First off is Matthew Sweet's new album Modern Art. Matthew's Girlfriend, Altered Beast and 100% Fun are among my favorite albums, but I haven't enjoyed many of his albums since then. I think he has to work with other artists: I enjoyed his album as a member of The Thorns and his collaborative albums with Susanna Hoffs. Modern Art is fine, but none of it really sticks with me.
Speaking of Ms. Hoffs, Matthew Sweet worked on the new Bangles album, Sweetheart Of The Sun. I've listened to it a bit, I think it's a solid album. It's not as good as Different Light or Everything, but it's good. I do think that The Bangles could still put out a classic. I wish that former bassist Michael Steele would rejoin the band: even though she wasn't a founding member, they feel off-balence to me without her. I know they would love her to return. I don't think she quit the band so much as she quit the country during the reign of bu$h 2. Come back Michael!
Adam Schlesinger has been busy lately: his main band, Fountains of Wayne returned with Sky Full Of Holes, their first album in four years, and the follow-up to their very underrated Traffic and Weather. "Someone's Gonna Break Your Heart" is a great single, but I don't know if it's as good as songs like "Stacy's Mom" or "Radiation Vibe." Adam's other band, Ivy, has just released it's first album in six years, All Hours. They are more of an electronic band, not so much "power pop," but because Adam is in the band, it has a very classic pop sensibility. One thing that took some of Adam's time in the past few years is his other band, Tinted Windows. That group, which features Taylor Hanson of Hanson on vocals, James Iha of Smashing Pumpkins and A Perfect Circle on guitar, and Bun E. Carlos of Cheap Trick on drums, sounds just like... Cheap Trick. They're great. Their 2009 self-titled debut is super underrated.
We'll also talk about the former members of Oasis: Noel and Liam Gallagher both have their own projects.
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