Cabin Essence Blog

If you want an education in putting together a classic pop sound, this is one school that you should be registering for. Wales may not be the original source of the 60s girl group sound, but Liz Hunt has assembled a fairly big group of musicians and put together this lovely debut album.  Loveless Unbeliever openly wears the influence of girl groups, but The School also openly acknowledge the influence of Brian and the Boys.

The result is some wonderful melodies and heartfelt emotion. Tracks like Let It Slip, Is He Really Coming Home?, I Want You Back and Shoulder could all have been big 60s hits and should be on all airwaves during this Northern Hemispehere. The band know all the pop tricks, but there is also a sense of originality and freshness throughout. It’s time to go back to school early this year! You can get on Amazon here as well as all the usual sources.

With titles like The Girl From Algenib and Theme From “Memoirs”, you can already tell that the latest album from the Postmarks has its soul somewhere between a 60s movie and a South American beach. The album exudes glamour and nostalgia from the days where meaningful music was on the airwaves all the time; the retro packaging even looks like a well-worn vinyl CD.

Of course, this would mean nothing without quality music, but this album provides some wonderful songwriting and production throughout. The highlight is Go Jetsetter, which sounds like an instance pop classic, but there are riches throughout the album. For those who think that classic pop songwriting is a thing of the past, Memoirs At The End Of The World is a big relief. You can get it at Amazon, amongst other places.

All Brian Wilson fans love Zooey Deschanel for the 2008 MySpace (remember them?) interview with Brian Wilson which showed that the pretty girls love Brian too. But she also made her own music with M. Ward in a group called She & Him. Their first album (Volume One) came out in 2008 and now it’s the turn of Volume Two.

If Zooey’s group and album names seem uninspired, you will be glad to know that the music on this second album is even more inspired by Mr. Wilson, a fact acknowledged by Deschanel. The album has a retro sound throughout, reinforced through covers of Ridin’ In My Car and Gonna Get Along Without You Know, but it is on the originals that the songwriting, crisp production and yes, even the sleighbells, shine through. Standouts include In The Sun, Don’t Look Back, Me And You, Over It Over Again and the harmonic If You Can’t Sleep. Worth checking out for Brian fans, sunshine pop lovers and those into good music.

It’s not even eighteen months since I reviewed Laurie Biagini’s debut album, Ridin’ The Wave. Now she’s back with her sophomore record, called A Far-Out Place,  and it’s very clear that she is tapping even more deeply into the vein of musical inspiration that she has found in the past years.

The album contains more harmonic rock-and-roll songs inspired by Brian and the Beach Boys and her own experiences. Many readers will be drawn to Crazy People On The Internet, a slice of the big part of our lives that has brought together lovers of good music. There are some great tunes here, including Sweet Dream Symphony, Not What It Seems, Rockin’ My World Like You Only How and I’ll Be Back Again. We certainly hope Laurie Biagini will be back soon. You can get this at CD Baby and visit her Facebook artist page here.

We’ve got a double dose of sunshine for you-today’s review is Sunrise Highway-which is both the name of the band and their debut CD.  The band is led by songwriter and guitarist Marc Silvert, with lead vocals by Greg Schlotthauer, and the sound definitely hearkens back to the classical California pop pioneered by Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys, with touches of the 70s West Coast and singer/songwriter genres.

Tracks such as Endless Summer, Jerry In The Sky, Lonely Guy and Roundabout deliver on the promise of their titles with their classic retro pop grooves -these are sounds that feel like a beautiful vista that you don’t see enough of, but each time you do see it, you remember why it is so beautiful and can still see find new angles to admire the view. You can find band information and ordering details at http://songheads.com/.

Sunshine Collective is a group consisting of singer/songwriter Stephanie Richards and composer/songwriter/producer Brian Arbuckle.  As the group name may suggest, they take inspiration from the Sunshine Pop sound of the late 60s, but they also dig deeper into traditional pop sounds and the Great American Songbook.

Wanna Play? is their debut album, and the sound is both sunshiney and playful, with a certain whimsy which is something of an antidote to these cynical times. This is best exemplified by I Just Wanna Play, which starts off in a simple, childlike manner but develops into a substantial pop song.  You Know is another track which could easily be a hit in any era.

Sunshine pop and classic hit fans will do well to check this out, the group’s website is at http://www.sunshinecollective.com/ and you can buy the album at Amazon here.