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 Do Make Say Think
Other Truths (Constellation)
The sixth release from this T-dot collective should be considered their masterstroke. While fellow post-rockers like Mono and Explosions in the Sky get their sense of drama wedged too tightly in the morose and the melancholy, Do Make Say Think expand the colours in their paint box and easily commandeer the mood swings strewn over the explosive four tracks here. This is absolutely going to kill in a live setting. 9/10 Trial Track: “Make” (Johnson Cummins) With the Happiness Project, Years at la Sala Rossa, Wed.–Thurs., Nov. 25–26, 9 p.m., $18
 Mission of Burma
The Sound the Speed the Light (Matador/ Select) Already responsible for so many classic songs that directly shaped post-punk, Mission of Burma continue to drink from the same well of inspiration almost three decades later. Like their other post-reunion records, they don’t reinvent any wheels here but still remain light years ahead of the current crop of noisy rockers. The Sound the Speed the Light only continues to underline this trio of Bostonians’ place as unsung rock heroes. 8.5/10 Trial Track: “1, 2, 3, Party!” (Johnson Cummins)
 Devendra Banhart
What Will Be (Warner)
What a tiresome narrative: a freaky musician signs to a major label and bam, their eccentric energy is diminished, their sound is diluted, their beard is shaved. That’s what’s happened here, yet Banhart’s songwriting talent and sense of adventure aren’t dead. And while his tamed folk is less vivid, it’s also less irritating, and mid-album echoes of Roxy Music and the Doors refresh his palette. 6.5/10 Trial Track: “Angelika” (Lorraine Carpenter)
 Echo and the Bunnymen
The Fountain (Ocean Rain/Fontana North)
Just as the richness has left Ian McCulloch’s voice, Will Sergeant’s muse is in absentia, and the vacuum—accentuated by big shiny production and fake strings—leaves this once great band sounding vapid. Even the occasional evocation of past glory only heightens their present mediocrity. 5/10 Trial Track: “Life of a Thousand Crimes” (Lorraine Carpenter)
 Robbie Williams
Reality Killed the Video Star (Chrysalis/EMI)
A collection of the worst kind of British power balladry: pseudo-religious, asexual Oasis-meets-Beatles-meets-Duran Duran theatrical pop, with wartime horn blazing mixed with quaint flower-power string sections. Every song aims globally, culling from every possible music style without discrimination or self-restraint, with Williams’ blandly malleable voice attempting to soar from here to the next Live Aid. 2.5/10 Trial Track: “Difficult for Weirdos” (Erik Leijon)
Dead by Sunrise
Out of Ashes (Warner)
Linkin Park singer Chester Bennington stretches his atrophied wings with this offshoot project, embracing arena rock with opener “Fire,” balladry with “Give Me Your Name” and “Into You,” and even a foray into bossa nova-flavoured electronica with “Let Down.” His love of grunge–era rock is also evident in the Nirvana-esque “Crawl Back In.” More rock than anything else, DBS is a welcome change from the Linkin Park sound. 7.5/10 Trial Track: “Fire” (Lateef Martin)
 Bodymovin
self-titled (Moon Boutique)
An unexpected treat from a little-known Stuttgart duo. This LP may be cheesy at times, particularly in its incongruous homages to the Beastie Boys like “Sureshot.” But it’s also packed with addictive, funky new-disco tracks that take enough cues from the current techno resurgence to be solid sonically, but not enough to turn pretentious and stodgy. 7.5/10 Trial Track: “Yeah!” (Jack Oatmon)
 Kid Sister
Ultraviolet (Downtown/Universal)
The way-too-long-awaited debut album from Chicago’s Melisa Young has a small share of the current hard-knock, sultry electro-hop, like the ’09 update of “Let Me Bang,” but owes far more to cheesy ’90s dance traxx (“Daydreaming” with Cee-Lo) and the guileless good times of pre-gangsta rap (check her calling card, “Pro Nails” with Kanye). Ultraviolet lacks a winning hit track, but it bears no duds either, making for a likeable listen from end to end. 7/10 Trial Track: “Pro Nails” feat. Kanye West (Rupert Bottenberg)
 Wale
Attention Deficit (Interscope/Universal)
The title of this album is fitting, a good way to explain a messy and unorganized LP full of stellar production and interesting concepts but ultimately all over the place and hard to follow. Bun B saves the day on “Mirrors,” K’naan bodies his verse on “TV on the Radio” and even Gucci Mane outshines Wale on “Pretty Girls.” Outstanding production, but the rhymes are easy to forget. 6.5/10 Trial Track: “Shades” (Morgan Steiker)
 Mario
D.N.A. (Sony BMG)
Mario’s fourth set reveals a singer still evolving, but at a pace that seems to match his transition from teen sensation to versatile adult vocalist. D.N.A. is full of subtle relationship tracks, backed by electro-rhythmic beats that mostly escape the trap of redundancy. Additionally, songs like the dark “Get Out,” and the upbeat “Starlight” are some of his most enjoyable yet. 7.5/10 Trial Track: “Thinkin’ About You” (Gerard Dee)
 Fool’s Gold
self-titled (Iamsound)
This pedigreed L.A. collective meet Vampire Weekend’s indie hipster spin on African pop—spiky, sparkling Congolese guitar, Malian desert blues licks, Ethiopian brass—and up the ante with generous Hebrew vocals, Philly soul stardust, krautrock strategies and further global flourishes. There’s an irksome sense of self-congratulation at moments, but tunes like the disco chow fun Western schmaltz of “Poseidon” merit a pat on the back. 7.5/10 Trial Track: “Surprise Hotel” (Rupert Bottenberg) With Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros at Petit Campus, Mon., Nov. 23, 8 p.m., $12
 Norah Jones
The Fall (Blue Note/EMI)
Jones’s nursery-rhyme cocktail folk is music for people who hate music, but social mores force them to pretend. Pleasant wording and a sharp shade of red lipstick dominate over limp arrangements never loud enough to distract from your conversation about office hijinks or your latest trip to South America. The flavourless chanteuse will barely cause a ripple in your red wine. 2/10 Trial Track: “You’ve Ruined Me” (Erik Leijon)
Philippe Lauzier & Pierre-Yves Martel
Sainct Laurens (&records)
What do you get when you lock up two creative geniuses in a cabin for a couple days with a viola da gamba, saxophones, a bass clarinet, some radios and two-inch speakers? A beautiful and weird sudoku puzzle for the psyche. This CD shows us how these guys give Montreal a well-deserved rep around the globe as a locus for creative music. The only thing better is hearing them live. 9/10 Trial Track: “Paix” (Gordon Allen)
MINI CD REVIEWS
Easter Monkeys Splendor of Sorrow (Smog Veil) Elaborate packaging, six bonus tracks and a DVD of a live show from ’82 make this 1983 re-release an essential post-punk purchase. 8 (JC)
Wild Beasts Two Dancers (Domino) U.K. band casts shadows of Sparks and Antony on their second LP, contrasting deep vocals with strange falsetto, art funk with new wave. 7.5 (LC)
Min Rager First Steps (Effendi) For those who like their jazz clean-cut and stylish, Montreal pianist Rager offers a well-schooled and straight-ahead record in the McGill tradition. 7 (GA) At Upstairs, Wed.–Thurs., Nov. 25–26, 9 p.m.
Various Music Is… Awesome! (Filter/Fontana) Minus the award-winning kiddie show’s ocular yumminess, the hectoring ditties from Yo Gabba Gabba!—some by Money Mark, Of Montreal, the Shins and Chromeo—only irritate. 4 (RB)
Morningwood Diamonds & Studs (MTV/Fontana North) Hardly solid, this sex-rock party record is more like drunken limpness. 3 (EL) |
