Spin Me Pop - Various Artists
Rating: 7.5/10 Spin Me Pop is a promotional sampler released by Spinning Top Records to showcase some of Australia’s finest power pop bands and as such it’s an excellent introduction. Whilst not definitive, it is a great starting point for investigating the wealth of talented bands that are waiting to be discovered. Jack and The Beanstalk offer two unreleased demo’s, Raspberry Jam and Two Sixty Five, from their as-yet unreleased second album. Of these Raspberry Jam (a tribute to the classic 70’s pop band) is the better of the two with its undeniably catchy guitar riffs. Jack and The Beanstalk’s guitarist Kevin Burroso plays in another band, Superscope, who also make an appearance with two songs, Tune In and Anniversary, which were both released on their Popping Crease CDEP. Superscope come across as a cross between DM3 and Even. Another famous Perth band, The Chevelles, also have two songs off their now deleted second album, Rollerball Candy. Adrian Allen’s Something demonstrates his increasing ability to write great pop songs while Duane Smith typically rocks out with Kathrine. Kaleidoscope are from Adelaide and play spikey power pop with an edge. Their female lead singer makes them sound vaguely like the Superjesus but with much better pop sensibilities. Stagefright is a moniker for Sydney’s Michael Carpenter, who has since released his debut album Baby (under his real name). She Dreams is absolutely perfect pop with its jangly guitar, wistful harmonica and Beatlesque harmonies. Thinking About You contains more perfect harmonies but to my ears lacks something to make it a great pop song rather than a good pop song. Challenger 7’s Because We Can rocks the hardest of all the songs on this CD, almost verging into Detroit rock at times. Their other song Wait A Lifetime is a lot slower and honestly disappointing. I don’t know if it’s the production but this song had the potential to be so much more. Valiant are yet another promising Perth power pop band. Their two songs Elvis Sideburns and Goin’ Off On The Inside display a lot of promise and the latter song especially should have been enjoyed high rotation on Triple J. I’d be hard pressed to call St Jude a power pop band. They have more a lo-fi pop sound, reminiscent of early Teenage Fanclub. The singer has an especially weak voice and I find myself skipping their two tracks more often than not. Pool Party thankfully only have song on this CD because quite frankly it’s shit. Whilst it is not available commercially, Spin Me Pop is still worth getting hold of because not only is it a great introduction to the featured bands but quite a few of the songs are unavailable on CD. Copies can be bought from David Hughes-Owen of Spinning Top Records. |
