Randy
Randy the Band (Fat Wreck Chords)
Since the glory days of the Buzzcocks, the Vibrators, the Undertones and Descendants, pop-punk has really gotten a black eye. Thankfully, bands like Randy add some spit, leave out the polish and give the tired corpse a good kick. Songs like “Punk Rock High,” “Better Than Art” and “Bahnhof Zoo” are perfect pop-punkers, while “Teenage Tiger” and “Nothing on Me” speed things up and roar throughout their two minutes. Instead of the same tired clichés about not getting the girl, Randy actually make animal rights, anti-Americanism and anarchism downright catchy. 8.5/10 (Johnson Cummins)
Various
High School Crush (Sony BMG)
There was a time, a quarter century or so ago, when pimply, giggly, pubescent girls would breathlessly snatch up the latest issues of TeenBeat and Tiger Beat, scamper home and sigh and coo like flustered pigeons over the glossy snaps of epicene, saucer-eyed lads with roguishly upturned collars and sweeping coifs. Today, those girls have blossomed into mature women—ambitious, sophisticated, sexually seasoned and incredulous. Somewhere in the recesses of their hearts, though, candles still burn for Wham!, Duran Duran, NKOTB and Leif Garrett. This disc is for you, ladies, and we will kindly ask you to employ headphones so as not to subject the rest of us to this heinous crap. 2/10 (Rupert Bottenberg)
Cat Power
The Greatest (Matador/Select)
This is neither a greatest-hits collection nor Chan Marshall’s best record. Her lyrics are as entangled in everyday heartbreak and strife as ever, her voice and piano mired in that familiar faraway vulnerability, but the tone, with its meaty streaks of laid-back country and blues, is decidedly downhome. The arrangements of strings, horns, keys, guitar, bass, drums—played by Memphis session musicians with ties to soul stars Al Green and Willie Mitchell—are warm and tasteful, but the songs themselves tread too close to the MOR precipice. Without her usual yin/yang of damage and strength, Ms. Marshall sounds declawed. 6.5/10 (Lorraine Carpenter)
Th’ Legendary Shack-Shakers
Pandelirium (Yep Roc/Outside)
These hicks from the sticks pepper their rockabilly with Western swing, klezmer, Ennio Morricone quotes, punk rock, gypsy jazz and metal. Jello Biafra and Reverend Horton Heat get in on the action here, but it’s the twang of David Lee’s Gretsch and singer Col. JD Wilkes’s barbed-wire vocals that’ll grab you by the ear for 40 minutes. Although the Shack-Shakers use humour throughout, they stop short of becoming bucktoothed yokel caricatures, with clever barbs in “South Electric Eyes” and “Bible, Candle and Skull.” Fans of Thinking Fellers Union and Southern Culture on the Skids are going to love this. 8.5/10 (Johnson Cummins)
Simon Bélair/Colin Vernon
Why Not You Be Among These Happy Dancers (Natacha)
Cian Ethrie
untitled (Cricxkets)
Local sax and clarinet players Simon Bélair and Colin Vernon (members of Rivers and Mountains and the Natacha Recordings Sound System) have created a minimal, fragmented, fluttering 10-inch record, with warped moments evoking a broken music box submerged in water. It’s just begging for “experimental” film accompaniment—I’m picturing a loop of a man in a straightjacket and a pacing guard who drops a handful of tacks on the floor, slo-mo close-up on those tacks and the man’s horrified reaction. My cat was fascinated. On the A-side of Cian Ethrie’s seven-inch, hear duelling twin acoustic guitars, outpacing each other one minute, falling into step the next, always finishing each other’s sentences. The competitive camaraderie picks up speed on B, with sporadic foley interruptions (scraping? cutting?) throughout. Now there’s a fun guessing game for the kids. Bélair/Vernon: 6, Cian Ethrie: 7/10 (Lorraine Carpenter) Double record launch at Toc Toc, Fri., Feb. 3, 9 p.m., free
Saint Etienne
Tales From Turnpike House (Savoy Jazz/Koch)
St. E offer a couple of new twists on their latest effort—“Last Orders for Gary Stead,” flipping between a rock ’n’ roll shuffle and chamber-pop swells, comes off nicely, while the turgid funk-rock throwback “Oh My” decidedly does not. The leather-’n’-lasers vibe of “Lightning Strikes Twice,” moreover, is a very awkward fit for the English trio. They’re still at their most comfortable and inspired mining familiar terrain, decorating their disco domesticus with bucolic folk, bottled-sunshine harmonies (note the a cappella closer “Goodnight”) and tasteful wit carried by Sarah Cracknell’s elfin-as-ever vocals. In that respect, “Milk Bottle Symphony” is the album’s tentpole track, while “A Good Thing” earns its title. 7.5/10 (Rupert Bottenberg)
Various
Context Unravelled (Context Free Media/Kompakt)
Over the last nine years, DJ, producer and Context Free Media label head Sutekh has made it a point to be “consistently inconsistent,” dropping albums for everyone from Soul Jazz to Force Inc. Seeking to find an outlet for musical anomalies that teeter precariously on the line between techno and freeform abstraction, he created Context Free Media. Context Unravelled is a 70-minute mix containing all 16 CFM releases to date. From the abstract sub-dub of Mexico’s Murcof to the quirky, upbeat funk of Canada’s Ben Nevile and the off-kilter, pseudo-shuffle of Wang Inc. vs. Kit Clayton, Context Free Media flies the funky freak flag with pride. 7.5/10 (Raf Katigbak)
Slam
Nightdrive (Resisit/Fusion III)
It’s no surprise that Glasgow duo Slam open their double CD Nightdrive with a Carl Craig track. After all, the Detroit techno influence that permeates most of the mix was once firmly rooted in the automotive industry (Juan Atkins’ “Midnight Drive” track under his Model 500 moniker is one example). From minimal Ketamine house to maximal electro-techno over two hours, Nightdrive navigates the slippery, twisted, winding roads of today’s European techno scene. Deep, dark and throbbing, this is a killer mix. 8.5/10 (Raf Katigbak)
Various
Crunk Magazine Vol. 1: The Memphis, TN Issue (Nocturne/Fusion III)
The first CD in the Crunk Magazine collection, dedicated to the Memphis crunk scene, features regional legends like 8 Ball, Al Kapone and DJ Squeaky holding down their city. Whether it’s the rolling hood rhymes of Skinny Pimp’s “Croosin” or the amped refrain of Nasty Nardo’s “Krunk City,” these songs are all aimed at letting the rest of the world know that Memphis is not messing around. For some extra punch, peep Al Kapone and E40’s “SuperCrunk,” a song where you can feel the floor buckle as bottles fly over your head. 7/10 (Scott C)
Omnikrom
FM2: 24 Pouces Glacés (Magifiques/Local)
At first listen, the twisted Montreal crunk of Omnikrom might sound like a bit of an anomaly, but MCs Jeanbart and Linso Gabbo, and producer Figure 8, are serious about their sound. Unlike their first EP, Futurs Millionnaires Vol. 1, their latest has built on their cheeky, matter-of-fact and often dirty rhymes, with bigger beats and even more quirk. They’ve called on the production talents of local big cat Ghislain Poirier for “XXX ce soir,” and the posse cut, “Pour te réchauffer,” features Cuizinier, Teki Latex and Tido Berman from TTC, while Kid Rolex, Figure 8 and TPER round out the remaining productions. Whether you love them or hate them, Omnikrom are here to get low. 7.5/10 (Scott C) CD launch with Ghislain Poirier at Zoobizarre, Sat., Feb. 4, 9 p.m., $5
Jay Bizzy
The Ghost of Jacob Marley (Urbnet)
Jay Bizzy is part of the next wave of Halifax MCs that are busting out of the East in a big way. The Ghost of Jacob Marley is a 16-track piece featuring production from some of the usual suspects, namely Classified, Jorun, Beatmason and Dexter Doolittle. Bizzy gets busy on the mic, spitting largely confident rhymes that sometimes dip into played territory on songs like “Smoke Cheeba” and “The Party Crasher.” He kills it on the title track with tight verses from beginning to end, topped with a sweet beat from Jorun. Honourable mentions go to the final track “My Day,” as well as the untitled bonus track, where Jay Bizzy shows clear signs of things to come. 7.5/10 (Scott C)
George Huff
Miracles (Word)
With the fifth season of American Idol underway, third season finalist Huff hopes to cash in on his 15 minutes before fans forget him. Huff was the “nice guy” of his season, his warm personality, million-dollar smile and deep baritone often compensating for less-than-stellar vocal performances. If he’d been born earlier, he’d have made a great Temptation. On his own, he excels with material that allows him to sink into simmering, slow-building rhythms. Unfortunately, there’s not a lot of that here, with hip hop-leaning songs like “Bounce” and “Real Love” leaving little room for Huff to deliver anything but mediocre performances. Maybe the revamped Temptations are looking for new members? 6/10 (Gerard Dee)
Satomi Saeki & Alcvin Takegawa Ramos
Japanese Traditional Koto and Shakuhachi Music (Oliver Sudden)
The sounds of the horizontal koto harp and shakuhachi flute, focal instruments of Japanese traditional music, will be familiar to fans of that country’s historical cinema. They frequently accompany this or that outburst of honour-driven bloodletting or cruel social ostracism, so one could be forgiven for associating them with anxious, even abrasive moods. In the skilled hands of this thoughtful Vancouver-based duo, however, they take on a warm, engaging, upbeat tone, palatable to Western ears. Moreover, the calm, sparse quality of the compositions is paradoxically evocative, its hollow spaces filling up with distinct, poetic images of austere natural beauty. 8/10 (Rupert Bottenberg)
Mini CD Reviews
A Man Called Warwick Ritmo! Mix (independent) A stunning mix of forgotten Afro-Latin flavours from the roots up. AMCW is the king of deep, tropical grooves. 9 (SC)
Various Classic Railroad Songs (Smithsonian Folkways) Top-shelf railroad songs from Leadbelly, Doc Watson, Woody Guthrie etc., but it’s the 36-page booklet that makes this essential. 9 (JC)
Various Downbeat the Ruler: Killer Instrumentals From Studio One (Heartbeat) Just one of three new comps from the camp of Coxsone Dodd, but it’s this spread of vocal-free Jamaican soul that takes the gold. 9 (RB)
Young People Five Sunsets in Four Days (Too Pure/Select) Allegedly influenced by nearly all U.S. music under the sun, from gospel to R&B to pop to punk, this indie rock EP rises and shines. 8.5 (LC)
High Contrast Fabric Live 25 (Fabric/Fusion III) Take cover! Jungle has returned from the land of retired phat pants as a hyperactive, Ritalin-fuelled electro mutant looking to avenge its own death! 8 (RK)
Catfish Haven Please Come Back (Secretly Canadian/Sonic Unyon) Singer George Hunter’s gravelly croon is guaranteed to get ya. 7 (JC)
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