Various
Gilles Peterson Worldwide 3 (Talkin' Loud)
BBC radio host Peterson hand-picks some of the best songs of 2003 on this, the third volume of Worldwide. With the worlds of jazz, house, funk, soul and hip hop all represented, this is a sweet grab-bag of great songs that everyone should know about. Roy Hargrove teams up with Q-Tip and Erykah Badu for the quiet soul of "Poetry," while well-known names like Marvin Gaye, Jermaine Jackson and James Brown contribute songs you'll be happy to discover for the first time. The Roots are also here with a version of "The Next Movement" that was concocted live on BBC Radio 1, as are butter tracks from 2 Banks of 4, the Spanish Harlem Orchestra, Henry Mancini and Raphael Saadiq. Overall, a spirited comp with nothing but the good stuff. 9/10 (Scott C)

Arch Enemy
Anthems of Rebellion (Century Media)
Headed up by former Carcass member Michael Amott, Sweden's Arch Enemy singlehandedly lead the power-metal pack, and the devastating technical execution of Anthems is currently unparalleled. It's the second AE record fronted by German singer Angela Gossow, who possesses one of most bloodcurdling death-metal howls around - her guttural screech has to be heard to be believed. Not to be outdone, the band is as brutal and accurate as a nailgun. While obviously coming from death-metal roots, AE never rely on speed to pound the message through, and have what it takes to push their underground metal to the mainstream. 8.5/10 (Johnson Cummins)

The Dismemberment Plan
The People's History of… (DeSoto)
These guys laid out raw tracks from their catalogue on their Web site and encouraged fans to remix them. The results are what we get here. Great idea, but the Plan's already skewed take on pop hardly needs the nudge. These gems just get crushed under the weight of massive kick drums, treated snares and oceans of reverb and delay. The one shocking thing throughout is how their fans prove to be fairly deft remixers - Justin Norville's complete re-working of "The Other Side" and Quruli's take on "Life of Possibillities" actually transcend the original versions. Unfortunately, these are few and far between. For hardcore fans only. 7.5/10 (Johnson Cummins)

Starsailor
Silence Is Easy (EMI)
On their 2001 debut, Love Is Here, these Tim Buckley-revering Brits strummed through humble hippie tunes while singer James Walsh laid on a thick, piercing yowl. This time, Walsh has tamed his inner, mortally wounded beast and let firearm enthusiast Phil Spector loose on two songs including the title track, a pleasant pop/pub anthem bolstered by that famous wall of sound. Elsewhere, they make a clean dive into stringed funk and knees-up pop, but their bland, repetitive neo-folk and would-be Verve-sized ballads are largely too wet to float. 6.5/10 (Lorraine Carpenter)

Jonny Greenwood
Bodysong (EMI)
In this documentary soundtrack, Radiohead's guitarist and machine wrangler explores the outer regions of his dexterous musicianship with support from jazz ensemble the Emperor Quartet. As with recent Radiohead albums, guitars are supplanted by electronic gear and strings, and "Moon Trills" borrows the piano from "Pyramid Song," but Greenwood grabs at more styles and sounds here than he ever will in his day job. With tribal toddler percussion, morose orchestral passages, horned jazz freakouts and unkempt collages of beats, bass and slithering samples, Greenwood mirrors the film's "human experience" theme: it's messy, cerebral and guttural, beautiful and scary and occasionally dull. 7.5/10 (Lorraine Carpenter)

Péloquin-Sauvageau
Laissez-nous vous embrasser là où vous avez mal (Mucho Gusto/Fusion III)
Local label Mucho Gusto's raison d'être is the unearthing of archaic Québécois oddities, those strange concoctions wherein pop meets the experimental, where the hippie-delic freak flag flaps over sci-fi surreal estate. Seems there was no shortage of such in '60s and '70s Quebec, their latest find being this weird and often wonderful blend of surly joual poetry and trippy, vaguely Krautrock electronics from 1972. Claude Péloquin's paroles range from the politically-charged ("Monsieur L'Indien," "Emiliano") to the silly and smutty ("Mama Vagina"), tackling English here and there, while Jean Sauvageau's needling and noodling benefits from the occasional groovy backbeat. Crisse, c'est weird, mais cool quand même. 8/10 (Rupert Bottenberg)

Dub Narcotic Sound System
Degenerate Introduction (K/Sonic Unyon)
Imagine obscure underground hip hop dudes joining forces to make half-assed country albums that are okay for black kids to square-dance to. Turn that shit inside out and you've got Olympia, WA indie kids tacking reverb onto half-baked "dub" tracks and adding provocatively poor vocals to very familiar basslines on "funk" songs. It's not a problem of race - there's plenty of great music from the grey area between so-called black and white styles - but of knowing where your strengths lie, and, perhaps, knowing when not to release a throwaway vanity album. 4/10 (Lorraine Carpenter)

Various
Checkmate Presents Game Related (Natural Game/Fusion III)
There aren't many Canadian hip hop artists who've committed themselves to a definite West Coast sound, nobody who'll actually say so anyway, but Vancouver MC/producer Checkmate has obviously been influenced by the laidback approach. Game Related has various names from the Double Up and Natural Game camps rapping on Checkmate's low-rider productions. There's Jay Kin's "Kin Folk" and "Live and Direct" from the Usual Suspects, right beside the Checkmate instrumental "West Coast Music" - all ready to ride. A particularly standout track is "R.A.W." featuring Royce the 5' 9", Concise and cuts by DJ Revolution, breaking the low-rider vibe early in the mix. I could have done with a little more variety in the songs, but the 16 tracks are pretty tight, not to mention laced with Checkmate style. 7.5/10 (Scott C)

Greg Davis
Curling Pond Woods (Carpark)
Just as the term "laptop folk" was becoming dangerously ubiquitous, leave it to Chicago native Greg Davis to put out a really solid album. While others in the genre are content with simply laying acoustic guitar pickings over digital drones and glitch-scapes, Davis refines his sound by adding more instruments, deepening his arrangements and even dropping a couple of vocals. If Brian Wilson, John Cage and Lee Perry all collabed on a Wes Anderson soundtrack, it would go a little something like this. Chalk up another victory for introverted, bearded weirdoes everywhere. 7.5/10 (Raf Katigbak)

Deadbeat Vs. Stephen Beaupré
It's a Crackhaus Thing (Onitor)
The Montreal duo also known as Crackhaus have been tearing dancefloors a new one from here to Europe to South America and back with their infectious, minimalist, four-on-the-floor funk and freaky-deaky stage presence. If you want to look deeper, these seven tracks hold a plethora of raw found sounds and deep, intricate production, but where this record really shines is on the dancefloor. To a rhythmic micro-sampling sensibility inspired by Akufen and a love for more esoteric sample sources à la Herbert, Crackhaus add their own sense of humour and hooks that hit you straight in the booty. With its sampled bluesy moan and sticky Southern harmonica blast, the twisted hick-house of "Shine Your Light" is certainly the money track. 8.5/10 (Raf Katigbak)

Various
Rewind! 3 (Ubiquity/Outside)
Again, noted figures from the broken-beat and neo-jazz-funk realms refashion their old-school faves. Some, the pair of Herbie Hancock tunes for instance, are handled fairly faithfully, but others put a neat twist on things. Antibalas slap a dashiki on Willie Colon's NuYorican number "Che Che Colo" while Nobody works his hippie-hop magic on the Monkees' "Porpoise Song." The album's bookended by a strong pair in Louie Vega's tasteful, toned-down take on the sleazy classic "Jungle Fever" and Bing Li Jing's smooth, smouldering turning-out of AC/DC's "All Night Long." But the winner by far is the sweet, rock-steady Jamaican makeover on Johnny Cash's "Ring of Fire," c/o Breakestra boss This Kid Named Miles. 7.5/10 (Rupert Bottenberg)

Kelis
Tasty (Arista/BMG)
When she screamed "I hate you so much right now" on her '99 breakout single "Caught Out There," we knew newcomer Kelis Rogers wasn't the one to mess with. These days, she's singing a sweeter song, especially when she invites "all the boys to her yard" on "Milkshake" and seduces boyfriend Nas on the self-explanatory "In Public." With beats as urgent as a heart attack, those tracks are typical of a set that combines irresistible funk with lyrical wit. By the time she teams with Outkast's Andre 3000 ("Millionaire") and Raphael Saadiq ("Glow," "Attention") it's clear that Kelis is the best one to mess with. 8/10 (Gerard Dee)

Ian McDougall
Nights in Vancouver (Cellar Live/Universal)
McDougall, at 65, is an accomplished trombonist, a veteran of bands like Brass Connection and the Boss Brass, and a distinctive composer in both the jazz and classical fields. Born in Calgary, he settled in Victoria after stays in London, England, and Toronto. Recorded in late 2002, this is the seventh "live" recording from the Cellar. He's joined here by the cream of Vancouver's jazz community - Ross Taggart, on saxophone here, Oliver Gannon, Ross Johnston, André Lachance and Craig Scott - on seven tracks, including a dedication to his wife and the humorously titled "Mc Not Mac and 2 Ls." 9/10 (Len Dobbin)

Mini CD Reviews

Roberto Occhipinti The Cusp (Modica) The bassist leads a large ensemble including Phil Dwyer, Hilario Duran and Al Kay in an exciting program, including "Ana Maria" by Wayne Shorter. 9 (LD)

Cobolt 60 Meat Hook Ballet (Head Not Found/Fusion III) Nice cocktail of hyper-grind and old-school, mid-tempo metal. 7.5 (JC)

Various B.Y.O.P.: Calgary Does Connors (Catch And Release) Calgary's finest pay tribute to Canada's greatest performer, Stompin' Tom Connors. 7 (JC)

The Crystal Method Legion of Boom (V2/BMG) Call me nostalgic, but some of this tough-beat techno stuff still gets me. Sure, it's a formula: big beats, breakdowns, build-ups and bring-backs, but it's a formula that works. Rave on, I say! 6.5 (RK)

Bravehearts Bravehearted (Ill Will/Sony) Maybe I expected too much from Nas's longtime protégés. Nothing brave about this. 6 (SC)

Katy Rose Because I Can (V2/BMG) Another young lady tries to tear Britney a new one by daring to "rock" and (co)write her own songs, only to fall into her own hole. 3 (LC)

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