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

Barbie haciendo Strip Tease

A continuación un video de Barbie como teibolera. Bueno, es un table dance donde una de las bailarinas sale vestida de Barbie mientras hace su show y en el fondo se escucha la canción Barbie Girl del grupo Aqua.

A ver si no saca luego Mattel a la "Barbie Stripper" o la "Barbie Teibolera". Digo, ya las Bratz y MyScene sacaron sus lineas de muñecas "Spring Break".


Striptease Barbie - Hot, Sexy & Erotic Girl -lap Dance! - Watch today’s top amazing videos here

MySpace The Movie

Esta es una de tantas películas que han hecho sobre MySpace, aunque esta es una de las mejores. Lo único malo es que está en inglés. Consta de 4 capítulos con los clásicos clichés sobre el MySpace. La cita a ciegas, el boletín, el password y la fiesta (en este último sale Tom!). No es oficial, pero esta bien hecho (aunque no esperen tampoco una superproducción, es casera).

Aqui les dejo la película:

The Absolute Powerpop Top Songs of 2007.

Here we go - rather than rank them, I'm just giving the whole long list of songs that stood out above the rest this year for me. I reserve the right to make additions to this list, because I know I probably left one or two out. In alphabetical order by artist:

Adam Bernstein-"The Poets of Avarice"
Adam Miner-"Fool"
Additional Moog-"El Guiro"
America-"Work to Do"
Arch Stanton-"Steady by Your Side"
Ben Forrest Davis-"This Is Home"
Bruce Springsteen-"Living In The Future"
Collective Soul-"Hollywood"
Crowded House-"She Called Up"
Dave Derby-"Come On Come On"
Deadstring Brothers-"Heavy Load"
Dean Owens-"Miss You CA"
Derby-"Streetlight"
Duane Dolieslager-"Carousel"
Early Edison-"White Socks"
Endrick Brothers-"Beautiful Rejection"
Everybody Else-"In Memoriam"
Future Clouds and Radar-"Build Havana"
Georgie James-"Need Your Needs"
Grand Atlantic-"Burning Brighter"
Green Peppers-"Honest Injun"
Hundred Air-"Makeout City"
Icecream Hands-"Anyway"
Jackdaw4-"Illuminati"
Jake Stigers & The Velvet Roots-"Girl"
Jason Isbell-"Dress Blues"
John Krueger-"Can't Take That Away"
Josh Fields-"Steal The Air", "Clock Keeps Ticking", "Photograph"
Keith LuBrant-"Too Late"
Kevin Kane-"Last to Know"
Ken Sharp-"Why Girls Cry"
Knit Delicate-"Bright Summer Sun"
Michael Harrell-"The End"
Mika-"Grace Kelly", "Stuck In The Middle"
Mitch Easter-"Sudden Crown Drop"
Morten Richter-"Pop-Up Window"
Myracle Brah-"Hurry Now"
OK Jones-"Electric Bed"
Pat DiNizio-"Any Other Way"
Pinto-"Here Comes The Love"
Romantica-"The National Side"
Rooney-"Don't Come Around Again"
Shake Some Action-"Someone Else's Friend"
ShyAway-"Sleepyhead"
Signal Hill Transmission-"Cherry is a Girl"
Smith & Hayes-"Nothing But Love", "Kaleidoscope"
Sono Oto-"Granny Smith"
Sparkwood-"Bop Bop Song"
Stepsonday-"1234"
Steve Robinson-"Wooden Hill"
Stockton-"Dreamworld"
The ACB's-"Windows Up"
The Amprays-"Levitate"
The Backroom-"Lost Without You", "'Loads of Love'"
The Color Wheels-"Green Means Go"
The Dirty Royals-"Cover Up The Sun"
The Fizzies-"In a House"
The Foreign Films-"Remember to Forget", "Polar Opposites"
The Holy Fields-"11th Floor"
The Hope Trust-"Mountain I Can't Climb"
The Incurables-"Lucky 7's", "Anytime Soon", "The Last Day of the Rest of Your Life"
The Lovetones-"Alone"
The Nines-"I Am Lost"
The Nobility-"Hallelujah Chorus"
The Orchid Highway-"Sofa Surfer Girl"
The Pearlfishers-"London's In Love", "Womack and Womack"
The Red Button-"Can't Stop Thinking About Her", "Floating By", "It's No Secret", "Ooh Girl"
The Silver Seas-"The Country Life"
The Stereotypes-"Butterflies"
The Storyboards-"Not a Love Song"
The Sunday Drivers-"She"
The Treasury-"Don't Look Now"
The Twilight-"Apple Pie Suburbia"
The Well Wishers-"Seashells"
Third of Never-"DJ"
Tor Guides-"You (and Everything You Do)"
Zombies of the Stratosphere-"Another Day"

UPDATE: Two omissions I had no business leaving off (thanks to the commenter for the first):
Wiretree-"Whirl", "Big Coat"
Jeremy Nail-"Paper Doll"

The Absolute Powerpop Reader Top 10 of 2007.

As promised, here's the result of the reader poll, and there's agreement at the top (first place votes in parentheses):

1. The Red Button-She's About to Cross my Mind 35 (1)
2. Jackdaw4-Bipolar Diversions 31 (1.5)
3. The Shins-Wincing The Night Away 30 (2)
4. The Nines-Gran Jukle's Field 28
5. Everybody Else-Everybody Else 23
6. John Davis-Arigato! 22 (1)
7. The Broken West-I Can't Go On I'll Go On 19 (1)
tie. Fountains of Wayne-Traffic and Weather 19
9. The Foreign Films-Distant Star 17
tie. The Orchid Highway-The Orchid Higway 17

Also receiving first place votes: Admiral Twin, Andrew Bird, Dinosaur Jr, David Celia, Endrick Brothers, Lewis Taylor, The Wellingtons.

The Absolute Powerpop Top 100 125 Discs of 2007, #1-5

5. Smith & Hayes-Changed by a Song. This really was the McCartney/Wilbury/David Grahame-styled disc many of us have been waiting for; for the Beatleheads out there, this was the disc of the year. Somewhere out there, Jeff Lynne is wishing he wrote "Nothing But Love".



4. Wiretree-Bouldin. This was the first great disc of 2007, and it held up through the entire year. Kevin Peroni followed up on one of 2005's best EPs and proved he was capable of a quality full-length. He's managed to create his own idiosyncratic sound that might be best described as the Wilburys meet indie rock. "Whirl" is one of those songs that I can never tire of, and makes the hours spent in search of something new to listen worthwhile.


3. Josh Fields-Josh Fields. I enjoyed this so much that I felt it necessary to fudge the EP/LP divide. Clocking in at seven songs, it's probably closer to an EP than a full-length, but it's just long enough to compete with the big boys. It's a perfectly realized example of radio-ready popcraft with hooks galore and even pretty good lyrics for the genre. The opening 1-2 of "Clock Keeps Ticking" and "Steal The Air" is about as fantastic and dynamic a kickoff to a disc that I've heard, and the slower numbers like "Dragons" (a killer rewrite of "She Talks to Angels" and I mean that in a good way) and the lovely "(Take a) Photograph" are equally as outstanding. Someone get this in front of some radio PD's.


2. The Foreign Films-Distant Star. Very few discs truly blow me away upon first listen, but this one did (hence the siren in the original post). This was the Cotton Mather record we thought we'd never hear again, even moreso than the Mather offshoots, Future Clouds and Stockton (each fine discs in their own right), that were released this year as well. That Bill Majoros pulled this off in the context of a double disc makes it all the more of an achievement.


1. The Red Button-She's About to Cross My Mind. As has been well-chronicled on this blog, I originally gave short shrift to the disc when it came out (although not that short, given that I had it at #8 at midyear). But this was the one disc that I kept coming back to, and the more I came back to it, the more I loved it. Whereas a piece of pop genius like "Ooh Girl" was apparent to me at first listen, it took a few trips back to fully appreciate a track like "Floating By", which might have been the best example of the "McCartney sings the cheery verses while Lennon sings the cynical bridge" dynamic since "We Can Work It Out" with Swirsky in the McCartney role and Ruekberg as Lennon. That the track is filled out with a Alpert/Bacharach horn section accompanied by Ruekberg's "ah-ah-ah" singalong of the horn parts propels it into the next dimension. Meanwhile, the couplet "She holds my attention/she breaks my resolve/she poses more problems than I'll ever solve" from "Can't Stop Thinking About Her" brings a smile to my face every time I hear it, and then there's the closer "It's No Secret", which with its near-perfect melody, heartfelt lyrics and wonderful harmonies makes it the natural successor to The Beatles' "If I Fell". Don't make the same mistake I initially did - while it's easy to dismiss this as a tuneful pastiche or a genre exercise, there's a real depth to it that rewards repeated listens. While some may cynically refer to the entire power pop genre as an effort to remake The Beatles or Big Star or Badfinger, this is one disc that deserves to be called an equal to its forebears. Here's hoping this wasn't a one-off project.

The Absolute Powerpop Top 100 125 Discs of 2007, #6-25

A couple of notes: 1) the reader poll will follow this weekend after the top 125 is finished; I decided not to interrupt the top 125. 2) As you've probably noticed this is 6-25, not 1-25; a separate post will follow later today (early afternoon Eastern Time USA) for the top 5 that will include comments on each of them.

6. Romantica-America
7. Mika-Life In Cartoon Motion
8. The Fizzies-Contest Popularity
9. Additional Moog-Thirty Three & a Third
10. The Nines-Gran Jukle's Field
11. Adam Miner-Dangerous Eyes
12. Ben Forrest Davis-Roughs
13. Ken Sharp-Sonic Crayons
14. Deleted Waveform Gatherings-Complicated View
15. Steve Robinson-Undercurrent
16. The Pearlfishers-Up With The Larks
17. Keith LuBrant-Searching For Signal
18. The Twilight-Tempest in a Teapot
19. Steve Bertrand-Pain is a Megaphone
20. Third of Never-Moodring
21. The Broken West-I Can't Go On, I'll Go On
22. Everybody Else-Everybody Else
23. Frank Ciampi-Big Top Woman
24. Future Clouds and Radar-Future Clouds and Radar
25. The Zombies of the Stratosphere-The Well-Mannered Look

Jamie Lynn Spears embarazada

Cuando me enteré de la noticia creí que se trataba de una broma. Pero no, ya es oficial. La hermanita de Britney Spears, Jamie Lynn Spears, esta embarazada.

La protagonista de Zoey 101 de 16 años ha comenzado finalmente a seguir los pasos de su hermana mayor. Seguramente pronto (después de su embarazo, claro) veremos fotos de ella saliendo borracha de fiestas y sin calzones.

Existe mucha especulación sobre si se va a casar con su novio, o si lo van a meter a la cárcel ya que ella es menor de edad y él tiene 19. Aunque seguramente esto último no pasará, ya que es necesaria una demanda por parte de la familia Spears para que esto suceda.

Lo que sí es seguro es que después de esto comenzará a ser acechada por los paparatzzis tanto o más que su hermana mayor. Aunque me pregunto ¿que pasaría si alguno de ellos logra captar una imagen de la panocha (vagina) de Jamie Lynn? ¿Será publicada en revistas de espectáculos al igual que las fotos de su hermana? ¿O el fotógrafo evitará publicarlas para no ser acusado de pornografía infantil?

Predice la muerte de Amy Winehouse y ganate un iPod!

Si! Han creado un sitio donde puedes dar tu fecha de predicción para la muerte de la artista Amy Winehouse, y si aciertas, te ganas un iPod Touch!

Y es que ya se ve demasiado acabada gracias a tanta droga que consume (según dicen las malas lenguas), por lo que los creadores de la página decidieron hacer este concurso. Seguramente piensan que no ha de faltar mucho.

Y bueno, sólo tienes que poner dia y hora de la muerte (y tu e-mail, para comunicarse contigo en caso de que aciertes). Además puedes darle tus pre-condolencias.

El sitio es el siguiente:

http://www.whenwillamywinehousedie.com/

Colección de Lunas 3

Continuamos con la colección lunar:

Nhikki Showin Her Booty
Otra chica que muestra su trasero a sus amigas, pero trae tanga.




Me & Jessica being stupid at school!
Dos amigas afuera de su escuela, una de ellas muestra su trasero a la camara.




swimming bottoms
Un grupo de chicas nadando sin calzones, mostrando sus traseros. No todos se alcanzan a ver debido a que casi no sacan su trasero del agua.




Helene's ASS! Must See!!
Una chica le muestra su trasero a su amiga, pero no sabe que la amiga la esta grabando y cuando esta le dice, la ataca!




MEL
Una chica (probablemente llamada Melanie, Melissa, o cualquier otro nombre que comience con Mel) con su pantalón bajado casi a la mitad (lastima que no se lo bajo completo), mueve su trasero como si estuviera hablando. Al parecer es de Viginia (USA). La chica que graba se llama Stephanie. El video fue subido hace casi 1 año y al parecer ellas tienen alrededor de 18 años, por lo que seguramente cuando fue grabado tenían 17. Pueden ver mas videos donde aparece la protagonista en el perfil de la chica que subió el video: http://www.youtube.com/profile?user=spiffystephanie (como uno donde sale cantando y de paso se ve que también tiene lo suyo de frente). Este definitivamente sería el mejor video de toda la lista si se hubiera bajado un poco más el pantalón. Por cierto, si chekan bien el youtube, pueden conocer el myspace de una de las amigas de la chica que muestra su trasero (y si saben tambien usar bien el myspace, pueden hasta conseguir el myspace de la protagonista, no es genial?!?!?!?!!!!!).

The Absolute Powerpop Top 100 125 Discs of 2007, #26-50

26. Icecream Hands-The Good China
27. Shake Some Action!-Shake Some Action!
28. Locksley-Don't Make Me Wait
29. Buva-All This Humming
30. Signal Hill Transmission-An Empty Space
31. The Nobility-The Mezzanine
32. Mandrew-The Wonderful World of Mandrew
33. The Hope Trust-The Incurable Want
34. Dean Owens-Whisky Hearts
35. The Sunday Drivers-Tiny Telephone
36. Knit Delicate-Pressed
37. Jackdaw4-Bipolar Diversions
38. Sparkwood-Kaliedoscopism
39. The Orchid Highway-The Orchid Highway
40. Georgie James-Places
41. The ACB's-The ACB's
42. Grand Atlantic-This Is Grand Atlantic
43. Jason Isbell-Sirens of the Ditch
44. The Incurables-Songs for a Blackout
45. The Well Wishers-How I Won The War
46. Class Three Overbite-Rendezvous
47. Bruce Springsteen-Magic
48. Duane Dolieslager-The Opposite of Optimist
49. Jesse Malin-Glitter In The Gutter
50. The Stereotypes-4

Colección de Lunas 2

Y seguimos con la colección de lunas:

The White Whale 2
Dos chicas haciendo la "ballena blanca". Consiste en hacer como una ballena que lanza el chorro de agua, pero esto se hace echándose un gas (pedo, flatulencia) cuando el trasero esta justo entrando al agua. La chica de atrás tiene el trasero descubierto mientras hace esto para darle mayor autenticidad.




The White whale
Igual que el anterior, esta es la primera parte. Se le puede ver el trasero a la otra chica.




elizabethan mooning
Otra chica que muestra su trasero a la camara. Es de dia y hay mas gente presente. No se peude ver su rostro. Al parecer su nombre es Elizabeth.




pessoas lokas
Un grupo de 3 hombre y 3 mujeres muestran su trasero a la camara, aunque solo 2 de las chicas lo muestran bien.




Amber Brkich (Mariano) moons the camera!
Una chica muestra su trasero a la camara dentro de un edificio con otras personas a su alrededor, aunque al parecer ninguna de ellas la ve aparte de el camarógrafo.

Colección de Lunas 1

Para evitar saturar este blog, he separado este post en varias partes.

Pero comencemos por explicar el título. Colección de Lunas. En realidad lo que hay que explicar es lo que es una luna. Moon.

El término es Full Moon, o luna llena. Se refiere a mostrar el trasero completo a alguien. Generalmente esta es una forma de insulto. Se puede ver una gran cantidad de veces esta expresión en la serie de Los Simpsons, generalmente por parte de Bart.

De cualquier forma, en este post buscamos una forma menos insultante y mas femenina de dicha expresión. Sí, chicas mostrando su trasero (nalgas, culo, ass, butt).

Comencemos entonces:

moon girl
Una chica se baja el pantalón mostrando su trasero a la camara mientras una amiga suya la graba. Casi no se alcanza a ver su rostro.




Supermarket
Un grupo de amigas graban su visita a un supermercado. Una de ellas muestra su trasero a la cámara alrededor del segundo 00:40. Se puede ver claramente sus rostros.




taddie
Unas chicas bailando reggaetton. A una que esta de espectadora (en calzones) le hacen calzón chino en el segundo 00:50 y se le ven las nalgas.




Amanda's Butt
Una chica se baja el pantalón y muestra su trasero ante un grupo de amigos y amigas en el segundo 00:30. Al parecer se llama Amanda.




Stupid Sexy Sleepover- Lol XD
Una pijamada. Una de las chicas le agarra las nalgas a otra en el segundo 00:36, y ella en venganza le baja los pantalones en el segundo 00:46.

Last call for Reader Top 10 lists!

Today's the deadline, so if you want to submit one and haven't, please do so today. I will post the list tomorrow ahead of #s 26-50.

The Absolute Powerpop Top 100 125 Discs of 2007, #51-75

51. The Wheat Pool-Township
52. Stockton-Euphonia
53. The Procession-Musique Magnifique
54. Peter Baldrachi-Solid Ground
55. Two Hours Traffic-Little Jabs
56. Burning Daylight-Whiskey & Romances
57. Peabody-Peabody
58. The Drowners-Cease to Be
59. The Literary Greats-The Literary Greats
60. The Backroom-Reagan Era Rocketship
61. Johnny Lloyd Rollins-Let's Be Poor Together
62. The Vinyl Skyway-From Telegraph Hill
63. Scott Cooper-Tiny Increments
64. Mr. D-Wings & Wheels
65. Mitch Easter-Dynamico
66. Admiral Twin-Center of the Universe
67. Adam Bernstein-Dust Off The Timeless Night
68. Jeremy Nail-Letter
69. Daniel Palmer-Home Sweet Home
70. Limbeck-Limbeck
71. The Low Stars-The Low Stars
72. Dave Derby-Dave Derby and the Norfolk Downs
73. The Primary 5-Go!
74. The Janglemen-Tearjerker & 9 Others
75. Kevin Kane-How to Build a Lighthouse

The Absolute Powerpop Top 100 125 Discs of 2007, #76-100

76. The Ditchflowers-Carried Away
77. Maple Mars-Beautiful Mess
78. John Hoskinson-Pancho Fantastico
79. Ed James-In The 21st Century
80. David Brookings-Obsessed
81. Adam Miner-Playing House
82. Collective Soul-Afterwords
83. The Morning Line-Stay My Satellite
84. Morten Richter-Message From The Slum
85. Holmes-Stop Go
86. The Tangerines-The Tangerines
87. Storyhill-Storyhill
88. John P. Strohm-Everyday Life
89. Rich McCulley-Cerro Gordo
90. John Krueger-Later
91. Michael Slawter-An Assassination of Someone You Knew
92. Souther Still-Dizziness and Darkness
93. Devlin Murphy-My First
94. Danny Scherr-Richmond Special
95. Jeff Murphy-Cantilever
96. Okkervil River-The Stage Names
97. America-Here and Now
98. Marmalade Souls-In Stereo
99. The Silver Seas-High Society
100. Crowded House-Time on Earth

The Absolute Powerpop Top 100 125 Discs of 2007, #101-125

NOTE: When the series is finished, I will consolidate all of the 25-at-a-time posts into one big post for easier future reference.

As I mentioned the other day, so many discs ended up under "honorable mention" when I compiled the preliminary list that I decided to expand the list to 125. So without further ado, here are #s 101-125:

101. Myracle Brah-Can You Hear The Myracle Brah?
102. The Autumn Defense-The Autumn Defense
103. The Amprays-Low Sun Fire
104. Warm In The Wake-American Prehistoric
105. Junebug-Fourth
106. Simon Morel-Record #2
107. AM-Soul Variations
108. Beachfield-Brighton Bothways
109. Frisbie-New Debut
110. Dead Rock West-Honey & Salt
111. The Storyboards-Stagger & Sway
112. Bobby Sutliff-On a Ladder
113. Dirk Darmstaedter-Our Favorite City
114. Matt Nathanson-Some Mad Hope
115. Ike Reilly Assassination-We Belong to the Staggering Evening
116. Bryan Scary-The Shredding Tears
117. Travis-The Boy With No Name
118. Fooling April-In The Now
119. Kurt Hagardorn-Ten Singles
120. Arthur Yoria-Handshake Smiles
121. Candidate-Oxengate
122. Backbeat-Eye Dentity
123. Stepsonday-Little Light
124. The Lovetones-Axiom
125. OK Jones-Elephantoms

The Absolute Powerpop Top 10 EPs of 2007.

Let the year-end list-making commence! It was a slow year for EPs that really came on in the last few months.

Here are the top EPs of 2007:

1. The Treasury-The Treasury
2. The Holy Fields-The Holy Fields
3. Derby-Derby EP
4. The Weightlifters-Last of The Sunday Drivers
5. Satisfaction-Cougars, Sharks & Flying Sparks
6. Michael Harrell-Songs From The Village
7. Arch Stanton-Highland & Marine
8. Sono Oto-The Apple
9. Daniel Wylie-Let's Go Surfing
10. Ian Olvera Band-Some of Us Dream

Just missing:
Warm In The Wake-Gold Dust Trail
Adam Merrin-Have One

UPDATE: I may have to blow up this list and start over again as I just came across The Foxboro Hot Tubs. For those who haven't heard, the Tubs are actually Green Day in disguise, and last week they released a free-download, 6-song EP that's vintage 60s garage rock and extraordinarily well done. Their official site no longer shows the download link (it's just a moving clock, nothing else), but if you use this Google cache of the site, you'll find the mp3 link is still active (click "hear it", then on the next page, click "download mp3s").

I'd probably slot this one in at #4, but I'll leave the list intact with this addendum.

A few quick eMus.

The Backroom-Reagan Era Rocketship. See here.

Brad Brooks-Spill Collateral Love. Reviewed here.

And finally, a 1993 disc from The Pearlfishers, Za Za's Garden, was added as well.

CD of the Day, 12/15/07: Frank Ciampi-Big Top Woman

Here's one that's been worth the wait. Back in early days of this blog (February 2006), I gave props to Frank Ciampi, who at that time basically had 3 songs out and which were only available at his MySpace page. Fast forward to December 2007, and at long last we have Big Top Woman, the full-length album which displays the promise those three early tracks displayed.

The operative sound is piano-based power pop, but with a Brian Wilson influence; you might almost say it's Ben Folds meets The Wondermints. The three oustanding tracks that I blogged about earlier are all here, in the 7-8-9 slots, but the new stuff meets or exceeds the quality of those. The horns and time shifts in "Little Girl" are worth the price of admission alone; "Madeline Maybe" will stick in your head - no maybes about it; "Waiting For Someone" would have fit in nicely on Smile (yes, that Smile), while "The Miss Jenny" is like the middle eight of McCartney's "Uncle Albert and Admiral Halsey" taken to full song-length. There isn't a bad track here to be found, and Ciampi has gotten his disc in just in time to make the big list coming out next week.

MySpace (Where you can also buy the disc or the mp3s)

EP of the Day, 12/14/07: Ian Olvera Band-Some of Us Dream

It seems lately that I've been featuring quite a few bands in the roots rock/country rock/"popicana" vein, but I go where the good music takes me. And once again it's time to feature a band in this genre. Today it's Green Bay's Ian Olvera Band, who are a late contender for the top EP list (coming tomorrow!) with Some of Us Dream.

"When You're Down" kicks things off with its relentless driving beat and catchy chorus as if it were almost a poppier version of Tom Petty's "Runnin' Down a Dream". The stacatto, "Getting Better"-style beat of "Derailed" follows and it's "ba-da, ba-da" chorus will have your toes tapping for hours. Olvera lets off the gas pedal a bit with "The Biggest News", a melancholy alt-country piece, but gets right back on the horse with "Treacherous Timbers", which has a song noir feel to it. All in all, it's a quality EP that's worth a spin.

MySpace | CD Baby

Time for the reader Top 10 lists.

In my earlier post today on my plans for the year-end lists, I neglected to mention that I'm ready to receive your top 10 of 2007 list (feel free to include EPs), and that I'll be doing so for the next seven days (deadline: Wednesday December 19). Like last year, I'll tally them up and reveal the results. Please submit them to me via email at the link over to the right (scroll down past the Google ads).

New Music from a couple of AbPow favorites.

Two big-time favorites of mine have released some new music for digital download: Derby and Josh Fields.

We'll start with the boys from Portland, Oregon. Derby's still yet to release Posters Fade, their full-length followup to 2005's AbPow Album of the Year This Is The New You, but in the meantime they've given us a download-only EP that's a teaser for the disc. Available at CD Baby, it shows them further refining their sound. They've upped the BPM on "Streetlight" and even the midtempo "If Ever There's a Reason" without sacrificing their melodic gifts, while opener "Argyle" brings to mind "Jet Set", the wonderful opener from New You. (And to confound, they have a new track titled "This Is The New You" on the EP as well).

Meanwhile, 2007 Album of the Year contender Josh Fields has three new songs available for purchase via Snocap on his MySpace page: "Malibu", "Sleepwalking", and "Everywhere I Shouldn't Be" (non-album track "Bigger Than Life" is available as well, and all but "Sleepwalking" are streaming on the MySpace player). These tracks are of a piece with those on his self-titled debut and are definitely worth the .99 each.