Tanya Stephens
Rebelution (VP)
Tanya Stephens is the best lyricist in Jamaica. Period. She can do rough and tough, she can do lovers, she can do roots—hell, Tanya can do anything, all while maintaining a wicked sense of humour. Picking up where Gangsta Blues left off, this record demonstrates versatility and contains some great stuff. “These Streets,” on a rework of “No Woman No Cry,” is a tremendous tune with some seriously smarty-pants lyrics. Asking, “Why yuh cyann stay pon mi like di corna? And keep yuh lips pon mi like yuh marijuana?” Stephens presents a clever commentary with the chorus: “These streets don’t love you like I do.” And how can you not love a tune like “Put It on You,” where she exhorts her man to slam her like “Rowdy” Roddy Piper. You gotta love her. 9/10 (Erin MacLeod)

Matt Mays
When the Angels Make Contact (Sonic)
Originally intended to serve as a soundtrack for a movie of the same name, this album, a music video and a trailer are all that remain of the abandoned project. It’s Mays’s third LP and most impressive accomplishment by far, with widescreen melodies and slide guitars evoking the unfinished film’s haunted desert roads, along with roadhouse rock, slow-mo funk and rainy Sunday ballads covering all emotional bases with broad but beautiful strokes. Guests, and fellow Maritimers, include Buck 65, Scratch Bastid, Cuff the Duke’s Dale Murray and El Torpedo’s Tim Jim Baker, but it’s Mays’s baby, and maybe it’ll turn enough heads to get that movie off the shelf. 8.5/10 (Lorraine Carpenter)

Milburn
Well Well Well (Mercury/Universal)
It’s been 297 days since the Arctic Monkeys made their highly manufactured splash on the U.K. charts. The ravenous British press has moved on, and are combing the streets of Sheffield, waiting for the first wave of AM copycats to emerge from their Jam-inspired cocoons. “Stockholm Syndrome” sounds like “Dancing Shoes” and “What About Next Time” = “Mardy Bum,” but Milburn’s offerings lack the charming lyrical specificity of their idols. They’re far more successful in recreating the fast, bouncy riffs and the over-exaggerated Yorkshire accents. Some very good bands have emerged from the shadows of others, so Milburn might have a chance. 5/10 (Erik Leijon)

Robbie Williams
Rudebox (Chrysalis/EMI)
Whenever some cynical hipster tells you how much better the music scene is in England, just remind them that across the pond, an alarming number of gap-toothed, scone-eating record buyers adore Robbie Williams. “Lovelight” is Scissor Sisters with all the gay and minus the fun. His Manu Chao cover/medley, “Bongo Bong and Je ne t’aime plus,” should never have been attempted. “Keep On” is worth downloading only if you enjoy schadenfreude, and the rest is unfunny, tongue-in-cheek plagiarism. Robbie was better when he was tearing off his skin while girls ogled him in a post-apocalyptic roller rink. 1/10 (Erik Leijon)

The Kids
30th Anniversary Issue (Sonik’s Chicken Shrimp)
There’s a certain spirit to punk rock’s formative years, and although many have tried and are still trying, it just can’t be replicated. Before punk rock wrote a stringent rulebook for itself, bands just turned it up and learned as they went along. Belgium’s Kids are one of the forgotten bands of that generation, which is sad because this is great stuff. This collection of their only two records, with bonus tracks, is as snotty as it gets—just check blasters like “Don’t Wanna Be a Fat Boy” and “Razor Blades for Sale.” Anybody interested in the history of punk is definitely going to want this, so kudos to Montreal label Sonik’s Chicken Shrimp for continuing to unearth these treasures. 8/10 (Johnson Cummins)

Pawa Up First
Introducing New Details (Dare to Care)
Can’t question this local quintet’s ambition on their sophomore disc, which sees them tackling chamber pop, trip hop and serial-music mesmerism, plus textural trickery and jazz tangents in proper post-rock style. More often than not, it works: “Inuit Wedding” suggests Coldplay minus the corniness, “The Hippocampus Theory” channels DJ Shadow’s better days and “Goodbye Pluto” tacks Reichian marimba motifs to a steady groove. The tunes incorporating capable local MCs Belle, Seba and D-Shade are intriguing, if not entirely there yet. 8/10 (Rupert Bottenberg) CD launch with Sixtoo at le National, Tues., Nov. 21, 9 p.m., $10

The Be Good Tanyas
Hello Love (Nettwerk)
Frazey Ford, Trish Klein and Samantha Parton strike again, fusing folk, blues and country so completely, while covering the likes of Neil Young and Prince, that they threaten to crush all competition and bust purist heads. Don’t let this B.C. trio fool you with their genteel instrumentation, graceful harmonies and sugary melodies—with former band member Jolie Holland back in the pack (on “Nobody Cares for Me”), they’re clearly gearing up for a roots-music rapture of sorts, but this end-time will send their peers to purgatory and leave the Be Good Tanyas to rule the Earth. 8/10 (Lorraine Carpenter)

Champion
The Remix Album (Saboteur/Outside)
Montreal’s Maxime Morin, aka Champion, and his guitar gang les G-Strings made a splash in ’05 with the techno-twang of Chill’em All. That debut gets remixed in all manner of ways here—Ghislain Poirier steps hard with his take on “No Heaven,” Fred Everything steps lightly with his dub-house revision of “Tawoumga.” The best tracks bookend the disc, which opens on Patrick Watson’s impossibly pretty reworking of “Guy Doune” and closes on Akufen’s unusual album medley “No 7/11’s.” The jewel, though, might be Champion’s own titular mega-mix, a wild, wiggy ride through Chill’em All’s many cool sounds. 8/10 (Rupert Bottenberg) CD launch, with numéro#, Ghislain Poirier, Donzelle and more, at Saboteur Ball at la Sala Rossa, Fri., Nov. 17, 9 p.m., $10

Fat Joe
Me Myself and I (Terror Squad/EMI)
Apparently fresh and ready for his new deal with EMI, Fat Joe returns spitting classic Joey Crack rhymes like, “Must I be a backpacker or a Black Eyed Pea, or spit consciousness just to win a Grammy,” on the opener, “Pendemic.” The one and only Don Cartegena has definitely graduated into a class that makes all of his rhymes sound like relaxed and even easy pieces, even when getting hype on the dramatic “Story to Tell.” Joe peppers flourishes with pointed 50 Cent send-ups, and even addresses his continuing beef with the G-Unit head over a Bob Marley sample on “Breathe and Stop,” featuring the Game. A smart MC like Fat Joe shows once again what it means to ride out change and regional trends with his own style and swagger. 7.5/10 (Scott C)

The Game
Doctor’s Advocate (Geffen/Universal)
The Game’s sophomore release reeks of confidence, and so desperately wants to relive the glory days of Death Row. The Game missed the apex of the West Coast gangsta scene by a decade, but that doesn’t stop him from continuously name-dropping Dr. Dre (check album title), Compton, chronic and Jimmy Iovine. The music will recall the era too; lyrics are fiercely misogynistic, and there aren’t many club-friendly tracks. The hip hop groupie homage “Wouldn’t Get Far” is the Game showing off his deft sense of humour with Kanye, while “One Night’s” earnest lyrics show a man both proud of and humbled by his success. 8/10 (Erik Leijon)

Moses Mayes
Second Ring (Dublum/Fusion III)
The dancefloor-ready grooves of funk/electro/house band Moses Mayes easily evoke shades of Jamiroquai and Zero 7, complete with all the musical chops needed to pull off such a comparison. They straddle the fence with 12-inch cuts like the lovely “Being” and the upbeat shuffle of “Tell Me,” both featuring the subtle vocals of Ariane Jean, while instrumental tracks like “Remind” and “Waking World” point to the tight musical talent making up this band. My only qualm is the problematic “Full Moon,” which has everything you need to make a corny funk salad, meaning excitable vocals, unnecessary rapping, a scratch solo, and lines like, “We gonna funk for you.” Nice bassline, though. 8/10 (Scott C) CD launch at Jello Bar on Thursday, Nov. 23, 9 p.m., $8

Robin Thicke
The Evolution of… (Universal)
Seems unlikely that the son of actor Alan Thicke, whose musical credits include theme songs for defunct sitcoms like Diff’rent Strokes, could make a credible bid for soul legitimacy, but that’s exactly what Robin’s done over the course of his three-album career. He continues to grow as a singer and songwriter, tipping the blue-eyed soul scale closer to, say, Remy Shand than Justin Timberlake. Whereas Timberlake successfully works the soul-dance vibe, Thicke prefers to pepper grooves like “Ask Myself” and “Lost With You” with jazzy undertones. His pairing with Faith Evans on “Got 2 Be Down” is a standout, but Thicke doesn’t really need any help fuelling his ongoing evolution. 8/10 (Gerard Dee)

Jazz Lab
Chance Meeting (Effendi/Fusion III)
No Name Jazz Sextet
Plonger (V.V./Select)
The term “jazz lab” would apply to both these releases by some of Canada’s finest young musicians. Both feature not only improvisation of note, but also memorable compositions by band members, mostly in the hard bop vein. The first has label-head Alain Bedard on bass with the saxes of Rémi Bolduc, Frank Lozano and Alex Côté, who’s common to both recordings, as is trumpeter Aron Doyle. The latter also has Vincent Rehel on Hammond B3 and the fiery drumming of Ugo Di Vito. In the hands of these musicians, jazz is alive and well here in Montreal. Both 8.5/10 (Len Dobbin)

Mini CD Reviews

Ornette Coleman Sound Grammar (Sound Grammar) Fifty years since he first led a band, Coleman’s latest has him in a quartet setting with two basses and drums, returning to “Turnaround” and “Matador” and adding seven new originals. 10 (LD)

Gyptian My Name Is… (VP) The wicked-voiced, 22-year-old Gyptian is one of many who does Portmore, Jamaica proud, and shows that “Serious Times” was most certainly not a one-off hit. 9 (EM)

The Curtains Calamity (Asthmatic Kitty) Deerhoof’s Chris Cohen cranks out some catchy tunes and charming oddities, all easy on the ears. 7.5 (LC)

Darien Brockington Somebody to Love (ABB) Sometime Little Brother voice and Nicolay collaborator ventures out on his own with more classic R&B on this debut LP, featuring 9th Wonder, Chaundon and LB. 7 (SC)

Cities Variations (Yep Roc/Redeye) Mixed results as moody Chapel Hill rockers get remixed by Ladytron, Daedelus, Free the Robots and more. 6.5 (LC)

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