’s episode, Sally is feeling a bit under the weather and tells a little white lie.” And with that, you’re off and running on today’s coolest and grooviest journey. Now playing in rotation!

Tommy Lorente and La Cavalerie | Amanita Sessions French popster Tommy Lorente’s live session, recorded last November, is an energetic set, sung in French, that will hit the sweet spot of every pop fan. Tommy’s great vocals and La Cavalerie’s powerful instrumental backing, and a group of fantastic, catchy songs, will thrill you note after note. We’ve added three numbers that are now playing in rotation: “Katrine,” “Demander Pardon,” and “Quelque Part.”

Tommy Lorente | Un Cruel Manque de Tendresse Tommy’s 2014 release is a captivating collection of ballads and uptempo numbers–classic pop delivered by a master. Tommy’s vocal performances are uniformly magnetic. We are thrilled to be able to add this French singer’s music to the Pure Pop Radio playlist. Now in rotation: “Ma Dose de Toi,” “Mirabelle,” the studio version of “Demander Pardon,” “Les Anges s’Envolent,” “Katrine,” “Bien Etrange,” “Patience,” and “Delirium Clemence.” Bonus: Thrill to Tommy’s exciting power pop take on the theme from the classic television show, The Prisoner!

Rachel Sage | Blue Roses Juggling pop, rock and folk influences with a deft hand, Rachel Sage delivers a mix of balladry and uptempo numbers. Her sound is not that far removed from middle period Mary Chapin Carpenter and late period folk. A ballet dancer in an earlier life, Rachel is a gifted troubadour who sings about nothing less than life itself. On these songs, she is backed by a group of all-star musicians. We’ve added seven songs to our playlist: the title track, “Barbed Wire,” “Newspaper,” “Used to Be My Girl,” “Not Leaving You,” Neil Young’s “Helpless” (featuring Judy Collins and the band, A Fragile Tomorrow) and “English Tea.” Beautiful.

Drifting Sand | Summer Splash Evolving from a duo in the early 1990s to its current four-piece configuration, surf popsters Drifting Sand ride the waves and groove to the warmth of the summer sun on their latest album. We’ve added four songs to our playlist: the lovely “Blue Water,” the totally rad instrumentals “Santa Cruz’n” and “Surf Surf Surf,” and another, gorgeous instrumental, the beautiful “Alohawaii.” Surf’s up!

Willie Wisely | Gospo Feel Songs previously lost in time and then found in 2009 were gathered together and released as Gospo Feel at the tail end of 2014. We’re spinning a taste from this typically inventive Wisely collection: the straight-ahead, trombone-infused pop-rocker “Cannot Love You Enough.” You would be wise(ly) to pick this album up without delay.

Popluxe | Popluxe 3 How to describe Popluxe? Best to go with the following verbage from the band’s website: “Described variously as an American Kinks, the Replacements playing Steely Dan, and the Gershwin Brothers writing for the New York Dolls, Populuxe draws on the last 200 years of songcraft and a musical pedigree ranging from Broadway to the broken half of a strippers’ runway in a scuzzy Northeast Minneapolis biker bar to create their heady signature sound.” That’s some doozy of a pedigree; we’ll land somewhere in the middle of it as we add two tunes from this album to the Pure Pop Radio playlist: the straight-ahead, poppy “End of the Affair” and the artful, moody mid-tempo ballad, “Requiem.”

EuroTrash | “Live Slow Die” A tip o’ the Pure Pop Radio hat goes to Tomas Dahl, who records under the band name Caddy, for hipping us to this group’s new single. Pulsing like a locomotive with super powers, “Live Slow Die” sports a catchy melody and a great chorus, not to mention lots of loud guitars. Now spinning in rotation.

Cool King Chris | Paradigm Shift We dropped the ball on announcing the adding of tracks from our pal Cool King Chris’s latest. Produced by another pal of ours, the renaissance man himself, Jamie Hoover, Paradigm Shift is chock full of great, creative tuneage, and we’ve been spinning three songs since they were released: the title track, “The Band Broke Up,” and “Stuck in a Rhyme.” All hail the King!

Cameron Joel Hawk | Dream You Forgot The Dead Girls’ Cameron Joel Hawk releases his first solo album on February 10. In advance of the release, we’re playing four terrific tracks. Lovely acoustic guitar work abounds throughout, perhaps no more so than on the sensitive ballad, “All On You,” which sounds like something that would have fit comfortably on Elton John guitarist Davey Johnstone’s 1970s solo album. “Black and Blue Bird” is a wonderful instrumental shaded by a dusting of electric guitar sprinkles. “Fire Again” is another track with terrific acoustic guitar work. These songs, plus another great one, “Messy Days,” are now playing in rotation on Pure Pop Radio. Check here on release day for this great album.

The Rip Off Artists | Esque We added songs from the Rip Off Artists’ The Intercontinental back on December 5, 2014. This album, equally as terrific, was released in 2008. Nick Pipitone and Peter Batchelder turn in another great group of melodic songs; we’re playing a half dozen of these pearls in rotation: “What Just Happened,” “The Worst News in the World,” “The Girl Behind the Bar,” “Love and Uncertainty,” “Without You, I’m Something,” and “I Thought It Over.”

Brooklyn Doran | There’s a Light On From Toronto, Canada we tune in to the sensitive folk-pop sounds of Brooklyn Doran. From her debut EP , we have chosen two songs anchored by Brooklyn’s pretty, sometimes fragile vocals: the lovely “Cold Outside” and the gorgeous ballad, “Lansdowne.” Fans of Claire Hamill will love this.

That’s it for today. What a bounty of delights! We’ve got lots more tomorrow. See you then!

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