Bright Eyes
"Lua" (Saddle Creek)
Bright Eyes
"Take It Easy (Love Nothing)" (Saddle Creek)
Are you surprised that these singles debuted at numbers one and two on the Billboard chart? Don't question it - Conor Oberst and co. are some of the most talented and most prolific indie kids in the States, with two albums due next year, and it's reassuring to see such hard work pay off. Backed by high-end country-fied and folky numbers, "Lua" is masterfully fragile, intimate and dark, a ballad worthy of that ubiquitous Bob Dylan comparison. Upping the eclecticism and the electronica, the "Take It Easy" single joins back-porch indie, ambient melancholia and a perfectly stomping synthpop lead track that's bent on planting a flag in your brain. "Lua" 8.5/10 "Take It Easy" 9/10 (Lorraine Carpenter)
Lederhosen
Lucil Apricota (Hypo)
With a little help from the Besnard Lakes' Jace Lasek and Ninja Tune gnomes Kid Koala and P-Love, local pop princess Lederhosen Lucil is back with a lax and lovely three-song single. On the title track, she serves up some low-register reggae, a tasty "summer jam" fans will recognize from the live show. "Newspaper Flies" finds the braided one riding modest waves of bleeps, beats and vocoder vox, while Kid Koala's remix of "Semi-sweet" (a song from Lucil's Tales From the Pantry LP) is a gently warped delicacy for sensitive taste buds. 8/10 (Lorraine Carpenter) With La Guerre des Tuques at Main Hall on Sunday, Nov. 21, 9 p.m., $7
Jello Biafra with the Melvins
Never Breathe What You Can't See (Alternative Tentacles)
One of the most instantly recognizable voices in punk, Biafra continues his collaboration series, this time choosing the heaviest of the heavies. The Melvins leave their lead-weight pummelling at home in favour of a punk-rock sound that comes across like a newly energized Dead Kennedys. In this heady political climate, Biafra is loaded with ammunition, the chief agitator on mandatory drug testing, yuppies, the Patriot Act, terrorism and of course America's manifest destiny. If this didn't rock, Biafra's barbed lines would have no teeth, but this meeting of two of the greatest is as accurate and disruptive as a stealth missile. Look out below! 8.5/10 (Johnson Cummins)
Femme Generation
Circle Gets the Square (Independent)
Negotiating vocal squeals and sharp hooks with sleek synths, wrap-around riffs and snatches of exquisite singing, this is the latest Toronto act to adopt the New York sound, and they're damn good at it. Over six songs, co-produced by the Fembots' Dave MacKinnon, the renaissance boys of Femme Generation quote Le Tigre, take after the likes of the Rapture, Sonic Youth and Interpol and dip into the transatlantic pop well. Sure, their roots are showing (few bands side-step that derivative phase), but they make a pretty sexy walk of their baby steps. 8/10 (Lorraine Carpenter)
The Spades
Learnin' the Hard Way (Go Kart)
With these Scandinavian bruthas making such a big deal of their skin colour, you can't help but think of Ice T's horrendous Body Count when you hear this econo-punk rock 'n' roll. Not that they're half as bad as Ice T's cash grab at the Lollapaloozers, but the Spades bore us to tears with the same old Motörhead riffage applied to the Backyard Babies' gutter-punk sound. The lyrics make no impact, never straying from the tried and true subjects of partying and beatdowns. The 'tude is definitely here but unfortunately this is the only card they manage to play. By the end this heaped-up muscle car is just running on fumes. 6/10 (Johnson Cummins)
Lo and the Magnetics A Part (Top 5/FAB)
The classic clean break - this is effectively the Kingpins, or rather, where last remaining original Kingpin Lorraine Muller, saxophonist and exceptional singer, had been taking what was once Montreal's premier roots-ska band. Leaving the name, the Stomp Records nest and the old-school style behind, Muller strikes a balance between the refined, high-end ska-pop of the English Beat and the cushy, emotive new wave of Indochine. The latter is particularly evident on the French-language track "Tachée." There is one sweet nod to the classic Jamaican sound on "Shipwrecked Heart," but this is largely an eminently '80s effort. In this particular case, I mean that as a compliment. 8.5/10 (Rupert Bottenberg)
Eminem
Encore (Aftermath/Shady)
Love him or hate him, Eminem has once again shown us all just how good he is at playing both sides of the fence. Looking past those meaningless ditties like "Puke" and "My 1st Single" that generally attract all the attention, Em also takes us back on "Yellow Brick Road," to the circumstances surrounding his questionable rhymes from 1989 that surfaced recently in The Source. The whole Benzino beef is also addressed in "Like Toy Soldiers," where Em eloquently shies away from any further participation. His upstart "Mosh" will go down as a Bush-era classic, but lines like "The way you move it/make my pee-pee go/da doing doing doing" still peg Eminem as a poo-poo caca poet who will continue to succeed with the aid of the occasional thoughtful aside. Clearly, nobody has more fun making records than Marshall Mathers. 8/10 (Scott C)
DJ Static
Uncut Raw: Live at Rockdeep (Rockdeep)
As part of the Rockdeep crew rockin' Tuesdays over at Club Saphir, DJ Static has dropped an 18-track mix of some serious funk, soul and hip hop breaks for the children. When the 20th Century Steel Band goes into "Heaven and Hell," you know the party is about to take a turn. Also featured are joints from Black Blood, Larry Darnell, Eric B and Rakim, Bobby Byrd and Marva Whitney among others. Like the CD reads, this is an uncut raw mix that should get even the most squeamish of wallflowers to reconsider their position on the dance floor. 8.5/10 (Scott C)
Handsome Boy Modeling School
White People (Atlantic/Warner)
Consummate cads Dan the Automator and Prince Paul present the next installment of their majestic goof, their intricate ode to male narcissism. The guest list is insane - De La Soul and RZA, Pharrel Williams and the Mars Volta, Cat Power and Julee Cruise, Jazzy Jay and Qbert, members of Linkin Park and Franz Ferdinand. Kid Koala scratches on most tracks, too. While such star power doesn't quite make for a pop masterpiece, it does add up to a novelty album of epic grandeur, with laffs both overt and covert, and some genuinely sexy grooves. It says something that the skits by SNL's Tim Meadows are so remarkable here. 7.5/10 (Rupert Bottenberg)
Richie Spice
Spice in Your Life (5th Element)
Richie Spice is running Jamaica right now. Brother to Pliers and member of the 5th Element Crew alongside Chuck Fender and Anthony Cruz, Spice has had quite the year. This record's got all the huge songs: "High Grade" on the Swing Easy riddim, "Marijuana" - the biggest tune - on the I Swear and "Move Dem Out" on the Ali Baba. It's also the second time he's included "Earth a Run Red" on an album, a track recorded five years ago that remains an anthem. My goodness, it's a crying shame that the 5th Element Crew won't grace our fair city after they perform in Toronto in December. 9/10 (Erin MacLeod)
DobaCaracol
Soley (Indica/Outside)
Back in '98, DobaCaracol was just Doriane Fabreg and Carole Facal, two dreadlocked, drum-toting québécoises with a grab-bag of global folk tunes they liked to sing. Since then they've gathered a full, fabulous band behind them, put out a first indie album and moonlighted as back-up singers (which took them to Egypt, South Africa, Europe and the Seychelles). Now they've hooked up not only with Indica but with producer François Lalonde, who's worked the same dense yet delicate magic on the sophomore Soley that he brought to Lhasa's The Living Road. All told, DobaCaracol's easygoing, satisfying Afro-rasta-folk-musette-psyché-pop-chanson (to, um, coin a term) arrives light but sturdy. 8/10 (Rupert Bottenberg)
The Neville Brothers
Walkin' in the Shadow of Life (EMI)
Two generations of New Orleans' venerable Neville family return with their most socially charged offering in ages. They keep this one deep on the funky tip, pushing their social agenda on tracks like "Carry the Torch" via some inspired bass licks. On their updated version of the Temptations' classic "Ball of Confusion (That's What the World Is Today)," they make a convincing case for the timelessness of astute lyricism. Elsewhere, they wax prophetic on "Let the Kingdom Come," but stay grounded in the now on the searing "Junkie Child." Throughout, they maintain the high degree of inspired artistry that's kept this family machine rolling for almost 25 years. 8.5/10 (Gerard Dee)
Kenny Clarke
Plays André Hodeir (EmArcy/Universal)
Le Jazz Groupe de Paris
Joue André Hodeir (EmArcy/Universal)
Paris-based André Hodeir is an astute critic and author as well as an arranger/composer and musician - he's recorded on violin as "Claude Laurence." These two CDs in the Jazz in Paris series contain 22 of his arrangements and compositions, both recorded in 1956. The first, led by the "father of bebop drumming," includes solos from the likes of Martial Solal, while the second spotlights the vibe playing of Fats Sadi. Besides Hodeir's own work, included are arrangements of works by Monk, Miles, Ellington, Bud Powell, Duke Jordan, John Lewis and Milt Jackson. Interesting listening. Both 9/10 (Len Dobbin)
Mini CD Reviews
Elis Regina & Antonio Carlos Jobim Elis & Tom (EmArcy/Universal) Bossa nova at its very best! 10 (LD)
Jeremy Ellis "Lotus Blooms" 12" (Ubiquity) Detroits Ayro drops something a little more substantial with this future bullet. 9 (SC)
Shawn Lee's Ping Pong Orchestra Ubiquity Studio Sessions Vol. 1 (Ubiquity) With 25 two-minute chunks o' flavourful, theme-based funk, this is the best collection of cool, cinematic needle-drop music the '70s never got around to giving us. 8 (RB)
Various Roots of Dub Funk 4: Rise of the Electric Dread (Tanty) If you like whatever "dub funk" is, I suppose you'll like this. 7 (EM)
Billy Talbot Alive In the Spirit World (Sanctuary) Crazy Horse's bassist gets out from under Neil's wing, but these pedestrian ditties never seem to leave the nest. 4 (JC)
Gretchen Wilson Here for the Party (Epic/Sony) Check out this chorus to the hit "Redneck Woman": "I'm a redneck woman/I ain't no high-class broad." Take that, Susan Sontag! 3 (JC)
Various Alfie (Virgin/EMI) With soul-lite balladry and geriatric blues, Mick Jagger, Dave Stewart and Joss Stone bear responsibility for this unbearable soundtrack to an unnecessary remake. 3 (LC)
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