Sweet and Sinsational

Lisa Mychols, her talent and tremendously beautiful voice have been sweetening the airwaves and enriching the L.A. pop scene since the early 90s. Mychols is a talented singer, musician and songwriter. I haven’t encountered too many women as talented as her – especially not in the field of power pop! Seriously, sometimes I feel like women are almost non-existent in the power pop scene. With this thought in mind, it becomes obvious that Lisa Mychols is a real gem and a musician of high standards. She is an inspiration.

In the early 90s Mychols recorded a Christmas album with Darian Sahanaja and Nick Walusko, the guys that would soon be releasing music as Wondermints. This classic Christmas CD is of course called Lost Winter’s Dream, released in 1991, rereleased in 2002. This album is definitely a strong candidate for the category “coolest psychedelic Christmas music”. Mychols and her Wondermints friends give their Christmas tunes a firm 60s treatment with some interesting edge. Lost Winter’s Dream avoids clichés and is therefore a fresh breeze of Christmas spirit. I played this CD during last year's pre-Christmas party season... It was wonderful and I bet everyone else enjoyed it too. The album made a nice addition to many Christmas moments.

Mychols has later played a part in many projects. I am sure that I don’t even know about all of them. To mention a couple of things, Mychols played drums and sang background vocals on Receiver’s album and also provided backing vocals for The Sun Sawed in 1/2’s 1997 album Fizzy Lift. In the late 90s Mychols founded a band called The Masticators with some talented L.A. musicians – including Robbie Rist, our trusted powerpopster. The Masticators released one album (Masticate!, 2000) before breaking up. The album is of course excellent. Gee, I really should start listening to it again right now..

Then there is Sweet Sinsations (2004), the second solo album by Lisa Mychols. Sweet Sinsations became a big thing for me last fall, such a huge source of energy and melodic cheer. The album is awesome all the way and also contains cool variation. Living Doll is a great opening rocker. Later other fabulous tracks such as Oh To Be in Love, Cycles Per Second, and Las Brisas Sun offer some completely different moods. Other favorites include Gonna Get That Boy, Take a Ride, Fun Fair/Old Memories... It is a neverending demonstration of energy and sweetness, an album that will surely get your spirits up. The same year as Sweet Sinsations an EP called In This City was released but it has not been around much.. One shopping link I tried took me to Japan's Amazon.




Nushu is a project that features Lisa Mychols and Hillary Burton. As everyone probably already know (or at least should know) a new album by Nushu has just been released. It is called Hula. I can't wait to get it. Just check out the video for Another Rainy Weekend. Something as fresh and energetic as this is exactly what makes a perfect summer soundtrack. Nushu's first album Nevermind Lullabye came out in 2007... To be honest, I didn't even remember this album existed. I think I will get it too.

And guess what, it seems that Lisa is even working on another solo album. That is very exciting. Well, no more blabbering, I'll just go and listen to some great music by Lisa Mychols! I recommend you do the same. Just let pure melodic rocking sweetness take you over!



Lisa Mychols at MySpace
Lisa Mychols Website
Nushu at MySpace
Nushu Website
The Masticators at MySpace

Melody Freak’s Summer YouTube Jukebox

Now that I’ve been liberated from my yearly university entrance exam project (I never seem to get rid of entrance exams!) I’m able to write more often here. Even though I’m still not quite sure if this blog really is particularly useful, I will most certainly continue blabbing about my extremely subjective opinions/experiences. There are so many awesome music things yet to be told (and like a certain Mr. DeYoung once said, I can hardly wait..).

This time I’ll put here something a bit different. In order to brainwash people more effectively, I’ve been collecting videos from YouTube. Then I’ve linked them to my Facebook site so that my friends might notice them. I’ve had different hidden agendas but the most important has always been giving people music tips, spreading the word: “Why not listen to this? You may like it…” This is what I’m also going to do with you, blog reader!

So, if you’re bored or don’t have anything to do, consider watching some of my music video picks. You probably already know most of them but there is a chance you might find a nice new song to enjoy. I’d say all these songs have something to do with power pop (or jangle pop.. or at least pop). And they’re all from the 90s and 2000s.

Watching a nice video every now and then is a joy. Also, if you happen to have forgotten to take good music with you when you’re not home, you can check if there’s anything familiar on YouTube that would make you feel more comfortable - unless they have removed your favourite video due to some copyright problem. The thing with “The video you requested is not available in your country” - I don’t get it. What’s the point of music videos if music fans are not allowed to watch them?

The Videos
The Apples in Stereo: Energy
Tal Bachman: She’s So High
Brendan Benson: Metarie
Brendan Benson: Tiny Spark
Candy Butchers: You Belong to Me Now
The Churchills: Sometimes Your Best Isn’t Good Enough
Delays: Nearer Than Heaven
Gigolo Aunts: Mrs. Washington
Gigolo Aunts: Where I Find My Heaven
Hellogoodbye: Baby, It’s Fact
Locksley: Don’t Make Me Wait
Roger Joseph Manning Jr: Too Late For Us Now
The Mockers: The Emperor Strikes out Again
Lisa Mychols: Gonna Get That Boy
Nada Surf: Always Love
The New Pornographers: Sing Me Spanish Techno
Of Montreal: Requiem for O.M.M. 2
OK Go: You’re so Damn Hot
Rinaldi Sings: Come Fly With Me
Rooney: Popstars
The Rosenbergs: After All
Silver Sun: Last Day
Supergrass: Mansize Rooster
Toad the Wet Sprocket: Good Intentions

Audio Saccharine

I really enjoy Receiver’s Inspiration Overload (2001). I spotted it in John Borack’s power pop book Shake Some Action – The Ultimate Power Pop Guide (great book!). Borack himself used to play drums in the band, but on Inspiration Overload powerpop queen Lisa Mychols plays all percussions. Mychols also sings background vocals – sounding amazing.

This album was produced by Robbie Rist (who seems to appear quite often in power pop circles) and it’s a very strong collection of 11 catchy, energetic, and sugary songs written by Kenny West and Kerry Chicoine. It’s very loud pop - exactly the kind of stuff I tend to enjoy very, very much. Killer melodies, absolute sweetness, all wrapped up inside those distorted guitars and great riffs. It’s a simple path to happiness.

Oleander is my #1 favourite song on the album, it has pure low-tone magic, and those melodies.. They’re so good. Faster, Wind Up Girl and Inspiration Overload are also amazing tunes, to mention but a few. Also, it’s enchanting for a girl to discover power pop songs that carry your own first name.. Erica Kane is a wonderful tune. It isn’t even the only power pop song with that name (there’s Game Theory’s Erica’s Word, too), which is absolutely cool.

I just can’t get enough of music like this. Audio sugar and loud pop instrumentation– that’s my thing.

Receiver’s Inspiration Overload at amazon.com (with sound samples)