Guitar Pop For Now People—Part 6

10 Recent Tracks + Music Reviewers/Publications

So. Much. Great. New. Music.

And so many dedicated music reviewers pointing the way to the very best songs, albums and artists.

For the sixth installment of this series, we’ve got a wide range of recent tracks that all fit comfortably under my enormous guitar pop beach umbrella—from power pop to garage punk, alternative rock to dreampop, and more.

As always, I’ve included a review blurb and a link to the write up it came from. Any good scene is a thriving eco-system where talented artists deliver the songs, and dedicated music lovers help spread the word. Please listen, click, and share.

---

What’s your favorite track from the list below?!

Join the conversation in the comments.

---

10 Recent Tracks and Music Reviewers/Publications

“Oakland’s The Goods are the power pop shot in the arm you’ve been longing for. Their new self-titled EP The Goods is a 4 song blast of poppy rock goodness clearly drawing from indie stars like The Jam and Matthew Sweet and in step with more recent acts like The Rubs and Uni Boys.” —Dennis Pilon, Poprock Record

---

“Lucky for You is easily the band’s most polished effort so far, with deceptively simple melodies looping their way around a series of fuzz-bathed verses and choruses. The swooping, sloping refrain of ‘Days Move Slow,’ for example, or the rising-and-falling vocals that bounce over a gorgeously murky bass line on ‘Hard to Love,’ exude a vibrant sweetness that feels almost hypnotically pleasant.” —Ed Brown, Treblezine

---

“‘Gold Confetti’ is a great start, with its upbeat, sing-along chorus dripping in attitude. But even better is the follow-up single ‘Let’s Go Home’ with its super energetic hooks, and its quiet verse builds to a catchy chorus. The guitars here bring it all together as the band uses classic song structures (that are out of vogue today) to form something quite unique…” —Aaron Kupferberger, Powerpopaholic

---

“The points of reference this time firmly draw from the 1980s and early 1990s, with the jangle pop and dream pop of those periods forming the predominant modes across the album. The excellent opener ‘Sleeping on My Own’ announces this approach, with Payseur and Co. employing a guitar-and-vocal harmonic structure that, to my ear, harks back to the early albums of The Church…” —Christopher J. Lee, Pop Matters

---

“Another aspect I dug from this record was how the band sustains a distinct personality while showing their influences. This is clearly shown when we reach the third track, ‘Self and Pity Doubt,’ that made me begin to notice how the chunky guitars and groovy bass lines with the vocal style soaring over them capture my attention and appeal to me even when they aren’t comparable to another band…and that is an achievement in itself nowadays.” — Akram Soliman, Rocker Magazine

---

“Much like my favorite Buzzcocks album, Meyerman’s new one feels like a collection of killer A sides. The vocal snarl, ringing power chords and undeniably catchy chorus make the title track feel very much like something Pete Shelley & Steve Diggle would have approved of. ‘WWDAT’ is another catchy tune with one foot in 2023 and the other back in the British Invasion.” —Richard Rossi, Power Pop News

---

“‘Trampoline’ is a straight-ahead rocker and a good, old-fashioned breakup song. With its punchy guitars, clever lyrics, and bad-ass vocal, it has the feel of a song that would be a radio hit if they still played real rock and roll on the radio.” —Lord Rutledge, Faster & Louder

---

“The Pretty Flowers kick off A Company Sleeve by offering up a couple of tunes in their most frequent mode–that of later Replacements-indebted, big-chorus-featuring power-pop-punk. ‘Young Gray Enemies’ takes a second to fire up, but it certainly does so, and the band rip through songs like ‘Another Way to Lose’ and ‘Baby Food’ in the first half of the record with speed and catchiness.” —Rosy Overdrive

---

“The band is a little hard to pin down with a big toe in a few different genres, namely shoegaze and dreampop (and some jingle jangle in there as well), but it all comes together beautifully.  This cut has a driving rhythm and the guitars (courtesy of the Levine Brothers, Ross and Matt) mingle and dance perfectly. Katie’s vocals never disappoint and they certainly don’t here. All put together the song is a winner on all fronts and I’m ready for the full-length!” —Tim Hinely, Daggerzine

---

“While the band’s stated influences like Jets To Brazil and Silkworm aren’t as obvious, there are definite nods to bands like Dinosaur Jr. and The Lemonheads as well as ‘90s staples Sugar and Superdrag. On ‘Emily Strange’ they seem to channel a fuzzed out version of another New Jersey institution—The Smithereens.” —Big Takeover

---

---

Guitar Pop For Now People—Part 1

Guitar Pop For Now People—Part 2

Guitar Pop For Now People—Part 3

Guitar Pop For Now People—Part 4

Guitar Pop For Now People—Part 5

---

Remember The Lightning—A Guitar Pop Journal

A new semi-annual music journal featuring some of today's best music writers on modern guitar pop, and talented modern artists on the music/genres that inspire them.

---

---

Exclusive contributions:

James Goodson (of Dazy) on Being Power Pop-Adjacent

Annie Zaleski on the Beths

Mo Troper on Chris Bell's "I Am The Cosmos"

Rob Nesbitt (of the Suitesixteen) on the Exploding Hearts

S.W. Lauden on the Whiffs (Our debut cover models!)

Mary E. Donnelly on Sloan

John M. Borack on Juniper

Paul Myers on Tinted Windows

Mike Randle on Popsicko's Off to a Bad Start

David Laing on Power Pop's Country Roots

PLUS: Custom Cover Art By Brian Walsby

---