Gang Starr Full Clip: A Decade of Gang Starr (Noo Trybe/Virgin)
Mortician Chainsaw Dismemberment (Relapse/St. Clair)
I Mother Earth Blue Green Orange (Mercury/Universal)
Daniel Brodsky All Quiet in Gallatin (Handout) Granted, the term "jazzy piano pop" sounds potentially disastrous, and New Yorker Brodsky knows it. He also knows it can work, as it did for Joe Jackson, Ben Folds and even the Vince Guaraldi Trio, whose theme music for those Peanuts cartoons still clicks for some of us. In fact, the songs on this disc could be themes for Charlie Brown growing up, going to college, falling in and out of love and pondering his future. Smart lyrics, class tunes, lotsa horns and strings; not cheesy, but easy--on the ears. 7/10 (Rupert Bottenberg)
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"Longevity and hip hop. Far too often this combination has proven itself a formation of words that don't fit." The first line of the liner notes spells doom for the many names in the game who haven't stood the test of time. Stacking classic after classic in all its double-CD splendor, Full Clip is still missing a shitload of Gang Starr gems, but that's because there are just so many. "Ex Girl to the Next Girl," "Just to Get a Rep," "Who's Gonna Take the Weight?," "DWYCK" and all kinds of other tracks show why Guru and Primo have lasted so long. Ruff Ryders take note: this is a hip hop history lesson and a half, proving the standard was set many moons ago. 10/10 (Scott C)
Holy mack, this cover is out of control. A girl tied to a post, screaming in agony, left to die after her leg has just been chainsawed off. Do not file this one under "cuddlecore." Twenty-eight blasts of excruciating grindcore with more horror movie samples and bowel-emptying "vocals" than you can shake a stick at. Mortician, whose average age is probably on the wrong side of 30, still manage to write ditties like "Silent Night, Bloody Night," "Mauled Beyond Recognition," "Island of the Dead" and "Drowned in Your Own Blood" without one smidgen of irony. Could be one of the most brutal records Relapse has ever released. 8/10 (Johnson Cummins)
A glance at the disembodied head of some cyborg-proletarian on the cover of I Mother Earth's third album might lead you to think that the departure of poster-boy singer Edwin has given the latter-day prog band a more playful vibe. But appearances can be deceiving--like when the group's first label tried to present them as "alternative" back in 1993--and prog rock isn't known for its sense of humour. One song, "Blacksox," approaches the sound of a knowing prog band, Trans Am. Unironic, however, still isn't funny. 5/10 (Chris Yurkiw)