Carrying on with posting some song and music video favorites from the 20 years that I’ve been making Onechord.net. Here’s the link to the monster playlist, because I don’t have the time to write a post about everything.

The Michigan episode of this nostalgia trip starts with my absolute favorite songwriter of the latter half of these 20 years. I’m of course talking about Matthew Milia. I wholeheartedly love both Frontier Ruckus and the solo records. I could add 50 Matthew Milia songs here without any drop in quality, but I’ll settle with one from my favorite Frontier Ruckus album Eternity of Dimming plus a song from the each of the solo records. The latter solo Keego Harbor actually came out this year and not so surprisingly it’s my favorite record of 2021 so far.

Frontier Ruckus Website
Matthew Milia Website
Matthew Milia at Facebook
Frontier Ruckus at Facebook

Somewhat obvious transition to Chris Bathgate. Not quite sure what he is up to nowadays, but what I do know is that I love his albums Throatsleep (2006), A Cork Tale Wake (2007) and Salt Year (2011) (and everything else rules too, but those are personal favorites). It’s usually A Cork Tale Wake that takes the spot when I try to draft some all-time favorites list, so here’s a couple of great ones from that album.

Chris Bathgate Website
Chris Bathgate at Facebook

Small Houses aka Jeremy Quentin is probably living in Austin, Texas these days, but he is a Michigan kid at heart. So let’s wrap this one with a couple of great Small Houses songs. Here’s Staggers and Rise from Still Talk; Second City (2015) and Late July from North (2011). The latter one might not be the objectively best Small Houses song, but it holds a very special place in my heart.

Small Houses at Facebook

Carrying on with posting some song and music video favorites from the 20 years that I’ve been making Onechord.net. Here’s the link to the monster playlist, because I don’t have the time to write a post about everything.

More pop gold from the past 20 years. The Australian edition. Kicking this off with my favorite Tasmanian pop group Quivers. I fell in love with them when I first saw this video back in 2017. A perfect pop song if there ever was one. All my best friends are a little broken / all the best people are. Oh how I love that line and the whole song. They also have a mighty good new album out there that came out early in the year. One of the best 2021 pop offerings, so check that one out too.

Quivers at Facebook
Quivers Website

Next up long time favorite Anthony Atkinson. Actually I may have found that Quivers video after Anthony posted it on FB. I’m not 100% sure, because it was some years ago. Anyway, Anthony’s Loyalty Songs was #3 on my AOTY list back in 2006, so I’ve loved his songs for a fairly long time. Here’s a music video Calm & Collected from the 2013 album Broken Folks.

Anthony Atkinson at Facebook

And here’s #5 on that same 2006 AOTY list. I absolutely love Worry A Lot by The Zebras. I think it absolutely should be a indie pop classic. I Have Decided, I Quit, Science Competition etc. There’s so many should-be hits on this one. Someone should reissue it on vinyl and sell one million copies.

The Zebras at Facebook

This of course just a tiny sample of all great Australian indie pop things. Introducing your heart to the Candle Records discography is a good starting point. Here’s a couple of Darren Hanlon videos to wrap this one, because I’m sure the greatness of The Lucksmiths is even more common knowledge than the greatness of Darren Hanlon Listening to both discographies is a must if you want to pass the indie pop songwriting class at the local university. Anyway, I Wish That I Was Beautiful For You is from the 2004 album Little Chills and All These Things is from the 2010 album I Will Love You At All.

Darren Hanlon at Facebook
Darren Hanlon Website

Carrying on with posting some song and music video favorites from the 20 years that I’ve been making Onechord.net. Here’s the link to the monster playlist, because I don’t have the time to write a post about everything.

Time to hit the power pop frame too and starting with One Chord to Another the album of the year 2009 and probably my favorite power pop album of the 20 onechordnet years. Talking about the first Bobby Emmett album Learning Love. After The Sights and before joining Sturgill Simpson’s band, Bobby made a couple of fabulous pop albums. Might be difficult to find them anymore, but thankfully he has uploaded a few songs to youtube. Here’s the perfect opener Queen of Hearts.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=001zRz2Y9kI

Next up the wonderful Gentleman Jesse & His Men from Atlanta, Georgia. Very much love both the self-titled album from 2010 and the 2012 album Leaving Atlanta. Here’s one favorite from both of them.

Gentleman Jesse at Facebook
Gentleman Jesse at Bandcamp

I’ll take this next to one of the euro power pop homes Sweden. A lot of the classic stuff Popsicle, Wannadies, The Merrymakers etc pre-dates onechordnet, but there’s plenty of greats from the past 20 years too. One of my big faves is The Genuine Fakes. Here’s one of the classics from their debut album that came out in 2010.

The Genuine Fakes at Facebook
The Genuine Fakes at Facebook

Toning this down a little bit from the first three for the last entry. This is maybe more in the TFC meets alt.country territory. Elvyn is a Canadian band and I really love their album called The Decline. It’s got the full five hearts back then when I reviewed it in 2010 and I still listen to it every now and then. So here’s my favorite song Lotta Lies to wrap up this sixth part in this story.

Elvyn at Facebook
Elvyn Website