Music producer Ken Wank releases new LP 'Ken Wank's Pop Gems feat. Penny'

Released on: March 20, 2015, 4:09 pm (EDT)
Author: S. McCauley
Industry: Entertainment

Long Beach, CA, March 20, 2015 -- /EPR NETWORK/ -- The songwriter and music producer known as Ken Wank has released his latest full-length album, “Ken Wank's Pop Gems feat. Penny.” The record has been proudly published as an independent release entirely without the financial support of the corporate music industry. A remarkably comprehensive album comprising over an hour's worth of masterfully written pop and dance music, and featuring the compelling vocal work of Penny, “Ken Wank's Pop Gems” is an album fans of any music genre can appreciate.

Ken Wank is a songwriter with more than 30 years of experience. He cites as main artistic influences such legendary songsmiths as Tony Romeo (David Cassidy, the Partridge Family) and Stock Aitken Waterman (Kylie Minogue, Bananarama, others). While the emotional range of his “Pop Gems” is staggering and still somehow 100% danceable from top to bottom, the natural expertise with which Wank molds his songs stands out as one of the record's primary qualities, with Penny's vocals also ranking as exceptional in their raw precision and seemingly off-the-cuff delivery.

“I want my album to evoke a feeling of happiness with a lot of feel-good pop and pop/dance songs,” writes Wank. “The album is great for people who love today's pop music as well as those influenced by pop music from the '60s and '70s and a hint of the '80s.”

If the music fan will imagine a blend of 1960s pop principles, crossed with the higher energy of the 1970s nightclubs and largely performed with 1980s synth instrumentation, then something close to “Ken Wank's Pop Gems” can be the result. Particularly excellent singles from the LP to sample include “How Was I to Know,” “Intellectual” and “Right Place, Right Time,” all of which exemplify the subtly difficult art of American pop music.

A special nod must also be given to the work of Penny, whose earnest voice has that girl-next-door sound which was so treasured in the '60s, with songs like “Be My Baby” and “Leader of the Pack” becoming permanent fixtures in music history. Her singing is also mature and harmonically impeccable, however, with plenty of swing in her cadence and an infinite amount of unpretentious confidence which grows addicting after three or four tracks.

Ken Wank learned to play piano by ear at age five and began writing pop and dance songs in the '80s.

“Ever since, songwriting has become an absolute passion of mine,” he writes. “There would be the thrill of coming up with a new song and then the challenge of placing it with an artist or entering it into a contest. There was a lot of hard work along the way and although things didn't always go according to plan, the joy of getting publishing contracts, hearing other artists perform my songs and receiving songwriting awards has all been worth it.”