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 Morrissey
Years of Refusal (Decca/Universal)
Another Morrissey album, another dozen diary entries by Britpop’s elder-statesman/eternal-teenager. There’s certainly enough juvenile spite, sarcasm and lovelorn sentiment inside to match the “man-child” cover art, but there’s also a fresh streak of confidence in the lyrics, and in the music. Backed by a lean, mean quartet, led by his longtime guitarist Boz Boorer (with mariachi horns piping up here and there, perhaps to please his Mexi-Cali base), Morrissey sounds rejuvenated. The man has not rocked this hard since 1992’s Your Arsenal, and even the vocals sound like he’s had a shot in the arm. Steven Patrick, are you on steroids? It really, really helped you. 8/10 Trial Track: “All You Need Is Me” (Lorraine Carpenter)
 N.A.S.A.
The Spirit of Apollo (Anti-/FAB)
The BPA
I Think We’re Gonna Need a Bigger Boat (Southern Fried/Fontana North)
Two circus-of-the-stars affairs; one sizzles, the other fizzles. N.A.S.A.—L.A. producer Squeak E. Clean and Brazil’s DJ Zegon—splashes down with a dense and distracting cornucopia of cool crap. Repeat visits are required to fully unpack, but numerous bright, bouncy jams with a Brazilian tilt make it worthwhile. The guest list is five-star—ubiquitous party crashers M.I.A., Chuck D, Karen O and Santogold rub shoulders with Sizzla, Lovefoxxx, Qbert, Fatlip, an exceptionally choleric Tom Waits and of course samba junkie David Byrne. The head Talking Head also appears, jovially cursing alongside Dizzee Rascal, on the ho-hum debut of the BPA, the anticlimactic return of Norman “Fatboy Slim” Cook. The lame, fake back story about a box of dusty tapes from the ’70s aside, this is Cook and a crew reiterating his blend of fingerpoppin’ funk, rocksteady, rave and post-punk, and poorly at that. Following an affable opener with Iggy Pop—another cameo slut, better than usual here—and a couple other passable pieces, Cook’s Bigger Boat quickly sinks. N.A.S.A. 8, BPA 4.5/10 Trial Tracks: NASA “Gifted” feat. Kanye West, Santogold & Lykke Li; The BPA “Should I Stay or Should I Blow” feat. Ashley Beedle (Rupert Bottenberg)
 Omar Rodriguez Lopez
Old Money (Stones Throw)
Guitar hero Lopez takes time away from progressive rockers the Mars Volta to once again indulge his abstract, jazz-influenced solo efforts. At times, his eighth album sounds like the Mars Volta without Cedric Bixler wailing out front, though this time around, Bixler does handle drums on “How to Bill the Bilderberg Group.” Many of the songs on this album songs are reworkings of Mars Volta songs, such as “Population Council’s Wet Dream,” aka “Abortion: The Other White Meat.” Although Old Money is the closest thing to his main gig’s sound that he’s released, Rodriguez plans two more albums this year, recorded in ’06 and ’07. 8/10 Trial Track: “I Like Rockafellers’ First Two Albums, but After That…” (Lateef Martin)
Death
...For the Whole World to See (Drag City)
This brief, seven-song CD should be considered nothing less than the Holy Grail for fans of early ’70s proto-punk. Originally recorded in 1975, these three African American brothers filled the Detroit rock city gap when the Stooges and the MC5 hung it up, with blistering songs like “Freakin’ Out” and the particularly scorching “Politician Eyes.” Fans of Radio Birdman, the Dictators and the Stooges will be liquefied by this stripped-down, amped-up punk rock ’n’ roll. 8.5/10 Trial Track: “Freakin’ Out” (Johnson Cummins)
 Doug Randle
Songs for the New Industrial State (Light In The Attic/Outside)
Fans of the orch-pop of Brian Wilson, and more specifically the Association and the Fifth Dimension, are going to be throwing their hats in the air over this one. Originally recorded in 1970 for CBC, it’s a wonder that Randle’s album has remained in obscurity for this long. Although Randle’s sense of arrangement and harmony is without equal, it’s his outsider element of seemingly tossed off, stream-of-consciousness lyrics, like on “Colored Plastics” (about exactly that), “Batteries Not Included” and “Songs for the Middle Ag-ed,” that really make this a very strange and richly rewarding listen. 8/10 Trial Track: “Colored Plastics” (Johnson Cummins)
 Stepper
Way Out (independent)
North American ska is a tough thing to do well. There’s nothing worse than hearing what should be an extremely tight ship sail sloppily through the emblematic chickaboom-chickaboom of a ska tune. Montreal’s Stepper, thankfully, are anything but sloppy. The band is strong, the vocals clever, horns full and the vibe energetic. Tunes like “Restless” and “Running From Home” are good fun and good examples of the fact that Stepper enjoy catchy power pop alongside their Specials. These guys are good enough—and this is saying something—that it would be cool to hear them try their hands at re-interpreting some classic foundation riddims. 8/10 Trial Track: “Running From Home” (Erin MacLeod) CD launch with Take the Boys at Petit Campus tonight, Thurs., Feb. 19, 9 p.m., $7
 Montag
Hibernation (Paper Bag Digital)
Montrealer Montag, aka Antoine Bédard, released this short album as a super-limited hard copy in December, but there’s still—hate to say it—weeks of winter weariness from which to barricade oneself under blankets and, implicitly, the lush loveliness of these miniature meditations on the snowbound season’s beautiful, beastly bipolarity. Montag’s hopeless romanticism informs all, from the arctic austerity of “Global (Heart) Warming” to the thick, sweet swells of “Nord III.” There’s some sneakiness too—“La Symétrie du Coeur” pastiches Stereolab while the expansive “Labrador (Encore)” borrows Steve Reich’s shimmering phase shifts. Hot chocolate and bunny slippers not included. Trial Track: “La Symétrie du Coeur” 7.5/10 (Rupert Bottenberg)
 Zeroes
self-titled (independent)
Call it an indie rock supergroup or just call it Zeroes, a new conspiracy of noise care of electronic soundscapist/jazzman Ben Shemie, Land of Talk bassist/Kill the Lights guitarist Joseph Yarmush, Mothers Fathers drummer Liam O’Neil and Young Galaxy multitasker Max Henry. Zeroes practise a sort of stark psychedelic rock while dabbling in beats and synths, moody, murky pop tones and vocals ranging from a mantra monotone to bleached-out emo falsetto. And forget about standard song structures, these six songs are rough-hewn collages, but beautiful ones. Imagine Clinic, Spoon, Suicide and recent Radiohead grafted together at Hotel 2 Tango. 8/10 Trial Track: “Arena” (Lorraine Carpenter) EP launch with Little Scream and Special Noise at Club Lambi, Fri., Feb. 20, 10 p.m., $5
The Qemists
Join the Q (Ninja Tune/Outside)
It’s clear from the boom-bap intros and breakdowns of songs like opener ”Stompbox” that this trio has a background in rock. Falling for the equally kinetic sound of drum & bass, the Qemists combined the two. Toss in their experience as Coldcut and Lady Sovereign remixers, live sound engineers and crowd rockers and you’ve got a neighbour-waking album. Mike Patton screams, “I got your money” on “Lost Weekend” while Jenna G, Wiley, I.D. and Zoe Devlin Love drop vocals to keep crowds hype. This ain’t some sit-at-home music, but rather lager-and-reefer-and-blinding-lightshow-in-a-dusty-warehouse fare. Although Join the Q suffers from lack of variety, it makes up for it in unapologetic party bangers. 7.5/10 Trial Track: “Long Weekend” (Lateef Martin)
 Sean Jones
This Is Love (WIDEawake/Universal)
The solo debut by Toronto-based singer Jones will probably surprise fans of his former group, Canadian R&B/hip hop ensemble In Essence. That’s because this seven-song EP is more pop-rock than smooth urban, despite the fact that Jones refers to his music as “indie soul over rock.” The music has a very organic feel, thanks in part to the tight band that supports him. But his voice tends to get lost sometimes in all the intricate guitar work, making tracks like “Spanish Angel” sound generic. However, when the melodies are more subtle, like on “All I Want” and “One Good Reason,” Jones does a better job at making his voice heard. 7.5/10 Trial Track: “All I Want” (Gerard Dee) With Divine Brown at Cabaret du Musée, Fri., Feb. 20, 8 p.m., $22.50
 Denny Zeitlin
Columbia Studio Trio Sessions
(Mosaic Select)
Dado Moroni & Enrico Pieranunzi
Live Conversations (Abeat Records)
More great piano music. The long unavailable Zeitlin is a three-CD package of three sessions he did for Columbia in the ’60s. He’s joined by either Cecil McBee, Charlie Haden or Joe Halpin on bass and Frederick Waits, Jerry Granelli or Oliver Johnson on drums, on a mixture of standards and originals including “All the Things You Are,” “I Got Rhythm,” “Minority,” “Maiden Voyage” and his own “After the War” and the three-part “Mirage.” Live Conversations features two of Europe’s great players in a duo concert recorded in Italy in 2005. The five tracks give them plenty of time to stretch out, and stretch out they do on Miles Davis’s “Solar” (rumoured to have been written by Chuck Wayne) and a version of “All the Things You Are” that segues into “What Is This Thing Called Love.” Both are welcome additions to any jazz piano collection. Both 10/10 Trial Tracks: Zeitlin “Nica’s Dream,” Conversations “St. Thomas” (Len Dobbin)
Mini CD Reviews
Irene Kral The Gentle Rain (Choice) Stacey Kent calls the late Ms. Kral (Roy’s sister) “one of the greatest singers ever.” No argument here. This is a great reissue of a 1977 duo session with Alan Broadbent. 9.5 (LD)
Alela Diane To Be Still (Rough Trade) Exquisite, slightly strange folk songs featuring gorgeous vocals and acoustic guitar, strings and drums. 8.5 (LC) With Blitzen Trapper at la Sala Rossa, Sun., Feb. 22, 8:30 p.m., $12
You Say Party! We Say Die! Remik’s Cube (Paper Bag) One of those successful remix albums that exponentially upgrades the source, in this case 2007’s Lose All Time. Thank the Octopus Project, vitaminsforyou and Bocce’s fierce revision of “Poison.” 8.5 (RB)
Charles Hamilton Well Isn’t This Awkward Mixtape (independent) The prolific, 21-year-old hotshot MC from Harlem takes a break from rapping about Sonic the Hedgehog to yearn for unrequited love. 8 (EL)
Phosphorescent To Willie (Dead Oceans/Sonic Unyon) Mathew Houck’s take on 11 selections from the Willie Nelson catalogue is as good as it gets. 7.5 (JC)
The Bill Cosby Anarchist Society of America In Your Fucking Living Room! (Little Baby) Local punks obsessed with cell phones, stoner snacks, classic rock and whatever “Double Hitler Violation” is about. 7.5 (LC) With Endover and Society’s Ills at l’Absynthe, Fri., Feb. 20
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