Pop music you will love

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Editor's Picks (see more)

AARON BOOTH: Back Stories
These 10 breezy tunes, chiming with jangly guitars, awash in reverb and waves of Beach Boys harmonies, form the perfect life soundtrack for sun-drenched souls who are dreading the end of summer. Beautiful currents of melancholy and nostalgia gently mix on this stellar slacker-pop album from Canadian singer/songwriter Aaron Booth. There is a relaxed, subtle energy to his smoky acoustic guitar songs. And Aaron’s lilting voice effortlessly delivers lines that are filled with poetic simplicity, both dreamy and conversational. The melodies float atop a miniature bed of tasteful lo-fi ornamentation. But I could just as easily imagine these tunes being sung at a beach bonfire beneath the stars, just a voice and guitar, and they would lose none of their power. “Back Stories” will surely please any fan of Nada Surf or Badly Drawn Boy. It has echoes of John Lennon’s sentimental side, too. Gentle and light, but not without a bit of bite.
CD price: $12.99 / MP3 price: $9.99
A. BALLAD NIGHTLY: All In Good Time
Simultaneously blending echoes of Iron and Wine, Ryan Adams, Wilco and Jeff Buckley, this album somehow engages both the daring spirit and tender vulnerability. Wrapping up gentle folk in lush pop harmonies, cradling thoughtful songwriting with sometimes-hushed, sometimes-assertive vocals that are threaded through these songs like a golden thread, the songs on All in Good Time capture a unique pocket of inspired and sincere writing, serving as a culmination of “sensitive male folk pop” but with volumes of courage and determination. Somewhere between the rush of falling in love and the beautiful bitterness of having your heart broken, you’ll find emotions so delicious that you can’t quite let them go; such is the magic of A. Ballad Nightly.
CD price: $15.00 / MP3 price: $15.00
THE MERCIES: The Mercies
With a jaunty nod to British and American influences, The Mercies have made a record that would be right at home in the Elephant Six Collective. Cheeky keyboards dart through uncluttered kick and snare while overdriven guitars bounce along with melodies, offering a tight and tidy package of guitar pop. Just when you’re really settling in to the album, you’re pummeled with stacked, clean, multi-part harmonies, and occasional affected drums that further drive the slightly dreamy sound directly out of this atmosphere and into orbit. The record even sports a mellower acoustic track. Perhaps the most impressive part of the overall product is that The Mercies have managed to build a cohesive album that hints at the best parts of the last wave of industry changing bands (The Killers, Inerpol), but aren’t afraid to make a pure pop song that as jubilant as it is catchy.
MP3 price: $9.99
GRAND HALLWAY: Yes Is The Answer
With lilting melodies that are quietly spellbinding, Grand Hallway puts forth this record of lovely, roomy, and melancholic piano pop. Just when you think you’ve settled into the gaunt beauty of drums and piano, a profusion of strings, pedal steel, and vibraphone slide, and then burst out of the seams of this recording, leaving their colorful trails over the tape until they disappear from earshot again. The perfectly delicate and restrained, but dreamy nature of Tomo Nakayama’s lead vocals puts a sobering face of reality on these songs; while many of the instruments are often enough running riot behind the melodies, Nakayama’s fine-drawn vocal themes are padding through the reigned-in ruckus. Beyond the actual instrumentation, these are songs that never become predictable as time signature and tempo changes take you from gauzy, ride-heavy 4/4 verses to frenetically waltzing bridges and choruses. It’s a nostalgia-inducing tearjerker of a record that makes you feel a little better for having heard it… and felt it.
CD price: $10.99 / MP3 price: $10.99
THE PERISHERS: Let There Be Morning
Championing the subtle, celebrating the understated, undercurrent, underplayed and looking more towards the shadows than the light, the Perishers' songs whisper to the heart like some remnant of a half-forgotten dream, partially faded but tugging at your shirt tails. In the ballpark of Coldplay and Keane, embracing the dream pop and emo rock worlds, their subdued, charming songs vividly paint a black and white imagination. Where other bands exert energy being catchy and grabbing, these guys exert energy being emotional, reflective and fully exploring the internal life of every song, giving their album, "Let There Be Morning," a magical, entrancing quality. It's like that quantity versus quality comparison; here, you're going to find the latter.
CD price: $15.00

Top Sellers (see more)

REGINA SPEKTOR: Songs
Magical realism involving pickles, death penalties and hot baths... influenced by the anti folkers, the punkers, tom waits, bjork, mozart, and many others... a secret let loose.
CD price: $14.00
OPERATION ENSURING CHRISTMAS: A lil' Heroes Christmas
Christmas and Patriotic songs featuring 'voices of the children' of Fallen American Troops.
CD price: $15.00 / MP3 price: $15.00
THE BLANKS: Riding The Wave
A "Barber-NOT Quartet," as seen on NBC's "Scrubs" in the role of Ted's Band, this quirky foursome's debut record features strictly four-part a cappella arrangements in an eclectic mix of styles, talking toys and hidden mic sketches from the "Scrubs" set.
CD price: $14.97
JON BRION: Meaningless
One of America's most talented Singer/Songwriter/Producers. Heard producing Aimee Mann, Fiona Apple, and Paul Thomas Anderson soundtracks. "Jon Brion is a master of pop. There is nothing he can't do." - Beck.
CD price: $14.00
THE WEEPIES: Happiness
Cool Folky Pop collaboration from singer/songwriters Deb Talan and Steve Tannen
CD price: $11.99 / MP3 price: $11.99
GRANT-LEE PHILLIPS: Ladies Love Oracle
Grant-Lee Phillips in the raw, in the dark, in the basement. Sometimes a sketch says more than a mural.
CD price: $13.99 / MP3 price: $13.99
PANCHO'S LAMENT: Pancho's Lament
Uniquely simple accessible music - heard on TV shows Jack and Jill, Dawson's Creek and Party of Five.
CD price: $12.99 / MP3 price: $12.99
PAT MCGUIRE BAND: Big Brown Sofa
straight ahead guitar sound expanded by gospel harmonies and celtic influences that culminate in a rich, soulful sound that is charged with emotion
CD price: $14.99
INGRID MICHAELSON: Girls and Boys
Featuring "The Way I Am" as heard on an Old Navy commercial and "Breakable" and "Corner of Your Heart" as heard on "Grey's Anatomy." Indie-pop New Yorker Ingrid Michaelson will knock your socks off with her dynamic vocals and deliciously unique lyrics.
CD price: $14.00
VINYL KINGS: A Little Trip
This is about as close to a NEW Beatles CD as you'll ever get.
CD price: $15.00 / MP3 price: $15.00