With the exception of Steady Diet of Nothing, Mackaye and co. have never really delivered a clunker, and The Argument keeps up the tradition. In fact, the big change here is that this would be the closest Fugazi have actually come to making a pop record. Perhaps they got their ya-yas out on the instrumental soundtrack record for Instrument. Hardly your typical hum-along toe-tappers with predictable, connect-the-dots arrangements, but in songs like "Full Disclosure" and "Cashout," there is an undeniable melody and some pop hooks with syrupy back-up vocals. Ian Mackaye and Guy Picciotto are stellar as per usual but it's their trademark sense of urgency that really sends this home. Fugazi continue to prove to be one of most important American bands of the past 20 years. 9/10 (Johnson Cummins) The Strokes Is This It (BMG) Don't believe the reverent hype surrounding this band, and don't listen to bitter backlashing from folk with unreasonable expectations. Truth be told, this is lo-fi rock 'n' roll injected with punk fervour, jagged new wave hooks and the voice of a bummed young man who sounds like Lou Reed, jacked up. More importantly, there are some great energetic tunes here that you can bop around to. The comparisons to elements of the Velvets, Ramones and Television are sound. But this is a debut effort, not the weavings of sacred wunderkinder sent to save rock 'n' roll. The Strokes are simply a good band worth your penny. 9/10 (Lorraine Carpenter) Brigitte Fontaine Kekeland (Virgin/EMI)
Bakunin's Bum Fight to Win (a Benefit CD for OCAP) (G7 Welcoming Committee) Since last April's Summit of the Americas in Quebec City, a rash of half-assed, activist-opportunist CDs have been released in the name of dissent and protest. Among the worst was the terribly transparent Gascd compilation, intended to benefit imprisoned activists. This disc is among the best of the wave of such CDs, combining the crunchy, thunderous beats of 1-Speed Bike with the climaxing strings of fellow Montrealer Norman Nawrocki. Though there is clearly direction here, the compass of this album ultimately points inward, at its own mass, a victim of its own dogma. Mixing the music with speeches by the Ontario Coalition Against Poverty offers predictable slow-downs, from which the stripped Godspeed-esque intensity builds again. 6.5/10 (Boss Sambosa)
Garbage Beautiful Garbage (Universal)
Soilent Green A Deleted Symphony for the Beaten Down (Relapse/Koch) Brutal, punishing grind from New Orleans. With the current lead guitarist of Eyehategod in their corner, Soilent Green would be his speedier foil, compared to Eyehategod's doom-stomp. Soilent keep things undeniably death/grind but manage some Dillinger Escape Plan time-signature changes to keep things chugging along while sticking in the occasional sludgy doom bit, as in "Swallowhole." Singer Louis Benjamin Falgoust II has a commanding howl that sounds like an old junkyard dog being beaten with a radio antenna--i.e. pretty heavy. Definitely a great soundtrack for misanthropes everywhere. 8.5/10 (Johnson Cummins) Foetus Flow (Thirsty Ear/Outside) With a career in musical mayhem spanning almost 20 years, Worldly producer, remixer and all out wacko Foetus (J.G. Thirwill) has influenced a wide range of the industry's finest. Here he's paid tribute through remixes by psycho Panacea, Charlie Clouser and Sean Beavan from the Nine Inch Nails camp, the remix fiend Kid 606, Ninjas DJ Food and Amon Tobin, Ursula 1000 and Phylr, dropping all sorts of styles, from industrialized rock riffage to techno, jungle and breakbeat odysseys. At one point Foetus even takes a stab at himself. This is a sonic rollercoaster ride bound to get you puking quite nicely. 7/10 (Lateef Martin) Roots Manuva Run Come Save Me (Big Dada/Outside)
Various Voodoo Roux (Waveform/Navarre) If the title is supposed to suggest that this collection of tunes is comparable to some kind of sauce and/or is "saucy," then I'm very confused. There's nothing saucy about chill-out and that's what this comp is--nine tracks of very trippy, meditiation-tempo, trancey dub chill-out tunes selected by Waveform frontman Forest, said to have been one of the inventors of the term "ambient dub." So no, this isn't sauce, but rather electronic vichyssoise--tasty, but not for everyone. 7.5/10 (Krista) Lina Stranger on Earth (Warner) The Roaring Twenties meet the hip hop nation on Lina's debut release. All the playa-hater/sister-power lyrics are intact; the difference is that the thumping basslines and turntable scratches are mixed up with snippets from '20s-style horn and piano riffs. It's an interesting concept and works especially well on tracks like "Step Up" and "It's Alright." The problem is that it's the running theme throughout, which means if you're not feeling the '20s, then you won't be feeling Lina. 7.5/10 (Gerard Dee) Leonard Cohen Ten New Songs (Columbia) That theory about people getting more mellow as they grow older would definitely stand up here, in Montreal institution Leonard Cohen's long-awaited album Ten New Songs. Things get so mellow, in fact, I was worried Lenny was going to fall asleep at the microphone. But he endures through a pleasing array of dreamlike songs, backed up by his superb collaborator Sharon Robinson. Certain constants are expected: Cohen remains intensely romantic and his instantly recognizable voice is pleasing. This is almost certainly his most mellow album, though not his best; Cohen freaks will have their appetites sated, while the uninitiated might want to introduce themselves to the Cohen oeuvre with another collection. 7.5/10 (Matthew Hays) Brad Mehldau Progression (Warner) Mehldau is arguably the best young pianist around these days. This is his eighth release for Warner since his '95 debut. It's subtitled Art of the Trio Volume 5 and this is indeed great trio, playing with regulars Larry Grenadier on bass and Jorge Rossy on drums, and this time we have a double CD recorded live last September at the Village Vanguard. The trio stretches out on four new Mehldau originals, including "Dream's Monk," and eight standards including a pair by Jerome Kern, "The Folks That Live on Hill" and "Long Ago and Far Away" and, for Nick Drake fans, there's a new look at his "River Man." Heady stuff! 10/10 (Len Dobbin)
Wendy Carlos The Well-Tempered Synthesizer (East Side Digital/Outside)
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Stubble-skulled, eerily gaunt and long in the tooth, Fontaine is one breathtakingly beautiful broad regardless. She's the grand old dame of elegant depravity à la Française, equal parts Mae West, Auntie Mame and Cruella de Ville ("Wicked with glamour/I'm the shaved lady," she breathes on one of two English songs here). Always au courant, she's joined this time by Sonic Youth and Jim O'Rourke, les Valentins and Noir Désir, elder free-jazzer Archie Shepp and that irrepressible imp M (number-1 sidekick Areski Belkacem brings an upscale exotic flavour overall). Gracefully poised and playfully sleazy, she guides us through a twilight crystal palace of sex and substances, temper tantrums and schadenfreude, splendiferous chicanery and wicked wordplay. 9/10 (Rupert Bottenberg)
Still suffering from "too many cooks" syndrome, Shirley and the producers have unleashed another hit-and-miss collection of slightly overwrought tunes. "Tunes" are actually the exception this time around, however, with electro-tweaking and broad balladry favoured over catchy, upbeat melodies. Rock guitar is also downplayed in favour of little bursts of '80s synth and acoustic guitar samples, clearly taking cues from Madonna's last album. What really makes this album different is its variety, referencing disco, Britpop-glam, breakbeaten electro, girl-group ballads and good old Garbage tech-rock. So either there's a little something for everyone or a lot of nothing for nobody. 7/10 (Lorraine Carpenter) With U2 at the Molson Centre, Fri., Oct. 12
The preacher's son lives. How good Roots Manuva must feel, sitting on the release of his second album and about to receive the same critical acclaim as he did for Brand New Second Hand. Run Come Save Me oozes with that same rude-bwoy feel that this U.K. MC has made his trademark sound, and effectively cornered the market on. Is it possible to combine dancehall stylee with envelope-pushing hip hop sounds and come up fresh for 2001? Well, this is no reggae/hip hop rehash, but instead a personal look into the rootical mind of easily one of the world's best MCs. 8/10 (Scott C)
Wendy Carlos Switched-On Bach (East Side Digital/Outside)
You're likely familiar with Carlos's Moog-synth recitals of Beethoven for Kubrick's A Clockwork Orange. These two albums, from '68 and '69, were the precedent. Hotly debated at the time--sacrilege, mere novelty or glorious breakthrough?--they racked up the sales and awards. My feeling is that they were inspired and respectful; Carlos, a virtuoso player, worked closely with Robert Moog himself to achieve the most perfect synth tones of the era. Those tones, warm yet exquisitely precise, were ideally suited to Bach's baroqueries, carefully terraced and pleasantly ornate. The follow-up saw her ripping through regal-beagle renditions of items by not only Bach but Handel, Scarlatti and Monteverdi as well. Exciting stuff--I tip my bowler, snap my braces and hoist my milk glass in respect. Both 9/10 (Rupert Bottenberg)