Quick plays: THE GRISWOLDS, MUTINY ON THE BOUNTY, THE UGLY GUYS, LOTTA LENE

THE GRISWOLDS – Be Impressive

Wind Up Records www.wearethegriswolds.com [Release date 25.05.15]

Australian four piece the Griswolds (named after the family in National Lampoon’s Family Vacation) are one for those who like a little bit of synth led indie pop.

They remind me of fellow synth pop band (also with an Australian singer!) Many Things on ‘If You Wanna Stay’. The current single ‘Down And Out’ is another boppy number, although the kids vocals on the chorus I can see grating on repeated plays!

‘Beware The Dog’ has been a hit in the US already and is the most instant song on here, combining the band’s love of synths and massed harmony vocals to good effect.

You will leave this album with a smile on your face as the musical beats are so darn good time and upbeat. ***1/2

Review by Jason Ritchie

MUTINY ON THE BOUNTY – Digital Tropics

Luxembourg is not exactly known for it’s bands (bar null points on Eurovision), however Mutiny On The Bounty are changing this. They are an instrumental quartet, post-rock if you go by the press release.

They veer all over the imaginary musical supermarket taking items from techno, prog, metal, rock and jazz. The opener sets the scene to entice you in, with a cinematic sound before ‘Countach’ comes in like Rush meets King Crimson.

Technical precision in the playing, not a note wasted or out of place. Little bit of electro dance in the aptly titled ‘danceAutomationdance’, whilst ‘MKL JKSN’ is another musical marvel, lots of reverb on the guitars to produce an other worldly sound.

Those who like an instrumental album that challenges the listener would do well to give this album a listen. ***

Review by Jason Ritchie

THE UGLY GUYS – Still Twenty-Five In Your Head

Angel Air Records www.angelair.co.uk [Release date 01.06.15]

UK based band who feature amongst their line-up members of the Kursaal Flyers, and they play a traditional style of country music. The band have been around since 2003 and like their previous albums, most songs are original.

The story telling songs stand out for me like wild west on ‘Plains Of Mexico’ and ‘Uncle Billy’. They do a good version of ‘White Line Fever’ (that’s the Merle Haggard one not Motorhead’s songs!), lots of dobro and guitar on this one.

They play inoffensive, listenable traditional country music and they play it well. ***

Review by Jason Ritchie

LOTTA LENE – Smoke & Mirrors

www.lottalene.com [Release date 02.04.15]

Lotta Lene is a Finnish singer who has hooked up with Jaka Makela to produce an album chock full of high quality Scandinavian AOR/melodic rock.

She does have a quite distinctive voice, particularly on hitting the upper vocal ranges as can be heard on ‘Promises’. Elsewhere you have the uptempo melodic rocker ‘What I Want’ and ‘Stay’, which reminded me of FM – with a female vocalist of course! Good variety of pace on the album too as ‘Riding Shotgun’ has a classic Whitesnake vibe to it, some tasty blues rock based guitar riffs on this one.

Certainly worth a listen and visit to her website if you enjoy female fronted AOR/melodic rock. ***1/2

Review by Jason Ritchie

Featured Artist: JOSH TAERK

Since early 2020 Josh has been entertaining us with exclusive monthly live sessions, streamed via Facebook.

Next session: Sunday 19 January

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David Randall presents a weekly show on Get Ready to ROCK! Radio, Sundays at 22:00 GMT, repeated on Mondays and Fridays), when he invites listeners to ‘Assume The Position’. The show signposts forthcoming gigs and tours and latest additions at getreadytorock.com. First broadcast on 1 December 2024.

UK Blues Broadcaster of the Year (2020 and 2021 Finalist) Pete Feenstra presents his weekly Rock & Blues Show on Tuesday at 19:00 GMT as part of a five hour blues rock marathon “Tuesday is Bluesday at GRTR!”. The show is repeated on Wednesdays at 22:00, Fridays at 20:00). This show was first broadcast 3 December 2024.

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Power Plays w/c 9 December 2024

In this sequence we play ‘The Best of 2024′ GRTR! reviewer selections

Featured Albums w/c 9 December 2024

09:00-12:00 The Best of 2024 (Melodic Rock)
12:00-13:00 The Best of 2003-2024 (Melodic Hard Rock)
14:00-16:00 The Best of 2024 (Singer Songwriter)