{"id":6387,"date":"2014-10-03T05:30:05","date_gmt":"2014-10-03T09:30:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=6387"},"modified":"2020-09-01T07:16:56","modified_gmt":"2020-09-01T11:16:56","slug":"honeymoon-hundred-word-reviews-part-5","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2014\/10\/03\/honeymoon-hundred-word-reviews-part-5\/","title":{"rendered":"Honeymoon Hundred-word Reviews, Part 5"},"content":{"rendered":"

I’m on my honeymoon this week, so I thought it would be a good time to offer up some backlog-clearing entries in my occasional series of Hundred Word Reviews. And though the musical styles are all over the map, there’s a theme of sorts this time: each of the acts reviewed has been covered previously, either via review or feature\/interview.<\/p>\n

The series wraps up \u2013 for now \u2013 with looks at new music from American artists.<\/p>\n

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\nSteve Wynn \u2013 <\/strong>Sketches in Spain<\/strong><\/em>
\nThis Omnivore Recordings<\/a> collection isn’t exactly a reissue: the albums from which the 19 tracks are drawn (Smack Dab<\/em> and Australian Blonde<\/em>) were released only in Spain. Sounding like a cross between Television and Gang of Four, Smack Dab<\/em> prominently features Linda Pitmon<\/strong>‘s thundering bass. The even-earlier (but released later) Australian Blonde<\/em> material is surprisingly poppy, shimmering ear candy that may come as a shock to those familiar with Wynn’s other work. Some unexpected and thematically linked covers (Three Dog Night<\/strong>‘s \u201cNever Been to Spain,\u201d Los Bravos<\/strong>‘ \u201cBlack is Black\u201d) showcase Wynn’s latent skill at interpreting the work of others.<\/p>\n

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\nAlarm Clock Conspiracy \u2013 <\/strong>Harlequin<\/strong><\/em>
\nBack in early 2012 I championed their first album<\/a>, but on Harlequin<\/em>, this Asheville NC-based quartet has seriously<\/em> raised the bar. Thanks in large part to the songwriting prowess of two very different composers (guitarists Chris Carter<\/strong> and Ian Reardon<\/strong>) the album is a near-perfect balance of powerpop, Southern rock and progressive-leaning rock. Reardon’s title track hints at what \u201cmodern country\u201d could sound like if the genre didn’t, y’know, suck<\/em>. The soaring yet understated harmonies on Carter’s \u201cThinking Of\u201d are delightful. It wouldn’t surprise me to see this album picked up by a larger label and reissued. Buy this disc.<\/p>\n

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\nThe Squires of the Subterrain \u2013 <\/strong>s\/t<\/strong><\/em>
\nAs on the last outing<\/a> from this \u201cgroup\u201d (Christopher Earl<\/strong> and occasional guests), this disc \u2013 either self-titled or called Stereo<\/em> \u2013 feels like a lo-fi update of The Beach Boys<\/strong>, SMiLE<\/em> era. That said, its most modern corollary might be Olivia Tremor Control<\/strong>; Earl and those Elephant 6 guys share a common aesthetic vision. Ba-ba-ba vocalisms rest comfortably aside jangly guitars and intentionally gauzy production. With its chirpy horn section and chiming backing, \u201cHistory\u201d weds Sgt. Pepper<\/em> stylings to Herb Alpert & the Tijuana Brass<\/strong>. With his deft way around a melody, Earl could be labeled America’s Martin Newell<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n

Follow \u201cthe_musoscribe\u201d on \"\" Twitter<\/a> and get notified
\nwhen new features, reviews and essays are published.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I’m on my honeymoon this week, so I thought it would be a good time to offer up some backlog-clearing entries in my occasional series of Hundred Word Reviews. And […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49,51,62,65],"tags":[150,237,534,1622,2022,2058],"class_list":["post-6387","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-new-release","category-pop","category-rawk","category-review","tag-alarm-clock-conspiracy","tag-asheville","tag-christopher-earl","tag-omnivore-recordings","tag-squires-of-the-subterrain","tag-steve-wynn","cat-49-id","cat-51-id","cat-62-id","cat-65-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6387","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=6387"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6387\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19558,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6387\/revisions\/19558"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6387"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6387"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6387"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}