“West Side Jet” is the newest single from the Andy Platts/Shawn Lee yacht-rock project Young Gun Silver Fox. It’s the perfect song to start this summer.

Ten years ago, the Beach Boys returned with the triumphant ‘That’s Why God Made the Radio,’ finally expanding upon their own dashed aspirations.

The term “power pop” has been widely overused and misused, but the Singles can positively be deemed poster boys of the idiom.

‘Love, Sex and Death etc’ portrays Simon Love in all his genius glory by putting smart and shrewd lyrics to insistently catchy musical incarnations.

‘Julee’ captures Dave Cope and the Sass showing respect to their origins, while at the same time flashing their own special identity.

This self-titled LP from Gothenburg, Sweden-based Kyte was a solid debut by a very promising group. In fact, I called them the best new band of 2008.

Issued 40 years ago today, the English Beat’s closest brush with the mainstream still incorporated all of these bizarrely effective moments of creativity.

Aviation Blondes’ debut LP was contemporary pop-rock music, and not the garage rock that you’d expect from the Get Hip label.

Terry Carolan has been an unstoppable force on the alternative-music scene since the early ’70s.

Tom Shotton’s 10-track debut sounds like Billy Joel interacting with Rupert Holmes, supported by occasional input from Steely Dan.