Sample the new record from Be My Doppleganger

be-my-doppleganger-kickstarterIt’s poppy, it’s punky, but it’s not quite pop-punk. Be My Doppleganger hew close to the power pop end of the rock ‘n’ roll spectrum on these four songs from their forthcoming third LP. Tentatively titled Artless, the band is planning on self-releasing the record this fall.

If Be My Doppleganger is using these four tracks as a way to discern enthusiasm or interest in Artless, I’d like to add a hearty, “yes, please!” The bass work on these cuts is pretty extraordinary, and the production, vocals, and song structure all hearken back to the golden age of ’80s power pop. The Plimsouls, Replacements, Cheap Trick, Smithereens — this is what I’m hearing, especially on “Floor to Shoulder,” which I just want to listen to over and over and over again.

If you want to get behind Artless right fucking now, you can use the Kickstarter the group set up as a way to pre-order. $15 gets you a Kickstarter-only LP color. Seriously, they’ll only press as many as people pledged. You also get a digital download two weeks before the album comes out. And buttons. And stickers. Niiiiiiiice, right? This is Kickstarter done right. Good job, Be My Doppleganger. You got it goin’ on.

Forman’s history of music in the early days of TV alternately frustrating and brilliant

book-cover-one-night-on-tvMurray Forman‘s new book, One Night On TV Is Worth Weeks at the Paramount: Popular Music On Early Television is an invaluable history, but one with a frustrating premise at its heart. The history, out now through Duke University Press, does an excellent job of setting up and proving the notion that “music television” didn’t start with MTV in the early ’80s.

In addition to the myriad shows that would feature music as part and parcel of their programming as the medium went forward, television used music from its very inception. Singers and musical combos were part of the first broadcast tests. It’s a natural progression from radio, from whose networks television would arise. It’s only logical that the earliest things to come across the airwaves into the sets would be a visual representation of the most predominant aspect of radio. Namely, music.
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