Blood Brothers
Young Machetes (V2/Sony BMG)
Seattle’s Blood Brothers set the underground on fire with 2004’s Crimes, but since then, the competition has gotten fierce as we’ve been inundated with screaming bands with fucked-up arrangements. Young Machetes shows these musical misanthropes still leading the pack. The 15 songs here are relentless with their angular riffs, while arrangements remain as skewed as ever, but the band seems to be hitting new heights on songs like “We Ride Skeletal Lightning,” “1, 2, 3, 4 Guitars” and “Street Wars/Exotic Foxholes.” Extra points for the amazing production courtesy of John Goodmanson and Fugazi’s Guy Picciotto. Buy this now! 9/10 (Johnson Cummins) With …And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead, Celebration, Brothers and Sisters at la Tulipe, Mon. Nov. 6, 8 p.m., $20

The Who
Endless Wire (Universal Republic/Universal)
The Who, just Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey now, elect to drop a new album a quarter century after their ’82 adieu. It’s mostly their latter-day hubris that resurfaces here, Townshend’s bombast and grandiosity—the second half is a “mini-opera”—and Daltrey’s theatrical affectations (wait, is he aping Tom Waits and Springsteen?), but so do occasional fragments of familiar thunderpop (“Pick Up the Peace,” “We Got a Hit”). The most engaging moments—“A Man in a Purple Dress,” “Two Thousand Years”—find the two going bare bones and tackling faith and its gatekeepers. 6/10 (Rupert Bottenberg)

GrimSkunk
Fires Under the Road (Indica/Outside)
Montreal’s favourite bong-bubblers are back after a well-deserved break, and with production duties handled by Gggarth Richardson, they’ve never hit harder. The prog tendencies are tucked a little bit more in the back this time. Opener “Psychedelic Wonder Drug” stands up well to its rocky arrangement, while “America Sucks” puts the pedal to the metal and brings the band back to its punk roots. True, the Dandy Warhols-esque (!?) “Wakin’ and Bakin’” would’ve been better left on the cutting-room floor, but songs like the pop-fuelled “You Could Be Beautiful” prove that some of their ballsy moves more than pay off. 7/10 (Johnson Cummins)

The Decemberists
The Crane Wife (Capitol/EMI)
Named after a Japanese folk tale, retold somewhat over three songs, this major label debut for Portland’s Decemberists is nearly as satisfying as it is overwrought. Always the musical dramatists, they’ve heightened the operatic possibilities of their oeuvre, diving into a 12-minute prog pastiche, plodding songs about war, ballads more maudlin than moving and, providing some relief, a handful of wistful pop songs. It’s at once an intriguing pack of dark narratives, dotted with musical effervescence, and a bloated mess of bipolar folk-rock. Go figure. 6.5/10 (Lorraine Carpenter) At Metropolis, Sun., Nov. 5, 8 p.m., $20

Beach House
self-titled (Carpark)
Like Nico, Mazzy Star, the Cranes, Broadcast and other such singers and bands, Baltimore’s Beach House casts a haunting female voice alongside gracefully reverberating mood music. Victoria Legrand’s vocals lead us through the mist and murk of organ, piano, slide guitar, drums and a dab of strings, lightly coated with shimmering echo, with tempos never exceeding lullaby speed. The songs reflect a wide range of influences, nearly a century’s worth of downbeat balladry, but no strains of specific artists, or even specific periods of time, are audible inside the Beach House cocoon, a particularly impressive feat for a debut album. 8.5/10 (Lorraine Carpenter) With Over the Atlantic at Zoobizarre, Fri., Nov. 3, 8:30 p.m.

NEeMA
Masì Cho (Bacar/Select)
The winding path of nomadic singer/songwriter NeEMA has led from Montreal to the Arctic, the Sahara, India and more, before bringing her and the songs she’s accumulated back home. With assists from Tanya Tagaq, Karen Young, David Sturton and particularly François Turgeon, her debut presents those songs handsomely. The strongest moments, musically, reach beyond the dreamy folk and weave in hints of Arabic, Inuit, Hindu and African inspiration. While her lyrics are often cloying and unsubtle, they’re hardly insubstantial as she addresses some weighty matters, and with “Ayìi Woòle,” paints a vivid picture of life in the far north. 7/10 (Rupert Bottenberg) At Green Room on Thursday, Nov. 9, 8 p.m., $6

Numéro
L’Idéologie des stars (Saboteur)
Is that a tongue in your cheek or are you just in desperate need of dental surgery? Local kids Pierre Crube and Jerome Rocipon describe Numéro as a soupçon of electro, a little French vanilla and a dash of political philosophy, all good for the health, as is a night on the dancefloor. They may pay pointed tribute to the bourgeoisie, their clever lyrics casually rapped and smoothly sung, but these boys are serious about crafting pop melodies and infectious beats, steeped in ’80s synthpop with a little ’90s Euro-trash dance music on the side (that’s the French vanilla). Couldn’t be sweeter. 8/10 (Lorraine Carpenter) At Divan Orange, Tues., Nov. 7, 5 p.m.

M.A.N.D.Y.
At the Controls (Resist/Fusion III)
Patrick Bodmer and Philipp Jung’s latest double-disc mix starts on a low note. After a slew of pretentious, minimal toe-tappers, however, the German duo push the pomp aside with some funky Latin grooves and electro-house. The real fun starts on disc two with a modern homage to funk and disco, complete with sweet strings, cowbells, vocoders, farty pitch-bent bass and handclaps. The mix then runs through some ambient, percussive world tracks featuring an unreal array of xylophones, woodwinds and piano, culminating in a wicked remix of Djuma Soundsystem by Trentemoller—the best part of the album. 6.5/10 (Jack Oatmon)

Lady Sovereign
Public Warning (Def Jam/Universal)
Appointment to the court of Jay-Z hasn’t translated to halfway-sober stage shows yet, but this amazing Def Jam debut is bound to bounce the tiny titan of London loudness into the big time. The mouthy MC’s familiar Brit-brat bangers are here, of course—“Love Me or Hate Me” and the Missy remix of same, “Random,” “Fiddle With the Volume.” Beyond those, though, lie her strongest tracks yet, like the admirable “My England” and the ballistic “Blah Blah.” With apologies to Dizzee, Kano, Wiley and the Streets, the new school of U.K. hip hop has a crowned monarch now. 9/10 (Rupert Bottenberg)

Monica
The Makings of Me (Sony BMG)
Seems like an eternity since the teenager with the old-soul voice burst onto the scene with her ’95 debut, Miss Thang. Four albums later, Monica’s older, but is she wiser? Don’t get it twisted, lead single “Everytime Tha Beat Drop” is a hip hop anomaly on an otherwise straight-up R&B set. That should be a good thing for the versatile vocalist, but like so many R&B singers in the hip hop era, Monica tries too hard to be hard. The result is that dull, beat-driven tracks like “Raw” completely outnumber more melodic tracks like “My Everything” and the reflective “Why Her,” which hardly makes this set worthwhile. 6.5/10 (Gerard Dee)

Bole2Harlem
Vol. 1 (Sounds of the Mushroom)
“Bole bole bole,” chant the minibus drivers en route to the airport in Addis Ababa. As part of the first track on this debut disc, it definitely gives you a feel for Ethiopia. Maki Siraj and David “Ashagre” Schommer mix traditional Ethiopian sounds with all sorts of other stuff. For those unfamiliar with Amharic tunes, the pentatonic sounds might seem a little odd, but there’s nothing quite like them, and they do grow on you. “Ensaralen Gojo,” is a wonderful nod to the amazing city of Harar, and Tegist Shibabaw (Ethiopian superstar Gigi’s little sister) lends her vocals to “Amet Bale,” a song that, like many others here, is, as they say in Amharic, “betam torro noh”—very good. 9/10 (Erin Macleod)

Hu Vibrational
Universal Mother (SoulJazz/Fusion III)
Adam Rudolph assembles some good friends and accomplished musicians to explore the heady sounds of deep, percussive African rhythms and Afro-jazz. With nods to both avant-garde, organic club sounds and stripped-down African roots, artists like Hamid Drake, Brahim Fribgane and Joshua Spiegelman leave out the horns, guitars and other instruments to focus on percussion. Produced by Carlos Nino, aka Ammon Contact, this could be a powerful tool for the dancefloor, or for some pensive introspection. Tracks like “Born From the Sea” and “In the Field,” featuring Yusef Lateef, are indicative of the universal, handmade feel of this transcendent record. 7.5/10 (Scott C)

Bunky Green
Another Place (Label Bleu/Fusion III)
Vernice “Bunky” Green is a 67-year-old alto player, a native of Milwaukee and something of a legend around Chicago. Over the years, he’s worked with Charles Mingus, Sonny Stitt, Paul Serrano and Clark Terry. His recorded output has been rather tiny, which makes this 2004 set rather important. The standard “It Could Happen to You” and Mal Waldron’s “Soul Eyes” are here along with four of Bunky’s originals. He’s joined by Jason Moran, Lonnie Plaxico and Nasheet Waits (the son of the late Frederick Waits), who are all at the top of their game in both their solo moments and backing. 9/10 (Len Dobbin)

Mini CD Reviews

The Hot 8 Rock With the Hot 8 (Louisiana Red Hot) Mardi Gras madness with New Orleans’s undisputed brass-band kings. Check their version of “Sexual Healing” and the title track for hot, hot heat! 10 (SC)

Junior Wells Live at Theresa’s 1975 (Delmark) The great Junior Wells in a live club appearance with Phil Guy—wonderful sound, next best thing to being there. A must for the serious blues fan. 10 (LD)

Willie Nelson Songbird (Lost Highway) Producer Ryan Adams pulls out a whole new side of the red-haired stranger here. The take on “Amazing Grace” may be the quintessential version. 8 (JC)

Diamond Sea self-titled (independent) Representing Montreal in the shoegazing revival, pop league, these kids come out kicking with a fine debut EP. 7.5 (LC) With the Silent Brigade, Mon Electric Bijou at Divan Orange, Wed., Nov. 8, 9:30 p.m.

Various The Voices and Faces Project, Vol. 1 (Burn and Shiver) All proceeds from this comp, feat. New Pornographers, Joseph Arthur, Michelle Shocked etc., go to sexual abuse victims, via voicesandfaces.org. 7 (LC)

Various Dynamite! Dancehall Style (Soul Jazz/Fusion III) A generally acceptable selection of dancehall tracks, minus the absolutely awful redo of Richie Spice’s “Earth a Run Red” by Digital Mystikz. 7 (EM)

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