The Beach Boys Sunflower/Surf's Up (Capitol/EMI)
PowertripWhen We Cut We Bleed (Amsterdamned/Song)
Everclear Songs From an American Movie Vol. One: Learning How to Smile (Capitol/EMI)
Various Five Fingers of Dr. X (Triple X/Song)
Capitol Eye Mood Swingz (77 Records) When it comes to the rap-rock thing these days you really gotta come correct on so many levels. Not only does your frontman (or woman) have to be tight on the flow, but they have to be beyond original in order not to be pigeonholed even further. Capitol Eye's I-man isn't bad on the flow, but he should focus more on his delivery and either get singing lessons or stop singing altogether. As for the band, they ain't half bad at providing a rough and heavy background, but they ain't breaking new ground either. Reasonably listenable, Capitol Eye's next album will determine whether they'll stick around or go the way of All-4-One. Remember them? Didn't think so. 6/10 (Lateef Martin)
Mean Red SpidersStarsandsons (Teenage USA)
Canibus 2000 B.C. (Universal) A lot of people's ears pricked up in 1998 when Canibus decided to take on L.L. Cool J in "2nd Round Knockout," one of the best battles on record that heads had heard in a long time. He held his own, or whipped L.L.'s ass, depending on who you talk to, and introduced the ideal young, hungry MC once again. Here, I introduce the young, hungry MC and his weak new record 2000 B.C. Canibus can rhyme, we know that. This is his second album, but it sounds like the same sad fate as his debut: rhymes galore, beats for the door. Even I know that "young and hungry" takes on new meaning after a record like this. 6.5/10 (Scott C)
Quasimoto The Unseen (Stones Throw/Nu Gruv Alliance) This is the kind of record that makes hip hop purists scratch their heads, backpackers confused about why it's so dope, and producers everywhere slightly change the way they might be approaching their songs. Quasimoto and Madlib (oddly enough the same person) take you on a journey that has no real beginning or end, but all kinds of in-between. Madlib pays close attention to the power of record-digging on "Return of the Loop Digga" and "Jazz Cats pt. 1," and gets away with a simple, ill-delivered, deadpan of a flow. This is peppered, of course, by Quasimoto's high-pitched perspective, and their symbiotic back-and-forth. Twisted butta. 8.5/10 (Scott C)
Reno Disco Rare Tracks and Remixes (Haute Couture) Montreal's mysterious man of many monikers, Marc Leclair (aka Mark O.D., Noiz, Slack-R, Akufen etc.) is like electronic music's answer to a superhero with many disguises. For this latest release on local label Haute Couture, Marc has donned his house music suit and set out to whip a few crunchy beats and B-movie samples into shape. Rare Tracks and Remixes contains eight previously unreleased Reno Disco creations (or recreations, as in remixes for le Max and les Jardiniers) of funky and filtery, yet smooth and silky, disco-tinged house. Less is always more, and Reno Disco delivers just enough of nothing too predictable. 8.5/10 (Krista)
Various Cafe Del Mar Volumen Siete (Mercury Records) Bust out the coconut oil, fire up that fatty and bounce to the nearest beach with your boombox, sexy beachbunnies, 'cause the seventh edition of this laaaaid-back bongos 'n' trip hop 'n' chill-out comp series, named after the famed Ibiza club, is here and it wants you to relax and get a tan. Lux's and Afterlife's tracks are diggable and Moby drops in sounding delightfully Air-like with "Whispering Wind," but then Bush barges in and ruins it all with a wave of lyrics so cheesy on "Letting the Cables Sleep (The N.O.W Remix)," you wanna cut the chill-party short ("Whatever you do, it's all good..."). Similarly embarrassing lyrics follow and the music melts into grating mediocrity nearing the end, until you notice you've all but lost your beach boner... bummer! 6/10 (Genevieve Paiement)
Kina self-titled (Universal) Anyone expecting the debut disc by ex-Brownstone member Kina Cosper to be anything like the silky-smooth R&B that that group delivered is in for a rude awakening. From the first track (and lead single) "Girl From the Gutter," Kina establishes two things: she's a rocker and she ain't happy. The vengeful lead single, and other tracks like "Loser" and "Hurt So Bad," allow Kina to vent her frustration over men and failed relationships, while entertaining listeners with her urgently clear vocals and deep rock sensibilities. No classic, but it does have its moments. 7/10 (Gerard Dee)
Various Jeff Wayne's The War of the Worlds: UlladubUlla the Remix Album (Sony)
Evidence Live àla Casa (Ambiences Magnetiques) Eighteen years after his death, here's volume two of the music of Thelonious Monk as played by this trio, consisting of Jean Derome on alto sax, Pierre Cartier on electric bass and Pierre Tanguay on drums. Recorded live in January and June of last year at the now-defunct La Casa Obscura, a comfortable art space on Rachel E. Lovingly played, cutting-edge looks at the Monk oeuvre, eight tracks ranging from the well-known "Straight, No Chaser" to the more obscure "Sixteen" and "Raise Four." Merci! 9.5/10 (Len Dobbin)
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Although imported from Germany, you can consider this comp a domestic release--"domestic" in the sense that it's intended specifically for the home entertainment system. At the same time, compiler DJ Oli Roesch, previously responsible for the Slo Mo and Future Lounge anthologies on the same label, isn't out to hang ambient wallpaper in your listening space. As the vibe bounces between tuneful downtempo, percolating Latin lounge jams and low-impact aerobica, it's clear that each of these 13 very noticeable tracks was selected with utmost fussiness. Sure, the idea of "music for your stylish pad" has been around since the dawn of stereo technology, but with tunes like the Deadbeats' "Got It Goin' On," Groove Armada's "At the River" and Sebastien Schuller's amazing "La Baie des Anges," this comp proves it's a cow worth milking some more. 8.5/10 (Rupert Bottenberg)
Cheers to Capitol for re-releasing the heretofore hard-to-locate post-Pet Sounds Beach Boys. Specifically, we're talking the albums on their own Brother label, which came into being in 1970 and marked the commercially barren but creatively fertile stage of their history. The first disc here contains both the wonderful, inaugural Sunflower (featuring boss tracks like "This Whole World") and its weirder successor Surf's Up--both rife with great harmonies, clever arrangements and Brian Wilson's cottonheaded nice vibes. Brian was at home in bed by the time the live disc was recorded, so In Concert's really Mike Love's show. It's got a good energy to it, but shows the restructured Boys as little more than a well-meaning cover band of themselves. Sunflower 8.5/10, In Concert 7/10 (Rupert Bottenberg)
Legendary L.A. rocker Jeff Dahl (Vox Pop, Angry Samoans) has collected all of his '80s work with his band Powertrip and all the 19 tracks here are brimming with the best of glammy punk. By combining a Jabbers-era G.G. Allin, Raw Power-era Iggy, the Viletones, Dead Boys and the New York Dolls, Dahl's rock 'n' roll cocktail is the perfection of sleaze. With songs of this calibre it's no wonder that traces of Dahl's songs can be heard in everything from D Genereration to Guns n' Roses. Motoerhead, Iggy Pop and Dead Boys covers are a nice treat but his originals show that Powertrip were way ahead of their time. 8/10 (Johnson Cummins)
I love to hate Everclear, and it probably comes down to the fact that the outfit is run by a guy named Art who's just so damned art-less. Okay, maybe it's also about a feeling that ol' Art Alexakis is a lot like me, a prototypical post-boomer who can't stop mourning his loss of innocence ("Wonderful"). I like to tuck mine into my breast pocket, but Art insists on wearing his on his sleeve--a sleeve that just can't cover a ham fist. Please, someone write an ode to '70s Top 40 befitting of the subject, as opposed to "AM Radio." Or else I'll have to, and then you'll know from artless. 4/10 (Chris Yurkiw)
Despite the hideous Heavy Metal Magazine artwork adorning this compilation, this is light years ahead of that offensive MTV Return of Rock comp currently wasting CD-store shelf space. Streetwalking Cheetah's drivin' punk sound is actually one-upped from their amazing debut split with the Belrays. The Gaza Strippers are as snotty as ever and ex-Adolescents ADZ know how to butter their bread with a (surprise) stripped-down rock 'n' roll sound. The Black Halos are still sounding like Stiv Bators with a head cold, but the real winners here are Montreal's own Tricky Woo. Guaranteed to divide their audience with their new Band of Gypsies sound, these four '70s-tinged blasters show the most growth in the rock 'n' roll underground today. 7/10 (Johnson Cummins)
Some of those still waiting for the endlessly awaited next My Bloody Valentine album might take consolation in the existence of a group like T.O.'s Mean Red Spiders, who are smitten with the sound of MBV circa Isn't Anything. But taking consolation in their music is something else. While it's nice to know that the Valentines have their faithful, they're a group that's impossible to imitate, and so flattery will get you nowhere. It might also have to do with the fact that as much as Spiders vocalist Lisa Nighswander sighs her best Bilinda Butcher, the band only begins to approach overglide on the last song of their second LP. Too little, and many years too late. 6/10 (Chris Yurkiw)
Here's a little sci-fi dyspepsia that H.G. Wells is lucky he died and didn't see. If you'll recall Wayne's odious synthorchestral rock opera version of the oft-reused Wells classic, with Richard Burton as "the Journalist" enunciating foolishness about "man's last hope" over corny prog riffs, you'll recall what an embarrassment it was. Now imagine this: the same material, only remixed for maximum awkwardness by an assortment of soulless Euro-trance types, like Dario G, Todd Terry and N Trance. Even the often-amazing Apollo 440 can't save this utter dud. A really bad decision, compounded by another. 1/10 (Rupert Bottenberg)