Converge
No Heroes (Epitaph/FAB)
With what’s probably the most anticipated hardcore release of the year, Converge once again don’t disappoint. Having debuted some of these songs at their recent Spectrum show, No Heroes promised to be one of their heaviest moments yet, and more than delivers. Mixing the brutal assault of Jane Doe with the experimental You Fail Me, Converge have found the perfect meeting point while still breaking new ground. Singer Jacob Bannon’s seething rage is submerged in a sea of distortion and white noise as the trademark discordant guitar of Kurt Ballou hits new heights of technical prowess and vulgar brutality. If there is a better hardcore band out there right now, I have yet to hear them. 9/10 (Johnson Cummins)

Pas/Cal
Dear Sir (le Grand Magistery/Darla)
With gossamer vocals, charming lyrics, heat-seeking guitars and artfully implemented vintage keys, Detroit’s Pas/Cal deliver yet another near-perfect EP. Instead of running with a Belle and Sebastian template (which they could do with their eyes closed), Pas/Cal let loose and build their swirling pop with influences as diverse as Stereolab’s early singles and mysterious photos of 19th century soldier girls. The resulting five tunes are as hot and punchy as they are cool and clever, an excellent appetite-whetter for their long overdue debut LP, out next spring. 9/10 (Lorraine Carpenter)

Love Is All
Nine Times That Same Song (What’s Your Rupture/Sonic Unyon)
To their credit, the title this Swedish outfit chose for their debut disc is dead wrong. Sure, the now-standard disco-punk components are in play—bobbing basslines, serrated guitar, cooing synths, bleating sax and singer Josephine Olausson’s hyper yelp. What’s distinctive is the riotous energy and polychrome punch they deliver, barreling ahead on “Busy Doing Nothing” or ramping up euphorically on “Make Out Fall Out Make Up.” Best of all, the forward charge holds up right through. 8.5/10 (Rupert Bottenberg)

The Shifters
Music for Sinners (Spinerazor)
Montreal’s most underrated musical miscreants pack all of their rock ’n’ roll mayhem in on this third full-length, but thankfully avoid blowing the whole thing by acting mature. Manhandled by producer Rene Garcia (the Brains, Vulgar Deli), the Shifters combine Social Distortion’s mid-tempo rock with Hollywood Blvd. sleaze and Nashville Pussy’s deep-fried greasiness, with singer Marty Marty offering some seriously catchy vocals on “Crying Without a Tear” and “Kings and Queens.” Meat-and-potatoes, four-on-the-floor, sleazy rock ’n’ roll, nodding to the good things in life—drinking, fucking and fighting. 7/10 (Johnson Cummins) With Million Dollar Marxists, Jerk Appeal, Fake Blood at Café Chaos, Fri., Nov. 10, 9 p.m., $8

IV Thieves
If We Can’t Escape My Pretty (New West)
From the home of the world’s tastiest brown ale (Newcastle, hands down), Nic Armstrong and his band of merry rockstar-mop-topped men specialize in classic British rock, free of theatrical pretension, also free of original ideas. That their bio is topped with an endorsement from Noel Gallagher makes perfect sense, what with the radio rock refrains, the smeg-tastic riffs and the pop-shellacked head-bobbers, straight outta Liverpool. Whether you’re a Stones person or a Beatles person, this band’s debut makes a fine security blanket. 6.4/10 (Lorraine Carpenter) With Public, Receivers at Club Lambi, Sun. Nov., 12, 8:30 p.m., $12

Mixel Pixel
Music for Plants (Kanine)
This Brooklyn-based quartet’s bathtub-brewed mystery pop, bubbling with bits of kindertronic kool, lo-fi buzz and brittle psych-folk (Syd Barrett’s ghost still lurks in corners here), gets bumped up a notch or five on their latest. Music for Plants displays a new surefootedness, clarity and grasp of a groove, as the first two singles, the faux-mystical “You’re the Kind of Girl” and pulsing, low-lit “Coming Up X’s,” ably prove. But it’s not at the expense of the lucid-dream sheen and close-range quirkiness that Mixel Pixel has cultivated. 8/10 (Rupert Bottenberg) With MC Trachiotomy, Noot at Distroboto launch at Zoobizarre tonight, Thurs., Nov. 9, 9 p.m., $8

Deftones
Saturday Night Wrist (Maverick/Warner)
White Pony was Deftones’ “winter” album, their self-titled album their autumn. Saturday Night Wrist seems to be their spring record, with fresh forays into abstraction, like the sleazy “Pink Cellphone.” Tracks like “Mien” and the instrumental (!) “U, U, D, D, L, R, L, R, A, D, B, Select, Start” also find Deftones shedding their tried and true sound and getting into some interesting territory. Few tracks, however, hit me in the gut. It’s nice to hear a band that has banked on its sound find new playthings in their approach, but Saturday Night Wrist begs for a little more pain. 7/10 (Lateef Martin)

Mouse on Mars
Varcharz (Ipecac)
Many of the tracks here, some between five and 11 seconds long, sound like layered washes of headache-inducing noise. But they’re sorta fantastic. You wouldn’t have Mouse on Mars release something on Mike Patton’s label and expect anything different—Ipecac’s slogan is “making people sick since 1999.” Sure, for those who came to MoM through Radical Connector, every tune, apart from the ethereal and danceable “I Go Ego Why Go We Go,” is gonna seem a little nuts. Though some may deem this a return to experimentation, it’s essentially just a heavy, obnoxious, raucous record, but when did being really loud ever pose a problem? 8/10 (Erin MacLeod) With Megasoid, Lithops at la Sala Rossa, Fri., Nov. 10, 9 p.m., $15

Trip the Off
Subtle Confrontation EP (independent)
A departing bassist foretells a slow stretch for the local unit, but hopefully not the off-switch. These four new tracks (plus a live Burning Spear cover) show the trio’s gritty strain of punky reggae firmed up and focused. The bristling energy of the first two tracks gives way to “When the Man Comes,” a loping dope waltz, but the strongest card is the title track. Earning its name, its an eerie, hushed campfire trance jam, a curse against the clouds of war. 7.5/10 (Rupert Bottenberg) CD launch with Dead Messenger, the Sellouts at Café Chaos, Thurs., Nov. 9, 9 p.m., $6

Oddeo
Message in the Music (Falls Advertising)
Once again, representing another wave of Montreal’s solid basement productions, Oddeo trots out this 15-track nod to his beatmaking skills with the help of some of the city’s up-and-coming MCs. Mic vandal Loe Pesci is all over this, lending his Big L-inspired delivery to the title track, and to the strong verses of “Rest in Beats” with Narcicyst. Oddeo’s jazzy, boom-bap styles make for great tracks for mic bubblers like Poeticyst, KGB and Yushallah to get open on. I’m liking the sounds of young MC Ceas Rock, who flows tight on “The Ambush” along with Johnny Hostile and Pesci. This is just a taste, but Oddeo has definitely marked himself as a local producer to look out for. 8.5/10 (Scott C)

Rachid Taha
Diwan 2 (Barclay/Universal)
Following his reclamation of the Clash’s “Rock the Casbah,” the Franco-Algerian bad boy splits his latest, an often darkly-tinted take on romance, between originals and dusty classics of Maghrebi pop—the stuff his parents used to dig. Without compromising their contemporary quality and punky panache, Taha and his partner Steve Hillage reel back from their recent rocking and raving of raï, favouring traditional tones over techno-centric tweaking. The pair’s self-penned efforts hold their own here, while the covers Taha presents with his own sure touch, ragged and raw yet resplendent. 8.5/10 (Rupert Bottenberg)

Lyfe Jennings
The Phoenix (Sony BMG)
The title of Jennings’ ’04 debut, Lyfe 268-192, referred to his inmate number during his10-year prison stay. His rough past is still one of the main topics here, along with his tumultuous love life (“Goodbye,” “Let’s Stay Together”) and post-success experiences (“Ghetto Superman”). But his strongest material comes courtesy of his unwavering perseverance in the face of near insurmountable odds, highlighted by the potent “Still Here” with Three 6 Mafia. Always the storyteller, Jennings continues to weave spoken-word interludes between songs, like he did on his debut. It’s a tactic which only really works on the first listen. Next time, he should just let the music speak for itself. 8/10 (Gerard Dee)

Virgil Gonsalves
Jazz at Monterey (V.S.O.P.)
Thad Jones Memorial Band
One More: The Summary: Music of Thad Jones, Vol. 2 (IPO)
The former is a live recording from the 1959 Monterey Jazz Festival. Gonsalves is a forgotten baritone saxman and he’s heard in two settings, with a big band, co-led by trumpeter Jerry Cournoyer with a personnel that includes Leo Wright, Junior Mance, Eddie Kahn and Benny Barth. Bird’s “Bluebird” is here, and there are four tracks by Virgil’s Sextet. The latter is another wonderful CD of Thad Jones compositions, including “Little Pixie,” “Three and One” and Jerome Richardson’s “Groove Merchant.” The all-star band, which plays this music with dignity and swing, includes Benny Golson, James Moody, Eddie Daniels, John Mosca and brother Hank Jones. This one’s a must for lovers of great jazz writing by a master composer. Gonsalves 7/10, Jones 10/10 (Len Dobbin)

Mini CD Reviews

Pepper Adams Critics’ Choice (Mighty Quinn/EMI) This long overdue reissue is a 1957 recording, the second session this baritone master did as a leader. It has Lee Katzman, Jimmy Rowles, Doug Watkins and Mel Lewis helping out. 10 (LD)

Khlyst Chaos Is My Name (Hydra Head/Sonic Unyon) The perfect merging of occasional Sunn O)))) collaborator Runhild Gammelsaeter and Khanate’s James Plotkin. Utterly brutal noise. 8.5 (JC)

PJ Harvey Peel Sessions (Universal Island) Courtesy of the BCC and the late, great Peel, a dozen songs spanning the wee rock-banshee’s career to date. 8 (LC)

Camaromance Different Paths (LOCAL) Abetted by Pawa Up First and Patrick Watson’s band, Martine Groulx makes a fine soundtrack for your next retro slow-dance party. 7.5 (LC) CD launch at Divan Orange, Wed., Nov. 15, 5 p.m.

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)

Various Team Invasion: The Best of DJ Green Lantern and Dipset (GLI/Fusion III) All out Jim Jones, Juelz Santana, J.R. Writer and Hell Rell along with Biggie, Cam’Ron and even Dem Franchise Boys. 7 (SC)

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