{"id":15501,"date":"2018-11-16T05:30:40","date_gmt":"2018-11-16T10:30:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=15501"},"modified":"2018-11-16T10:48:57","modified_gmt":"2018-11-16T15:48:57","slug":"hundred-word-reviews-november-2018-part-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2018\/11\/16\/hundred-word-reviews-november-2018-part-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Hundred-word Reviews, November 2018 Part 2"},"content":{"rendered":"

Here we go: even more hundred-word reviews. All new or recent releases, all worth a listen.<\/p>\n

\"\"RC & the Moonpie Band \u2013 All This
\n<\/i><\/b>I love me some rock \u2018n\u2019 roll. And I like (and occasionally love) the blues. What I enjoy far less often is the point on the Venn Diagram in which the two forms commingle. Often as not, the results aren\u2019t satisfying. This disc is a notable exception. The North Carolina-based group has an unadorned. down-home and funky vibe that\u2019s wholly unpretentious. The group even quotes the Kinks in the middle of a hypnotic and stomping blues (the title track of All This<\/i>) and makes it work. There\u2019s a welcome sense of humor on tunes like \u201cBig Ass Jug O\u2019 Wine.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Charlie Pickett \u2013 See You in Miami
\n<\/i><\/b>There\u2019s a kind of straight-ahead, hard-edged rock made by middle-aged white dudes. It draws from the sharp songwriting of artists like John Hiatt, and sometimes folds in the good-timing vibe of (shudder) Jimmy Buffett. One example of this substyle is former Eggs front man Charlie Pickett and his new album. This album has really loose-limbed feel, like a party record made by musicians with a bit of time on their hands. R.E.M.\u2019s Peter Buck plays lead guitar in a style you might not expect. The 11-song album has the shambolic feel of Alex Chilton; don\u2019t say you were not warned.<\/p>\n

\"\"Anthony Geraci \u2013 Why Did You Have to Go
\n<\/i><\/b>The cover art briefly fooled me; I expected a jazz album. Instead we have music in the style of Chicago blues and pre-rock \u2018n\u2019 roll. Keyboardist and singer Geraci is a veteran of the blues scene, and his style \u2013 shades of Fats Domino \u2013 is set against the backdrop of a top-flight band (plus a tasty horn section) digging into the arrangements. Kid Ramos lends his stinging electric guitar to several of the tunes. Why Did You Have to Go<\/i> isn\u2019t a live recording, but it has the spirit and energy of one. And that energy never lets up.<\/p>\n

\"\"Paul McCann \u2013 Here Comes the Rapture
\n<\/i><\/b>The first few seconds of \u201cKeep the Devil Within\u201d may trick listeners into thinking that Here Comes the Rapture<\/i> is a modern alternarock album. But McCann quickly shifts gears into a bright, peppy powerpop style. The melodies are familiar and sturdy, and though the album and some song titles suggest a religious-themed collection, it\u2019s not that. Powerpop lyrical tropes are all over the record, for better (if you\u2019re a fan of the genre) or worse (if not). Clearly the Irish guitarist was raised on a steady diet of Beatles and Britpop, and he\u2019s internalized those values into his original material.<\/p>\n

\"\"Deniz Tek \u2013 Lost for Words
\n<\/i><\/b>I first discovered Tek (and belatedly, at that) more than a decade ago when I interviewed his then-bandmate Rob Younger of Radio Birdman. Since then, I\u2019ve followed his solo exploits and his work with rock collective Donovan\u2019s Brain. This new solo set is an all-instrumental set described as \u201cmusic for imagined film.\u201d Of course making evocative and complementing instro-rock is a challenging brief, but Tek\u2019s more than up to the task here, crafting a sound sometimes reminiscent of Los Straitjackets. Surf, spy, spaghetti western and a bit of \u201860s garage are just some of the textures explored. A guitar extravaganza.<\/p>\n

\"\"Ken Sharp \u2013 Beauty in the Backseat
\n<\/i><\/b>Sharp is known primarily as an author and music journalist, having penned a boatload of books on topics like power pop. As such, his music could reasonably be expected to draw from such traditions. In fact Beauty in the Backseat<\/i> feels very much like early 1970s AM rock pop: Pilot, Raspberries, Hudson Brothers and others who could indeed rock but (often as not) focused on candy-floss melodies and arrangements. In fact there\u2019s little about this album that identifies it as the product of the 21st<\/sup> century. If you dig the creamy harmonies of solid gold radio, you\u2019ll luxuriate in this.<\/p>\n

\"\"Supersuckers \u2013 Suck It
\n<\/i><\/b>Trends may come and go, but some things are eternal. Happily one of those things is the Supersuckers. The hard-rockin\u2019 trio\u2019s delightfully inappropriate lyrics are just part of what makes \u2018em great. Eddie Spaghetti and his mates have seemingly unlocked the key to writing endlessly catchy tunes guaranteed to offend. Highlights of this, the group\u2019s 11th<\/sup> studio release, include \u201cThe History of Rock N Roll,\u201d \u201cWhat\u2019s Up (With This Motherfucking Thing?)\u201d and \u201cBeer Drinkers & Hell Raisers.\u201d The titles should tell you all you need to know. I can\u2019t even bring myself to tell you the title of track eight.<\/p>\n

\"\"The Turnback \u2013 Spinning the Earth in Reverse
\n<\/i><\/b>I discovered this band \u2013 full of powerhouse guitar and soaring harmonies \u2013 a few years back when they released Are We there Yet?<\/i> Most bands trafficking in this style drop the ball on the vocals or the music; few get both right. This power trio nails it, wedding choirboy harmonies to arrangements with Who-like intensity. And the lyrics are several notches above typical powerpop fare. If you ever picked up any of those now-rare Yellow Pills<\/i> CD collections, you\u2019re the audience for this. And the Turnback\u2019s songs blow away a good half of what you\u2019d find on those CDs.<\/p>\n

\"\"The Trews \u2013 Civilianaires
\n<\/i><\/b>I don\u2019t listen to a lot of what falls under the category of modern (21st<\/sup> century) rock. Most of it just has too much faux-earnestness for my tastes. As John Lydon sneered four decades ago, \u201cWe mean it, man!\u201d But this release suggests I should give the style another chance. Balanced carefully between classic- and alterna-rock, Civilianaires<\/i> really works. The earnestness is there, for sure (the press release even acknowledges a political bent to the lyrics) but it feels honest. The production is superb, highlighting the power of the group, but with all kinds of subtleties slipped into the mix.<\/p>\n

\"\"Ace of Cups \u2013 Ace of Cups
\n<\/i><\/b>Way back in the hippie days of 1960s San Francisco there was an excellent all-female group called Ace of Cups. They played a lot but never released a proper studio album, making them a contender (along with Moby Grape) for one of the era\u2019s great lost bands. That they\u2019ve released a debut album now in 2018 may raise some eyebrows, but there’s a freshness and lack of pretense in these songs that makes it a delight. Some may detect an approach reminiscent of the Bangles, with hippie-era aesthetics folded in. Happily, the big-name guests never overshadow the real stars here.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Here we go: even more hundred-word reviews. All new or recent releases, all worth a listen. RC & the Moonpie Band \u2013 All This I love me some rock \u2018n\u2019 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":15508,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9,49,55,62,65],"tags":[3605,3610,3611,663,3608,3609,3612,2093,3606,3607],"class_list":["post-15501","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blues","category-new-release","category-powerpop","category-rawk","category-review","tag-ace-of-cups","tag-anthony-geraci","tag-charlie-pickett","tag-deniz-tek","tag-ken-sharp","tag-paul-mccann","tag-rc-the-moonpie-band","tag-supersuckers","tag-the-trews","tag-the-turnback","cat-9-id","cat-49-id","cat-55-id","cat-62-id","cat-65-id","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15501","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=15501"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15501\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15707,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15501\/revisions\/15707"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15508"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15501"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15501"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15501"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}