New York, NY (Top40 Charts/ Western Publicity) Great Ideas in Action, the third album by Chicago-based rock act Archie Powell & the Exports, brims with power-pop hooks at every turn-most of them arriving courtesy of Powell's own ultra-melodic guitar work...while an ever-escalating energy level makes the whole thing feel as urgent as a real-time news crawl. Billboard Magazine
Has bemused cynicism and ennui ever been so fun? Archie Powell & the Exports have made a career of grafting prismatic power pop and a sardonic, dark worldview into guileless songs with hooks galore. Great Ideas in Action is the band's third release of deceptively sophisticated songs and the response has been stellar.
After the fine folks at World Cafe called the album "a soundtrack to summer", they booked a performance and interview, the band were featured on Esquire's Best New Songs online and were featured on Spinner's Listening Party. A Billboard review is on the way, and they've received raves from great weeklies like Nuvo Weekly, Providence
Phoenix and Time Out
Chicago among others. Here is what Chicago's Red Eye had to say "Catchy songs don't just materialize out of thin air. Yet local rockers Archie Powell and the Exports crank out clever, crazily infectious songs like its no big deal." They gave it a perfect 4 out of 4 stars. The Lincoln Journal Star wrote "Archie Powell & The Exports is a
Chicago rock 'n' roll band that operates in poppy territory but brings the bite with the words, delivering painfully observant lyrics right out of the
Elvis Costello school.
In the meantime, college radio stations are reacting, the record debuted in the CMJ Top 200 last week and jumped to #129 this week. The band hit the road in late April and made their way east, they continue playing US dates before hitting a two week stand in Canada. Their new video for "Crazy Pills" has been featured on Blurt Online, NPR, Esquire and Loud Loop Press among others, watch it here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gr0i67BAZxY
Archie Powell makes songcraft look simple; he is incapable of writing an un-danceable tune, whether he turns a jaundiced eye on the culture of self-medication or whipping up a 3 minute heist story. Blink and it's killer catchy rock, blink twice and it's social commentary that is sad, biting, funny but ultimately incredibly honest. Powell's writing could easily come from someone twice his age but it never feels studied - his humanity just shines through and demolishes any doubts about where he stands.
It's not hard to find stories in the news about the thousands of debt-ridden young people who are getting out of college and finding that there is nothing out there for them. While Archie claims he was an art student and knew what he was getting into, he's written a pretty great protest song for his peers in "Job Fair", singing "Hey baby, please can you cut some slack? You know I'll settle up tomorrow if you got my back, I've been running out of luck cuz it's about who you know, and all my resumes are fake and I don't know where to go."
The album was produced, engineered and mixed by Justin Perkins (formerly of Yesterday's Kids, The Obsoletes and Screeching Weasel) at Howl Street Studios and The Mystery Room in Milwaukee during the fall of 2011.
Archie Powell & the Exports on Tour:
May 9, Flask Lounge - Portland, ME
May 10, Lucky Dog
Music Hall - Worcester, MA
May 11, Mohawk Place - Buffalo, NY
May 13, Strega Cafe - St. Catharines, ON
May 14, The Brass - London, ON
May 15, Casbah - Hamilton, ON
May 16, Cafe Deckuf - Ottawa, ON
May 17, Divan
Orange - Montreal, QC
May 19,
Plan B - Moncton, NB
May 20, Baba's Lounge - Charlottetown, PE
May 21, Falls Brook Centre - Knowlesville, NB
May 22, The Spill Cafe - Peterborough, ON
May 24, The Mansion - Kingston, ON
May 25, The Legendary Horseshoe Tavern - Toronto, ON
May 27, Mulligans Pub - Grand Rapids, MI
For music and more, visit https://www.archiepowellandtheexports.com/press.html
