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 Dengue Fever
Sleepwalking Through the Mekong CD/DVD (M80)
Having resurrected the groovy, pre-Khmer Rouge rock ’n’ roll of Cambodia, in 2005, L.A.’s Dengue Fever brought it back home, playing national TV and guerrilla street gigs alike. Filmmaker John Pirozzi captured the journey, the jubilant crowds, the jams with local folk musicians and more—dig the meaty extras on the DVD. The soundtrack supplements the band’s tunes (including two new instrumentals) with haunting Khmer rock classics by Ros Serey Sothea and such. 9/10 Trial Track: “Pow Pow” (Rupert Bottenberg)
 Lhasa
self-titled (Audiogram/Select)
Self-produced for the first time, the overdue follow-up to Montrealer Lhasa’s 2003 gem The Living Road lets up on the polyglot wanderlust, focusing on an analog, band-focused, country-flavoured feel. Sarah Pagé’s exquisite harp, notably, upgrades from ornament to focal instrument, overshadowed only by Lhasa’s magnificently melancholy vocals, heady and pervasive like fine red wine. 8.5/10 Trial Track: “Love Came Here” (Rupert Bottenberg)
Depeche Mode
Sounds of the Universe (Mute/EMI)
Depeche Mode seem to have found new vigour, keeping things light and sparse. Songs such as “Wrong,” “Peace” and “Corrupt” also help dust off their early-’80s sound, intertwining stark synthscapes and Martin Gore’s signature guitar. Singer David Gahan sounds crisp and vibrant, his duets with Gore still strikingly symbiotic. A dozen albums in, this is the most solid DM effort in years. 7.5/10 Trial Track: “Peace” (Lateef Martin)
Depeche Mode
Sounds of the Universe (Mute/EMI)
Depeche Mode seem to have found new vigour, keeping things light and sparse. Songs such as Wrong, Peace and Corrupt also help dust off their early-80s sound, intertwining stark synthscapes and Martin Gores signature guitar. Singer David Gahan sounds crisp and vibrant, his duets with Gore still strikingly symbiotic. A dozen albums in, this is the most solid DM effort in years. 7.5/10 Trial Track: Peace (Lateef Martin)
 Micachu
Jewellery (Rough Trade)
Love it or hate it, the debut by 21-year-old Brit Mica Levi and the Shapes (produced by Matthew Herbert) is fresh, raw and invigorating, clearly the product of the ADD-afflicted mash-up generation. It’s lo-fi leftfield pop with strummed guitars, rough percussion, sharp beats, sci-fi SFX (“electronics” and “Hoover”) and repetitive nonsense lyrics sung by a soulful androgyne. 8/10 Trial Track: “Golden Phone” (Lorraine Carpenter)
Death Cab for Cutie
The Open Door EP (Atlantic/Warner)
A sunnier set of alterna-jams to complement 2008’s Narrow Stairs, Death Cab for Cutie bounce considerably here with folkish Northwest Americana. More upbeat songs further muddle the already contradictory lore the band has cultivated. It’s emo but not emo. It’s cheery but lyrically dark. It’s alternative but ingratiatingly delicate. It’s naive but kind of sexist. It’s rockin’ Phil Collins. 4/10 Trial Track: “My Mirror Speaks” (Erik Leijon)
 It Hugs Back
Inside Your Guitar (4AD/Select)
Don’t be put off by the dubious moniker, this is premium indie rock. While many North American acts take after all permutations of ’90s Britpop, this band from Kent, England revisits the pop end of American “alternative” music of the same decade. Guitars jangle and distort, keys orbit, horns soar, boyish vocals float and mumble, tunes stick in the head. 8.5/10 Trial Track: “Back Down” (Lorraine Carpenter)
 The Brains
self-titled (Stomp/Warner)
Local psychobilly trio the Brains finally come into their own on this third release, with singer/guitarist Rene de la Muerte proving he can really croon with the best of ’em. Gutbucket bass and Gretsch twang lead the charge as the band get the spooks and sing about cheating dames, cannibalism and things that go bump in the night. 7/10 Trial Track: “Yeah” (Johnson Cummins) CD launch with Mad Sin, Matchless, Rehab for Quitters at Foufounes Électriques, Wed., April 29, 9 p.m.
Aidan Baker/thisquietarmy
A Picture of a Picture (Killer Pimp)
The pairing of Nadja’s Baker and local one-man drone-meister thisquietarmy recalls the first meetings of Brian Eno and Robert Fripp on this ethereal, dense and haunting masterstroke. Brightness and hope take up the first half of the record before some seriously dark ambience rears its head on the remaining two tracks. A truly glorious listen. 8.5/10 Trial Track: “Imagistic Continuity” (Johnson Cummins)
 Machinedrum
Want to 1 2? (Normrex)
Over 21 tracks, NYC’s Travis Stewart meticulously filters and garbles every click, thump, synth lick and sample, yet manages to come off smooth, funky and relaxed at every turn. Likewise, he manages to tether together bit-crushed hooks, 303 acid bass, bongo lines, silky R&B vocals, ambient samples and a million other things without disorienting or overreaching. 9/10 Trial Track: “Late Night Operation” (Jack Oatmon)
 Ghislain Poirier
Soca Sound System EP (Ninja Tune/Outside)
The first of four EPs Montrealer Poirier plans for ’09 has him cranking the Caribbean heat. No stranger to soca music in his sets, Poirier maximizes the style’s galloping, Desi-derived percussion at no loss to the gregarious, post-calypso melodiousness. Soca star Mr. Slaughter jumps in on “Get Crazy,” but Poirier’s raw-piped Panamanian pal MC Zulu, who destroyed on “Go Ballistic,” steals the show again. 8.5/10 Trial Track: “Immigrant Visa” feat. MC Zulu (Rupert Bottenberg) DJ set at Foufounes Électriques, Fri., April 24, 10 p.m.
 Nomadic Massive
self-titled (independent)
Recorded between Havana and Montreal, the latest from this worldly local collective showcases their strong potential and musical mission—using hip hop to build a bridge across the world. Bouncing back and forth between Afro, Latin and other world-music rhythms, as well as rhymes in five different languages, this album takes you around the globe in 60 minutes. 8/10 Trial Track: “Moving Forward” (Morgan Steiker)
Keri Hilson
In a Perfect World... (Interscope/Universal)
Pairing Virgin Radio’s wet-dream production list with a leggy session songwriter known for singing Timbaland’s refrains seems like the definition of contrivance, but when music’s biggest bread-winners show some effort, as they do here with Hilson, one remembers Timba et al. were talented before becoming famous. The ordinary but spunky singer is the right flexible foil to spark these egos. 8.5/10 Trial Track: “Return the Favor” (Erik Leijon)
 J. Holiday
Round 2 (Capitol/EMI)
With the seductive tracks “Bed” and “Suffocate,” Holiday’s 2007 debut, Back of My Lac, produced two major hits for the R&B crooner. His sophomore effort builds on that success and is actually more accomplished overall. A diverse set of producers, including Ne-Yo, help bolster Holiday’s songwriting skills, making for satisfying grown-folks soul like “Don’t Go” and “Lights Go Out.” 8/10 Trial Track: “Wrong Lover” (Gerard Dee)
 Vince Mendoza
Blauklang (ACT)
Mendoza is a fairly unsung composer and this is a good place to discover his large talent. The music, including the six-movement “Bluesounds,” is mostly his, and the band consists of 11 pieces and strings, musicians like Peter Erskine, Nguyen Le and Markus Stockhausen. Decidedly different looks at “All Blues” and “Blues for Pablo” are bonuses. 10/10 Trial Track: “Blues for Pablo” (Len Dobbin)
Mini CD Reviews
Darcy James Argue’s Secret Society Infernal Machines (iC) Wonderful music by this Canadian composer with soloists including Ingrid Jensen and Mike Fahie. 9 (LD)
Dog Day Concentration (Outside) Haligonian post-punk with surprising instrumental and pacing flourishes you can’t learn from owning a Sonic Youth t-shirt. 8 (EL)
Magik Markers Balf Quarry (Drag City) Harsh, beautiful and completely fucked up—what more do ya want? 8 (JC)
Patrick Pleau Hype-Moi (Orange Music/Select) Hype toi: Ambitious pop by possible future (palatable) radio star. 7 (LC)
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