Three Lefts And A Right, photo courtesy Dan Ruprecht
Three Lefts And A Right sounds like it walked right out of The Paisley Underground on “Opened Up My Eyes” with its kaleidoscopic, jangle guitar driven psychedelia. But its raw exuberance grounds it in the present as do its words of looking forward and not getting stuck on notions of the past and the future when there is plenty in life right in front of you right now to enjoy and to act upon whether one’s life adventure or romantic possibilities that can come and go in an instant if you let them pass you by. Musically it’s also reminiscent a bit of early XTC, The Smithereens and REM but through the lens of musicians who rediscovered that music after coming up in punk. Listen to “Opened Up My Eyes” on Spotify and follow Three Lefts And A Right and band leader Dan Ruprecht at the links below.
The Small Square is the duo of mult-instrumentalist and vocalist Paul Chastain and drummer, percussionist and vocalist John Louis Richardson. The project released its self-titled album in 2015 and in 2023 following the reissue of that record, the new album Ours & Others dropped on October 31 via Farm to Label Records on digital download, on streaming platforms and CD. Fans of classic power pop like Big Star and the psychedelically tinged pop rock of The Paisley Underground will find much to like about what Chastain and Richardson have been crafting together. Chastain, some may know as the songwriter and co-founder of power pop band Velvet Crush that enjoyed critical and commercial success in the indie rock circles of the early-to-mid-90s before the group split for a couple of years in 1996 and reforming in 1998. Velvet Crush worked with in studio and live with Matthew Sweet, Mitch Easter, Roger McGuinn, Susanna Hoffs and Tommy Keene and in recent years has been one of the undersung acts of the alternative rock era. Its 1993 album Teenage Symphonies was reissued on vinyl in 2023 to mark its 30 year anniversary.
Chastain and Richardson recorded the new album at the latter’s Drum Farm Studio where the unique and differing musical roots and ideas have been fruitful in bringing a freshness and energy to the creative process. With contributions from Adam Ollendorf (lap steel, 12 string guitar), R. Walt Vincent (bass, keyboards, engineering) and the band Shoes, Ours & Others is a sonically rich and at times orchestral collection of vibrant songs and while most fit in that classic power pop sensibility that has rendered the aforementioned so re-listenable over the years there are songs (for example “Insta,” “Days In” and “Baby Face”) that are more experimental in their incorporation of synths and unconventional song structures. It all gives the album a depth of songwriting and emotional expression not common enough in modern pop music.
Listen to our interview with Paul Chastain on Bandcamp and follow The Small Square at the links below.
Bark is a rock duo based in Water Valley, Mississippi comprised of Susan Bauer Lee (drums and vocals) and Tim Lee (Fender VI bass and vocals) . It’s sound is akin to the kind of imaginative yet zesty power pop and jangle rock one heard in the 80s among artists out of The Paisley Underground, C86, Flying Nun Records and the various projects in which Mitch Easter and Chris Stamey were involved. In fact, Tim Lee was a touring member of foundational indie pop band Let’s Active when it was supporting the release of Cypress (1984). Prior to that Tim was a member of The Windbreakers and later on Swimming Pool Q’s. In 2021 Tim published his memoir of his time as a touring and recording musician as I Saw a Dozen Faces…and I rocked them all: The Diary of a Never Was. It recounts the story of a musician who experienced success and played in important bands but never quite became a household name and yet there are significant stories of American cultural history in the tales Tim relates. For the past two decades Susan and Tim toured with both Bark and Tim Lee 3. The band’s latest album Loud dropped on September 5 on 12” vinyl LP, CD and digital download via Dial Back Sound/Cool Dog Sound. The record is a looking back on being a band in recent years and the joys and foibles of being touring musicians with some choice cultural Easter eggs in the various references made to enhance and deepen the meaning and impact of the songs. Also on the record is poetic and sage social commentary that reveal Bark’s collective sensitivity to the challenges all of us seem to face in the world as we know it now.
Listen to our interview with Bark on Bandcamp and follow Bark at the links below.
Queen City Sounds and Art 
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