Powerpop Spring Update: Making Plans for Meyerman, Didn’t Planet, Farrah, and IPO

“I’d like to sing you a song now about my old girlfriend…It’s called ‘They’ll Find Her When the Leaves Blow Away ‘Cause I’m Not Raking ‘Til Spring.” Those are the words of Steven Wright and very appropriate for the opening of this post. It’s time to get out the leaf blower ’cause it’s a new year and there’s a lot of great powerpop songs yet to be sung.

I’m determined in 2013 to keep up with the “yard work”, as it were. Trying to stay on top of music related events as they occur, I thought I’d reach out to some folks who’s work I’ve really enjoyed in the past and find out what the new year holds while keeping everyone in the loop in the process.

Installment #1, the first of which will feature anecdotes about Meyerman, Didn’t Planet, Farrah and IPO’s David Bash, will hopefully be the first of several throughout 2013. So let’s get started….

MEYERMAN

Meyerman released one of 2011’s best LPs of the year entitled Who Do You Think You Are?. Hailing from New Jersey, they represent the best hope for decent music in a community that only had two draws. One went to Dunnelin to go to the Go-Go bar on Saturday night or church on Sunday morning. Or presumably both if you’d done anything particularly heinous the night before at the Go-Go bar.

Now that Meyerman can be seen performing in some of the area venues, there’s a third really good reason to stop by this part of Jersey.

This from Theo of Meyerman:

“Hopefully by summer, Meyerman will be recording a new long player and tentatively, at least, hope to have it out by November. It remains untitled at this point, but so far is shaping up to be a killer bunch of tunes. Fans can expect a little evolution in our sound along with plenty of what they liked about “who do you think you are”. We’ve been sticking close to NY metro lately (scattered shows & playing IPO in May) but would love to hit the road to promote this disc in 2014.”

You can visit Meyerman’s website here.

DIDN’T PLANET

The best powerpop LP of last year was Didn’t Planet’s We’re Going Nowhere, a record you had to love if you’d ever actually been in a band. Or even if you hadn’t. It kicked ass more than any other recording in 2012, in my opinion. And Jason of Didn’t Planet says there’s more to come in 2013:

“We actually just started rehearsing some new tunes for what will probably end up as a 3 or 4 song EP. We’re hoping to be in the studio by the end of March.”

FARRAH

In 2009, Farrah graced us with their album of the same title (which causes some confusion as they have a habit of not actually naming their releases with a proper title to distinguish one from the other). The record’s single, “Swings & Roundabouts”, was the best powerpop song of 2009 in my opinion and perhaps one of the best of the last five years. In fact, I’m listening to it as I write this.

Farrah’s Andrew Campbell had the following update:

“We’ve made a good start on a new album and have penciled in March to get recording completed. I guess that means it’s entirely possible we’ll have a new record out this year! No promises though, as history proves we tend to work at a glacial pace. Being in the studio is too much fun for us all.”

Check out Farrah’s website here.

INTERNATIONAL POP OVERTHROW

If you’ve never witnessed “IPO”, you’ve really missed something special. Its great powerpop and David Bash brings with him the best of the genre, wherever he goes. The format is simple. A half dozen bands or so are featured in 30 minute sets tailored to impress. And they usually do. Having seen numerous IPO shows in NYC, NJ, & LA, I have always been impressed with not only the bands I’d known before, but the new discoveries I make due to Bash’s choices in who to showcase.

Both Farrah and Meyerman have played IPO as well as some powerpop luminaries like The Records, Seth Swirsky (Red Button), Syracuse’s own Flashcubes, Jordan Zevon (yes, that’s Warren’s son), and many,many more fine bands. Being located in Carolina these days, I asked David if he would be bringing IPO any closer to there parts in 2013:

“I’m actually working on having IPO in Atlanta, in early October. I will let you know if it comes to fruition.”

While an Atlanta IPO is anything but a sure thing, just the possibility of one is reason for powerpop fans in these parts to get excited.

Please let me know of any other powerpop related news and rumors and, so long as they’re meant for public consumption, I’ll add them to the next update. The more I get, the more frequently I’ll be able to write follow up posts and share this kind of information. So give a shout via email or just add a comment below.