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Earth Crisis Breed the Killers (Roadrunner/Attic)
Eels Electro-Shock Blues (DreamWorks/Universal) Lisa Germano Slide (4AD/PolyGram) Previous to their current tour together, I would have never put the whimsical Eels and the worrisome Lisa Germano in the same basket of thoughts. Their respective new albums obviously help. Being familiar with Germano's harrowing, self-therapop and upon discovering that Electro-Shock Blues was a meditation on mortality inspired by the cancer of main Eel E's mother, I was sure I had the current connection figured out: Germano was fighting to stay out of the hospital and E was stuck in it. But it's more like this: the meeting is somewhere between E's irrepressible popsense (even on songs with titles like "The Medication Is Wearing Off") and Germano's most hopeful album to date--on a common ground of fragile, fractured tunes. The Eels get into Beck-y groove, while Germano's producer Tchad Blake makes her sound nothing like Soul Coughing, which he often does to folks. Eels 8/10, Lisa 7/10 (Chris Yurkiw) Eels + Lisa Germano at Petit Campus, Tues. Nov. 3 , 8pm, $12.50+tx Gluecifer Soaring With Eagles at Night to Rise With the Pigs in the Morning (White Jazz/FusionIII)
Scandinavia is the new Mecca for everything heavy. It seems to have finally gotten over that Satan business and back to rockin' in the finest order. Check Entombed, Hellacopters, Backyard Babies and now Gluecifer. Their split 10" last year almost smoked the almighty Hellacopters, who shared the platter with 'em, and now blow me and call me Dusty if this CD doesn't do just that. If you're looking for a bit more rawk in your punk rawk then look no further, chump, and bow down before Gluecifer. 9/10 (Johnson "Dusty" Cummins)
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Talvin Singh O.K. (Island/PolyGram)
At last, a proper album from the man behind London's famous Anokha nights. "Anokha" is Urdu for "unique," a virtue Singh can claim among the faceless ranks of drum & bass. His excellent tabla-based beats carry his potent concoctions of jazz, cosmo-noise and Indian classical music. Check the magnum opener "Traveller," an 11-minute triptych which flows from a burst of d&b to a quiet flute passage to a sweeping close by the Madras Philharmonic Orchestra. Recorded in London, Bombay, Japan and New York, guests include Ryuichi Sakamoto, Bill Laswell and a host of respected Indian musicians. The vibe runs from wild and fierce to funny, sexy and deeply contemplative. Of the universe or merely his navel? That's up to you, really. 9.5/10 (Rupert Bottenberg)
If you like Snapcase, Quicksand and Sparkmarker, chances are you'll dig this wacky bunch of vegan rockers. Although Earth Crisis prove to be all things heavy, they don't know when to put it into cruise control and let the dynamics take the wheel. The one thing that sets them apart from the "chuggy-chuggy" post-metal set is the political leanings of their lyrics, but if this matters little to you then you'll find nothing new here. Has anybody seen Earth Crisis and Snapcase in one room together? Hmmm? 6.5/10 (Johnson Cummins) At Salle Salaberry, Tues. Nov. 3, 8pm, $10