Quinimine
Like Pistons for Engines (Grey Flat)
Like each of its songs, this debut LP unfolds gracefully, with a fresh treasure under every flap. Following 2002's Filaments EP, the disc tests the quartet's gentle mettle (and that of guest string players Carrie Haber and Joellen Housego, as well as producer Howard Bilerman), demanding slow, tranquil progressions, engorged crescendos and Spaceman-style atmospheric tension while highlighting every sound; the plaintive strings, the organ's hum, the soft ring of the xylophone, the bobbing guitar and piano, the romantically intertwined rhythm and the alternating and harmonious vocals of Gary Jansz and Alice Cantine. 9/10 (Lorraine Carpenter) CD launch at la Sala Rossa, Thurs., April 8, 9pm, $5

Aerosmith
Honkin' on Bobo (Columbia/Sony)
Back in the saddle, indeed! Aerosmith have pretty much sucked major ass for over two decades now, but this record has them tackling some blues gems and sounding their best since Toys in the Attic. In fact, I would vote them in as the best bar band in the world right now if they didn't play such huge stadiums. Their covers of Sonny Boy Williamson's "Eyesight to the Blind," Missisippi Fred McDowell's "You Gotta Move," "Back Back Train," "Jesus Is on the Mainline" and Muddy Waters' "I'm Ready" are some serious barrelhouse boogies, but their take of the often-covered "Baby, Please Don't Go" could be the definitive version, absolutely raging throughout. 9/10 (Johnson Cummins)

Weird War
If You Can't Beat 'Em, Bite 'Em (Drag City)
Fraught with revolutionary rhetoric (sexual, political and chemical), bulging with rudimentary R&B and stoner funk, this is an alternately killer and crusty record, a slightly disappointing sum considering its parts: Ian Svenonius (Nation of Ulysses, the Make-up, David Candy), Michelle Mae (the Make-up) and Alex Minoff (Six Finger Satellite). Weird War have evolved fast - their self-titled 2002 debut featured Royal Trux's bombastic Neil Hagerty in Minoff's place, and they released 2003's I Suck on That Emotion as the Scene Creamers, a name they lost to a French graf-art troupe - so maybe they'll keep on morphing and tidy up the mess. 7/10 (Lorraine Carpenter) With FFF at El Salon, Sat., April 3, 9pm, $10

Broken Social Scene
Bee Hives (Arts & Crafts)
Loosely bound by what BSS's Kevin Drew calls a "calm nature," this LP collects the T.O. band's leftovers, rarities and new musings. Much of the material predates You Forgot It in People, sharing more ground with their tender electronic collages circa Feel Good Lost. Singers Brendan Canning and Emily Haines lead tracks that ripple with the vibrant colour and immediacy of the band's best work, and Leslie Feist lends resonance to a so-so re-arrangement of "Lover's Spit." With some rich song sketches and florid pieces presented in full bloom, this is more than mere fan fare. 7.5/10 (Lorraine Carpenter)

The Descendents
Cool to Be You (Fat Wreck)
Without the Descendents, there would be no Blink 182, Green Day, MXPX or the other flotsam that calls itself pop punk these days - but please don't hold it against them. At it since '78, they're still one of the only bands that can actually do it right. Their longtime credo "I don't want to grow up" still holds true - there's a glimpse of grey at the temples in "She Don't Care," about divorce, but they quickly get back to their fascination with flatulence on "Blast Off." Quite comfortable on the wrong side of 40, the Desendents are still the best nerds in rock. 8.5/10 (Johnson Cummins)

Janet
Damita Jo (Virgin/EMI)
For a while it seemed Ms. Jackson was destined to travel the same limp "more pop, less soul" path as other '80s survivors like Whitney and Lionel Ritchie. Not to worry - lead single "Just a Little While" notwithstanding, this is a throwback to vintage Janet and, as such, a quantum leap forward from 2001's All for You. To put it simply, longtime producers Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis, joined here by Dallas Austin, Babyface and super-hot Kanye West, brought it. This tight set deftly oscillates between smooth midtempo jams ("My Baby"), edgy funk ("Sexhibition"), straight-up old school ("R&B Junkie") and intoxicating dance grooves ("All Nite (Don't Stop)"). Hot. 8.5/10 (Gerard Dee)

Dykehouse
Midrange (Ghostly International)
When Canadian IDM wunderkind Manitoba came out with last year's brilliantly psych-rockish Up in Flames, he threw such an unexpected curveball that it blew the thick-rimmed glasses off of music journos and record-store nerds everywhere. Likewise, for his latest full-length, Ann Arbour, MI's Dykehouse used a Fender guitar, a crappy mic and an iMac to create his own incredibly lush-sounding IDM take on the shoegazing movement. The grandly orchestrated white noise and subversive pop of Jesus and Mary Chain meets the warm analog melodies of Vangelis, driving synth structures of Boys Brigade and vocals that speak of (surprise) lost love and heartache. Brilliant! 8.5/10 (Raf Katigbak)

DJ Laflèche
White Is Pure 3 (Select)
Local tech-house impresario and Saturday-night Aria resident DJ Laflèche celebrates Bal en Blanc's 10th anniversary with an expert mix of funky house. Opening up with his own track "Only Human" (co-produced with Sensei), Lafléche moves from a driving hi-hat/cowbell line (lifted from the Rapture's "House of Jealous Lovers") and perky bass groove to the future funk of Jon Carter's "Humanism." From there, Laflèche continues to turn up the freak-out knob with deep, pounding and funky tracks by Timo Mass feat. Kelis (Deep Dish remix), Cevin Fisher, François K and Hybrid. A high-energy must have for the circuit-party set. 8/10 (Raf Katigbak)

Bob Sinclar & Martin Solveig
Africanism Vol. II (Defected/Fusion III)
The coterie of French DJ/producers known as Africanism are back in the rainforest for another scintillating romp. Two discs, one a set by the established name of the group, Sinclar, the other by its rising star Solveig. Hints of zouk, samba and electroclash rear their groovy heads through a parade of infectious Afro-housers. Fela drummer Tony Allen and French disco forefather Cerrone show up in Solveig's set, while Bob flirts with the Middle East in his. Other Africanism acolytes such as Julian Jabre and DJ Gregory (who'll be at Bal en Blanc this year) represent with their brightest tunes. 8.5/10 (Peter Lightburn)

Maria Bethânia
Brasileirinho (Quitanda/Bros)
The backing band here, a trio of percussion and acoustic bass and guitar supported by a spirited chorus, would stand fine on its own. It's the voice of Bethânia that nails it, though, commanding and confident. As it should be - this is the 49th (count 'em!) album from Bethânia, like her brother Caetano Veloso a founding figure of Brazil's mid-'60s Tropicalia movement. Her more recent work has sunk to squishy synth-jazz, but with tracks like the refreshing "São João Xangô Menino" and the angelic "Cabocla Jurema," the genuine and unvarnished Brasileirinho cancels the debt. Bits of spoken poetry and a gorgeous package only sweeten the deal. 8/10 (Rupert Bottenberg)

Susie Arioli Band
That's for Me (Justin Time/Fusion III)
Lorraine Foster
Compositions by Musicians (Jazzlink)
Nancy Marano
You're Nearer (Munich)
Sally Stark
Sings Maxine Sullivan (Sal Marg)
A virtual cornucopia of new CDs, great for an Easter gift for any fancier of the vocal side of the music. Artist House's John Snyder produced the first, Susie's best to date - it includes "Nuages," "It's a Good Day" and "You Don't Know Me." Ex-Montrealer Foster includes Gerry Mulligan's "Ballad of Pearly Sue," while Marano is at home with material like Wilder's "Moon and Sand" and the Brubecks' "Summer Song." The lesser known Stark salutes a great songstress with material like "Harlem Butterfly," "Someday Sweetheart" and of course "Loch Lomond." All four possess voices well worth many hearings. All 9/10 (Len Dobbin)

Yann Tiersen
Good Bye, Lenin! (Virgin/EMI)
Tiersen's score to Wolfgang Becker's subtle and sweet-natured comedy of East German "Ost-algia" doesn't compare to his brilliant music for 2001's Amélie. Then again, that stuff was largely taken from Tiersen's own pop albums, and as such had greater presence (and the über-Gallic Amélie was better suited to a Frenchman than Becker's Berlin-based effort). What Tiersen does here with his beautiful piano-plus compositions, simple on the surface and intricate underneath, is prove himself a film-score man in the mould of Michael Nyman, if perhaps more sentimental. 7/10 (Rupert Bottenberg)

Judson Fountain
Completely in the Dark! (Innova)
"Standing there in back of you, face to face, is now the old man you killed. He's old, horrible-looking… and he's dead!" (from "The Garbage Can From Thailand"). Radio theatre had been dead for decades when, in '69, delusional New York teen Fountain set out to resurrect this lost populist art. Bereft of talent, skill, cash or common sense, Fountain produced a small oeuvre not merely poor and puerile but deliriously awful. His thematic monomania (haunted houses, nasty seniors), retarded scripts, insulting accents and crappy needle-drop f/x add up to some sort of autistic pop poetry, a fascinating relic of outsider audio art. 7.5/10 (Rupert Bottenberg)

Mini CD Reviews

Phil Nimmons Vintage Nimmons 'n' Nine (Sackville) Important music recorded 1959-1964 with Ed Bickert, Bernie Piltch, Vic Centro and Archie Alleyne among those featured. 8 (LD)

Sìgur Ròs Ba Ba Ti Ki Di Do (Geffen/Universal) Twenty minutes of music-box melodies and fractured mini-sounds from these Icelandic imps, commissioned for a fancy dance company. 8 (RB)

Old Time Relijun Lost Light (K) The primal rhythms and blues and rock formations and warbling incantations of primitive peoples. 7.5 (LC) With the American Devices and Lenin I Shumov at Casa del Popolo, Sun., April 4, 9pm, $8

Read Yellow Radios Burn Faster (Fenway) The perfect marriage of '60s-tinged garage and late-'80s art rock. 7.5 (JC)

Various Late Night Tales: Turin Brakes (Whoa/Fusion III) A comp series feat. covers by the compilers (here, the Stones' "Moonlight Mile") and a serial story. This edition's all gentle pop, pretty blues, funk and folk, but them's the Brakes. 7.5 (LC)

Gluecifer Automatic Thrill (SPV/Fusion III) This would've been truly kickass rock 'n' roll if it wasn't for the fact that they have been putting out the same record for eight years. 7 (JC)

Funkstörung Disconnected (K7/Fusion III) From influential pioneers of intricate, hyperkinetic micro-beats to watered-down electronic balladeers with a painfully over-emo vocalist and second-rate MC. Two words: let down. 5 (RK)

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