Power pop has been one of my guilty pleasures since my days of listening to the Raspberries on 8 track (interspersed with the Stones, ABBA, ZZ Top, and Led Zep).

Matthew Sweet has a new disk out called "Living Things". I think it will be released on Sept 7, but I downloaded it through Emusic.com. Great piece of tasty guitar pop. Can't comment on mix or production yet as I've only got in on my computer. After a couple of listens I give it a thumbs up. I'd welcome any recommendations if anybody's heard anything new and/or similar.

I don't feel guilty at all about my love of power pop

Are you familiar with the New Pornographers? They make some truly terrific power pop and they're Canadian to boot! My favorite of their two albums is "Electric Version," although "Mass Romatic" is certainly excellent as well.

Also, be sure to check out A.C. Newman's debut album, "The Slow Wonder." He's a member of the New Pornographers and writes about 80% of their music, so his album sounds very similar to theirs.

It's not in that genre at all, but I've been listening to Jet and "Are you gonna be my girl" a LOT lately. Very simple riffs, but fun as hell. Also, I discovered Richard Cheese and Lounge Against the Machine recently and they are great. Think Frank Sinatra does modern pop and hip hop. Way too much fun.

jr

good call Josh, New Pornographers are great. I've really enjoyed Sahara Hotnights as well, kind of a punky-pop group out of Sweden (please no ABBA comparisons, they're really not even close). Worth a listen.