Sugar Plant After After Hours (World Domination/True North)
Like Pizzicato Five's 21st-century take on Bacharach and Mancini, Japanese duo Sugar Plant offer a space-age reinterpretation of the quieter moments of the Velvet Underground catalogue (and, by extension, recent acts such as Galaxie 500 and Spiritualized).
Botz Dynasty Self-titled (DBD) Rough around the edges is good as long as the beats are rugged and the rhymes hearty. Production by Montreal beat sensations Ray Ray and Q45 make this self-released debut a true underground diamond in the rough. With Sekou Toure's "Almighty God" and posse cut "Head Nod" already college radio hits from here to Toronto, this release will no doubt soon disappear from the racks at Streetsound records. 8/10 (Manchilde) Primal ScreamVanishing Point (Reprise/Warner) As someone who, like those from Select magazine, thinks Primal Scream's Screamadelica was the "best album of this decade so far," reviewing Primal's newie was a chunk. So forgive my over-the-top-ness but, honestly, if that album was the rave age's favourite rock album, then this album could be post-rave's prize horse. First single, "Kowalski," with its block-beats bass and insidious zinging says it, as does the Notting Hill dub of "Stuka" and the underwater children's anthem of "Trainspotting" (a Weatherall production). Ignoring the two happy-slappy daisy-agey tracks, Bobby Gillespie remains the saviour. It's a winner. 9/10 (Mireille Silcott)
Freakified photon-funk from France. Imagine, if you will, Bootsy Collins, Atlantic Starr and Jamiroquai blowing quarters in a video arcade on Venus. The spaced-out neo-hippy groove doesn't lay off its energetic pacing for an instant. An utterly ridiculous disc, but this is funk, see, so that's all right. 7/10 (Rupert Bottenberg) Malka Family play with FFF on Saturday, Aug. 2, at Metropolis as part of Francopholies. 9pm, $19.50.
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The beeping and warbling of the sci-fi electronics blends comfortably with the spare, languorous junkfolk melancholia amid the washes of narcotic keys. The lyrics have a haiku simplicity to them; splendid tracks "I Hate Morning" and "Synapse" are good examples of this. As otherworldly as Sugar Plant's formula may be, these transmissions are clearly from the warm end of the sonic spectrum. 9/10 (Rupert Bottenberg)
Malka Family Foutoukonkass (BMG France)