The Hellacopters
By the Grace of God (Universal)
Let’s put aside the Scandinavian rock invasion hoo-hah for a minute because that just won’t do this record the justice it deserves. These Swedes continue in the classic-rock direction they’ve been veering in over the past couple of releases, but now Nicke Andersson steps it up in flared bellbottom fashion. If guitar leads have fallen from favour, the Hellacopters definitely didn’t get the memo. There’s more string-bending here than on your average Ted Nugent record. It’s all here, folks - Thin Lizzy harmony leads, Alice Cooper/Slade/Kiss riff-o-rama, Stax shuffle, arena-rock excess and lush harmonies that show a band just hitting their stride. Now that “rawk” has become the buzz word for the next couple of months, it’s nice to see a band that actually does just that. 9.5/10 (Johnson Cummins)

Richard Ashcroft
Human Conditions (Virgin/EMI)
Humourless egomaniacs are tolerable when Godlike talent comes with, but post-Verve, post-addiction Richard Ashcroft is skirting unbearability on all fronts. The grandiose production of a wall of strings, chanting and hot licks (with tablas tossed in for extra spirituality) tells us this is an important album, a vehicle for quasi-shamanic Ashcroft to hand down his tablets from up on high. Somehow, Nick Cave gets away with it, but Ashcroft’s tortured visionary posturing and lame name-dropping of God, Jesus and Buddha is just pompous, especially when the tunes are so mediocre. “I’m like a fish with legs/I see the universe”… what? 4/10 (Lorraine Carpenter)

The Baptist Generals
No Silver/ No Gold (Sub Pop/Outside)
Fans of the Folk Implosion and the Mountain Goats are going to wet themselves over this one. It’s a lo-fi folky feast that somehow successfully crosses Captain Beefheart with Neil Young, with a bit of Butthole Surfers and the Pixies added for good measure. No Silver/ No Gold is no tepid listen, despite the backbone being just a five-and-dime acoustic guitar, occasional upright bass and minimal beats and loops all wrapped up in a sense of uneasiness that is hard to put your finger on. 8.5/10 (Johnson Cummins)

Echoboy
Giraffe (Mute/Fusion III)
After two subdued, faceless and largely instrumental albums spent tweaking krautrock buzzes, Detroit beats and New Order basslines, Echoboy (aka Richard Warren) has teamed up with industrial-dance-rock producer Flood for a go at song-based aggro-tech à la 1998. Imagine Underworld, Pet Shop Boys and latter-day Primal Scream, clumsily slapped together and topped with dull lyrics and effete vocals. Between Warren’s lack of personality and Flood’s absurdly dark, deadweight production, this album is a mess. Seek out Echoboy’s 2000 Mute debut, Volume 1, instead. 4/10 (Lorraine Carpenter)

Jerk With a Bomb
Pyrokinesis (Scratch)
Opening lo-fi, with a slow drum beat, a dark riff and Vedder-ish vocals, this album suggests a Steve Albini production, where blowout heaviosity waits around every corner, ready to unfurl itself with each chorus and climax. This Vancouver duo - two guys who call themselves One Easy Skag (guitar, voice) and the Silo (drums, keys) - offers more subtle pay-offs and, once you dig in, some charming tunes. It’s not as deep or moving as it wants to be, and the forced, American drawl tends to tug at the nerves (no Canadian says “cig-uh-raayy-ots”), but there are enough tricks up sleeves to vaguely entertain. 6.5/10 (Lorraine Carpenter)

Mocky
Mocky in Mesopotamia (Gomma/Fusion III)
This is in fact the expanded “J.D. Slazenger’s Special Edition” reissue of last year’s release from the third part of the Canadian-jackasses-in-Old-Europe triumvirate that also includes Peaches and Chilly Gonzales. Of the three, I’ll take this guy’s semi-jokey, oddball hip hop first. Between his well-orchestrated use of odd and unpredictable source material, his complex and understated humour and his healthy interest in monkeys (oh, did I mention his puppet?), Mocky comes off as a clever cat who does what he wants and does it right. Fun stuff. 8/10 (Rupert Bottenberg)

Various
Dig Your Roots (NCRA/Earshot)
The National Campus and Community Radio Association unveils the first in a series of 10 CDs to be released over the next four years with this collection of independent hip hop from across the country. Locals Les Architeks, Half Life and Wyzah contribute on behalf of the Quebec contingent, while Vandal, Kamau and Eye+Eye rep for Toronto. As well as having music from Vancouver, Halifax and Alberta, it’s always nice to hear what’s coming out of heads from across Canada, but I was very surprised that there were no real standout tracks on this album. Like I said, it’s great to sample what artists in our own backyard are doing, but it’s even better when you get blown away by some truly wicked music. Keep an eye out for this and the upcoming installments. 7/10 (Scott C)

Funki Porcini
Fast Asleep (Ninja Tune/Outside)
When you’re one of the first names raised when the topic of trip hop/downtempo/chillout tuneage is broached, doing a CD of music geared to that half-point between sleep and wakefulness is a gamble. Were Ninja’s mushroom man any less proficient at creating low-key yet substantial ambient instrumentals, he’d be accused of working the Land-of-Nod angle exclusively. But FP’s too good at his game to generate sonic NyQuil. Better yet, he and his pal Team Alcohol have slapped together a bonus DVD (or “VDV,” in their view) that marries more than half the album to cool, abstract, mesmerizing macro-footage that lulls the viewer into a somnambulist state while a little voice in the back of the head says, “Wait a minute… what the hell is that?!” 8.5/10 (Rupert Bottenberg)

The Detroit Experiment
self-titled (Rope-a-Dope/Outside)
Building on the success of the Philadelphia Experiment, the innovators at Rope-a-Dope decided that the rich musical foundation that has existed in Detroit and its surrounding areas for decades would be a logical place to base their next release. This is a collaborative effort that involves Detroit musicmakers from the past, present and future, all working together with their respective talents. Names include Carl Craig, Marcus Belgrave, Bennie Maupin, Regina Carter, Karriem Riggins, the Athletic Mic League, Invincible and Arron Levinson. Renting Motown’s legendary White Room to record over five days in January, ’02, this LP unfolded as jazz luminaries and hip hop revolutionaries walked through the door to contribute to the experiment. An ambitious and inspired collection of music. 8/10 (Scott C)

Systemwide
Live at the Festival International de Jazz de Montréal (BSI/Fusion III)
Recorded here at last year’s Jazz Fest, this Portland, OR, quintet regard dub reggae not as a final destination but as a starting point, a template on which to lay elements of the jam band’s meandering groove, the frenetic clip of drum & bass and the keyboard hubris of prog rock (there are moments here that are very Yes, no?). The trick, of course, is to mix it all up without collapsing into gooey wank. To a large extent, Systemwide pull that off. A decent live recording helps. Anyone with a preference for simple, solid songcraft should steer well clear, but if you like seeing where five competent and likeminded musicians can go when they’re stylistically unfettered, give a listen. 7.5/10 (Rupert Bottenberg)

Various
Soundtoys 2x12 (Bip Hop)
Four renowned electronic artists - Håkan Lidbo, Si-Cut.DB, Scanner and Tonne, who organized the comp - are given the same experimental, visual music-sequencing program - Soundtoy - to see what they could come up with. The resulting eight tracks vary from the completely random and incidental drone of Scanner’s “Guide Me by Surprise” to the rather polished and orderly sequence of Håkan Lidbo’s “Bid Dod.” What’s really great about this CD is that you can come up with your own Soundtoy mixes using the program and samples included on the CD-ROM portion of the disc. Hours of fun! 8/10 (Raf Katigbak)

N.O.I.A.
Unreleased Classics ’78–’82 (Ersatz Audio)
It’s said that to know where you’re going, look where you’ve been. Seems the folks down at the Ersatz Audio (run by electro luminaries Adult.) know when it’s time to give props to the old school. In this particular case, with N.O.I.A.’s Unreleased Classics ’78–’82, Ersatz have struck gold and are about to share this musical nugget with the rest of us. Two years ago, the influential Italian synth-pop group N.O.I.A. re-recorded 10 of their earliest, never-before-released tracks and Ersatz jumped at the chance to release the album for the first time. With melodies and choruses that nod to a certain pioneering four-man German electro group, N.O.I.A. managed to develop a unique upbeat pop sound that’s strangely contrasted by rather dark lyrical subject matter. Pure synth-pop platinum, as relevant today as it was two decades ago and as it will be two decades from now. Find it! 9.5/10 (Raf Katigbak)

Jennifer Lopez
This Is Me… Then (Sony)
No other funky diva in recent years has made a career out of turning old-school tracks into funky pop with as much success as J-Lo. Her latest is all about the sample. Eight of the 11 tracks here feature portions of older tracks, including last year’s massive “Jenny From the Block” and her current, and even more massive, “All I Have” with LL Cool J. Look for tracks like “The One” (which samples “You Are Everything”) and “Baby I Love You” (which features portions of “Midnight Cowboy”) to keep Jenny from the block spinning in your ear throughout 2003. 8/10 (Gerard Dee)

Kieran Overs
For the Record (Unity/Page)
Nancy Walker
Levitation (Unity/Page)
A pair of new releases by a Toronto-based husband and wife. Bassist Overs’ CD was recorded in late ’98 by a quartet including Alex Dean, Brian Dickinson and Ted Warren. Interpreted is music by Steve Swallow (his “Hullo Bolinas” and “Willow”), Ellington’s “Angelica” and items from the pens of Kenny Barron, Dave Brubeck, Geoff Keezer and Matt Dennis - pianists all. Kieran also joins his wife on her August, ’02, quartet session with Kirk MacDonald and Barry Romberg. The music here, with the exception of a Monkish “Let’s Face the Music and Dance,” consists of originals by Walker. Try her Tristanoish “Mister Mosca”, dedicated to Lennie’s student, Sal Mosca. The leaders are two more first-rank musicians deserving a larger reputation than that so far afforded them. Both 9/10 (Len Dobbin)

Various When Loves Goes Wrong (Verve/Universal) » A super compilation put together by Ken Druker, featuring the likes of Frank D’Rone, Beverly Kenney, Johnny Hartman and Jimmy Scott. A treat for vocal fanciers! 8.5 (LD)

Tony Ezzy This Is a Party! (independent) » More analog shenanigans with Tony and his keyboards. 7 (SC)

Aereogramme Sleep and Release (Matador) » Frilly metal for elvish drama queens. 4 (LC)

Phaser Sway (Emperor Norton) “Street Spirit,” so much to answer for. 4 (LC)

A:18 Forever After Nothing (Victory/Koch) » Two sure signs of the apocalypse: 1) Bono is up for a Nobel peace prize, and 2) this is being passed off as “hardcore.” 3.5 (JC)

American Hi-Fi The Art of Losing (Island) » Dumb, lunkheaded, goofy jock rock - kind of like the Bifteck on a Saturday night. 3 (JC)

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