Echobats is a brand new Quarantine created an all-star band featuring Tony Harnell (TNT), Joel Hoekstra (Whitesnake), Eric Levy (Night Ranger), Matt Starr (Mr. Big), and Lames Lomenzo (White Lion.) With soaring vocals and hooks to die for this band won’t be around in a while so let’s enjoy them while we can.
Dent May, with his spirited mix of Beach Boys Bedroom-Pop and Americana, specializes in delivering retro goodness to the masses. Looking forward to his upcoming release, Late Checkout that fuses together Motown inspired Soul and Power Pop for an ear-pleasing retro journey.
One of the hidden gems on Leon Bridges’ 2016 record, Coming Home.
A Thousand Horses has a record coming out later this year. Here, is their latest single, a swaying breakup song anthem. “Take a short cut to the jukebox to a bar stool and a pack of smokes even though I quit.”
“A Song To Remember is about being stuck in the purgatory of heartbreak and dealing with the rollercoaster of emotions that comes along with it,” says guitarist Bill Satcher, of the latest heartwarming anthem from Nashville’s countrified foursome A Thousand Horses. One of those arm-swaying singalongs you could readily imagine being played in arenas, while retaining a dive bar-friendly sense of contemplation intimacy.
Kai Danzberg and Honeywagon – Rockshow (five out of five)
There really is not too much not to like on this one, the latest from Germany’s wunderkind Kai Danzberg. While he may have a baby face that shows all of his tender 24 years, this Pop-Savante definitely has a ’70s soul. Every track on this pop-fastic record is as hooky as you will find this side of an episode of dangerous catch, there is not a tune presented here that would not be worthy of being released as a stand-alone single.
“Rockshow” is an epic soundscape that sounds like something Freddie Mercury would have produced if he were still with us, “Love You & Me” is an uptempo and bouncy love song, and “Oh Girl” is made even more spectacular with a helping hand from singer Drake Bell. The tones and textures all across this record vary with each turn of a groove making this one heck of a diverse listen that will grab your attention and not let go until the needle stops.
Vintage Cher and Raquel from the Highly unerrated Cher show, circa 1975.
Going back to one of our favorite bands, The Fratellis, with their hit song from the 2007 record, Costello Music.
There is a healthy dose of Post Punk in the Iggy Pop mold along with a dose of wham glam, thank you, ma’am, in this new song from Leopold and His Fiction.
The Total Rejection- The Time Traveller’s 3rd Will and Testament (4.5 out of 5)
Full disclosure, here at Rock is the New Roll we are huge fans of Austin Powers era Mojo-Garage Rock in the Little Steven Underground Garage mold. And, the latest record from The Total Rejection checks off all of the paisley boxes in fine fashion. From the 13th Floor Elevators inspired romp “Fly (Lost in Time/Party Nine)”, a song that Syd Barrett himself might dismiss as too drug-addled, to the Small Faces hipster glory of “Next Time I See You Around” there is a passion of purpose on display with every turn of a tune.
As the song cycle continues, you seem to be going down a worm-hole of back to the future grooviness spanning somewhere from the mid-sixties all the way to around 1973 before you spin around and go back down the rabbit hole of wonderment to discover the mojo dance party of “Tracy Said” along with the organ-drenched Paul Revere and the Raiders vibing “Next Time I See You Around.”
And then, 15 songs in, just like that, the closer, “Distress Signals From A Planet On The Edge of Despair” takes you to Red Sector A with a wild Space-Mojo jam that wraps it all up with a cosmic bow and sends you back to a reality that will leave you thinking, what has just happened?
The Successful Failures – Pack Up Your Shadows
The first thing you should know about The Successful Failures is that any attempt to plug them into one genre or another is very much a fool’s errand. Hailing from Trenton, N.J., the band deftly combines Americana, Pop, Rock, and enough of a dusting of Bluegrass that serves as an appetizer to the main course without overwhelming the entire meal.
Originally intended to be an E.P., once the pandemic hit the band used the extra time available to expand the project into a proper full-length record, and what a record it is. Once you get past the mandolin introduction on the opening track “Honeycomb” for fear that a Flatt and Scruggs Hee Haw hoedown is awaiting, all seems to be well when Mick Choba’s vocals kick with his whiskey-soaked voice sounding like a less ramshackle Rhett Miller in full Old ’97s mold. “On Down The Line” is a perfect Honky Tonk sing-along, and “Whiskey Song” toes the Americana with a touch of Country line to perfection.
With the song “This Girl,” the first single from the record, there is more than a passing acquaintance with Power Pop by way of The Bodeans while the song structure puts on full display the master-class level songwriting inherent with the band.
“She used to, she used to be naked, now she’s always undressed she used to be lonely now she’s only making the best of this world she’s making the best of it.”
“Murder ‘neath the Silver Moon” is a murder ballad and a marvel of a song that doesn’t end well for our hero. Spoiler alert, he shouldn’t have cheated on her. These guys even morph the somewhat hokey “My Bucket’s Got a Hole In It” into a musical dual guitar, call and response feast for the ears.
This is a great band and should be on your list of best albums of 2020, no question.
Rock Is The New Roll 