Tag: pop rock

  • Amazing, amazing, amazing. Yes, Garbage’s new single, “Empty,” is so amazing that it deserves it being said three times. Well, OK, I’ve just used it four times. Do I need to say it again? Seriously though, Garbage’s pop sensibilities remain in tact as do their massive guitar hooks and Shirley Manson’s ever intoxicating voice. The…

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  • interview by Michael McCarthy Yesterday’s #albumoftheday was Unsaved Progress by Double Experience: https://loveispop.com/reviews/albumoftheday-review-double-experience-unsaved-progress/ It’s one of my favorite albums of 2016 thus far and I’m sure it will be in my top 20 when I write my best of 2016 list at the end of the year. The way they mix elements of everything from…

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  • One of the perks to doing Love is Pop is that people send me links to all sorts of promotional music downloads that they’d like me to review. The only trouble is that I’m only impressed by about 20% of them. But of those 20 percent, an awful lot of them are things that I…

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  • interview by Michael McCarthy Have you ever seen a magic show by one of the masters – like David Copperfield – and swore it was real? Well, I saw Copperfield perform a few decades ago and still can’t fathom how he did anything that night. The finale is the illusion that especially boggles my mind;…

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  • “Turn it up / Turn it over and start it again,” goes Goo Goo Dolls’ just released new masterpiece “Over and Over,” arguably their best song in over a decade, which hails from their forthcoming album Boxes, due out May 6th.

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  • It’s album number three for London-based garage-pop band Yuck and, thankfully, the third time is a charm here. They financed this one via PledgeMusic and I guess it worked out for them because the album was finished and is now available for your purchase, which I strongly suggest that you do because it’s quite charming,…

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  • “I’m sick of this record already,” begins “Ordinary Life,” a song roughly halfway through the album that is about, well, being sick of ordinary life. While he sings about losing the will to live in Boston, floating and waiting to die, the song isn’t intended to inspire suicides. Quite the opposite in fact, “Just because…

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  • POP ETC recently released a very addictive album called Souvenir. Every song on it is irresistible, each one a shiny, golden pop nugget.

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  • It’s been a couple of years since we’ve heard new music from Elisa, one of Italy’s most celebrated singer/songwriters (who mostly sings in English), but I can certainly say that her new single “No Hero” was well worth the wait. I’m truly blown away by this one, which starts off sounding like her Rainbow era…

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  • It’s not like the music world was in short supply of pretty-looking, young guys who skateboard, but With Confidence has arrived nevertheless. And, surprisingly, they’re not bad. The song starts off only so-so, but once it hits the bridge it pulls you in and then the high energy chorus french kisses you.

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  • If you liked Rilo Kiley, you’ll fall deeply in love with this one…

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  • There’s upbeat and then there’s UPBEAT. Bleachers’ “Like a River Runs” is definitely the latter with its ferocious, hard-hitting drums that gallop along like wild horses. But it’s not horses but the “rhythm of a wild heart” that drives this indie/pop rock gem, which sounds like it could’ve been on Bruce Springsteen’s Born in the…

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  • “Break Me Down” is the light, jangly and delicious new single by Paul Smith and The Imitations, Paul Smith being Maxïmo Park’s frontman. “You can break me down / Catch a plane / And I’ll meet you in the middle,” he sings joyously during the hooky chorus. It’s not the deepest song he’s ever sung,…

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  • Once in a while a band comes along that’s so good you wonder how you ever lived without them. I remember feeling that way when I discovered Motley Crue and Guns ‘N’ Roses as a kid, or The Killers and Franz Ferdinand a decade ago. During more recent years, I stopped getting that feeling. I…

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  • On the off chance that someone reading this isn’t already aware, Brandon Flowers is The Killers’ lead vocalist, who also plays guitar and keyboards, although not on every song. With the band, he’s released four original albums (Hot Fuss, Sam’s Town, Day & Age and Battle Born), a rarities compilation (Sawdust) and a live album…

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