Mid-Late October Roundup.

Mooner-Masterpiece. I enjoyed Mooner's previous release, 2012's Unpronounceable Name EP, well enough to feature it on the site. But it didn't prepare me for the big leap in quality they've taken for their first full-length, the not-too-inaccurately titled Masterpiece. They reprise the two best songs from the EP (the angular, Spoon-style rocker "Shapeshifter" and the anthemic, epic "Never Alone") but it's the new material that really shines, from the melodic rocker "Anytime" to the mid-70s-style pop of "Dream", the Sloan-like "I Don't Believe You", and the hyper-catchy Cheap Trick-influenced first single "Alison", possibly the best track written about meeting a girl at church camp. This one's a top ten contender.

iTunes



Sports Fan-Minor Hits in Major Keys. Dion Read and the boys are back again, this time with their full-length followup to 2013's Shallow Water EP. Read has become a master of piano power pop, between his releases with The Afterthoughts and now Sports Fan, and Minor Hits in Major Keys might be the best piano pop album of the year (and this year includes a new Ben Folds release). "This is Goodbye" nails the kind of big-sounding relationship song that Folds regularly knocks out, but without the juvenile rancor, while "Wake Up" is excellent driving pop. Other highlights include the Beatlesque "Shallow Water" and the grand ballad "Social Butterfly", which adds a bit of Queen/Jellyfish to the mix.

iTunes



Tom Rich-American Fantasy. Nova Scotian Tom Rich provides an impressive debut with his American Fantasy (which may or may not involve pouring green paint over a naked woman), a collection of winning power pop tunes. Rich sounds a lot like another artist I've featured often on this site, Justin Kline, and the standouts here are the opener "The Gentleman's Lament", the midtempo synth-aided "American Girl" (not a Tom Petty cover), the lovely "The Circus", and "Over & Over", which reminds me of bit of Robbie Dupree's soft-rock classic "Steal Away". Rich has the pop chops to spare here, so check this one out.

iTunes

Midweek Roundup.

First IN Space-Greatest Hits Vol. III. Since we last left Ohio's First in Space with 2009's Geronimo, frontman Johnny Stanec released a couple of decent solo records which it appears I didn't review on the site but would still recommend. Now he's back with First in Space with the cheekily-titled Greatest Hits Vol. III, the band's third album. Whereas the band's first two albums were more in the vein on Gin Blossoms & R.E.M., Vol. III finds Stanec & Co. in a more rocking mood. The first three song titles ("Downtown War", "Kicking Through the Door", and "Drinking With Enemies") are indicative of their new-found tougher sound, more in line with The Replacements. The first two of these recall the gritty-rock-with-melodies of the 'Mats, while "Drinking With Enemies" has a mature pop-punk sound not unlike Green Day. The overall result is one tight rocker after another (no power ballads, thank you) until the mid-tempo closer "Moonlight Graham", a tribute to the obscure baseball player made famous in Field of Dreams, and which harkens back to the earlier First in Space sound. Maybe they should have titled this "Greatest Rockin' Hits Vol. III". Either way, it's a must for fans of Replacements-style rock.

CD Baby | iTunes

Free music player widget at ReverbNation.com

Sports Fan-Shallow Water EP. Sports Fan is the latest project from Aussie piano popper Dion Read, who gave us a couple of top-notch EPs in the latter half of the previous decade. The title track, featuring guest vocals from Jen Boyce, is a melodic gem that should be a big hit in a just universe, "Little White Lies" sounds like it should have come off the first Ben Folds Five album with its high energy and frat-boy byplay, and "Social Butterfly" is an epic-sounding ballad that's a nice complement to the two tracks before it. This is excellent piano pop, and you can name your price for it at Bandcamp.

Bandcamp | iTunes