{"id":8438,"date":"2015-09-04T05:30:26","date_gmt":"2015-09-04T09:30:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=8438"},"modified":"2015-09-04T05:30:26","modified_gmt":"2015-09-04T09:30:26","slug":"hundred-word-reviews-for-september-part-5-of-8","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/2015\/09\/04\/hundred-word-reviews-for-september-part-5-of-8\/","title":{"rendered":"Hundred-word Reviews for September, Part 5 of 8"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Lightening the mood a bit today with some power-pop leaning releases, leavened with some heavier, more adventurous sounds.<\/p>\n<p><center><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone\" src=\"http:\/\/musoscribe.com\/images\/prime_ministers.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"280\" height=\"280\" vspace=\"20\" \/><\/center><br \/>\n<strong>The Prime Ministers \u2013 <\/strong><em><strong>Youngstown Milk Run<\/strong><\/em><br \/>\nDon&#8217;t allow yourself to be put off by the song titles that make use of tired <strong>Prince<\/strong>-isms (\u201cCan U B My Dreams,\u201d \u201cI Wait 4 Your Guitar\u201d). The songs are better than all that. Betraying a strong influence of mainstream 80s rock (<strong>Huey Lewis<\/strong>, but don&#8217;t hold that against &#8217;em either), the eleven songs on this disc are catchy, rocking stuff. Sure, the occasional hip-hop vocal break is jarring, leaving a vaguely <strong>Smash Mouth<\/strong> flavor behind, but let&#8217;s not hold <em>that<\/em> against the band either. If you liked 80s FM radio, you won&#8217;t find this music past its sell-by date.<\/p>\n<p><center><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone\" src=\"http:\/\/musoscribe.com\/images\/gretchens_wheel.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=B00UJIZRWY&amp;asins=B00UJIZRWY&amp;linkId=46MUEXZWDFOXGRJU&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>Gretchen&#8217;s Wheel \u2013 <\/strong><em><strong>Fragile State<\/strong><\/em><br \/>\n<strong>Gretchen&#8217;s Wheel<\/strong> is <strong>Lindsay Murray<\/strong>, a singer songwriter from smalltown Tennessee. On <em>Fragile State<\/em>, she handles songwriting, vocals and the lion&#8217;s share of instrumentation. The remaining instruments and production engineering duties are the domain of <a href=\"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=6608\"><strong>Ken Stringfellow<\/strong><\/a> (<a href=\"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=6357\"><strong>The Posies<\/strong><\/a>). Murray&#8217;s sturdy, inviting songs tread the space between singer\/songwriter and midtempo power pop. The songs occasionally remind one of Warner Brothers era <strong>Badfinger<\/strong>. There&#8217;s a subtle country (the good kind!) influence imbued into the arrangement; this album rewards the listener who spends time with it. Sources say that another album is on its way soon; that&#8217;s welcome news in these quarters.<\/p>\n<p><center><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone\" src=\"http:\/\/musoscribe.com\/images\/ligro.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=B00UID3X76&amp;asins=B00UID3X76&amp;linkId=3XLBV2QAJFXCSR7H&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>Ligro \u2013 <\/strong><em><strong>Dictionary 3<\/strong><\/em><br \/>\nLiner notes author <strong>Dr. Brad Stone<\/strong> makes the point that jazz isn&#8217;t always mellow and relaxing. It certainly isn&#8217;t on this five-track album on the MoonJune label from this guitar\/bass\/drums trio. The textures are warm and inviting, but there&#8217;s an adventurous spirit at work that keeps things interesting. With a high melodic quotient, and lots of engaging interplay between the instrumentalists, <em>Dictionary 3<\/em> is an enjoyable listen start to finish. And because of its relatively accessible character, it might be a good entry point (for your non progjazz-inclined friends) into the world of MoonJune artists. Tasty piano on track one.<\/p>\n<p><center><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone\" src=\"http:\/\/musoscribe.com\/images\/blurred_vision.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"280\" height=\"280\" vspace=\"20\" \/><\/center><strong>Blurred Vision \u2013 <\/strong><em><strong>Organized Insanity<\/strong><\/em><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=B00TXH4NS6&amp;asins=B00TXH4NS6&amp;linkId=NX4KX53AZP2WTHHP&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 \/>\nChiming melodies and massed (chorused\/overdubbed) vocals give the songs on <em>Organized Insanity<\/em> a feel not wholly unlike some of <strong>Crowded House<\/strong>&#8216;s work. It&#8217;s a safe bet that these songs are \u201cabout stuff,\u201d as the first track (\u201cNo More War\u201d) features clips from a speech by <strong>Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.<\/strong> The trio ostensibly plays guitar\/bass\/drums, but lots of electric piano, south-of-the-border horns and banjos (all but the first are uncredited) add nicely to the texture. One&#8217;s predilection toward message-y music (see also: <strong>U2<\/strong>) will surely indicate how one will react to this music. Often anthemic, often swinging for the fences.<\/p>\n<p><center><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone\" src=\"http:\/\/musoscribe.com\/images\/godsticks.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=B014FRK3VE&amp;asins=B014FRK3VE&amp;linkId=NBVH7XVOBBS6NPO2&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>Godsticks \u2013 <\/strong><em><strong>Emergence<\/strong><\/em><br \/>\nIn the music biz, everything has to have a label; I believe the label for this music is \u201cactive rock.\u201d You might also call it \u201caggressive progressive.\u201d Musically akin to some of <a href=\"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=277\"><strong>Porcupine Tree<\/strong><\/a>&#8216;s more metallic moments (circa <em>Fear of a Blank Planet<\/em>), on <em>Emergence<\/em> <strong>Godsticks<\/strong> gets the chunka-chunka vibe down tight, with a vocalist who reminds this listener of <strong>Eddie Vedder<\/strong>. Punishingly precise riffage underpins the songs; only one track features keyboards; otherwise it&#8217;s power trio and vocals pretty much all the way. \u201cMuch Sinister\u201d sounds like its title suggests. <a href=\"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=65\"><strong>The Pineapple Thief<\/strong><\/a>&#8216;s <a href=\"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/?p=327\"><strong>Bruce Soord<\/strong><\/a> guest-vocals on two tracks.<\/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","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Lightening the mood a bit today with some power-pop leaning releases, leavened with some heavier, more adventurous sounds. The Prime Ministers \u2013 Youngstown Milk Run Don&#8217;t allow yourself to be [&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":[42,49,51,55,62,65],"tags":[355,914,947,1320,1729],"class_list":["post-8438","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-jazz","category-new-release","category-pop","category-powerpop","category-rawk","category-review","tag-blurred-vision","tag-godsticks","tag-gretchens-wheel","tag-ligro","tag-prime-ministers","cat-42-id","cat-49-id","cat-51-id","cat-55-id","cat-62-id","cat-65-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8438","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=8438"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8438\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8438"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8438"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blog.musoscribe.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8438"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}