{"id":15043,"date":"2018-08-23T05:30:01","date_gmt":"2018-08-23T09:30:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=15043"},"modified":"2026-07-29T09:23:44","modified_gmt":"2026-07-29T13:23:44","slug":"hundred-word-reviews-for-august-2018-part-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2018\/08\/23\/hundred-word-reviews-for-august-2018-part-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Hundred-word Reviews for August 2018, Part 2"},"content":{"rendered":"

Herewith are ten more 100-word reviews of recent new releases. As they used to say, \u201cCollect \u2018em all, kids!\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Denny Seiwell Trio \u2014 Boomerang
\n<\/i><\/b>Rock fans of a certain age may recognize Seiwell\u2019s name; he was (for a time) the drummer in a \u201870s British group called Wings. That background has nearly zero to do musically with what you\u2019ll find here: his Trio is a taut and inventive jazz collective. There is a pop-leaning mindset here, in terms of melodicism and accessibility. Even when the meters are tricky, it\u2019s tuneful. Seiwell\u2019s nominally the star, but all three players are amazing. A swinging, soul jazz cover of McCartney\u2019s \u201cLive and Let Die\u201d is a delight, as is a reading of Eddie Harris\u2019 \u201cCold Duck Time.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Walter Salas-Humara \u2014 Walterio
\n<\/i><\/b>Salas-Humara is best known for his work with the Silos<\/a>, and this solo release has a feel not far removed from that group’s work (though it\u2019s reminiscent a bit of Fastball as well). He sings in Spanish on a few tunes, but your lack of understanding of his lyrics shouldn’t lessen your enjoyment of rockers like \u201cEl Camino de Oro.\u201d There\u2019s a nicely jagged texture to the songs that calls to mind Rank and File, the Replacements and other no-bullshit modern rockers. Salas-Humara knows how to write a memorable melody, and the arrangements here balance nicely between stripped-down and expansive.<\/p>\n

\"\"Billy Gibbons \u2014 The Big Bad Blues
\n<\/i><\/b>If memory serves, those early ZZ Top albums featured a notice on the sleeves to the effect of \u201cno synthesizer!\u201d Of course the group later found massive success churning out cheesy pop that was miles away from the blues-rock aesthetic of those early records. I saw them live in 2014 and they were a pale shell of what they had once been. Happily, this new solo release from guitarist Gibbons shows that \u2014 disposable \u201880s pap be damned \u2014 he can still crank out authentic, quality music at will. Originals, covers and a sense of humor make this a winner.<\/p>\n

\"\"Rob Dixon \u2014 Coast to Crossroads
\n<\/i><\/b>Here\u2019s an interesting modern jazz recording. There are certainly elements of bop and post-bop in these eleven cuts, but a modern sensibility gives it a current-day feel. It helps that some of the material explored comes from composers like Terence Trent Darby and Dr. Dre. There\u2019s a very dry production aesthetic (the sessions were produced by guitarist Charlie Hunter, who\u2019s part of the four-man ensemble) that gives the resulting recordings a you-are-there feel. Some tunes lean in an abstract direction while others are supremely melodic. Dixon plays saxophones, joined by Hunter (on 7-string), drummer Mike Clark and trombonist Ernest Stuart.<\/p>\n

\"\"Leland and the Silver Wells \u2014 s\/t
\n<\/i><\/b>A number of years ago I discovered the wonderful Starling Electric<\/a>. That group drew upon Pet Sounds<\/em>-era Beach Boys, added a rock mindset and crafted a nearly perfect album in Clouded Staircase<\/em>. This album sounds like the results of Leland Ettinger aiming for the same goal and coming up with her own singular and unique results. The lengthy credits read like one of Brian Wilson\u2019s \u201860s sessions (hey: Probyn Gregory\u2019s even in there!), but in the same way that Brian could use scores of players and produce results that were somehow all him, this is Ettinger\u2019s project all the way.<\/p>\n

\"\"The Davenports \u2014 Don\u2019t Be Mad at Me
\n<\/i><\/b>\u201cWhere Shall We Hang Elena?\u201d sounds like what you\u2019d expect an early Ben Folds demo to sound like. Like Folds, Scott Klass comes from a songwriting perspective that combines pathos and more upbeat emotions. But the album rocks hard in places, too: the infectious \u201cI Don\u2019t Know What to Do\u201d sounds like a twisted take on Fountains of Wayne\u2019s approach. The album veers between disparate approaches: baroque one moment, folky the next, riff-rocking after that. \u201cFreedom\u201d sounds like Violent Femmes crossed with early Beach Boys. The album may be too stylistically varied for some tastes, but I dig it.<\/p>\n

\"\"Peter Holsapple \u2014 Game Day
\n<\/i><\/b>Peter Holsapple<\/a>‘s one of my favorite lyricists. He writes memorable tunes and gives them lyrics that work both on a surface, sing-along level, but the words hold up to close scrutiny as well. Though he enlists some musical friends on a few cuts, for the most part Game Day<\/i> is Holsapple\u2019s work. Musically, it bears some similarities to The Sound of Music<\/i>, a late-period dB\u2019s album from the era when the band most reflected Holsapple\u2019s musical sensibilities. Those who appreciate his eclectic approach will delight in left-field tunes like the sorta-blooz of \u201cIn Too Deep,\u201d but the whole thing\u2019s superb.<\/p>\n

\"\"Robert Poss \u2014 Frozen Flowers Curse the Day
\n<\/i><\/b>It\u2019s a rare album that’s both all-over-the-place yet still somehow cohesive. This is one. With its hypnotically intertwining acoustic and electric textures, \u201cMore Frozen Flowers\u201d sounds like a cross between Robert Fripp\u2019s League of Crafty Guitarists and \u2026 Fripp\u2019s solo work. \u201cThe Sixth Sense\u201d is heavier and more rock oriented, but pleasingly hazy. The droning \u201cPartial Clearing\u201d suggests a Glenn Branca influence. The lengthy excerpt of \u201cTime Frames Marking Time\u201d suggests what Eno might sound like if he played guitar. Shimmering soundscapes and woozy, textured tone poems characterize this deeply inviting collection of ten pieces. Avant is rarely so accessible.<\/p>\n

\"\"William Duke \u2014 Quatro
\n<\/i><\/b>Duke writes delightfully catchy melodies and delivers them with panache. Quatro<\/i> is a bit more immediate than his earlier album, The Dark Beautiful Sun<\/i><\/a>, and that one remains a personal favorite of mine. Most songwriters would kill to be able to write a song as tuneful as \u201cCaroline and the Silver Screen,\u201d but Duke does so several times on this eight-song collection. By current-day album standards it\u2019s a bit on the shortish side, but I\u2019ll take quality over quantity any day. There are countless qualities that make Quatro<\/i> special, but pressed to name just one, I\u2019d point to the vocal harmonies.<\/p>\n

\"\"Sarah Borges & the Broken Singles \u2014 Love\u2019s Middle Name
\n<\/i><\/b>I was fortunate to see Borges onstage not long ago, doing a set of well-chosen covers with Amy Black<\/a>; at the time I had no idea just what a fine songwriter Borges is. Though her work is sometimes described as straddling punk and country, that sells it a bit short. The tunes are strong, the hooks are sharp, and Borges is a more authentic rocker than most others I could name. The album\u2019s deliberately raw-edge production aesthetic (courtesy Eric \u201cRoscoe” Ambel<\/a>, who knows how) suits the material perfectly. Ultimately, Love\u2019s Middle Name<\/i> sounds like what the Pretenders should<\/i> sound like.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Herewith are ten more 100-word reviews of recent new releases. As they used to say, \u201cCollect \u2018em all, kids!\u201d Denny Seiwell Trio \u2014 Boomerang Rock fans of a certain age […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15063,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,9,42,49,62,65],"tags":[3538,3541,3536,3540,1692,3539,3542,3543,3537,2582],"class_list":["post-15043","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-avant-garde","category-blues","category-jazz","category-new-release","category-rawk","category-review","tag-billy-gibbons","tag-davenports","tag-denny-seiwell","tag-leland-ettinger","tag-peter-holsapple","tag-rob-dixon","tag-robert-poss","tag-sarah-borges","tag-walter-salas-humara","tag-william-duke","cat-7-id","cat-9-id","cat-42-id","cat-49-id","cat-62-id","cat-65-id","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15043","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=15043"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15043\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":32044,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15043\/revisions\/32044"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15063"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15043"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15043"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15043"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}