Miguel Graça Monkey Mass (Bombay/Koch)
Don’t expect another day at the beach from Montrealer Graça’s latest. Through a typhoon of down-and-dirty beats, Miguel invites introspection about the complexities of modernity and the urban tech-scape. There’s no monkey business in the mood-hop and byte-sized dream funk of bangers like “Paloora” and “Someday.” Aside from the basslines that will have the listener requiring Q-tips, joints such as “Realize,” “Space Frontier” and the title track are floor thumpers buttressed with synths and MIDI effects, displaying Graça’s consistent growth as an artist. Monkey Mass is an exercise in Graça’s fine-tuned atmospherics that transports you to Paris, Stockholm, Detroit and of course Montreal. A wonderful “free your mind and your ass will follow” album. 9/10 (Peter Lightburn)

Selby Tigers
The Curse of the Selby Tigers (Hopeless)
Far from the current crop of wide-faced punk bands, St. Paul, M.N.’s Selby Tigers adopt garage rock’s sexy grit, mod’s sharp turns and new wave’s pointed forethought on this prickly little gem of a sophomore disc. Rough lady wails pounce at you from chanteuse Arzu D2, while drummer Dave and bassist Sammy provide the vocal sobriety, all the while playing tight and fast. The personalities at hand come through on adrenal tracks like “Neighbor With a Defect” and “Punch Me in the Face (With Your Lips),” while “The Prom I Never Had” ends the album with a sweet, ’60s slowdance. 8.5/10 (Lorraine Carpenter)

The Heads Under Sided
(Sweet Nothing)
Total psychedelic mind-numbing rock here. These four Dutch drug buddies cook up all of the best elements of Sonic Youth’s Sister and Evol, Monster Magnet’s muscle and Pink Fairies’ anarchy with those of the regular psychedelic suspects, like the Bevis Frond, Pink Floyd, Can, Spacemen 3 and Butthole Surfers. Okay, so they don’t come up with something that’s all that original, but what the hell—it’s freakin’ good. Too often, new psychedelic bands fall prey to effects-pedal showboating and blowing their load too early, but the Heads keep everything interesting while every song stretches out well over six minutes. Are you experienced? 9/10 (Johnson Cummins)

The Icarus Line Mono (Crank!)
Along with the Rye Coalition, the Icarus Line are one of the contenders poised to step up and grab the crown of nü-rock left by At the Drive In. Another comparison would be Jesus Lizard, or maybe Drive Like Jehu. Speaking of whom, ex-Drive Like Jehu guy Mark Trombino mans the board and does a great job as usual, but with a band this good it’s kind of hard to screw it up. Icarus Line rock it down with pure Motor City velocity and serve it up with good old dementia. Choruses are cleverly hidden, time signatures are skewed and the arpeggios discordant, but even with this tried and trued formula, they still manage to really rock and never come across as forced. Keep you eyes on these guys. 9/10
(Johnson Cummins)

Luna Romantica
(Jetset)
NYC indie rockers Luna return with another modest, melodic long-player, the first studio product to feature bassist and much-needed backup vocalist Britta Phillips. Produced by fellow indie staple Dave Fridman, the album suffers from excessive cleanliness and sometimes verges on the very un-Luna extravagance of Mercury Rev (cue Fridman). Lone sparks fly here and there with a strong hook, a smooth harmony or a hint of a crescendo but, overall, this vessel fails to take flight. And the forced heaviosity of “1995” only serves as an inadequate reminder of the period when this band probably hit its peak. 5/10 (Lorraine
Carpenter)

Various The Pledge of Allegiance Tour (Columbia/Sony)
This album captures the nü-metal/hardcore darlings of the moment during a tour called The Pledge of Allegiance (to who and to what end?), recorded October 9, 2001, at the Allstate in Rosemont, Illinois. Fast and furious, the unstoppable System of a Down drop three of the more popular tracks from their Toxicity album, including “Chop Suey,” “Bounce” and “Toxicity.” Loudmongers Slipknot add “New Abortion,” “People = Shit” and “The Heretic Anthem.” Also included are solid performances from American Head Charge and No One. Unfortunately, these live recordings, more often than not, are muddy entries. Killer cuts live don’t always translate to the home CD player. 6/10 (Lateef Martin)

J-Live “A Charmed Life” 12” (3TP/7Heads)
As the first offering from J-Live’s new album All of the Above, “Charmed Life” finds my man looking back over his years with his biological family, as well a life as an MC and a teacher. Produced by Psmoova from Philly’s Touch of Jazz, this jam gets the jazz touch with some drums I know you didn’t expect. The B-side teams up DJ Spinna and Ticklah for a re-work of Augustus Pablo’s “East of the River Nile,” while J does it again on “Satisfied.” J-Live raps like a humble dude who knows he has the skills to do what needs to be done, and once again shows that he is consistent in delivering the goods. 8/10 (Scott C)

People Under the Stairs “Jappy Jap”/“Hang Loose” 12” (Deep Concentration)
Every once and a while, a group will nail some ol’ school shit right on the head. It’s not so easy to do these days, with people walking around thinking that Young MC is old school. “Jappy Jap” is the handle of an MC who’s name got dropped by MC Shan on “The Bridge,” but the PUTS flipped it and the result is this jazzy little joint. “Hang Loose” gets a 1982 flow dropped front and center, but definitely has a current and lasting quality. PUTS have taken the spirit of some of those days gone by and managed to capture it not one but two songs. Makin’ me feel old and shit. 7.5/10 (Scott C)

SND Tender Love
(Mille Plateaux/Fusion III)
There are times when electronica’s über-minimalists are well, just a little too minimal, resulting in soundscapes with little or no beat at all—might as well be putting my ear to a seashell. While Sheffield duo Mark Fell and Mat Steel have chosen to remain within the experimental realm, this time around they’ve included melody, syncopated rhythms and even breakbeats. Dreamy electronic reverb permeates some of the tracks, along with crunchy clicks and the sporadic funky beat that’s thrown in as a tease to something potentially danceable. A tasty little treat on the album is track nine, which reeks of microwave popcorn counting down its last few pops before the scorch. 8/10 (Heidi Chapson)

Adam Beyer Stockholm Mix Sessions V3 (Turbo/Koch)
Chalk up another hit for Montreal’s Turbo Recordings, back with another installment in their critically acclaimed Stockholm Mix Sessions. This time, forget the sweet summery house vibes of Jesper Dahlback that had you filing the first two Mix Sessions under the “let’s make sweet love” section of your music shelf. With bumpin’ tracks by Steve Rachmad, Samuel Sessions, and Montreal’s Mateo Murphy, this solid and funky mix by Sweden’s Adam Beyer has “let’s get down and dirty” written all over it. Deep techno at its best. 8.5/10 (Raf Katigbak)

B2K self-titled (Sony)
Not since the heyday of New Edition, back in the ’80s, has a boy band had this much impact on the urban music scene. To be sure, the B2K quartet are trading more heavily on looks than Ricky and the boys ever did, but there seems to be a certain amount of talent behind the gloss. Latest single “Gots Ta Be” follows in the tradition of radio-friendly urban jams, while the ubiquitous “Uh Huh” confirms the fact that the boyz can jam. Funky teenage angst for the shopping-mall crowd. 6.5/10 (Gerard Dee)

Michelle Shocked Deep Natural (Mighty Sound/Outside)
“New dub blues and gospel birdsong” is how Michelle Shocked describes this album, a double disc that flirts with said genres while keeping one foot fixed in the marshy greyness of adult contemporary. Acoustic guitar is the anchor here, electric provides the CHOM-age blues rock, pedal steel moans out desert ambiance, keys accentuate the dub, and trumpets represent Texas-born Shocked’s New Orleans home. The second, more palatable disc, dubbed “Dub Natural,” has the reggae beat, the heavy reverb, less Shocked and more backup vocals, but the difference is slight as the defiant, rural, spiritual themes are echoed, literally. 6/10 (Lorraine Carpenter)

Tanakh
Villa Claustrophobia
(Alien8/Fusion III)
This project, led by one Jesse Poe, showcases members of Cracker, Palace and Dirty Three, but high lonesome backwoods twang is just part of the picture. It’s woven in with haunting Carnatic wails (c/o Nirmal Bajekal, an associate of sitar hero Ravi Shankar), monastic drones and sepia-tinted chamber malaise. Probably the most musically orthodox release to date on Alien8, it nonetheless carries one a lot farther “out there” then many of their more abstract platters. The polycultural patchwork suggests a wide variety of locales—literally all over the map—but the common thread is an eloquent voicing of a grey, desolate solitude, heartbreak in the half-light of dusk, above and beyond any geographic specifics. 8/10 (Rupert Bottenberg)

Mingus Big Band Tonight at Noon… (Dreyfus/Fusion III)
The timing was right on this one—on April 22, the jazz world celebrated the 80th anniversary of the birth of Charles Mingus, a giant in the field as both a bassist and a composer ranked with Jelly Roll Morton, Thelonious Monk, John Lewis and Thad Jones. This band—actually two bands, Mingus Big Band and, making its debut, the Charles Mingus Orchestra—helps keep his compositions alive. “Black Saint & Sinner Lady,” one of his finest, is here along with the title track and “Eclipse,” one of his earlier works. The arrangements are by Sy Johnson, Gunther Schuller, Ronnie Cuber and Jack Walrath. Seamus Blake, “Tain,” Michael Rabinowitz and Elvis Costello are among those featured here. Great music! 9.5/10 (Len Dobbin)