Scrapped Plans - Buddy Buddy Belgium

So I always love a good supergroup, and more often than not, I love pop-punk. If you deduced, then, that I was going to be into the Scrapped Plans album, you'd be very right! Half of you reading this right now already know who all these people are, and half of half of you already own a copy of Buddy Buddy Belgium. That means I'm ultimately writing this review to entertain existing Scrapped Plans devotees and to intrigue those of you enjoy pop-punk but aren't necessarily super-fans. 

First let's have a roll call. Grath Madden (House Boat) and Michelle Shirelle were half of The Steinways, and they're on guitar and vocals. Fraser Murderburger is also on guitar and vocals. Kieron Jordan (Don Blake) is on bass and vocals. Mikey freaking Erg is on drums and vocals. Even by supergroup standards, that's an impressive lineup. Scrapped Plans are like the Traveling Wilburys of pop-punk. These cool cats met up in rural Belgium last fall and recorded this album in a barn in just two days. The album is exactly what you'd expect it to be: a top-notch pop-punk record that has the feel of a bunch of friends getting together to have fun. I might argue that Grath Madden is the single most underrated figure of the post 2000 pop-punk scene (I lost much sleep over my decision to relegate The Steinways' Missed the Boat to an honorable mention on my list of my top ten favorite 21st century pop-punk albums). Anything with him on it is going to be good, but of course he's just 20% of the equation here. It's super cool that all five band members get to sing lead and bring something unique to the table. Clocking in at a little under 16 minutes, Buddy Buddy Belgium will appeal to fans of efficient songwriting and music geek inside jokes (such as the album title and cover art — a true stroke of genius). Sometimes a band like this could end up with too many cooks in the kitchen, but all this talent comes together nicely. As a collection of songs, Buddy Buddy Belgium is cohesive and satisfying. There's a nice mixture of humor in sincerity in the lyrics, and of course these tunes are soundly-crafted and destined to get stuck in your head. I don't know if 2024 is shaping to be a special year for pop-punk or if I just wasn't paying close enough attention to what was coming out in previous years. But I feel like I'm more into pop-punk right now than I've been in a long time, and Scrapped Plans have contributed to that feeling.

-L.R.

https://bloatedkatrecords.bandcamp.com/album/buddy-buddy-belgium
https://grathmadden.bandcamp.com/album/buddy-buddy-belgium-2
https://worstidea.bandcamp.com/album/buddy-buddy-belgium

The Yum Yums - Poppin' Up Again (Deluxe CD Edition)

Poppin' Up Again is the sixth full-length album by The Yum Yums, and of course it's power pop perfection. I know what you're thinking: Didn't I already review this album? I did indeed. But that was like three months ago. The world has changed so much since then. We are all wiser and more discouraged by a planet in turmoil and in a greater need of life-affirming pop music. And now my fellow Americans can buy this album at a domestic price without having to surrender an arm or a leg. Tacking on the contents of the band's "Shoog Shoog (Sugar Baby)" 7" as bonus tracks, Rum Bar Records' CD deluxe edition of Poppin' Up Again extends the album to a whopping 17 tracks. And more of The Yum Yums can only be a good thing! 

You might ask if anyone needs to own more than one Yum Yums album given that the band's musical approach has not changed or progressed in any discernible way in thirty years. That would be a fair question, and my answer would be that The Yum Yums are one of the handful of bands in the history of rock 'n' roll that would be immensely disserved by artistic progression. The Yum Yums were born to spread joy into the world through sugar-sweet, mega-catchy power pop punk songs. The music gods, dismayed that no band had ever properly married '60s bubblegum and '70s glam rock to the Ramones, tapped Morten Henriksen to be the new king of power pop. One of the hardest things to do in all of music is to stick to a songwriting style this simple yet continually produce great songs. Morten's gift is a seemingly inexhaustible supply of perfect pop songs. His brain should be studied by scientists. Morten hasn't progressed to writing about politics or existential angst. He hasn't bothered to learn a fourth chord or infuse his music with jazz influences. He has never deigned to writing a seven-minute song about dragons. Again and again and again, he writes upbeat, catchy songs about love and romance. Conventional wisdom would predict diminishing returns, but Morten just keeps on getting better at his craft. 2020's For Those About To Pop! sounded like a greatest hits collection, and for a moment I wondered if finally The Yum Yums had made the album they could never top. Clearly I underestimated their musical powers. Poppin' Up Again is everything that you could ever want a Yum Yums album to be, and again, 99% of bands out there will hear this and wish they could produce this many great songs in a lifetime. Do you like harmonies? Do you like earworm hooks? Do you like sweet melodies wrapped up in crunchy guitars? Do you like songs that invoke the word "baby"? Then you are, as they say, in for a treat. This CD release of Poppin' Up Again is perfectly timed for summer fun, so step up to the bar and order yourself some top shelf pop!  

-L.R.

https://rumbarrecords.bandcamp.com/track/baby-oh-baby
https://open.spotify.com/album/1YbjJM65qjLguOWUcVgPZi
https://www.facebook.com/RumBarRecords
https://www.facebook.com/ilovetheyumyums

CB Kiddo - Heavy Is the Head (two​-​song demo)

If CB Kiddo eventually compiles all their singles from this year, they're going to have one of the best albums of the year. I'm saving a top ten spot on my list already. Emily is back with Heavy Is the Head, her fourth digital single of 2024, and she continues to construct a universe where garage punk and power pop are quarreling siblings and The Muffs are a veritable religion. "Never Been Wrong" is another catchy blast of low budget poppy punk goodness. "Choking on Your Insides" is a brilliant rendition of all an all-time great MOTO song that suddenly feels more relevant than ever. If you don't love this, you're a jerk. 

-L.R.

https://kiddo27.bandcamp.com/album/heavy-is-the-head-two-song-demo

Neon Bone - Eager To Please

Pop-punk as a musical genre is having a year, and it only gets better with a new album from Neon Bone. Eager To Please, the band's eighth(?) album, is out on Monster Zero, and its catchiness ought to be a grave concern to public help officials. Gumbo and his mates continue to represent everything I love about pop-punk. Eager To Please is chock full of simple three-chord songs influenced by classic pop and rock 'n' roll and delivered with a satisfying punk rock punch. This is a band that understands the timelessness of both melody and love songs, and there has never been much of a need to radically change its approach to music. You know what you're getting with a Neon Bone record, and it's hard to think of any band that does this sort of thing better. These guys manage to emphasize the pop without skimping on the punk, and they also manage to be pop-punk classicists without ripping off any particular band. More so now than ever, you can really hear the band embracing pop-punk's roots in doo wop, early rock 'n' roll, and '60s bubblegum. But some more modern influences turn up as well. Am I the only one who hears a little Nirvana in "But When You're Alone"? "Told You So?" is more than a little Weezer-ish. "Cold City Embrace" is very Depeche Mode/New Order, and I am here for it! Ultimately, you can't accuse Neon Bone of making the exact same album over and over. But they are perfectly comfortable in their lane, and Eager To Please is another five star pop-punk album.

-L.R.

https://monsterzerorecords.bandcamp.com/album/eager-to-please
https://neonbone.bandcamp.com/album/eager-to-please
https://open.spotify.com/album/4mnLnQrQGm2IeSgBxe1AHr
https://monsterzerorecords.com/products/neon-bone-eager-to-please-lp
https://www.facebook.com/neonbone/
https://www.facebook.com/MonsterZeroPunkrock

Pat Todd & The Rankoutsiders - Senator's Daughter

It's always a good day when I-94 Recordings releases another installment in its Detroit covers singles series. Senator's Daughter is the 12th installment in the series and the second one from Pat Todd & The Rankoutsiders. Obviously, we're talking about one of the best rock 'n' roll bands going. And a lot of people forget that Pat Todd was born in the raised in the Midwest. So even though this is a West Coast band, it definitely has that Midwestern soul that characterizes so much of the I-94 roster. "Down at the End of Your Rope" is an original song and a tremendous one at that. It's a rootsy rocker with killer hooks and heartfelt lyrics & vocals. If you want to hear a great songwriter backed by a great band doing it right, this track won't let you down. For its Detroit cover, the band takes it way back to the '50s. Rankoutsider guitarist Kevin Keller recently discovered that Jimmy Boyer of Jimmy Boyer and the Royal Newports was his cousin. So the band decided to have a go at "Little Miss Heartbreak." The Rankoutsiders put their signature on this golden nugget of rockabilly — which I imagine will be most people's first exposure to this song. You can never go wrong with Pat Todd & The Rankoutsiders, and you can never go wrong with I-94 Recordings. Put them together, and you've got yourself an absolute must-buy. Vinyl is available now in 13 color variants. Hop to it — that pissy yellow isn't going to last long! 

-L.R.

https://i-94recordings.com/collections/frontpage/products/pat-todd-the-rankoutsiders-down-at-the-end-of-your-rope-7-vinyl-single-i-94-024-2024
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100062967923575
https://www.facebook.com/pattoddrankoutsiders

The Plane Crash - Nostalgia For The Gutter

The Plane Crash, hailing from Portland, Oregon, is the type of band I used to write about frequently back in the day. This is a no bullshit, down and dirty, blood & guts punk rock 'n' roll band that worships at the altar of Johnny Thunders, Chuck Berry, and The Stooges. This group wears its influences on its sleeve and sticks to the business of playing three-chord rock 'n' roll with force and feeling. Mark Death (The Hot Lz's, The Halfways) is on vocals and lead guitar. He's joined by Harry Gadd on bass guitar and backing vocals, Rich Peterson on lead guitar, and Erik Haines on drums and lead vocals. The band's LP Nostalgia For The Gutter makes me nostalgic for all those 1990s American punk rock 'n' roll bands that pumped new life into the OG punk rock of Detroit, New York, and Ohio. Lean and mean at just nine tracks in 23 minutes, this album is chock full of raw energy, ripping guitar solos, and fuck-off attitude. There was a time in my life when I would come across a record like this three or four times a month. Now I'm lucky if that's three or four times in a year! So it's great to hear The Plane Crash pull off this style so well. Any band with Mark Death in it is going to be awesome, and he has found himself some kindred spirits with serious chops. Nostalgia For The Gutter is full of killer tunes and well worth exploring if real deal punk rock 'n' roll gets your heart racing.

-L.R.

https://theplanecrash.bandcamp.com/album/nostalgia-for-the-gutter
https://open.spotify.com/album/1tU5orD0KKO0QQQpzHVtkH
https://www.facebook.com/theplanecrash