News from Down Under.

Lots of interesting power pop developments coming out of Australia lately, and here are the highlights:

* Michael Carpenter. If the group of artists we feature on this site who continually work together on different projects can be called the Australian Power Pop Mafia, then Michael Carpenter is The Godfather. And Don MC is back with a couple of projects.

First up is the O'Neders, a gathering of Carpenter and like-minded power poppers who came together to record a live album of power pop covers from contemporary artists such as Sloan, Fountains of Wayne, Teenage Fanclub, Jellyfish, Matthew Sweet as well as classics from The Beatles, Big Star, The Byrds and The Who among others. It's a real hoot and a real treat and you can listen and buy the whole shebang at Bandcamp. Titled That Thing We Done, it's a real wonder. (Unfortunately the CDR version is sold out, so you'll have to digital on this one).

MC is also hard at work on his ultimate Cuban Heels project. You may recall the pair of EPs he's put out in the last couple of years with this crew, and now it's all coming together with The Incomplete Cuban Heels, a collection of the 2 EPs plus a bunch of new tracks. Like other artists these days, he's offering a "buy-in" of sorts to help finance the project and has two levels of support you can give with plenty of goodies available for each. Get all the details at his site.

* The Sunshine Ponies. You probably haven't heard of the band name, but I'm sure you're familiar with the players. This is the aforementioned Aussie Power Pop Mafia in its full glory, as Popboomerang honchos Scott Thurling and Sarah Halligan have called in the gang to record an album set to their love poetry, and in addition to Mr. Carpenter, AbPow faves like Bryan Estepa, Adrian Whitehead, Tim Reid, Kelly's Heels and Danna & The Changes are on board to provide the music and voices for these song-poems. Like the O'Neders project above, you can hear and buy it all at Bandcamp.

CD of the Day, 7/13/08: Danna & The Changes-Consonant Cacophony

Danna & The Changes is a new band from Australia, and their debut release Consonant Cacophony marks the third in a trilogy of outstanding recent releases from the Popboomerang label. Unlike the other two, there's a bit more of a front porch rather than pop studio feel, but to paraphrase the famous SPCA movie disclaimer, no melodic content was sacrificed in the making of this album.

Consonant Cacophony runs the gamut of alt-country, folk/rock, and yes, power pop, and Danna & Co. manage to make it sound like they've been doing this for twenty years. "Baby Love" jumps out of the gates with its "Lust For Life"-beat over a raucous melody; it's almost as if Ryan Adams were fronting The Strokes. "Good Duet" steps into what could best be described as Exile-era Stones territory, but only brighter. Another bright spot is the piano-based "He and She", which manages enough country swing and pop smarts to make Walter Clevenger proud.

Elsewhere, they branch out into Brian Wilson balladry with "He Was Irrelevant", have a hoedown with "Janie", venture into more traditional power pop in "Shake It Up", and try their hand at cowpunk with "Rise and Shine". By the time they wrap things up with the anthemic "Station", there's only one conclusion to draw: this is the roots-rock album of the year so far.

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