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 THE WHITE STRIPES
Icky Thump (Third Man/Warner)
2005’s Get Behind Me Satan may have gotten the backs of some of the more rabid White Stripes fans up, but Icky Thump goes back to the duo’s ’70s-style garage roots with no screwballs thrown. Jack White reclaims his crown as one of the best songwriters alive right now, while Meg’s plodding, troglodyte beat and bare mix keep any pretensiousness at bay. It seems that Jack has gotten his yah-yahs out with the Raconteurs over the past two years, and comes back to the White Stripes with a renewed sense of purpose on what’s probably their strongest release yet. 9/10 (Johnson Cummins)
 QUEENS OF THE STONE AGE
Era Vulgaris (Interscope/Universal)
Era Vulgaris starts off with three blasters—“Turnin’ on the Screw,” “Sick Sick Sick” and “I’m Designer”—perfectly mixing krautrock coldness and punk chutzpah, but hitting those record highs, the band sets a pace that it just can’t keep up with. Filler tracks like “Into the Hollow” and “River in the Road” rear their heads and hopes of another Rated R are quickly dashed. Having said that, the first three songs and closer “Run, Pig, Run,” prove to be jewels in the Queens crown, so keep your finger on the skip button. 8.5/10 (Johnson Cummins)
 MARILYN MANSON
Eat Me, Drink Me (Interscope/Universal)
There was a time when MM used to be scary, or at least make your skin crawl. Now that the grandiose has been dealt with, MM takes you into his rotting inner self, making Eat Me, Drink Me his most personal (and boring as hell) release to date. The artwork, arguably more important now than ever in the age of downloads, isn’t nearly as interesting as before, just Manson in various melodramatic poses. In the end, Eat Me, Drink Me comes off subtle, barely creepy and fairly predictable, with only MM, ex-KMFDMer Tim Skold and a drum machine on hand—carving drummer Ginger Fish out of the mix makes for too much rigor mortis. 5.5/10 (Lateef Martin)
 BAD BRAINS
Build a Nation (Oscilliscope/Megaforce)
Bad Brains returning with singer H.R. in tow of course has the makings of greatness, but H.R.’s former fury is replaced by half-hearted murmurs. Producer Adam Yaunch of the Beastie Boys can’t save the lacklustre vocal performance, but on the five reggae songs here, Bad Brains get the production they always deserved, and H.R. finally comes out of his shell. The rest of the band is inspired throughout, and their innovation is still front and centre, but with H.R.’s lack of heart on the hardcore, this hardly hits the heights of former glories of I Against I, let alone that first ROIR tape. 7/10 (Johnson Cummins)
VOXTROT
self-titled (Playlouderecordings Ltd.)
Why is all the good, new Britpop coming from everywhere but Britain these days? Voxtrot hail from Austin, Texas, and while they don’t don mid-Atlantic accents and sing about “ansaphones” (only Canadians can get away with that, apparently), their knack for catchy tunes and light, mobile arrangements, driven equally by guitars, piano and strings, harks back to the time when jangly pop, mod and punk collided in the U.K. (though there’s little trace of the latter here). The band’s Southern origin (if not Travis fandom) comes out in their less alluring folk-inflected songs, yet there’s lots of promise in this debut album. 7.5/10 (Lorraine Carpenter)
 LIGHTNING DUST
self-titled (Jagjaguwar)
Black Mountain’s Amber Webber and Joshua Wells strip away the electric space-rock arrangements of their primary band on this solemn debut for their side-project. “Wind Me Up” is a relatively rousing country-rock exception to what’s otherwise a string of grim, ghostly songs. Lightning Dust’s M.O. is dark and stark, with minor-key melodies emanating from antique organs or plain old piano, paired with Webber’s haunting vibratto, occasionally in duet with Wells’s warmer tones. As effective as it is in its funereal way, this is so far from seasonal music that I’d wait till fall to pick it up, unless you need some tunes for a burial. 7.5/10 (Lorraine Carpenter)
 DNTEL
Dumb Luck (Sub Pop)
Over a shimmering abstraction of ethereal effects, acoustic guitars and faraway chanting, Jimmy Tamborello mutters his way back into our minds with his third Dntel LP. Tamborello is better known as a member of the Postal Service and Figurine, more accessible fare than this slow, spacious assembly of beats and synths immersed in acoustic sounds and soft textures, with tons of guest vocalists: Conor Oberst, Jenny Lewis, Grizzly Bear’s Ed Droste and Mia Doi Todd, among others. Much of the album is too slight to be truly memorable, but it’s nevertheless nice quasi-electronic mood music for the indie set. 6.5/10 (Lorraine Carpenter)
 DIZZEE RASCAL
Maths + English (XL/Select)
The math adds up to an exponential expansion in style, tempo, flavour and mood on the third album from top-tier U.K. rapper Dizzee Rascal, and his distinctive English— which apparently includes umlauts on all Usounds— gives shape to a more confident, if orthodox (cops, shoes, shitty MCs and music-biz headaches) script. The spread is indeed dizzying. There’s a transatlantic tribute two-fer in “Pussyole (Old Skool),” riding that same Lyn Collins sample as Rob Base’s “It Takes Two,” and then the creeping “Where’s Da G’s” with Texans Bun B and Pimp C. “Suk My Dick” is a swanky goof, “Flex” with Matthew Herbert a sweet little garage bumper. Going out blazing, the record closes on the invigorating “Temptation” and the delicious “Wanna Be,” with a finger-wagging Lily Allen. 8/10 (Rupert Bottenberg)
HUEY
Notebook Paper (Zomba/Sony BMG)
The St. Louis rap scene is still tainted by Nelly and his Lunatics, and 19-year-old rapper Huey fails to exorcise those demons. A few times, he cleverly plays his age, acknowledging his firearms collection but how he can’t legally purchase alcohol, but it’s obvious at his age he has yet to develop any unique traits. His supposed hit, “Pop, Lock & Drop It,” is a dreadfully hookless attempt at copying Lil Jon, and the only song to feature an in-demand producer, Jazze Pha’s “When I Hustle,” is one Jennifer Lopez cameo away from being a Ja Rule song. 4.5/10 (Erik Leijon)
 VARIOUS
Gagle & Jazzy Sport Top Team: Pound for Pound
(Jazzy Sport/Columbia Japan)
There’s always something to be said about the power of good music, and although I don’t speak any Japanese, this compilation translates the commitment that Jazzy Sport artists have made to quality hip hop and soul in more ways than one. Cosmic soul contribution “International Institute” from Tettory BLK features U.K. diva Bembe Segue, while instrumental beats from Bottom Fly and live band Cro- Magnon get the head-nod. But it’s power trio Gagle, featuring DJ Mitsu the Beats, MC Hunger and DJ Mu-R, that embodies real, underground hip hop, complete with transcendent flow and flawless beats. 8/10 (Scott C)
 WUNMI
A.L.A. Africans Living Abroad (Documented)
Although you may not be familiar with the name Wunmi, this dynamic woman has been active since being a dancer for Soul II Soul back in the day, as well as lending her unique voice to projects with Masters at Work, Bugz in the Attic and others from the West London crew. Her debut shows her African roots on songs like “Talk, Talk, Talk,” “Greedy Body” and the title track, while the breaks get dirty and dubby on “Keep It Rockin’” and “Left 2 Right.” Not sure about her version of the Police’s “Message in a Bottle,” but there’s more than enough here to get excited about. 7.5/10 (Scott C)
 VARIOUS
We All Love Ella (Verve/Universal)
This Fitzgerald tribute features stellar selections from her catalogue, sung by a who’s who of contemporary music. There’s little to fault here, except for the usual limitations of other artists interpreting the music of a singer as distinctive as Ella. Nevertheless, versions of songs like “Oh Lady Be Good!” (Dianne Reeves), “Miss Otis Regrets” (Linda Ronstadt) and “Lullabye of Birdland,” (Chaka Khan) do Fitzgerald justice. And 12 year-old Montrealer Nikki Yanofsky is a wonder on “Airmail Special.” Fitzgerald herself makes an appearance with Stevie Wonder on a previously unreleased version of Wonder’s “You Are the Sunshine of My Life,” a subtle reminder of what this tribute is all about. 8.5/10 (Gerard Dee)
 KENNY CLARKE
Klook’s the Man (Proper Box)
This four-CD, 72-track package of the man called “the father of bebop drumming” begins with Kenny on xylophone, from his debut as a leader in Stockholm, 1938. Then his influential and easily recognizable drum style takes over for sessions done 1946 through 1956. There’s some classic material here, including a session with “Fats” Navarro and Kenny Dorham, Sonny Stitt, Ray Abrams and Bud Powell. Others heard here over that 10-year span are Frank Morgan, James Moody, Cecil Payne, Milt Jackson, “Cannonball” Adderley, Donald Byrd, John LaPorta and violinist Claude Laurence, better known as Andre Hodeir. A great reissue at Proper’s usual bargain price, with informative notes and discography. 10/10 (Len Dobbin)
Mini CD Reviews
JOSHUA REDMAN Back East (Nonesuch/Warner) Joined by people like his late dad, Dewey Redman, Joe Lovano, Chris Cheek and the great young drummer Eric Harland, Redman offers his best outing to date. 10 (LD) At FIJM at Théâtre Maisonneuve, Sat., June 30, 6 p.m., $32.50–$42.50
ASSEMBLE HEAD IN SUNBURST SOUND Ekranoplan (Tee Pee) Could be the ultimate psych-out soundtrack for making bongs out of fruit. 8.5 (JC)
J DILLA Jay Love Japan (Operation Unknown) Almost one year after most Dilla fans got their hands on this modest classic, it’s officially released. Essential for the James Yancey collection. 8 (SC)
THE PIPETTES Your Kisses Are Wasted on Me (Cherrytree/ Interscope/Universal) The forecast is sunny for this U.K. girl group, presenting four fun tunes prior to an LP. Shangri- Las, Toni Basil and early-Blondie fans, check ça. 8 (LC)
PARLOUR STEPS Ambiguoso (Figment Music/Scratch) Call it “thought rock,” as they do, or call it Britpop from the colonies, this B.C. band makes glimmering guitar music you can dance to. 7 (LC) With the Damn Truth at Café Chaos, Tues., June 26, and at l’Absinthe, Thurs., June 28
PARAMORE Riot! (Fueled by Ramen/Atlantic WEA) Christian rock’s answer to Avril Lavigne. 3 (EL)
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