POPISM 110
27.12.2001. / 03.01.2002. (out of power)

MODPSYCHPOWERHYTHM'N'POP !!! Every Thursday on the POPISM show!!!
(except when the power runs out, as was the case on this Thursday, because of the shitty situation in the national elctrodistribution systems, damaged in the last ten years or so by political stupidity ... so this playlist will be on air on January 3rd, 2002!!!)

Here's the POPISM playlist No.110 from 28.12.2001. (actually on air on 03.01.2002. for the mentioned reasons!) featuring some of the best releases in 2001 and therefore some of the most frequently played ones on POPISM !!!!!

- Shonen Knife – All I want from Christmas

1. Art School – Your little sister (3 close mates; Bip Bip)
...Nowadays’ “All mod cons”..... The ultimate mod classic of the third generation! ..... The usual MODernistic influences (Who, Small Faces, Weller, Soul, R’n’B ...) as well as some post-new wave skinny-tied ones (Paul Collins’ Beat, Records, Jags resulting with Jam-packed jewels .... (read the complete review on www.popism.org)

2. The Bevis Frond – Early riser (Valedictory songs; Woronzow)
..... Rediscovering the well kept secrets about the pioneers of the “mynd excursions” ..... The musical range covers almost everything important that happened from around ’66. up until now ..... (read the complete review on www.popism.org)

3. E.L.O. – A long time gone (feat.George Harisson) (Zoom; Epic)
..... “Zoom” is probably Lynne's best work to date and it probably comes as a culmination of the 15-year long E.L.O. abstinence during which a lot of heavenly harmonies, jangly guitar parts, imaginative string arrangements as well as some classic rock moments were accumulated ..... Very close to what you could call the realisation of one of the biggest musical utopias, to which Lynne’s already contributed in a way, and that’s the possible shape of the nineties Beatles album! ..... (read the complete review on www.popism.org)

4. Farrah – Living for the weekend (Moustache; Ark21)
..... Their music flows between classic power-pop numbers full of guitar rifles, heavenly harmonies, jangly ‘60s tributes and post-Beatle style exercises ..... (read the complete review on www.popism.org)

5. The Fletcher Pratt – Change (Nine by nine; Rainbow Quartz)
Concentrating all the energy ever accumulated in Detroit’s musical tradition, filtered through the British harmonic/melodic prism ..... Pop-arty attitude ,monster riffs, spiced with plenty of harmonies and 12-string Rickenbacker jangle ..... MODernistic Townshand guitar Creation(s) and Mooniacal drum fills ..... (read the complete review on www.popism.org)

6. The Grip Weeds – Is it showing (Summer of a thousand years; Rainbow Quartz)
You’ll get cought in a time-trap that captures the period of free love, mental trippin', heavenly vocal harmonies and guitar parts that defined the rock’n’roll history ..... A perfectly conctructed rock’n’roll tradition recycling machine ..... Magical, mystery, audio tour through the summer, that The Grip Weeds really believe will last for a thousand years ..... (read the complete review on www.popism.org)

7. The Heartbeats – It’s happening (It’s happening; Four Tune)
..... Envoking the spirits of the sixth decade ..... A second chance offer to all of those who are not old enough to have experienced the loving decade firstdhandedly ..... Sure to become a common part of your everyday life..... Primeval power-pop from the mid-‘60s ..... (read the complete review on www.popism.org)

8. Phil Angotti & The Idea – Lazy apple (Flower bomb; JAM)
..... Phil Agnotti’s “idea” is based on a mission of producing three-minute pop jewels by combining well known patterns which results with some new irresistible mid-‘60s “mutants”..... An embodyment of the pure-pop essence ..... An originator of the pop perfection “idea”! ..... (read the complete review on www.popism.org)

9. Jack & The Beanstalk – She drives a Volvo (Cowboys in Sweden; Parasol)
..... Joe Algeri is one of today’s Australian power-pop icons who’s constantly delievering infectous melodies and guitar rifles/jangles ..... Row treatment of the usual material by playing almost live in the studio consciously avoiding the productional polishing ...... Pop sophistication against the ranch-and-a-cow instead of the llamas-in-the-Zoo ..... (read the complete review on www.popism.org)

10. Jeremy – Where were you (Pop rules; JAM)
..... One of the central figures of today’s power-pop! ..... An unpretencious, relaxed aproach without any intention of fitting in any of the known concepts and an almost spiritual atmosphere that shines through his lyrics ..... Somewhere between the wall of jangly mid-60s guitarsound and a couple of years “older” vocal harmonies ..... (read the complete review on www.popism.org)

11. Lolas – I can’t stand it (Silver dollar Sunday; JAM)
Audio-traps that are really imposible to avoid ..... Alternating buzzing and jangly guitar riffs and heavenly melodies, causing a confusing feeling of belief that you’ve heard them all before ..... Everything that ever deserved the “pop music’s defining mark” status is captured in a little more than half an hour here ..... (read the complete review on www.popism.org)

12. Paul McCartney – It must have been magic (Driving rain; MPL)

13. Mannix – Sunset and vine (Come to California; www.mannixrock.com)
..... A perfect model of a moderndaze concept album that could easily be considered as an American counterpoint to Ray Davies’ everyday-down-to-earth audio stories ..... American rootsound, served with an unusual pop sensibility ..... (read the complete review on www.popism.org)

14. Eytan Mirsky – Do I have to say it (Was it something I said?; M-Squared)
..... Mirsky transformed his musical impresions into an authentic pop item with unpretencious production , bringing the actual SONGS to the fore ..... The book opens more than often on the Merseybeat and post-punk pop chapters, delievering them in several combinations .....An album that’s deffinitely needed in any serious pop collection because of it’s exceptional content as well as for it’s role of a ballance to the megalomaniacal Oasis-like phenomenons! ..... (read the complete review on www.popism.org)

15. The Mockers – Get in line (Living in the Holland tunnel; One Eye Open)
Full of delights brought by listening to your future favourite tunes ..... A combination of tunesmith-creativity and an audio-engineering by the hands of two mixing-desk virtuosos, Mitch Easter and Brad Jones, resulting with nothing less than a masterpiece of melodies, harmonies and guitariffology ..... (read the complete review on www.popism.org)

16. Moods For Moderns – Lust for luster (Loud and clear; Doghouse)
..... Combining the garage Real Kids-looks and early ‘70s power chords with the sixties melodies and harmonies and some extra volume ...... Rock’n’roll in it’s purist form with eyes/ears wide open to everything that’s happened around it from ’65 to ’79! ..... (read the complete review on www.popism.org)

17. P76 – Headed straight for the sun (Into the sun; ZIP)
A power-pop classic fulfiling all the genre-defining criteria ..... Sunny-harmonies shininig through the clouds of guitar riffs left by Wally Bryson, Alex Chilton or Paul Westerberg somewhere along their ways .... An energetic pill containing all the necessary commercial components with absolutely no need for a compromise. ..... (read the complete review on www.popism.org)

18. The Pearlfishers – New stars ( Across the milky way - Marina)
..... An imaginary realisation of the colaboration between the two “musical twins, born two days and an ocean away”, Paul McCartney and Brian Wilson, interveined with the spectre of “easy listening” tones and extra Rickenbacker guitars ..... (read the complete review on www.popism.org)

19. Pernice Brothers – 7:30 (The world won’t end; Southpaw/PIAS)
..... A melodic/harmonic formula that integrates everything you ever loved about pop music to one unique sound expression ...... Multitude of jangly guitars with the ambiental vocal harmonies’ wall of sound over them, as a perfect mask for the latent pessimism making this album the ultimate act of “positive melancholy” ..... (read the complete review on www.popism.org)

20. Steve Roberts – The sunny one ( It just is - Viper)
A contemporary Liverpudlian troubadur, combining folk pop eclectisism with a bacharachian arrangement here an there...

21. RockFour – Government (Another begining; Rainbow Quartz)
RockFour pull you into their sounds-labyrinth, making everything besides music totally irrelevant ..... Choosing among the best elements of the audio-legacy that is served to them, being left on their own with “only” their own ingeniousness while sorting them out and forming the ultimate “moderndaze retro pattern”..... (read the complete review on www.popism.org)

22. Splitsville – The popular (The complete Pet Soul; Houston Party)
..... Exploring the pop horizons spread over several time dimensions ..... An idea realised effectively like this makes “The complete Pet Soul” one of the important releases of the year! ..... (read the complete review on www.popism.org)

23. Ken Stringfellow – Find yourself alone ( Touched - Poptones)
..... An underground pop icon ..... An author on his creative peak, cleverly avoiding the known pop-pattern traps and still succesfully inserting his work into the meaning of the “all the good songs sound famliar” phrase ..... (read the complete review on www.popism.org)

24. Totally Blind Drunk Drivers – Mary Jane (The breast off; Luna Sea)
..... A perfect combination of commercial aspect and a preserved initial idea of an uncompromising, unruly pop volcano ..... An original combination of everything that ever made pop/rock’n’roll so interesting ...... Three-minute pop-dynamite fireworks ..... (read the complete review on www.popism.org)

25. The Tyde – Improper (Once; Orange Sky/Track & Field)
..... Devoted to the times gone by, reminding us of the original protagonists .....Even besides a long line of references shining out of every song, The Tyde still make an original musical statement, inteligently combining the best fragments of their record collections, making the “tyde” higher and higher! ..... (read the complete review on www.popism.org)

26. George Usher Group – Days of plenty ( Days of plenty - Parasol)

27. Weezer – Hash pipe (The green album; Interscope/Geffen)
- Michael Mazzarella – Christmas in the city