YEAH YEAH YEAHS
Fever to Tell (Interscope/Universal)
Brooklyn's hottest art rock trio have had a buzz on since their raw, raunchy debut EP in 2001, and this album continues in that vein while spiking an alternate avenue on the side. For each hyperactive no-wave dance track or horny neo-blues number, there's a conflicted new-wave love song (à la Interpol), a fleeting dub jam experiment or big-bottomed rawk-out. And somehow it all gels - Karen O's commanding histrionics and insecure confessions, guitarist Nick Zinner's undulating riffs and ringing serenades - like a well-rounded personality with its bender nights and thoughtful days-after. 9/10 (Lorraine Carpenter)

MADONNA
American Life (Maverick/Warner)
Lyrics have never been her strong suit, but Madonna's cliché-riddled stab at America's morning-after syndrome - in this case, naïvely questioning fame and bourgeoisie - seems as vacuous and hypocritical as striking a Che pose on her album cover after censoring her own video. What a rebel. French producer Mirwais returns to skew her vocals, play acoustic guitar and co-write the "tunes," many of them tuneless, pseudo-folky ballads with beats and flatulent electro buzz. "Nobody Knows Me" and the Bond tune (if you're not sick of it) form a meagre oasis, decent dance tracks in a wasteland of embarrassing pap. 4/10 (Lorraine Carpenter)

STEREOLAB
ABC Music (Strange Fruit/Koch)
One could almost pass this off as a greatest-hits comp from what's just about the finest band to emerge from the '90s indie-rock toss-up. Culled from a decade of sessions for the John Peel and Mark Radcliffe shows on BBC's Radio 1, ABC Music sees both keynote klassix and unacknowledged gems of Stereolab's cozy, futurist hi-fi hijinx presented in a fresh, often radically different manner. From the bold, buzzing pulse of '91's "Super Electric" right through the soft-touch cosmic bossa-pop of '01's "Naught More Terrific Than Man," The "groop" display their mastery of all that shines, shimmers, drones, bleeps and resonates. 9/10 (Rupert Bottenberg)

THE NEW PORNOGRAPHERS
Electric Version (Mint/Outside)
The NP's 2000 debut Mass Romantic hit the Canadian indie-rock world, casting about for saviours since the Halifax sound sputtered out, like a brick through a plate-glass window. With the likes of Destroyer's Dan Bejar, Zumpano's Carl Newman and alt.country darling Neko Case on board, the B.C. sextet had the requisite chops to push power pop up a notch or 10. Electric Version reiterates the band's knack for rich harmonies, grand arrangements and tunes that, while drawing on decades of pop lore, sound factory fresh with each spin. Energized, too - the album doesn't flag for a moment. A laudable balance of discipline and inventiveness. 8.5/10 (Rupert Bottenberg)

MORNING STAR
My Place in the Dust (D7/Dep)
Produced by PJ Harvey and Sparklehorse collaborator John Parish, and assisted by Portishead's Jim Barr and John Baggott, Bristol's Morning Star (aka Jesse D. Vernon) connects classic '60s suave with the roots amalgam. Vernon's soft, subtle croon shuffles along with his slick, finger-snapping cool, with acoustic guitar, horns and strings lounging alongside lashings of flute, organ and accordion. Elsewhere, saloon blues and twangy ballads mix with echo-laden easy listening and ambient choirs, and all the loose ends and potentially disparate styles are beautifully wrapped up in a soft-focus shadowland. 8/10 (Lorraine Carpenter)

OPETH
Damnation (Music for Nations/Koch)
Has it been seven records already? These guys can really churn 'em out. Opeth continue to lead the progressive-metal pack, and the compositional expertise on Damnation sees them at their zenith. Does it make this listenable? Fuck, no! It's all calm and no ensuing storm. The Pink Floyd vibe is there and the orchestration shows amazing skill, but the whole record sounds like a slow dance that just doesn't end. Press is running off at the mouth about this being the future of metal, but if recycled Genesis riffs is the future of metal we are in a shitload of trouble. Fuck, even Dream Theater is better than this wankfest. 4/10 (Johnson Cummins)

SPECTRE
Psychic Wars (Wordsound)
Straight from the slightly left-of-centre world of Wordsound Recordings comes Spectre, a producer who deftly employs the use of a slew of Bollywood ditties to get his point across. Starting off with a completely unnecessary intro, we're thrown into Spectre's headspace. Although sound ideas and competent programming are involved, Spectre reminds me a little too much of Montrealer Sikh Knowledge, who seems to do this sort of thing with a little more finesse. Spectre loses points for using the pitch-shifted devil voice throughout the record, as well as a few questionable collabs with a sour singer whom I won't mention here. I'm no snob either, but my boy needs to find some new drums if he's gonna come like that. 6.5/10 (Scott C)

CHICO DEBARGE
Free (Koch)
As with his two previous albums, '97's Long Time No See and '99's The Game, Debarge is concerned with two main themes, love and society - neither of which he treats gently. Also like his previous efforts, the instrumentation here is sparse, giving Debarge's often complex lyrical prose centre stage. He plants his musical musings firmly in the urban jungle as he explores issues as diverse as personal betrayal ("The Unloved"), admiration ("Virtuous") and ills of society ("Pages From the Journal," "Questions"). Occasionally he lets his playful side break through ("Availability," "Next Time"), just to prove he has one. 7.5/10 (Gerard Dee)

FOG ETHER
Teeth (Ninja Tune/Outside)
Things aren't very clear to me when it comes to the musical musings of Andrew Broder, aka Fog. This is a guy who feels no way about laying his insides out in the road, and then rolling around in the depressing, provocative and sometimes humorous mess. His music is delightfully unclassifiable though, and warrants a good listen regardless of how his approach might strike you. Those of you interested in the incorporation of turntablism into anything but hip hop might find solace in the melancholy stylings of Fog. I still wonder how this would fly live. 7.5/10 (Scott C)

TRANSFORMER DI ROBOTER
Transformer Hits (WMF)
Taking their name from the Italian version of the Transformers TV show, this Berlin-based duo are out to flip the script on popular music. Their latest release on Germany's WMF label sees the irreverent duo putting the works of Brian Wilson, Michael Jackson and Metallica through a low-fi, bit-crushed, Nintendo sound blender. Unlike plunderphonic bootleggers like Kid 606 and 2manydjs, TDR prefer a more traditional rock approach: the good, old-fashioned cover. The result is not only funny and catchy (check their wispy, lush lounge version of "Enter Sandman" and their twisted Beach-Boys-meet-Type-O-Negative-at-a-Berlin-goth-rave medley of Brian Wilson's "Do It Again" and "I Get Around") but it's also very clever and extremely well-produced to boot! 8.5/10 (Raf Katigbak)

VARIOUS
Wabi 4 Years (Wabi)
For the last four years, the six-man design collective known as Wabi have not only brought next level photography, video, interior, graphic, and web design to the greater Toronto area, but have also hosted monthly events featuring next level minimal tech artists like Pan/Tone, Tomas Jirku, Naw, Kero and Polmo Polpo. This CD is a collection of 14 tracks from the various experimental electronic musicians that have showcased at the Wabi events. If you're feeling the minimal tech with a heavily dubbed-out flavour, you should check out this out. 8/10 (Raf Katigbak)

MICHAEL REINHART & SINGERS OF NUNAVUT
Quaraaluktuq ([h]and'sum)
This record is two things at once. It's Canadian composer/artist Reinhart's impressionistic reflection on his two-week visit to Igloolik, Nunavut, and the austere beauty of the arctic, conveyed through chiming acoustic guitar, melodic kalimba (which rhymes with marimba) and, not so oddly, accordion - an instrument familiar to the Inuit from the days of the Hudson's Bay Co. The vocal tracks illustrate the album's second function, displaying the creative exchange between Reinhart and a number of Inuit singers. The cheerful spirit of the music, and perhaps the choice of instrumentation, speaks less of ice floes and bitter winds than it does of fun under the midnight sun. 8.5/10 (Rupert Bottenberg) CD launch at O Patro Vys, Sat., May 3, 9pm, $9 ($15 w/ CD)

DEANNA WITKOWSKI
Wide Open Window (Khaeon)
Ms. Witkowski copped first place in the 2003 Great American Jazz Piano Competition and this release shows why. Recorded between 1998 and 2001, in Chicago and Stamford, it shows great diversity, some of it gleaned from her studies with Chucho Valdés and Hilario Duran. Her trio of Jonathan Paul on bass and Tom Hipskind on drums is swelled to quartet size with the addition of a superior saxophonist, Donny McCaslin (who joins Altsys at the Oscar Peterson Concert Hall this Sunday), on a number of tracks. The selections include five standards by Howard Dietz, Richard Rodgers and Cole Porter, and an equal number of Witkowski's originals (the title piece is a dedication to Mary Louis Williams). The future looks bright for this relative newcomer. 8.5/10 (Len Dobbin)

Mini CD Reviews

MIKE ALLEN Dialectic (Almus) » Another superb outing from reedman Allen, this time in a trio setting. 9.5 (LD) At Upstairs, Sat. and Sun., May 3–4

COM.A Shot of Love (Tigerbeat6) » Vocal samples are snipped and whipped over quirky Commodore 64 melodies, juxtaposed over scalpel-sure skitterish beats. Riot! 8.5 (RK)

OMNIVERSE Space (Prodigal) » Drums for days and days and days, kids! 8 (SC)

VARIOUS 2 CDs and MP3s (Novamute/Fusion III) » If Luke Slater can sit beside Nitzer Ebb, your stereo and computer can learn to share. 8 (LC)

BLUE MAN GROUP The Complex (Lava/Warner) » The cerulean-hued dudes bring more plumbing-pipe polyrhythms plus sportsguitar, this time with guest vox (Tracy Bonham, Josh Haden etc.). Rock concert movement number one! 7.5 (RB)

MARTIN L. GORE Counterfeit2 (Reprise/Warner) » Depeche Mode's good cop casts a warm, electronic glow over covers of John Lennon and Kurt Weill, Nico and Nick Cave and more. 7.5 (LC)

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