I looked at my calendar today and realized that my week had extended a wee bit. Must have been all the ash that continues to bugger things up all over the world. That and speaking appearances, a rather ill dog, and other distractions.
The Cringe: Play Thing
No this isn’t yet another remake of the Japanese horror film The Grudge. It’s a new band of rockers aiming to make it big. This is pretty mainstream stuff, but thankfully nothing to do with pop punk or that band who we shall not name. Oh and the driving force behind the band is the husband of TV personality Rachel Ray.
It also features a former member of Bruce Springsteen’s band and Mr Bungle, there is a decent amount of experience there. You could describe this as power pop for the masses. Lots of tracks strike the sound that you might expect to hear pop up on a soundtrack to a TV show sooner or later. There really is nothing that ground-breaking on here, but that is not necessarily a bad thing. It's solid song-writing and musicianship that produces solid pop rock.
There is plenty to sink you teeth into, and songs like “In the End (We are all the same)” are good enough to put a smile on your face. There is something almost English about the sound of this band and I am sure given a release in the U.K. it just might bother the British charts.
The Hawkwind Triad: s/t
An interesting project where three bands Harvestman (side-project of Steve Von Till of Neurosis), U.S. Christmas, and Minsk share a tribute album to legendary space stoner rocker Hawkwind. Is this necessary or needed considering all the other people who have paid tribute to the influential group of nutters? Probably not, but when it's done as well as it is on here, then we should not dismiss it out of hand. OK, that is more directed at me, since we reviewers are subject to so many god-awful tribute albums, that one that is good is often a surprise.
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