One of the coolest byproducts of surfing the "blogoverse" (or whatever the heck it's going to end up being called) for me is discovering music that I would otherwise never get a chance to hear, enjoy, and embrace.
Discovering the music of the ever-delightful Last Girl on Earth was a grand treat (see here for more about that) and this CD is another welcome addition to my ever-burgeoning music collection.
Years ago, a wonderful record by Nick Lowe was re-titled Pure Pop for Now People because the American record company thought the original British title, Jesus of Cool, might have proven problematic here in the States (can't imagine why...:-) Whatever the origin, I love the phrase...pure pop for now people...and I like to use it to refer to rockin' pop records that I really like.
Ric Seaberg's Santa Monica is, in all of the positive aspects of the phrase, pure pop for now people. It's sunny and warm...with wordplay that is often witty (and sometimes delightfully silly) and occasionally sweetly poignant...and it rocks with easy, melodic aplomb from the tasty lilt of the clever title track through the funny "Jesus Didn't Have a Car" and the bittersweet "Family Asshole Void" all the way to the lovely Christmas song that is the unlisted 16th track on the disc.
If cornered to describe it, I would say to try to imagine a less acerbic Warren Zevon fronting a harder-rocking version of Jimmy Buffett's Coral Reefer Band...Seaberg is no copycat, I'm just trying to get across the touchpoints that come into my head as I groove to his music. Pure...rockin' and engaging...pop indeed.
* * * * *
My new best buds at CDBaby, a very cool site with a wealth of indie music in all genres, sold me my copy of this disc and my hat's off to them (you should drop by and check them out...but, just so you know, if you're an adventurous music fan you might be there for a while...)
(FYI: Their listing for this disc, including samples, is here.)
2 comments:
Hi, just bloghopped to your site :) I'll have to check out Last Girl. Thanks for the tip! :)
I agree with you regarding Ric Seaberg: he does produce great songs.
I discovered the guy last year while bloghopping... I liked his style as a blogger and listened to some of his songs which I thought were cool.
Then, a few months later, I received his email regarding New Orleans... That was it! He had become one of my favourite persons... and I don't mean just as a singer/songwriter.
Anyway, to cut a long story short, I'll take the opportunity [if you don't mind, of course]to mention that I've recently started a Frappr Group called 'Ric Seaberg Now and Then' and that everyone is welcome to post pictures of the Ricster or themselves.
Thanks in advance for passing the info. Talk soon...
Loup Dargent
Post a Comment