Various
Studio One Story (Soul Jazz/Fusion III)
Soul Jazz top themselves - a tough feat - with this thorough document on Jamaica’s pioneering Clement “Coxsone” Dodds and his vaunted Studio One, the “Motown of reggae.” Don’t get it for the 90-page booklet full of rare snaps, useful info and odd facts (e.g.: JA’s current prime minister is a former Skatalites roadie!). Don’t get it for the wicked comp CD (Delroy Wilson, Sugar Minott, Alton Ellis etc.). No, get it for the four-hour DVD. The documentary that Soul Jazz has assembled is built around Dodd’s return to Kingston after decades in NYC. The reminiscences that he and countless artists and techs provide not only bring the glory days of Studio One to life, they chart the complex history of Jamaican pop - from ska through dub, roots and dancehall - in a lively, personal manner. And yes, there are subtitles for the patois-challenged. 10/10 (Rupert Bottenberg)

Tremolo
Romantisme Hermétique (L’Esprit tortu/Fusion III)
Fusing the electronic and the acoustic into loose, lovely textures, this local duo still sounds like a broadcast from dreamland. Ethereal synth lines mix with acoustic guitars, sing-song piano with brushed drums, machine beats with smoky trumpet statements, breathless vocals with desert riffs, all among a haze of hisses, crackles and flutters. Though occasional lethargic melodies and underwhelming passages flirt with obscurity, this sophomore disc is a beautifully conceived, high-end production ranking among top québécois acts like Jérôme Minière, who lends vocals to one track here. In blurb, it’s like new Radiohead on a heavy dose of tranquilizers (and French lessons). 8.5/10 (Lorraine Carpenter) With Microcosm at Jupiter Room, Mon. & Tues., Dec. 16 & 17, 9pm, free

Various
Mayday! (Mayday/FAB)
Montreal’s ska-punk octopus, the Union Label Group, has grown yet another tentacle. This sub-label Mayday has a mandate for mayhem, judging by the surly “all-Canadian oi! and streetpunk” material gathered here. That’s right, Docs, bombers and Ben Sherman longjohns are in order as the true north’s finest stubble-topped troubadours dish out some primo tunes. Acts like the Class Assassins, Riot 99, Disgruntled and Wednesday Night Heroes join Montreal’s own Ripcordz, Generatorz and Ordures Ioniques in a frenzy of gruff yet melodic joe-public punk in the U.K. tradition of the Clash, Sham 69, Angelic Upstarts and their ilk. Crunchy, punchy and all cranked up from end to end. 8/10 (Rupert Bottenberg)

Koufax
Social Life (Vagrant/Universal)
They’re friends of emo-popstars the Get-up Kids, they’re influenced by “Reagan-era songsmiths” like Joe Jackson and Ric Ocasek, their bummy indie piano sounds like Ben Folds, they’re named after a legendary Brooklyn baseball player and their bio has the word “Detroit” in it. With crossover potential coming out of their collective ass, the quartet offers a pleasant sophomore album, leaving equal space for keys and guitars in their grand pop scheme. Awkward lyrics and equally stinging vocals (like Robert Smith meets Lou Reed, if you can imagine that) sometimes undercut the tunes, but it’s the album’s only major flaw. 7.5/10 (Lorraine Carpenter)

Camper Van Beethoven
Cigarettes & Carrot Juice: The Santa Cruz Years (Cooking Vinyl/Warner)
As with the Flaming Lips earlier this year, post-punk So-Cal druggies Camper Van Beethoven see their pre-major-label discography nicely collected in one spot. Unlike the still-functional Lips, the Campers busted up in ’90 (guitarist David Lowery went on to form Cracker), leaving a legacy of pothead pop and mondo folk-rock. A dozen years later, their catalogue is as fresh, fun and freaky as it ever was. This snappy box set gathers the globalist ska of ’85’s Telephone Free Landslide Victory, the odd tunings and psych-jam lunacy of their self-titled ’86 release, assorted rarities and a lil’ bookie. Too bad Our Beloved Revolutionary Sweetheart, their first for a major and easily their best album, isn’t here - but the best tunes off it are, on an energetic bonus live disc. 8.5/10 (Rupert Bottenberg)

Popium
Permanently High (Music NetWork/Fusion III)
More news from Scandinavia, as Norway goes pop. Britpop to start, with sunny British-invasion sounds and mod/Motown tones, but gears shift several times, into beat-driven ballads, folk pop, glam rock and odd yet slick combos thereof. There’s a Kiss cover and a few Oasis-alikes - in fact, several songs are painfully reminiscent of other tunes, some of them annoyingly just out of memory’s reach. While that may be my problem, it’s also indicative of a vulture approach, as if “Popium” is a machine that spews a mish-mash of any classic pop you feed into it. Maybe that’s the point. 7/10 (Lorraine Carpenter)

naw
The Resound of a Foggy Autumn Dawn (Noise Factory/Sonic Unyon)
The acronym’s short for Neil A. Wiernik, a prodigal Montrealer who’d built a rep for wicked techno parties and a solid body of music while off in T.O. for half a decade. Wiernik’s returned, with his Clonk events and this CD in tow. Bucking the navel-gazing self-reference that hinders so much of experimental techno, Wiernik instead draws on indie rock (for theory) and dub (in practice) to construct the rich, accessible flares of sound that wrap around the steady clickety-click of the microhouse beats. A pleasant home listen that offers more than initially meets the ear, coughing up new forms with each subsequent spin. 7.5/10 (Rupert Bottenberg)

Fermin Muguruza
In-komunikazioa (Metak)
The Basque taskmaster returns, and doesn’t deliver as expected. After leaving Spanish left-core outfit Negu Goriak in the late ’90s, Muguruza had shifted styles - whipping up an internationalist dub-ska hodge-podge - but remained a fierce political firebrand. With Basque nationalism as a starting point, he’d sounded the alarm for oppressed peoples the globe over. His latest isn’t entirely depoliticized, with an ode to Leonard Pelletier and raspberries for Bush, Inc. But lyrically, it leans toward poetic abstraction, and musically, it’s for the most part a cheery, laidback party platter (check the flashes of Cajun spice, the funky, frenzied title track and the bouncy ska-hop of “Linguae Navarrorun Museum”). Not that FM has wimped out. He’s just framing things in the positive for a change. 7.5/10 (Rupert Bottenberg)

Dead Prez
Turn off the Radio (Holla Black/Fusion III)
Dead Prez walk into this one with guns blazing, taking their militant, pro-black message to the heart of the matter. Hijacking Puffy’s, Timbaland’s and a couple of other supa-producers’ beats in order to get their message across, these two capable MCs stand on a platform that aims to uplift the ideals of black youth in America, particularly those who have been subject to the deterioration of positivity in hip hop music over the years. You’ve never had so many songs damning the man in one place, eloquent and articulate but digging straight to the heart of the problem. Babylon beware, DPZ are coming for you. 7/10 (Scott C)

The Roots
Phrenology (MCA/Universal)
For those who don’t know, phrenology is an old-world approach to analyzing a person’s character based solely on the shape of the skull. This system has of course been replaced, much like the notion that the Roots had somehow become predictable after five albums of live hip hop. Yes, “Break You Off” is a watery single, and upon first listen to the rest of the LP, I wasn’t too pleased with where it was going. In the end, I think that this record is an answer to all the people throwing around the term “neo-soul” like an old sock, driving home the fact that even soulful music in 2002 has to be more about innovation and less about repetition. This may disappoint those who thought they knew what the Roots were about, but if you’re up for their challenge you might hear something else. 7/10 (Scott C)

Jaheim
Still Ghetto (Warner)
The roughneck lover-man returns with a sophomore set designed to further cement his position as the Teddy Pendergrass of the ’hood. He keeps it real by choosing songs that pair his gruff vocals with simple but effective bass lines. He’s also a chameleon, one minute being the sensitive lover on “Put That Woman First,” the next checking for “Tight Jeans.” His pairing with Mary J. Blige on “Beauty and Thug” is a heaven-made match, while “Diamond in Da Ruff” so aptly describes an artist who shines with a rough gloss. 8/10 (Gerard Dee)

Lee Fields
Problems (Soul Fire)
» Lee Fields is not James Brown. But if James had a next-door neighbour trying to make his own way in the world of funk and soul, someone who understood the nuance of a heavy popcorn and lazy pocket grooves, Lee Fields would be that guy. Backed by stellar Soul Fire musicians, Fields blows up the spot with joints like “Clap Your Hands” and “The Right Thing.” While singing about the many trials and tribulations of life on tracks like “I Don’t Know Where I’m Going” and “Bad Trip,” you kind of get the feeling that my man has more than a few stories to tell. Well, there’s 10 of them here, with funky drums to boot. 8/10 (Scott C)

Judi Silvano & Mal Waldron
Riding a Zephyr (Soul Note)
Waldron, the pianist on this duo outing recorded in his adopted home of Brussels on Nov. 8, 2000, died on Dec. 2 of cancer. He was either 76 or 77 depending on which source you believe. He recorded prolifically but not often with singers - that said, one of his most visible gigs was as Billie Holiday’s last accompanist (he was with Lady Day from 1957 up to the time of her death in ’59). He also recorded with the late Jeanne Lee. All of this to say that this is one of those rarities, just Mal’s excellent piano and the marvellous voice of the relatively unsung Judi Silvano. Ten very musical tracks, most written by Mal, an excellent composer - his “Soul Eyes” has become a jazz standard and it’s here along with “Cattin’,” “All Night Through” and the set closer, “Mal Waldron,” written by Mal, Judi and her husband, Joe Lovano. Ms. Silvano is also a composer of note and “Dust” is hers, as is the title piece, one of the finest of the recent vocal releases in the jazz field. 9.5/10 (Len Dobbin)

byproduct self-titled (BYP) » A trio made up of Zack Lober and Chet and Jim Doxas, three of the more exciting young musicians on the Montreal scene. A fine debut! 9 (LD)

Countdown Quartet Sadlack’s Stomp (Yep Roc/Outside) » Jazz-funk with a pronounced New Orleans flavour (oddly, they’re from North Carolina) that’s bumpy, bluesy, brassy, biblical (“Joseph”) and bang-on. 8 (RB)

Jane Birkin Arabesque (Capitol/EMI) » Serge Gainsbourg’s old flame tackles his catalogue in a live jazz-pop set with Arabic touches. 7.5 (RB)

Eyes for Telescopes Soundarounds (Sandbar Music Group) » Charlottetown quintet, with three ex-Strawberry guys, makes indie psych-rock with a view. 7 (LC)

Kyoto Jazz Massive Spirit of the Sun (JCR) » Some nice emissions here, but sadly, no surprises from Shyua, Yoshihiro and my boy Hajime Yoshizowa. 7 (SC)

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