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Disc of the week |
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 The Old Soul Gold (Grifter/Universal) Toronto’s Luca Maoloni is already a proven quantity in terms of ambitious, ornate and expertly tooled starbursts of groovy, goofy goodness that condense decades’ worth of great pop music principles into bottled lightning. He and his ad hoc ensemble deliver the goods with a zest that doesn’t catch the ear so much as buttonhole the listener and bluster in their face, and he’s perfectionist enough to have redone the Old Soul’s debut disc entirely. Their third, Gold, ups the ante, and while it ain’t in fact all gold—the David Byrne derivative “Fear Is a Man’s Best Friend,” with André Ethier singing, is offputting—tracks like the gobsmacking “War of the Impostors” are precious material indeed. 8.5/10 (Rupert Bottenberg)  4 Bonjour’s Parties Pigments Drift Down to the Brook (Mush) The Scandinavians have certainly had their go at the genre, and now the Japanese step in to tackle the plugged-in gossamer chamber pop sound with a Tokyo septet clearly versed in the work of Stereolab, Tortoise and Belle & Sebastian. The vocals outside of the moments of honey-soaked harmony are almost inaudible, a seeming afterthought, but everything else—the lush Rhodes keyboards and delicated electronic detailing, the flutes and brass and (apparently mandatory) glockenspiel—is worked to perfection as gentle trickles of sound swell to rich fullness and ebb out again. 7.5/10 (Rupert Bottenberg)  David Shrigley Worried Noodles (Tomlab/Sonic Unyon) Since the publication of the Worried Noodles songbook in 2005, this Scottish cartoonist and poet’s crude drawings and mundane verse have been embraced and adapted by musicians far and wide, from no-namers to the likes of Grizzly Bear, Final Fantasy, Deerhoof, David Byrne, les Georges Leningrad, Liars, Dirty Projectors, Islands, Trans Am, TV on the Radio, Arab Strap’s Aidan Moffat and Hot Chip. At least a dozen of the 39 entries on this double-disc experiment transcend the dumb and quirky source material, while the rest adhere to Shrigley’s village-idiot steez. Cheers to him for getting this curiosity off the ground. 7/10 (Lorraine Carpenter) Mike Bones The Sky Behind the Sea (The Social Registry) A card-carrying member of the downtown NYC music scene with a loose association with Oneida, Bones really impresses with some dazzling guitar work and inventive production techniques, but thankfully never lets them outshine the songs. His warbling voice may be a bit grating at first, but his emotional delivery rings with ironclad confidence and, by CD’s end, it fits like an old comfy shoe. Download “The Enemies of My Enemies Hate Me Too” to figure out if you want to take the ride. 7/10 (Johnson Cummins)  WOELV Tout Seul dans la forêt en plein jour, avez-vous peur? (K) A full album at last from Geneviève Castrée, a Montreal comic artist relocated to the States. The war fever she felt around her there fed the arc of Tout Seul, a dozen low-lit laments meditating on conflict and cruelty. By her own admission a visual artist first, Castrée’s music, mostly played solo on guitar, lacks the exquisite craft present in her drawings (a number grace the booklet, as do English and third-language translations of her lean and evocative French lyrics). The emotional resonance, however—something fragile, frightened and even feral, yet steadfast—is immediately recognizable as her own. 7/10 (Rupert Bottenberg)  Sea Wolf Leaves in the River (Dangerbird/Grifter/Universal) From L.A., the showbiz capital, comes a relentlessly pleasant record for the blooming indie-adult-contemporary market, or comatose kids. Whatever Alex Brown Church’s intentions, his debut album—its soothing vocals and acoustic guitar, lulling strings and keys and token beats manoeuvred by producer Phil Ek (the Shins, Built to Spill, Band of Horses), no less—sounds like the world’s safest indie folk/rock, practically prostituting itself for inclusion on the soundtrack to its indie-film counterpart, something like Little Miss Sunshine, but without Alan Arkin. The lupine moniker seals the deal—this man is a douche. 4/10 (Lorraine Carpenter) Kylie Minogue X (Parlophone/EMI) Pop music’s most surprising survivor again demonstrated her resiliency by beating cancer, but X is hardly a third comeback record. The weak opener “Two Hearts” is a burlesque version of Marilyn Manson’s “The Dope Show,” “Wow” is a lesser sequel to her own “Love at First Sight” and “Nu-Di-Ty” sounds like that annoying new Britney single. “Can’t Get You Out of My Head” was such a startling hit because she was on the crest of the neo-retro electropop wave. “In My Arms” and “Stars” are great potential hits, but X is a structureless mishmash of Europop from five years ago. 5.5/10 (Erik Leijon)  Daft Punk Alive 2007 (Virgin/EMI) A live disc from a pair of wannabe androids might seem counterintuitive, particularly given that until a DVD materializes, the duo’s stunning light show isn’t even factored in. But perhaps as a reminder to pretenders to their French dance-music throne (Justice, that’s you), Daft Punk deliver a ferocious disc that spans their decade or so of dominance, with a juggernaut sound that’s both precise and pure muscle. Mashing themselves up (after taking liberties with Busta Rhymes’ “Touch It”), they even manage to make the material off their lame last album listenable. 8/10 (Rupert Bottenberg)  Guillaume & the Coutu Dumonts Face à l’est (Risquée) This is what happens when an eccentric dude with a ferociously refined ear and a knack for minimal production becomes a globetrotter. The relentless forward propulsion of house beats becomes a vehicle that politely drags the listener through a gamut of jazzy cultural revisionisms. From the first moments, an exotic voice seems to promise us a sonic journey, and Montrealer Guillaume most definitely delivers, taking us both out of our city and into his meticulous mind. Conceptually sound and sonically captivating. 8.5/10 (Jack Oatmon) Too $hort Get Off the Stage (Jive/Sony BMG) Yes, the one and only Too $hort will always get props as one of the most prolific MCs in the wide world of hip hop, chalking up album number 17 to his credit. As the original pimp on the microphone, Too $hort really hasn’t changed his approach that much in all these years, with inclusions like the inane call-and-response of “F.U.C.K.Y.O.U.” or essential titty-bar tunes like “Gangsters and Strippers” and “Pull Them Panties Down.” All chauvinist posturing aside, the title track is classic Too $hort, complaining about all the dudes jumping onstage during his live show, making it hard for him to get close to the ladies. 7.5/10 (Scott C) Ghostface Killah Big Doe Rehab (Def Jam) I think what people love most about Ghostface is his ability to capture the essence and exact details of a ghetto episode in one verse, using his amped and animated persona to drive home every word. Big Doe Rehab falls in line with his long line of loaded LPs, offering more tales from the street, presented like nobody else can. “Yolanda’s House” puts you right in the apartment with Ghost and his girl, aided by Method Man and Raekwon for full marks, while team-ups with Masta Killah, Beanie Sigel and the Rhythm Roots Allstars only add to the mix. Check “Walk Around” for first-rate, slick-soul Ghostface on his game. 8/10 (Scott C)
Mini CD ReviewsBlake Lewis Audio Daydream (Arista/Sony BMG) This American Idol castoff is a poor man’s Justin Timberlake, or a rich man’s Maroon 5. 7 (EL) |
Little Dragon 
Joel Miller  |
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