Disc of the week

Hot Chip
Made in the Dark (Astralwerks/EMI)
Hot Chip’s latest is a compulsive game of hopscotch through the usual suspects of British popular music, from cracker reggae and house to radio rock and chamber pop. The band’s relentless energy and cleverness make for an album that’s as cerebrally and viscerally engaging as past efforts, ready for the club, careful listening or a bedroom make-out session in a pinch. The twinkling synths, peculiar percussion and unabashed melodrama of the choruses combine with Hot Chip’s sophisticated sense of humour to make a sort of musical Rube Goldberg device. The product of all the painstaking machinations? The simple message of melancholy optimism that permeates all of their work. 9/10 (Jack Oatmon)

Blood on the Wall
Liferz (The Social Registry)
On their last record, the awesome Awesomer, the pride of Williamsburg perfectly aped the best bits of Pavement and Sonic Youth, but on this new one, they really strike out on their own. On songs like “The Ditch,” they know how to bury the needle deep in the red while out-cramping the Cramps, and “Turn Around and Shut Up” sounds like a lost Pagans punk classic punched up with new pizzazz. What makes Blood on the Wall so fucking great, and so much better than most of the bands living on trust funds in their zip code, is that they can dress to kill but are seemingly oblivious to anybody noticing them. 9/10 (Johnson Cummins)

Yeasayer
All Hour Cymbals (We Are Free/Sonic Unyon)
Given the electronically enhanced campfire vibe, the communal, consecratory cool, and the carefully camouflaged outsourcing to non-Western suppliers, the comparisons to the mystic rock of their Brooklyn neighbours TV on the Radio that follow this quartet are apt enough. A major distinction, though, is Yeasayer’s relative buoyancy and friskiness. Sure, there’s some serious weight to the arcane trance jam “Wait for the Wintertime,” but for the most part here, “yea” has the day over “nay.” In fact, opener “Sunrise” brings to mind a Quaalude-addled Phil Collins unicycling through the Yucatan at dawn. Seriously. 7/10 (Rupert Bottenberg) With MGMT and Valleys at la Sala Rossa, Sun., Feb. 10, 9 p.m., $12

Simple Plan
self-titled (Lava/Warner)
This might be interpreted as a backhanded compliment, but Simple Plan’s eponymous third album is the best record Def Leppard never released. Something about the clean production, hummable riffs and first-pumping refrains reminds me of the product-infused hair, corny lyrics and spandex-affected vocals of hair metal’s greatest gift to man (well, perhaps that’s a backhanded compliment). Timbaland protégé Danjahandz twiddled some knobs and prevented the staleness that befell their peers, but rest assured Simple Plan remain pure arena-ready pop rock, where every song is treated like a potential hit single. I wouldn’t mind “Generation” becoming the next Habs’ goal song. 7/10 (Erik Leijon)

The Loved Ones
Build and Burn (Fat Wreck)
Holy cripes, do these guys ever go gaga over Hot Water Music and Against Me. Strong influences are one thing, and I’m not going to complain about their apparently having only two, but these pickpockets are leaving fingerprints everywhere they lay their grubby mitts. Thievery aside, pop-punkers like “Pretty Good Year” are okay, albeit a tad mawkish, and the faux Springsteen on “Louisiana” is not all that bad, but their lack of originality just makes this come across as a shameless retread. 6/10 (Johnson Cummins)

Sons and Daughters
This Gift (Domino/Outside)
Two years in the making, the third record by this Scottish quartet gets off to a rollicking start with “Gilt Complex,” a burst of hot rhythm and cold riffage that’s almost reminiscent of the Cramps. Produced by onetime Suede guitarist Bernard Butler (and not devoid of his trademark glam-rock and Motown gravitas), the band’s rock ’n’ roll simplicity is rendered with finesse, each song bristling with bounce and fire. Fans of early Rolling Stones and their many contemporary followers (who aren’t averse to a heavily accented female lead singer) should check this, and welcome the band when they play Montreal for the first time on March 25. 8/10 (Lorraine Carpenter)

Kara Keith
self-titled (Saved by Radio/Scratch)
Former Falconhawk singer and keyboardist Kara Keith is as solo as she wants to be, backed in the studio and on stage by various members of Fake Cops and Chad Van Gaalen’s group, some of Calgary’s finest. Over five tracks (one borrowed from French composer Erik Satie), Keith’s steady, supple vocals, poppy synths and cascading piano, courted by trumpet, bolstered by rhythm, carry quality melodies with grace and power. “Kick This City” is another exciting Canadian pop anthem, right up there with those of Arcade Fire and Metric. Fittingly, Ms. Keith is kicking Calgary in May to record here with Howard Bilerman. 8.5/10 (Lorraine Carpenter)

Kool G Rap
Half a Klip (Latchkey)
Kool G Rap is one of those dudes who always get a nod of respect for their contribution to hip hop, both as stylistic influences and as great storytellers. Twenty years into his career comes Half a Klip, with G Rap sticking to his guns and rapid-fire delivery. You got to hand it to a guy who’s made the best out of a lispy situation, flipping ghetto tales into quick-spit street legends better than most could hope. Classic, theatric scenes unfold on tunes like “The Life,” a thug tale told with care and attention to the finer points, or the DJ Premier-flavoured “On the Rise Again,” which revisits a New York state of mind that we’ve heard from these two before. This isn’t G Rap back to save hip hop, but he can still hold it down in 2008. 7.5/10 (Scott C)

Various
Step Up 2: The Streets Official Soundtrack (Atlantic/Warner)
Since the personal payoff of a movie soundtrack is tied to one’s appreciation of the film—and it’s doubtful I’ll be attending a Step Up screening anytime soon—let’s assume both film and music are designed to be highly danceable, very contemporary and tragically ephemeral (and a love story for good measure). The current hip hop and R&B Top 40 climate provides the backdrop, meaning nearly every song features clean synth lines, guy/girl/fat-auto-tuner-guy alternating vocals and clapping percussion. Missy Elliott, T-Pain and Akon’s contributions are slightly better than your typical soundtrack filler. Cassie’s “Is It You?” is likeable. 6/10 (Erik Leijon)

Chris Brown
Exclusive (Sony BMG)
Brown’s been working overtime to become today’s version of Michael Jackson, and thereby distinguish himself from R&B contemporaries like Omarion and Mario. But stylistically, they’re all more similar to Usher, because while Jackson blatantly courted the pop market, Usher reached the masses with a distinctive urban flair. Brown’s sophomore effort mostly maintains this tack, especially with tracks like monster jam “Kiss, Kiss” and the gogo-influenced “Throwed.” But it’s obvious he wants to follow Jackson into pop territory with his latest, “With You.” Written by the same team that penned Beyoncé’s “Irreplaceable,” the song has the type of universal appeal that may finally put Brown ahead of the pack. 7.5/10 (Gerard Dee)

Steve Reid Ensemble
Daxaar (Domino/Outside)
The latest in a series of collaborations between Steve Reid, perhaps the hippest drummer alive, and young ’un Kieran Hebden (Four Tet), Daxaar sees Reid returning to Africa for the first time in four decades. Working alongside Senegalese musicians, Reid’s goal was to encourage spontaneity and “just play.” Though the album kicks off with “Welcome,” a track combining kora and light-as-air vocals (courtesy of Isa Kouyate), the balance of Daxaar is a rhythmic trip. Guitarist Jimi Mbaye shines alongside the funky organ of Boris Netsvetaev. This is trance-y free jazz with a twist, music to close your eyes and bob your head to. 8/10 (Erin MacLeod)

Kronos Quartet & Wu Man
Terry Riley: The Cusp of Magic (Nonesuch/Warner)
Chamber music adventurers Kronos Quartet have a history with minimalist godfather Riley, and with Wu Man, whose sharp, fine, capricious work on the Chinese pipa is an appropriate thread for this complicated, crazy quilt of a composition. Commissioned for the avant-garde icon’s own 70th birthday, the six-part cycle is intended as an invocation for the summer solstice, conjuring a mercurial midnight masquerade where Riley’s disparate fancies—laments and lullabies, ragas and peyote rituals, exotic tech and familiar toys, dread and delight—meet and mingle. Perplexing and vexing, The Cusp of Magic is however not without its unexpected little rewards. 6/10 (Rupert Bottenberg)

Mini CD Reviews

Wanda Landowska Bach: The Landowska Recordings (Sony BMG) A budget-priced, seven-CD box of harpsichord renditions of J.S. Bach by one of his great interpreters, who died in 1959. A most welcome reissue. 10 (LD)

The Feminists Can’t Scream Loud Enough (Killbeat) From Vancouver, this curiously named one-vagina band (she plays keyboards) writes commendable, conscious lyrics and pro pop tunes. 7 (LC)

Ghislain Poirier “No More Blood” Megasoid remix 7” (Ninja Tune) Megasoid punches you in the face with this 45, marrying their filthy, fat-assed Stabshot and Frontway riddims with Face-T’s chat that you can’t stop singing. 7 (SC)

Johnny Hollow Dirty Hands (The Orange/Universal) A sophisticated goth record, with piano, strings, guitars, synths, Siouxsie-style vocals and spooky lyrics all in their right place. 7 (LC)

Hell Rell Eat With Me or Eat a Box of Bullets (Hellz Kitchen/Fusion III) Convincing enough that I plan on text-messaging him the next time I grab some shawarma. 6.5 (EL)

Lenny Kravitz It’s Time for a Love Revolution (Virgin/EMI) It’s ironic an album that calls for a revolution is nothing more than stolen riffs from the ’70s. 1 (EL)

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