Alan Haber's Pure Pop Radio

Welcome to day three of Pure Pop Radio’s New Music Explosion! We hope you’ve been enjoying the new songs and artists we’ve been adding this week to our playlist. It’s time to unveil another list of newly added treasures now spinning in rotation. Without further ado, let’s see what’s in store today! We know you’re going to say…”Wow!”

The Jangle Band | “Kill the Lovers” and “This Soul is Not For Sale” They were initially called the Jangle Brothers and were formed to play a couple of gigs this past April in Perth, Australia. That was supposed to be the long and the short of it. And then, fate intervened: the Jangle Brothers suddenly became the Jangle Band, a jangly and poppy and bright and shiny and catchy real live thing, with not one but two sets of members spread across both sides of Australia. It’s a story, alright, which we can get around to at a later date. For now, though, all you need to know is the debut single from the band, coupling a pair of tracks with a whole lot of jangle on their minds, is nothing less than the two greatest Byrds songs the Byrds never wrote or performed. Plus, it is one of the top releases of this year. Pure Pop Radio favorite Joe Algeri is one of the janglers present; you probably need not know more than that. Both songs are now playing in rotation. In a word…well, a made-up word: jangle-riffic. Killer.

Zombie Garden Club | Zombie Garden Club Surprise! It’s another heavy hitting slab of genius rock ‘n’ pop ‘n’ roll from Bongo Boy Records–another killer, in-your-face, slamming, aching, take-no-prisoners kind of album full of vim, vigor, vitamins and God knows what else. And speaking of “what else”… holy cow…this is something else…entirely something else and fresh and free and you’d better get out of the way, kids, if you know what’s good for you! Chief Clubber Johnny Douglas, from Canada and now making musical hay in Nashville, is a breath of cool, fresh air on an album sporting dynamically sounding tracks embodying different styles that thrill, many of which have been used on television shows like Showtime’s Shameless. There’s gold in these hills, folks. We’re spinning six cool numbers as a sneak preview of the upcoming release, including the jazz-pop of “Diamond Daze,” “Call It Love,” “One Step, Two Steps, Three Steps Gone,” “Boom,” “Hey Little School Girl,” and the lovely, anthemic “Calling Andromeda.” Killer diller.

Gary Frenay | File Under Pop Vocal The award for Truest Album Title of 2015 goes, without hesitation, to the Flashcubes’ Gary Frenay, whose solo collection of ultra-catchy pop songs is one of the pure pop delights of the year. Nothing less than a master class in melody and hooks, the album features famous guests playing along, from Gary’s son, Nick, and Maura and Pete Kennedy to Marshall Crenshaw and Flashcubes Arty Lenin and Tommy Allen, who also produced and mixed. From the opener, a made-for-radio, should-be-zooming-up-the-charts-with-a-bullet charmer, “Blue Topaz,” to “Luckiest Man,” a gorgeous love song that will melt your heart, this is the kind of album that melodic pop music fans will cherish. We’re playing eight songs in rotation, all top-notch numbers: the previously mentioned tracks, and “Forgot How Good Love Feels,” “Our Eyes Have Voices,” “It’s Like Heaven” (all Beach Boys-y, with George Harrison-esque slide guitar–a Brian Wilson co-write), “We Could Be Brothers,” “You’re Only Hurting Yourself,” and “Everything But Love.” The answer to the question, “Do you have any albums that will demonstrate what it is you love about pop music?”, is “Gary Frenay’s File Under Pop Vocal.”

Luzer | Come On Mandy EP, Fake Ass Rock Star EP, Greatest Hits, and Reset If Pure Pop Radio had an all-star team, Timmy Sean would be head something-or-other. He’d be right there on the front lines, for sure. Timmy’s current project, Songs of the Week, offers up a new recording of a past release of his or a new song, even. Studio and live. Before Songs of the Week, there was Timmy’s solo career and, before that, the band Luzer. Luzer’s music is somewhat harder edged than Timmy’s current output, but no less tuneful or wonderful. We’ve cherry-picked some choice nuggets from Luzer’s catalog, all of which are now spinning in rotation. From the Come On Mandy EP, we’re playing the title track (which appeared in a different version back in January as part of the Songs of the Week project) and the poppy, upbeat “Give Me a Sign.” From the Fake Ass Rock Star EP: the synth-soaked popper “Send Me a Photograph” and the not-quite-a-power-ballad “Eighteen.” We’re playing the acoustic ballad “In the End (The Acoustic Song)” from Greatest Hits. And from Reset, we’re playing the rocking popper “I Want You to Know,” the upbeat pop song “When She Cries,” and “Hey Jodie,” revived for the Songs of the Week project. Pure Pop Radio, we guess, is the official Timmy Sean radio station, and we wouldn’t have it any other way.

Willie Wisely | Cassettarcana Comprising four-track recordings made from 1982 onwards, Cassettarcana is a must-have for Wisely aficionados, a group of like-minded folks we are absolutely comfortable hobnobbing about with. We’re spinning four wonderful tracks: “Real,” the cowboy-folk-blueser “Glued for Breakin’,” “Mule,” and “Two Charcoal Hearts,” a great song that appeared on Willie’s 1997 album, Turbosherbert. Simply wonderful.

Finchey | Murmurations Robbie Burley is a little bit folk, a singer-songwriter, a popster–one of those guys who stirs the influences pot and comes out with a finely-tuned mix that purposefully reflects his own musical outlook. Producer Dave Ody (Mothboxer) gets the best out of Burley, who’s already got the goods, you should know. Performed with gusto by Burley, Ody and Pat Davidson, the songs on Murmurations are catchy nuggets, carefully constructed and quite simply fantastic. We’re playing, in rotation, seven songs from this album: the toe-tapper “Devil Put a Spell on You,” and “She Loves Me,” “Must Have Been an Omen,” “Snowed Last Night,” “Warrior,” “Eyes Closed,” and “Red Robin,” the last of which is a mighty pretty number, with gorgeous background vocals and majestic atmosphere. Quite grand, all of it.

Strangely Alright | “I See the Sun” We were first hipped to the music of Regan Lane back in 2004, when we got hold of his solo album, ICU in Dandylions. These days, Regan is behind the group Strangely Alright; we’ve been playing tracks from their album, The Time Machine is Broken; their new song is a marathon pop-rock-gospel number, immensely catchy and fine as fine can be. “I See the Sun” is now playing in rotation.

Tommy Sistak | “You Can Have Your Way With Me” In the same groovy pure pop/sixties/seventies/Merseybeat/catchy-as-all-get-out bag as the songs we’re playing from Tommy’s Short Songs album, “You Can Have Your Way With Me” is instantly memorable…one of those songs you’ll not be surprised to be  singing to yourself at three o’clock in the morning. Now playing in rotation, naturally.

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That’s a wrap on day three of Pure Pop Radio’s New Music Explosion. We’ll be back tomorrow with yet another list of great songs and artists newly-added to our playlist. Stick with us…the best is yet to come!

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