|
 Kill the Lights
Fog Area (Sonic Unyon)
Onetime 401 nomads Kill the Lights have picked a side and settled in Montreal, where they recorded their third record with The Besnard Lakes’ Jace Lasek. Their MySpace styles – garage, shoegaze and psychedelic – are reasonable descriptors for their hard and loose guitars and drums, woozy synths, pretty falsetto and fine reverb. Bold and upbeat despite its broken heart, this is a great accomplishment. 8.5/10 Trial Track: “Lakes 2” (Lorraine Carpenter) CD launch with Burning Bride at Divan Orange, Wed., Sept. 2, 10 p.m., $5
 Nadja/Black Boned Angel
Self Titled (20 Buck Spin)
Seriously, does Nadja ever rest? The incredibly prolific Toronto/Berlin doom duo have teamed up with New Zealand’s dark droners Black Boned Angel, resulting in some amazingly dark ambience and brutal doom. Nadja’s Aiden Baker’s previous collaborations have always pushed him out of comfortable confines with glorious results, and this one is no exception, with the almost hour-long drone stretched over two untitled tracks here. In fact, it’s hard to even discern Nadja’s signature style from their partners in crime here, with both parties assimilating perfectly. 8.5/10 Trial Track: “I” (Johnson Cummins)
 Sally Shapiro
My Guilty Pleasure (Paper Bag)
At least the album title indicates the secretive Swedish duo realize that overwhelmingly lush house-disco so undeniably catchy doesn’t come without culpability. What is surprising is how very un-pop the album is: it’s more of a dizzying cross-section of stylish retro synths and hypnotic vocal coos, lulling you into a vast, obtuse plane of unrequited longing and frigid, Nordic nights in need of warm bodies. 8.5/10 Trial Track: “Save Your Love” (Erik Leijon)
 Jack Peñate
Everything Is New (XL/Select)
His 2007 debut, Matinee, was widely deemed DOA, but this British singer-songwriter has changed course to conceive 33 minutes of gorgeous pop. With a voice reminiscent of the Cure’s Robert Smith, rhythms rooted in Afrobeat, baile funk and light electro-pop, backed by blasé keys and chatty guitars, beautifully adorned in reverb and glitter by producer Paul Epworth (Bloc Party), this is a perfect record for heavy summer heat. 8/10 Trial Track: “Everything Is New” (Lorraine Carpenter)
 Harvestman
In a Dark Tongue (Neurot)
Tcond outing from Neurosis singer Steve Von Till under the Harvestman moniker continues in the minimalist drone, spacey krautrock and U.K. psych-folk vein, but his raga guitar lines ground everything before they leave the stratosphere. Von Till makes no bones about the obvious influence of early Tangerine Dream and Pentangle here, and even includes a stunning version of John Martyn’s “Eibhli Ghail Chiuin Ni Chearbhail” for us psych trainspotters. 8/10 Trial Track: “By Wind and Sea” (Johnson Cummins)
 Inward Eye
Throwing Bricks Instead of Kisses
(RCA Jive/Sony)
This Winnipeg-based trio of brothers started as energetic, low-rent, nutrient-heavy wheat husk punk, but their debut long play redirects some of their uneasy rockabilly energy into a potable Our Lady Peace pastiche. Case in point: three of the tracks here appeared on their promising EP and bear little resemblance to the CanCon pilfering “Don’t Paint It Blue.” Occasionally they find an acceptable middle ground. 5.5/10 Trial Track: “Heroin Heart” (Erik Leijon)
 Matisyahu
Light (Universal)
Three years since his last outing, the reggae artist known as much for his Hasidic beliefs as his music presents an album that takes a big step away from the Jamaican sounds that made him famous. Sure, there’s patois here and there, but this is really a cleanly produced pop/rock album with a touch of hip hop and a few shimmery Top 10 moments. 7/10 Trial Track: “One Day” (Erin MacLeod)
 Chord
Flora (Neurot)
This is going to be a real stunner for fans of minimalist composition and power droners. The aptly titled band moves further away from the ballast of Sunn O))) and Earth worshippers and stick closer to minimalist compositions like Rhys Chatham’s “Guitar Trio” and La Monte Young’s Dream Syndicate by assigning one singular note in a chord to each member. Four chords are offered up here and thanks to the lack of looping devices, frequencies and feedback are allowed to wander free with the only hint of rhythm being pulsating oscillations. 8/10 Trial Track: “Am7” (Johnson Cummins)
 Datarock
Red (Young Aspiring Professionals)
Gearing up with a melodramatic intro laden with interview samples describing the Internet, then kicking into a dozen frenetic synth-pop cuts topped with surfy guitar riffs, these Norwegians’ latest is a self-conscious and derivative, if fun and catchy, rehashing of their own earlier work, itself a rehashing of Aha, Happy Mondays, Gang of Four, etc. 6.5/10 Trial Track: “Amarillion” (Jack Oatmon) With DJ Cherry Cola at Foufounes Electriques, Fri., August 28, 9 p.m., $7
 Paint
Can You Hear Me? (Paint)
A bloated alt-rock relic spiritually scraping the ’90s, done with so much audacity and seismic guitar crunch one can’t help but strap into their time machine. With too many cautionary tales of overly self-indulgent rock disasterpieces to name during the generational epic’s heyday, this Toronto quartet wisely keep the sound big, but the anthemic denouements concise. Their Hulkster clocks in at a tenable 34 minutes. 6.5/10 Trial Track: “Jenny and Maurice” (Erik Leijon)
 Letoya
Lady Love (EMI)
The former Destiny’s Child member peppers her sophomore effort with lots of layered vocals spread over beats that range from slowed down to whipped up. A host of writers, including Ne-Yo and Tank, prop up Luckett’s Beyoncé-lite vocals, which make for some memorable moments (like the saucy “Take Away Love,” with Estelle) in an otherwise unremarkable album. 7/10 Trial Track: “Regret” (Gerard Dee)
 -O-
Panpapal (independent)
Carried by blunt, propulsive grooves in the vein of Can’s motorik M.O., this exceptionally evocative local exercise in controlled dementia sparkles with heady sonic miscellanea, thanks in no small part to avant-garde turntablist Martin Tétreault. Strange new sounds galore lurk amid the brutish, basement-brewed bashing and surface-of-Mars psychedelia. A basis in improv and an auxiliary light-show team indicate great live potential here. 8/10 Trial Track: “Untitled (track #2)” (Rupert Bottenberg)
MINI CD REVIEWS
Lethurgy Renilhiation (20 Buck Spin) Fans of the epic black metal of Wolves in the Throne Room are going to be doing back flips over this one. 8.5/10 (JC)
Diane Birch Bible Belt (S-Curve/EMI) You’d never guess this American singer-songwriter/pianist is the young pasty waif she is, given the depth and maturity of her soft-rocking folk, gospel and soul, and sugary rich voice. 7 (LC)
Blitzen Trapper Black River Killer (Sub Pop) The titular serial killer saga from this ragged roots band’s upcoming LP Furr sets the bleak, back-country tone for this seven-track EP. 7 (LC)
KO Let’s Blaze (Castle Hill/Warner) Maybe the most unconvincing drug-themed album ever produced. 3 (EL)
>> Music Listings
|
