Keyshia Cole
The Way It Is (Universal)
Newcomer Cole brings the drama with much conviction on her sizzling debut. There's barely a happy moment to be found, with Cole either recovering from heartbreak, overcoming betrayal or kicking someone to the curb. A handful of producers, including John Legend and the ubiquitous Kayne West, supply mighty beats to support Cole's strong and steady delivery. Take-no-prisoner tracks like "I Should Have Cheated" and "Guess What?" (where she stands toe-to-toe with rapper Jadakiss), are balanced with more vulnerable fare like "Love, I Thought You Had My Back" and "Situations." But make no mistake, Cole came to win - she's just not shy about showing her battle scars. 8.5/10 (Gerard Dee)

Joy Zipper
American Whip (Dangerbird)
New Yorkers Tabitha Tindale and Vincent Cafiso, who borrowed their moniker from Tindale's mother (really, her name is Joy Zipper), are one of those acts who were snatched up by the U.K. before their homeland took notice, and it's easy to see why. On this sophomore disc, macabre lyrics about madness, stalking and Alzheimer's are cleverly camouflaged by cotton-candy compositions, essentially shoegazing-lite with fabulous featherweight harmonies. Extra points go to the (un)happy couple for roping in My Bloody Valentine's Kevin Shields to mix four tracks and produce one. 8/10 (Lorraine Carpenter)

Heroes & Villains
All the Giants Are Buried at Sea (independent)
The Smiths? Wedding Present? Joy Division? This local band is in that fun phase where their influences are easy to pinpoint, but their own identity is slowly emerging to strut its stuff. Produced and mastered by the ubiquitous Howard Bilerman and Harris Newman, respectively, this seven-track CD features pretty, punchy guitar work and action-packed pop melodies. This is a no-brainer for Britpop fans–there's even a song that states "Britpop is not dead," which is debatable. Despite rough edges in the lyrical and vocal department, this is a gripping debut by very a promising band. 7.5/10 (Lorraine Carpenter)

Banditas
self-titled (Last Drag Records)
This trio come across like Red Aunts paired with the punkier side of K Records, but Liz McDermott's vocals really make this stand out from the soundalikes. The warts and all are exposed here as tempos don't always anchor and the guitars occasionally veer off course, but if you want perfect tempos and pitch, maybe you should be checking out Destiny's Child 'cause this ain't nothin' but grade-A punk rock, complete with "one, two, three, four!" intros and distorted vocals. Extra bonus points for having a song called "Tubular Balls." 7.5/10 (Johnson Cummins)

Jesus and the Headliners
The Bad News (Fight the Mentality/Local)
These local kneeslappers take aim on the war on terrorism and celebrate necrophilia, anarchy, getting laid and the thrill one can only feel after drinking copious amounts of Wild Grizzly. Kind of merging old-school Hollywood Boulevard hair-farmer metal with some Fat Wreck punk rawk, this trio proves that underneath the chuckles and chortles (and there are plenty), they know how to pen a catchy tune. The comedic interludes do get a bit taxing upon repeated listening but "The '80s Song," complete with Iron Maiden gallop, and the ballad "Maybe It's in the Water" prove these guys are in it for more than just yuks. 7/10 (Johnson Cummins) CD launch with ...And the Saga Continues, Road Bones at l'Hémisphère Gauche, Fri., July 22, 9 p.m., $5

Skratch Bastid
Taking Care of Business (First Things First)
The latest development in the Haligonian occupation of Montreal finds a young Paul Murphy, aka Skratch Bastid, teaming up with MCs Pip Skid and John Smith for TCOB. The Bastid has never been a slouch on the cut, and he doesn't disappoint here, blessing all 16 tracks with a little bit of personality. Taking all production credits, save a few songs courtesy of Gordski and JoRun, the Bastid goes for broke. "Collecting Empties" gets the nod, sounding like some crazy M.O.P. drinking song, while "Murphy's Law" lays out the Bastid's mandate for takeover with a tight series of turntable exercises. Am I asking too much for the instrumental version of this record? 8/10 (Scott C)

Richard Davis
Details (Kitty-Yo/Fusion III)
While I'm all for the abstract, apolitical, open-to-interpretation, futuristic freedom of instrumental electronic music, the fact is this: there's nothing like a good vocal melody to hook a listener into a track. Luckily, Richard Davis's debut album Details is chock-full of these melodies. If Kitty-Yo's sexagenarian techno crooner Louie Austen was this millennium's answer to Frank Sinatra, then Davis is our answer to adult contempo star James Taylor (without the suck). Melancholic understated vocals and bittersweet melodies over pulsing microhouse beats flavoured with cello and stuttered guitar and piano - a gentle, sensitive album with Kompakt's four-on-the-floor pop sensibilities. 8/10 (Raf Katigbak)

Some Water and Sun
All My Friends Have to Go (Hefty)
A playful collaboration between Chicago's John Hughes III (no relation to the director and creator of the Beethoven series of canine comedy flicks) and Japan's Shin Tasaki, Some Water is the sound of two disparate cultures trying to understand each other and finding common ground in futuristic soul music. Off-kilter, proggy R&B synth licks and stilted minimal hip hop breaks organically merge with soulful Japanese/English harmonized lyrics undercut by lightly shifting layers of found sounds. While tracks shift from delicate ambience to deep head-nodding grooves, they're never overbearing or repetitious. 7/10 (Raf Katigbak)

Niyaz
self-titled (Six Degrees/Outside)
Between the drum-and-voice duo Vas and her solo outing Portals of Grace, singer Azam Ali has long since cemented her rep. She handles material reflecting her Indo-Iranian upbringing in a distinctive manner that is at once original, intriguing and welcoming to the Western ear. Her latest project Niyaz sees her tackling a series of Sufi poems with the aid of exceptional multi-instrumentalist Loga Ramin Torkian and two-time Grammy nominee Carmen Rizzo. The trick that makes their millennial medievalism work is that the electronics are used simply to bolster and flesh out the sound, rather than forcing a sense of modernity. 7.5/10 (Rupert Bottenberg) At Théatre de la Verdure (Parc Lafontaine), July 22–23, 8:30 p.m., free

Ladybug Mecca
Trip the Light Fantastic (Nu-Paradigm/Fusion III)
Any artist who has had their past work stamped with classic status must surely find themselves in a bind. Do they come back years later with more of the same, or do they do anything but what they did before? Unfortunately for Digable Planets MC Ladybug Mecca, her choice to "trip the light fantastic" has produced lukewarm results. This LP has rock and pop songs, some jazzy and Latin-flavoured tunes, a few hip hop tracks and even a little reggaeton flavour. Props to Ladybug for branching out, and even singing, but I don't know if this record was as much for us as it was for her. Let's hope the new Digables record can offer a little more than this grab bag of middle-of-the-road songs. 6.5/10 (Scott C)

Betty Davis
This Is It! (Vampisoul/FAB)
She's best known for briefly marrying Miles Davis and in the process turning him on to psychedelic rock (and getting into a nasty romantic triangle with Miles and Jimi), so you can thank Betty Davis for Bitches Brew, I guess. But her marital hijinx are of little relevance next to the intense funk-rock excellence of her all-too-brief career. These 19 tracks from the mid-'70s aren't merely masterpieces of ferociously forceful freight-train soul, crowned by her wildcat vocals, creeping cooly one moment, exploding like a nailbomb the next. Her sly, sexually assertive and hilariously clever lyrics set a standard for the no-bullshit broad that few have managed to meet since. 8.5/10 (Rupert Bottenberg)

Bill Potts
Porgy & Bess + Bye Bye Birdie (Lone Hill/Trend)
Claude Thornhill
...And His Orchestra 1942-1953 (Fresh Sound/Fusion III)
Arrangements are the key to these two releases. Potts, Gil Evans and Gerry Mulligan are at the top of their game here. Potts, who died recently, is from the Washington area and there he wrote some great arrangements for "The Orchestra." Bess is from 1959, the lesser known Birdie material from 1963. The section playing on both is first rate and the soloists include Bill Evans, Harry Edison and Charlie Shavers, Rod Levitt and Willie Dennis, Zoot Sims and Al Cohn, Phil Woods and Gene Quill, all sparked by drummers Charli Persip and Sol Gubin. The early Thornhill band was the inspiration for "Birth of the Cool" and 11 of Evans' arrangements are here as well as two sessions arranged by Mulligan, a 1953 session that again includes Quill and some rare 1948 pieces that include Lee Konitz and Brew Moore. Two welcome CDs for big-band fanciers. Both 9/10 (Len Dobbin)

Mini CD Reviews

Don Thompson Ask Me Later (CBC) This is a most musical outing from the Don (on vibes and piano) abetted by Phil Dwyer, Jim Vivian and Terry Clarke. Try the "Cherokee" variant "Hot Chocolate" (a play on Bird's "Koko"). 9 (LD)

Easylifenatural ft. Erik Sumo "Grasshopper" 7" (Wah Wah 45s) Tight little mover from the Wah Wah camp, with Tru Thoughts' Nostalgia 77 on the remix. 8 (SC)

Various Pop Fiction Act One (Hot Banana/Statik) A top notch offering of Italo-disco and classic techno inspired cuts from this French label, from a time where clubs were dark holes in the wall and cocaine rained down from the heavens. 8 (RK)

Adrian Belew Side Two (Sanctuary/EMI) Belew continues to take guitars to new realms. 7.5 (JC)

Bad Flirt 6 Ways to Break Your Heart (independent) Local indie chick turns on charm, sweet and sour guitar and synth ditties ensue. 7.5 (LC) With the Burdocks, the Camaromance at the Jupiter Room, Fri., July 22

The Magic Numbers self-titled (Heavenly) Two British brother-sister pairs play in the saccharine '60s sandbox, a pretty pop exercise, if a slightly vapid one. 7 (LC)

Iommi Fused (Sanctuary/EMI) Sabbath's Tony Iommi should definitely call it a day after this solo dud. 5 (JC)

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