David Byrne Look Into the Eyeball (Luaka Bop/Warner)
Live On Release Seeing Red (Her Majesty's Records/Warner) In which four West-coast punkettes, aged 15 and 16, produce power-pop-punk in the shadow of straightedge tat-queen Bif Naked. In fact, the best song here was co-written and backed up vocally by their mentor. As with a couple of Bif's own songs, its anthemic catchiness makes it a guilty pleasure but, all in all, there's nothing new or interesting or scandalous to report. But perverts may appreciate the "Baby don't you need me/ I can give it to you all night long" refrain on one track. And these chicks are afraid of Britney? 6/10 (Lorraine Carpenter)
Da Bloody Gashes Pedal to the Metal (Total Zero)
Atlas Strategic Rapture, Ye Minions (Global Symphonic)
Tortoise Standards (Thrill Jockey)
Pete Rock PeteStrumentals (BBE/Fusion III) Once again it's time for the chocolate boy-wonder from Mount Vernon, NYC, to show the world how he's managed to stick around for so long. As chapter 2 in BBE's Beat Generation series, this is essentially a showcase of Pete's talents and his trademark sound, made strictly with the beat-heads in mind. There are some MCs on here, including the impressive UN, but the light shines brightest on Mr. Soul Survivor. Beats like "Pete's Jazz" and "Play Dis Only at Night" are enough to make you wonder what CL was thinking when he decided to walk. 8.5/10 (Scott C) VariousDef Jam 1985-2001: The History of Hip Hop Vol. 1 (Def Jam/Universal) I'm not quite sure what the reasoning behind the release of this new series from Def Jam is all about. They've already put out an amazingly comprehensive boxed set that does not miss one beat, so why this? What's going on here is a mixing of die-hard classics with newer songs that Def Jam consider contemporary classics because of unit sales. I'm talking about DMX's "Party Up In Here" and Foxy Brown's "I'll Get You Home" alongside EPMD's "Crossover" and Slick Rick's "Children's Story." Volume 1 is not really anything to get excited about in itself, but I'm sure with their catalogue, they could do a little bit better than this. 7/10 (Scott C) VariousFine Tuning: Mixed by Jumpin' Jack Frost (Dune/Koch)
Kevin Yost Road Less Travelled (Distance/Fusion III) On his latest, aptly titled LP, Yost charts an authentic course over a jazz-house minefield. Keys, strings and harps emanating from a digital groovescape are garnished on some bass heavy rhythms. Vocal droplets, a sax solo and a live bass performance also cascade over the album's primarily instrumental repertoire. Rounding things off are a couple of nifty downtempo sleazers that bring Bob James and Air to mind. All in all, Yost successfully paves the high road to a satisfying listening experience. 8.5/10 (Peter Lightburn) Mitchell Akiyama Hope That Lines Don't Cross (Substractif/Fusion III) A proud moment for Montreal as the now-world-renowned Alien8 launches their new sublabel Substractif and local wonderboy Mitch Akiyama launches his debut album. Yes, it's sparse and minimal and clicky, but far from cold and empty. Warm, dense sounds and microscopic noises meet quiet, driving beats that often take a back seat. When they don't, you almost feel like dancing. Almost. In short, the type of experimental fare that's as easy to like as it is hard to understand. Just one thing, Mitch: no more playing this at summer booty parties! 9/10 (Chris Hatherill) Sunshine Anderson Your Woman (Warner) On her debut release, Sunshine Anderson effortlessly blends retro and nouveau soul into a sound that's both fresh and familiar. Her tales of love found, lost and thrown out are wrapped in chunky drumbeats, touting horn sections and piano riffs reminiscent of early '80s acts like Club Nouveau and Shannon. Lead single "Heard It All Before" is one of several memorable tracks, including the seductive "Lunch or Dinner" and the funked-up "Saved the Day." A little Sunshine goes a long way. 8/10 (Gerard Dee) Joe Lovano Flights of Fancy (Blue Note/EMI) Lovano's last CD, 52nd Street Themes, was my album of the year for 2000. This one, subtitled "Trio Fascination Edition Two," is made up of 14 tracks played by four distinct trios--Joe with Toots Thielemans and Kenny Werner, with Dave Douglas and Mark Dresser, with Cameron Brown and Idris Muhammad and with Billy Drewes and Joey Baron. Each trio is a distinct musical entity and there is a wealth of serious music to savour here. Try the double trio track "Bougainvilea," written by Judi Silvano. 10/10 (Len Dobbin) Ken Nordine A Transparent Mask (Asphodel/Outside)
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Okay, the Woo went way out on a limb for this one but the chances taken have paid off in spades. Gone are previous rock 'n' roll posing and preening, making room instead for an early '70s influence to sidle up to the forefront. Guitars stretch and breathe while the bass and drums are left free to wander--typical song writing formula only gets a passing glance. Eric Larock's bass groove on "Six Cats and a Podium" hints pretty heavily at Larry Williams from Sly and the Family Stone, but for the most part Tricky Woo are travelling with no compass, guide or safety net. Don't get me wrong, a lot of people get the nod--Zep, James Gang, Faces, Steve Miller--but this isn't just classic rock revisionism, this is something way out of the oldies stations' reach and far more ahead than most music out there under the safe umbrella of "alternative." Feed your head and buy this now. 9.5/10 (Johnson Cummins) With Nashville Pussy at Café Campus on Mon., May 14, 8pm, $18.50
Since he first came to attention with the Talking Heads, Byrne's been one to present difficult dichotomies as though they were party-prize brain-teezers, so infuriatingly simple that he can't figure them out either. Art and commerce, "the good life" and real life, the tragic and the comic, Americana and exotica (and Americana again). Now he's pitting the intuitive against the abstract and calculated, a right brain/left brain thing; "I want to move people to dance and cry at the same time," he says. Tropical rhythms drawn from his tenure as world-pop point man carry substantial string work, a path taken after a run of gigs with the excellent Balanescu Quartet (not on here, sadly). Lyrically, it's classic Dave, funny, sad, noble and clinical all at once. Pretty much what I expected, but I expected good things. 8.5/10 (Rupert Bottenberg)
Local sludge masters Da Bloody Gashes have their first baby and, after a messy and painful birth, it turns out to be one ugly fucker! This vinyl-only release rings with all of the glorious mess of Pussy Galore, Teenage Jesus & the Jerks, Butthole Surfers, Flipper, Evol-era Sonic Youth combined with the noise-rock groove of Halo of Flies. Chloë Lum's punk-rock squealings give a kind of Plasmatics sound to this but when her warblings are strewn over a primitive Troggs beat, as guitars torture and punish, even ol' Wendy O. (R.I.P.) couldn't match this appetite for destruction. The biggest accomplishment on Pedal to the Metal is that they're sure to confuse rockers and noise enthusiasts alike. 8/10 (Johnson Cummins) Record launch at Jailhouse Rock tonight, May 10, 9:30pm, free
A Luna Red The Death Birds (Global Symphonic)
Vancouver's A Luna Red combine the dark, discordant sounds of vintage goth-industrial with the electropop flair of new wave on their debut album. The theme of urban decay, or even apocalypse, is well-suited to the singer's filtered, often whiny yelling, the incessant pounding bass drum and the harsh feel of old synths and programs. Think Skinny Puppy, Killing Joke, PIL. Another debut, this one by Victoria's Atlas Strategic, reproduces the feel of both late '60s pop and old blues with guitars-bass-drums, Rhodes piano and Wurlitzer. In some ways, it's very Doors. And the distorted vocals and weirdo sci-fi concept are very Beck. And the results are mixed, but lively. A Luna Red 8, Atlas Strategic 6.5/10 (Lorraine Carpenter)
Make no mistake, this is no TNT. While the last album had the Tortoise boys masterfully reconciling the disparate worlds of avant-jazz, desperado country, IDM and actuelle over 70 smooth minutes, Standards finds them confining that effort to each song. The result is shorter, funkier, more accessible, slightly less long-lasting, and more controlled in its digressions into weirdness. Solid beats and blown bass give it hip hop flavour, while typical Tortoise melodies dance around each other, colliding and ringing beautifully, an awesome balance of texture and groove. Tortoise is a great band, and this is their second-best album--good for Tortoise novices especially. 9/10 (Boss Sambosa) At Club Soda on Mon., May 14
Jumpin' Jack Frost delivers the expected goods to kickstart Dune's Fine Tuning series, mixing darker stuff like Konflict's "Messiah" with lighter, more accessible vocal action on tracks like London Elektricity's "My Dreams" or Dune's own "Thinking of You." An excellent mix of older stuff, newer stuff, and newer stuff that sounds like older stuff, like Total Science's retro rave horn sampling and Marcus Intalex's "Just a Vision" remix. One question: when is Frosty going to commit his classic "Brand New Funk" juggling routine to CD? We need that. 9/10 (Chris Hatherill)
A recent collaboration with DJ Food served to remind us about "word jazz" pioneer Nordine, Beat-Gen carry-over, free-ass word-botcher with the voice like a fine scotch buzz. Mystery and mundanity, profundity and fool nonsense trip all over each other as the man's id seems to slip unfiltered from his face, the sheer ease of it an unintentional piss-take on the tension/pretension most spoken-worders subject us to. That all said, I'm not sold on the musical backdrop. It's jazz, obviously, but synth-based, led by harmonica-guy Howard Levy--the source of one too many distraction, as far as I'm concerned. Let the guy speak, eh. 7/10 (Rupert Bottenberg)