|
Les Rythmes Digitales Darkdancer (Wall of Sound/Astralwerks/Virgin)
Bauhaus Gotham (Metropolis) What better way to welcome darkness into your fold than a double live CD taken from a Bauhaus performance--excuse me the Bauhaus performance--in New York. After 15 years of cobwebs, the boys dust off their instruments and get back into the groove without missing a beat. I laid back and listened while reading Frank Miller and David Mazucelli's Batman: Year One (if you don't have it don't even talk to me) with The Dark Knight Returns on standby. So now I ask: when are we gonna hear some new stuff? 9/10 (Lateef Martin)
Various Artists The Best Man Soundtrack(Sony) The Best Man boasts a stellar line-up of talent that actually delivers music that suits the film it scores. The first solo offering by Xscape's Latocha Scott ("Liar, Liar") is a funky, finger-pointing session; Lauryn Hill duets with a Bob Marley fresh from the grave ("Turn Down the Lights"); and Meshell Ndegeocello turns a coy performance with a track titled "Untitled." But the disc truly belongs to the soul men: Maxwell, Eric Benet and Kenny Lattimore are among the dudes that make this soundtrack's title a real toss-up. 8/10 (Gerard Dee)
The Orange County Supertones Chase the Sun (BEC records) Jars of Clay If I left the Zoo (Essential) Who spiked the holy water? Not since Styper came on like a leather bumblebee (circa 1988) has Christian rock been so determined to get troubled teens off the junk and into church. The bible-thumpin' Supertones' super-mediocre ska-core will probably win God some new followers (sample lyric: "Through Christ we are bound to win" in "Hallelujah"). That being said, eternal damnation would be a pleasant alternative to sitting through the Jars of Clay's latest FM-bound atrocity, If I Left the Zoo. Shhh, listen! The Sunday School mosh pit is rearing its divine head! Supertones 3/10; Jars 1/10 (Adam Gollner)
Veal Tilt o' Wheel (Square Dog) Produced by Michael Phillip Wojewoda (Barenaked Ladies, the Rheostatics) it seems like these pretty boys are really on the brink of making it big. Sounding like the West Coast's answer to Newfoundland's Fur Packed Action, Veal's brand of jangly-quirky pop has all the same XTC references that radio pig Tal Bachman likes. Only Veal tend to deliver it with a tad more glee than anyone else. These Vancouverites definitely have their eyes on the prize and their hands on the radio dial, but what's holding them back from global domination is their uncanny habit of somehow encompassing everything crappy about Cancon rock. See Treble Charger, the Watchmen, etc. 5.5/10 (Johnson Cummins)
Roy Patterson On a Cloud (Unity/Page Music) Guitarist Patterson with Brian Dickinson, Jim Vivian and Ted Warren--the same quartet that won the Jazz Festival's Concours a couple of years back--is joined on selected cuts by one of the finest young musicians currently on the scene, trumpeter Ingrid Jensen, on a winning combination of standards like "Blame It On My Youth" and six of the leader's originals. 9/10 (Len Dobbin)
|
I love LRD's fake-Frenchie Jacques LeCont. Because he started out in that downtempo-cum-big beat kinda way, and then took a leftie into '80s grooves, just when everyone was mounting the Fatboy train. And I'm not talking cool, smooth buttah grooves, more like stuff straight outta the Athena poster shop, midday MTV in the Kajagoogoo years, and the second half of Boogie Nights. Bad '80s stuff. But he does it well, he gets away with it, and if those cheesoid Cameo-esque synth stabs are too much for you, his old-school Chi-housey "Jacques Your Body," the vocoder-mad "Disco: to Disco" and fabulously strummy hit "Music Makes You Lose Control" are on here too. Magnifique! 8.5/10 (Mireille Silcott)