Ricky Martin Sound Loaded (Columbia/Sony)
Raw Power Trust Me (No Brain)
Linkin Park Hybryd Theory (Warner) I was in HMV the other week and I heard this track I liked off the Little Nicky soundtrack, by a group called Linkin Park. It was entitled "Points of Authority," and I got to thinking, well, hell, the album's gotta be good. Not so--it's hit-and-miss rap/rock with bits of drum & bass and techno thrown in for good measure. Yes, there are moments where you can hear their potential shine through the clichés and ultra-awful pop vocal hooks, and the dynamic of two lead vocalists (one who raps and one who sings) is kinda cool, but then I had the misfortune of seeing one of their videos. Let's just say their future don't look pretty. 5/10 (Lateef Martin)
Wu Tang Clan The W (Loud/Columbia) Wu-weee! Hip hop's first family has come a long way since the release of "Protect Ya Neck" way back in the good ol' '90s, with two complete albums and solo joints for almost everybody in the crew. The W is album number 3, and although the boys from Staten Island have enjoyed every possible ounce of success, I have to say that the well just may have run dry. This record is definitely a step backward, a devolution from the polished beats and rhymes we hear everywhere else, but a far cry from the rawness that personifies the Wu. Entirely RZA-produced save one track, this is a contrived, tiresome and often silly insult to people who may have idolized these guys at some point. Did I mention Busta Rhymes, Nas, Junior Reed, Redman, Snoop and Issac Hayes guest? Wu-wee... 6.5/10 (Scott C)
Company Flow DPA (As Seen on TV) 12" (Def Jux/Fat Beats) Uh oh. Company Flow has come back once again to flip this whole shit on its ear. With blatant disregard for any other sounds out there, Mr. Len and El-P have returned with the closest thing in hip hop to organized confusion that I can put my finger on (save some Big Dada stuff). El-P is relentless, producing tracks like the full-on nutso "DPA," and the equally crazy b-sides "Simian D" (featuring Non-Phixion's Ill Bill) and "Simple." El-P and Bill trading lyrics feels like something that should take place a little more often, while Mr. Len scratches his way from the backseat to the driver's seat with style. This is their first release on their new label Def Jux, where they chill with pals Mr. Lif and soon-to-be- released Cannibal Ox. Backpacker paradise with a cherry on top. 7.5/10 (Scott C)
Various Plastic Volume 4 (Nettwerk) Welcome to the sound of the new pop music. The sound that sells you your cars, your beer, your lifestyle. Drums? Guitars? Who needs 'em? Epic, soundtrack-inspired trance is the wave of the future, and to create tomorrow's hip beat you need only a sampler-sequencer and a little imagination. Take your cue from electronic music's Fortune 500 set--producers like BT, Sasha, the Chemical Brothers and Paul Van Dyk, all of whom are featured on the latest (aptly named) Plastic compilation. 7/10 (Krista)
Jeff Mills Metropolis (Tresor/Fusion III) The last person to attempt rescoring a soundtrack for Fritz Lang's grim 1926 depiction of a futuristic megacity was disco superstar, Grammy and Oscar winner Giorgio Moroder, whose repertoire included hits for Donna Summer and Blondie. He was praised for composing a work that accompanied the film better than its original music. Now techno god/egomaniac Jeff Mills has composed his own interpretation--a difficult, noisy, Detroit-esque soundscape, greyer than the film itself. Not the easiest thing to listen to, but then there's no Freddie Mercury in there. 7.5/10 (Krista)
Sade Lovers Rock (Sony)
Bourbon Tabernacle Choir 1985-1995 (Tycoon/Sony)
Robert Johnson and the Punchdrunks Fried on the Altar of Good Taste (Silence/Fusion III) The reverb-drenched twang on these Swedes' last effort, Feels Like Buzz Aldrin, still has me reeling. On Fried the Punchdrunks continue with the Link Wray-isms but combine it with bongos, maracas and even synths. Their reworking of John Barry's "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" and Henry "the Man" Mancini's "Arabesque" and "Something for Sophia Loren" would've tickled both of these composers pink. They even have the balls to take a stab at John Carpenter's Escape From New York theme and pass with flying colours. The Joe-Meek-style production is a real added bonus. Definitely not just another surf band. 8/10 (Johnson Cummins)
Elysian FieldsQueen of the Meadow (Jetset Records)
The LotharsOscillate My Metallic Sonatas (Wobbly Music)
Jim Hall Grand Slam (Telarc/Universal) Four of the outstanding players in jazz today, captured live at the Regattabar in Cambridge, Mass. in January of this year. The guitarist has put together a well-knit foursome with Joe Lovano heard on alto clarinet as well as tenor, alto and soprano saxophones, George Mraz on bass and first-call drummer Lewis Nash. They are in top form on seven originals, three by Lovano including "Blackwell's Message," dedicated to the late drummer, and four by the leader with the delightful "Say Hello to Calypso" a standout. 10/10 (Len Dobbin)
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Erykah Badu effortlessly carries on the tradition passed down by musical originals like Stevie Wonder, Prince and Chaka Khan. Like them, Badu is both familiar and unique. Her sources of inspiration are diverse--like poet Maya Angelou's "Phenomenal Woman," Badu's "Cleva" pays tribute to women who successfully rely on common sense over physical beauty, while "Green Eyes" morphs into three songs, the first of which finds Badu sounding all Ella-like over a scratchy old record sound. In an urban landscape obsessed with the lowest common mentality, Badu refuses to comply. In "... & On," she acknowledges her critics--"What good do your words do/if they can't understand you/don't go talkin' that shit Badu." But you know she will, 'cause mama's got a brand new gun. 9.5/10 (Gerard Dee)
What gives good Latin music its pulse is the exact balance of rambunctious energy and the confident handling of complex rhythms and patterns. See, now, Ricky's crimped those complexities, reduced them for the lowest global denominator, without diluting the abrasive zest. Jeans-ad mall rockers like lead single "She Bangs" (one of three tracks repeated in Spanish) bristle with excessive vigour, initiating a dull, irritating throb in the temples and sinuses. The frequent feeble, insincere ballads offer little respite. Look, all told I'd take this over Phil Collins, N'Sync or Tom Cochrane any day, but what the hell kind of choice is that? 5/10 (Rupert Bottenberg)
My God, these guys are still around?! Well, nothing much has changed since '81 for these Italian hardcore veterans. The metal/hardcore crossover sound that they helped invent, along with DRI, COC, CIA and SOD, is still galloping along like a fiery steed. Raw Power make no bones about what era of hardcore they're from throughout but actually tip their caps to Minor Threat ("What Can We Do?"), Circle Jerks ("Behind the Door") and Dead Kennedys ("Don't Blame Me"). Nothing new here--crowd chant choruses, tasty metal leads, thrash beats and hardcore screams--but they still manage to beat the NYC hardcore scene at its own game. 7/10 (Johnson Cummins)
It's been eight long years since Nigerian-born Helen Folasade Adu and her band honoured us with their elegant presence. The musical landscape has changed, but Sade's jazzy urban style is as exuberant and satisfying as ever, nowhere more so than on the title track. And there has been evolution. "By Your Side," a folksy departure, exemplifies musical growth. Two tracks, "Slave Song" and "Immigrant," add a higher social consciousness to the band's insights on human relations. Lovers do rock, so does Sade. 9/10 (Gerard Dee)
The titular decade saw Canadian university jazz departments churn out earnest but uninspired funk-jam big bands like crazy, if perhaps only to offer contrast for the sublime, T.O.-based rock 'n' soul revue BTC. Chops were displayed without self-consciousness and their grooves swayed graciously, stumbling serenely through the songs' grand, dilapidated glory. Touching stuff, really--be nice to see them on the cross-Can van plan again, just once. Hey, if the Guess Who can do it, so can BTO. I mean BTC. 8/10 (Rupert Bottenberg) BTC alumni Chris Brown & Kate Fenner join the Tragically Hip at the Molson Centre on Thurs., Dec. 7
Considering its vaguely cheeseball packaging and song titles like "Black Acres" and "Hearts Are Open Graves," you'd think this album would be a favourite with the Sphinx-going, cape-wearing set. But no. With jazz-influenced torch songs dominated by the soft Beth-Orton-meets-Nina-Persson vocals of Jennifer Charles, the second release by this New York band only approaches that tortured cesspool with its darker-than-thou lyrics. Featuring very subdued guitar, a small pack of classic keyboards (mini-Moog, Hammond, Wurlitzer), the occasional glass harmonica and light strings, you quickly get the crusty-jazz-bar-backing-band feel. And while it's not bad, it may cause drowsiness. 6.5/10 (Lorraine Carpenter)
Everybody loves theremins, right? Those odd old contraptions that sing the body electric with a wave of the hand? C'mon, a little "woo-ee-oo" to give that Jon Spencer or Pixies tune some saucer-man je ne sais quoi. Now here's an (almost) all-theremin band to up the ante on the musical motion detector. "Deep" enough to reflect the instrument's roots in early-century electronic experimentalism and pained enough to relect its inventor's tragic fate (that's another story), Oscillate nevertheless comes off like a friendlier version of the terrifying tonescapes on Louis & Bebe Barron's seminal Forbidden Planet soundtrack. If that helps. Woo-ee-oo! 8.5/10 (Rupert Bottenberg)