Henry Rollins Nice (Sanctuary/EMI) Ol' Hank is back with another one, but the grey at his temples is finally beginning to show. Knowing that repeating his previous pain-racked dirges would just turn him into a caricature, Rollins continues in the tradition of his last outing Get Some Go Again, letting it all hang out with a pure rock delivery. Unfortunately, the new rock breed can sweep him into a corner, and Rollins's familiar junkyard-dog-on-a-short-leash howl sounds more like a toothless yelp from a mangy mutt. The intensity of his Black Flag days is gone indeed, but his back-up band Mother Superior manage to flex some muscle throughout and all apologies are accepted when Rollins does his best Diamond Dave (Lee Roth) on closer "Let That Devil Out." 6.5/10 (Johnson Cummins) The Marato Dirty Stories (Blue Skies Turn Black)
Butthole Surfers Weird Revolution (Hollywood/Universal) Been a while since we heard from these prominent purveyors of seething, lysergic electro-heaviosity, and you can blame lawyers for that (and everything else). The opening manifesto, a Malcolm X-ist declaration of war, sees Gibby, Paul and all flying the freak flag with unflagging fervour. Conversely, this album is comparable to most other rap-no-rock out there today, and as such decidedly unweird. "Dracula from Houston" sounds like Sugar Ray, while most of the rest sounds like Bloodhound Gang after a medicine cabinet meeting. Silly lyrics don't help. I've heard more fucked-up shit from straight-edge kids half their age. Nice Crackerjack CD jacket, though--probably the most overtly hallucinogenic thing about this album. 6/10 (Rupert Bottenberg)
Les Sexareenos14 Frenzied Shakers (Sympathy for the Record Industry)
Zeke Death Alley (Aces & Eights/Sonic Unyon) Zeke are the fucking kings of punk! With 16 songs clocking in at under 30 minutes total, Zeke know to leave musical growth to people like Don Henley and to just blast out songs about horror movies, Satan and driving. Death Alley combines their trademark high-octane punk with good old Maiden ballast on "Arkansas Man," "Into the Night" and the Priest-influenced "Road Ahead," all played at the speed of light. The larynx-shredding scream on "Mark of the Beast" (cool name, huh) really sends the tune over the top. Zeke's previous flirtations with metal are now a little bit more in the forefront, with lead guitars taking names and breaking balls, but overall this a full-frontal punk rock assault and it doesn't get any better than that. 9/10 (Johnson Cummins) Glider With Ocean Between (Where Are My Records) Quebec's Pascal Asselin (drums) and London, England's Gavin Baker (guitars) disregard the Atlantic to join forces on this plodding, instrumental rock debut. The duo--whose one U.K. live show last year also marks their only face-to-face meeting to date--produce a sweet, relaxed sound with finger-picked acoustic riffs over slow, steady rhythm. Tension is built up here and there by discordant funk and blues-rock riffs and faux-synthetic percussion, but a largely subdued mood dominates. Call it experimental or "post rock" if you must, but there's nothing terribly complicated about these lazy rock lullabies. 7/10 (Lorraine Carpenter) Scorpion Code Name: Scorpion (Battle Axe) As Battle Axe Records continues to pump out the releases, a new configuration of artists emerges from all the music-making. Scorpion, a group that seems like nothing more than a side project that finally came to the front, works the collective lyrical talents of Swollen Member Prevail, his label-mate Moka Only and friend and collaborator Abstract Rude. The result is an entertaining but not particularly earth-shaking recording that I'm sure the trio was just happy to finally get done. Quite comfortable playing off of each other, it's Rude who steals the show from the almost square Prevail and the "anything goes" style of Moka Only. Beats provided by Paul Nice, Rob the Viking, and Moka, who needs to just decide on a calling. Like I said, entertaining. 7/10 (Scott C) Various RapEssentials 2001 (Beatfactory/DEP) Betcha never thought you'd be hearing from Beatfactory Records again. The Toronto label that was the first to try and really organize the country's various hip hop talents (with questionable results) returns to the fold with their 2001 edition. Although this is a sound compilation, and pehaps their best album to date, it's unfortunate that we see the same names we've been seeing for years, once again. Is their nobody else besides Dan-E-O and Madlocks? Does Canadian hip hop stop with the Circle and Citizen Kane? I think not, and the inclusion of Manchilde, Nautilus, Bishop, Mathematik can attest to that. How about making a hip hop comp with all new Canadian talent? Is this really an impossible thing? I think not. Let's get on it. 8/10 (Scott C) Llorca New Comer (F Communications/Select)
Maxwell Now (Sony)
Paul Cram Orchestra Campin Out (Victo)
Hampton Hawes For Real! (Contemporary/OJC/Universal) Bill Evans Quintessence (Fantasy/OJC/Universal) Harold Land, a superb if somewhat unsung tenor saxman, is common to both these reissues. He died recently at the age of 73. The Hawes album, recorded in 1958, is new to me and a most pleasant surprise. It's a mix of standards, originals and a Little Bennie Harris bebop classic played by a quartet of immortals--Scott LaFaro is the bassist and Frank Butler the drummer. Pianist Evans' sextet date was done in 1976 and he and Land are joined by a first-rate group of musicians in Kenny Burrell, Ray Brown and Philly Joe Jones--another nice mix of standards and originals. Beautiful, timeless music! 10/10 (Len Dobbin) |
Four years after their grandiose masterpiece Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space, Spiritualized--or rather, Jason Pierce, an entirely new core band and 100 other musicians and choral singers--remain majestic, spiritual, morose and full of longing. Often all at once. Heavily orchestrated, gospel-flavoured rock epics dominate, but the arrangements are never abrasive, and rarely corny. Where the last album captured Pierce's post-breakup depression (dumped for Richard Ashcroft, true story), this is a post-rehab blowout of sorts, referenced clearly on the raucous "12 Steps." But it seems the rehab didn't quite work and there's a new femme fatale in the picture, so the statuesque, all-consuming drama persists. 9/10 (Lorraine Carpenter)
The story so far: four Ottawa musicians find each other in Montreal. They name their band after "a promiscuous Great Dane." They repeatedly and vigorously play the underground live circuit. Then they condense all their work and energy to this six-track mini-album, fusing modern, jagged indie rock with the spastic tendencies of early new wave. Although the Marato's equation doesn't exclude pop, it's not hard to get lost in their frenzy of sonic non-sequiturs. However, it's also easy to get hooked and reeled by their intense energy and amusing macho-isms. 7.5/10 (Lorraine Carpenter) With Unwound and Mecca Normal at la Sala Rossa, Sat., Sept. 8
Montreal's own Sexareenos have more soul in their sticky little fingers than most so-called rock 'n' roll bands have in their entire discography. These aren't washed-up, balding, buttcrack-flaunting rock purists. Nor are they wet-behind-the-ears snot-punks paying tribute to their junkie heroes. These are kids with pure talent, meteoric energy, unbelievable charisma and refreshingly unpretentious intelligence. Arguably this city's finest musical offering--so good, Entertainment Weekly wrote about them and Japan invited them over for a tour! If you're not in the know, you're lost in Squaresville! 9/10 (Genevieve Paiement) With Les Sequelles and DJ Cheddy at la Sala Rossa, Fri., Sept. 7, 9pm, $6
The new "new sound" of jazz-house? The next St. Germain? These are some of the things being said about F Com's latest étoile Llorca. But while he may share a first name with St. Germain, France's Ludovic Llorca possesses a style and a sound that is very much his own. It is easy to draw a comparison between the two--both artists have releases on the same label and both have a penchant for producing deep, heavy jazz-house numbers with swingy beats and cabaret appeal. However, Llorca's youth gives him an edge, adding a backbeat, vibe and dancefloor appeal to what might otherwise be just another collection of jazzy, laidback grooves. 8.5/10 Krista
So many people were down on Maxwell's last set Embrya. It was too eclectic, too experimental, they said. Well, I thought Embrya was the shit. Anyhow, his latest should please those who like their soul a little more straightforward. Not that he's given up any of the funk--Wah Wah Watson (Herbie Hancock, Quincy Jones) and Stuart Mathewman (Sade) are still on board to give tracks like "Get to Know Ya'" and "Now/At the Party" some bump. But the gorgeous ballad "Lifetime" and the moody "Silently" will become wedding songs and booty-call music before long. 8/10 (Gerard Dee)
I remember enjoying saxman/composer Cram's work with the Halifax-based Benghazi Saxophone Quartet, so I took notice when this 11-piece orchestral operation came around. That Cram is a soundtracker for film and TV as well as a trans-Canadian jazz figure is evident on this effort. Nods to vintage thriller scores and internationalist cool are carried adeptly by a rogue's gallery of inspired Canuck jazzbos, including Montreal's own trombonehead Tome Walsh, no stranger to large-scale improv jazz of this sort. Many strange and fascinating things happen over the course of the five complex but unpretentious numbers here, often snatched back from the brink of chaos by this swank, tough melody or that. A clever and frequently funny balance of the accessible and the inexpressible. 8/10 (Rupert Bottenberg) At la Sala Rossa on Sept. 10, 9pm, $15