Bruce's NEW AT NOT LAME Update for late, late, late Sept. 2008!!!

Straight from the boss, here's Bruce's list of what's new at NOT LAME...

Here are the Top New Releases on the Not Lame web site for late September. There are many new releases on da 'ole home page, but for the time starved, these are the ones worth of your precious time. Click on the links for full mini-reviews on each CD and listen 'n sample lots of soundbites, as well. Have Fun!

VIBEKE - THE WORLD FAMOUS HAT TRICK
If Blondie could have kicked some real-punk ass, this is what she would have sounded like in the late 70`s. With super catchy hooks, edgy guitars, sultry vocals and driving drums, the comparison to early Blondie is truly apt. It's a "glam slam" to be sure.

THE CRASH MODERNS - GOODNIGHT GLAMOUR MORNING DISASTER
Co-Produced by the Churchills, fans of that band will more than happy with the results here! Fans of Rooney, the Blakes, the Waking Hours, Tsar, a harder rocking Tories, Hotsocky (remember them?) and Phantom Planet are going to love, love this! Well-rounded, hook-driven and highly layered vocals rule the day and pounding pop melodies explode around every corner.

ALL DAY SUCKER - THE BIG PRETEND
Talk about delivery of the goods, first class! Reminds me most of Todd Rundgren working with The New Radicals (listen to song #4), if you remember that band. What makes them so cool is that these guys are true music geeks – the influences of Motown, ELO, Jellyfish, early 70`s Stevie Wonder, Elvis Costello, Jellyfish, Prince are all over THE BIG PRETEND.
Their songs are instantly memorable with a rare blend of grooving riffs, captivating hooks, and skillfully crafted pop-rock compositions. With bits and pieces of British flavored "blue-eyed soul", the hook-heavy faded denim of the seventies, and the over-the-top, anything goes flair of a Broadway musical, ALL DAY SUCKER fuses "classic" and "timeless" without ever going "retro".

BLACK BUNNY - BLACK BUNNY
Black Bunny sounds like an updating of Emitt Rhodes (listen to #2 at the NL link), Paul McCartney, Wisely, David Grahame, Michael Penn and Jason Falkner (in particular on song #3) but you’ll find the more haunting melodies that one finds with some of the more modern rock bands like Midlake and Travis – but without the pretension.
This is another project from Brandon Wilde, whose album earlier this year has been a favorite for many folks here.
Black Bunny presents kaleidoscopic array of gorgeous colors and the songs here are carefully constructed, crafted and complimented by arrangements that fit snug and perfectly, merging analog depth and studio prowess in all the texture here. A subtle stunner.

TODD HERFINDAL - COLLECTIVE
Fans of The Honeydogs and Tom Petty will find some traces of their inspiration here but there`s overwhelmingly catchy vibe here, as songs splendorously drift from gentle roots-pop jangle and open chorded sounds to sweeping, accessible and good-natured melodies.
Classic power pop. All the elements are here to easily digest and enjoy. Unpretentious without fault, Todd Herfindal’s “Collective” is modern rock with a sharp, clear understanding of what great pop should be comprised of.
Part of its power lays in the collective nature of the musicians appearing here - Todd co-wrote more than two albums worth of songs with some of LA's & Nashville's finest writers like Duane Jarvis (Lucinda Williams, Frank Black), Rich McCulley, Michael Dukes (Mechanical Birds), Kevin Houlihan (The Meadows). Inescapable talent peppers the album.

KHALID HANIFI - PAMPLEMOUSSE PRESSE
Fans of the Grays, Toy Matinee, Kevin Gilbert and The Odds – just listen up here, please. All the material here is highly-textured, carefully craftyed and maximized for power-impact - and it all works with luminous lustre and superior shine.

THE MODEL ROCKETS - HILUX
IMPORTANT NOTE: For the first 20 people who get this, you will receive a free 24 track sampler from Paisley Pop called “The Sensitive Guy’s Guide To Groovy Music” featuring songs from Jamie Hoover & Bill Lloyd, James Cooper, Tim Lee, Lisa Mychols, Kimberly Rew, The Windbreakers, Robert Crenshaw, Trolleyvox and many others! LIMITED bonus here, folks.
2008 reissue of The Model Rockets’ 1993 debut, “Hilux”(produced by ex-Young Fresh Fellow Scott McCaughey), John Ramberg unleashes his beast upon an unsuspecting audience. Fans of the more recent material from the band will find a different band here from 1993, mostly – a bit of forewarning, not that it diminishes the youthful spunk and energy here. It’s like a power-pop version of the Replacements on an early alt-country kick ala the early/mid 90s.

FORCE 10 - FORCE 10
Best described as progressive power-pop with a strong Supertramp stamp but you’ll hear hinting of what would come from bands like Jellyfish. There are nine songs here – eight of the sheer genius (the last one is, arguably, a throwaway).
Folks who recall the obscure albums from Reggie Knighton will recognize some of guitar sounds and quirky melodies that appear here, as well as some Split Enz, The Sherbs and 10cc. This has been truly, honestly in my Top 5 list of albums I have wanted to be reissued on CD.
If “Hypnotized’ bizarre stylings does not grab you, I’ll give you a hug and apology next time we connect. Just do me a favor - give me a few minutes to listen to the samples at the Not Lame website and HEAR what you'll think!

SAUL ZONANA - CHAPTER 1: THE BEST OF
A 16-song “best of” collection from his previous 5 albums making CHAPTER 1 essential listening for most here at this site.
All Zonana’s music is filled w/ the splendorous guitar, high energy hooks and expressive vocals found, the music falls into the schooling of such artists like Matthew Sweet, Todd Rundgren, Rick Altizer, Michael Penn, Candy Butchers, Doug Powell , The Dotted Line and Greenberry Woods.
While every track is immaculately clean in production, underneath pulses something more untamed, an element of something raw and timeless, ultimately giving his songs a depth that roots them into the soil of the soul, much like an oak tree. Pop with a shadow. Every song here is full of rich, melodic steam, filled with superb twists of the wrist or surprising and delightful eruptions of harmony, while the production is stunning.