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Disc
of the week
Jefferson
Grant Quintet As One (Nisapa/SRI)
 This
is a group formed in Montreal in 1995, one that, despite some of its
members settling elsewhere, remains an entity. There should be a hyphen—it’s
actually Kelly Jefferson and Kelsley Grant who co-lead this fine band.
Both first-rate players, Jefferson plays tenor and soprano sax, Grant
the trombone. They are joined by pianist Guy Dubuc, bassist George Mitchell
and drummer Martin Auguste on this, their excellent second CD release.
There are 12 originals by the members of the band, including three miniatures,
“Thousand Cuts” and a trio of extended pieces, “Coping,”
“Streams to a River” and “Reflections of Romance.”
A force to be reckoned with in the Canadian jazz field. 9.5/10 (Len
Dobbin)
At
le Monument-National, Sun., June 30, 10:30pm, $14.50
Sonic
Youth Murray Street (Geffen/Universal)
More indie rock than post-rock, Sonic Youth’s 16th album—tellingly
named for their studio, nearly wrecked by 9/11 plane debris—shifts
away from arch experimentation, favouring straight-shooting vocals and
relatively accessible arrangements. Intensity and confrontational noise
attacks persist, however, particularly on the 11-minute “Karen
Revisited,” all its breakdowns, build-ups and crescendos presented
via SY’s distinct guitar mosaics. Meandering in parts, this album
is nevertheless a return to form, for which credit is certainly due
to producer and, now, official fifth band member Jim O’Rourke.
8/10 (Lorraine Carpenter)
Nashville
Pussy Say Something Nasty (Artemis/Sony)
 With
their third release, N.P. have slowed it down and dumbed it out even
more. The last one, High as Hell, confused some people, but their AC/DC
groove and high-octane rock delivery is fully realized now. And how
dumb have they gotten? How do “Keep on Fucking,” “You
Give Drugs a Bad Name,” “The Bitch Just Kicked Me Out”
or “Gonna Hitchhike Down to Cincinnati and Kick the Shit Outta
Your Drunk Daddy” sound? If you like AC/DC (who doesn’t?),
then Nashville Pussy are going to deliver everything you need. Of course,
they’re a band to see live, and you’ll get the chance in
August, but until then let Say Something Nasty be your summer record.
8.5/10 (Johnson Cummins)
Korn
Untouchables (Immortal/Sony)
Radiohead have gone beyond all expectations of where a rock band should
go. Tool have evolved from intense, pissed metal to, well, epic, transcendent
pissed metal. System of a Down continue to defy categorization. As for
Korn, who introduced the Family Values tour and have left the ever-irritating
Limp Bizkit in their place while they left the scene for years, and
who have arguably spawned a vomit-load of rap/rock half-assers—they
have come back with Untouchables. With songs like “Hollow Life,”
“Wake Up Hate” and “Bottled Up Inside,” it seems
like business as usual. The boys know how to hook the young ’uns,
so why change anything other than getting a bit louder, angrier and
moodier? Same shit, different album. 7/10 (Lateef Martin)
June
27 show cancelled, rescheduled for fall
Rebecca
Campbell & Justin Haynes The Sweetest
Noise (independent)
Somehow equally lethargic and busy, this Toronto duo bypasses the mainstays
of folk, pop and jazz for something more timeless and intangible. A
team of musicians contribute to the slight arrangements, which include
keys, horns, strings, percussion and samples, only when necessary. Silken-throated
Campbell handles vocals, sharing the task with Haynes on the album’s
centrepiece, a sunny, ’60s-style French number called “The
Days.” In short, the cover image of a music box’s inner
workings couldn’t be more apt, and the duo very nearly live up
to their album’s title. 8.5/10 (Lorraine Carpenter) At Casa del
Popolo, Sun., June 30
Helena
Azul (Tricatel/Verve/Universal)
For all her Brazilophilia, this Helena Noguerra lady might just as well
have been booked at les Francofolies. While fluent in Portuguese, she’s
Paris-based and signed to the Tricatel label, the owner of which, Bertrand
Burgalat (who plays some sweet vibes on the closing track) is slated
for the Francos. Moreover, idiosyncratic Gallic popster Katerine and
his band the Recyclers serve as producer and backing band, respectively.
So purist bossa nova this is not, but rather a dreamy, ersatz Brazilliance,
torchy, unpredictable and inspired. 8/10 (Rupert Bottenberg)
With Katerine
at Club Soda, Thurs., June 27, 7pm, $25.50
DJ
Shadow The Private Press (MCA)
I’ll bet that when Josh Davis concocted the many moods of Endtroducing,
he wasn’t thinking that its future relevance might come back to
haunt him. The Private Press is most definitely not Entroducing, much
to the chagrin of all the people who were expecting some sort of cheap
sequel. The King of Diggin’ retains his crown with an extremely
varied, stirring collection of samples and breaks which address the
many minds of this progressively schizophrenic venture. You can put
this on in the background if you want, but chances are it won’t
stay there for very long. Most obvious is Shadow’s instinctive
ability to change gears, not only allowing himself the maximum amount
of artistic pleasure, but also giving the listener a blatant challenge
to listen even further. This man and his milk-crate mysticism are a
hard act to follow. 8.5/10 (Scott C)
 High
Tone Opus Incertum (Jarring Effects/Local)
The neo-dub line these Frenchmen follow is a relatively clean one—light,
tight, bright ’n’ shiny. It lacks the raw, radioactive,
edge-of-madness messiness that originators like Lee Perry initially
invested in dub reggae. High Tone compensate, however, by incorporating
elements of hip hop, D&B and, frequently, Middle Eastern sounds,
and by applying a high-tech European fussiness to the proceedings. Things
do get weird—the busy, bizarre “African Airline” just
won’t quit—but not in the scary, old-school way. Dub lite,
yeah, but fun and fully formed. 8/10 (Rupert Bottenberg)
At
Scène du Maurier (President-Kennedy and Ste-Famille), Thurs.
and Fri., June 27 and 28, 8pm and 10pm, free
Ryu
Ga (Exceptional/Fusion III)
Ryu is the trio of Japanese DJs, Hide, Sak and mentor DJ Krush, coming
together to hammer out some like-minded music. Ga isn’t so much
a turntablist record as it is an atmospheric walk on the banks of the
melancholy. It stops being so serious and gets funky towards the end,
but perhaps a little too late. There are a lot of musical clichés
here, with ’nuff trippy pap and some breakbeat medleys, but I
always love when Japanese vocalists or MCs catch my ear. “Ill
Beatnik” features Boss MC, an old Krush collaborator who knows
how to rock it just right, while “Beataholic Reformatory”
features the Beat Knuckles scratching like there was no tomorrow. Approach
with caution. 7/10 (Scott C)
Savath
+ Savalas The Rolls and Waves EP (Hefty)
Scott Herren rules. After recording under the name Delarosa + Asora
for the Schematic label in 1997, the Atlanta native promptly started
blowing up more headz than a Cronenberg scanner. Even though his release
as glitch-hop laptop fiend Prefuse 73 on Warp made most IDMers cream
their titaniums, it was his sublime fusion of math rock + dsp on 2000’s
Folk Songs for Trains Trees & Honey as Savath + Savalas that elegantly
bridged the gap between electronic + organic. It’s been two years
since, and it’s nice to see some things haven’t changed.
The Roles and Waves EP picks up where Folk Songs left off, with five
tracks of head-nodding beats accented by beautiful, abstracted melodies
and textures. A must. 9/10 (Raf Katigbak)
Marc
Anthony Mended (Sony)
Anthony follows last year’s Libre with his second English-language
offering, designed to further his mass appeal. While he can’t
match the sincerity and exuberance of his Spanish releases, he escapes
much of the schmaltz that plagues other Latino crossover artists, though
tracks like “Everything You Do” and “Do You Believe
in Loneliness” come dangerously close. On the flip side, cuts
like “Don’t Tell Me It’s Love” and “I’ve
Got You” are proof positive that Anthony can spin brilliant in
any language. 7.5/10 (Gerard Dee)
Joey
DeFrancesco The Philadelphia Connection
(HighNote/Fusion III)
This B-3 master, and sometime trumpeter, is joined here by guitarist
Paul Bollenback and drummer Byron Landham on a session subtitled “A
Tribute to Don Patterson.” As the late Mr. Patterson was a particular
favourite of mine, I welcomed the arrival of this CD and wasn’t
disappointed. The leader, born in Springfield, PA, in 1971, is himself
the son of a B-3 player, “Papa” John DeFrancesco, who was
popular in the Niagara Falls/Buffalo area and remains active. He and
Joey can be heard together on Hip Cake Walk on the same label. The session
at hand will be a treat for lovers of the genre with Patterson’s
“S’ Bout Time” and “Opus De Don” heard
alongside “Blue ’n’ Boogie” and “Oleo.”
9/10 (Len Dobbin)
With
Pat Martino at le Spectrum, Sat., June 29, 9pm, $29.50
Bill
Frisell The Willies (Nonesuch/Warner)
Frisell has always been a guitarist’s guitarist, but what makes
him incredible is that you hardly have to be a plucker to be knocked
over with his instrumental take on Americana. Although Frisell can play
circles around most other guitarists, he keeps the pyrotechnics in his
back pocket and lets the melody do all of the talking. The accompaniment
is kept to a minimum, with Danny Barnes playing banjo and acoustic and
Keith Lowe on bass. If you loved his Nashville record, this is the next
step, but even more stripped down. The cover of “Goodnight Irene”
will have your jaw on the floor. 9/10 (Johnson Cummins)
Solo
at Salle de Gésu, sat., June 29, 6pm, $32.50, and at le Spectrum,
Mon., July 1, 9pm, $34.50
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