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(Wondermints - Quintessential Power Pop with a liberal dose of Sunshine)

Some So-Cal Power Pop tonight, by way of Wondermints from 1996. Their first album and the track Tracy Hide. I always liked this band, but wasn't really sure why for a long time. Sometimes music doesn't have to be heavy and complex to be enjoyable - sometimes it's just a good piece of music and good production with nothing more than a nice tune you can listen to over and over again.

Sometimes simplest is best.

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(The Jags in 1979 - Catchy and hook-laden, but not sustainable)

A bit of late 70s UK Power-Pop this time. The Jags were one of the mainstays of KROQ here in L.A. around 1979. Not really considered Punk or New Wave, but not really mainstream either - sort of falling into that miscellaneous category that just sounded good, played catchy memorable songs but didn't last more than a couple albums. They broke up in 1982.

There were a lot of those kinds of bands from the late 70s to early 80s, and there was absolutely nothing wrong with them. They were not destined to change your life, but rather go along with it and provide the soundtrack to places, times and people.

Here is a live concert, recorded by the BBC at their Paris Theatre in London in 1979. A lot of familiar material.

And for some reason, I remembered exactly where I was when I first heard each of those songs.

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The Monochrome Set was one of my favorite postpunk bands. They were witty and arch and they made a lot of fun of the rich. This is from their 1982 album, Eligible Bachelors, which for my money is one of the best power-pop records ever made. The best song on the disc, "The Devil Rides Out," has no accompanying video or live performance online. The album also features one of the funniest songs ever, "The Mating Game." It's NSFW.

I first heard Ultimate Fakebook in 1998 when my teenage band opened for them at New York's Coney Island High and they unleashed a ferocious set of fun, high-energy pop to the fifteen of us who happened to be in the room.

Soon after, the band from the Little Apple (Manhattan, KS) was picked up in the late-nineties indie-rock gold rush by Epic Records and then subsequently put through the early-2000's indie-band-on-major-label wringer of low prioritization and delayed album releases. Not one to be kept down, UFB released Open Up and Say Awesome on the small but influential Louisville label Initial Records in 2002, before calling it quits in '03.

This band will probably go down in history as an also-ran in Weezer-world, but their midwestern charm, clever and endearing lyrics, and the lack of transparent deliberateness that has poisoned Rivers Cuomo's outfit for the past 10 years should earn them a much bigger plaque in the power-pop pantheon. A man can dream...

Did you ever see the Simpsons where they go on vacation for the summer to the Springfield equivalent of Cape Cod and Lisa wears sunglasses and a backwards hat and tries to be dumb so the cool kids will like her but it just doesn't take? That's more or less the story of Chicago's Enuff Z'Nuff.

If you forced Poison to listen to the first three Elvis Costello albums for a year straight, and then asked them to double up on the outfits and hairspray, the result would sound something like Enuff Z'Nuff. You can hear (and see... dear god, can you see) them trying to fit in with their late-eighties contemporaries yet unable to shake their smarmy power-pop sensibilities. Predictably, they received accolades from critics who found this incongruous combo intriguing, and lukewarm response from power-pop fans who were repelled by their image and hard rock fans who found little to love in their suburban paisley-pop traditions.

I thought they sucked when they came out. I heard them again years later and found myself unable to resist such classy material being filtered through the overblown, pompous sonic and visual stamp of the end of the hair metal era. Whether by accident or by design, they're one of a kind.

From the grunge era but not quite of it, Stone Temple Pilots really excelled most when the world of flannel was in decline, diving deeper into psychedelia and power-pop on their last three albums. Since they continued to get better after their heyday, there's reason to suspect great things in the works for the reformed band's new album, which they're currently working on with legendary producer Don Was (and Weiland's longtime collaborator friend of the site Douglas Grean on engineering duties.)

Sour Girl, from their fourth album aptly titled No. 4, shows the band sounding more like the Zombies than Pearl Jam, a form which always worked well for them.

STP is hitting the road for 24 shows with the original quartet intact. Dates after the flip.

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Harvey Danger are best known for "Flagpole Sitta" (you know it as the "I'm not sick but I'm not well" song, if the title doesn't jump out,) but to many diehards they are this generation's kings of power-pop. They played their final show ever last night at Seattle's Crocodile Cafe, and after "Flagpole Sitta" exclaimed, "I think we up on stage will take five seconds to appreciate the fact that we never, ever have to play that song again." Therefore, I owe it to the recently departed group to feature one of their lesser (read: barely at all) known gems, "Sad Sweetheart of the Rodeo".

When I think about songs that have disgustingly amazing and simple guitar riffs, I always imagine the first time they were introduced at band practice. My preferred musing is Malcolm Young from AC/DC going into rehearsal, saying "Guys, what do you think of this riff?", playing the main riff from Back in Black, and everyone immediately knows that it's going to be unstoppable.

There aren't too many songs with riffs like that, but "A Girl Like You" by The Smithereens is definitely on the short list. The Hoboken, NJ band has consistently churned out quality, muscular power-pop over the years, but this song (their biggest chart success, to boot) holds up the best, thanks to that classic and simple riff that you can picture Beavis and Butthead singing, heads banging.

For the comments: riffs. Bring 'em.

Michigan native Brendan Benson has been making compelling and charming power-pop records since 1996's One Mississippi, but for better or worse he's best known as being one half of the singing/songwriting part of The Raconteurs along with better-known Michiganite-by-way-of-Nashville Jack White. "Cold Hands (Warm Heart)" is an adorable song with an adorable video.

Every Monday night, C&L's Late Nite Music Club showcases an act from every state, alphabetically by state, as part of LNMC's 50 State Strategy. Know a band or artist that you think is the best in their state? Email suggestions to latenitemusicclub [at] gmail.com. Next week: Minnesota.

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(Earl Bostic - a virtual who's who of Jazz greats played with him)

A slight departure from the steady diet of psychedelia, post-punk and power-pop. Hey . . .I said it was going to be eclectic!

I think the Jump Blues genre has gotten a bad rap over the years. The precursor to rock n' roll and R&B, the early practitioners of the form had some of the best of the Jazz world in their ranks. The reason was pretty simple. Big Band in the post-war years was fading and it left a lot of musicians out of work and small groups coming into prominence. The venues were becoming less and less and so, in order to stay busy many musicians moonlighted in the recording studio.

I grew up listening to Earl Bostic - his was a completely unique sound, but it wasn't until later that I realized he had some great people on his sessions.

Case in point - this one: "You Go To My Head", the standard done over and over by sweet bands and syrupy vocalists. But in Bostic's hands it rocked. This track, recorded on August 14, 1952 featured Harold Grant, Ike Issacs, "Specs" Wright and John Coltrane. Admittedly, Coltrane doesn't have a bunch to do, but the fact that he's there and participated, as did others like Stanley Turrentine, "Blue" Mitchell, Benny Golson and Earl Palmer, indicates there was much more going on than met the eye.

And in this case, meets the ear.

This song is just absolute power pop perfection. The Records never captured the charm/power/hook balance that they did on 1978's "Starry Eyes" but with a song like this, who needs others? Here's a live version that doesn't sound as good but it way more fun to look at.