| Discs
of the week
Enon High Society (Touch and Go) Indie rock supergroup, anyone? Enon features John Schmersal from Brainiac on vocals and guitar, Blonde Redhead’s Toko Yasuda on vocals and bass, and Let’s Crash’s Matt Schulz on percussion, all three contributing crunchy keyboards and effects. Holding its hipster grab-bag of indie, pop and experimental sounds together, more or less, poor song sequencing and a surplus of pedestrian, pop-rock filler undercut the largely cool, catchy, roughly textured tuneage. Less songs, less middling, more Toko, problem solved. 7.5/10 (Lorraine Carpenter) With Brendan Benson, the Wellfed Boys and the Parka 3 at la Sala Rossa, Tues., Sept. 24, 9:30pm, $10  The
Flaming Lips Finally the Punk Rockers Are Taking Acid
1983–1988 (Restless/Outside)As the title of this three-disc doozy suggests, yes, this is the early material from the Lips, and yes, they were precisely what happens when a quartet of slacker Okie punks start gobbling windowpane and seeing God in the whorls of their fingertips. These days, Wayne Coyne and co. are creating magnificently shambolic, orch-folk-prog-tronic concept rock, and now serve as Beck’s backing band to boot, but back in the day, it was all a snarling, glorious, utterly amateurish mess. And God bless them for it. They bucked the anti-hippie stance of the ’80s hardcore environment, grew their hair and just plain freaked out. The saga continues in October, when The Day They Shot a Hole in the Jesus Egg comes out, which’ll take us right up to the major-label stuff. 8.5/10 (Rupert Bottenberg) Ladytron Light & Magic (Emperor Norton/Outside) Fans of Liverpool’s premiere new-wave party people know that their bold brand of robot rock was never broke, and rest assured that they haven’t fixed it. Still revelling in über-’80s revivalism, the co-ed quartet incorporate shades of Soft Cell, Visage, Berlin-era Bowie and Joy Division into their Human League/Kraftwerk canon, while early ’90s keyboard nuances are sure to trigger nostalgia cells in former Videodanse viewers. A slight drop in urgency and freshness and the fallout from electroclash steal thunder, but the Brit/Bulgarian vocal tag-team and endearing electronic constructions can’t quite disappoint. 8.5/10 (Lorraine Carpenter) Julee Cruise The Art of Being a Girl (Water Music/Fusion III) More than merely David Lynch’s ethereal creep-out princess, Julee Cruise proves herself a capable songwriter and remarkably elastic vocalist on this, her first LP since ’93. Produced and co-written by JJ McGeehan, the album also bears the mark of guest producers Mocean Worker and longtime co-conspirator Khan, creating a fluid mix of slick samples, chilled downtempo beats, bossa nova bounce and jazzy lounge. Wanton whispers, wavering chants, cabaret cool, angelic falsetto and neurotic phone calls form Cruise’s vast vocal palette and easily elevate the album beyond your average post-party mix. 8/10 (Lorraine Carpenter) Ms. Dynamite A Little Deeper (Polydor/Universal) Although Ms. D looks like your average pop star, sporting the fly gear, pretty face and all, she’s also assumed the role of the woman with the biggest balls and a commercial record deal. A Little Deeper was expected by most to continue in the two-step/U.K. garage vein that Ms. D introduced herself into, but instead offers a more hip hop and R&B-flavoured backdrop to her creative penchant for taking the record industry and all its ills to task. Songs like the first single “It Takes More” and “Dy-na-mi-tee” provide all the pop with a lyrical punch. Social stance is taken on the gun-control song “Watch Over Them,” where D isn’t afraid to call out the dudes that ruin shit for everyone. Watch close, because this young rapper/singer/producer is surely only getting started. 7.5/10 (Scott C)  Various
Ozzfest 2002 Live (Columbia/Sony)It seems like Ozzy needed a hot metal injection this year what with the lame bands he’s had on Ozzfest of late. System of a Down, Meshuggah and Pulse Ultra performed here not too long ago and ripped the crowd a new hole. Now it seems all three plus Down are filling one in the Ozzfest roster. Ozzy leads the howling pack into hell with “War Pigs,” Rob Zombie bludgeons us to boredom yet again with “More Human Than Human” and the rest of the lineup is filled out by Drowning Pool, P.O.D., Adema, Flaw, Andrew WK and more, not exactly pushing the envelope in metal. 7/10 (Lateef Martin) Trick Daddy Thug Holiday (Atlantic/Warner) It’s been a while since Trick Daddy stole the Miami hip hop throne from Luke Campbell, and with the release of his fourth album, it sounds like he wants to continue to hold court. Featuring the almighty guest appearances of Outkast’s Big Boi, Cee-Lo from Goodie Mob, Baby from Cash Money, Latocha Scott, Tre+6 and Rick Ross, the Thug President has a lot of help. He even has Betty Wright’s Children’s Choir singing on the gospel rooted “God Been Good.” Sounds to me like dude is getting to be an old thug, getting all musical and sentimental, and talking about takin’ it back to his roots and all that. Might hit a chord with some, but we’ve heard it all before. 6.5/10 (Scott C) Stars of the Lid Avec Laudenum (Kranky/FAB) Originally put out on the hard-to-get Belgian label Sub Rosa two years ago, 2002 sees Avec Laudenum getting a wider North American release through Chicago art-rock label Kranky (also home to the first three releases by premier local avant-rockers godspeed you black emperor!). The album blossomed out of a mail collab between guitarist/composer Brian McBride (USA) and sound engineer Adam Wiltze (Belgium via Texas?!). The result is a haunting and delicately subdued exercise in melodic repetition and drone-based layering. With its fragile layers of guitar, keyboards and samples, Avec plods along dreamily through five long and exquisitely drawn-out movements. A must for any ambient fan. 9/10 (Raf Katigbak) 
Various Earth Octave Lounge Vol. 1
(Interchill/Outside)The folks at Interchill are no strangers to the dubwise mondo-relaxo comp, and here keep the format fresh by spiking it with some wit, weirdness and capricious surprises. Tasteful downtempo across the board here, but look out for the treacherous brass stabs of Hi-Fi Companions’ “The Livin’ End.” Then there’s the shimmering jazz/folk-no of Mere Mortal’s “Kissing the Opaque,” the Mobyesque blues ’n’ breaks of Jumbo Layer’s “Misty” and the fingerpoppin’ Gypsy jitters of Boogs’s nifty “Opposable Strums.” The energy flags in the third act, though, with Shakatura playing the easy Eastern card. Use your shuffle function for a more pleasantly varied pacing. 7.5/10 (Rupert Bottenberg)  Lokua
Kanza Toyebi Té (SunnySide/Universal)Paris-based since ’94, Congolese artist Kanza has been quietly fine-tuning modern African pop, as an arranger and producer for folks like Miriam Makeba and Youssou N’Dour. Toyebi Té marks his North American debut, drawing the spotlight to an underrated talent. The less-is-more approach to the instrumentation (several tunes are in strict solo mode) gives the floor to Kanza’s complex and full-bodied vocals as he meditates on love and spirituality. Modern touches are judiciously applied, be they chiming synth tones, soft, symphonic strings on “Come Back to Me” or a rap from MC Passi on “Je n’ai pas choisi.” 7/10 (Rupert Bottenberg) At Kola Note, Fri. and Sat., Sept. 20–21, 9pm, $30 Various Dressed in Black: A Tribute to Johnny Cash (Dualtone) This may not have been the first Cash tribute out of the gate but it’s probably the best one. No big names here, with the exception of Hank Williams III and Rev. Horton Heat, but with these quality takes on the classics, you really don’t need ’em. Nobody can really match the man in black’s timber-shakin’ vocals, but a new emphasis is put on the incredible songwriting that lays in his immense catalogue. The big surprise here is the majority of this collection is culled from Cash’s Sun label years. Forget your cheap punk rock, this is real outlaw music. 8.5/10 (Johnson Cummins) Geordie McDonald Inside the Outside (SV) Geordie McDonald Bridge to Everywhere (SV) A pair of new releases by this former Montreal drummer/percussionist, best known for appearances on a pair of Paul Bley sessions. Both are subtitled “Jazz Moves Around the World.” The first features Phil Dwyer, Nancy Walker, Kieran Overs, Ernie Tollar, violinist Hugh Marsh and Levon Ichkhanian in a program that includes Gil Evans’s “Las Vegas Tango” and the traditional piece “The Water Is Wide.” The second brings Jane Bunnett, Larry Cramer, cellist Kiki Misumi and vibraphonist Allan Molnar on board with McDonald, Walker and Overs on selections like George Russell’s “Stratusphunk,” Dizzy’s “Kush” and three by Brubeck including “Tango for Joe Lovano.” Both are very strong outings worth many a listen. Both 9/10 (Len Dobbin) >> MINI REVIEWS >> MUSIC LISTINGS |
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Communications Gratte-Ciel Ltée 2002 |
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Swayzak Dirty Dancing (K7/Fusion III)