MUSIC REVIEWS
by MIRROR MUSIC
December 16, 2010
ALBUM OF THE WEEK
DAFT PUNK
Tron Legacy Official Motion Picture Soundtrack
(Walt Disney)
So by now everyone has figured out that this is not a new Daft Punk album but a traditional film score helmed by the famed helmet-wearing French duo. Before we go all Robocop on this bait-and-switch, keep in mind this is Daft Punk building songs from scratch instead of using samples, working with an orchestra and employing thunderous bass. It’s reassuring to know old robots can learn new tricks. 8/10 Trial Track: “The Game Has Changed” (Erik Leijon)
GREGORY & THE HAWK
Leche
(FatCat)
New Yorker Meredith Godreau, whose career began in ’06 with the rise of her lo-fi pop songs online, returns after a more polished studio album with a relatively obscure and intimate LP. Apart from a few pop anomalies, her girlish tones run with minimal arrangements and varied instrumentation that evoke folk, freak folk, traditional Chinese music and ’80s anthems (see “Puller Return”). 7.5/10 Trial Track: “Soulgazing” (Lorraine Carpenter)
KITTEN
Sunday School EP
(The Control Group)
Only 15 and already in her second band, L.A. singer Chloe Chaidez and her trio of dudes channel the Yeah Yeah Yeahs (a lot), early U2, Siouxsie and Florence & the Machine, rendering raunchy rock, arena pop and mid-paced, pensive swayers with impressive skill. The fact that their engineer’s credits include Echo and the Bunnymen, PIL and the Church is no surprise.7.5/10 Trial Track: “Chinatown” (Lorraine Carpenter)
DOMESTIC CRISIS GROUP
Two Tired Hearts EP
(independent)
Local duo Genevieve Blouin and Dane Ratliff are about one piece of straw away from breaking their backs, yet it’s their grace under duress that shines through this artsy, rootsy five-song folk sampler. The pessimism quickly gives way to steely resilience: when Blouin sings with emotional wear to “put all your troubles away,” it’s apparent that while these hearts are tired, they’re far from extinguished. 7/10 Trial Track: “Eyes of Orion” (Erik Leijon) At Casa del Popolo, Tues., Dec. 28, 9:30 p.m.
KYLESA
Spiral Shadow
(Season of Mist)
Always known as the snotty kid-brother band to fellow Hotlanta sludge-metal slingers Mastodon and Baroness, this should definitely be the record that will finally have the band striking out on its own. The double drum attack is pinned to the far reaches of the stereo spectrum as the molten riffs line up dead centre. As opposed to their previous smash-and-bash, the band does ease up from the ferocity just long enough to carve out some great psychedelic passages. A great one for the new psych-metal set. 8/10 Trial Track: “Drop Out” (Johnson Cummins)
ERRONEOUS
A Selection of Errors
(Important)
The merging of Italian cult band Larson with the legendary Nurse With Wound is a guaranteed thriller, but throwing the occasional appearance of Kraftwerk/Neu!’s Eberhard Kranemann in the mix makes this mandatory. After two years of file-swapping, these two groups of artists completely strip songs bare, only to build them back up in a new iteration. Although there are more than enough dark and dense ethereal moments, it’s their more transcendent flashes, cast in white light, that are sure to raise goosebumps. 8.5/10 Trial Track: “Call Me, Tell Me” (Johnson Cummins)
WRNLRD
Death Drive EP
(FSS)
If the recent rash of experimental black metal bands are making your toes curl up in your boots, this limited-edition 10-inch vinyl EP is sure to please. The lo-fi and fuzzy warble seems directly taken from the early Norwegian black metal but any serious similarities are near impossible to find. Accordions wheezing out a funeral dirge, treated piano and a demented pedal steel all make unlikely appearances, but they sidle up snugly to the Wrnlrd’s misanthropic metal barrage. This is some seriously fucked up shit. 8/10 Trial Track: “Death Drive” (Johnson Cummins)
VARIOUS
This Is UK Grime Vol. 1
(Defenders)
For many of us over here across the pond, our grime intake has been limited to bits of Dizzee and Lady Sovereign. This two-disc compilation of the U.K.’s finest MCs presents a more balanced diet. Reaching back over the past decade, the amazing range of the genre becomes evident. From the hard-edged electronic aggression of Tempz’s “Next Hype” to the glam R&B styles of “Roll Girl” by Desperado, North Americans are missing a lot if we don’t pay attention to grime. 9/10 Trial Track: Slix, “I Ball” feat. Tinchy Stryder, Dirty Danger and Sway (Erin MacLeod)
ACCROPHONE
Beat. Session Vol. 1
(independent)
Quebec City’s Accrophone is sharp with the tools of production, no doubt. Twenty-one tracks of instrumental hip hop flow seamlessly in and out of one another in a start-to-finish display of love and respect for the craft. Accro’s handling of jazz breaks, keys, strings, horns and vocal samples put a new twist on the earlier days of the form, and his attention to detail creates a project that captures vision and promise, beautifully packaged and with all the potential in the world to make heads everywhere bob. 8.5/10 Trial Track: “Bleu” (Darcy MacDonald)
MARIAH CAREY
Merry Christmas II You
(Universal)
If you like your carols big, brassy and over the top, then Mariah’s got the jingles for you. Ten years after her first holiday release, Merry Christmas, she’s back with another mix of originals (“Oh Santa”) and more traditional fare (“Oh Holy Night”). And on “Here Comes Santa Clause (Right Down Santa Clause Lane)/Housetop Celebration,” Mariah proves that even Christmas can be funky! 7.5/10 Trial Track: “When Christmas Comes” (Gerard Dee)
SUBTLE LIP CAN
self-titled
(Drip Audio)
Extended instrumental techniques rule as percussion (Isaiah Ceccarelli), guitar (Bernard Falaise) and violin (Joshua Zubot) resemble a heavily reverberated sound-walk through a dangerous junkyard raining scrap metal. Formed as a one-off improvising ensemble for Cagibi’s Mardis Spaghetti concert series, the success of that evening demanded further sessions. Low-pitched feedback growls while skittering woodblock rolls and scraped violin streaks swirl atop broken glass to a glittering climax in the almost eponymous “Suddle Lip Can.” A primo storm of improvised noise. 9/10 Trial Track: “Tid Lac Boam” (Lawrence Joseph)
MINI REVIEWS
DRUDKH Handful of Stars (Season of Mist) Dense, atmospheric and black as a moonless night. 8 (JC)
VARIOUS From Jamaica With Jazz (Universal) From yardies Ernest Ranglin and Dean Fraser to Yankees Bill Summers and Medeski, Martin & Wood, here’s a selection of JA gone jazz. 8 (EM)
JENOCIDE Knee Deep EP (independent) Halifax synthpop starlet Jen Clarke rides again, making up for a somewhat budget recording with solid tunes that would slide in perfectly between vintage Prince and the Knife. 7.5 (LC)
DIDDY-DIRTY MONEY Last Train to Paris (Bad Boy/Interscope/ Universal) Diddy’s been reduced to being his own hype-man. This is a positive development. Yeah, come on. 6 (EL)
ELISE ESTRADA Here Kitty Kittee (RockSTAR) If Canadian-made pop stars are off-brand, then this is the acceptable knock-off plucked from the Zellers rack. 5.5 (EL)
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