Stars
Heart (Paper Bag/Outside)
Following their Nightsongs album and a string of increasingly impressive EPs, Montreal’s own Stars just might end up touting their tenderness to the world. With finishing touches provided by Saint Etienne producer Ian Catt, Heart was largely home-made, a masterful job of negotiating the electronic, the symphonic and the purely pop. New Order and the Smiths remain key reference points, with singer Torq Campbell’s Brit-icisms playing coyly off Amy Millan’s angelic voice, all over a blissful, universal-class backdrop. For the future classics “Elevator Love Letter,” “Look Up” and the title track alone, Heart deserves every scrap of attention a Canadian album can possibly get. 9.5/10 (Lorraine Carpenter)

Cat Power
You Are Free (Matador)
The understated, raw emotion of Chan Marshall’s voice, combined with her everyday poetry and deceptively simple songwriting, has a power beyond genre, time or famous friends. Having said that, Marshall’s a hippie child driven into music by the sounds of Bob Dylan and Sonic Youth, her dark, airy indie rock seeped in the spirit of folk and blues. This album, her sixth, features shadow-bound ballads and spiky rockers, Michael Hurley and John Lee Hooker covers and guest appearances by Warren Ellis (violin), Dave Grohl (drums) and Eddie Vedder (vocals), making a surprisingly subtle appearance on two tracks. 8.5/10 (Lorraine Carpenter)

The Minus 5
Down With Wilco (Yep Roc/Outside)
Odd title, but it actually makes sense as most Wilco fans will be all over this. The Minus 5 is the brainchild of Young Fresh Fellows and REM sideman Scott McCaughey. REM’s Peter Buck and Wilco’s Jeff Tweady both lend a hand on this record, but McCaughey doesn’t really need the nods as he has been perfecting the pop song since ’83. With all of the hooks and sharp turns of the Raspberries and the Beach Boys and more recently the New Pornographers and Ray Wonder, this is a tasty, saccharine-enriched treat. Pop doesn’t have to be a dirty word. 8.5/10 (Johnson Cummins)

The Postal Service
Give Up (SubPop/Outside)
Having met only once for a quickie collaboration, Death Cab for Cutie’s Ben Gibbard and Dntel’s Jimmy Tamborello became electropop penpals, bouncing their sounds between Seattle and L.A. for almost a year. The result is an accomplished construct of beats, bass, synths, slivered strings and drops of guitar, with Gibbard’s lovely melodies and clever emoting bolstered by two singers named Jenny (one of them from Rilo Kiley). Balancing finite modernity and ’80s pop finesse, refinement and rawness, this meeting of indie rock and electro-glitch minds forecasts the beginning of a beautiful friendship. 8/10 (Lorraine Carpenter)

Morphine
The Best of… 1992–1995 (Ryko/Outside)
Morphine founder/bassist/singer Mark Sandman died of a heart attack on stage in Italy in ’99. With his passing, the arc of this remarkable Boston trio’s trajectory came to a frustratingly premature end - their last CD The Night promised a whole new level of excellence from the band. Still, we have plenty to be thankful for, much of which is collected here. Morphine’s triangulation of fluid two-string bass, baritone sax and simple drums really did add up to more than the sum of its parts, whether creeping through heartbroken midnight dirges (“Whisper”) or charging through fierce, jagged and darkly sexy bursts of swaggering neo-blues (“Honey White”). Looking back now, this was a band of exceptional vision and craft, one that’s left a legacy unmatched by pretty much all of their ’90s grunge/indie contemporaries. 9/10 (Rupert Bottenberg)

Ogusuru Norihide
Modern (Carpark/Fusion III)
For a completely serene and mellowed-out listen, pick up the latest from Japanese artist Ogurusu Norihide. Upon first listen, it becomes apparent that the title Modern is somewhat tongue in cheek as most of the main instrumentation comes from acoustic guitar and piano. Once again, however, Norihide brings out new qualities and modes from these “traditional” instruments with his minimalist composition and digital processing. An exercise in restraint, the pieces on Modern evoke a certain calm and balance (which makes sense given that Norihide is a certified Shinto priest). This is a wonderfully gentle album perfect for rainy nights of quiet contemplation. 9/10 (Raf Katigbak)

Super Numeri
Great Aviaries (Ninja Tune/Outside)
Ninja’s really gone out on a limb with this one. This 13-strong Liverpool collective of “avant-garde traditionalists” are as far removed from the label’s familiar beats ’n’ bytes as anything they’ve released yet. Great Aviaries takes a fresh, weird tack with each track, suggesting wiry krautrock, psychedelic ’70s jazz, chamber pop, world beat and musique actuelle - without ever kowtowing to the clichés of any. At the same time, the term “experimental” can often mean “hasn’t really gelled yet, has it?” Like other brainy, edgy mega-bands popping up these days, the everything-but-the-kitchen-sink instrumentation doesn’t always make up for the absence of a road map. To sum it up: confused at times, but hardly unpleasant. 7/10 (Rupert Bottenberg) Super Numeri’s Snap Ant DJs, with Sundown, Sundown and the Nanobot Auxiliary Ballet, at Casa del Popolo, Sat., Feb. 22, 10pm, $5

Angel
nr.1 – nr.10 (Bip Hop)
This is a live recording of Ilpo Vaisanen (of Pan Sonic fame) and Dirk Dresselhaus (from SchneiderTM) operating as Angel. Starting off with subdued microsounds, it soon becomes a dense wall of distortion and noise thanks to the Dresselhaus’s fucked-up guitar playing and Vaisanen’s digital-effect tomfoolery (add to that alien sounds sourced from a CD player and his home-made synth dubbed the “Typewriter”). With influences like surf, drone, ragga and noiserock (but without the ordered structure of other schizophonic bands like Naked City), if you’re in the mood for a good head-and-ear washing in an insanely dense Merzbow stylee, then check this shit out. Heavy metal’s logical conclusion, where mullets and turtlenecks collide. 8/10 (Raf Katigbak)

Various
Rewind 2 (Ubiquity/Outside)
Nice collection of remixes, covers and personal interpretations of some very good songs here, but a little too liberal with the filler. Roy Davis Jr. singing Curtis Mayfeild’s “People Get Ready” I can do without, just like John Beltran’s version of Sting’s “Fragile” might have seemed like a good idea at the time. Shining moments include two tracks from Wajeed’s Platinum Pied Pipers, Herbert’s brilliant remix of Karen Krog’s “Meaning of Love” and works from Greyboy, Yesterday’s New Quintet and Italy’s Nicola Conte. Some great songs, but this comp has to focus its concept. 7.5/10 (Scott C)

Various
Ghana Soundz: Afro-beat, Funk and Fusion from ’70s Ghana (Soundway/Fusion III)
I was sitting comfortably sipping on a Heineken when I first heard Rob’s “Make It Fast, Make It Slow,” after which I sprinted to the DJ booth in order to find out the source. This is the source, my friends, with 14 tracks of pure gold and no shortage of dancefloor killers. Soundway Records’ Miles Cleret has compiled a virtually impenetrable fortress of Ghanaian funk and fusion, painstakingly put together over two years and four trips to Ghana. Very rarely do compilations like this surface, where the research and time put into the LP are reflected in every single track that you hear. This is where the hunt now begins. Finding other work from bands like the Sweet Talks, Ebo Taylor, the 3rd Generation Band, or Gyedu Blay Ambolley and the Steneboofs could prove a little tricky, but from what I’ve heard so far, it’s probably worth the trouble. 10/10 (Scott C)

Lionel Richie
The Definitive Collection (UTV/Universal)
Say what you want about Richie, but he and his fellow Commodores ruled the ’80s with an iron glove. Some tracks are easier to take than others, so if you absolutely can’t stomach tear-jerkers like “Hello” or his Diana Ross duet “Endless Love,” then turn to “Sail On” or “Easy,” easily two of the best and most recognizable Commodore hits. There are also a couple of new tracks here, including a duet with Enrique Iglesias, “To Love a Woman,” which doesn’t lower the schmaltz factor by any significant degree. But hey, Richie fans probably won’t be deterred. 7/10 (Gerard Dee)

Kenny Brown
Stingray (Fat Possum/FAB)
This longtime R.L. Burnside sideman finally steps up and grabs his slice of the spotlight. Brown concentrates mainly on the hypnotizing boogie popularized by R.L. and John Lee Hooker, but also changes speeds with the great country blues of “All I Want,” “Cocaine Bill” and “Fare Thee Well Blues.” Brown also updates the sound a bit by including R.L.’s grandson/drummer Cedric Burnside, who provides true groove. Although he doesn’t have Burnside’s bourbon-soaked rasp, Brown does manage to prove that he is more than just a mere sideman. 7.5/10 (Johnson Cummins)

Sheila Jordan
Little Song (Justin Time/Fusion III)
The world’s greatest living jazz singer in another outstanding outing, better than a thousand Norah Joneses. On this 2002 session, she’s reunited with pianist Steve Kuhn, who leads a trio of David Fink and Billy Drummond. Tom Harrell, with whom she recently toured Europe, guests on four tracks of the baker’s dozen presented here. Charlie Parker, her early mentor, is remembered here with his “Barbados” and there’s a return to Kuhn’s “Deep Tango.” Her own “Little Song” segues into “Blackbird” and there are also her distinct takes on a number of standards including “Something’s Gotta Give,” “If I Should Lose You,” “Autumn in New York” and Ray Noble’s “The Touch of Your Lips.” It’s early, but this is on my album-of-the-year list. 10/10 (Len Dobbin)

Remi Bolduc Tchat (Justin Time/Fusion III) » A duo set with pianist Kenny Werner, a most memorable cross-border meeting in the “not to be missed” category! 10 (LD)

Various Morvern Callar (Warp/Outside) » A film soundtrack of slick, supple, sinister and sweet proportions, familiar tracks by Aphex Twin, Can, Broadcast, VU, Lee “Scratch” Perry and more. 9 (LC)

Various Legends of the Incredible Lap Steel Guitar (Horse Rock) » True masters playing on one of the most lyrical instruments ever built. 8.5 (JC)

King Missile III The Psychopathology of Everyday Life (Instinct/Koch) » Again, pretty clever comedic art rock, even if it’s about 75 per cent cussing and cussing for cussing’s sake. 6 (RB)

GFS Mount Vernon Street (Sound Gizmo) » Noodly, soft drum & bass for listening to at the sleep factory. 5 (SC)

Levellers Green Blade Rising (Eagle/EMI) » I’m not sure who is worse, Sting or Levellers. Hmmm... okay, it’s still Sting, but this is nipping at his heels. 3 (JC)

The Music self-titled (Capitol/EMI) » The deadweight of a Led Zeppelin, the callousness of a (Second Coming) Stone Rose and the buzz of a Chemical Brother - I’ll take the silence. 2 (LC) With Coldplay at the Bell Centre, Tues., Feb. 25

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