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Os Mutantes The Best of... (Luaka Bop/Warner)
2 Lone Swordsmen Stay Down (Warp/Matador/FAB) Once again, Mr. Weatherall and Mr. Tennison have concocted a lovely collection of wacky electronica. Recorded at a golf club and having as its theme something to do with water, Stay Down is almost certainly the result of many a night of drinking. Tracks like "Spine Bubbles," "Sticky" and "Alpha School" had me feeling as though I were a passenger on a cartoon submarine making its way through uncharted waters to a lost city. 8/10 (Krista)
Seppuku The Awesome Houses of Earth's Innocents... (Spectra Sonic Sound)
Heather McLeod With Head in the Clouds Graffiti Love Song (BellaMuse) McLeod diverges from her previous album Funny Thing by adding a more Latin-flavoured beat to the recording with the help of Joe Armando and Picante, leading to a less sugary feel than before. Whether singing about new love affairs or love lost, Ms. McLeod's songs are entirely enjoyable, non-threatening and, hey, go down well with a cup of herbal tea. 7/10 (Michel Thibodeau) CD launch at Bobards, Tues., June 29, 7pm, $5
Charlie Haden Liberation Music Orchestra (Verve/Universal) This is the fifth of the concerts Haden recorded here in 1989 to be released as "the Montreal Tapes." This one took place July 8th and is only the fourth release by the Orchestra. The 12 musicians heard here are Tom Harrell, Stanton Davis, Ken McIntyre, Ernie Watts, Joe Lovano, Ray Anderson, Sharon Freeman, Joe Daley, Mike Goodrick, Geri Allen, Haden and Paul Motian. "We Shall Overcome" is worth the price of admission. Heady stuff! 9.5/10 (Len Dobbin)
702 Self-titled (Universal/MCA) The trio that hit the airwaves with "Steelo" a couple years back return with an equally infectious sophomore set. Building on the already popular "Where My Girls At," the album uses staccato, layered beats underneath triple-part harmony to achieve the most contemporary of sounds. Mind you, nothing these girls deliver is different, or even original. But as tracks like "What More Can He Do" and "Seven" prove, good pop music doesn't always have to be groundbreaking to be enjoyable. 7/10 (Gerard Dee)
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It kills me to picture turtleneck titan David Byrne "researching" his new "World Psychedelic Classics" series. "This is not my beautiful house," he mumbles to himself as the cypher brings the fatty back his way. Still, can't fault the guy for championing these all-but-lost Brazilian troublemakers, friends of Gilberto Gil and Caetano Veloso in their pre-exile days and signifiers for the likes of Red Kross and Stereolab. Pot fumes and pop hooks, sambas and sarcasm and all kinds of freaky electronic sound warping that was far ahead of its time (c. '68-'71). Os Mutantes' blacklight euphorica, while irrevocably Brazilian, was about being more worldly--or even otherworldly--than just that. 8/10 (Rupert Bottenberg)
Ottawa's Seppuku is the brainchild of chief composer Mark Molnar and manages the unlikely feat of being a Canada Council poster child while managing to remain accessible. Molnar's improvised minimal soundscapes utilize both repetition and free music, all the while keeping destinations dark and obscured. His use of electroacoustics in the haunting "Water Glass Philum" gives a very lyrical feel that really shows off his talent for composition and feel. The ambient mic technique of the recordings envelops the listener, at times even harkening back to Ry Cooder's excellent Paris, Texas soundtrack. The power of instrumental music without the high-brow pretentions. 8.5/10 (Johnson Cummins)