Sonny Smith
100 Records, Vol. 3
Release Date: Jan 29, 2013
Genre(s): Pop/Rock, Alternative/Indie Rock, Indie Rock, Alternative Singer/Songwriter
Record label: Polyvinyl
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Album Review: 100 Records, Vol. 3 by Sonny Smith
Very Good, Based on 4 Critics
Based on rating 7.4/10
With the third volume of Sonny Smith's 100 Records project, he's once again ditched the Sunsets and inhabited a universe of fictional musicians. He's back as Hank Champion, the poet who talks about his sex life over a quaint country instrumental. Zig Speck and the Specktones, the garage rock band formerly fronted by Ty Segall in Volume II, return with an earwormy nugget called "Fruitcakes".
Based on rating 7/10
In 2009, Sonny Smith had a pretty clever idea, and three-plus years later he's still releasing songs from the project. In a nutshell, he came up with 100 band names, asked artists to design 7" sleeves for each band, and then he recorded 200 songs to go along with the sleeves. This is the third volume of recordings to be released, and it again shows that Smith's execution of his grand concept was quite successful.
Based on rating 7/10
Some songwriters pen a dozen tracks for every one keeper. Others, like San Francisco, CA's Sonny Smith, adhere to the "a home for every song" philosophy. In between issuing records with his band, the Sunsets, at a pretty regular clip, Smith has slowly trickled out some of the 200 songs he penned for his ambitious 100 Records project. Back in 2010, Smith concocted 100 fictional bands, wrote an A- and B-side for each and then had artists create original art for the records' seven-inch sleeves.
Based on rating 68%%
Sonny Smith100 Records, Vol. 3[Polyvinyl; 2013]By Joshua Pickard; January 29, 2013Purchase at: Insound (Vinyl) | Amazon (MP3 & CD) | iTunes | MOGTweetWhether you enjoy Sonny Smith’s surf-inspired rock with Sonny & the Sunsets or feel that it’s a little too beholden to its influences, you can’t help but respect the man’s dedication to his craft—even more so when you understand the breadth and scope of his latest musical undertaking, the incredibly ambitious 100 Records project. Basically, Smith wrote and recorded 100 songs by 100 fictional artists and loaded them all with custom cover art into a mobile jukebox and took it on a short tour across the US, displaying it at small art galleries in various metropolitan cities.
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