Various Series 7: Music From the Motion Picture (Koch)
The Flashing Lights Sweet Release (Outside)
The Mother Hips Green Hills of Earth (Future Farmer) Some pretty heavily Brian-Wilson-influenced multi-harmonies open up the record, which is a good hint at the goals of this well-crafted pop. With the great recent releases by Sweden's Ray Wonder and Vancouver's New Pornographers utilizing the very same crafty resources, the Mother Hips really give them some serious competition. Leaving their alternative country roots from their debut record behind, the Hips even hit on some Badfinger territory on "Take Us Out" and the '70s-era Kinks on "Singing Seems to Ease Me." It sounds like these boys may enjoy their Burt Bacharach mixed with contemporaries like Wilco, but in the end they carve out their own pop niche. Should appeal to all Mojo Magazine fanatics. 8/10 (Johnson Cummins)
Peaches The Teaches of Peaches (Kitty-Yo/Fusion III)
Sporto Kantes Act.1 (Catalogue/Fusion III) A pretty insane mix of dub, soul, beats and breaks courtesy of two Frenchmen whose names kind of combine to form Sporto Kantes. While the all the different elements blend into a seamless album that just drifts by, the reggae bits really make certain tracks stand out, fusing obscure ragga samples with mellow, weird tracks. A good fusion of old sounds and new, Act.1 is pretty hard to describe and pretty good. There's even boobies on the cover, but they're artsy boobies, not big This Is Booty Vol. 5 boobies. 8/10 (Chris Hatherill) Smut Peddlers Porn Again (Rawkus)
2PacUntil the End of Time (Death Row/Interscope) Here comes yet another 2Pac extravaganza, loaded not with songs concocted from random vocal and rhymes amassed after his death, thankfully, but rather material recorded during his Makaveli period. This one has songs for people who believe he's really not dead, songs for the thugs who wish he was still alive and songs that call out living MCs who get a tongue-lashing from beyond. There's a number that calls for the deaths of Mobb Deep, and another where Jay Z gets a verbal slap from Pac, and all sorts of tracks you could probably do without, but listen to this one and tell me you don't feel a chill in the room. 7/10 (Scott C) VariousCircuit Sessions 5: Marc Anthony (4 Play/Moonshine) In the space of a decade, Marc Anthony has gone from local DJ hero to one of North America's top "circuit" breakers. In contributing to this series, he is in the lauded company of other big-room titans Manny Lehman, Abel and Jeffrey Sanker. Anthony keep things sparse and frenetic, cutting a mighty swath through a jungle of Tenaglia-meets-Digweed-style tribal trance and dark house. Effects-laden moans, electro percussive workouts and fade-outs flanked with vocal snippets abound in a slew of 125- to 130-BPMers, all of which are flawlessly knit together. 8/10 (Peter Lightburn)
Destiny's Child Survivor (Sony)
Chris Clark Clarence Park (Warp) While a lot of this ultra-cut-up experimental stuff sounds amazing on first listen, I really can't see people listening to it much once they've got their head around in. Sure, after a few hours on repeat you start to realize how brilliantly made it is, blending chopped beats with smooth sounds to create a happily confusing whole, but then what? Are you going to listen to it at dinner? No. In your car? That's not safe. When are you actually going to listen to it? 7/10 (Chris Hatherill) Kristian/Shalabi/St. Onge self-titled (Alien8) Timed by Kristian's shimmering, synthesized envelopes and grounded by St. Onge's bowed upright bass tones, there is an oppressive sense of restraint to this effort to reconcile electric music with musique concrète and Shalabi's quirky jazz. If the idea here is to create a closed acoustic space, then it's a fait accompli. However, I suspect that the raison d'être (lots of French-isms this morning) for this album is simply to have three local avant-giants together for collector value. The problem is that Kristian's EMS synth is too powerful and produces such pure tones that even the best efforts to fuse it with rolling bass and oud are doomed. The contrasts should be played up, not subdued. This ensemble is probably fantastic live, where those contrasts and timbre will inevitably be accented by the environment. 6.5/10 (Boss Sambosa) At Casa del Popolo on Sat., May 5, 9pm, $10 Cesaria Evora Sao Vicente Di Longe (Lusafrica/BMG)
Charlie Haden Nocturne (Verve/Universal) The music on this gorgeous item--four pieces from Mexico, six from Cuba and two by Haden--makes for perfect listening in the wee small hours. A basic trio of Haden, Gonzalo Rubalcaba and Ignacio Berroa is joined on selected cuts by a variety of musicians--Joe Lovano, Pat Metheny, David Sanchez and violinist Federico Britos Ruiz. Try "Tres Palabras," the basis of the standard "Without You." You can catch haden, Rubalcaba and Lovano at the Jazz Fest this summer, on July 4. 10/10 (Len Dobbin) |
I one-linered this a couple of weeks ago, and the umpteen subsequent listens have demanded a retrial. One of the most accessible things going on the capricious German label Kitty-Yo (whence Matador snagged them), this instrumental quartet, sprouting from the currently fertile scene in Munich, don't wanna hear from krautrock; the closest reference point I can check off is American smart-rock unit Pell Mell. Raw and often fierce drumming, spliced into some jazz-rock configurations, provides the only fancy tangents. Played off that are the sturdy dynamics of the bass, keys and guitar locking into one another. What I appreciate most is the patience, conviction and economy with which the band unfolds each piece. Smart, humble, timely, engaging--they're all that good stuff. 9.5/10 (Rupert Bottenberg) With Moriarty at Casa Del Popolo on Monday, May 7, 9pm, $12
Girls Against Boys fans take note: this soundtrack is 95 per cent GvsB, making this their first album (of sorts) since '98. Their proper songs are intense and driving--"Tweaker" sounds just like the Fall--using vivid guitars, drums and synths, presumably to up the suspense of this twisted parody of reality TV. Sliding in seamlessly beside GvsB's dark new wave is Joy Division's "Love Will Tear Us Apart" plus a couple of negligible schmaltz ballads. GvsB's instrumental pieces employ haunting synths, big percussion and deep, creeping guitar, with an occasional indie rock interlude for less eerily intense moments. 8.5/10 (Lorraine Carpenter)
A swift and ambitious return, this second full-length from Haligonian diaspora the Flashing Lights. If you saw 'em raise the bar ridiculously high from Sloan when they opened here, or dug the Elevator EP that bridged the short wait since their kick-ass debut, you know how bright they flash--a tight, tuneful and kinetic extension of where the Who et al were at just before the stadiums swallowed them up (if I had to draw a straight line, it would point to Badfinger). That all said, Sweet Release is a more complex, studiophonic effort, raising their own bar in that the Lights' wow-wee stage show will need to be calibrated to match. 8.5/10 (Rupert Bottenberg)
In a nutshell, Canadian-born German émigré Merrill Nisker and her nifty Roland Groove Box MC505 are a lot like Brassy, just more robotic and profane. Combining badass, hip-hop-punk attitude and pushy nymphomania--titles include "Fuck the Pain Away," "Cum Undun" and "Suck and Let Go"--Peaches' rapped and sung lyrics are inescapable. Cheap beats, minimal electronics and an occasional rough guitar back it all up, but this sophomore album feels a little too light on ideas. In her favour, Peaches' knack for being both utterly absurd and deadly serious (in proper German form) is nothing if not charming. 7.5/10 (Lorraine Carpenter)
I think the reason that I took so long to review this had to do with the fact that I've been feeling a little porned out lately. Mr. Eon, Cage and Mighty Mi have gone for the lowest common denominator and built an entire album on that dirty little premise with surprising results. Unsatisfied with only a poo-poo ca-ca mentality, these dudes have arrived at the edge of potty-mouth genius with this one, proving that there is always somewhere to go if you open your mind to the sexual possibilities. Raunchy, yet not completely retarded, Porn Again has capable MCs going where many dare not tread. 6.5/10 (Scott C)
Janet Jackson All For You (Virgin/EMI)
Seems like adversity can be a touchstone for creativity. At least that's the case with these two discs. Brushing off personal issues that dogged her during '97's Velvet Rope, Jackson comes out swinging with positive energy boosters like the dance number "Come On Get Up" and the bubbly title track. Similarly, the DC girls seem ready to put recent dramas behind them with tracks like the funky "Bootylicious" and the motivational "Survivor." Still, it's not all sunshine. Jackson's wounds from her recent divorce come out not so subtly on the bitter "Son of a Gun (I Betcha Think This Song is About You)," featuring Carly Simon, and the more forgiving "Truth." Likewise, DC's hurts are addressed in the biting "Fancy." But in the end it's all good, with Jackson singing about "Better Days" and DC putting on a "Happy Face." I guess all you need to be a real survivor is a little faith. JJ 8/10, DC 7.5/10 (Gerard Dee)
This is the 11th album from Cape Verde's sad-eyed, wide-smiled matriarch of morna, the island's sea-salty Afro-latin blues. The title ("St. Vincent from afar") is a reflection on the distinguished guests from Cuba (Orquesrta Aragon, Chucho Valdés), Brazil (Caetano Veloso) and the U.S. (Bonnie Riatt), each of whom brings their own shadings to one tune. There are many moods here, from an enveloping tropical torpor to the full-swing boathouse shakers. The latter batch includes "Dor Di Amor" (check out the flute solo!) while "Negue" (denial), with Valdés at the piano, presents Evora in heartbreaker mode. A real pleasure. 8/10 (Rupert Bottenberg)