Guitar Pop For Now People—Part 11
10 Recent Tracks + Music Reviewers/Publications
It’s the end of December, but 2023 isn’t quite done with us.
The ten tracks below are the perfect reminder of exactly what an incredible year it has been for new guitar pop. Click around and I’m sure you’ll discover a few recent songs to help you ring in 2024.
Happy New Year from Remember The Lightning! We’ll be back in January…
What’s your favorite track below? Join the conversation in comments!
10 Recent Tracks and Music Reviewers/Publications
“With his latest record Bill Lloyd delivers serious variety in one highly listenable package. Really, you’d be missing out not to Look Into It.” —Dennis Pilon, Poprock Record
“The title track ‘It Means Nothing Now’ is an incredible opener, with the jangle layered on top of relaxed harmonies akin to classic bands like The Byrds or America. ‘Hazy Maze’ is another gem about the passing of time online and the endless photos that generate money for social media companies.” —Aaron Kupferberg, Powerpopaholic
“Queen of All the Parliaments bashes through fifteen four-track-recorded pieces of garage-y, punk-y power pop in about twenty minutes. Several of these songs don’t even last for sixty seconds, but that’s more than enough time for each of them to get their kicks and hooks in–there’s hardly a wasted moment here.” —Rosy Overdrive
“This band, to me, represents pure class and everything that is great about music. I first encountered the band when it was playing classic power pop at the end of the 2000s, and since then Astrid and the gang have gone through a remarkable progression that is still on-going.” —Lord Rutledge, Faster and Louder
“The other brand new song, ‘Pop Pop,’ is a return to the gleaming, faultless ‘power-pop’ New Wave style of old. ‘Who knew suburbia could be so sweet,’ Sings Melissa, her vocal every bit as ice-cool as prime Debbie Harry and the lyric deceptively upbeat, when the ‘three wishes’ she has for her beau end up being ‘Don’t come back, don’t come back and don’t come back.’” —Ged Babey, Louder Than War
“Pitchkites wrote ‘Donut,’ a sledgehammer of sound in which her riffs and vocals match the pent-up frustration of the lyrics. She sees all the possibilities of the open road, but her crappy car can only get her nowhere in spurts.” —Brady Gerber, Pitchfork
“A new single from The Armoires! ‘Music & Animals’ closes out 2023 on a note of optimism and will resonate with anyone who’s ever found solace in a song, a bond with a beloved pet, or a creative collaboration—all key concerns on the California indie pop quintet’s forthcoming album.” —East Portland Blog
“Opener ‘Slower Pace’ wraps a Local Derby-style mix of incessant indie-pop and the most melodic of modern-day guitar-pop with the sort of incidental, fragile jangle-pop. It’s everything Sarah Records and jangly indie-pop fan could ever want with just enough of rock modernity to neatly swerve retro uniformity.” —Jangle Pop Hub
“Super Cassette are brothers Max and Nick Gerlock, aided by Devin Hollister on bass and David Rabkin on drums. This is great pop rock that has its roots in power pop, but spreads its influences far and wide across the pop genres.” —Don Valentine, I Don’t Hear A Single
“A virtual one-man band, lacking only the confidence to play his own drums (a state of affairs that we bet won’t last long), Ra crafts arrangements around acoustic guitars, Mellotron, vibes, and a tasteful rhythm section that emote in a vaguely mystic way, couching their hooks and verbal whimsy in a cloud of sweet-smelling smoke of unknown origin.” —Michael Toland, Big Takeover
Remember The Lightning—A Guitar Pop Journal, Volume 2
The second volume of our semi-annual music journal featuring some of today's best music writers and talented modern artists on the music/genres that inspire them.