The Mirror's 1997

discs of the week

Wilco Being There "Jeff Tweedy was so bent on making this album an epic... lazy lap steel ballads segue to Stonesy rock-outs slide into pickin' tunes." 8/10 (CY) Jan. 16

Chavez Ride the Fader "Singer Matt Sweeney could probably make you cry while he read you the telephone book." 9/10 (JC) Jan. 23

Aphex Twin Richard D. James "'I would like some milk from the milkman wife's tits' are about the only lyrics." 10/10 (MS) Jan. 30

The Offspring Ixnay on the Hombre "Contains one power ballad with only a little more edge and a little less bombast than Bon Jovi." 8/10 (CY) Feb. 6

David Bowie Earthling "He's slightly late on the drum & bass wagon..." 8.5/10 (MS) Feb. 13

Marden Hill Hijacked "London stuffed licks from a tight countryside collective." 8.5/10 (MS) Feb. 20

Blur Blur "Blur are never ones to shirk a quality gimmick." 9/10 (MS) Feb. 27

Ryuichi Sakamoto Smoochy "Using lightweight bachelor pad fluff as groundwork." 9/10 (RB) March 6

Rascalz Cash Crop "The Rascalz disavow the notion that opening for bubble-gum dance is the only hope for Canadian hip hop." 9/10 (JT) March 20

Oh Susanna Self-titled "Hangs her twang somewhere between a flattened yelp and a flat-body Gretsch." 9/10 (CY) March 27

Post '76 Self-titled "Recalls Lennon burning up Abbey Road and the closer is pure Daniel Lanois." 8/10 (CY) April 3

Various Batucada: The Sound of the Favelas "A ferocious and ecstatic kick in the seat of the pants." 9/10 (RB) April 10

Motorbass Pansoul "Deep dance music that you can't go all mental to." 9/10 (MS) April 17

Bran Van 3000 Glee Glee "Take the money from that unbought Beck ticket and lay it down for the Montreal pop album of the year." 9.5/10 (CY) April 24

Funky Porcini Let's See What Carmen Can Do "That Porcini--he's drunk. He's burning with sunburn. He's high on hamburgers..." 9.5/10 (MS) May 1

Steve Coleman and the Mystic Rhythm Society The Sign and the Seal "A potential chaotic mess becomes a precisely crafted game of connect the dots." 9/10 (RB) May 15

Sex Pistols/Sophisticos No Feelings "Another fine example of punk before it learned how to ollie." 9/10 (JC) May 22

Foo Fighters The Colour and the Shape "Liquid oxygen serenity loaded into 13 pop rockets." 8.5/10 (CY) May 29

Wu-Tang Clan Wu-Tang Forever "Generations from now, hip hop historians will write wild essays on the Wu-Tang Forever album." 9.5/10 (MC) June 12

Monaco Music for Pleasure "Hook's finally stopped denying that he was half of Joy Division and 50 per cent of New Order..." 8.5/10 (MS) June 19

Planet Smashers Attack of the Planet Smashers "I reckon the approach here is classic-ish, but with drumrolls and melodies this catchy, who even cares?" 9/10 (MS) June 26

Starbean Refuting the Extraterrestrial Hypothesis "There is life on planet Montreal." 9/10 (JC) July 3

DJ Vadim Conquest of the Irrational "Vadim is not quite busting Jeep beats yet..." 9/10 (MS) July 10

Rebirth Brass Band We Come to Party "Easy-to-handle solos stumble into each other like good-natured drunks at a block party." 10/10 (RB) July 17

Spiritualized Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space "If a jazzer went to baggy-land with a timpano and some wood-paneled synths and snorted a freezer bag of PCP at the Imax..." 9/10 (MS) July 24

Sugar Plant After After Hours "A spage-age reinterpretation of the quieter moments of the Velvet Underground catalogue." 9/10 (RB) July 31

Various Super Discount "Bugged bassbin, cheeky house with flatulent jazz and megastore snippets in between." 9/10 (MS) August 7

Bill Ding The Horrendously Named EP "Like DJ Shadow, the Herbaliser, Tortoise and the sound of broken air conditioners..." 9.5/10 (JC) Aug. 14

Howie B Turn the Dark Off "Breakbeats that aren't too hard and aren't too soft, but just right." 8.5/10 (MS) Aug. 21

The Cramps Big Beat From Badsville "Aging hooligans at their slithery and sexy best. Rock 'n' roll may become dangerous again yet!" 9/10 (JC) Sept. 4

Firewater Get off the Cross, We Need the Wood for the Fire "The purposeful stumble of a haggard, fez-wearing goat herder on a mean, mysterious bender." 9/10 (RB) Sept. 11

Photek Modus Operandi "Trebly echo, spare production and that positively Photek-ish sound of backwards swallowing..." 8.5/10 (MS) September 18

Cornershop When I Was Born for the 7th Time "Not on some mission to put his heritage into a context palatable to the West. The Beatles already did that." 9/10 (RB) Sept. 25

Stereolab Dots and Loops "The only band that matters, mutters and consistently wows and flutters." 9/10 (CY) Oct. 2

Various Ska Island "Whether you're rude or merely sympathetic, this little darling is indispensable." 9.5/10 (RB) Oct. 9

Mike Watt Contemplating the Engine Room "Watt still can't carry a tune in a bucket...". 8.5/10 (JC) Oct. 16

Death in Vegas Dead Elvis "A smasheroo that can keep the mildly decaying "eclectic" vogue alive for at least another coupla months." 8.5/10 (MS) Oct. 23

Various The Duran Duran Tribute Album "Duran wrote such great pop songs in their prime that even GOB can't wreck them." 9/10 (MS) Oct. 30

Dubstar Goodbye "You're on a bus, it's raining, you're looking out a window...this is what you want to be listening to." 9.5/10 (MS) Nov. 6

The Royal Crowns 32 Miles From Memphis "A king can of kick-ass rockabilly." 8.5/10 (RB) Nov. 13