{"id":8433,"date":"2015-09-02T05:30:00","date_gmt":"2015-09-02T09:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=8433"},"modified":"2015-09-02T05:30:00","modified_gmt":"2015-09-02T09:30:00","slug":"hundred-word-reviews-for-september-part-3-of-8","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2015\/09\/02\/hundred-word-reviews-for-september-part-3-of-8\/","title":{"rendered":"Hundred-word Reviews for September, Part 3 of 8"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Still more hundred-word reviews. Today&#8217;s collection features shredding instro-rock, and, well, other kindsa rock as well.<\/p>\n<p><center><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone\" src=\"http:\/\/musoscribe.com\/images\/aristocrats_tres.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"280\" height=\"280\" vspace=\"20\" \/><\/center><br \/>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"float: right; padding: 10px; width: 120px; height: 240px;\" src=\"\/\/ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com\/widgets\/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&amp;OneJS=1&amp;Operation=GetAdHtml&amp;MarketPlace=US&amp;source=ss&amp;ref=ss_til&amp;ad_type=product_link&amp;tracking_id=musoscribe-20&amp;marketplace=amazon&amp;region=US&amp;placement=B00X9W1LDG&amp;asins=B00X9W1LDG&amp;linkId=T7TSLYOZFPPJKA2N&amp;show_border=true&amp;link_opens_in_new_window=true\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" width=\"320\" height=\"240\"><\/iframe><br \/>\n<strong>Aristocrats \u2013 <\/strong><em><strong>Tres Caballeros<\/strong><\/em><br \/>\nSpeaking of <a href=\"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=8431\"><strong>Marco Minnemann<\/strong><\/a>, he&#8217;s also part of power trio <a href=\"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=7746\"><strong>The Aristocrats<\/strong><\/a>. He&#8217;s behind the drum kit while <strong>Guthrie Govan<\/strong> handles (or, shall we say, <em>shreds<\/em>) guitar and <strong>Bryan Beller<\/strong> holds down the busy bottom end with his bass. This is muscular music that deftly straddles the line between look-at-me solo showoffery and tight ensemble playing. Which is just as it should be for an instrumental trio. There&#8217;s an off-kilter musical sensibility that, at times, is reminiscent of <strong>Frank Zappa<\/strong>&#8216;s late 70s and early 80s work, but The Aristocrats never quite sound like anyone else. Beats the hell outta <a href=\"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=255\"><strong>Chickenfoot<\/strong>.<\/a><\/p>\n<p><center><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone\" src=\"http:\/\/musoscribe.com\/images\/rhys_marsh.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"280\" height=\"280\" vspace=\"20\" \/><\/center><br \/>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"float: right; padding: 10px; width: 120px; height: 240px;\" src=\"\/\/ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com\/widgets\/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&amp;OneJS=1&amp;Operation=GetAdHtml&amp;MarketPlace=US&amp;source=ss&amp;ref=ss_til&amp;ad_type=product_link&amp;tracking_id=musoscribe-20&amp;marketplace=amazon&amp;region=US&amp;placement=B00P9H8VVE&amp;asins=B00P9H8VVE&amp;linkId=VGWXFISOC6DQRQI6&amp;show_border=true&amp;link_opens_in_new_window=true\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" width=\"320\" height=\"240\"><\/iframe><br \/>\n<strong>Rhys Marsh \u2013 <\/strong><em><strong>Sentiment<\/strong><\/em><br \/>\nMarsh is part of a musical universe that includes <strong>Tim Bowness<\/strong> (<a href=\"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=189\"><strong>No-Man<\/strong><\/a>). The Norwegian multi-instrumentalist is involved in a number of musical projects; this solo album is merely one of several projects of his. The handiest musical reference point for Marsh&#8217;s solo album might be <strong>Porcupine Tree<\/strong> \u2013 vocals and lyrics are the album&#8217;s prominent focus \u2013 but his writing isn&#8217;t always quite as hook-filled as <a href=\"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=310\"><strong>Steven Wilson<\/strong><\/a>&#8216;s. Lots of real Mellotron adds a nice, suitably dark texture. \u201cPictures of Ashes\u201d is one of the disc&#8217;s most memorable tunes, with lots of shade, light and musical texture. A worthwhile listen.<\/p>\n<p><center><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone\" src=\"http:\/\/musoscribe.com\/images\/mandala.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"280\" height=\"280\" vspace=\"20\" \/><\/center><br \/>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"float: right; padding: 10px; width: 120px; height: 240px;\" src=\"\/\/ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com\/widgets\/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&amp;OneJS=1&amp;Operation=GetAdHtml&amp;MarketPlace=US&amp;source=ss&amp;ref=ss_til&amp;ad_type=product_link&amp;tracking_id=musoscribe-20&amp;marketplace=amazon&amp;region=US&amp;placement=B00U2QD8LA&amp;asins=B00U2QD8LA&amp;linkId=GDCT4FMAFN6KWNT6&amp;show_border=true&amp;link_opens_in_new_window=true\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" width=\"320\" height=\"240\"><\/iframe><br \/>\n<strong>Mandala \u2013 <\/strong><em><strong>Midnight Twilight<\/strong><\/em><br \/>\nAnd here&#8217;s <strong>Rhys Marsh<\/strong> yet again, joined by <strong>Will Spurling<\/strong> (percussion) and bassist <strong>Francis Booth<\/strong>. <strong>Mandala<\/strong> rocks harder than Marsh&#8217;s solo disc, and there&#8217;s an early 70s heavy power trio vibe (<strong>Blue Cheer<\/strong>, <strong>Black Sabbath<\/strong>) that&#8217;s leavened only by Marsh&#8217;s soaring and slightly mannered vocals and his keyboards. With its lovely string section work, \u201cThe Dark Waltz\u201d is a highlight, and overall, the song quality is a notch or two above what you&#8217;ll find on <em>Sentiment<\/em>. When Booth gets the chance \u2013 which isn&#8217;t often \u2013 to showcase his skills, he shines. Spurling&#8217;s precise-yet-splashy drum work perfectly suits the music.<\/p>\n<p><center><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone\" src=\"http:\/\/musoscribe.com\/images\/aaron_clift.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"280\" height=\"280\" vspace=\"20\" \/><\/center><br \/>\n<strong>The Aaron Clift Experiment \u2013 <\/strong><em><strong>Outer Light, Inner Darkness<\/strong><\/em><br \/>\nViolin isn&#8217;t the most common instrument used to expand rock&#8217;s sonic palette. Save for <strong>Jean Luc Ponty<\/strong>&#8216;s 70s fusion outings and perhaps <strong>Kansas<\/strong>, it&#8217;s simply not widely used in rock. And while <strong>The Aaron Clift Experiment<\/strong>&#8216;s core lineup is a semi-standard rock setup, nearly half of the tunes on this album feature violin. And it works, adding a yearning, melancholy vibe that plays well off the soaring guitars and melodramatic keyboards. Clift&#8217;s impassioned vocals are the cherry on top. Tricky, prog-leaning rhythms are beaten into a melodic form, so meant-n-potatoes rock fans can dig this as much as progheads will. [<a href=\"http:\/\/aaronclift.com\/shop\/outer-light-inner-darkness\/\">ORDER HERE<\/a>]<\/p>\n<p><center><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone\" src=\"http:\/\/musoscribe.com\/images\/shrike.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"280\" height=\"280\" vspace=\"20\" \/><\/center><br \/>\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"float: right; padding: 10px; width: 120px; height: 240px;\" src=\"\/\/ws-na.amazon-adsystem.com\/widgets\/q?ServiceVersion=20070822&amp;OneJS=1&amp;Operation=GetAdHtml&amp;MarketPlace=US&amp;source=ss&amp;ref=ss_til&amp;ad_type=product_link&amp;tracking_id=musoscribe-20&amp;marketplace=amazon&amp;region=US&amp;placement=B00VXMSESY&amp;asins=B00VXMSESY&amp;linkId=NA6SAZMF7Y5YF7R3&amp;show_border=true&amp;link_opens_in_new_window=true\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" width=\"320\" height=\"240\"><\/iframe><br \/>\n<strong>The Shrike \u2013 <\/strong><em><strong>s\/t<\/strong><\/em><br \/>\nThe Rorschach-inspired cover art begs the question: what do you hear in the music? Imagine <strong>Metallica<\/strong> fronted by <strong>Pat Benatar<\/strong>, maybe. Strutting, macho rock textures with assured female lead vocals. You won&#8217;t find a less-likely looking collection of musicians anywhere this side of <strong>Cheap Trick<\/strong>. But it&#8217;s the music that matters, and for those who Just Wanna Rock, <strong>The Shrike<\/strong> might just be the ticket. There are enough solo bits to satisfy the air-guitar-wielding listener, and the snaky riffs will stick in your head long after the disc finishes its spin. There&#8217;s a dark, angsty tinge to the lyrical content.<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.twitter.com\/the_musoscribe\">Follow \u201cthe_musoscribe\u201d on <\/a> <a href=\"http:\/\/www.twitter.com\/the_musoscribe\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/musoscribe.com\/images\/icon_twitter_small.jpg\" alt=\"\" name=\"graphics3\" width=\"18\" height=\"18\" align=\"BOTTOM\" border=\"0\" hspace=\"1\" \/><\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/www.twitter.com\/the_musoscribe\"> Twitter<\/a> and get notified<br \/>\nwhen new features, reviews and essays are published.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Still more hundred-word reviews. Today&#8217;s collection features shredding instro-rock, and, well, other kindsa rock as well. Aristocrats \u2013 Tres Caballeros Speaking of Marco Minnemann, he&#8217;s also part of power trio [&hellip;]<\/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":[49,56,62,65],"tags":[121,225,1385,1831,1951],"class_list":["post-8433","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-new-release","category-prog","category-rawk","category-review","tag-aaron-clift","tag-aristocrats","tag-mandala","tag-rhys-marsh","tag-shrike","cat-49-id","cat-56-id","cat-62-id","cat-65-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8433","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=8433"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8433\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8433"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8433"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8433"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}