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, 9/10/09: Michael Carpenter-Redemption #39

About three months ago, I touted the release of this disc from one of power pop's leading lights, but realized I never gave it a proper review. It's an oversight that needs to be corrected because it's one of 2009's better releases. While Michael Carpenter discs have always been melodic delights, and he's always been a strong lyricist, here he takes his game up a notch with songs that have both melody and meaning.

Therefore, it's fitting that the opener here is "Can't Go Back", a clear-eyed look at both a relationship and one's life to date complete with Carpenter's patented pop goodness and Beach Boy/Beatles-styled backing vocals. The title track follows, with the title itself and Carpenter's lyrics and vocals getting as close to Dylanesque as he's ever attempted but without sacrificing his sound. Carpenter then offers up his solo take on "Workin' for a Livin", a track he first released with the Cuban Heels on one of their 2008 EPs. The song sounds like a country classic that's been around for years, tackling the familiar theme of (un)employment. "I'm Not Done With You" is a gentle midtempo number that finds Carpenter at his tuneful best and features a lovely guitar solo.

Unlike many other artists in the genre, Carpenter is plugged into the power pop scene (see his SOOP #2, a cover album of contemporary power poppers like The Shazam, David Grahame and the Myracle Brah), and he pays Queen, Jellyfish and all of their power pop acolytes homage on "The King of the Scene", a tune that deserves to be the first single off the album if such a thing really existed these days. There's plenty else to dig here as well, from the lilting "Don't Let Me Down Again", the pure power pop harmonies of the "Middle of Nowhere" (which with its introspective lyrics and classic Carpenter sound, could serve as the soundtrack of his life), the textbook power pop of "I Want Everything" and the languid but affirming "Falling Down".

As anyone who follows my Twitter feed knows, I'm a big baseball fan. And the analogy that can't help but come to mind for Michael Carpenter is Albert Pujols. Both are so good and so consistent at what they do, we tend to take them for granted. If this were a debut album by a heretofore unknown artist, I'd probably give it a siren and be touting it from here and every other bit of social media I could get my hands on. Instead, I kind of left it on the back burner of this site, perhaps subconsciously thinking that everyone who reads this blog already has this disc or has otherwise heard it. But then I stopped to listen to it again, and I realized that it doesn't matter if he's put out about a half-dozen excellent records before. Each one is its own discovery, and it's not a stretch to say that this is his best yet.

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New Michael Carpenter album on the way!

Here's some good news to brighten up your back-to-work-from-a-long-holiday-weekend morning: Michael Carpenter is set to release his first solo album since 2004's Rolling Ball - and you won't have to wait long for it. Redemption #39 will be available on June 8 from the usual suspects (Not Lame, Kool Kat, Jam). Much as Carpenter has done with previous releases (such as Rolling Ball and the Supahip album), he'll be offering a limited edition bonus disc containing a stripped-down, acoustic version of the album, so get it early.

Here's a video for the album's opening track, "Can't Go Back":

It's Michael Carpenter's world...

...and all of us power pop fans are just living in it. Two new releases highlight the man who's at the top of the power pop game as a performer and producer.

First is his latest new material, and it's a slight departure from his usual work. He assembled a country band called The Cuban Heels, and they've released a 7-song mini-album titled New Dog - Old Tricks, which was recorded in one day barely over a month ago (August 2 to be precise). It's a fine collection of new material and covers, including the Hank Williams (Sr.) classic "Jambalaya". Carpenter got the inspiration for the band while doing a show with Bryan Estepa, and the opening track on the disc, "The Ballad of Ambivalence", is a country-rock number much in the style of All The Bells and Whistles, the album he produced for Estepa. "Some Days are Worse Than Others" is another quality original, a Band-style midtempo number drenched in pedal steel, and "If You Ask Me" (co-written with Cuban Heel Russell Crawford, for whom Carpenter produced a great EP in 2006) is a high-quality ballad with a strong buildup. This is really a must-get, and a contender for the year-end list (EP or full disc). But if you want it on disc, it's extreeemely limited (100 copies) and Not Lame has 40 of them, so click here and act fast. Otherwise, it's available as a digital download (a redundant phrase as I don't think it's possible to pull off an analog download) from MC at Big Radio.

Meanwhile Carpenter's original band, The Finkers, who put out two discs around the turn of the century, are anthologized in Epilogue, a 2-CD set that collects all of their studio recordings. If you're a fan of Carpenter's solo material, this will be right up your alley, especially if you're like me and only came into MC about four years ago. All of their albums, EPs, and contributions to tribute albums to The Stems, The Replacements, Gene Clark, The Flamin' Groovies, The Real Kids and Radio Birdman are included, and if you missed out on them, it's like getting 2-3 brand new MC albums. I don't do a year-end reissue list, but if I did this would definitely top it.

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