I was walking through my local grocery store the other day looking for some generic cereals and sodas, and I'm pretty damn sure I saw a 12-pack of something called Mr. Pop, which is of course a knockoff of Mr. Pibb, which is of course a knockoff of Dr. Pepper. Mr. Pop was not "calling" me that day, so I went with an even-better titled ripoff soda (called Mountain Holler, an obvious ripoff of Mountain Dew), but, hey, it just so happens to also be the title of The Clean's newest album. On September 8, New Zealand's famed jangly punk band The Clean will release an album titled Mister Pop, its first new studio album since 2001's Getaway. According to a press release:
Mister Pop sees The Clean continue the great pop pastiche. Circus ragas (“Moonjumper”), gorgeously hazy sunset anthems (“In the Dreamlife You Need a Rubber Soul”), and the sometimes-loose Dada approach to wordsmithery continue right alongside “proper” lyrical forays, and a few Autobahn-referential instrumental moments to boot (“Tensile”). Bob’s love of pastoral UK folk has brought some added weight into the overall Clean equation, as does David’s Eastern and African guitar jones, though all this has always fit in with—and still constitutes—the total basis of the Clean sound journey.
If September 8 is too far away, you can get a little sneak peak on Merge's website, where you can download "In the Dreamlife You Need a Rubber Soul." Or better yet, here's Mister Pop's tracklist:
1. Loog
2. Are You Really On Drugs?
3. In the Dreamlife You Need a Rubber Soul
4. Asleep In the Tunnel
5. Back In the Day
6. Moonjumper
7. Factory Man
8. Simple Fix
9. Tensile
10. All Those Notes
