How About Some New Power Pop?

Shoes are back with their first album of new material in 18 years. Released on the band’s label (Black Vinyl) on July 31, Ignition is the product of 14 months of work in the home studio of Jeff and John Murphy and Gary Klebe. For the unfamiliar, here’s a little Shoes history from the sometimes-reliable Wikipedia:

Shoes are an American power pop band, formed in Zion, Illinois, in 1974 by brothers John and Jeff Murphy, and Gary Klebe and incorporating several different drummers over the years including Skip Meyer, Barry Shumaker, Ric Menck, John Richardson, and Jeff Hunter. The Murphy brothers and Klebe were high school friends and decided to form a band following graduation. At the time none of the members knew how to play an instrument so each member picked an instrument to learn and promised to reunite within one year. Within the first year the three got back together to rehearse and eventually record their first album.

I’ve been aware of these guys for years, but never got into ‘em. Then I heard Ken Tucker reviewing the album on an NPR podcast yesterday and knew it would be mine. Here’s the song that had me diving for the Amazon bookmark, “Diminishing Returns.”

Sublime. You can – and should – pick it up here.