CALAMITY POP: Pop Friction

Calamity Pop

Pop Friction

© 2004 Paul Russell (634479916120)

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Classic, yet contemporary, Adult Oriented Rock/Pop. With strong songs, meaningful lyrics, superb guitar work and cool hooks. Combine all this with a unique and talented vocalist and you have an idea of what we're all about.

notes

Calamity Pop is an exciting retro pop/rock project that makes tuneful and interesting rock music with modern touches. The songs are strong, memorable and eclectic. And to cap it all, they are sung by Zukh - one of the most versatile and expressive voices you'll ever hear.

Personnel

Vocals: Zukh
Lead Guitar: Paul Danial
5 and 6 string bass: Miqael Das
Drums: Asmail
Keys, Samples, Loops, Guitars: Paul Russell

Pop Friction has taken nearly 20 years to make. Some of the songs started life in the late 80's. Others are hot off the press. They're all well-produced and very easy to listen to, from the rock-out punk-ska of 'Game', through the Latin dance-floor filler 'Rollercoaster', to the poignant and dub-like 'Swept Away'.

Chart Success
Early mixes of some of these songs have been #1 hits on Internet Charts, including
Mp3.com
1Sound.com
Soundclick.com

The album was recorded in 24bit 48Khz digital stereo in the band's own studio, then mastered through the DW system at Sonopress Singapore. It's an audiophile's dream.

Here's a review by one of our first buyers, Juan Areola from San Diego:

"I got this CD last Thursday. I have listened to it in my car, at work, on my computer speakers and my home stereo speakers. I have to say that I'm very impressed. Very professional. Not just the sonic qualities, but also the
arrangements, dynamics, musicianship, songwriting, etc. You'd be hard pressed to distinguish the quality of this recording to other major record label recordings.

"As far as the artistic side goes, I think that some of these tracks are worthy of HEAVY radio airplay. The highlights include "Rollercoaster", "Heaven", "Rain" and "Swept Away" ("Heaven" and "Rain" actually occur as tracks 4 and 3 when played, even though they are listed as 3 and 4 respectively on the CD cover). "Heaven" is probably the most "radio friendly" song on the album (and it comes in two versions- the "bonus" one being as nice as the "original" one). I could only imagine if Brian Adams sang that song what kind of reception it would get, although the singer who sings it on this CD is ever better than him. The beautiful backing vocals really convince you that you really are in heaven. My favorite song is "Rain". It has the type of languishing, soulful singing that I am a sucker for. Sounds like a male version of SADE. Although these are some of the better songs, there is not a bad song on this album.

"And this album has also given me a good idea of just how well SONAR can produce recordings. Thanks to Paul (and the band) for attaining such a high standard! Best of luck!!

Market Research

During the creation process, we test all our material on the internet with other songwriters and music creators. Primarily we use Internet newsgroups to gauge reaction on material and production standards. All of these quotes can be verified by a Google search.

Here is what some people have said about us:

SONAR Newsgroup (news.cakewalk.com: Product SONAR)

Your (singer's) voice kicks major-label ass. The verse and chorus are great!! you've managed to blend early 80's AOR rock (think Asia) and new rock like Incubus
and it is awesome!! You have a great flair for melody and chords
- Wally Hooker (walterhooker@hotmail.com), 25 March 2003,
-

Nice work! I checked out your website and listened to the other songs as
well. I can't get 'Ever Let Me Go' out of my head. - Carl Jensen (carl@paragonxp.com) 25 March 2003,


i cant say enough great things about your material man. it rocks. i must say honestly, i havent been looking forward to a cd coming out in a long time. ummm soul asylums grave dancers union it was. god i love that record, it was the last time i truly wanted a CD, until i heard Calamity
Pop's stuff

regards,
your #1 fan - Stuart Smith, (ssmith@bh-architects.com) 25 March 2003,

This is better than a lot of stuff I've heard even on radio. - Andre Lefebvre, Ontario, Canada 26 Feb 2003



Rec.music.makers.songwriters
All of these quotes can be verified by a Google search.

Nice stuff, big, big sound. Very latin Joe Jackson
meets Fastball - Jacques Goudreault jacques433@yahoo.com, 12 Nov 2002

nice!!
I wouldn't be surprised to hear this on the
radio; it has commercial appeal (in my opinion).

good job!
42five, 12/11/2002
http://42five.iuma.com


Funk is this, I'd say. Good stuff too. You've got a thing for them horns (actually they remind me of two-tone/ska to a degree - this whole track does). There are some really good sections in this, a guitar (distort) coming in for a bar or two just on one chord and then disappearing. Man this is what we turn up for . It's eclectic (not funk) someone said Latino, maybe - I think there's a great depth of influence to this. It rocks! - Mike Morgan mikeplaystheorgan@btopenworld.com, 12/11/2002



Love that bass, Paul! This is hooky as buggery, pardon my french but I haven't got an awful lot more to say it's just totally infectious, can't remember a word other than 'I kissed her' but I don't really give a shit it was worth it just for the piano and bass and drums and anything else that popped its head round the corner to say 'Hi'. Nice one! - Mike Morgan mikeplaystheorgan@btopenworld.com, 20/1/2003



Great stuff - reminds me of being on holiday. This track would be excellent to hear in a live setting - I can imagine I'd struggle to stand still. My feet were working overtime under my desk just now.
Superb production too. Keep it up! - Sorby sorby@wedgie.freeserve.co.uk 29/10/2002


I thought when I was listening that there was a lot of interesting things going on there that you wouldn't normally notice in dance music, it's like you can actually listen to it as well as dance so for me it works on two levels. Gary Yeoman, snabbu@optushome.com.au 30/10/2002


DUDE ! ! !
your band rocks the free world.....
I listened to all four songs on your site.....
you guys are onto something here.......
and your new vocalist KICKS ASS ! ! - 60 cycle hum (David Norris) 26/2/2003



A good ride! Reminds me of Tom Petty or John Mellencamp. I like this very much... =Bob= bob@threestrands.com 20/1/2003

reviews

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  • Well...what can you say about musicians who are involved with their music?
    author: Insurection

    Back in the days of record shops and other such palaeontological paraphernalia of my younger days I used to comb through the back alley shops in hopes of a *find*. A *find* consisted of a record by a band I've never heard of, but had a seductive enough cover to cause me to lay down my cash. Of course these sort of finds had a success ratio of about 30:1. That said the reward of finding the *one* was a wonderful enough expierience to keep me intrigued and buying more *finds*. Fast forward to today with our selection of Internet driven bands thatonly put out singles on iTunes; Blast email spam to all those who expressed even the most minute interest; And have their very own high positioned all hit on every search engine webpage; And a music critic could just puke. There's now too much of a good thing. Those secret finds aren't secret, aren't finds, and aren't really what I say is good music. Now what point am I making? It's this band /creation/brainchild of Mr. Paul Russell, Pop Friction. I can't get the music out of my head. It attacks my sensibilities. It kind of pissed me off. It's not the 1980's, it's time to move forward. However Mr. Russell and friends have crushed that expectation in me. And crushed while taking 20 years to create these tracks. I now have to eat my words. I have to eat more than that. I have to have more of this CD. Now for fun, while listening to track one try to figure out what song inspired the song Rollercoaster. When you do it will lead you on a wild ride of it's own into mind of master musician/producer Paul Russell. It will also give you a hint into what Mr Russell did prior to this forray back into music. Then walk in the sinewy dreamy yoga of *Rain*, and melt into the evening time; Evening happens to be the best time to listen to this album...but only with Rain on, a few smokes and a martini or two...all I can say is I'm melting. Now the only *problem song* is Ask her Anyway. They vacillate between Joe Jackson lyrics, and Brian Adams singing,and the Bon Jovi adaptive research method of writing songs. It's a throw away. No matter, the rest of the CD easily overcomes that minor fault. And Mr Russell seems to understand who his audience is, and delivers a CD to them. Funny thing though, It's obvious to this write that he delivers to himself first, and just lets us come along for a ride.

  • Best Pop in quite a while...
    author: Joseph R Regan

    Calamity Pop is on the verge of releasing their next Release (CD Set). Great news as Pop Friction has 'circled the track' for quite a while. I've listened to these cuts so much I burnt myself out. (My issues..) You'll always go back to the bands songs, so catchy and uplifting... CP, rock on and keep the studio time on your schedule!

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