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Disc of the week |
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 Department of Eagles In Ear Park (4AD/Select) This Brooklyn duo’s Daniel Rossen belongs to Grizzly Bear now, but luckily he’s maintained this project, which preceded the better known band by three years. Their piano, reverb and waltz-time reverie summon up an antique glow akin to the Walkmen. Their evocation of gospel, set to a modern rock groove, is reminiscent of TV on the Radio. Their pastoral ballads are more Paul McCartney than anything. But it’s their tricked out pagan folk, rendered wondrous with samples, woodwinds and lovely voices, that really catches, and is most likely to satiate the Grizzly Bear set. 8/10 Trial Track: “No One Does It Like You” (Lorraine Carpenter)  The Sound of Sea Animals Fractions of Fictions (Audiogram/Select) Like fellow Quebec indie rockers Karkwa and Bonjour Brumaire, multi-instrumentalist/lyricist Etienne Chan Kane has an obvious affinity for British pop—in this case, lush, psychedelic, Abbey Road-era Beatles. Chan Kane differs from his peers by singing entirely in English, a unique choice given his rather thick French accent and pedestrian knowledge of the language. Fractions and Fictions is almost too ornate at times—with subtle strings, woodwinds, jangly tones and moody pianos/synths. Chan Kane’s troubles with pronunciation and syntax as he tells the confusing tale of the Thomas family don’t derail this ambitious concept album. 7/10 Trial Track: “Act 17, Chapter 2 Almost 3” (Erik Leijon)  Frida Hyvönen Silence Is Wild (Secretly Canadian) Smoother and rounder at the edges, and wider and brighter at heart, this Swedish piano woman’s follow-up to her 2005 debut, Until Death Comes, smacks of chemical intervention. Sugary backing vocals, retro pop frills and giddy tempos sit alongside the kind of stark, unstable folk stylings that dominated the last record. Results are mixed, as songs like “Scandinavian Blonde” show that pop is not her forte, and the lighters-aloft balladry of “Highway 2 U” merits stink-eyes for the producer. But despair rears its head again on “December,” a droll little ditty about abortion. That’s the stuff. 7/10 Trial Track: “Birds” (Lorraine Carpenter)  Deadbeat Roots and Wire (Wagon Repair) Roots as in reggae, wire as in the tangle of charged metal and circuits that invigorate former Montrealer Scott Monteith’s sixth LP. In playing on and building upon the sonic stereotypes shared between dub and deep house, Monteith is certainly not blazing any trails. But Deadbeat’s reactive alchemy of styles transcends the tired lethargy of both worlds, drawing something vital, exotic and urgent out of familiar sounds and structures. Easing in with Paul St. Hilaire’s meditative hooting over a calm but super-dense bass beat and Lee Perry-style synth brass on “Rise Again,” the record then travels through its telling title track, making the transition from tradition to technology—firmly establishing the tension that characterizes the psychedelic journey that follows. 9/10 Trial Track: “Grounation” (Jack Oatmon)  Beats on Canvas self-titled (BOC) A Montreal-based, multi-player exercise in synesthesia, translating to music the visual art of self-taught, globetrotting Haitian painter Marc-Bernard Philippe. His works are like postcards from the many points on the map he’s visited, and the pieces here are elegant yet colourful reflections of those moments and memories. Slinky if rather workmanlike electronic beats are the canvases for a moody tango here (“On Cuban Tile”), a Koranic sunset there (“Ramadan”), and an opening intersection of jazz and Chinese classical music (“Doki,” with virtuoso pipa player Liu Fang). Bonus round “Doki” gets remixed by no less than DJ Vadim, while our own Patrick Watson likewise reworks “Good Spirit.” 7/10 Trial Track: “Sinking the 8th Ball in Zaire” (Rupert Bottenberg)  Labelle Back to Now (Verve/Universal) Best known for their huge disco hit “Lady Marmalade,” ’70s soul trio Labelle—Nona Hendryx, Sarah Dash and the incomparable Patti LaBelle—return with their first disc in over 30 years. The ladies are in spectacular voice here, trading vocal banter like it was 1976 all over again. The songs are energized and entertaining, thanks to some heavy-hitting production talent including Lenny Kravitz, Gamble & Huff and Wyclef Jean. The set is equal parts full-on, powerhouse slow jams (“Without You in My Life,” “Superlover”) and socially conscious soul (“Truth Will Set You Free,” “Tears for the World”). And “Rosa Parks” is a particularly moving tribute to the late Civil Rights icon. 8/10 Trial Track: “Candlelight” (Gerard Dee)
 Iceberg Slim Reflections (Uproar/MVD) After Gil Scott-Heron and the Last Poets, this record has often been cited as one of hip hop’s touchstones, which makes this re-release mandatory for anybody who wants to dig deep. Slim, of course, is better known for his fiction—classics like Pimp, Long White Con and Trick Baby detailing his gangsta and pimp life, laid out in vivid Technicolor—but here, his laid-back raps work perfectly over the lazy jazz/blues grooves. Fans of Heron, Kerouac’s spoken word and the amazing Soul Jazz comps are going to have to reserve some record rack space for this. 8.5/10 Trial Track: “Broadway Sam” (Johnson Cummins)  Lewis Black Anticipation (Comedy Central) My own anticipation was high for this live record from this Grammy-winning grouch, the comedian who epitomizes the term “irascible.” The opinionated fits and fulminations of this dyspeptic Doctor Wiggle Fingers on The Daily Show slay me, though his recent Root of All Evil deal there, not so much. And what follows anticipation? Disappointment, of course—Black’s routines here, while delivered with a pro’s timing and clarity, stick to the mundane matters most stand-up hacks work to death. Golfers! Loss of virginity! Holidays! A few chuckles roll by, but passing on the political for the pedestrian doesn’t serve Black that well. 6/10 Trial Track: “Gamblers” (Rupert Bottenberg) Mini CD ReviewsThe Clash Live at Shea Stadium (Sony BMG) This 1982 NYC arena gig, opening for the Who, was the climax for these potentates of punk, and they certainly delivered the goods—fiercely. 8.5 (RB) |
Nickelback 
The Bronx 
Sheila Jordan  |
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