Motor Bass Pansoul (Different/Fusion III)
Dance musicologists have tried coining names for this sound: titles as unsatisfactory as "chill house" or "nu house" have resulted, but I think French duo Motor Bass's debut CD title sums it up well: Pansoul.
The Paper Route Go Get It (SSG/Page)Ex-Torontonian Simon Nixon and his mates make no apology for flying the Costello flag--if you can do it, why not flaunt it, right? But happily, The Paper Route beef up their new wave boogaloo with songwriting smarts and electric gusto ("Dead Horse") for a newfangled sound that's got way more flair than by-the-book wannabes like Winnipeg's Duotang. Heck, even Paper Route's "woo-hoo-hoo-hooos" ("Clean Me Soapy") sport well-dressed balls! Go Get It while this is still considered a local release. 8/10 (Lorrie Edmonds) The Paper Route play the SSG Showcase tonight (April 17) at Cabaret Empirion Advanced Technology (Wanted/XL/Warner)This is what I gave my grandmother when she asked me what techno was. Empirion make accessible, easy-to-understand techno, with sounds highly reminiscent of earlier years: LFO bleeps, hard trance with high-pitched ticklings, fast blasts and a rolling 303 throughout. But sources are well chosen: like Orbital's "Chime" and Front 242's "Never Stop" stuck in an elevator. Standout track "Narcotic Influence" and its "drugs: taking your life away" sample is a walloping commercial rave anthem if ever one existed. Derivative fun. 7.5/10 (Mireille Silcott) Ani DiFranco Living In Clip (Righteous Babe)
Despite her recent dabblings with tapes and loops, Ani DiFolksinger considers herself the authentic performing barde and her studio albums mere "approximations" of what she does, hence this live double CD that fans too have been "clamouring for." Ironically, the album is pieced together from shows across her '96 North American tour--hardly the cohesive concert experience--but the trade-off is non-album songs and a kind of "best of" her stage banter. 7/10 (Chris Yurkiw)
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This is deep dance music you can't go all mental to, that covers soul with few of the expected accessories (no vocals). Case in point: track #2, "Ezio," contains samples like a broom, bicycle bells, fairy harps, sucking kisses, snipped voice clips and football crowds. But the total is a miraculously clean, shaking groove. If the wash of easy listening through a crackling transistor and a house boombox nearby sounds attractive to you, you'll like this. As the preferred at-home music of too many DJs to mention, Pansoul has some real future licks. 9/10 (Mireille Silcott)