Wonderminty Power Pop

I'm going to end this week by featuring some pure guitar power pop groups. A friend of mine (probably one of the few regular readers of this blog), sent me a whole series of CDs from different power pop groups that I had never heard of a couple of years ago. They all have exactly the clean, melodic pop with excellent harmonies that I seem to enjoy so much.

Today's featured group is an L.A. group called The Wondermints consisting of Darian Sahanaja, Nick Walusko, and Mike D'Amico. The sound is reminiscent of The Beatles, The Beach Boys and ELO. If you like that sound, you won't be disappointed. This is another of those albums that is consistently strong from beginning to end, making the choice of songs to feature here difficult. Their MySpace page is here. Some info can also be found on Wikipedia.

The songs featured here are from their fourth album (2002) called Mind If We Make Love To You. Absolutely classic power pop. The rest of their oustanding catalog can be found on Amazon here.

1. The Wondermints - Time Has You (2.83 MB; 128kbps MP3)

2. The Wondermints - Project 11 (3.38 MB; 128kbps MP3)

Beatles Pot Pourri

We're at the end of Beatles Week and I thought I'd throw in a bonus song as I'm going to be gone for the next week and not updating the blog (unless I can find time in Poland to do this).

Many, many years ago, I was in Melbourne for a conference (this was probably 1995) and at the "gala event" in a museum, there was a local group that performed for the conference delegates. Being a sucker for harmonies (as I have mentioned in this blog before), I was entranced by their beautiful harmonies and I didn't hesitate to buy the debut CD (titled Rhythm of Life) of this group called Pot Pourri. The group consisted of Tania de Jong (soprano), Antoinette Halloran (soprano), Craig Macdonald (tenor) and Jonathan Morton (baritone). According to the CD insert, the group has performed throughout Australia and overseas. They have appeared at the Melbourne Concert Hall and at many major festivals including the Melbourne International Festival, Castlemaine State Festival, and Next Wave Festival. A quick Google search suggests that they're still performing, although Antoinette is no longer a part of the group.

One of the songs on this CD was The Beatles' Fool on the Hill and that's the one I'm going to thrill you with today.

1. Pot Pourri - The Fool on the Hill (2.43 MB; 128kbps MP3)