Disk of the week

Bob Brozman Orchestra
Lumière (Riverboat/Fusion III)
If it’s stringed and strummed, the brilliant Brozman has probably worked with it at one point. The New Yorker’s collabs with other guitarists have taken him around the world, with magnificent results, and here he jams with his oddest partners yet—a whole lot of himself. Assisted by percussionist/co-producer Daniel Thomas, Brozman layers parts on everything from the Bolivian charango to Hawaiian and Hindustani slide guitars to the classic National steel, in what amounts to both a look back through his myriad, planet-spanning jams, and also an undiluted showcase of his skills and character. Brozman’s distinctive voice as an artist is one of tremendous charm and welcoming warmth, whose tunes could be equated with backrubs and banana daiquiris on the beach. 10/10 (Rupert Bottenberg)

Interpol
Our Love to Admire (Capitol/EMI)
For those who found Interpol’s Antics a pale follow-up to a fine debut, breathe easy, it’s “back to form” time. The mope rock returns straight off the top with the brooding “Pioneer to the Falls,” but this set of songs packs a lot of punch, thanks to guitar work that’s alternately mournful, melodic and adrenaline-driven, not to mention obvious production prowess that boosts the riffs and the back end, and takes the edge off Paul Banks’s nasal Ian Curtis echo. Capping the reverberating rockers and tightly coiled pop songs is another downbeat masterpiece, “The Lighthouse,” a beautiful anthemic dirge. 8.5/10 (Lorraine Carpenter)

Justice
† (Ed Banger/Warner)
With pomp and pretense to match their Biblically proportioned image, Justice’s debut LP, †, is an erratic, distorted clash of funky bass lines, synthesized classical instrumentation and grating hooks. The album explores the outer boundaries of pop composition with Justice’s signature mutilated, staccato mixing, and boasts enough crossover appeal to expand their already broad fan base to perhaps even the radio-dialing masses. Timely stylistic cues from pals Mr. Oizo and Daft Punk, and samples from Devo, give the disc a familiar feel and, aside from an unfortunate cameo by Uffie, it’s all wheat and no chaff in terms of playability. 9/10 (Jack Oatmon)

Neurosis
Given to the Rising (Neurot)
On their ninth release, these Oakland doomsayers make their most powerful statement yet, with what can only be described as one of the heaviest records ever made—period. Think I’m overstating things here? Just listen to it! The 10 songs here don’t so much attack as envelope the listener, with their psychedelic and experimental moments coming even more to the fore without sacrificing the sheer brutality that has become their trademark. With a piece of work that absolutely shells you out from the inside, it seems nearly impossible to describe this record with mere words. This is a devastatingly beautiful record that is as close to flawless as it gets, and shows Neurosis reclaiming the ball in the evolution of heaviosity. 9.5/10 (Johnson Cummins)

Smashing Pumpkins
Zeitgeist (Reprise/Warner)
This quasi-reunion album at the very least proves Billy Corgan is, and always has been, the driving creative force of the Pumpkins. Zeitgeist also confirms that after an uncomfortable foray into electronic solo music, Corgan is desperately nostalgic for the megaton rock riffs, abstract lyrics and heavy distortion only a time warp to the 1990s can provide (sans D’Arcy and Iha). The guitars are St. Anger grimy, and the political posturing, considered to be Corgan’s primary reason for returning, is nowhere near as belligerent as American Idiot. Latter half of this record is a real snoozer. 5/10 (Erik Leijon)

Ryan Adams
Easy Tiger (Lost Highway/Universal)
Adams has consistently proven himself to be one of the most prolific writers today, but also solidifies his reputation for coin-toss quality here. It seems that he’s been reading his press clippings from five years ago and tries to prove himself as the next great American songwriter, but the recently sober Adams seems no less scrambled here. Songs like “Oh My God, Whatever, Etc.” throw us a bone or two, but for the most part, this is just Adams trying to move some units while you order your café latte. 6/10 (Johnson Cummins)

Silverchair
Young Modern (Eleven/East West)
Daniel Johns’s teenage years were spent emulating Nirvana, so only now is the hairy-chested 28-year-old encountering his awkward phase. He casts a wide net of piano-driven Britpop mediocrity, which painfully comes to a head during the seven minute-long “Those Thieving Birds.” The music is constantly upbeat, feeling more comfortable and genuine than the angst and despair of Silverchair’s carefully marketed past. Still, the blues-rock cock-waving of “Mind Reader” is as threatening as the Olsen twins in a dramatic role. I never really understood the fascination with the skeletal and effeminate Johns. 2/10 (Erik Leijon)

Carina Round
Slow Motion Addict (Interscope/Fontana North)
Striving to balance pop appeal with rock grit, an arch sensibility with an eagerness to please, the U.K.’s Carina Round brings spunk and style to the generally bland female singer-songwriter field. Inspired by Patti Smith, and often compared to PJ Harvey, the 28-year-old Brit is perhaps more crowd-pleasing than that implies, but there’s an eccentric theatricality there, as well as a casual confidence, reminiscent of Kate Bush, Siouxsie Sioux, Tori Amos, Björk and and Emily Haines. A few tracks stumble and fall into kitsch and cliché, but it’s a negligible price for a powerful personality in female-fronted rock. 8/10 (Lorraine Carpenter)

The Troublemakers
My Playlist (Wagram)
My understanding of the art of selection involves choosing a wide array of unforgettable tunes that will have listeners pressing rewind again and again. Marseille, France production crew the Troublemakers lace this comp with a list of big drums and breaks, hip hop, funk and a few leftfield gems that I wish I’d picked myself. Instant classics like the Whitefield Bros.’ super dirty “Rampage” and Ian O’Brien’s “Natural Knowledge” sit alongside the Detroit Experiment’s mover “Think Twice” and Captain Funkaho’s twisted romp “Goatworld.” No trouble here, just good music. 7.9/10 (Scott C)

Various
Required Listening 2 (Do Right)
Toronto’s Do Right Music continues to define the converging worlds of hip hop, funk, soul, jazz and broken beats in Canada with this second installment in their Required Listening series. Unbelievably strong cuts from rapper Anonymous Twist, the nu-jazz tightness of Sekoya, Ottawa’s Souljazz Orchestra, Vancouver don Aklimatize and Toronto beat genius Alister Johnson take this volume one step ahead of the last, even picking up on our own Ghislain Poirier’s “Pou ki sa Dub” for good measure. Some great tunes here, from our own backyard too. 8.5/10 (Scott C)

Chrisette Michele
I Am (Def Jam/Universal)
Having sung hooks on tracks by Jay-Z, Nas and Kayne West, this 24-year-old New York native steps into her own with a self-penned, soulful debut that seamlessly blends jazz with hip hop influences. Her relaxed vocal style is deceptively forceful, weaving in and out of well-structured songs like “Best of Me” and “Work It Out” with ease. She also proves herself to be a flexible artist, displaying unabashed vulnerability while describing her paternal relationship on “Your Joy,” and then morphing into miss independent after being kicked to the curb on the high-energy “Be OK.” The title track espouses individual power, and Michele proves she has that in spades. 9/10 (Gerard Dee)

Jimmy Raney
Live at Bradley’s (Gambit)
Ted Brown-Jimmy Raney
Good Company (Criss Cross)
Buddy DeFranco
1949-’52 Studio Performances (Hep)
Urbie Green All About Urbie Green (Fresh Sound)
The late Raney, my all-time favourite guitarist, best remembered for his work with Woody Herman, Stan Getz and Red Norvo, is on all four CDs here. He’s featured with bassist Bill Takas on the double CD recorded at Bradley’s in NYC in 1974, with his famed composition “Motion” among the 16 tracks. In 1985, he was teamed with tenorman Ted Brown, a Tristano student, on a dozen tracks that added a wonderful rhythm team of Hod O’Brien, Buster Williams and Ben Riley. The CD by clarinetist DeFranco has five tracks that have Jimmy heard in a sextet that included Teddy Charles, as well as items with a big band and six quintet tracks with Kenny Drew on piano. Trombonist Green was a first-call musician with bands like Woody Herman’s, and these three sessions from 1955-56 also have the piano of the great Dave McKenna to recommend them. All 9/10 (Len Dobbin)

Mini CD Reviews

Boots Randolph A Whole New Ballgame (Zoho) Famed “Yakety Sax” player Randolph died recently at the age of 80. This 2006 session, one of his last, includes Phil Wilson’s “Basically Blues,” “Savoy” and Bird’s “Billie’s Bounce.” 8.5 (LD)

Brothers of a Feather feat. Chris and Rich Robinson Live at the Roxy (Eagle) Dressed-down acoustic versions of mainly Black Crowes chestnuts, but… enough already! Give us a new record! 8 (JC)

Los Campesinos Sticking Fingers Into Sockets (Arts & Crafts) Unless snotty accents and spastic attitudes stick in your craw, you’ll enjoy the hyper party music on this Welsh septet’s debut EP. 7.5 (LC)

Various Cocktails (Neon) Made in Quebec, with keyboards, computers, drums and guitars, this is glam from the gutter. 7 (LC)

Pepe Deluxé Spare Time Machine (Catskills/Fusion III) Despite the cool packaging and clever gags, there’s no excusing an uninventive rehash of mid-’90s pop-psych/loungecore/big beat. 6 (RB)

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