{"id":22738,"date":"2022-04-17T05:30:45","date_gmt":"2022-04-17T09:30:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=22738"},"modified":"2022-04-09T22:06:02","modified_gmt":"2022-04-10T02:06:02","slug":"hundred-word-reviews-for-april-2022-part-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2022\/04\/17\/hundred-word-reviews-for-april-2022-part-1\/","title":{"rendered":"Hundred-word Reviews for April 2022, Part 1"},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s been awhile since I\u2019ve done a set of hundred-word reviews. Content slowed to a trickle during the worst of the pandemic. But now things seem to be headed toward a \u201cnew normal.\u201d So here are looks at a pile of new releases, all of which warrant further investigation.<\/p>\n

\"\"Rick Holmstrom \u2013 Get It!<\/i><\/b>
\nInexplicably, an outlet for which I now used to<\/i> write rejected the idea of reviewing this, on the grounds that Holmstrom\u2019s not well enough known<\/i>. The man is Mavis Staples\u2019 bandleader<\/i>! Here he steps out with a superb set of instrumentals. With only guitar, bass and drums, these funky, spare pieces are a modern-day corollary to Booker T & the MGs (sans organ). Holmstrom easily shifts from boogie to jump blues to Cry of Love<\/em>-styled blues rock and beyond. His influences are clear (sample song title: \u201cKing Freddie\u201d) but he\u2019s his own man. Varied tone and texture throughout. Highly recommended.<\/p>\n

\"\"Sky Diving Penguins \u2013 <\/b>Sky Diving Penguins<\/b><\/i>
\nSuperb music that defiantly resists easy categorization. \u201cI Don\u2019t Want, I Don\u2019t Care\u201d opens the LP with an Imagine<\/em>-era Lennon vibe, but the record quickly shifts gears toward something even more nuanced, and closer in spirit to Posies or Fountains of Wayne, leavened with a glam vibe. There\u2019s singer-songwriter stuff with delightful close vocal harmonies. Oasis meets Dylan with a dash of Waterboys on \u201cAll Goes Back in the Box in the End.\u201d And \u201cRun Boy\u201d feels like early solo Paul McCartney doing y\u00e9-y\u00e9. No kidding! Wonderfully all over the place, Sky Diving Penguins deserve a space at your<\/i> place.<\/p>\n

\"\"Cheap Star \u2013 Wish I Could See<\/i><\/b>
\nThe name should provide a hint as to the sources of this group\u2019s inspiration. The lineup features Jon Auer and Brian Young, both late of The Posies, and legendary musician pals like Gary Louris (The Jayhawks), Brendan Benson (The Raconteurs) and Mitch Easter drop by to help out. With all that talent you\u2019d expect something special, and you\u2019d be right. As it happens, the Europe-based group is actually led by one R\u00e9mi Vaissi\u00e8re (writer of all the songs), and this is their third album. Suffice to say that if you like any of the aforementioned artists, you\u2019ll delight in this.<\/p>\n

\"\"Lolas \u2013 All Rise<\/i><\/b>
\nYou\u2019ve probably never asked yourself, \u201cWhat wold it sound like if somebody crossed Material Issue with Sell Out<\/i>-era Who?\u201d Still, I have the answer for you. The result might sound something like The Lolas. The group \u2013 a project, really \u2013 is led by singer, songwriter, guitarist and keyboardist Tim Boykin. And even though the music doesn\u2019t bear the geographic fingerprints, Boykin is based in Birmingham, Alabama. The music is energetic, muscular, inventive and intelligent, with instrumental twists and turns couched inside of straightforward, catchy melodies. Superb bass work, too. All Rise<\/i> is one of the most consistently engaging records of its type.<\/p>\n

\"\"The William Loveday Intention \u2013 Cowboys Are SQ<\/i><\/b>
\nBilly Childish is a cult figure, with more than a hundred albums to his credit. He\u2019s most often thought of in terms of punk and garage, thanks to his work with under-underground acts like Thee Headcoats. His latest \u2013 unless he\u2019s put out something else since, which is possible \u2013 is an idiosyncratic release called Cowboys are SQ<\/i>, credited to The William Loveday Intention. There\u2019s a cowpunk\/garage aesthetic at work, and sometimes he applies that lo-fi\/DIY mindset to a sound reminiscent of Blonde on Blonde<\/i>-era Dylan (and not just on the cover tune) If that doesn\u2019t scare you off, check it out.<\/p>\n

More to come.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s been awhile since I\u2019ve done a set of hundred-word reviews. Content slowed to a trickle during the worst of the pandemic. But now things seem to be headed toward […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":22740,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,40,49,55,62,65],"tags":[4796,4794,3978,4792,4793,4795],"class_list":["post-22738","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cowpunk","category-instrumental","category-new-release","category-powerpop","category-rawk","category-review","tag-billy-childish","tag-cheap-star","tag-lolas","tag-rick-holmstrom","tag-sky-diving-penguins","tag-william-loveday-intention","cat-21-id","cat-40-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\/22738","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=22738"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22738\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22755,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22738\/revisions\/22755"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22740"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22738"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22738"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22738"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}