Mudhoney Here Comes Sickness (Fuel/True North)
Drums & Tuba Vinyl Killer (Righteous Babe/Festival) Ani DiFranco's label can't seem to do wrong. Despite the self-explanatory tag, and a history of playing with brass bands like Rebirth and Dirty Dozen, her latest signing owes less to N'awleens bon-temps-roulay than to the future-tense abstract rock of Trans Am et al., and reels back the bombast of both genres. Supplemented with some guitar and electronic treatment, the band totters between angular exuberance and eerie, wound-up warnings from space. A satisfying addition to the post-rock canon, and I particularly like the way the tuba cushions the basslines. 8.5/10 (Rupert Bottenberg)
Japancakes The Sleepy Strange (Kindercore)
Silver Scooter The Blue Law (Peek-A-Boo Records)
Jim White No Such Place (Luaka Bop/Warner)
Going by his bio, White's almost a caricature: the classic, sorry-ass, Southern American trailer-trash fuck-up. Army brat, raised in the Florida town with the densest church count in the USA, thumped bibles till he fell out of touch with the J-man, fed his fretting hand to a buzzsaw on some shit job and so on. Maybe that's why his songs come off as just a bit too American (note the title). Then again, the whole thing's produced by foreign interlopers--Morcheeba, Q-burns, Sade's Andrew Hale and Sohichiro Suzuki of Japan's YMO. The dusty trip hop production, while clicking impressively here and there, largely compounds the distracting sense of ersatz Americana, heartfelt perhaps, but long on stereotypes and short on archetypes. 6/10 (Rupert
Phoneheads Second Sight (INFRAcom!/Fusion III) With so many absolutely average drum & bass and beats groups out there you'd be fully pardoned for walking right past these guys without even starting to notice. They've got the lame name, the generic "electronica style" package, the completely unknown guest MCs and even the noncommittal German record label ("It sounds underground, maybe that's why I don't know it"). Then you realize they're pretty good. Obviously not in a "this will change drum & bass forever" kind of way, but in a "let's not burn down their studio immediately" kind of way. 6/10 (Chris Hatherill) Rae and Christian Sleepwalking (Grand Central/Fusion III) These two British dudes have become well known in the U.K. for having a knack for fundamentalist hip hop production with a twist. Take Sleepwalking for instance, where the two employ the talents of a surprising Bobby Womack, working his classic soul voice over nu-school beats and making it fit like a glove. They also pull the Pharcyde in to salvage what was lost on the Cali duo's last release, with applaudable results. It's amazing what a good beat can do. With over 55 remixes under their belt, ranging from the Jigmastas to Faze Action, these heads decided to make a record with hip hop roots, and a soulful, more organic, open-armed policy for the old and new. 8/10 (Scott C) Blackmarket Kilimanjaro (Independent) This strictly independent release has been out for a minute or two, but when it comes to promoting our locals heroes, the Mirror never rests. Ex-member of Black & Woolly and current member of Dr. Noh, Blackmarket is obviously seriously serious about this music. On Kilimanjaro, he pays tribute to Miles Davis' Filles de Kilimanjaro, sampling each track one at a time to create scrambled, freeflowing drum & bass full of intricate programming, cascading drums and, of course, jazz. Fans of the drums and the bass and the Miles can and should check it out, either at Noize or online at www.music.mcgill.ca/~markle/kilimanjaro.html. 8/10 (Chris Hatherill) Misstress Barbara Relentless Beats (Moonshine/Koch)
Various Compost Community (Compost Records) Germany's Compost crew comes a little bouncier than usual on this sweetly packaged little gem of a compilation. Opening up with the very latest in jungle bassline/dub fusion from Fauna Flash's forthcoming album, the Community expands to accommodate vocal house that doesn't make you homicidal, jump-around jazz, and precision downtempo, naturally. This is still Compost, after all. A few snoozers, including one with a drunken guy babbling on about floating through cosmic stars or something, but otherwise fairly flawless as usual. 7.5/10 (Chris Hatherill) Theryl "Houseman" de'Clouet The Houseman Cometh! (Bullseye) I have witnessed the powerful New Orleans funk of Galactic a few times over the last couple of years, and one of the most memorable things about that band was the soulful pipes of the Houseman. As the only vocal in the group, he complemented the new frontier of Southern-fried musicians perfectly. Unfortunately, that magic is lost on this his first solo effort. Although Houseman can clearly belt it out, this album suffers from "canned funk and soul" syndrome. There is no grit, dirt, grime or funk worth mentioning, and the rawness I was expecting has been replaced with easy-listening soul ballads. The systematic butchery of George Macrae's "I Get Lifted" is unacceptable. 6/10 (Scott C) Mya Fear of Flying (Universal)
Jeri Brown/Milton Sealey The Triptych (Justin Time/Fusion III) A superior singer in what has become a memorial tribute to both the playing and the compositional talents of Montreal-born Milton Sealey. Recorded last spring in New York, this 11-track CD has Sealey on piano with Avery Sharpe, bass, and Grady Tate, drums. Milton's voice is also heard on one, Tate's on a pair. Sealey's most famous piece, "Black Diamond," which was recorded by both Wayne Shorter and Rahsaan Roland Kirk, is here with lyrics as "The Dragonfly and the Pearl." Special! 9.5/10 (Len Dobbin) |
A frothing, lethal, high-octane dose of a raunchy rock 'n' roll is what this is, headed up by local "colourful character" Uncle Costa. His latest incarnation shows him still full of piss and vinegar--if you don't remember Costa's previous musical missives with Blood Sausage, check out these titles: "Bombs Not Food," "You're a Fuckin' Mess," "Fuck Machine," "I'm a Fuckin' Asshole." I think you get the picture. This just isn't mere potty-mouthing here, though. Vulgar Deli beats the hell out of Nashville Pussy at their own game, with a twin guitar assault, meaty production and a belting howl that will snare this nods as one of the best local discs of 2001, and should crown them as the Montreal punk-rawk band. 9/10 (Johnson Cummins)
Mudhoney will probably always be remembered as the gods of grunge. An unfortunate black-eye to sport, because these moments of Blue Cheer/Stooges sonic destruction and Thee Headcoats garage swagger were always the first thing I associated with the genre. This posthumous release of BBC John Peel sessions will hopefully give a better perspective on this band of drunken louts. Believe it or not, these hastily recorded renditions of "You Got It," "This Gift" and "Touch Me I'm Sick" show Mudhoney even looser than they were known to be. In fact, all the versions even surpass the LP versions that we're used to. The 12 songs taken from their 1995 Reading Festival appearance is what really captures this band at their best. 9.5/10 (Johnson Cummins)
Instrumental music rarely gets a fair shot at the mainstream, and this Athens, GA band probably won't change that. A pity, considering this sophomore album crosses several genre lines, incorporating shades of rock, country, classical and (for lack of a better word) soundtrack. In fact, these epic songs recall the scores to American indie films from the '80s, the ones with the obligatory desert-driving sequences. The soothing, hypnotic pedal steel, majestic cello and lazy melody lines would make the perfect companion to a drive through the barren U.S., if you ever wanted to do such a thing. 8/10 (Lorraine Carpenter)
With solid rhythm, clean guitar picking, down-played piano and cello and lazy half-singing, the third album by this Austin, TX quartet exemplifies that rare brand of indie pop where subtlety is key. Emotive yet simplistic lyrics sung in a deadpan, Luna-esque drawl accompany the melancholy pop sound that sometimes recalls old REM, upbeat Cure and the Smiths, with whom they share a penchant for head-bobbing tunes coupled with grim lyrics. An undertone of forced lyrical and musical quirkiness seems misguided, but any band that showcases a woodblock gets extra points in my book. 7.5/10
The veritable embodiment of the word relentless, Misstress Barbara is a woman on a mission. As if on a single-lane highway to "the top," she has created her own production company (Energia), started her own label (Relentless) and produced tunes for big techno labels like Primate and Strive, some of which appear on her debut mix CD Relentless Beats--a compilation that starts off with a kick in the pants from Barbara's spiked heel and doesn't let up until she hits stop on the turntable and walks out of the room. Not for the faint of heart. 9/10 (Krista)
Some albums take time before they catch. Mya's latest is a case in point. By now you've probably heard the funky "Best of Me" with rapper Jadakiss, and the huge "Case of the Ex." And there's more to come. Current single "Free," produced by longtime Janet Jackson producers Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis, is contemporary groove with a big wink to disco. The attitude-filled "Takin' Me Over," with TLC's Left Eye, and her proficient reworking of Michael Jackson's "The Lady in My Life," are further proof that Mya's flyin' high. 7.5/10 (Gerard Dee)