{"id":22793,"date":"2022-04-18T05:30:37","date_gmt":"2022-04-18T09:30:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=22793"},"modified":"2022-04-18T07:44:44","modified_gmt":"2022-04-18T11:44:44","slug":"hundred-word-reviews-for-april-2022-part-1-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2022\/04\/18\/hundred-word-reviews-for-april-2022-part-1-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Hundred-word Reviews for April 2022, Part 2"},"content":{"rendered":"

Picking up where I left off yesterday, here are five more brief capsule reviews of new albums. This is a remarkably eclectic assortment.<\/p>\n

\"\"Speedfossil \u2013 <\/b>No Anesthesia<\/b><\/i>
\nIf you like your rock tuneful, forceful and intelligent, focus your attention on this album, from a New England quartet called Speedfossil. The tunes are strong and memorable, the riffs are muscular, the hooks are sharp, and the music is memorable overall. It\u2019s fist-pumping, convertible-top-down music that isn\u2019t dumbed down for the masses. There\u2019s an indie character to the songs, but musicianship and production are major league. The band opens with the infectious \u201cLuckiest Man in the World\u201d and holds to that quality standard. There\u2019s emotional content (\u201cRag Doll,\u201d), chiming jangle-rock (\u201cYou Got a Lot of Nerve\u201d) and much more.<\/p>\n

\"\"Stephan Thelen \u2013 <\/b>Fractal Guitar 2 Remixes<\/b><\/i>
\nIt was less than a year ago that I reviewed Thelen\u2019s Fractal Guitar 2<\/i><\/a>; this modern classical composer applied his creative talents to guitar. Typically a remix album wouldn\u2019t even pique my interest, but this one \u2013 featuring Henry Kaiser<\/a>, Stick Men<\/a>\u2019s Markus Reuter, David Torn<\/a>, Barry Cleveland<\/a> and other heavyweights makes it worthy of investigation. Heavy and hypnotic, it\u2019s instrumental ambient prog noir. The six lengthy pieces will take you on a sonic journey, and they don\u2019t sound like conventional remixes, and the music isn\u2019t forbidding; melodies abound. Wobble\u2019s remix of \u201cLadder to the Stars\u201d reminds me of Ozric Tentacles<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"Dedicated Men of Zion \u2013 <\/b>The Devil Don\u2019t Like It<\/b><\/i>
\nOn their second long player, the North Carolina group doubles down and expands upon their winning formula: music that\u2019s firmly rooted in traditional gospel, but with a vibe and character that\u2019s decidedly rock\u2019n\u2019roll. To belabor a point I emphasize whenever this act comes up<\/a>, one need not believe in anything of a spiritual nature to be moved by this outfit. Will Sexton, George Sluppick, Al Gamble and others provide superb backing while the quartet peels proverbial paint off the walls with their vocal fervor. The Devil may not like this, but you\u2019ll fall in love with Dedicated Men of Zion.<\/p>\n

\"\"Simon Love \u2013 <\/b>Love, Sex & Death etc.<\/b><\/i>
\nIt\u2019s mere coincidence that three of these five reviews deal with artists whose work I\u2019ve reviewed before. It was mid 2018 \u2013 pre-pandemic era; remember those days? \u2013 when I briefly sung the praises of this British singer-songwriter<\/a>. His latest is every bit as witty and acerbic. Truth in packaging means that the eleven songs here (plus a remix) are indeed about those perennial and universal subjects. The arrangements are anything but spare: \u201cNorth Road\u201d sports a horn chart that recalls early Graham Parker, or maybe even The Saints\u2019 immortal \u201cKnow Your Product.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"Diunna Greenleaf \u2013 <\/b>I Ain\u2019t Playin\u2019<\/b><\/i>
\nSure, the title\u2019s direct enough. But one cursory look at the album cover and it\u2019s obvious that Diunna Greenleaf is not to be trifled with. Her sassy, defiant and (if you\u2019ll forgive the intentional misapplication of the term) cocksure approach to the blues is a winning approach. The three-time Blues Music Award winner is simply on fire throughout I Ain\u2019t Playin\u2019<\/i>. The song selection mixes up her originals and tunes that \u2013 while by others \u2013 seem tailor-made for her formidable persona. Kid Andersen<\/a> does his customary excellent job as producer and guitarist; legendary bassist Jerry Jemmott<\/a> is on hand as well.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Picking up where I left off yesterday, here are five more brief capsule reviews of new albums. This is a remarkably eclectic assortment. Speedfossil \u2013 No Anesthesia If you like […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":22795,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,9,35,39,40,49,54,62,65],"tags":[4273,4804,3477,4805,4360],"class_list":["post-22793","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ambient","category-blues","category-gospel","category-indie","category-instrumental","category-new-release","category-post-rock","category-rawk","category-review","tag-dedicated-men-of-zion","tag-diunna-greenleaf","tag-simon-love","tag-speedfossil","tag-stephan-thelen","cat-5-id","cat-9-id","cat-35-id","cat-39-id","cat-40-id","cat-49-id","cat-54-id","cat-62-id","cat-65-id","has_thumb"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22793","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=22793"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22793\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":22800,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22793\/revisions\/22800"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22795"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22793"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22793"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22793"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}