Various Creation Records International Guardians of Rock 'n' Roll 1983-1999 (Columbia/Sony) Apart from paying tribute to England's now-defunct Creation label, this two-CD set celebrates the U.K.'s contribution to music in the early '90s. The melodic, ringing guitars and sullen vocals of shoegazing are represented here by the likes of House of Love, Slowdive and Ride (sadly, My Bloody Valentine were snubbed due to legal problems). Tracks by the Jesus & Mary Chain, Boo Radleys and Primal Scream are highlights, save for the Scream's dreadful "Rocks," which signals a dip in quality on the second disc. Besides the Super Furry Animals and money-makers Oasis, it seems Britpop/rock was not Creation's forte, but hey, they had their day in the sun. 7/10 (Lorraine Carpenter) David Sanders and the Scrolls Galaxies & Stratospheres (independent)
Lemon Jelly Lemonjelly.ky (XL/Select)
Snoop Dogg The Last Meal (Priority/No Limit/EMI)
Various Chill House: 13 Summer Essentials (Choice) Summer's the last thing on anyone's mind right now, so it certainly wouldn't hurt to pick yourself up a copy of this CD in an effort to lift your snowed-in spirits and stave off the mental scurvy, if you will. The "Good Morning People" at Choice have compiled and mixed 13 summery, dancefloor-friendly tech-house tunes from the last few years by artists like House of 909, Dino & Terry, Chris Brann, Kevin Yost and Pete Moss, with the aim of adding a little warmth to an otherwise chilly season. Cuddle up. 8/10 (Krista)
SFT Travelcard (Sulfur/Select) I had to listen to this 10 times or so because I kept drifting off and forgetting that it was on. Every time I tuned in, a completely different style of music would be playing and it would take me a minute to ascertain that, yes, it was still the same CD playing. In the end, I had to fast-forward through it to solve the mystery: this is one house track, one downtempo track, one drum & bass track and one breaks tracks with loads of ambient bliss in between. It's like a crazy sandwich, and it's crazy good. 8.5/10 (Chris Hatherill)
Maxi On (Emperor Norton/Outside)
Various Body and Soul Vol.3 (Wave/Fusion III)
Various Nude Dimensions 2 (Naked Music) Like the liner notes say, sit back, turn up the volume, turn down the lights, and let yourself be taken away on a dreamy, velvet-lined cloud of sultry vocal-house. San-Francisco-based label Naked Music has compiled a second volume of their incredibly sexy and sought-after tunes and had them mixed together seamlessly by SF native DJ Mauricio Aviles. Having trouble letting yourself go? Then let your eyes wander over the enticing sleeve-art featuring nude ladies, created by Naked Music's designer/artist, Stuart Patterson. Mmmm... 9/10 (Krista)
BeBe Winans Love & Freedom (Motown/Universal) On his second solo release, this member of the famed Winans gospel clan takes a decidedly secular route. For the most part, this is a safe set, sticking to midtempo R&B fare, the best of which are both duets: one with sister and former partner CeCe on "Tonight, Tonight," the other with R&B staple Stephanie Mills on "Everyday." The album's strongest cut features Stevie Wonder and another Winans, Marvin, on a remake of Wonder's own stirring "Jesus Children of America." 7/10 (Gerard Dee)
Greenfield MainHunting Tips For Everyone (Kelp)
André WhiteSignal (Cornerstone/Festival) This multitalented musician has chosen drums for his debut as a leader. "Signal" is from a Jimmy Raney session that André's father and I often listened to when André was a tot. The group has the superb Ben Monder joined by two of Canada's finest, Kirk MacDonald and Neil Swainson. All play inventively on five pieces by André, including "Farnsworth," and two by MacDonald--one dedicated, I surmise, to another prominent Toronto-area tenorman. The album is a tribute to Andre's dad Keith White, one of my main mentors. 10/10 (Len Dobbin) At Upstairs on Jan. 12-13
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The prolific Melvins are back again with something old, something new, something borrowed and something to completely rip your head off. Opener and sole new track "Shit Storm," a three-minute noisefest, prepares you for the onslaught that only these three dukes of dementia could concoct. Their stab at the Wipers' "Youth of America" is stretched out for a nine-minute-long ride before they dismantle and rework their classics "Gluey Porch Treatments," "Revolve," "Tipping the Lion" and "Lovely Butterflies." Their take on Pink Floyd's "Interstellar Overdrive" is spot-on but their version of brethren band the Cows' "Missing" is simply amazing. The Melvins are God's favourite band and should be yours. 9/10 (Johnson Cummins)
Easygoin', no-frills, salt-of-the-earth road rock is what Sanders and co. deliver, falling squarely in the "classic" category. Refracting shades of blues, soul, C&W and folk, buttered up with some rich keys and constant references to "the street," both metaphorical and, uh, concrete, Galaxies & Stratospheres seems to have trucked right through a wormhole from the '70s, smelling like hash oil and hot Naugahyde. Hell, even without the snappy cover of "Powderfinger," there's no questioning the debt owed to Neil Young. But you know, this could have come off like an hour of beer-ad tunes. Worse yet, Canadian beer-ad tunes. Nope, it just sounds like a good ol' band doing good ol' rock--that stuff that Young guy said would never die. 7.5/10 (Rupert Bottenberg)
Andy Votel Styles of the Unexpected (XL/Select)
Sly and wry, these are the tempi. Here's two exercises in low-pressure lootbag beats and decidedly English snickers. The first is a lucky seven tunes from Votel, Twisted Nerve label head and friend to Lamb, Death in Vegas and Badly Drawn Boy. The Roald Dahl reference of the title is suitable, given the tricks, trapdoors and trompe-l'oreilles that Votel applies, shifting from trip hop to indie rock to loungecore and more. There's a politely presented morbid humour at work here, very Dahl as well. Lemon Jelly's laffs are a bit more upfront, and sunnier too--note the amazing pop-art, Peter Max-imized packaging of this three-E.P. roundup. Simple and infuriatingly catchy little motifs carry extended outtakes from nature specials, bedtime stories, guitar technique tapes and a relaxation routine care of the man they call Reveen. Between that and the swingin' pocketwatch on Votel's Styles, you'll be fully hyp-o-tized. Both 8.5/10 (Rupert Bottenberg)
Snoop Dogg, if anything, has become a hip hop icon who can do just about anything he wants. I say this because for the most part, his last few releases have been questionable, but sold anyway. Here comes The Last Meal, complete with the dodgy cover art and several couplings with his original partner in crime, Dr. Dre. Dre doesn't shoulder the whole weight though, with tracks from stutter-step king Timbaland, Battlecat, Studio Tone and the Roots-associated Scott Storch. Nothing new here. Same old pimp shit with Parliament/Funkadelic rip-offs throughout, bitches and hos, Hennesey 'n' buddah and all that other gangsta shit. Amazing how this same old, rehashed crap sticks in your head like a bad headache, growing on you against your will. Wesside! 7.5/10 (Scott C)
Perhaps in reaction to her not-undeserved image as the Hello Kitty of indie pop, Minekawa's latest minTakako Minekawai-album dilutes the saccharine preciousness with some bitter medicine and a salty tear or two. Exhibit A is the booby-trapped toybox "Lullaby of Gray," subverting the kindergarten kool of previous forays. Sombre blip-twang tunes "Follow My Dreams" and "Sleeping Bag" confirm this, as do the loopy echoes of Steve Reich in "Brioche." A collaboration with NYC artists Dymaxion ("Dreams" sees a visit from Cornelius), the disc also involves more rustic instrumentation then we're used to from circuit queen/Keyboard contributor Minekawa. The new voice, sadder, wiser and a bit more worldly, suits the woman well. 8/10 (Rupert Bottenberg)
Since '97, Sunday afternoons in New York haven't been the same, thanks to a weekly jaunt known throughout the world as Body and Soul. With the Paradise-Garage-inspired selections of François Kevorkian, Joe Claussell and Danny Krivit, B&S is no BS--all the more reason to collect the CD compilation series that places you on one of NYC's most turbo-charged dancefloors. Vol. 3 features two of the most critical joints of 2000, "Closer I Get" by Marie St. James and Blaze's "Elevation," as well the usual teeming brew of assorted garage house flavas: gospel, Afro-Latin and tribal. 9/10 (Peter Lightburn)
This CD is guaranteed to appeal to anyone who digs both the shades of bluegrass on the Grateful Dead's Working Man's Dead album and the humble pleasures of dressing deer carcasses. That may whittle down their fanbase a bit but this is one hell of a kick-ass record. Check out these titles that Charlton Heston wishes he wrote: "How to Select a Deer Rifle," "Bow Hunting," "Squirrel Stew" and more, all set to cascading harmonies, weeping harmonica, careening lap steel and the soft strum of an acoustic six-string. Furnaceface's Slow Tom does an competent Johnny Cash on "Great Small Game Rifle," while Carolyn Mark pulls off an excellent Emmylou Harris on "How to Bag Your Turkey." Delightfully disturbing. 8/10 (Johnson Cummins)