Budokan — yes, as in Cheap Trick’s At Budokan — understand two of the key principles of good power pop: Make it loud and make it catchy. The Vancouver band doesn’t reinvent the wheel with their debut, Spin A Little Gold, but they know exactly what works and they throw everything into it.

Saint Joan is a snarling machine of crunchy power and bouncy ooh-ooh backing vocals. Gone Back Home could have been written by Sloan. Opening track The Queen’s English is time-shifting, hook party — one of those songs where you find yourself humming a different part after each listen.

I love when a band just gets it. The guitars are fierce, the vocals committed, and the drums pounding. For 13 songs, Budokan goes, goes, goes until you’re equally elated and exhausted. And then you hit play again. Check them out!