Guitar Pop For Now People—Part XX
Plus: We're Launching The Official Playlists!
Part 20. Seriously?!
I launched Guitar Pop For Now People—Part 1 in March 2023. Remember The Lightning was only a couple months old at the time and I was still trying to figure out what to focus on. Looking for inspiration, I started clicking around to some of my favorite music review sites to see what new music and bands I could write about.
I was completely overwhelmed by all of the great new guitar pop I discovered, but I don’t consider myself a reviewer. So, I decided to showcase those new tracks and the reviewers who introduced them to me. It felt like a simple way to connect the dots.
Here’s the intro from Part 1, which became a sort of mission statement during this newsletter’s first year:
We are living in a guitar pop golden age.
There is so much great new music being released these days that it can be a little overwhelming. Fear not, there’s an army of dedicated reviewers and publications of all sizes out there tirelessly pointing us toward the best artists, albums and singles.
And here we are at the end of summer 18 months later.
Guitar Pop For Now People has been a fantastic way for me to connect with other music lovers, writers, musicians and indie labels. That’s the community I want this small-but-mighty guitar pop newsletter to serve. Thanks for being part of it!
To celebrate, I finally got around to creating the official Guitar Pop For Now People Playlists on Spotify and YouTube (you can find them below this week’s 10 tracks/reviews). I’ll do my best to keep those updated with each new installment.
For now, I’ll end Part XX the way ended Part 1…because it’s still true:
Any good scene is a thriving eco-system where talented artists deliver the songs, and dedicated music lovers help spread the word. Let’s support all of them to make this guitar pop golden age glow even brighter.
⚡️ What Are Your Favorite Tracks Below? 💥
10 Recent Tracks and Music Reviewers/Publications
“The Beaches have shared their latest single, a tribute to their rapidly-growing fan base titled ‘Jocelyn.’ The song is more in line with their jangly, new wave-y numbers, rather than the full-blown bangers of the ‘Blame Brett’ mould.”—Alex Hudson, Exclaim!
“There is always a power pop classic found on a Toms album, for me it was ‘It’s Personal,’ an earnest look back to a harmful relationship set to a great hook.”—Aaron Kupferberg, Powerpopaholic
“‘Bad Xerox’ is 142 seconds of perfect pop and a fine choice for a single that will hook you onto an extraordinary album. This song is a hit on any continent, and all you kids are sure to dig it.”—Faster and Louder
“‘Please Baby Please’ is a dynamite tune in its own right. It kicks off with a mesmerizing drone attack of insistent guitar hooks and 1970s Chicago style vocals, before they went all soft rock. Overall the sound sounds very Sloan in the way it gels together into a cohesive aural attack.”—Dennis Pilon Poprock Record
“‘The Spot’ is the kind of song you could describe as a romp, nearly four minutes that feel like they fly by in less than two, a whirlwind of bouncy riffs and hook after hook after hook; the riffs here are just as infectious as the vocal melodies, and when that feathery chorus lands, it lands gracefully.”—Zac Djamoos, The Alternative
“‘New Propeller’ is already in heavy rotation—a melancholic reflection on the fear of AI and the relentless pace of change, echoing a moody, Death Cab for Cutie-esque vibe.”—The Wax Museum
“‘Tired of Trying’ is a reminder that so much great art out there is frazzled and dramatic about it (there’s a moment in that one where Phillips rhymes ‘enzymes’ with ‘slant rhymes,’ which would be the most memorable line on any record that wasn’t How to Begin by Downhaul) and ‘Sleep in the Sunroom’ is pure, unfiltered desperation in power pop form.”—Rosy Overdrive
“Bathed in the nostalgia and innocence that is only conjured when you try to capture memories of youth, ‘Indian Summer’ is one of those songs that brilliantly suggests a time and a place, one both intimate and personal to the artist but also relatable and universally recognizable to any who cross the song’s path.”—Dave Franklin, Big Takeover
“New single ‘Be Myself’ is a reflective personal post pandemic track which sees the singer-songwriter revisiting a challenging time underpinned with an uptempo tune.”—Iain Key, Louder Than War
“‘Sweet Smile’ lives up to its billing—it’s a lovely sunny pop tune that has some tasty guitar. …Eels are 15 albums in and still doing great work.”—Justin Steiner, Shoofly Pie
What?? I made the list?? Thank you so much for including me (it is Justin, not Juston, though...sorry).
Can't wait to check out the other tracks, though I'm heavily into the new Nada Surf album already.
Where does one submit a song?!