{"id":5821,"date":"2011-12-06T14:44:39","date_gmt":"2011-12-06T21:44:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/reviewermag.com\/press\/?p=5821"},"modified":"2011-12-10T11:34:47","modified_gmt":"2011-12-10T18:34:47","slug":"a-refreshing-blast-of-mellow-music","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/reviewermag.com\/press\/2011\/12\/06\/a-refreshing-blast-of-mellow-music\/","title":{"rendered":"A Refreshing Blast of Mellow Music"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/reviewermag.com\/press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/Invisible-Cinema-CD-cover.jpg\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/reviewermag.com\/press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/Invisible-Cinema-CD-cover.jpg?resize=140%2C140\" alt=\"\" width=\"140\" height=\"140\" class=\"alignleft size-full wp-image-5822\" \/><\/a><strong>Victor Villarreal<br \/>\nInvisible Cinema<br \/>\nJoyful Noise Records, 2011<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/twitter.com\/share\" class=\"twitter-share-button\" data-count=\"none\" data-via=\"reviewermag\">Tweet<\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"http:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Review by Kent Manthie<\/strong><br \/>\n    This, the new solo CD from Victor Villarreal, guitarist extraordinaire, <em>Invisible Cinema<\/em>, is a real departure from his appearance on the latest Joan of Arc CD, <em>Life Like<\/em>, on which he appears as one of the twin lead guitarists (Tim Kinsella also plays guitar).  <em>Life Like<\/em> is a real <em>tour de force<\/em> for Joan of Arc, one of my favorite JOA CDs.  But compared to that CD, <em>Invisible Cinema<\/em> is a mellower, acoustic-based chill-out CD.  Even though he isn\u2019t assailing the electric guitar like on <em>Life Like<\/em>, which is just a whiplash ride from start to finish, Victor shines on this seven-song solo CD.<br \/>\n    The reason I mention his role in the most recent Joan of Arc CD is that, besides having reviewed <em>Life Like<\/em> when it first came out, I also had the privilege of seeing JOA live, when they came out here to San Diego to play a show at the Casbah, a small-ish club that is a mile or two north of the downtown area.  The show was a blisteringly loud and virtuosic set.  Besides being a piercingly great guitarist during the show, trading off with front man Tim Kinsella, the drummer, Theo Katsaouris, just beat the hell out of his kit, which really punctuated the songs with an indelible beat that was unforgettable.  But it was as a whole that the band shone.  What was great was that this Chicago-based band finally made it out here to the West Coast and came to San Diego, where I happen to be stuck at the time.  Anyway, I was happy to be able to review both the album and the show, not just because it deserved the publicity and the praise but also because I wanted to get the word out to as many San Diegans as possible, since <em>Reviewer<\/em>, for which I reviewed them, is a San Diego-based magazine and their corresponding website, www.reviewermag.com is available worldwide on the internet for anyone to check out.  The same thing applies to this Victor Villarreal\u2019s new solo album:  I want to let everyone I can, in San Diego (as well as everywhere else that this can be accessed) to know how great of an album <em>Invisible Cinema<\/em> is.<br \/>\n    One other small difference is that <em>Invisible Cinema<\/em> is on Joyful Noise Records, not Polyvinyl Records like JOA\u2019s current label.  But that doesn\u2019t change the quality of the music on it.  Each of Victor\u2019s songs on the new CD have the feel of nakedness and an introspective touch to them.<br \/>\n    The opening track, \u201cEnters\u201d, sounds not unlike a track from an older Joan of Arc album, back from the 1998-99 era.  But it is not derivative or anything, it is uniquely Victor Villarreal on here.  But one can see how he fits so well with the aforementioned Joan of Arc.<br \/>\n    Other examples of greatness on <em>Invisible Cinema<\/em> include the tracks \u201cDarts in the Dark\u201d and the more upbeat \u201cThe Guess\u201d and \u201cSway\u201d which all show how versatile Villarreal can be.  Song number six, \u201cOut of My Hands\u201d is a soft, acoustic tune, but has an eclectic side to it, which really works great and fits in here between the other tracks perfectly.  I hate to do it, but sometimes it\u2019s hard not to draw comparisons with Joan of Arc in certain ways and if I must, I would say that \u201cOut of My Hands\u201d reminds me a little of something that could\u2019ve shown up on Joan of Arc\u2019s fabulous album, <em>Live in Chicago: 1999<\/em> or <em>The Intelligent Design of Joan of Arc<\/em>.  I say that I don\u2019t want to get into comparing Victor\u2019s solo stuff with Joan of Arc, which, for some reason, seems to be 1) too easy and 2) not very fair, since this is Victor\u2019s own, personal solo album and not a Joan of Arc album.  Nonetheless, I just can\u2019t help but notice the similarities in certain spots.<br \/>\n    Just like asking a parent which one of his children is his favorite, it\u2019s very difficult to decide what the best tune on this CD is &#8211; the whole disc is one great listen.  Playing it from beginning to end is the best way to enjoy it, since there is no bad songs on here, nothing that one would want to skip over.  So, even though I mentioned those three songs as examples, the CD as a whole is terrific.<br \/>\n    One thing about <em>Invisible Cinema<\/em> is that it\u2019s not a particularly long CD, clocking in at only about a half hour, so I\u2019m not sure whether it\u2019s an EP or a shorter full-length CD.  Even though it may not be super long, the seven songs on here do make the album seem complete in its own way, and the continuity is fluid and seamless, it doesn\u2019t seem like there\u2019s anything missing or that there should be more.<br \/>\n    The final cut on the CD, \u201cLeaves\u201d is a great closer &#8211; an acoustic, instrumental jam that leaves one with a sense of contentment and completion.<br \/>\n    The basic idea I want to leave you with is that this is a great album and deserves to be heard by those who are into indie music in general and the whole Joan of Arc\/Owen\/Cap\u2019n Jazz\/Owls, etc axis in particular.  Check out <em>Invisible Cinema<\/em> and you will be pleased with how unique and crystal it is.  Check out Victor on Facebook or Joyful Noise\u2019s website, www.joyfulnoiserecordings.com for more information about the artist and the label too.<br \/>\n-KM<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Victor Villarreal Invisible Cinema Joyful Noise Records, 2011 Tweet Review by Kent Manthie This, the new solo CD from Victor Villarreal, guitarist extraordinaire, Invisible Cinema, is a real departure from his appearance on the latest Joan of Arc CD, Life Like, on which he appears as one of the twin lead guitarists (Tim Kinsella also plays guitar). Life Like is [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1,573],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5821","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-archive","category-music"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":4166,"url":"http:\/\/reviewermag.com\/press\/2011\/03\/18\/joan-of-arcs-new-cd\/","url_meta":{"origin":5821,"position":0},"title":"CD review: Life Like by Joan of Arc","author":"Kent","date":"March 18, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Joan of Arc Life Like Polyvinyl Records 2011 www.polyvinylrecords.com www.joanfrc.com Reviewed by Kent Manthie It\u2019s been 14 years so far and still the brilliant revolving-door- \u201ccollective\u201d known as Joan of Arc are still making awe-inspiring CDs. 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Opening up\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;archive&quot;","block_context":{"text":"archive","link":"http:\/\/reviewermag.com\/press\/category\/archive\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/reviewermag.com\/press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/05\/SANY00732-150x150.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":3161,"url":"http:\/\/reviewermag.com\/press\/2010\/11\/01\/indie-takeover-one-cd-and-two-seven-inchers\/","url_meta":{"origin":5821,"position":4},"title":"Indie Takeover:  One CD and Two seven-inchers","author":"Kent","date":"November 1, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Aloud Exile Lemon Merchant Records www.allthingsaloud.com Reviewed by Kent Manthie What to make of Aloud? Hmm\u2026it\u2019s not your everyday pop-rock-hip\/hop-emo-nu-metal CD but a horse of an entirely different color. 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