It’s 2005, half a decade into the 21^st century, and what do we have to define rock-n-roll? Maybe by withdrawing from the mainstream and locking myself in the musical universe of independent releases, I’ve missed the next wave of truly stimulating tunage. In the meantime, what has been unlocked for me is a great deal of artists who draw their inspiration from decades past, and molt, melt, and mold it into something that can be experienced as refreshingly new.

The self-titled debut release by The Day Traders is a serious record of True Pop proportions that seems to grow grander with each subsequent track of Big Beat sound that explodes all over the ears. Tonight I Wanna Be Sad opens the disc with that Big Phat sound introducing a Simon & Garfunkel with reversed roles. The Day Traders are the songwriting team of Mitchell Linker and Jeff Norberg (both formerly of The Dent). Here Mitchell with his distinct androgynous lead vocals plays Art Garfunkel in the Paul Simon role – up front leading, while Jeff, on various lead guitars and harmony vocals, is extremely effective playing Paul in the Art role of laying back. Mixed in and through a solid Elton John songwriting style, Linker and Norberg display a mastery of the skills that propelled Sir Elton to the top of the Pop charts in the early 70s. The Day Traders’ rendition of harmonious pop lends itself perfectly to the stories the lyrics relate to us, taking the love/relationship tales that are the definition of pop, and gift-wrapping them in a musical accompaniment that has us smiling and singing along, even if it is to a song about wanting to be sad, because through the presentation of it we understand that, yes, he is (we are) sad, but he (we) will get over it and life will go on and still be beautiful, whether because of, or in spite of, the situation that warranted the sadness – Rejoice!

Maybe that’s the appeal of pop: the art of taking all the heartfelt misery that life supplies us and making it something to sing about. Through the lifting of our vocal spirits we are allowed to exercise the pain of everyday situations, and what better subject matter to reach the masses with than that of love: young, adolescent, so true, so pure, so unblemished that it must be the one and only thing in life and then BAM, it’s gone, over, through, and your whole world collapses. If anything, pop must be centered around teen anthems, and the team of Linker and Norberg must have ripped these stories out of their High School diaries to bring us this CD, because it is chock full of every teen heartache that can be imagined as well as experienced.

Songs such as Why, Out Of My Head, and Worry About You, couple the teen anthem/angst with a Big Beat sound that conjures up the Camo-Psychedelic feel of Echo & The Bunnymen, the Lucy In The Sky production of The Beatles, and the New Wave syntho-pop of The Cars and Gang Of Four respectively, while giving the accessibility of Vintage ’72-’76 Elton John/Billy Joel piano-man style/era songwriting singalongability of the want/need to be loved break-up songs that’ll have the teens bouncing and screaming along.

Fantasy perfectly emphasizes this. Picture that you’re in the theater and it’s the scene after the final scene of a Boy meets Girl, Boy and Girl fall in love, Boy and Girl are torn apart, Boy and Girl will never see each other again type movie. The Boy is resigned to the fact that he will never again be with her, cue music, up swells Fantasy with its feel good chorus, “You’re always gonna be my only fantasy/This time I know that I’ll never let it go/You’re always gonna be my only fantasy,” as the scene goes to a full production of our hero/goat as he sings this ode, cut to the band playing, cut to the girl appearing (and of course stepping into his fantasy) – she’s back, cut to the band, cut to the Boy and Girl spinning around, cut to flashbacks of prior scenes in the movie, cut to Boy and Girl hugging and knowing full well that the fantasy has become true, roll credits and as we listen to the song wind down we can see the couples walking out of the theater humming the theme song. We’re talking a #1 single off a platinum selling soundtrack of the feel good date movie of the year! Are there any screenwriters out there that need some inspiration? Give Fantasy a listen and give The Day Traders a call.

Things get even more interesting when Linker (as Garfunkel playing Simon) and Norberg (as Simon playing Garfunkel) take it to the next step and have Norberg (as Simon) step to the forefront (as Garfunkel would do) and Linker (as Garfunkel) step to the back (as Simon would do) for a few compositions. The first, Sorry About The Time, is as beautiful a sentimental goodbye ballad as all sentimental goodbye ballads, and truly makes The Day Traders more of who they are. By trading places, Norberg’s lead vocals and Linker’s backing harmonies offer a sensuous contrast to what we’ve already been won over by. Goodnight, also with Norberg’s lead vocal, explores a Thomas Dolby/Howard Jones meets Steve Winwood style that captures a Steely Dan jam squeezed through Beach Boy harmonies. It’s a funky intense ride that skirts techno while tipping the hat to the healing powers of sex. Norberg’s final lead vocal contribution, Someone Else Will, crosses into territories that surprise and boggle: think America run through a blender with Neil Young, Pink Floyd, and David Bowie and you might be somewhere near it.

Throughout the rest of the disc we can find influences as varied as RadioHead, Duran Duran, REM, Sonic Youth, and everything that made AM radio the best in the 60s. Many accolades must be given to Saul Zonana’s role in this CD. As well as recording, engineering, and producing, he is co-credited with songwriting, and credited with multiple instruments (bass, various acoustic and electric guitars, harmony vocals, Mini-moog, percussion). Kevin Hupp, Kevin Bents, and Aaron Coness on various percussion instruments complete the band and make this debut CD as slick, professional, and accessible as any of the LPs of the early 70s, true pop’s last golden era.

Haven’t heard anything lately that reminds you of the feel good breakup pop songs you use to sing along with as a teen? Give The Day Traders a spin; you may be surprised that it isn’t pressed on vinyl. And for you teens out there who may be just discovering the beauty that is a well crafted pop song, remember that The Day Traders draw their inspiration from decades past, and molt, melt, and mold it into something that can be experienced as refreshingly new.