Alan Haber's Pure Pop Radio

As Pure Pop Radio’s Premiere Week rolls on, we ask that you open up your hearts and your ears, of course, for an avalanche of songs and artists just added to our playlist. We’re talking hundreds of songs, and not just new ones–we’ve also significantly beefed up our Beach Boys and Beatles playlists (remember that we ring the bell for America’s Band and the Fab Four every hour of our broadcast day!).

All this week, we’ll be telling you about the new music we’re now playing in rotation on our air. Here’s today’s list, all shiny and sparkly and Tuesday-riffic, full of melody and harmony!

Brady Harris | Ukulele Days We’ve been happily playing Brady Harris’s music on Pure Pop Radio for many years, enjoying his creativity and melodic gifts, album after album. So it was with great pleasure that we played this new album, released just two weeks ago. Centered around the glorious sounds of the ukulele, this entrancing mix of originals and covers makes for a beautiful listening experience. From his gorgeous cover of Brian and Carl Wilson’s “Good Timin’,” which features Brady’s vocal harmony stacks to magical effect, to the perfect-for-a-summer’s-day sojourn, banjo accented “Welcome Me Back,” this is one of the best albums we’ve heard in a long while. We’re playing the entire run of songs, including the ones just mentioned. And: “‘Til the End of Days,” “Wear Your Love Like Heaven,” “Save Yer Love for Me,” “I’ll Miss These Days,” “Right Down the Line,” “End of May,” “Points of View,” “Lauren, Lauren,” “This Boy,” “Bring Flower Power Back,” and the wonderful instrumental, “Camarillo Beach,” which wouldn’t have been out of place on the Beach Boys’ Pet Sounds album. Nice job, Brady. Very, very nice.

Secret Friend | Sleeper Steven Fox’s musical vision, a three-dimensional soundscape of aural imagery, is at play on his alter ego Secret Friend’s second album. Sleeper, which releases this Friday, August 14. Sleeper is somewhat different in execution than Secret Friend’s first album, Time Machine, but it’s no less affecting.  Dressing up lovely melodies in a suit of electronic clothes fashioned on top of traditional instrumentation, Fox has created an expansive, electronic group of songs that is a singular, original experience. The original lineup that performed on Time Machine is back and joined this time around by the Nines’ Steve Eggers and Kurt Baker producer, and pop artist extraordinaire, Wyatt Funderburk. We added two songs to our playlist about a month ago; these nuggets are now joined by five additional tracks: “Something’s Happening,” “Any Day Now,” “And Ever,” “Nobody Listens,” and “Do You.” We’re proud to be featuring Secret Friend’s music on Pure Pop Radio.

All Day Sucker | Denim Days and The Big Pretend We were in on the All Day Sucker craze back in 2004 when the group’s self-titled album came out. In fact, we’ve been playing the anthemic, fast-paced “Get High” on our air ever since. Now, we’re playing songs from All Day Sucker’s latest album, Denim Days, and their 2008 record, The Big Pretend. The band favors a decidedly pop-rock sound, with the most emphasis placed on the pop side of the equation. From Denim Days, we’re now playing the title track, “The Single,” “Listening to the Liars,” “Faded,” “Sweet Surprise,” “Crossword Puzzle,” and the astounding, beautiful “One Long Day,” which opens with a gorgeous a cappella section that will send chills down your spine. From The Big Pretend, we’re spinning six songs: the old-fashioned sound of “Beverly Park” and the following pop numbers which will roll around in yours heads as treasured earworms: “Santa Ana,” “The Picture (That Took Me),” “Nobody Somewhere,” “Strange Orbits,” and “The Man (From the Big Pretend).” Joyous.

The Unswept | The Unswept Today! and The Unswept Cousins Charlie, Liz, and Ryan O’Brien came together as the Unswept in Chicago after leaving their native Sheffield in England. We’re a bit late in reporting on our adding of both this groovy band’s 2014 self-titled album and their latest long player, The Unswept Today! So, let’s play catchup, shall we? We’ve added every song from both albums, so one might say it’s a clean sweep for the Unswept! From Today!, we’re playing “Super Sad,” “Peace of Mind,” “Please Look My Way,” “Another Bubble,” “(You Can) Do the Math,” “Unimpressive,” “Magnet’s Coil,” a cover of Teenage Fanclub’s “Mellow Doubt,” “Cheater,” “Getaway,” and the wonderfully titled “Surf Song (I Wish I Was a Beach Boy).” From the self-titled album, we’re spinning “So It Goes,” “I Can’t Sleep,” “Cynical Girl” (Marshall Crenshaw cover), “Certain Flowers,” “You’re Going Home,” “I Must Be in Love” (Rutles cover), “You Trip Me Up,” “Listen to the Band” (Monkees cover), and “She’s So Cool.” And what’s cool about the Unswept? Their unerring sense of melody, great songs and a terrific presentation. We love the Unswept!

The Foreign Films | The Record Collector (Side 3)  On October 21st of last year, we added four tracks from the second side of the in-progress, two-record set that Bill Majoros has been recording up in Canada under his band nom de plume, the Foreign Films. Side three of the album, called The Record Collector, was recently released. This time around, we’re adding all six songs on offer because they’re just so incredibly wonderful. “Northern Love Songs,” which we played on last night’s premiere edition of Alan Haber’s new deejay show, Pop Tunes, is an old-fashioned, dramatic, beautifully written song with an indelible hook and allusions to World Party, the Wondermints, and the arrangements of early Elton John records; “Empire of the Night” is an upbeat pop-rocker sounding like it could have sat quite comfortably on the Beach Boys’ Wild Honey album; and “A Foolish Symphony (Wait)” centers its lovely melody around a classically-styled chord progression where varied instrumentation–including emotive pedal steel lines–lead up to a satisfying ending. We’re playing these three songs, and three more still: “Stars in Her Eyes,” “Girl by the River,” and “The DeLuxe.” The Record Collector looks to be a top contender for best-of-the-year honors when the ballots are counted later this year. Stunning.

Larry O. Dean | Good Grief If the individual albums in Larry O. Dean’s back catalog were bricks, we could all get together and build a 4,000 square-foot house, such is the depth of his output. It’s all led to Larry’s forthcoming album (due September 25) called Good Grief, which is in the dictionary (we checked) next to a sign that proclaims “Good Music is Here.” Sounding like a cross between Lou Reed and Neil Young (if Lou and Neil favored pop more than rock), Larry has a poet’s heart (which makes sense, since he is a poet and teaches English at Indiana University Northwest and Northeastern Illinois University). Good Grief’s strong set of songs are catchy and commanding, possessed of fertile imagery and good humor. We’re playing, in rotation, six songs from this great album: “(Driving) Under the Influence (of Love),” “Didn’t See it Coming,” “Don’t Climb the Mountain,” “Heather’s Diary,” “Sniper,” and the lovely “Botox Party,” in which the art of improving one’s self worth turns out not to be an art at all (we love the Van Dyke Parks-styled string arrangement, done by Wim Oudijk). A fine album through and through, and highly recommended.

Jeff Litman | Primetime Longtime Pure Pop Radio favorite Jeff Litman’s new EP, which drops next Tuesday, August 18, is a coming together of three previously-released singles tracks that haven’t been on an album (“Nothing,” “Debutante,” and “Go”) and three previously-unreleased songs (“That’s On You,” “Primetime,” and “Don’t Slow Down”). The title song is a driving, slightly punky number; “Debutante” is a slow burning, bluesy rocker; and “That’s On You” is Beatlesque pop song with a John Lennon-like vocal. We’re playing all of these songs in rotation, and proudly so. Good stuff all around.

Chris Stamey | Euphoria The dB’s co-founder delivers another great collection of melodic songs on this new album. The lovely, upbeat number, “Dear Valentine,” surprises with a nod to the Beatles about two-thirds of the way through. “Invisible,” a mid-tempo pop song, is a delightful, beautifully constructed piece of work. We’ve added both of these songs to our playlist, plus three others: the spacey rocker “Rocketship”; “Where Does the Time Go?,” another mid-tempo pop song with a more-than-pleasing chord construction; and the quite pretty, Paul McCartney-esque “You are Beautiful,” with George Harrison-y guitar lines. All now playing in rotation.

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That’s it for today. We’ve got more new songs and artists to let you know about tomorrow. With the music we’ve added to our playlist over the past few days, our grand total of songs in rotation has passed the 7,300 mark. Is there any doubt that Pure Pop Radio, the original 24-hour-a-day melodic pop radio station on the Internet, has the widest variety of songs from the ’60s to today?

See you tomorrow with another list of adds!

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