Scratch Massive
Naked (Nocturne/Fusion III)
Paris is burning! While this is perhaps more true now than ever, given France’s position on the front page of international news, let us not forget the musical movement that coined this catchphrase. Paris has always been a one-stop hotspot on the global dance circuit. This 75-minute mix, recorded live at the hedonistically hip Pulp Club, features an excellent disco mix dance rock and electro-tech by the duo Scratch Massive. Old school, new school and no school are repped here as Pixeltan, Captain Comatose, Steve Bug, 4hero, !!!, Out Hud, Nina Hagen and John Tejada all get their time to shine. A delightfully fun, silly and thumping house party blend. 8.5/10 (Raf Katigbak)

The Living Blue
Fire, Blood, Water (Minty Fresh/Fusion III)
With full-bodied guitars and well-moulded melodies, Champaign, Illinois’s Living Blue, formerly known as the Blackouts, blend elements of late-’70s punk, ’80s alternative and touches of post-punk and garage revivalism for a rock-solid, nearly timeless sound. The band’s conspiring guitars and frontman Stephen Ucherek’s tough but tender singing (with faint traces of a fake British accent) neatly connect the dots, joining Sex Pistols riffage, Pixies progressions, Stranglers organ, Echo and the Bunnymen vocals, Beatles hooks and Hives swagger. That said, this ain’t a plagiarized patchwork, but a pop-tainted punk record that pushes almost all the right buttons. 8.5/10 (Lorraine Carpenter)

Shalabi Effect
Unfortunately (Alien8)
This new one from Montreal’s greatest psych export is the result of five live shows recorded last spring at the MAI theatre. Still letting the drone guide their way, this quirky foursome start things off with a melange of electronics and a sample of somebody wretching on “Out of the Closet.” A return to more traditional psychedelia follows on “Pai Nai,” with guitars taking up a Middle Eastern pattern and a discernable vocal getting dragged along for the ride. Unfortunately further removes Shalabi Effect from the current crop of Pink Floyd/Can retreads and really shows the band cutting its own path, one few could follow. 8/10 (Johnson Cummins) CD launch at Friendship Cove tonight, Thurs., Nov. 17, 9 p.m.

Albatross Note
The Art Lodge Tapes (Evil Evil)
You may know half of Albatross Note from Winnipeg’s renowned artist collective Royal Art Lodge, including band leader Marcel Dzama of Beck and Weakerthans CD-cover fame. His distinctive groupings of brown figures, laced with porn, gore and grotesque animal masks, deck the band’s debut album, which is as deceptively conservative and earthy as his art. In just over a half-hour, the band packs in 11 backwoods toe-tappers, clunky pop songs, weary ballads and deadpan goth, a party mix of primitive homages to Neil Young, the Beach Boys, the Jesus and Mary Chain, Yoko Ono and Suicide. 7/10 (Lorraine Carpenter)

The Alley Dukes
Northern Rednecks (Flying Saucer)
These pompadoured locals strut along a very fine line, with psychobilly overkill on one side and castrated vanilla-billy on the other. Their sound is of the vintage of rock ’n’ roll’s dawning days, raw but tight, energized but not unduly aggressive. Nothing too daring in the songcraft here, just meat and potatoes rockabilly, but the lyrics are another story. Titles like “Drinkin’ My Life Away” and “Chokin’ the Chicken” indicate how they invest their leisure time, and the recurrent theme of anal sex, that’s bound to go over well with Letter Sweater Louie and Poodle Skirt Petunia down at the malt shop. 7.5/10 (Rupert Bottenberg) With the Brains at Playhouse, Fri., Nov. 18, 9 p.m., free

gyroscope
Buche (independent)
These Montreal post-rockers are sure to appeal to people digging the glory days of Tortoise, Acid Mothers Temple’s psych-out or the melodic catchiness of Vancouver’s Bend Sinister. Tread with caution as these instrumentalists do dip heavily into a fusion sound, but they manage to pull it out of the fire with a tremolo/delay/fuzz/phase-treated guitar and distorted electric piano, with grooves locking in solid only to later be ripped at the seams. Extra bonus points for the wood paneled packaging. 7/10 (Johnson Cummins) CD launch at Casa del Popolo, Fri., Nov. 18, 9 p.m.

Death From Above 1979
Romance Bloody Romance Remixes and B-Sides (Last Gang)
Maybe it’s because I’m still happily digesting a similar package from Bloc Party, but I’m feeling a bit shortchanged by this batch of reworkings of Toronto mechano-punk duo DFA’79. Even with talents like Justice, Alan Braxe and Jesper Dahlback on board, I’m not sure we need four remixes each of “Romantic Rights” and “Black History Month” (the source album You’re a Woman, I’m a Machine had more to work with than that). That said, this comp is no flop, with a cover of la Peste kicking things off hard, a dope Erol Alkan re-edit and two of the “Black History Month” remixes standing out—the galactic drift of the version by QOTSA’s Josh Homme and the Girl on Girl Revision with Arcade Fire offshoot Final Fantasy bringing some sweet strings into the equation. 7/10 (Rupert Bottenberg)

Danger Doom
The Mouse and the Mask (Lex/Epitaph)
Did you ever consider that the worlds of true gully rap and cartoons for grown-ups could combine to take that all-important next step in musical innovation? Probably not, but combine the roll that beat-man Dangermouse is on with MF Doom’s new fulltime job as super MC, and Danger Doom lives. Cartoon Network regulars Aqua Teen Hunger Force, Sealab 2021 and Harvey Birdman, Attorney at Law all get sampled and rinsed by DM in the mix, while Doom plays the indomitable frontman once again. Talib Kweli and Ghostface make memorable contributions to the animated action. 8/10 (Scott C)

Madonna
Confessions on a Dance Floor (Warner)
Maybe she’s too occupied with kiddie lit, horseplay and Hebraic numerology to hit the refresh button on her creative process. Maybe she’s simply banking on her base constituency buying into her tired nouveau disco deal without question—hence the utterly played-out aping of Giorgio Moroder by way of French Touch house. But it doesn’t bode well for Madonna that the stink of déja-entendu permeates Confessions, that it takes an Abba bite to sustain her lead-off tune “Hung Up,” and that even at her best here, she’s struggling to reach the standard of her own understudy Kylie. 6/10 (Rupert Bottenberg)

Secret Mommy
Very Rec (Ache)
Vancouver’s Ache Records have always prided themselves on their uncanny ability to meld seemingly disparate worlds into a cohesive whole (like their seven-inch series, pairing electronic musicians with indie rock acts). It comes as no surprise then that label head and lead artist Andy Dixon (aka Secret Mommy) is naturally adept at colliding, compiling and contorting disparate found sounds into a playful, chaotic mess. Squelchy, quirky bleeps fire off over crunchy, bare-bones drums as almost recognizable real-world sounds fill out the rhythm track, in a Herbert meets Aphex Twin style that’s as enchanting as it is perplexing. 8/10 (Raf Katigbak)

Various
I Believe To My Soul (Rhino/Warner)
Last June, producer Joe Henry assembled five R&B veterans, put them in a recording studio for a week and came up with a mix of ’60s-style soul music that’s a true testament to a bygone era. It’s also proof positive that Mavis Staples, Billy Preston, Ann Peebles, Irma Thomas and Allen Toussaint still have what it takes to deliver solid soul, decades after they first made their presence felt on the music scene. Particularly impressive are Ann Peebles and Irma Thomas, whose winning spins on Bob Dylan’s “Tonight I’ll Be Staying Here With You” and Bill Withers’ “Same Love That Made Me Laugh,” respectively, will make you a believer. 7.5/10 (Gerard Dee)

Various
Searching for Soul (Luv N’ Haight)
The rich history of music that blossomed in Detroit in the ’60s and ’70s was largely driven by the strength of Motown, but this compilation of funk and soul shines light on many of the solid, lesser known acts that existed in areas surrounding the music Mecca. Dee Edwards’ “I Can Deal With That” took me right back to why I got into rare grooves in the first place, while Robert Jay’s gritty “Alcohol” has him talking to the bottle directly. Luv N’ Haight perfected the funk/soul comp long ago, but from the liner notes to the tight selection, this LP of Michigan’s finest proves once again that putting these things together takes a truly gifted ear. 9/10 (Scott C)

Steve Amirault
Breath (Effendi/SRI)
Joel Haynes
The Time Is Now (Cellar Live)
These are two of the best Canadian trio releases of the year. Amirault is joined by bassist Jim Vivian and sparkplug drummer Greg Ritchie on nine most musical originals. The title tune is as swinging as “It’ll Be OK” (for his dying dad) is moving. Drummer Haynes is joined by the husband-and-wife team of pianist Tilden Webb and bassist Jodi Proznick over 10 diverse tracks of music composed by the like of Herbie Hancock, Dizzy Gillespie, Lennon-McCartney, Harry Warren (the overlooked “Summer Night”) and originals by Tilden and Jodi. Two very different approaches to trio playing, both worth your undivided attention. Both 9.5/10 (Len Dobbin)

Mini CD Reviews

Alys Robi Diva (Gala) Unreleased material from 1946 CBC broadcasts with Ms. Robi backed by the orchestra of Lucio Agostini. A document of an important time in Canadian music history. 9 (LD)

Fort Minor The Rising Tied (Maverick/Warner) Linkin Park without the guitars and whiny vocals, just the half-baked rhymes. 7 (LM)

The Gorgeous Great Lakes (Distort) Along with Ottawa’s the End and Toronto’s Cursed, this Montreal/Kelowna metal-core unit makes Canada a force to be reckoned with. 7 (JC)

Tony Wilson Horse’s Dream (Drip Audio/Universal) Great outside jazz guitar with an amazing rendition of Coltrane’s “Venus/Offering.” 7 (JC)

White Noise Ensemble J’ai vu le long des routes désolées des carcasses de chameaux blanchir (independent) Local quartet produces noise for white people, blending post-rock guitars, country banjo and electronic flurries. 7 (LC) CD launch at Divan Orange on Tues., Nov. 22, 9:30 p.m.

Slim Thug Already Platinum (Star Trak/Geffen) Chopped and screwed, I sat and sipped the sizzurp until sleep took me. 6.5 (SC)

GD Luxxe Make (Tigerbeat6) Ex-Chicks on Speed producer delivers another cold, German electro-goth-rock album high on production but low on personality. 6 (RK)

The Rasmus Hide From the Sun (Playground/Universal) Brawny, flashy, lurid, stupid—quite possibly the Van Helsing of albums. 2 (LC)

>> Music Listings