M.I.A.
Arular (XL/Select)
The hottest thing outta London right now is painter, filmmaker and musician Maya Arulpragasam, a Sri Lankan refugee fusing first-person revolutionary rhetoric with fat-pixel club thunder and electro-punk attack. Witness the impact of her neck-snapping introductory single "Galang," present here. Chunky, churlish beats from the no man's land between grime and dancehall, singsong chants on the power-to-the-people tip and liberal squirts of arcade noise, Desi flavour and favela funk - no surprise on that last bit, given her collabs with Ninja's Diplo. Arular is jam-packed with (literal, at times) bomb tracks, ferocious and frolicsome, confident and chaotic, angry and adorable. 9.5/10 (Rupert Bottenberg)
Lost Sounds
self-titled (In the Red)
Charles Manson once called painter Joe Coleman "a caveman in a spaceship," a compliment that could almost apply to this Tennessee quartet. New wave they're not, and prog-punk just sounds so odious. The bottom line is a blistering rip through ragged, old-school garage rock territory, complete with lyrics about cannibalism and bombs. Then the keyboards come crashing in at a right angle, shoving things into a sci-fi realm, even full-out space-rock grandiosity. Pretty exciting stuff - should make for a kick-ass show. 8/10 (Rupert Bottenberg) With Duchess Says and Moustache at Café Toc-Toc, Wed., Feb. 23, 9 p.m., $7
Roger Miret and the Disasters
1984 (Hellcat/Epitaph)
Agnostic Front's Roger Miret strikes out with this street-punk screamer, but even with the predictable singalong choruses and similar clichés of the genre, still leaves other bands of the ilk in the dust. Bringing a Dictators treatment to the same tired Clash riffs, Miret avoids mediocrity on rockers like the title track and "Street Rock 'n' Roll." Having said that, Miret's vocal style doesn't ever deliver a chorus to hang your hat on, and his barbed lyrics never really stray from shout-outs to the Lower East Side, hating people and getting drunk with his "Hooligan" friends - but then again, what the hell were you expecting? Philip Glass? 6.5/10 (Johnson Cummins)
Paradise
Hotel (Mean Bucket Sounds/Fusion III)
These local glam pusses pushed the pedal to the metal on their debut, a riff-rocker dedicated to exotica and tiki drinks, and on this second one, the Kelly brothers and former One976's Jet Phil put their minds to the test and come up with 11 songs set in hotel rooms. Again with Xavier Cafeine, members of Voivod and Mike Plant from Sword, Paradise continue in the old-school vein of Judas Priest, Mötley Crüe and Kiss. The melodies comfortably share a room with the crunch, and songs like "Banana Bungalow" are guaranteed to please any fringed-jacket rivet head, but the horn section on "Ocean Five" is what really makes this a fun listen. 7/10 (Johnson Cummins) CD launch at Café Campus, Fri., Feb. 18, 9 p.m., $5
The Jimmy Chamberlin Complex
Life Begins Again (Sanctuary)
Smashing Pumpkins drummer Jimmy Chamberlin shines on these progressive tracks, not only on the skins but lyrically. A wide array of vocalists gives his first solo album even more range, with Catherine Wheel frontman Rob Dickinson on "Love Is Real," Bill Medley (one-half of the Righteous Brothers) on "Lullabye" and even Pumpkins ringleader Billy Corgan dropping in for a much-welcomed visit on "Loki Cat." The JCC strays from what fans of Chamberlin's Pumpkins and ill-fated Zwan work are used to, a welcome change from ego-dripping guitar opuses and nu-metal whiners. What sets this work apart is the element of freedom, with Chamberlin's jazz and big-band chops let loose. 8/10 (Lateef Martin)
Low
The Great Destroyer (Sub Pop)
As if emerging from the slowcore wallpaper, this famously meek Minnesota trio has made a rock record. Their seventh LP, their Sub Pop debut, co-produced by fuzz poet Dave Fridmann, features a few potential FM anthems, which is frightening. The experiment yields some positive results, however, such as "Monkey," a statement of intent, the skewed pop song "Step" and the killer NYC-hipster critique "Broadway." The arrangements, production and playing are masterful too, but the band works best when they fall back into their old habits - tragic harmonies and heartbreaking melodies, like velvet-gloved fists attacking your heart and balls. 7/10 (Lorraine Carpenter)
Destroyer
Notorious Lightning and Other Works (Merge)
If this were the '70s, Destroyer (aka the New Pornographers' Daniel Bejar) would be spinning yarns about frolicking elves and starry beards, but it's everyday strangeness that drive his epic poems. Musically, Bejar suggests unhinged backwoods fables more than ever here, with Victoria's band of merry spastics, Frog Eyes, playing six songs from his 2004 LP Your Blues. Bejar fuses his friends' woozy chaos with his own dramatic grandeur, so the tunes retain their cracked beauty but bleed away their subtlety. It's a fleeting treat for fans of both acts, but more casual Destroyer connoisseurs may come away feeling tricked. 7/10 (Lorraine Carpenter)
Subarachnoid
Space The Red Veil (Strange Attractors)
This is the ninth outing for this San Francisco instrumental psychedelic outfit, and if you missed their previous eight, this would be a perfect starting point. At the core is rock with the occasional nod to doom, but it's songs like "Ourobouros" and the 11-minute title track that really show the band to be experts at creating soundscapes while digging into some great Meddle-era Pink Floyd sounds. If you dig the rock aspects of Acid Mothers Temple and Bardo Pond, and the psychedelic side of Voivod, you are going to love this. 8.5/10 (Johnson Cummins)
People for Audio
And This Will Be Our Homecoming (Storyboard/ Sonic Unyon)
PFA's founding trio came to Montreal from B.C., via Guelph, but with any luck, the 514 will welcome their sound and a home sweet home nailed down. The audio in question is exquisite grey-day mood music, piano-based post-rock with subtle jazz and phase-music flavours, that occasionally opens up into sheets of shoegazer guitar whoosh. There's an understated cinematic bent, an abstract narrative quality, to these often expansive tunes, which should give their fifth-Beatle A/V guy plenty to work with in the live setting. 7.5/10 (Rupert Bottenberg) CD launch with Millimetrik and les Hommes Rouges at Main Hall, Fri., Feb. 18, 9 p.m., $5
Various
Definition (Neblina)
Here we've got 22 tracks from mostly unknown cats, unless of course you're familiar with the inner workings and extended camps of groups like Justus League, Little Brother and a whole slew of hip hop coming out of the Carolinas. As far as comps go, this CD holds some choice cuts, thanks to MCs like Chapter 13, L.E.G.A.C.Y. and Mercury Waters, and production from 9th Wonder, Rockwell and DJ Forge. Those of you who believe the North and South Carolina buzz begins and ends with LB can take a seat, because proof to the contrary is right here. 8/10 (Scott C)
The Glimmers
self-titled (Eskimo/ Fusion III)
Maybe it's the combination of chocolate, waffles and mayo on fries, but right now Belgium seems to be producing amazing DJs like East Germany produced moustachioed female Olympians in the '70s. First 2ManyDJs blew up the bootleg scene worldwide, now the Glimmers (aka the Glimmertwins) are killing it with their own style of rare dubs, re-edits and punky disco B-sides. For their latest mix, the Glimmers dig deep into their eclectic crates and pull out some excellent old and new re-workings of Billy Idol, Sheila E, !!!, the Residents and an amazing rock cover of Benny Benassi's "Satisfaction." Ontzagwekkend! 8.5/10 (Raf Katigbak)
Munk
Apertivo (Gomma)
Ever since their impressive Anti-NY debut comp, Germany's Gomma has been a solid source for all things disco-punk. You get the loose, driving feel of a disco beat with the scratchy guitars and rubbery basslines, peppered with vocals by LCD Soundsystem's James Murphy, Bobby Conn and Princess Superstar. Of course, the problem with the genre is that most of the new stuff sounds pretty much like the original early '80s stuff. But when it's this good, does it really matter? Check out the ultra-bomb tracks like "Kick Out the Chairs" and "Disco Clown" for the answer. 8/10 (Raf Katigbak)
Gary Beals
self-titled (EMI)
The third-season auditions for Canadian Idol may already be under way, but second-season runner-up Gary Beals is still riding high with his debut set. The Nova Scotia native combines some homegrown sensibilities with a big-budget sound and, of course, genuine vocal chops. Beals had a hand in writing more than half of the songs here, and he proves to be a proficient songwriter on skilled tracks like "Not That Strong" and the simple, eloquent "Thank You." He also proves his mettle singing other artist's material, delivering a gripping version of Sarah McLachlan's "Angel." 7.5/10 (Gerard Dee)
Various
The Music of Tom McIntosh (IPO)
Various
Music of Thad Jones (IPO)
Two CDs that focus on compositional talents, the first is subtitled "With Malice Toward None," the latter, "One More." Seven McIntosh pieces plus one each by Charlie Parker and Jerome Kern make up the former while, of the dozen on the latter, only Thelonious' "Monk's Mood" is from a pen other than Thad's. The casts are of the all-star variety - Kenny Barron and Stefon Harris are on the first, Bob Brookmeyer and Hank Jones on the second, and James Moody, Jimmy Owens and Benny Golson common to both. Loving tributes to two first-rate jazz composers. Both 9.5/10 (Len Dobbin)
Mini CD Reviews
Solar Suns of Cosmic Consciousness (Aztac) Solar is an adventurous trio with piano, made up of Eli Yasmin, Adam Bernstein and Andy Demos. Originals plus music by Sun Ra, Mingus and Monk are the bill-o-fare here. 9 (LD)
L'oqenz Spreshuns (independent) L-O got me diggin for Shyheim 12-inches in the home library, people! 8 (SC)
Various Mutant Disco #3: Garage Sale (Ze/Fusion III) Some weird and wild soul and twisted disco from one of my new favourite labels, worth it for the not-so-politically-correct disco magic of Don Armando's "I'm an Indian Too!" 8 (RK)
Devil Inside Volume One (Abacus) Ex-Disembodied members put a little bit more "-core" in their metal this time around, with great results. 7.5 (JC) With Suffocation, Behemoth and Misery Index at Foufounes Électriques, Sun., Feb. 20, 9 p.m., $22
The Weekend Beatbox My Heart (Teenage USA/Outside) This pop-punk gum makes bittersweet, broken-heart-shaped bubbles but loses its flavour fast. 6 (LC)
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