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Mike Ness Cheating at Solitaire (Time Bomb/BMG) Social Distortion lead poser Mike Ness goes back to the roots and even pays tribute to Johnny Cash ("Long Black Veil"), Hank Williams ("You Win Again") and Bob Dylan ("Don't Think Twice"), but can his own songs compare to these master storytellers? Although I wouldn't question his genuine love for the outlaw music that was around long before punk, with such glossy production he just comes across as Dwight Yokam with a sore throat. Despite heavyweight guest appearances by Bruce Springsteen and Billy Zoom, this sounds pretty much like the last Social Distortion album with the occasional sax solo thrown in. 6/10 (Johnson Cummins)
Various Nordic Trax Presents Necessary Pieces (Nordic Trax/Outside) Yet one more reason to start tending the grass in your own back-yard instead of checking out how green it seems to be everywhere else. Necessary Pieces comes to us direct from our very own Vancouver and contains 100 per cent Canadian talent. Although there is no Montreal representation featured, this comp contains some serious deep, spacey and bumpin' house tunes produced by exceptional artists like Toronto's Dino and Terry, Vancouver's Sea to Sky and Calgary's Peter Hecher. 8/10 (Krista)
Red Snapper Making Bones (Matador/FAB) Who said electronica is all machines and no soul? Red Snapper would like to set you straight. Back in '93, drummer Richard Thair, guitarist David Ayers and double-bassist Ali Friend got bored of all the masturbatory music and decided to make some dancefloor downtempo, which they now refer to as "fuck-off jazz." Making Bones is their second full length; a weird funk excursion created through live instrumentation married with machines. 7.5/10 (Krista)
Nightmares on Wax Carboot Soul (Matador/FAB) Producer George Evelyn explains that the name Carboot Soul refers to going around to garage sales and buying records out of the "boots," or trunks, of old cars. The lone wolf responsible for Smoker's Delight returns with another page in the art of the hip hop instrumental, using a live band to fill out his chilled-soul. Although pretty stoned out, this record is a lush piece of laidback production for those who need a break from lyrics. 8.5/10 (Scott C)
Michael Ray and the Cosmic Krewe Funk if I Know (Monkey Hill)
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I get it. One-time Sun Ra/Kool & the Gang associate Ray starts each track out with the most embarrassing, limpwristed game show jazzy-funk premise, and then slowly lets it evolve into beautiful, chaotic cosmo-jazz freakout, with abstract blocks of sound dovetailing wonderfully into one another. I guess by oscillating rapidly between the sublime and the ridiculous, Ray intends to disrupt the molecular structure of reality and open an astral gateway to another dimension full of stars and colours and floating Egyptian eyes and stuff. Our prayers are with you, Michael. 6.5/10 (Rupert Bottenberg)