Mold Glutton for Punishment (independent)
Various At Home With the Groovebox (Grand Royal/Outside)
Soulpreacher Sonic Witchcraft (Man's Ruin/Outside) Fans of Melvins, Sleep and High on Fire are going to drop a load when they hear this slow, doom-ridden, detuned sludge attack that makes even the almighty Sabbath sound like a band of jolly Brits. Like Bongzilla, the sound is kept current with death metal vocals but Soulpreacher's ballast remains devastatingly heavy. Not really for the attention-deficit set, as most tunes average the seven-minute mark, but if you're hooked up with the chronic bud and don't mind staring at your ceiling fan for 40 minutes, who cares. 8.5/10 (Johnson Cummins)
Badly Drawn Boy The Hour of Bewilderbeast (XL/Beggar's Banquet)
Various MTV's The Return of Rock (Attic/Song)
Live Humanelefish jellyphant (Matador/FAB)
Jurassic Five Quality Control (Universal)
Adam Freeland Tectonics (Ultra/Koch) Never say never. I certainly didn't think it was possible to mix elements of funky breaks, trance and drum & bass and not have it sound incredibly pretentious and annoying, but U.S. DJ Adam Freeland has me eating my words. Freeland regularly rocks raves worldwide using three turntables, samplers and effects units to create a whole "next level" dancefloor experience with a musical twist, and on Tectonics he's selected and mixed 13 tracks of palatable, progressive, futuristic breakbeat from names like Tsunami, BT and Layo & Bushwacka. 8/10 (Krista)
Various House Not House: Groove Anthology (Indigo/Fusion III) Better engineered than an Audi TT and more colourful than a Klimt original, this ueber-frisch compilation epitomizes the stereotypical German penchant for well thought-out structures and fantastically cool music. The latest school of Deutscher house DJ/producer types are shaking off the rigid minimal sound in favour of a sunnier "afternoon picnic in the Bavarian forest with lots of Riesling and fine cheeses" feel. Compiled and mixed by Ingo Saenger, House Not House contains some of the finest house music around from artists like Beanfield, DJ Deep and Jovonn and ex-Montrealer Bougie Soliterre. Wunderbar. 9/10 (Krista)
Up, Bustle & Out Rebel Radio Master Sessions Vol. 1 (Ninja Tune/Outside)
Assar Santana Ironia (Disques Nuits D'Afrique) Ahh, renowned floral arranger Assar Santana (Carlos' sister?) is a twist of sobriety in a mad, drunk world. Ironia conjures visons of two royal toucans kissing in the foliage, their phosphorescent plumage adorned with the colourful music of the Amazon. Nigh! A delicate burst of vermillion! Or mayhaps a burning sirocco blowing airy rhythms from the jungle? Hot lava coated in cough syrup. This release does indeed bear the "Assarian" signature... 7/10 (Adam Gollner) At Kola Note on Tues., July 18
Kelly Price Mirror Mirror (Universal) With the exception of the positive "Good Love," the sexy "Like You Do" (featuring Method Man) and two inspirational tracks, including the stellar "I Know Who Holds Tomorrow," R&B powerhouse vocalist Kelly Price's latest is pure drama. There's triflin' drama (the R. Kelly-penned "At Least the Little Things"), infidelity drama ("Married Man"), love triangle drama ("All I Want Is You" featuring Gerald Levert and K-Ci), betrayal drama ("She Wants You"), and more cheatin' drama (the excellent cover of Shirley Murdock's "As We Lay"). Jerry Springer would have a field day. 8/10 (Gerard Dee)
Don Byron Romance With the Unseen (Blue Note/EMI) A marvellously musical and accessible quartet session led by clarinetist Byron with Bill Frisell on guitar, Jack DeJohnette on drums and Drew Grass, a much-in-demand bassist who's comfortable in almost any setting. The music, 10 tracks in all, is from the pens of Lennon-McCartney, Duke Ellington, Herbie Hancock, Juan Tizol and Byron himself. Nothing rowdy but nary a dull moment! 9/10 (Len Dobbin)
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The wait for a proper full-length CD from local oud-meister Sam Shalabi and his comrades (avant-garde fixture Alexandre St-Onge, landlocked surf rat Anthony Seck and numerous drop-ins) has been absurdly long, so it's only appropriate that said disc, which has finally arrived, be absurdly long as well--over two hours, in fact. Cool thing is, not a moment seems wasted. Shalabi's less band leader than focal element, with his incisive lute-plucking running threadlike through these otherworldly, psychedelic neuroscapes. It's not unfair to call this space-rock minus any overtly rock elements, particularly given the nebular imagery adorning the jacket. Ideal listening arrangement: out in the country somewhere, flat on one's back, staring up at the billions and billions and billions of stars. Pretty effective stuff. 10/10 (Rupert Bottenberg)
Here's the gimmick: whittle down a hit list of suitable musicians, send them each a Groovebox (a low-tech junior noise kit fulla 808 beats, 303 bass, beeps, burps and birdcalls) and compile the resulting shenanigans. It's a GR joint, so the invites went out to Beastie signees Bis and Buffalo Daughter, friends like Beck, Sonic Youth, Air and of course Money Mark, and electro-pop pioneers like Perrey, Kingsley and the unfortunately named Dick Hyman. The rules stipulated that only the 'box, vox and maybe F/X could be used here, and in all cases were used well. Nothing classic, mind you, just good, clean, romper room fun. 8.5/10 (Rupert Bottenberg)
Like its cover, this album attempts to organize random artefacts into some semblance of an attractive whole. Also like its cover, this technique doesn't exactly work. The recipe here seems to be dippy folk à la Simon and Garfunkel, radio-friendly '70s pop-rock, '90s lo-fi and some Lennon and Beck for good measure. Occasionally you're thrown a jolt by something resembling French pop or Cornershop, but the shock subsides once you're into the next depressive acoustic number. Despite a few definite standout tunes, this disc is a bit of a mess. Next time, choose bolder colours and don't use the whole palette, Boy. 6/10 (Lorraine Carpenter)
What?! No Limp Bizkit?! This here comp is a who's-who of who's kickin' butt in rock these days, or rather what MTV thinks is good rock. There are some decent picks, from the ever-evolving Incubus, with their rapid fire drum & bassy "Pardon Me," to the crunching Sevendust, Kittie, Korn, System of a Down and Staind. Then there are groups on here that won't see it to next year, like Dope and Kid Rock (actually, and quite unfortunately, Kid Rock might be around for a while). But what of Deftones and Rage Against the Machine? I guess MTV will throw 'em on the next comp. Maybe. 6.5/10 (Lateef Martin)
A lot of people kind of balk at the idea of a live band playing with a DJ in the year 2000. It was, of course, about five years ago when everybody and their mother had a DJ playing with their band. It's not entirely easy to dismiss Live Human though, because these guys are coming from a free jazz point of view, with a hip hop instrumental foundation. DJ Quest, Albert Mathias and Andrew Kushin drew from live studio improvisations for all the material featured on the new album and later messed with overdubs and studio wizardry to get the finished product. Don't roll your eyes right away. 7.5/10 (Scott C)
I talked to this kid the other day who was about to pee his pants over the new J5 record. And it's not just this guy--a lot of people seem to gravitate towards the choral flows of these L.A. hip hop brothers. Four MCs and two DJs combine to harken back to a time when hip hop was a little more fun altogether, not to mention beats that perfectly complement their old-school style. My only complaint is having all of the four MCs rapping in unison on almost every track, a point that taxes my brain after a while. Quality Control gets points for originality though, and not the kind that borders on gimmick to hold it all together. These guys should be around for a while. 8/10 (Scott C)
Is there some musician's discount on flights to Cuba that I don't know about? Not that Rupert "Senor Roody" Mould is a fish out of water; his UB&O project has brought rather politicized sonic scrapbooks back from scenic locales before, generally with applaudable results. In fact, this trip was on an invite, following the band's disc commemorating Che Guevara, and they hooked up with leading Cuban flautist Richard Eguees among others. Interspersing trad Cuban tunes with weathered Bristolian beats and soundbites from Cuba's Radio Rebelde itself (the "soft weapon," founded by Che himself). There's more to the story here, and the curious can get the lowdown in The Rebel Radio Diary, Mould's book documenting the process--Ninja Tune's first foray into the world of print. 8/10 (Rupert Bottenberg)