Power Pop Me!

October 31, 2014 9:24 PM

Please recommend to me some awesome newish power pop artists/songs!

If there is one music genre that really gets my blood flowing, it's the one generally labelled as "power pop." I'm looking for power pop music from the last 10 years or so to sate this appetite.

Assume I'm already familiar with old power pop acts, like Big Star, Jellyfish, Cheap Trick, and etc. Music in the vein of Fountains of Wayne, Matthew Sweet, and Brendan Benson especially appreciated.

Thanks!

posted by ronofthedead to Media & Arts (22 answers total)

Debate Team – Curious Pair
posted by Quilford at 10:06 PM on October 31, 2014

the Exploding Hearts remain critical obviously; I guess it's been eleven years now.

more of-the-moment (like, the last few months):
Martha
Rozwell Kid
maybe Roll the Tanks (better than their name, pretty sure)
Cayetana?

also notable-to-me recent rereleases: The Shivvers, the troubled Yellow Pills: Prefill/its Numero successors.
posted by The Bridge on the River Kai Ryssdal at 11:35 PM on October 31, 2014 [2 favorites]

A while ago I asked for music like "Brill Bruisers" by The New Pornographers, and I got recommendations for Matthew Sweet and Brendan Benson. So...The New Pornographers? My favourite songs of theirs at the moment are Brill Bruisers, Moves, Sweet Talk Sweet Talk and A Bite Out of My Bed.
posted by hurdy gurdy girl at 1:02 AM on November 1, 2014 [1 favorite]

We Were Promised Jetpacks, and Valley Lodge often come up in this conversation.
posted by Potomac Avenue at 4:00 AM on November 1, 2014

Watershed is one of the most under appreciated power pop acts ever.
posted by COD at 6:33 AM on November 1, 2014

MORE (some of this is probably more like "indie-pop" so caveat emptor)
The Anniversary
Rogue Wave
Cheap Time
the Vaccines
Locksley
Virals
Jaill
Devin Davis
posted by Potomac Avenue at 6:54 AM on November 1, 2014

Maybe more glam than power pop (and incredibly derivative, at that), but I've been enjoying Foxygen.
posted by Bron at 7:47 AM on November 1, 2014

Muse? Madness sounds like power pop or maybe lyrical rock.
posted by fiercekitten at 9:06 AM on November 1, 2014

Parquet Courts?
posted by jeffamaphone at 10:36 AM on November 1, 2014 [1 favorite]

You might very much like The Cry!.
posted by bibliogrrl at 11:21 AM on November 1, 2014

Oh jeez I almost forgot The Safes. They're fantastic.
posted by bibliogrrl at 11:22 AM on November 1, 2014 [1 favorite]

Pretty much nobody else will ever recommend these bands to you (friends' band, bargain bin find from the 90's), but you said you want power pop and these are SO that, so:

The Actual
When the Dishes Decide to Break
Hospitality Girl

30 Amp Fuse
(YT top tracks)
posted by carsonb at 1:01 PM on November 1, 2014

2nding The New Pornographers
and adding
Zumpano and Carl Newman's solo albums.
I cannot resist recommending Destroyer too just for fun, but it is not power pop.
posted by carsonb at 1:02 PM on November 1, 2014 [1 favorite]

While harbouring some definite power pop tendencies himself, David Mead's side project (with Butterfly Boucher!) Elle Macho is a giddy romp.
This is Not a Love Song
posted by minervous at 1:49 PM on November 1, 2014

Mentioned above, but the podcast Song Exploder recently did an episode on the Valley Lodge song "Go" (best known as the theme from Last Week Tonight with John Oliver).
posted by Lexica at 8:16 PM on November 1, 2014

I've had a lot of fun following this gigantic (and ever evolving) Spotify playlist: 5000+ Badass Powerpop Songs.
posted by Sonny Jim at 2:03 AM on November 2, 2014 [4 favorites]

You'd probably also like the new Ex Hex album, Rips.
posted by Sonny Jim at 2:16 AM on November 2, 2014

I submit that The Primatons are the best power pop band you've never heard before. (Spotify playlist)

Here's the single "All My Friends" on YouTube. If this is not instantly in your power pop top twenty, then I dunno, man. I just dunno.

They were a great and tragically overlooked band.
posted by BitterOldPunk at 6:50 PM on November 2, 2014 [1 favorite]

We've got that 5000+ Badass Power Pop Songs playlist on the office Spotify server today. 3 hours without a complaint about the music may be a record here!
posted by COD at 8:49 AM on November 3, 2014 [1 favorite]

The Brother Kite
posted by solbailey at 11:32 AM on November 4, 2014

An old band, but one you may not have heard.
posted by jeffamaphone at 8:29 AM on November 5, 2014

Given the bands you listed in your post (definitively power pop groups), I think you'd like these (and you probably already know a bunch of them):

Badfinger, Best Kissers In The World, Butch Walker/The Marvelous 3, Enuff Z'Nuff, Hoodoo Gurus, Jason Falkner, Marshal Crenshaw, Micro Mini/Army Navy, Mike Viola/The Candy Butchers, Myracle Brah, Nick Lowe, Redd Kross, Linus of Hollywood, Sloan, Split Enz, Super Deluxe, Superdrag, Teenage Fanclub, The Beat/The Paul Collins Beat*/The Breakaways/The Nerves, The Figgs, The Jam, The Mayflies USA, The Plimsouls/Peter Case, The Posies, The Raspberries, The Three O'Clock, The Wannadies, Tube Top, Sprites, 10cc, 20/20, The Bens/Ben Lee/Ben Kweller/Ben Folds/Ben Folds Five, Farrah, Foxy Shazam (glam), Manda & The Marbles, The Pleasure Kills, McFly, The Andersons, The Click Five, The Merrymakers, The Pranks, Travoltas, Visqueen, The Cute Lepers

The Exploding Hearts are definitely seconded.

I'd suggest The Paul Collins Beat (and associated acts) to start. Pure, pure power pop.
posted by xiojason at 5:44 PM on November 25, 2014 [1 favorite]