Thursday night Link-o-Rama.

I have a bunch of new releases I want to spread the word about but don't have the time or motivation to write about them at length, so I'll just briefly summarize and provide the pertinent links.

The Hard Way-Tell Me When You Can't Breathe. Remember back in 1977 when the Klaatu record came out and people thought it was the Beatles under an assumed name? Well, substitute 2011 for 1977, The Hard Way for Klaatu, and Superdrag for the Beatles and you get the picture here. CD Baby | MySpace | iTunes

Eric Bay-Pair Shaped. Fine debut EP from this British singer/songwriter who has a McCartneysque flair. Absolutely love the track "Cheer Up". CD Baby | Facebook | iTunes

The Test Dream-Shades of Love. Full-length debut from a band whose EP I featured a couple of years ago (did that lead them to send me a copy of the new one? No, I had to find it on my own. Hmph). Dreamy indie pop that meets the promise of the EP. CD Baby | MySpace | iTunes

Dan Kibler-Capsule. How ironic that I feature a disc named Capsule in a blog post consisting of capsule reviews? OK, not that ironic. Anyway, Kibler (when not making cookies with elves) is a Pennsylvania guitarist who's played with Parallax Project and has this album produced and engineered by Shoes' Jeff Murphy. And the tunes match the pedigree, so give it a listen. CD Baby | MySpace | iTunes

Marco Joachim-Hidden Symphonies. When we last visited Marco Joachim, he was releasing Songville at the end of 2007. That disc found Joachim channeling Wilburys-era Bob Dylan; this one finds him switching Wilburys to Jeff Lynne as he's gone for a more ornate and hooky sound. Verdict: it worked. "Those Days" has that late-period ELO sound down and "Things You Do" is bouncy Beatlesque pop. A very pleasant surprise. CD Baby | MySpace | iTunes

Last post of 2007 - New Year's Eve Roundup.

With all of my limited (at this time of year) time for the blog being devoted to assembling the year-end lists, I've started to get a backlog of discs I've been meaning to mention. So before I head out for New Year's Eve (and before I spend tomorrow watching football), here are a few discs to consider while waiting for the big ball to drop:

The Janglemen-Tearjerker & 9 Others. The eagle-eyed among you may have noticed that this late-year release made the top 125 at #74 yet had no previous mention on the site. That oversight is remedied now, as this New York City band wins the Truth-In-Advertising Award; "jangle" is the operative sound here, and they'll appeal big time to fans of Bobby Sutliff, Walter Clevenger, Roger McGuinn, etc. In other words, Rickenbacker heaven. CD Baby | MySpace

Marco Joachim-Songville. Staying with our theme of NYC artists with a something-other-than-NYC sound, this singer-songwriter will appeal to anyone who loved Bob Dylan's stuff with The Traveling Wilburys. Opener "There" has a real "End of the Line" feel to it, and "Dream Away" will bring to a smile to anyone who enjoyed the Smith & Hayes disc. Great stuff. CD Baby | MySpace

Soft Gong-Pretend You Need Me. These guys hail from the power pop hotspot of Boise, Idaho, and have an interesting origin story. They started out playing cover tunes as the house band for a marketing company, and gradually branched out to doing their own stuff. Perhaps the absurdity of corporate life contributed to the wry lyrical perspective found in tracks like "Night School Sweetheart" and "My Sweet Embraceable Defeat". First-rate power pop here, and maybe David Bash should look into an IPO Idaho. CD Baby | MySpace

Dion Read & The Afterthoughts-The Shoes & Gloves EP. An impressive debut from this piano-based Aussie. He cites the Bens (Folds, Lee, Kweller - and Affleck) as influences, and you can hear certainly hear them (OK, maybe not Affleck). It's only four songs, but it's worth every penny as the quality is high. Had this one come earlier in the year, I'd have found a spot on the top 10 EP list for it. CD Baby | MySpace