Telephone Lovers

My immediate response to first hearing Telephone Lovers was to surmise that the band had to be from Los Angeles. I got that right, although I may have been about 40 years off in pinning down the time frame! Telephone Lovers' self-titled debut just screams "L.A. power pop" - and in my mind I see this band sharing a stage with The Nerves or 20/20 in 1977. Telephone Lovers take it back to a time when power pop was one of our purest forms of rock n' roll - coming on like modern day heirs to the likes of Dwight Twilley, The Raspberries, Flamin' Groovies, and Scruffs. Even with an added pinch of New York Dolls/Hollywood Brats street tough glamour, the vibe here is so perfectly mid-'70s power pop that it's not hard to imagine any of these tracks turning up on the old Rhino Come Out and Play compilation. - FASTER & LOUDER

Brilliant, self-titled, period-perfect power-pop from just yesterday! These Angelenos clearly marinated in the streamline and stripped-down tunefulness of Paul Collins Beat, 20/20, Dwight Twilley, Flamin' Groovies, and all the other usual suspects. Telephone Lovers ape that dry production and tight, verging-on-distorted guitar sound, midtempo drive, and drawly vocals all the best records of the genre featured. Pick any track – "Downtown Girl," "Without You," anything – pop it into your boom box, and find yourself transported into the eternal 1979 of skinny ties and skinnier sounds. Nice attention to detail. - Austin Chronicle