Elektro4
Keystroke One (Bully)
Backed by the little Montreal label that could and his buddy DJ Signify, New York beat-head Elektro4 was able to bring the fruits of three years of work to open ears everywhere, a patchwork of moody, hypnotic breaks and layered bits from far and wide. Split into two parts, Keystroke One flows with continuity, without ever becoming bogged down by any of its 15 tracks. Part one, called Portrait of the City, may employ some breaks familiar to the seasoned sampler, but Elektro4’s melodic choices and bass subtleties on songs like “Tell Her” and “Midtown, Thursday Evening” prevail. Part two, The Suicide Suite, isn’t a morbid soundtrack at all, but a contemplative musical weighing of choices thanks to “Daily Medication” and “Closure.” Yet another great Bully release. 9/10 (Scott C)

Wolf Parade
self-titled EP (Sub Pop)
Montreal’s Wolf Parade make their long-awaited Sub Pop debut, four sides of the band’s art-pop prism to whet appetites for the full-length Apologies to the Queen Mary, out in September. The propulsive riffs and decorative keys of the EP’s beautiful bookends, “Shine a Light” and “Lousy Pictures,” sound like the tomboy sisters of Arcade Fire songs, while the choppy strut of “You Are a Runner and I Am My Father’s Son” shows shades of the band’s musical roots in Victoria, B.C., and “Disco Sheets” is Peter Murphy under a strobe light. If this is the template, the album will be sweet. 8.5/10 (Lorraine Carpenter)

Holly Golightly
My First Holly Golightly Album (Damaged Goods)
The Buff Medways
Medway Wheelers (Damaged Goods)
Intentional or not, these U.K. releases arrived on our shores just as the new White Stripes LP dropped, reminding rock ’n’ roll fans that the Whites weren’t the first boy/girl tag team to revive that time-tested sound. The Holly Golightly compilation includes a handful of hits from 2000’s Singles Round Up, and a dozen songs the singer/guitarist has written and released since. Her rock ’n’ roll may run from cool to cold, but bluesy streaks and good old R&B grooves keep pulses pumping and temperatures high. The Buff Medways, meanwhile, is the latest in a long line of bands led by Golightly’s associate “Wild” Billy Childish, who lets his cockney loose all over these dozen dirty-sweet rock ’n’ roll songs. Despite the odd rickety tune, gritty garage perfection rears its head here and there, as does the sing-song simplicity of old-fashioned novelty numbers. Golightly 8, Medways 7/10 (Lorraine Carpenter) Holly Golightly with the Woggles at Café Campus, Mon., July 18, 8:30 p.m., $13

Alvin Youngblood Hart
Motivational Speaker (Artemis)
With some great, swampy slide work and his amps on 10 throughout, bluesman Hart brings something new to the table by not relying on one particular sound. He starts things off by revisiting the acoustic song “Big Mama’s Door” from his debut, instilling a bit more muscle in the mix—the hard-rock reworking easily transcends his original. Hart’s real talent is being able to make the transition from Gatemouth Brown-styled blues/country (“Lawd I’m Just a Country Boy”) to testosterone-fuelled rock (“Shoot Me a Grin”) to Cream-ism (“The Worm”) without grinding any gears. 7/10 (Johnson Cummins)

Nicolai Dunger
This Cloud Is Learning (Dolores/Overcoat)
Despite the prominence of hushed acoustic guitar and vocals here, Nicolai Dunger doesn’t adhere to most singer-songwriter clichés. Fellow Swedes Soundtrack of Our Lives are his backup band on this 1999 album (his third of 10), a refined set of stirring, sometimes haunting ballads. The best of them interweave guitars, horns, strings and the sleeker side of Dunger’s versatile vocals, recalling everything from Elton John’s “Tiny Dancer” to Radiohead’s “2+2=5.” More traditional folk- and country-inspired numbers hold less allure, at least to North American ears, but they’re the minority. 7.5/10 (Lorraine Carpenter) With Hexes and Ohs at la Sala Rossa, Fri., July 15, 9 p.m., $12

Datarock
self-titled (Young Aspiring Professionals/Fusion III)
I suppose it only makes sense that all the coolest electro-pop has been coming from our Nordic neighbours in Scandinavia. Over the last couple of years, acts like Röyksopp and Annie, and Norwegian disco-heads like Lindstromm and Prins Thomas, have all been making waves way beyond their own fjörds. Datarock is a playful Norwegian duo that is as at home dropping rocky, anthemic electro-pop as their own synthy disco-soul version of Grease’s “Summer Lovin’,” “Computer Camp Love.” With a live show that sometimes includes a men’s choir and marching band, fans of Jeans Team, Stereo Total and Cobra Killer can only hope they come back to Montreal in the near future. 8/10 (Raf Katigbak)

Artist of the Year
Cut Disco (Cheezy Sounds/Local)
Armed with scores of dollar-store, diamond-cut disco balls and enough bit-shifting to make you question your own ears, Montreal band AOTY introduce themselves with this ambitious debut LP. With equal time given to musicianship and glitchy processing, combined with some crazy falsetto, AOTY have released a record that is both frenetic, danceable and delightfully unhinged. “Bling Bling” has been stuck in my head for a week now, but it’s the dirty, uptempo instrumentals like “Cincinnati,” or the demented 4/4 explosion of “Let Me Smell Your Mum,” that’ll keep ’em coming back for more. 7.5/10 (Scott C)

Ellen Allien
Thrills (Bpitch Control/Statik)
You can’t fault Berlin DJ/producer and Bpitch label head Ellen Allien for dropping a straight-ahead techno album. Certainly, in this time of musical uncertainty where many cutting-edge electronic artists are looking inward, Allien has the brains and proverbial balls to realize it’s time to make some noise. But while the opening track “Come” is confident and driving as it teases and tantalizes, and the follow-up, “The Brain is Lost,” is a topnotch, darkly funky track with a pummelling elastic bassline that brings to mind Mu and Detroit Grand Pubahs, Allien seems to lose the plot somewhat and has trouble holding the listener’s attention for more than half of these five-minute songs. Ultimately, with only a few nuggets, Thrills plays more like a collection of singles and B-sides. 7.5/10 (Raf Katigbak)

Mellowmood
InaDiMood (Mont Réal/Select)
Many of Montreal’s best singers, deejays and singjays appear on what seems to be as much a snapshot of some of this city’s best live reggae as it is an album. Though altogether quite a competent showing, some standout moments include Dan Beats on “Remember” (demonstrating why he should be on the mic more often), Mikey Dangerous’ gruff “Hail H.I.M.,” Nik Miot’s versatility on “Pou Ki Sa Kon Sa,” Jojoe’s catchy “Mellowmood Dubbin” and the outstanding “No Bada With No Screwface” featuring Face T. InaDiMood is the perfect quebecois complement to the nice, heavy one-drop sound that’s running Jamaica right now. 8.5/10 (Erin MacLeod) With Kelly Nunes, Fatta Inc., Little Thunder and more at le Swimming, Sat., July 16, 9 p.m., $15

Lizz Wright
Dreaming Wide Awake (Verve/Universal)
For anyone who missed Wright’s sublime performance at this year’s Jazz Fest, her latest disc is an excellent sample of what this gifted singer has to offer. While her stunning 2003 debut Salt effectively melded gospel, soul and jazz into an intoxicating brew, her latest brings more blues and folk into the jazzy mix. Once again, her repertoire includes imaginative covers of classics ranging from Neil Young’s “Old Man” to the Young Bloods’ “Get Together.” Meanwhile, Wright flexes her writing muscles with some help from Norah Jones, and from writer Jesse Harris on the engaging “Hit the Ground,” and single-handedly pens the set’s moving title track. What a beautiful dream. 8/10 (Gerard Dee)

Various
Forever, For Always, For Luther (Verve/Universal)
Two years ago, when Luther Vandross suffered a massive stroke that left him in a coma for weeks, fans were put on notice that one of the most unique and soulful voices of a generation threatened to be silenced forever. The Friday before last, that notice came due when the exquisite balladeer passed away, leaving behind a rich catalog of music over 15 albums deep. This tribute album pays homage to “Lufa” via jazz-influenced interpretations of some of his signature songs, including stellar vocal performances by Lalah Hathaway (“Forever, For Always, For Love”) and Ledisi (“My Sensitivity”). It’s a fitting honour for an incomparable artist whose love affair with love was never too much. 8/10 (Gerard Dee)

Bill Barron
Modern Windows Suite (Savoy)
Bill Barron
Now, Hear This (Fresh Sound)
An unfamiliar name perhaps, tenorman Barron, a wonderful player in the Dexter Gordon tradition, was the older brother (by 16 years) of pianist Kenny Barron. As his recorded legacy is rather sparse for a man of his large talents, I was elated to come across these two reissues. The former combines two 1961sessions for Savoy, with a cast including his frequent partner trumpeter Ted Curson, Kenny (at 17), Jimmy Garrison, Pete LaRoca or Frankie Dunlop in seven of his compositions, including the four-part suite that adds Jay Cameron on baritone. The latter is from a 1964 date for Audio Fidelity, again spotlighting fine playing from Bill, Ted and Kenny, in a program of originals by Bill and Ted mixed with some standards. If you love the tenor saxophone, you owe it to yourself to hear Bill, who died at 62 in 1989. Both 9/10 (Len Dobbin)

Mini CD Reviews

Dave Frishberg Do You Miss New York? (Arbors Jazz) Recorded at Lincoln Center in 2002, this great composer plays and sings 13 of his songs plus a “Swinging the Classics Medley.” A must for Frishberg fans! 10 (LD)

Various Jonkanoo (Greensleeves) Of everything on this hi-energy riddim album courtesy of Donovan Bennett, Bling Dawg’s cut, “Aerobics Class,” tells you exactly what the Jonkanoo is all about. 9 (EM)

Beatfanatic The Gospel According to... (Soundscape/Groove) Stockholm’s reigning king of the underground disco edit mixes up Latin, Afro and hip hop for this superb back-to-front party record. 8 (SC)

Christopher O’Riley Plays Radiohead: Hold Me To This (World Village/Fusion III) The virtuoso pianist’s second pretty and painstaking tribute to the ’head. 8 (LC)

Various Jim White Presents Searching for the Wrong-Eyed Jesus (Luaka Bop) The spoken-word bit by Southern fiction writer Harry Crews alone makes this worth it. 8 (JC)

Bif Naked Superbeautifulmonster (Her Royal Majesty’s/Warner) Subbanalmediocrity. 5 (LC)

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