Powerpopaholic

The Powerpopaholic is a premier music blog that focuses on the genre of power pop and melodic rock. We also report on live shows, tour dates, gossip, MP3's, videos and just about anything a power pop fan could want. The sites reviews continue to grow with over 700 reviews (as of 4/09) and a total audience of 330,651 visits (as of 4/09, as per sitemeter.com)The site is also featured prominently in John Borack's new book "Shake Some Action: The Ultimate Power Pop Guide"

So what exactly is a "power pop "?
Me: Wikipedia has a good definition of this at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_pop

This is all music guides definition and a list of artists: http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=77:383

But you can say generally, any artist with a spiritual connection or stylistic influence from The Beatles, Big Star, The Beach Boys and The Byrds. Power pop is known for musical "hooks" of melody that linger in your head, strong jangle guitars, and breathtaking vocal harmonies.

But on some occasions I'll review non power pop material, related to the genre like, Alternative Pop/Rock, Brit pop, Indie Pop, Jangle Pop and many others that just sound cool.

Can I submit my MP3 or CD to you for review?
Me: If you would like to submit material to Powerpopaholic for review or posting, please contact me with your information through e-mail:
aaron@powerpopaholic.com

If it's a CD - I will then send you the address to send your CD to. Keep in mind, we will not review your album if it doesn't relate to the power pop or melodic rock and roll in some way. Also, it takes about a week or so to get through the pile before it's posted online.

Can I advertise on your site?
Me: Ad space is now limited to below the fold on the home page. If you would like to place an ad on the home page of the site, or on the right side of any of the interview pages for a reasonable rate please contact me at aaron@powerpopaholic.com

Where are all these power pop fans? Is there someplace on the web to converse and discuss music with them?
Me: I've set up a Powerpopaholic discussion group on Google groups here. You can join in and post your favorite bands - so far we've got 64 members (as of 4/09) but it's not very active right now. So join and start posting!

Do you have albums I can download?
Me: Once in a while we'll have MP3 files that are FREE downloads for the public. All music distributed from here is approved by the artist and meant to encourage fans to buy the album. These files have are only available for a limited time, so when you see them - get them!

The stuff on the right sidebar isn't loading, is it broken?
Me: No it's probably not broken - but you need a Flash plug-in for your browser to see most of it. get it at Adobe for free.

I don't like your review! You have bad grammar and can't even write a
coherent sentence and you're telling ME my songwriting/singing/ playing/sound engineering isn't up to your standards? How dare you!

Me: My ratings and critiques are my personal opinion. Like many music snobs out there, we go through piles and piles of artists, looking for the wheat among the chaff. If you've read the blog for any length of time you know I do not like to give bad reviews. I would rather not review your album, if it sucks in my opinion. If you sound like Black Sabbath or Snoop Dogg, and you make a brilliant album, it isn't going to be rated highly here. Why? My critiques are based on "power pop" musical objectives. The more your sound emulates the standard for power pop genre (Beatles, Beach Boys, Byrds, Badfinger) - the better your review. There are a million music sites on the web, so if you have a Phish meets Fallout Boy styled sound, I'm sure you will find other sites willing to promote your genre of music.

I will also not simply sing praise to a band if it needs a critical kick in the pants. I find tons of music blogs are simply ass kissing the artist and
linking to an affiliate for $$$. The toughest reviews are bands that fall in the middle. The musicianship is great, but the lead can't sing. Or the songwriting is brilliant, but the mixing sounds like shit. I will call it like I hear it. Again, if you want superficial praise for your album with SEO link bait -- there are other sites you can go to.

Finally, yes - my grammar stinks - I'm not an English major here and since there is no editor on staff, feel free it take me to task on this. I will regularly correct posts where I see my sentence structure is lacking, or if I misspelled something. Okay, time to get off my soap box.