Welcome to the ramblings of a man who really should have grown out of listening to "that sort of music" a long, long time ago...A place to share thoughts and photographs on music and related paraphernalia.
The wonderful Italian Punk Power Pop band The Sensibles, have their debut album "A Bunch Of Animals", out now on Vinyl or MP3 and it's available to order or download at their Bandcamp site here. The album is packed full of raw, powerful and catchy songs, where the sweet and dreamy vocals of singer Stella collide perfectly with the Punky riffing of her band-mates Giacomo on bass, Fili on guitar and Ga on the drums, and it's a classic mix. If you like Suzy & Los Quattro, The Muffs, The Go-Go's or can imagine a female-fronted early Lemonheads, then you will certainly enjoy the feel-good bubblegum melodies of The Sensibles. They have put out a couple of videos of tracks form the album, first of all here's "I Want Your Blood"...
And next up, this is a track entitled "Dear Otzi"...enjoy!
We also featured a track from The Sensibles in our special Retrosonic Podcast International Power Pop Episode with genre expert Wayne Lundqvist-Ford, who has championed the band for some time on his excellent "Ice Cream Man Blog", which is well worth checking out.
Here's the album Artwork for The Sensibles "A Bunch of Animals" album...
I first heard The Sensibles during our recent Retrosonic Podcast interview with Wayne Lundqvist-Ford from Ice Cream Man Blog, where he picked out some of the best international Power Pop music he had received over the past year. The Sensibles were one of the tracks that really stood out, and I do mean that, as "Open Book", positively burst out of the speakers with a raw, crackling energy. The song was like a noisy neighbour (head) butting in on the somewhat more polite and pastoral Power Pop we were happily checking out. I really liked the track and the total enthusiasm that seemed to spill out into the room, plus it had a catchy chorus that stuck in my head long after the interview had finished. So we included "Open Book" in the Podcast, which you can listen to here, and I quickly got in contact with the band.
Stella of The Sensibles - Photo by Paolo Proserpio
The Sensibles are from Milan and have been playing together since 2009. The band consist of Giacomo on bass, Fili on Guitar and Backing Vocals, Ga on Drums and Stella on Vocals. Last December they were included on a 4-band split CD entitled "The Pizza Connection", released by the Italian label, Making Believe Records, and in July this year, they released the superb, must-have self-titled E.P. on their own label. This was a limited edition, just 300 hand numbered copies, and included the Podcast track, "Open Book". The band played some dates in America in August to promote the record and then released a split vinyl E.P. with Japanese band The Ever Coming Hair on SP Records. The Sensibles certainly like their collaborations, as next will be another joint vinyl E.P. with The Hairlips, on Night Fever Records.
Now, collaborations are all well and good, but I am kind of hoping that the band get round to concentrating on themselves soon and think about releasing a full length album of their very own. Judging by the strength of their scattered songs, that would be something very special.
Thanks to Giacomo.
You can check out just how good the band are for yourself by visiting their Bandcamp site.
Wayne from Ice Cream Man Blog - Photo by Steve Worrall
During my recent trip to Sweden I caught up with my good friend and expert on Power Pop, Wayne Lundqvist-Ford, who runs the Ice Cream Man Blog. I chatted to Wayne about his Blog and went through some of the many CD's and albums he gets sent by bands from all over the word who hope to be featured. Wayne certainly knows his stuff about the huge International underground Power Pop scene, and he picks out some of the new bands that have caught his attention in the past year. Wayne has also been a big supporter of Retro Man Blog favourites such as Stanley Road, The Past Tense and The Len Price 3 amongst others - but I was eager to find out more - and I wasn't disappointed. Wayne chooses a prime selection from all over the Globe, and we kick things off with a great track "If You Love Her" by Californian band Beyond Veronica. That's followed by a raw and punky "Open Book" from Milan's wonderful The Sensibles, then there's a blistering track, "White Capri", from my Retrosonic Podcast colleague Adam and his West London New Wave trio The Jetsonics, taken from their brand new E.P. Another British band next, and it's sunny sea-side popsters Phenomenal Cat and the latest in their series of a single-per-month releases "The Volume Police". We zoom over to Madrid for The Seasongs and a track from their "Out Of The City" album. You can probably get an idea of Budokan's influence in their band name, and the Canadian band offer up "The Queen's English", a powerful Cheap Trick style number. Holland's Marty Graveyard, the ex-Madd band-member, has a solo album out called "Summer Holiday" and here's the super-catchy "Do You Really Wanna Dance?". We stay on the beach for the beautiful shimmering harmonies of Denmark's Surf School Dropouts and their sublime "Run Away". Lyon's Mr Day provide some "Food For Soul", all fuzzy guitars and Hammond organ. Germany's Monkeeman, are next with the mighty "I'm a Lonely Guy" taken from 2008's "Life In The Backseat", one of a trio of must-have albums from the excellent song-writer Ralf Luebke. To finish off there is a track from one of Retro Man Blog's albums of the year "Things That Shine and Glow" from the fantastic Milwaukee based band, Trolley. So, as I mentioned, it really is an International scene and I hope you enjoy the tunes. You can contact Wayne at Ice Cream Man Blog by email and also check out, listen and download the Podcast totally free of charge at our Soundcloud site here:
Wayne has also started up a new Blog, it's called Power Pop T-Shirt, and it's devoted to the "band" T-Shirt. Contributions are welcome, so drop him an email with a photo of your favourite shirt, along with a short anecdote or back story as to why the shirt is special to you.
Here's the fun promo video to Wayne and his band, Wayne James & The Harry Evlar Experience, and their great cover of Teenage Fanclub's classic Power Pop track "Sparky's Dream".
Thanks to Wayne for his time, he will also appear in a forthcoming Swedish music special episode.
