Various Artists: Shake Your Popboomerang

If you’re listening to the Stoneage Hearts’ “Shake Your Popboomerang”, the first song on the identically-titled Shake Yer Popboomerang, you may find yourself thinking, “Gosh, it’s pretty darned coincidental that a song with this title should be the lead-off track of a disc bearing the exact same title.” If you do, indeed, find yourself thinking this, it may well be an indication that you’re a little stupid, because, of course, it’s absolutely no coincidence at all; the song was written specifically for the compilation.

Popboomerang Records first sprung onto the scene late in 2002, when they released Sing Till It Hurts, the debut EP by Sarah Sarah, who, perhaps inevitably, also make an appearance on this collection. In fact, their contribution, “Ignorance & Arrogance”, may well be a viable theme song for the Australian power pop community: “Refuse to play our demo on the air / For our vocal stylings, you don’t care / You say you’re an Australian show, but you’re only airing the people that you know”.

Some of Australia’s finest musicians can be found amongst the 23 tracks on Shake Your Popboomerang, among them Dom Mariani (the Stems, the Someloves, DM3), Joe Algeri (Jack & the Beanstalk), Charles Jenkins (Ice Cream Hands), and one of the brightest rising stars in the power pop community, Danny McDonald. In fact, McDonald collaborates with Algeri on “‘Til the End”, though it’s interesting to find that the partnership took place completely by E-mail; as of the date the press release was written, the two had never actually met.

Judging by this collection, the pop scene down under is decidedly diverse. Magneto’s “Living on the Moon” sounds like a cross between the Replacements and the Wonder Stuff; Her Majesty’s Finest fire off a missile of Rickenbacker-powered garage pop. Starky’s “Yesterday I Drove Your Girlfriend Home” begins with a trumpet, while Smallgoods’ “Listen to the Radio,” though a bit underproduced, contains five-part harmonies. The Dreamdayers’ contribution, “I Will Listen”, is reminiscent of the Connells’ best work.

The Decembers are one of those groups who make road-weary artists want to punch holes in the wall, as they make their debut with “Saving Everything” while announcing in the press release that it’s “our first ever recording as a band; we haven’t even played our first gig yet!”

The Elements produce one of the album’s most perfect songs with “Ordinary Day”, a piano-laden pop track featuring the group’s first attempt at a string arrangement; rest assured, the result is exquisite. Immediately following is “Dancing Girl”, by Tim Reid (not the one who played Venus Flytrap on WKRP in Cincinnati), which variously resembles Jon Brion, Neil Finn, and, as the press release suggests, perhaps even a bit of Elliot Smith; suffice it to say that these comparisons are intended to be complimentary. Another particular highlight from the second half of the album comes from Showbag!, whose “Goodbye Friend” was mixed by Michael Carpenter, a fine Australian popster in his own right.

There are a few bummers here and there (Superscope’s “Untitled Demo #1” is about as well thought out as you’d expect with a title like that), but, overall, it’s hard to call Shake Your Popboomerang anything other than a qualified success; like its spiritual predecessor, Pop on Top!, it spotlights an often-unheralded side of Australian music and whets ones appetite for full-length platters by the artists included. Whether Popboomerang Records will become the Not Lame of Down Under remains to be seen, but, at the very least, this album certainly finds them headed in the right direction.