Yesterday we spent the evening laying down guitar tracks for the three new songs we started recording this weekend. I had quite a good evening I must say. For this session I had bought myself a brand new external sound card as well as a Rode microphone, which apparently sounds quite amazing. Haven’t tried those mics myself but according to popular opinion they rival mics twice the price. Anyway, so it was fun doing the guitar parts, switching between my Fender Telecaster/Vox and Hagström Viking/Peavey Classic setups. Doing the overdubs in your own rehearsal space makes things that much easier, and it sounds just as good as it did in the studio we worked in previously. Tomorrow we’re continuing. Maybe I can get done with all the guitar parts this week. That would be sweet.

As Morty previously stated, the drum tracking this weekend went really well. Tonight we continue with the rest, first up being guitars. It’s usually what takes up the most time so it’s best to just go ahead and get it done as soon as possible so we can move forward. The plan is to have all the tracking done within a month’s time.

I think that The Wannadies is one of greatest bands in the world - I just don’t understand why they didn’t make it even bigger… Practically every song is a smash hit as far as I’m concerned!

I’ve linked some YouTube-clips that are definitely worth checking out. The first is the video for the song Friends which is one of their best songs…

The second clip is this simple but cool video for the song I Don’t Like You.

The third clip is from their awesome song Hit. We attempted to play it once with a cover band but it is seriously difficult to get the guitars and rhythm right. The Wannadies are just so tight…

Just look at their unbelievably cool discography; all of their albums are sooo good!

• The Wannadies (1990)
• Aquanautic (1992)
• Be a Girl (1994)
• Bagsy Me (1997)
• The Wannadies (1997) - release for the US market
• Yeah (1999)
• Before & After (2002)
• Skellefteå (1998) - Compilation and remix album

Tune in on Spotify for some excellent tunes by The Wannadies.

As you may or may not know - Joey Fake plays guitar in the hardcore band NUTMEG. A couple of years ago I substituted for the original keyboard player on their tour in Poland. NUTMEG plays melodic hardcore which is extremely far from powerpop. A big difference from traditional hardcore is the fantastic organ and wurlitzer tracks. I got so inspired by learning the NUTMEG songs that it really reflects on our up and coming album.

NUTMEG is now on Spotify with their debut album The Trigger. Check it out and listen on the fantastic hardcore tunes and especially the keyboards…

My favorites are Sunday and the fantastic Birthday.

The second album I want you to check out may very well be the one album that has influenced me the most. It’s the phenomenal third album from The Posies entitled “Frosting on the Beater”, released in 1993. I’d say that this is the very album that got me hooked on powerpop in the first place, and in many ways “Frosting” defines the genre for me. It’s impossible to find a weakness on the album, since all of the songs are true gems in their own right.

My favorite song on the album and one of my favorite songs of all time is “Solar Sister”. To this day I cannot seem to tire of it. Actually, it’s hard to tire of any of the songs, but other “must-listens” are “Definite Door”, “Dream All Day”, “Flavor of the Month”, and the hauntingly beautiful closer “Coming Right Along” with the eerie C-tuning on the guitar that I spent a whole afternoon in High School trying to figure out.

These past couple of years I’ve had the pleasure to get to know the frontmen of the band - Ken Stringfellow and Jon Auer - and the two still produce the most amazing music, both as The Posies and separately. If you start to delve into their back catalogue you’ll find some of the greatest music written during the past fifteen years or so.

Here’s a YouTube clip of “Solar Sister” that I just found. The harmonies on this song are absolutely killer!

And here’s the album cover:

Powerpop (or power pop) is a popular musical genre that draws its inspiration from 1960s British and American pop and rock music. It typically incorporates a combination of musical devices such as strong melodies, crisp vocal harmonies, economical arrangements, and prominent guitar riffs. Instrumental solos are usually kept to a minimum, and blues elements are largely downplayed. Recordings tend to display production values that lean toward compression and a forceful drum beat. Instruments usually include one or more electric guitars, an electric bass guitar, a drum kit, and sometimes electric keyboards or synthesizers. While its cultural impact has waxed and waned over the decades, power pop is among rock’s most enduring subgenres.

Read more about powerpop on the fakepedia.

Review of “Something New”

HEAVEN CAN BE FOUND WITHIN A POP SONG
When people refer to pop music these days, they mean Britney Spears, Aaron Carter, Ashlee Simpleton, uh- I mean Simpson and all the teeny-twerps on MTV/TRL. Well, when we used to talk about about pop music, this song would have been the very definition. A solitary sweet but stinging electric guitar opens the tune, quickly followed by bass and drums, then finally the whole band. The song is reminiscent of Todd Rundgren/Utopia meets Cheap Trick meets Jellyfish. Great vocals, great melody, great musicianship and great production. The ending is relentless and makes you want to put your fist through the roof. Since I can’t really do that, I’m just gonna yell- yee hah, and play the song again. Congratulations- we have a winner.

Garageband.com

Review of “Irreplaceable”
Proud members of the power-pop fraternity populated by Dwight Twilley, Big Star, Teenage Fanclub and the like, this Swedish trio convincingly transforms the steely Beyoncé ballad [Irreplaceable] into something that wouldn’t sound out of place on a Fountains of Wayne album.

thestar.com

Recension av “I Don’t Want It” (demo)

Det här låter verkligen Popsicle. Sångaren försöker låta Popsicle, låtar försöker låta Popsicle, texterna försöker låta Popsicle. Och de lyckas hur bra som helst. Och jag älskar det. Förbehållslöst. Jag vet inte varför egentligen, kanske “for nostalgic reasons”, för det är verkligen inte nyskapande på något sätt. Men oj va bra det är. Och jag vet, man ska vara så jävulskt nyskapande, man ska förakta allting gammalt, man ska älska det nya helt oreflekterat bara för att det är nytt. Speciellt som skribent (jag hävdar inte att jag är en skribent, mest en allmän iakttagelse). Men vad gör man om man älskar någonting bara för att det är bra, inte för att det är nytt? Äh, jag vet inte, jag tänker inte ljuga för er, jag gillar det grymt mycket. Det låter precis som en treminuters (nästan fyraminuters, faktiskt) poplåt ska låta, och det behövs inte mer, speciellt inte i slutet på mars när snön börjar smälta bort och våren till slut kan kämpa sig upp till ytan. För våren, det är gitarrpopens bästa årstid, och det är då jag lyssnar på The Genuine Fakes. Och Popsicle.

Popochskit.blogspirit.com

The Genuine Fakes are:

• Joey Fake - lead vocals / guitars
• Morty Fake - bass / backing vocals
• Johnny Fake - drumkit / backing vocals
• Tommy Fake - keyboards / backing vocals

The Genuine Fakes is the new hope of powerpop in Sweden. Their songs are fueled by rock and catchy singalong melodies.

The band was formed in late 2005 in a basement in Södermalm in Stockholm. The guys; that shared a love for melodic pop and moustaches joined up and beautiful music came to be instantaneously. Influences from bands such as 90’s indie legends Popsicle from Sweden, The Posies, The Wildhearts, Fountains of Wayne, Weezer, Jellyfish, Cheap Trick and Pearl Jam, to name a few, were forged in a way that creates a unique sound in this day and age. You’ve got beautiful harmonies on a thick, powerful foundation of distorted guitars, Hammond organ, McCartney-esque bass lines and noisy drums. The instrumentation is raw and the vocals are as slick as The Beatles’ were in their prime. The band delivers three and four part harmonies that you haven’t seen or heard the likeness of live since the last Jellyfish tour in 1993. A concertgoer perhaps described it best: “It’s Popsicle-rock with Beach Boys harmonies!”

The creativity flourished and a whole album’s worth of songs were written over a couple of short months before it was time for the first gig in January of 2006. Since then the band has played most of the Stockholm rock clubs, such as Alcazar, Klubben and Stampen to name a few. The year was topped off with a critically acclaimed performance at the Rookie Festival in Hultsfred, handpicked as one of 30 bands amongst thousands of applicants.

In conjunction with the Rookie Festival the band released its first single, entitled “Star”. It quickly sold out and has been downloaded persistently on MySpace since then. The first full length album is currently in the making, and the band is shopping around for labels to release it at this moment.

The band has also recorded a couple of interesting covers. One is a Posies song called “Somehow Everything” which was released in the US on “Beautiful Escape: The Ultimate Tribute to The Posies” (Burning Sky Records). The other one is an original interpretation of Beyoncé’s smash hit “Irreplaceable”. It has become an instant live favorite, winning over even the most skeptical listener. Thestar.com describes it: “Proud members of the power-pop fraternity populated by Dwight Twilley, Big Star, Teenage Fanclub and the like, this Swedish band convincingly transforms the steely Beyoncé ballad into something that wouldn’t sound out of place on a Fountains of Wayne album.”

As a live act they’re a true force to be reckoned with. There’s a brand new band in town!