GEKKYUKEKKAICHI
Tsurubami
REBEL POWERS
Not One Star Will Stand the Night (Strange Attractors Audio House/Scratch)
Both of these bands feature members of Japan's Acid Mothers Temple collective, and in keeping with AMT, the improvised compositions remain in the psychedelic, hypnotic realm at all times. Gekkyukekkkaichi features AMT's Kawabata Makoto and Higashi Hiroshi; the two compositions weigh in at over an hour and every millisecond rings with inspiration. Given the confines of a trio, Gekkyukekkaichi let the spaces breathe but also build and crumble sonic soundscapes to great, dynamic result. Rebel Powers is a quartet pairing AMT's Makato, Cotton Casino and AMT alumnus Koizumi Hajime with Wire scribe and Telstar Ponies member David Keenan. There are many movements within these two tracks, compositions with more of a doom-laden minimalism than Gekkyukekkaichi, but Rebel Powers still possesses the meditative qualities that make this otherworldly music so special. For anyone just discovering improvised or psychedelic music, this is a great place to start. Both 9/10 (Johnson Cummins)

THE CONSTANTINES
Shine a Light (Three Gut)
Boxers in a twist? Here's the sophomore album by the most ambitious rock band out of Guelph, who ricochet from stirring rock anthems ("Young Lions") to vein-popping punk ("National Hum") to hushed bizarro ballads ("Goodbye Baby & Amen") to finely cut porch rock ("Sub-domestic") like nobody's business. That Fugazi-Springsteen sound remains, but there's ample intervention from the Clash, Talking Heads and other sonic influences and thematic tangents stirred into their unique recipe. Some morsels may taste a bit tough, but this second course is still far more flavourful and filling than the first. 8/10 (Lorraine Carpenter)

THE DANDY WARHOLS
Welcome to the Monkey House (Capitol/EMI)
Surprise, surprise, Duran Duran and David Bowie are all over this thing. Guest vocalist? Simon Le Bon. Guest producers? Tony Visconti and Nick Rhodes. The Dandy Warhols' fourth joint is sexy, synthey and a little aimless, and it's essentially one big joke about sonic recycling - see the Stones/Velvets hybrid cover, hear the T-Rex-alike "Hit Rock Bottom" and the sample-happy "I Am the Scientist," where "Fashion" is so audible that Bowie gets a songwriting credit. If you're down with the Dandys' suave sounds and coy nudges and winks, then pick this up, peel slowly and see. 7.5/10 (Lorraine Carpenter)

SHAUN WILLIAM RYDER
Amateur Night in the Big Top (Offworld/Fusion III)
Happy Mondays frontman and funky crackhead Shaun Ryder drops his woozy, groovy vocal stylings over this latest project, recorded in Australia after he shimmied out of a three-year ban from the country. The music was written and produced primarily by obscure musicians Shane Norton and Pete Carroll, as well as ex-Cabaret Voltaire singer Stephen Mallinder, and it's a drugged-up, bottom-heavy, dub dance sound fit for the post-baggy scene. The songs hit high and sometimes miss by a mile, and the gaffes are often Ryder's. I mean, how many times can he say "fuck" in an hour? 7/10 (Lorraine Carpenter)

ROCK CITY
self-titled (Lucky Seven/Rounder)
Big Star fans are going to rejoice over this discovery. Before Alex Chilton, Jody Stephens and Chris Bell re-invented pop music from the soul-drenched streets of Memphis, Stephens and Bell got their start in '69 with Rock City. Their mandate is pretty much the same as Big Star's, as they skillfully mix soul with British invasion big beat - in fact, early versions of Big Star's "My Life Is Right" and "Feel" appear here. The pairing of Bell and Chilton would prove to be electrifying, but this disc shows a band with a blueprint for near-perfect pop long before Chilton came into the picture. 9/10 (Johnson Cummins)

DAVIDE BALULA
Pellicule (Active Suspension)
Visual artist Davide Balula's minimalist folk approach is nothing new. The clicks and whirrs, the stuttered, granulated melodies, the use of found sound and field recordings find their way onto all nine of the acoustic guitar-centred tracks. But Balula's ability to craft beautiful melodies sets him apart from the rest. With the crippled intimacy of Yo La Tengo, Balula's vocalists are purposely obscured behind production as well as language (they sing in French, English and Portuguese) yet they easily engage the listener. Quite a beautiful piece of work, and the latest quality release from the forward-thinking French label Active Suspension. 7.5/10 (Raf Katigbak)

VIA TANIA
Under a Different Sky (Chocolate Industries)
Whatever happened to trip hop? At one point, everybody and their grandma was listening to it - I know two grannies who thought Air was "really nice new age music" - and then it was gone. Now it seems downtempo has returned from the underground, albeit in a mutated form. While Via Tania's dreamy vocals are reminiscent of Esthero and Lamb, it's the production that takes this album further (producer Scott Herren, aka Prefuse 73, tweaks a couple of tracks). With the adventurous trimmings of IDM, Tania's smoothed-out pop electronica will satisfy downtempo fans looking for more than generic beats and loops. 6/10 (Raf Katigbak)

VARIOUS
Scattered Snares: Across the Tracks (Twisted Funk/PTR)
Toronto's Public Transit Recordings provides North American support for the burgeoning movement referred to as broken-beat or future jazz. This comp is a revamped re-release of a record that was introduced in 2002 on the U.K. label Twisted Funk Records. Originally showcasing the Dollis Hill Studios extended family (home to 4Hero, Reinforced Records, 2000 Black, Omniverse and Twisted Funk), this version includes contributions from Canadians Greyscale, Rustic Hut, Getnice, and PTR frontman Moonstarr, as well as breakbeat veterans Paradox, Somatik and NuEra. Nice to hear emerging Canadian talent going toe to toe with seasoned U.K. pros, bridging the gap with imagination and style. 8/10 (Scott C)

VARIOUS
Joe Gibbs Productions (Soul Jazz/Fusion III)
Today, he runs a supermarket in Kingston, but back in the day ('75-'83, specifically), Joe Gibbs was a reggae producer/label head with his fingers in a succession of pies. The pies kinda mash together, actually, in a kooky but competent clusterfuck of dusty Studio One base tracks, Rasta militancy, DJ peps and prattling, and pedestrian dub spiced up with cornball f/x (bells and whistles, bleeps and ba-doings). With Sly & Robbie frequently wrangling rhythms, Gibbs delivered great tracks, some of them major hits by Junior Murvin, Trinity, Dennis Brown, Mighty Diamonds and Althea & Donna. If you want to hear the groundwork for dancehall being laid down, here it is. 8.5/10 (Rupert Bottenberg)

VARIOUS
Larry Gold Presents Don Cello & Friends (BBE/Fusion III)
Larry Gold made a name for himself during the golden age of Philadelphia soul, providing string arrangements for the O'Jays, Harold Melvin and the Blunotes, Teddy Pendergrass and Patti Labelle, to name a few. Now Gold finally has his own record, thanks to some of the artists he helped put on the map. Don Cello snagged the talents of Black Thought on a remake of McFadden and Whitehead's classic "Ain't No Stoppin' Us Now," and the God-given gifts of Erro, Kameelah Waheed and Philly fam Kindred are put to good use. This record is brimming with faultless, soulful production, and it sounds like a great time was had by all. 8/10 (Scott C)

THE ISLEY BROTHERS FEATURING RONALD ISLEY
Body Kiss (Universal)
It's incredible that the Isleys have been in the game for over 40 years, and that their music has remained vital for so long. That said, this is not their best post-millennium work. Unlike 2001's brilliant Eternal, their latest is too little Isley and too much R. Kelly, who wrote and produced much of this set. Most glaringly, it's a colossal travesty that Ernie's incredible guitar work only comes out near the end of the disc, while Kelly's vocals are in full effect throughout. After all this time, the Isleys are better than this. 6/10 (Gerard Dee)

INGRID JENSEN
Now As Then (JustinTime/ Fusion III)
Ms. Jensen garnered praise in this year's Down Beat Critics Poll as THE rising trumpet star, and she's joined on this forward-sounding release by two other world-class musicians from B.C., sister Christine - an outstanding composer (as heard on "Dilemma") whose alto playing is also worth noting - and Seamus Blake, one of the jazz world's best tenor saxophonists. The group is completed by another leading sax player, Steve Wilson, pianist Gary Versace (heard here on Hammond B-3 organ), and drummer Jon Wikan, playing originals by all but Wilson, along with Mary Lou Williams' "Gloria" and the standard, "The Night Has a Thousand Eyes." 9/10 (Len Dobbin) With the Joshua Rager Sextet at Upstairs on August 22 and 23

Mini CD Reviews

LEE KONITZ Motion (Verve/Universal) This 1961 outing with Sonny Dallas and Elvin Jones is among the very best of the countless sessions Lee has done in the last 55 years. 10 (LD)

RANCID Indestructible (Hellcat/Epitaph) After 10 years, Rancid prove they still have the punk rock goods. 8.5 (JC)

DJ JS-1 & DUB-L Ground Original (Yosumi) No R&B, rock-rap, neo-soul, catchy jingles, singing thugs, or wack MCs. Good lyrics, beats and scratches, and that's all. 8 (SC)

AFRICAN HEAD CHARGE Shrunken Head (On-U Sound/Fusion III) Lapping the techno-hippies by a decade, AHC (with Adrian Sherwood at the board) wrote the book on punky, globalist danceclub dub in the early '80s. Here's a look back. 7.5 (RB)

SIMPLE MINDS Early Gold (EMI) There's gold and silver, some bronze, even a bit of tin, but this is the best Simple Minds comp for fans of new wave and new romance. 7.5 (LC)

FOUNTAINS OF WAYNE Welcome Interstate Managers (Virgin/EMI) Earnest rock with annoying quirks - this is fountains of lame. 6 (LC)

THOR Triumphant (Tortoen/Scratch) Viking rock, dude! VIKING ROCK! 6 (JC)

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