POWER POP! - The LAST Frontier

 

Alright, I adore power pop and it's about time I said something about it.  Nothing makes me feel quite so giddy as those jangly guitars, four-part harmonies and song structures lifted directly from the first 4 Beatles records - that and the crusty punk attitude lying just beneath the surface. It's like somebody pouring fresh squeezed orange juice down my ear canal.  Generally surfing, cruising in your sweet muscle car, drinking beers and saying Ghee Wiz with your best girl are topics of interest amongst the power pop elite.  I could filibuster about The Flamin' Groovies, The Barracudas, The Nerves, Plimsouls, The Raspberries etc. ad nauseam, but today is devoted to a very special band that nobody (to my knowledge) gives a rat fuck about, and they really should.

The Last (good luck googling them) are absolute power-pop poetry perfection.  Their first record came out on Bomp! and it was called L.A. Explosion, notice a trend...you know Los Angeles?  There isn't a bad song on this record, and it gets my dick rather hard.  It's like if the Beatles and the Byrds started freebasing crystal meth and hanging out with the Circle Jerks, yeah I know it's that good.  This is precisely why they make my nether-organs swell, pop songwriting sensibility and serious punk attitude.  Not to mention one Greg Ginn of a small band called Black Flag decided to put out their record Awakening on a pretty cool label called SST.

I highly suggest you seek out these records by any means necessary, I mean if you like power-pop.  They're actually not too difficult to find on vinyl.

Also shameless plug time!  Brandon Intelligator and the Sheriffs, LA's favorite wayward sons are playing at Echo Curio tomorrow night at 8:30 with good buddies Cassorla and Cooperation.  Come out if you're feeling saucy, lord knows I am after all that power-pop talk.