The Hot Springs
Rock Partouze (independent/Local)
Breaking out of the gate with a short and sweet five-song EP, this local quartet runs with sassy rock attitude and seductive musical prowess. Clenching their cocky, quirky tunes, Giselle Webber and Rémi Nadeau-Aubin's wall-to-wall guitars range from sing-song riffs to strong-arm fuzz to hyperactive exclamations, while Webber's punchy rasp is hot enough to make mouth crust and back acne sound sexy. The Hot Springs definitely rock, but not to the detriment of the dancefloor, as heard on the token French song and CISM favourite "Caco Disco." Like the liner notes say, "Don't be afraid to dance!" 8/10 (Lorraine Carpenter) With We Are Wolves, The Adam Brown at Petit Campus on Saturday, March 26, 8:30 p.m., $5

Queens of the Stone Age
Lullabies to Paralyze (Interscope/ Universal)
With Dave Grohl and Nick Oliveri gone and Mark Lanegan reduced to cameos, QOTSA main man Josh Homme's had a lot of weight to shoulder on this one. Punk rockers like "Medication" and "Everybody Knows You Are Insane" almost make you forget about Oliveri's previous contributions, "Little Sister" is bound to be a breath of fresh air on the radio dial, "Tangled up in Plaid" is sure to please old fans and "Someone's in the Wolf" and "Long Slow Goodbye" show the band paving new roads. But Homme stops just short of the brilliance he's achieved in the past. Definitely a good record - hell, a great record - but considering how talented Homme is this should've changed the face of hard rock. Guess we'll just have to wait for the next one. 8.5/10 (Johnson Cummins) With Eagles of Death Metal at Metropolis, Thurs., Mar. 31, 8 p.m., $32.50, all ages

Various
Québec Émergent 2005 (Local)
Maybe Spin or the Times can summarize the music scene in Montreal (and by extension Quebec) with a handful of hot names. This annual two-disc compendium from the SOPREF organization, however, offers a far more three-dimensional view - and for free at participating stores, if you snag another product from Local Distribution. With a playlist that ranges from the beats and bleeps of Montag, Lesbians on Ecstasy and Champion, to the rawk of les Breastfeeders, Malajube and Shiverdown, to the "assorted" antics of Jordi Rosen, Globe Glotters, Plywood 3/4 and more, end-to-end appreciation would require a wide-open mind (or pathological civic pride). But the idea is to hype new local sounds you might have missed, and there's very little missing here in that respect. 8/10 (Rupert Bottenberg)

Timber
The New Gentleman's Shuffle (Ships at Night)
Timber liken themselves to "West-coast freakfolk," but luckily for us, young café folkies and urban cowboys and 'girls abound across the continent in bands like this. Accompanied on this debut LP by 10 guests, the local trio features singer-songwriter David Macleod of indie rock fame (Field Register, Spengler), guitarist Warren Spicer from the freewheeling improv trio Plants and Animals, and country singer Katie Moore. Their traditional, acoustic instrumentation emerges from the modern filter as refined, limber folk, with fragile and careening harmonies, opulent pickin' and lazy horns, and tons of personality to spare. 7.5/10 (Lorraine Carpenter) With Orillia Opry at la Sala Rossa, Fri., Mar. 25, 9 p.m., $6

Et Sans
Par noussss touss les trous de vos cranes! (Alien8)
Hosting members of godspeed!, Shalabi Effect, Fly Pan Am, Set Fire to Flames and Silver Mt. Zion, Et Sans break away from the Alien8/Constellation blueprint, nodding to Can and Suicide while tape splices and white-noise electronics fill up the space. On "We Bouche Vegetale...," the chaos is draped over a simple, pulsing beat that would almost seem more at home on Wax Tracks than among Alien8's noisy neighbours, but Et Sans push the boundaries and refuse to surrender to the beat. Forget the current crop of no-wavers, Et Sans are creating something absolutely nobody else is doing while keeping an arm's length distance from the Wire subscribers. Oh, and a tip o' the lid to Seripop for once again coming up with a real eye-catching cover. 8/10 (Johnson Cummins)

Justus Kohncke
Doppelleben (Kompakt)
After making more than a few 2004 mixes with his dancefloor burner "Timecode," Kompakt's Kohncke is more than happy to show the other side of his Doppelleben (German for "double life"). Unlike many producers who fly the minimal techno flag, Kohncke's approach has always been inclusive rather than exclusive, favouring booty-shaking over chin-scratching. Never one to shy away from a pop-tinged melody, Kohncke peppers many of his tracks - from four-on-the-floor, vocodered dancefloor workouts like "Schwabylon" to melodic downtempo numbers like "Herz Aus Papier" - with catchy vocals and a light and airy feeling that never gets bogged down in its own braininess. A solid album that gets better with every listen. 8.5/10 (Raf Katigbak)

Drop the Lime
This Means Forever (Tigerbeat6)
Holy shit! Hold on to your synapses, DTL has taken the sound of the sweaty, dank, church-basement rave and combined it with the sound of the sweaty, dank, church-basement punk party. It's no secret that hardcore rave and hardcore punk have always been long-lost bastard brothers. Maximalism is the order of the day and DTL has no problem picking up where Kid 606 left off, expertly slicing hyper breakbeats, jungle samples, classic hip hop and laser-beam sound effects at a breakneck pace, all the while screaming orders over a broken mic. The next wave of breakcore is still not for the faint of heart. 8/10 (Raf Katigbak)

Le Peuple de l'Herbe
Cube (PIAS/Select)
If the band name didn't already clue you in, you can consider this the French Herbaliser - cloak 'n' dagger downtempo/hip hop with bold horns, a meaty live-band sound, flashes of electro and jungle, and a definite sense of humour. Given the anglo MCs (Berlin's Puppetmastaz and the gravelly JC 001, who delivers the goods on "Mission"), this is clearly le Peuple's international-breakthrough push. While hardly original (refer please to half of Ninja Tune's '90s catalogue) or even all that au courant, you can't fault this bunch for their catchy tunes and clever ideas. 7/10 (Rupert Bottenberg)

2Tom's Up
Le Deux Tom (NorthernCorp)
One quick listen to the laidback flows in "L'Esprit tranquille" and you've tapped into the vibe of this eight-song EP from the two Toms. Montreal's 2Tom's Up seem to have a handle on double duty, crafting relaxed, melodic beats that walk the line between underground snap and pop sentimentality. They're also quite nice on the mic. These young MCs are joined by Accrophone on "Autant d'cinéma?," the same voice that graces the chopped-soul vocals on "L'Esprit tranquille." Boogat comes with some beats for "A Coup de p'tits gestes," lending some help to a duo who are clearly capable of a whole lot on their own. 7.5/10 (Scott C)

TTC
Bastards Sensibles (Big Dada/Outside)
It must be hard being serious clowns of electro-synth hip hop, making strange extraterrestrial music that only a small percentage of the human population will ever be able to fully grasp. Such is the plight of Tido Berman, Teki Latex, Cuizinier and DJ Orgasmic, chosen to champion the quirks of the eight-bit hip hop universe with humour and playful foolishness. These Frenchmen may have an aural fixation with pushing your perception of beats, but songs like "Girlfriend" and "Latest Dance Craze," featuring Busdriver, make me wish their lyrical choices matched their balls-out approach to production. 7/10 (Scott C)

Omarion
O (Sony BMG)
While comparisons to Usher abound, Omarion really has more in common with Justin Timberlake. Like Timberlake, he graduated from a successful boy band and his debut is about coming of age, a fact he addresses with the introspective "Growing Pains." As such, O is harder than anything he did with B2K, thanks largely to a host of producers including the Neptunes and Rodney Jerkins, who do a particularly good job of providing some meaty beats for "Touch" and "Drop That Heater," respectively. But the album's best moment comes during "Never Gonna Let You Go," with Outkast's Big Boi, a track that shows Omarion's true potential when he really grows up. 7.5/10 (Gerard Dee)

Natty King
No Guns to Town (Insight)
Listening to Natty King, it's not surprising that he cut his teeth singing Luciano tunes. Like Luci, he's committed to positivity and has a terrific voice. But Natty King is a bonafide singing sensation himself, with two huge number one hits, the reality tune "No Guns to Town" and the capitalist-questioning "Mr. Greedy." No Guns to Town features the big tunes (plus bonus videos for both hits), link-ups with Sizzla, Chinna Smith and Trinity, as well as the lovely romantic track "Love Me." The umpteenth reason why folks should take a listen to new, conscious reggae. 9/10 (Erin MacLeod)

Dizzy Gillespie
Back Up (Essential Jazz Masters)
The CD is subtitled "featuring Charlie Parker," and Bird is indeed in top shape on the first five tracks (note especially his famous solo on "A Night in Tunisia"). The other two thirds of this historic package, recorded September 29, 1947, at Carnegie Hall, consists of the Gillespie big band of the day and, with the addition of conga drummer Chano Pozo, an early introduction of Afro-Cuban jazz to the public. There are also some bonuses - George Russell's arrangement of "Relaxin' at Camarillo," John Lewis's "Toccata For Trumpet" and Tadd Dameron's big-band chart of his "Hot House," material never recorded commercially by the band. 10/10 (Len Dobbin)

Mini CD Reviews

Fred Hersch Leaves of Grass (Palmetto/Fusion III) Hersch's look at Walt Whitman, which includes the voices of Kate McGarry and Kurt Elling, is a highly successful merger. 10 (LD)

Akron/Family self-titled (Young God) The new face of psychedelia, lovingly put to bed by Swan's Michael Gira. 8.5 (JC)

Jahranimo Real Life (Lightning Ball) Someone needs to tell Vancouver-based Jahranimo that he doesn't need hip hop in his reggae - especially since he's otherwise quite nice. 7 (EM)

Gruff Rhys Yr Atal Genhedlaeth (Placid Casual/EMI) Super Furry Animals' singer is long on catchy tunes and short on infectious texture on this solo debut. 6.5 (LC)

The Crooked Fingers Dignity and Shame (Merge) Disc four from this Archers of Loaf spin-off runs on tested-and-true melody and refined indie pop instrumentation, but spends its fuel fast. 6 (LC) At Main Hall, Wed., Mar. 30, 9 p.m., $10

Throwdown Haymaker (Trustkill) I would rather chew on tinfoil for 40 minutes than sit through this jock hardcore again. 3 (JC)

Moby Hotel (V2) On his latest schmaltzy, ambient '80s pop album, Moby sticks to what he does best: sucking. 2.5 (RK)

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