{"id":11867,"date":"2016-12-01T05:30:07","date_gmt":"2016-12-01T10:30:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=11867"},"modified":"2016-12-01T08:21:23","modified_gmt":"2016-12-01T13:21:23","slug":"hundred-word-reviews-for-nov-dec-2016-part-9-of-10","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2016\/12\/01\/hundred-word-reviews-for-nov-dec-2016-part-9-of-10\/","title":{"rendered":"Hundred-word Reviews for Nov.\/Dec. 2016, Part 9 of 10"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-11869\" src=\"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/gary_ritchie.jpg\" alt=\"gary_ritchie\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/gary_ritchie.jpg 300w, http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/gary_ritchie-150x150.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><br \/>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"float: right; padding: 10px; width: 120px; height: 240px;\" src=\"\/\/ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com\/widgets\/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&amp;OneJS=1&amp;Operation=GetAdHtml&amp;MarketPlace=US&amp;source=ss&amp;ref=as_ss_li_til&amp;ad_type=product_link&amp;tracking_id=musoscribe-20&amp;marketplace=amazon&amp;region=US&amp;placement=B01GQSFIW4&amp;asins=B01GQSFIW4&amp;linkId=b8910939993c6fadab8cbef6a5b9ae95&amp;show_border=true&amp;link_opens_in_new_window=true\" width=\"300\" height=\"150\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><br \/>\n<b>Gary Ritchie \u2013 <\/b><i><b>Poptimistic<\/b><\/i><br \/>\nStyle: powerpop<br \/>\nMelodic, good-natured powerpop is the order of the day on Ritchie&#8217;s new album. Musical touchstones include the obvious ones (<b>Beatles<\/b>, <b>Raspberries<\/b>, <b>Romantics<\/b>) and some perhaps less obvious ones (he reminds me a good bit of <b>Donnie Iris<\/b>). There&#8217;s always room on my shelf for some quirk-free rock &#8216;n&#8217; roll, especially with a self-effacing sense of humor. Ritchie is aided by <b>Jeff King<\/b> on a couple of instruments (\u201cthe good stuff,\u201d says he) but otherwise this is completely Ritchie&#8217;s show. A good example of classic songwriting and arrangement, <i>Poptimistic<\/i> isn&#8217;t the least bit groundbreaking. Nor, ultimately, does it need to be.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-11870\" src=\"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/derek_sallmann.jpg\" alt=\"derek_sallmann\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/derek_sallmann.jpg 300w, http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/derek_sallmann-150x150.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><br \/>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"float: right; padding: 10px; width: 120px; height: 240px;\" src=\"\/\/ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com\/widgets\/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&amp;OneJS=1&amp;Operation=GetAdHtml&amp;MarketPlace=US&amp;source=ss&amp;ref=as_ss_li_til&amp;ad_type=product_link&amp;tracking_id=musoscribe-20&amp;marketplace=amazon&amp;region=US&amp;placement=B01MRNR9WW&amp;asins=B01MRNR9WW&amp;linkId=b9494c8b39b7ba22d24ec9674172d012&amp;show_border=true&amp;link_opens_in_new_window=true\" width=\"300\" height=\"150\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><br \/>\n<b>Derek Sallmann \u2013 <\/b><i><b>All Seasons<\/b><\/i><br \/>\nStyle: pop<br \/>\nYoung Derek Sallman makes pop of a kind one rarely hears any more. His music may remind listeners of (<b>Will<\/b>) <b>Owsley<\/b>, a sarcasm-free <b>Ben Folds<\/b>, or even (shudder) <b>Michael Bubl\u00e9<\/b> in his pop-leaning moments. And that&#8217;s meant in a good way. His high and crystal-clear voice conveys just the right amount of angst and melancholy, and his compositions balance those qualities with a sunny optimism. Sallmann sings and plays acoustic; mostly-nameless others handle the rest. Apparently he&#8217;s been making music since 13. If he sticks with it, the 20-year-old college senior should have a bright musical future ahead of him.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-11871\" src=\"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/owen_sartori.jpg\" alt=\"owen_sartori\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/owen_sartori.jpg 300w, http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/owen_sartori-150x150.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><br \/>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"float: right; padding: 10px; width: 120px; height: 240px;\" src=\"\/\/ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com\/widgets\/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&amp;OneJS=1&amp;Operation=GetAdHtml&amp;MarketPlace=US&amp;source=ss&amp;ref=as_ss_li_til&amp;ad_type=product_link&amp;tracking_id=musoscribe-20&amp;marketplace=amazon&amp;region=US&amp;placement=B013RJ9QBY&amp;asins=B013RJ9QBY&amp;linkId=547ace83900be89c45b036f1ed1f38de&amp;show_border=true&amp;link_opens_in_new_window=true\" width=\"300\" height=\"150\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><br \/>\n<b>Owen Sartori \u2013 <\/b><i><b>Nobody Gives a Damn<\/b><\/i><br \/>\nStyle: rock<br \/>\nPerhaps a bit oddly, the one-sheet press release for this album spends as much ink discussing the Minneapolis recording studio that Sartori co-owns as it does discussing this album. (Apparently <i>Nobody Gives a Damn<\/i> is one of three he&#8217;s releasing simultaneously.) His is the story of someone signed to a major label only to be dropped. He&#8217;s back again as an indie artist, and he&#8217;s very good: Sartori writes strong melodies and a possesses a musical sensibility halfway between <a href=\"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2016\/05\/23\/album-mini-review-cheap-trick-bang-zoom-crazy-hello\/\"><b>Cheap Trick<\/b><\/a> and <a href=\"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2015\/01\/09\/album-review-jellyfish-bellybutton-and-spilt-milk\/\"><b>Jellyfish<\/b><\/a>. And he has a sense of humor that will be familiar to fans of those acts, too.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-11872\" src=\"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/stickmen_prognoir.jpg\" alt=\"stickmen_prognoir\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/stickmen_prognoir.jpg 300w, http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/stickmen_prognoir-150x150.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><br \/>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"float: right; padding: 10px; width: 120px; height: 240px;\" src=\"\/\/ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com\/widgets\/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&amp;OneJS=1&amp;Operation=GetAdHtml&amp;MarketPlace=US&amp;source=ss&amp;ref=as_ss_li_til&amp;ad_type=product_link&amp;tracking_id=musoscribe-20&amp;marketplace=amazon&amp;region=US&amp;placement=B01K39V524&amp;asins=B01K39V524&amp;linkId=ee84503bb9fec54cd8eb3ec88041f531&amp;show_border=true&amp;link_opens_in_new_window=true\" width=\"300\" height=\"150\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><br \/>\n<b>Stick Men \u2013 <\/b><i><b>Prog Noir<\/b><\/i><br \/>\nStyle: progressive rock<br \/>\nI do my best not to throw around the term <i>supergroup<\/i> when it&#8217;s not warranted. But this trio \u2013 touch guitarist <a href=\"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2011\/10\/12\/vignettes-from-the-two-of-a-perfect-trio-tour\/\"><b>Markus Reuter<\/b><\/a> (<b>Centrozoon<\/b>), bassist\/Chapman Stick man <a href=\"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2014\/10\/24\/back-to-bassics-a-chat-with-tony-levin\/\"><b>Tony Levin<\/b><\/a> (<b>King Crimson<\/b>, literally thousands of session dates) and drummer extraordinaire <a href=\"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2013\/08\/07\/stick-man-for-stick-men-the-pat-mastelotto-interview-part-1\/\"><b>Pat Mastelotto<\/b><\/a> (<b>King Crimson<\/b>, lots of session dates too) \u2013 deserves the label. Tony and Markus sing, which marks a departure for the trio. The music is uber-heavy in that proggy way, but it&#8217;s remarkably accessible, too. The use of the word <i>noir<\/i> in the title makes sense, too, as there&#8217;s a very moody, mysterious vibe to these ten songs.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-11873\" src=\"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/thor_friends.jpg\" alt=\"thor_friends\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/thor_friends.jpg 300w, http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/11\/thor_friends-150x150.jpg 150w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><br \/>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"float: right; padding: 10px; width: 120px; height: 240px;\" src=\"\/\/ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com\/widgets\/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&amp;OneJS=1&amp;Operation=GetAdHtml&amp;MarketPlace=US&amp;source=ss&amp;ref=as_ss_li_til&amp;ad_type=product_link&amp;tracking_id=musoscribe-20&amp;marketplace=amazon&amp;region=US&amp;placement=B01KN8E0UY&amp;asins=B01KN8E0UY&amp;linkId=403eaaeb32189a0f64b592158c4ea12d&amp;show_border=true&amp;link_opens_in_new_window=true\" width=\"300\" height=\"150\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><br \/>\n<b>Thor &amp; Friends \u2013 <\/b><i><b>Thor &amp; Friends<\/b><\/i><br \/>\nStyle: avant garde<br \/>\nThe packaging on this one nearly put me right off. A somewhat scary-looking middle-aged dude flanked by two young women? Yeah, I dunno about all that. But I gave it a spin and was surprised to discover a deeply textured album built around instruments not often found in a rock context: marimba, vibraphone, gongs, tubular bells, violin and so on. The pieces tend to be more tone poems than what most would think of as songs, and there&#8217;s some very creative use of reverb, distortion and dissonance that puts this in a category somewhere between <b>Velvet Underground<\/b> and <b>Glenn Branca<\/b>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Gary Ritchie \u2013 Poptimistic Style: powerpop Melodic, good-natured powerpop is the order of the day on Ritchie&#8217;s new album. Musical touchstones include the obvious ones (Beatles, Raspberries, Romantics) and some [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11869,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,49,51,55,56,62,65],"tags":[2913,2912,1410,2914,1652,2065,2915,2246],"class_list":["post-11867","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avant-garde","category-new-release","category-pop","category-powerpop","category-prog","category-rawk","category-review","tag-derek-sallmann","tag-gary-ritchie","tag-markus-reuter","tag-owen-sartori","tag-pat-mastelotto","tag-stick-men","tag-thor-friends","tag-tony-levin","cat-7-id","cat-49-id","cat-51-id","cat-55-id","cat-56-id","cat-62-id","cat-65-id","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11867","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11867"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11867\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11963,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11867\/revisions\/11963"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11869"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11867"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11867"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11867"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}