CD Reviews
A-E | F-J | K-O | P-T | U-Z
Reviews F-J
F
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Faces on Film - Seven Sisters
The Fades
- Self Titled
The Fallout - Dismantlement
Faunts - High Expectations/Low Results
Favourite Sons - Down Beside Your Beauty
Feathermerchants - Last Man on Earth
5th Projekt - Circadian
Fighting Instinct - Self-titled
Film School - Film School
Finger
Eleven - Them
vs. You vs. Me
First Time Fallen - Your Vietnam
The Flaming Lips - At War with the Mystics
Flashlight Brown - Blue
The Flatliners -
The Great Awake
The
Flesh - Firetower
Forty Birds - Shotgun Therapy
Forward, Russia! - Give Me A Wall
The Foundry Field Recordings - Prompts/Miscues
The Foxymorons - Hesitation Eyes
Fox Jaws - Goodbye Doris
The Frames - The Cost
Fred J Eaglesmith - Milly's Cafe
Free Diamonds -
By the Sword
Frog Eyes
-
Tears of the Valedictorian
The Fucking Machines - Stole My Quarter
Future Native - The Politics
of Love
G
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Gabby Glaser - Gimme Splash
The
Gallows - Orchestra of Wolves
Gang
Gang Dance - Rawwar
Gang
Gang Dance - Retina Riddim
Gary
Flanagan - Rhapsody in Black
Get
Cape. Wear Cape. Fly. -
The Chronicles of a
Bohemian Teenager
Get
Set Go - Selling Out & Going Home
Ghost House - Departures
Ghost Stories -
Quixoticism
Girl Nobody - Balaclava Casino Heista
Gnarls Barkley - The Odd Couple
God Made Me Funky -
We Can All Be Free
Gomez - How We Operate
The Good, The Bad and the Queen
Gorgeous Frankenstein -
Gorgeous Frankenstein
The Gotan Project - Lunatico
The Graboids - Infinite Delay
Graham Coxon - Love Travels at Illegal Speeds
Grand National - A Drink & A Quick Decision
Graig
Markel - Via Novella
The Great Outdoors - Food, Booze, and Entertinment
Great Aunt Ida
Green Milk from the Planet Orange - You Take Me to the
World
Guided by Voices' Bee Thousand - 33 1/3
H
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Ha Ha Tonka -
Buckle in the Bible Belt
Hallo Spaceboy: The Rebirth of David Bowie
Hamell - Songs for Parents Who Enjoy Drugs
Hank III - Straight to Hell
Harlem
Shakes - Burning Birthdays
Harmonica -
Miaow Miaow Bark!
EP
Harry Manx -
In
Good We Trust
HB Surround Sound - Mad World
Hella - There’s No 666 in Outer Space
High John - EP
The High Strung - Get the Guests
The High Violets - To Where You Are
The Higher - On Fire
HIM - Dark Light
Hinterland
- Pan Pan Medico
Hinterland - The Picture Plane
The Hoa Hoas - Flower Flowers
Ho-Ag - The Word from Pluto
Holy Fuck - Holy Fuck
Holy Fuck - LP
Hopewell - Not Birds
The Horrors - EP
Hostage Life - Walking Papers
Hot Chip - The Warning
Hot Hot Heat - Happiness Ltd.
I
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The
Icarus Line - Black Presents
If All Else Fails - Do Not Forget to be Angry
Ilad -
National Flags
iLiKETRAiNS - Progress*Reform
I Love You But I've Chosen Darkness - Fear is on Our Side
IllScarlett - Clearly in Another Fine Mess
Interpol -
Our Love to Admire
Iron and Wine -
The Shepherd’s Dog
Iron Maiden - A Matter of Life and Death
J
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The Jaguar Club -
Ceci n’est pas le
Club de Jaguar
Jamie T - Panic Prevention
The Jealous Girlfriends - The Jealous Girlfriends
Jeff Martin - Exile and the Kingdom
Jen Militia -
Berlin Boot Camp
Jenn Grant
Jerry Leger and the Situation - Farewell Ghost Town
Jesse
Malin - Glitter in the Gutter
Jesu - Silver
Jets Overhead - Bridges
J.F. Robitaille - The Blood In My Body EP
Jill Cunniff - City
Beach
Jim Bryson
- Where the
Bungalows Roam
Joe
Bonomo - Sweat: The
Story of the Fleshtones, America’s Garage Band
Joe
Harvard - The Velvet Underground and Nico
Joe Henry - Civilians
Joel Plaskett Emergency - Ashtray Rock
John
Hammond - Push
Comes To Shove
John Tucker Must Die - OST
John
Wort Hannam - Two
Bit Suit
Johnny Fiasco - Nectar Vol. 2
Joseph Israel -
Gone Are the Days
Jose
Gonzalez - In Our Nature
Jose Gonzalez - Veneer
Joseph Arthur & the Lonely Astronauts - Let’s Just Be
Joss Stone
- Introducing
Joss Stone
Judah Johnson - Be Where I Be
Jukebox The Ghost
-
Jukebox The Ghost
___________________________________________________
Faces on Film
Seven Sisters
Sunny Lane Records
Boston’s reputation as a place for innovative, experimental new music
has just been reinforced by Faces on Film’s debut EP, Seven Sisters.
Clocking in at just under a half hour, the five tracks of the album
offer a solid sample of FOF’s musical style. Fronted by vocalist and
guitarist Mike Fiore, and accompanied by Dave Hinckley on bass, Ted
Gallagher on guitar, and Peter Schaefer on drums, FOF produce a form of
music somewhere between the Pixies and Modest Mouse. Comparisons to
Modest Mouse are particularly applicable to Fiore’s vocal style; over
the five tracks he grunts, shouts, and mumbles his way over FOF’s
plodding rhythms and eerie background harmonies, panting into silence
before spastically roaring back to a spike of full energy. While not
exactly music that can be characterized as radio friendly, FOF
nonetheless bring a harder edge to the contemporary Boston rock-scene
sound as exemplified by bands such as Night Rally and the Clickers.
Stand-out tracks from the album include “Makers of Medicine” and
“Beginners,” both of which can be heard on the band’s website at
www.facesonfilm.com. And on a peripheral note, if the music doesn’t
sound as if it appeals to you, then the artwork at least should
definitely be seen. Produced by Boston area artist and Helms musician
Dan McCarthy, his album covers and online posters offer a fresh,
pop-art inspired feel and can be seen at
www.danmccarthy.org
-James Sandham
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The Fades
Self Titled
Dirrty
Records
London-based do-it-yourselfers The Fades claim to be inspired by the spirit of grunge, but their eponymous-titled debut album places them squarely in the Reagan-era LA punk scene that gave birth to X and later, the tight riffs of early Motley Crue. Indeed, this is where the problem lies with this ten-song, thirty minute, blast of pop-punk energy; they haven’t found their footing yet. Uneven to say the least, the album skips back and forth between reasonable approximations of Velvet Revolver outtakes like “Buzzin” and “CaCa” and (how’s this for a segue?) caca like the dippity-do pop-punk of “Music is Killing Me”, in which lead singer Dave Lightfoot croons “This scene is over / Is over now.” Yes, we’ve gathered that, so why are you still singing about it? Still, for every similar track to (shiver) Andrew WK or Blink 182, The Fades does have its moments, sometimes recalling Cooper Temple Clause and garage-rockers Kings of Leon in a comparatively favourable light.
www.dirrtyrecords.com
- John Tracey
The Fallout
Dismantlement
Insurgence Records
Toronto-based punk group the Fallout are three guys who play about the same number of chords, according to their label’s website, the only place it seems you can find any info on these guys (the news on their own website, www.thefallout.ca, looks like it hasn’t been updated since early last year). On Dismantlement, the band’s third LP but first release on Insurgence Records, they do good things with these three chords. It’s simple, straightforward punk that reminds you of the genre’s good old days - of bands like the DOA, the Clash and Stiff Little Fingers. It’s got a touch of hardcore thrown in, but none of the pretentious attitude. They even sing about stuff like community radio. This is straight dope without any of the hyped up packaging. But I guess that’s the sound that comes with years of unrecognized toil in the punk trenches.
- James Sandham
Faunts
High Expectations/Low Results
Friendly Fire Recordings
High Expectations/Low Results is the debut CD from Edmonton’s
atmospherock quartet Faunts. The title is also probably one of the best
descriptions of the CD. Having shared the stage in the past with
current buzz bands like Broken Social Scene, Stars, and Do Make Say
Think, there certainly are great expectations surrounding Faunts; but
this album of fuzzing, droning soundscapes makes you wonder why.
Perhaps that’s a biased assessment. Too much buzz can be just as
detrimental as helpful to a band. A more articulate – if no less
biased – descriptions of Faunts’ work is provided with their press
info, and this too seems to accurately sum up their sound: “Their
remarkably assured debut album weaves together shimmering walls of pink
noise with dreamy, languorous guitar, gently treated vocals, and
swimmingly beautiful melodies”… and there you have it. This is
take-off music for your trip to the astral plane… the soundtrack to
“Memories of Places We’ve Never Been,” to quote the group’s second
song title. So strap on the headphones, tune in, turn on, and drop out.
www.faunts.com
-James Sandham
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Favourite Sons
Down Beside
Your Beauty
Vice
Records
Brooklyn’s Favourite Sons may have made one of the most earnest rock albums of the year in Down Beside Your Beauty, crafting anthemic torch-burners and heavy jangle-pop gems schooled at the DeVry Institute of Echo & the Bunnymen. Like sometime tour-mates The Stills, Dublin-born Ken Griffin and co are not afraid to wear their (heart-wrenching) emotions on their sleeve. And hailing from that most hip of NYC’s boroughs, that’s no small feat. Griffin, ex-singer and songwriter from ‘90s art rockers Rollerskate Skinny, veers perilously close to Strokes-ian mimicry (see the fate of fellow New Yorkers Elefant) with his too-cool-for-school Julian Casablancas delivery in opening track “When You’re Away From Me”; luckily the song itself is strong enough to weather the “So 2002!” comparisons the vocals will no doubt receive. Most of the other tracks fare better: “Hang On, Girl” is a thundering ode to loneliness, while “No One Ever Dies Young” lifts Joy Division’s “Dead Souls” riff and builds from there. “Tear the Room Apart” could be a cover of the Magnetic Fields, minus the electro-wizardry, and the loping country-ballad “Pistols & Girls” is a perfect sing-along to end off a night at your local pub. It’s not without its pitfalls, however. Duds like title track “Down Beside Your Beauty” and the belaboured “Walking Here” could have been culled from The Tea Party’s back catalogue (a harsh assessment, I know, but fair). All in all, though, a solid effort worth picking up.
- John Tracey
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Feathermerchants
Last Man On Earth
Innocent 12TH Street. Records
Last Man on Earth, the new disc by New York City’s
Feathermerchants, can best be described as haunting and beautiful. The
five piece group, led by Shannon Kennedy’s calm, mellow vocals, has
garnered quite a following since their first underground hit CD,
Unarmed Against the Dark. And it’s not just the band’s loyal fans
that have provided the biggest support. You know you’re on your way
when major mags like People and Cosmopolitan, as well as various music
publications, have taken notice of what you have to offer.
Although
often compared to the likes of Sarah McLachlan, and even Cowboy
Junkies, they still manage to convey a style that‘s uniquely their
own. If you’ve had a long day, and you just want to kick back and
relax, tune in and lose yourself in the soft, dreamy expressions of
Last Man on Earth. The variety of melodies that run through the songs,
such as the jazzy feel of “Change My Night,” the cowbells on
“Hitchcock Blonde” (you got to love that name!), to the
heartbeat-like drumming on “Hollow” demonstrates the band’s
willingness to flirt with a range of sounds, making for a rich, and
well textured album.
Other stand-out chants include, the title
track, which starts off moody before pulsating into an upbeat tempo,
and the gorgeous “Head to the Here and Now” which made me keep going
back to the rewind button. A cover of the Church’s “Under the Milky
Way” also made its way into this fine collection, and honorable
mentions go to the curiously named “Bindy.”
When you listen to
Feathermerchants, you will feel like you are in a very pleasant dream – a dream you will not want to awaken from, at least not for a while.
www.feathermerchants.com
Charmaine Merchant
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5th Projekt
Circadian
Organik Rekords
After earning a nomination for best folk
Singer/Songwriter at the 2003 International Independent Music Awards
for her solo album “Face,” Tara Rice is back, and this time as front
woman for her latest endeavor, 5TH Project.
Since commanding attention with their 2004 EP “DEMOn001”, they’ve
been featured in Canadian Musician Magazine, invited to last year’s
NXNE Music Festival, and designated Independent Artist of the Week on
the CBC Radio program Definitely Not the Opera. If this is any
indication as to where the band is headed, then their breathtaking
debut AirCadian, should definitely see them soaring even higher. Exploring themes of cycles and the human connection with nature
is what this disc, which is divided into the cycle of the seasons, is
all about. From the dreamy opening first track “In a Coma,”
you will be mesmerized by the luscious beauty of Tara Rice’s vocals.
Although you could call 5th Project prog rock, the
variety in their music is evidence of their refusal to fit neatly into
one genre. No two songs are the same, which makes it that
much more pleasurable to listen to. “Glockenspiel” employs
bells, while staggering drum beats give “Spiders” an edgier sound,
and the strangely titled “tToDQ” is an instrumental aria.
Another track that must be mentioned is “One to Throw Away,” a dark
and powerfully poetic piece about ecosystems. Rice, who also
plays guitar, is backed by guitarist and fellow songwriter Skodt D.
McNalty, bassist Peter Broadley and drummer Nathan Kaye. I see big
things for this band.
www.5thprojekt.com
www.myspace.com/5thprojekt
Charmaine Merchant
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Fighting Instinct
Self-titled
EMI
From the southland of North Carolina, Fighting
Instinct rip onto the international scene with an angry, petulant
little debut of a CD. Drawing strong comparisons to Alice in Chains –
evident in their opening track, “I Found Forever,” and frontman T.J.
Harris’ aesthetics in particular – Fighting Instinct are certainly
liable to be dismissed as grunge-era revival. Driving, guitar-heavy
songs characterize much of this album. Comparisons to Puddle of Mudd
are also particularly apt. Unfortunately for them, they do little to
dispel such liabilities. This threesome rarely stray from the tried and
true grunge formula, occasionally mixing it up with less familiar,
Southern-rock chord patterns, but generally rehashing a decade’s worth
of inarticulate angst, anger, and grubby clothing. But just because
Pearl Jam’s latest offering was worthwhile doesn’t mean the whole
genre needs to be resurrected. On the other hand, if there’s one thing
these guys do have going for them, it’s a whole album ready to head
straight for the radio. Listen for them on blue-collar rock stations
sandwiched between Nickelback cuts.
www.fightinginstinct.com
-James Sandham
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Film School
Film School
Beggars Banquet
If this is what I get at Film School, sign me up.
Sometimes gloomy sometimes pop, sometimes both. I learned at School
that sometimes the best execution is to combine more than one medium to
recharge gloomy senses to pop.
A
sound barrage opens up San Francisco's FS into the second song, another
comes in at song seven. The change ups keep a listener's interest, as
the soundscapes end at track nine, "Sick of the Shame." Lastly, "Like
You Know" lightly takes you away once more.
www.beggarsgroupsa.com
- Heather Rayment
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Finger Eleven
Them vs. You
vs. Me
Wind Up
Records
A&R: Hi Finger Eleven, come on in. Listen guys, I’ve been meaning to talk to you for quite some time. I know “One Thing” made you a lot of money, but let’s be honest it’s not going to last for ever. How would you like to make a lot more money?
Finger Eleven: Well sure boss. That’d be swell.
A&R: Great. For the new album I’d like you to write about 12 songs of balls-out generic bland Canadian rock. The kind of stuff that is hard enough to get played on The Edge but not so hard that girls won’t want to dance to it. Throw in some falsetto quadruple tracked singing for good measure and don’t forget to keep things forgettable and derivative. Think Creed, Nickelback etc.
Finger Eleven: Well what about the lyrics? Should they be original and innovative or at least poetic?
A&R: Uh, barf. No way. Try and limit yourself to mundane and clichéd topics. Going to the club, suicidal but not honestly suicidal thoughts, breakups, feeling cornered or alone, “finding yourself”. Oh and try and keep it as colloquial as possible. The kind of stuff you’d say to your friends. Hey its worked wonders for Wyclef Jean right?
Finger Eleven: You mean like: “This club will hopefully/Be closed in
three weeks/That would be cool with me”?
A&R: Fucking perfect. Don’t forget to try and emulate past success by
ripping off “One Thing”. Let’s call the song “Window Song” and one more
thing fellas…
Finger Eleven: What’s that?
A&R: Try and make the whole thing sound like Three Days Grace recorded
it.
- Sam Stilson
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First Time Fallen
Your Vietnam
Independent
Kill the lights, listen to the newest EP from Toronto’s own First Time
Fallen and kick yourself for not listening to this album sooner. Their
2005 release “Your Vietnam” is a follow up to the success of their
’04 release “The Spectacular View From the Ground to the Sky”
(Independent) which earned them both radio play and the ever-coveted
‘buzz band’ designation among Toronto’s mainstream gate-keepers.
Reminiscent
of all the things that made Silverchair and Incubus a solid figure in
the world music scene, FTF hold all the key technical elements
necessary to make it out of the sea of independent obscurity. Their
originality stays noticeably in-tact throughout the album, a feat
seldom achieved in this genre. While not lowering the grit and balls to
accommodate the mainstream, the sound is strong and unapologetic from
start to finish.
Indication that the band is very capable of
thinking outside the box, FTF has also drawn influence from various
samples and synth elements making for a dynamic approach to hard rock
that is no doubt going to contribute to their success with a wide range
of discriminating genres now embedded in the ‘Rock’ category.
Look
for more from First time Fallen as they play live shows in Toronto and
the GTA all summer long. Forgive yourself for not knowing about this
band sooner, go see them live, you’ll be glad you did.
www.myspace.com/firstimefallen
-Farren Whittaker
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The Flaming Lips
At War With The Mystics
Warner Bros.
I have this odd feeling that something happens to
a band once they sell their souls to hock products for the kind of
large corporation that possesses the power to turn the once raw and
inspired into fodder for “Sally Housecoat” and her book club cronies.
Something has happened to The Flaming Lips – or perhaps something has
not happened to The Flaming Lips and this is the problem with their
highly anticipated new release At War with the Mystics. Their 2002
album Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots under the production of Dave
Fridmann proved that the band’s musical pallate had the ability to
expand and explore past the relative chart success of “She Don’t Use
Jelly”. But rather prophetically, it seems that Yoshimi may have let
the Robots beat the creativity and musical adventourousness of The
Flaming Lips.
A listen through At War With the Mystics produces the nagging feeling
that the band spent the last four years in talks with the Mitsubishi
rights clearance department. A quicker listen through “My Cosmic
Autumn Rebellion” and “Goin’ On” finds The Flaming Lips struggling
to reproduce the ethereal magic that “Do You Realize?” possessed. The
first two tracks, “The Yeah Yeah Yeah Song” and “Free Radicals” are
simply musically cumbersome and lyrically lazy - the first sounding
like a terrible outtake from the lost John Lennon/Frank Zappa sessions
and the second just lost. I eternally hoped I would never hear the
words “Donald Trump” uttered in any song let alone from this band.
As with Yoshimi, At War With The Mystics is chalked full of electronic
innuendos and mooged thematic nuances. But unlike Yoshimi, this album
sounds like the equivalent of synthesizer syrup poured on a tiny “post-rock” overcooked pancake with the first couple of tracks baring
the brunt of the saccharine. The best track on the album is the
instrumental, “The Wizard Turns On…” which, to its credit, is more
space rock and wah than knobs. Sad to say, it also provides a well
needed respite from the majority of inane lyrical content – So go tell
Britney and go tell Gwen/She’s not tryin’ to go against all them.
The Flaming Lips, please tell me you are fuckin’ kidding?
- Jordan Somers
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Flashlight Brown
Blue
Union Label Group
Toronto-based punk outfit Flashlight Brown do angry, Weezer-inspired high school reject rock and roll. Fuelled by sarcasm and ennui, their end product – in this case, Blue, their sixth release – is a thundering collection of thirteen simple but catchy guitar-driven tracks that thankfully steers clear of taking itself too seriously. Vocals by Fil Bucchino and self-proclaimed “classic nerd” Matt Hughes power this album and provide its distinctive, middle-class punk character. The band’s pop-punk cred is further reinforced by tours with All American Rejects and Sum 41, and a DIY ethos that includes creating their own fictitious booking agency just to score some initial gigs. Solid after school special music with an ironic edge by a group of guys not too proud to admit “there’s nothing sexy about us.”
www.myspace.com/flashlightbrown
- James Sandham
The Flatliners
The Great
Awake
Union Label
Group
The first thing my girlfriend said when I put this record on was “Oh God, not more of this. Can’t you just turn it off? You already know what it’s going to be like. It’s a cross between NOFX and Hedley.” And she was absolutely right, only I didn’t believer her, and subsequently I’ve lost nearly forty minutes of my life to the Flatliners and their carefully crafted edgy-but-not-too-edgy-for-Much Music punk that I’ll never get back. All things said and done though, the Flatliners do know how make a catchy tune (“Eulogy”, for example) and you can tell these guys are gonna catch on with the angry adolescent set. Roared, anthemic choruses - you can practically feel the spit hitting your face from vocal triple threat Jon Darbey, Chris Cresswell and Scott Brigham. Paul Ramirez rounds things out with a hard-driving percussion section that can’t help but grip you. Songs like “This Respirator” break things down with a bit of a ska influence a la Rancid. They pretty much have the whole punk package down. And it is catchy. So you gotta hand it to them for that.
- James Sandham
The Flesh
Firetower
Gern
Blandsten Records
Being compared to The Pretenders and the Pixies are no easy feats since those are pretty big shoes to fill but Brooklyn/Philly-bred band The Flesh manage to pull it off on their album Firetower.
As if sounding like those groups weren’t enough, the foursome have successfully cultivated their own sound and style, giving themselves a bit of an edge.
The opening track “The Truant” is a Chrissie Hynde homage since the lead singer Gabriella Zappia manages to capture the sultry, pseudo-manliness of Hynde’s classic vocals. “World To Come” picks up the pace and offers a fine melody comprised of banging drums, electric guitar twangings and harmonious singing talent.
“In Paradise” carries a slight Middle Eastern feel while “Compulsion” harbors a sexy dark theme pulling you into its panged lovelorn lyrics. “Justice” makes use of some haunting violins to go with Zappia’s chilling vocals. Her scornful voice mixes well with every song on the record, particularly the bass-thumping saxophone-musings of “Loyale.”
If you like the punk-pop-dance past of Blondie and The Pretenders mixed with a little modern zest, then check out this pick.
-Antoinette Mercurio
Forty Birds’ album, Shotgun Therapy, tells an epic journey in the way that only a cheesy metal band can tell with distorted and wah wah influenced metal ripping through a new wave wall of sound. They are clearly influenced by several styles of new metal, including guitar licks that wish they were just a little more like Metallica. In order to be appear dark and brutal, their vocalist sings about pain and suffering. When played through a medium of high-energy metal-pop-rock, the low grind of Matthew Pelletier’s screaming vocal style is reinforced by morbid apocalyptic lyrics, and juxtaposed constantly by smooth pop harmonies. Shotgun Therapy, as an album, bursts into flight. Immediately they promise complicated and high stamina music. Though the album reaches a solemn midpoint, building that back up into a fiery spunky finish makes it a true album that provides what the first track promises in style.
- Gideon Greenbaum-Shinder
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Forward, Russia!
Give Me A Wall
Dance To The Radio
From the basements of Britain,
the incongruously named Forward, Russia! have stormed the shores of
North America with superfluous punctuation and a debut LP of infectious
post-punk anarchy. Comprised of brother and sister Whiskas and Katie,
and former Black Helicopters members Tom Woodhead and Rob Canning, the
quartet are a DIY wonder. Since forming two years ago, they have
established for their self-owned label a modicum of international
reputation and, with the release of Give me a Wall, they have created
an innovative and capturing album of twitchy anthems and haunting
ambiances. Powerful and resonant at times, but pounding and raw at
others, Forward, Russia! nonetheless maintain a distinctive consistency
throughout their album, apparently operating in a genre unto themselves
best placed somewhere between new wave, glitch, and working-class
British rock. And while the sound can be unfamiliar and, perhaps,
jarring at first, it’s something that easily grows on you, in no small
part due to Whiskas’ captivating and creative vocals. Great sounds
from a great ethos
www.forwardrussia.com
- James Sandham
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The Foundry Field Recordings
Prompts/Miscues
Emergency Umbrella
An eclectic mix of sweet melodies, strange sound
effects, and hopeful lyrics soothe the soul in The Foundry Field
Recordings’ Prompts/Miscues. The Columbia, Missouri based indie-rock
band spent 36 months crafting their latest album, FFR’s third release
after a 7” single and their 2003 debut EP, Fathers as Robots. The
album fights through a long, tedious introduction in “Battle Brigades
Part I “and finds its spirit to become catchy and beautiful- without
ever losing its abstract edge.
The slow, epic melodies and
gentle voice of Billy Schuh give the album a poetic air as it delves
into the gloomy themes an apocalyptic modern world. Despite the
overwhelming theme of destruction and chaos, the album never becomes
depressing or prosaic, churning out catchy beats and mellow lyrics that
had me dancing along to the destruction and disaster.
“Broken
Strings” is a simple, yet haunting melody that echoes through the
mind, while “Warning Raids Over Kiev” is a surprisingly upbeat song
of a town engulfed in flames, and “sending out the troops to take/all
the lives that went to waste.” The remaining tracks seem to fall
neatly into either of the two categories- integrating quirky,
melancholic vocals with toe-tapping beats. While the album does fall
into the trap of redundancy- some of the songs seem to just melt into
others- it more than makes up for the slight fault through originality
and their softly beautiful, reflective sound. In Field Recording, the
band cements the apocalyptic theme with eerie tornado sirens, crackly
radio broadcasts and soft music fading into silence to the sound of
rapid typing.
Prompts/Miscues is an impressive,
thought-provoking album that explores the chaos of our modern world
through its haunting, poignant tracks. The perfect album to soothe a
broken heart, get through a rough day, or smooth over a rough patch in
life without becoming overly sentimental or sugary sweet.
- Stella Simeonova
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The Foxymorons
Hesitation Eyes
Heatstroke Records
In looking up the definition of Alt-Country on the
internet I found that there is no tried and true description.
Originally conceived of in the early 80’s and known as ‘Americana’
or ‘CowPunk’, Alt-Country (as it is now known) is just another
classification of rock n’ roll, incorporating elements of country as
well as bluegrass, folk and many other similar genres. On their 3rd
full length album The Foxymorons make it clear that they have a good
grasp of what the genre is all about. Catchy riffs and excellent
harmonies make this a solid listen from front to back. Following in the
footsteps of Alt-Country mainstays Wilco, Whiskeytown, and Uncle
Tupelo, Hesitation Eyes doesn’t stray far from the formula. Focusing
mainly on the theme of love, mostly unrequited, tracks like “I’m
Still in Love” and “This Heart of Mine” let the band show their
range. The former uses simple piano and drums with nice harmonies to
set the tone, before bringing in the distorted guitar to take the song
to the next level. On the latter the great harmonies are supported by a
simple but catchy banjo backing. There is something to be said for a
record when, on the first listen, you can anticipate where the songs
are going and happily go there with the band. The Foxymorons will never
be accused of trying to re-invent the wheel. But they sure do make it
spin real nice.
- Matthew Gorman
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Fox Jaws
Goodbye Doris
Chaulk Records
Barrie, Ontario’s Fox Jaws, formerly known as Doris, is fresh out of the gate with this fantastic debut. Goodbye Doris is full of some very well crafted ambient pop rock. These guys pull off some excellent boy/girl vocal harmonies and duets to a massive effect. Vocals are sweet, soaring, and only sometimes raunchy and overdriven, yet always impassioned. Goodbye Doris full of richly textured and orchestrated songs, and along with the lyrics, it is ever evocative of the greater Canadian experience. Strong and varied percussion holds most of the album together, leaving the guitars to create large echoing sounds that sweep across the speakers and build upon the rhythm. Though young, this band has fast become masterful of their craft, creating massive soundscapes ranging from the roots-ier ‘Karmonica’ to the vaguely psychedelic ‘Forging a Truce’. Comparisons to Broken Social Scene can certainly be made – the size of this band’s soundscape is at times that large, and their tasteful use of multiple instrumentation could soon put them at the forefront of Canadian music.
-Jesse Kline
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The Frames
The
Cost
Anti- / Epitaph
There is an old Irish proverb that says, “It takes time to build castles.”
Dublin, Ireland’s The Frames have just lowered the drawbridge on their castle. The bands latest effort and sixth full length to date, The Cost, is sure to introduce you to one of the best bands you don’t already know.
For an established band (they’ve been creating music since 1990) their latest album is a step forward. With keyboard layered indie-rock and violin backed pop songs, each track offers the listener something new.
The Frames music is slightly reminiscent of the rock elements found in Damien Rice’s work and carries a vintage nineties sound. The band clearly hasn’t forgotten its routes.
On the track “Sad Songs” lead singer Glen Hansard says “And the price of fame/is that they love you when you’re gone.” A standout track on the album “Sad Songs” deals a heavy dose of imagery in the lyrics.
Another standout track and hidden gem is “True.” It’s gentle acoustic and vocals written from the depth of despair weave within its tale of martyrdom. The female backing vocals are broken with a sullen scream, ending the song.
The albums catchy hooks and violin highlights make it just interesting enough not to slip between the cracks of today’s modern disdain for standard folk-rock.
Hansard’s drawl and use of clever rhetoric brings to mind crooner Jake Bellows of Neva Dinova. The Frames prove they come to make music, whether or not anyone is listening. I suggest you listen.
– Andrew Seale
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Fred J Eaglesmith
Milly's Cafe
A Major Label
This album, the sixteenth for Fred and “Fredheads”
alike, is filled with lazy-summer songs for equally slow days and
nights. Each song is filled with honeyed emotion, simplicity and wisdom
gleaned from the bottom of the barrel, as Eaglesmith believes is the
place all of life’s answers come from. It’s true; when has anyone
ever learned anything while at the top of their game. It is only until
we drink our fortune away; lose our children and/or our jobs that we
scramble for the rung upwards after “seeing the light”. Fred J
Eaglesmith sings with this wisdom, holding out a tune in lieu of a
helping hand. Fred J Eaglemsith is something of a legend, what with the
Juno he won for Best Roots and Traditional Album, as well as winning
the Canadian Independent Music Award. Listening to Milly’s Café, an
album filled with dusty tales of sorrow, love, loneliness, drunken
cowboys and traveling the open road, one hears the loudest resounding
theme in all of Eaglesmith’s work: alienation. Again, how could one
aspire to this man’s sage advice surrounded by fame and fortune, in a
setting like Hollywood?
www.fredeaglesmith.com
-Jessica Shulist
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Free Diamonds
By the Sword
Deep Elm Records
Free Diamonds do a sort of semi-spastic geek rock that brims with its own kind of neurotic energy, most straightforwardly manifest in singer Scott Andersen vocals. It can get a little screechy at times - not screamo screechy; more like Saved By the Bell’s Screech screechy (think Danielson’s Daniel Smith) - but this doesn’t mean it can’t be catchy and even kind of cool. Combine Andersen’s wacked-out, too much whiz vocals with the band’s other two members and you get an art-nerd post-punk hybrid that can incorporate elements of ska (“Midnight Rainbow” for example), Elvis Costello, or the Ramones, but generally just charts its own way into musical mayhem. Probably most closely comparable to groups like Ima Robot, Free Diamonds are the kind of group you either love or hate. Extremes like this leave no room for middle ground.
James Sandham
Frog
Eyes
Tears of the Valedictorian
Absolutely Kosher
Records
Carey Mercer must have known he needed to put his best foot forward on
Frog Eyes' newest, Tears
of the Valedictorian. Having recently carved his
initials with fellow B.F.F'ers Spencer Krug and Dan Bejar on Swan Lakes
sublime first record, his own Frog Eyes vehicle had to put out a record
that, in its own way, aspired to push Frog Eyes (who is also Mercer's
wife
Melanie Cambell, McCloud Zicmuse, Michael W. Rak, and Spencer Krug)
into
the pantheon of Canadian indie rock. However, though
Tears... aims high,
it never really hits its mark as well as it could have, though one of
the
principal charms of the band is that their arrow is shot from a crooked
bow with squinty eyes that always manages to hit near enough the
target.
Bejar (Destroyer, The New Pornographers) and Krug (Wolf Parade, Sunset
Rubdown) have charisma in bunches. Their 'character' voices (as New
Pornographer Carl Newman once called Bejar's,) have a dynamic,
approachable quality that can grin slyly just as easily as it can
embody
torn heart strings, death, and destruction. On the other side, Mercer's
vocals are those of a wildman, and though his wails, shrieks, and
whimpers
can carry a tune, they can also at times get monotonous, even grating
at
times. "Oh B Oh B Oh B/ When you bottom the boats, the weeds deign to
sigh,'But the Admiral's 'chicken', the General's 'chicken"/ How painful
they rise." Feeling left out of the joke on "Stockades" is one thing,
but
here Mercer comes dangerously close to flaunting his secrets without
providing the much needed musical disclosure, which when combined with
the
vocals leads the listener wonders whether this might just be the
ravings
of a madman.
Aside from Mercer's vocal palette, Frog Eyes is musically a unique
band,
though again, they only posses a certain level of dynamic breadth. The
guitars comes through in a slew of chicken-picked arpeggios and manic
strumming, not dissimilar to Lou Reed's work on The Velvet Underground
and
Nico. The mechanical smashing drums are often too claustrophobic,
preferring to smash straight through repetitive sixteenth notes without
considering fills or rests. Spencer Krug's endearingly creepy keyboard
lines filter into the mix perfectly, sputtering and wheezing along with
the bee hive of sound, buzzing upwards, balancing melody on counter
melody
until the whole din comes crashing down into quiet reflective whimpers
accompanied by piano. "Reform the Countryside" is amongst the albums
best
songs (alongside "The Policy Merchant, the silver bay"), specifically
because it does not adhere strictly to the chaotic formula of Frog
Eyes.
Here, anthemic indie CanCon builds into a campy, barroom rock opera,
reaching for the stars before Mercer tumbles back down into his strange
and verbose plaintive movement. "Ah La-La/ You put the Baby in the
Bottle
and then you go/ And you sing that song that the General sings to the
Dawn..." Again, Mercer's capitalization of improper nouns is not the
most
confusing part of the lyrics, but the development of the songs is well
rounded and can forgive Mercer the head-scratching caused by his lyric
compositions.
This brings us to Mercer's lyrics. Cryptic at his most lucid, Mercer
for
the most part seems to tell the stories of characters in military and
political stations. " O the Roman AMBASSADOR/ Was torn apart by
plaster,/
And reassembled after:/ The 40 years of bombing..." he cries out, his
character fading into the background as Mercer examines politics,
possibly
those of a unified political and military leader a la the United
States?
In true Frog Eyes fashion, there is not enough given up by the lyrics
to
actually know what Mercer is speaking on, but his vague musings do seem
to
beget thoughts, as does all modern prose and poetry that seems to know
what it's saying though it refuses to tell the readers.
Where Frog Eyes drift from the game plan, they receive mixed results.
Where the dark carnivalesque skanking of "Evil Energy" seems strangely
out
of place and definitely a result of Frog Eyes' tenure in the Vancouver
scene, "The Policy Merchant, the silver bay" slows things down to
quietly
strummed guitar and Mercer's best attempt at a lullaby voice. Maybe
Mercer
is talking about growing up with a politician for a father. Maybe it's
about runaways, or illegal harvesting of sturgeon eggs, or encouraging
the
buddy system after dark, or railing against the drudgery of the working
world. We may never know. All that can be said is that Frog Eyes
probably
doesn't care if I understand their lyrics, or whether I can appreciate
the
savage yet subtle dynamics of their music as a whole. Maybe they don't
really care what the average listener, even those not in the tightest
group hug at the centre of the 'indie circle' thinks. This is probably
a
good thing, because though it contributes to one or two winces over the
course of Tears of the Valedictorian, it also has given us an album
that
is very much indie rock but with a voice all to its own.
Christopher Langer
www.absolutelykosher.com/frogeyes.htm
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The Fucking Machines
Stole My Quarter
Last Drag Records
If you can get past their crude name, you'll soon
find yourself caught up in the brash, raw, lyrical delivery of this
retro hardcore punk band.
Their ultra short disc, which is also
available as a limited edition white vinyl 7 and containing only four
tracks, is not even eight minutes long, but they manage a mouthful of
topics from capitalism in "Home(olka) Is Where The Hard On Is" to
violence and ending up in jail in "I'm Losing It."
The other two
tracks are "Dudeicide" with its thrashing beats and in-your-face
screaming guitars (I must also add that it's one of the best tracks),
and "Big Business" where the emphasis is on (no big surprise) spending
money - on haircuts and foreign made products among other things. Not
only are their songs fast and fun, but quirky too, check out these
lyrics in "Big Business":
"These Visa bills are killing me/ Like freezer burn on your garlic breath."
The
Fucking Machines sound pretty fucking good and well put together for a
band that formed just last year, and wasted little time in cutting
their songs just six months later. Vocalists Colin Vincent and Scott
Terry, kick ass in driving their points home against the backdrop of
the chaotic thrash of the music, which couldn't be done without the
help of fellow Machinesters Dave Jackson and Joe Vienneau, who both
handle guitars, John Nash on Bass and drummer John Sproull.
Rock on guys!
www.thefuckingmachines.net
www.lastdragrecords.com
-Charmaine Merchant
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Future Native
The Politics of Love
Independent Label
Typical soft rock has been around as long as there have been guitars and someone with an urge for writing uplifting lyrics has. Easy-listening Australian band Future Native should be written into the dictionary under generic, if not already there. Listening to what the “future” of rock music is going to be like one can’t help but feel that Future Native should have been named Uber Uncreative. From the first acoustic chord to the last cliché lyric Future Native offers up little more than dental office music. The album ends the same as it begins; on a light note. As the album progresses the sound sways very little from the sound of the first track. With each new song you get the feeling that the repeat button has been somehow turned on. Future Native is offering easy listening instrumentals with lyrics that couldn’t emotionally charge even the most sensitive of people. I would recommend this album to kindergarten teachers and those who drive Caravans.
http://www.myspace.com/futurenatives
-Phil Kedrosky
Gabby Glaser
Gimme Splash
Latchkey Recordings
Luscious Jackson co-founder Gabby Glaser’s debut solo LP, Gimme Splash, is an album that opens with a promising, pseudo-psychedelic garage number, “Spirit of Long Island”. It’s a catchy, freewheeling and energetic track but, unfortunately, proves to be the exception on this album. The majority of the disc’s other songs, while not radically different from this powerful opener, leave the listener with a feeling that something is missing, giving the work a semi-amateur feel despite Glasser’s extensive past in the business of making music. They draw from the sound Glasser established during her Luscious Jackson days, a form of fused funk-electro-rock that, while pleasant, ultimately fails to leave much of an impression. “Fruit is Sweet” is a prime example: it’s a smooth little track with a pumping, fuzzed out bass beat, one that would likely be categorized as catchy if it weren’t so forgettable the moment the record stops. “Darling” suffers a similar fate, as if the potential of the song wasn’t quite capitalized on. At least the disc ends on a good note, with the Blur-eque “Sophisticated Gentleman.”
- James Sandham
The Gallows
Orchestra of Wolves
Epitaph
With a whole lot of great press behind them and proudly waving the flag
of British punk, The Gallows seem like a sure bet for great music. But
while their heart is in the right place these Brits need to tighten
their nuts and bolts and work on their songwriting skills before they
can live up to their hype. Orchestra of Wolves is a hardcore
album. It is an abrasive, loud slaughterfest of screamed vocals,
thrashed drums and distorted punk riffs. All good qualities for a
screaming lot of English punks but without any semblance of melody,
direction or audible lyrics each track tends to run into the next and
before you know it your on the 12th track thinking it was
still the 3rd. Album standout “In The Belly of A Shark”
works well because of it’s harmonized vocals and interesting turn of
phrase. While on record The Gallows don’t exactly impress, the energy
displayed in these recordings could only translate into an amazing live
show filled with broken noses, shredded vocal cords and that good old
fashioned punk spirit.
http://www.myspace.com/gallows
- Sam Stilson
Gang Gang Dance
Rawwar
The Social
Registry
New York City-based Gang Gang Dance have released in Rawwar an eclectic EP of three tracks, just over twenty minutes long, and spanning genres like fusion’s about to go out of style. The first track, “Nicoman”, is a complete cultural mash-up, drawing influences from Arabic, Hindi, and traditional Peruvian folk music. It kind of sounds like M.I.A.’s “Galang” but mixed with a shot Delirium. It’s different and it’s good. The second track, “Oxygen Demo Riddim”, is more ambient, drawing from early house beats and slowly building into a good loop with catchy beats. The final piece of the puzzle, “the Earthquake that Frees Prisoners”, is described by Gang Gang Dance’s music label, the Social Registry, as “musique concrete” - I’d describe it as about three minutes of whale noises that suddenly breaks down into a bit of a freaked-out hip-hop vibe… or something like that. It’s crazy stuff. Hear for yourself at www.myspace.com/ganggangdance.
-
James Sandham
Gang Gang Dance
Retina Riddim
The Social Registry
In what seems to be an odd take on the tour film (though this is denied by The Social Registry's press), Gang Gang Dance have offered diehard fans a thick slice of what makes them a band without parallel on the (popular) indie scene. However, what makes GGD unparalleled and what makes them uniquely bold are two separate things. Even though much of the critical acclaim smeared so liberally across the NYC troupe is its unique hold on the experimental and pop worlds. Their previous full length, God's Money, knew when and where to emerge from industrially tribal rhythms with melody and glockenspiel in hand, Retina Riddim never comes up for air. The result is a thirty-some minute CD, a DVD that doubles that, and a poster, not to mention some not too shabby art rock sleeve design.
As for the poster, let's just say that the poster is kind of interested, a submerged face on one side and a bunch of letters scrawled across the other, but being folded up into a CD case has pretty much removed it from wall space contention. The CD/DVD sleeve is also a somewhat interesting art rock artifact, but baby gorillas a good EP does not make. That usually falls to the music, though Gang Gang Dance place such a large premium on the 'art' in their rock that Retina Riddim is far more of an art piece encompassing everything from the packaging on up than simply a long experimental track.
As for the DVD, perhaps the most cohesive aspect of this project, comes off as rather university in its method and style. Cutting jerkily from one image to another and repeating to match the audio, far too many similar projects have passed before my eyes, and since I doubt that I'll be sleeping with anyone from GGD, I don't have to automatically compliment this one. Too bad, because there's really not too much that aggravates on the two selections, band member Brian DeGrew's "Retina Riddim" and band friend Oliver Payne's "GGDbyOP." aside from the art school feel of the videos, they are an interesting take on the tour film, offering disorienting images that emphasize the sensory over the conscious experience, so it's a shame that the band and its label don't want this to be seen as a tour video.
In terms of the DVD's audio, neither really compare to God's Money, coming off as industrial noise for the most part. Retina Riddim's final four minutes pretty much justify the whole project offering something lucid and sounding vaguely like it could belong on a Ninja Tunes release, but the twenty or so preceding minutes numb the listener's senses, preventing anything from sticking out too much, even with successive listens.
Without the visuals of the DVD, the CD's Retina Riddim audio track is simply lost. Its clashing man vs nature tracts don't need video footage to be obvious, but they don't really add up to anything by themselves. Half way through, we're treated to some of the only works on the album, a loop of a man saying "push things forwards" (no, it's not Mike Skinner) followed by the man saying "destroy." It seems quite apparent that this is vocalizing the nature and the human civilization side of things, but in a way that leads at least this writer to believe that GGD either didn't trust the intelligence of their fans, hitting them over the head rather than letting them explore, or they weren't sure that the Retina Riddim project held upas one concise, fully thought out piece of art, which is doesn't.
-Christopher Langer www.ganggangdance.com
Gary Flanagan
Rhapsody in
Black
Independent
Gary Flanagan reminds us at every corner of his newest release, Rhapsody in Black, that he hails from New Brunswick. Songs like “Saint John” and the huge coat of arms pictured on the back cover of this home-made CD repeatedly assert the origins of the quirky new-waver. The lyrics of each track reflect the typical and complex attitude of Canadians from the Atlantic Provinces: deep, soulful pride offset by grim disappointment. But at heart, this man more likely hails from another planet in the future where everyone dresses in black suits with white or neon accents and sunglasses at all times.
Not to suggest that this record is silly - to the contrary, despite the dated sound of the album it seems Flanagan has made a concerted effort to land firmly on the 'sincere' side rather than the 'ironic' side of music. One wonders if this is one big joke, but Flanagan makes it clear both musically and lyrically that he speaks from the heart, and could be quite serious.
Written, recorded and produced by Flanagan himself, Rhapsody in Black oozes reverb, tinny synthesizers, whisper-talk vocals and dead beats from a drum machine, with the occasional vocal contribution from Janelle Martin. But what makes this release special is the persistent and care-free tone that resonates throughout the album. On “I Walk Alone” Flanagan reminds his listeners of his independent spirit and his resilience. Flanagan walks alone in a tough town with a bleak landscape, and Rhapsody in Black is a bright, yet peculiar gem, located somewhere beneath its surface.
http://garyflanaganwebsite.tripod.com/
-Kate Robertson
Get Cape. Wear Cape.
Fly.
The
Chronicles of a Bohemian Teenager
Atlantic
Records
Get Cape. Wear Cape. Fly - henceforth to be referred to simply as “Cape” - is the stage name of Essex, UK-based music prodigy Sam Duckworth. A mere twenty years of age, he hails from the same town as working-class music hero Billy Bragg, and follows in the same singer-songwriter tradition. The Chronicles of a Bohemian Teenager is Cape’s third release, his first LP after the independent release of a split single in 2004 and a self-titled EP in 2005 under the Big Scary Monster label. It is characterised by soft, acoustic guitar-driven melodies and, of course, Cape’s powerful, unvarnished vocals. Alternately brooding and hopeful, the album is nonetheless anchored by an underlying sense of melancholy and disillusionment, perhaps most evident on such tracks as “the Lighthousekeeper” and “War of the Worlds.” While some tracks come off as slightly over-produced, the album nonetheless retains the gritty folk influence that powered Cape’s rise through the live show circuit to this major label release.
- James Sandham
Get Set Go
Selling Out
& Going Home
TSR Records
Listening to alt-power poppers Get Set Go’s third album Selling Out & Going Home makes me think one thing. This band’s got serious issues. I mean total social, quirky issues that make me think this guy might need therapy. It’s understandable to have a bad day and mutter under your breath “I Hate Everyone” but to actually wish death on another kind of disturbs me.
In their track “Everybody Get Movin’” lead singer Mike TV boldly sings “looks like there’s an accident / I’m hoping everybody’s dead / you heard what I said / I hope these bastards died a horrible death.” Lyrics such as this kind of throw me off especially since I wouldn’t expect such macabre subjects to go along with the band’s catchy and peppy sound. I realize afterwards that Mike TV is known for this kind of songwriting as a way to work through his personal demons. Nonetheless even though some of the content is slightly off-kilter at times, the music itself is a blend of pop, folk, alt-country and punk – just a real mix of genres much like a mix of Mike’s emotions. Singing about everything from a depressing love life to miserable poverty to his insecurities, this album is a real, brutally honest look at a day in the life of the singer-songwriter.
Listening to the 17-track disc you get a little nostalgic for the past both on a personal level and for the music of the past. Musically you get nostalgic because in the middle of the banter and self-pity Get Set Go have managed to learn from artists such as The Ramones and The Beach Boys and applied these influences to create their own unique sound.
As an individual listener, you get personally drawn into the music because you start to feel for Mike. With songs such as “You’re The Infection” and “Sweet Little Kisses” you realize Mike is just another guy who’s had his heart broken too, he’s come up short for rent too and maybe he likes drugs just like some of us. Basically he’s human and that’s okay because at least he’s got the talent to sing about it and not just whine about it like the rest of us.
-Antoinette Mercurio
The Good, The Bad & The Queen
The Good, The Bad & The Queen
Parlophone/EMI
I love Brit-Pop/Rock so I was excited to receive a copy of Britian's latest supergroup, The Good, The Bad and The Queen. I knew I could not be disappointed when I heard the line up: The voice of frontman and mastermind, Damon Albarn of Blur and Gorillaz fame. The bass playing of ex-Clasher Paul Simonen. Guitar soundscapes provided by Simon Tong formerly of The Verve and drums played by Tony Allen formerly of Fela Kuti. And if that wasn't enough, Danger Mouse Brian Burton was recruited to produce the album. Wow.
Sedated is the word that comes to mind to describe the overall project The excitement I initially felt was instantly transformed in to a sort of calm once I popped the CD in to my player. The first track "History Song" sets the mood. It begins with a slow acoustic guitar overlaid with Albarn's lazy vocals. Then comes in Simonen's dub bass, a smidge of reggae organ and the quiet touch of Allen's snare drum. Great tune.
The music is sparse and the musicianship is simple and understated. But the instrumentation and layered production threads it all together. The CD also has a very nostalgic "English" flavour to it. Partly because of Albarn's unapologetic English accent and partly because of a Beatlesque country-side style piano that is heard throughout several songs. From song to song, we are haunted by ghosts of Brit-Pop past: Blur meets the Gorillaz meets a very high Ska/Reggae band from Kingston town. Although I understand the feel that Albarn was trying to provoke with this album, my only disappointment is that there are no real "rocker" tracks. A sedated journey from start to finish.
www.thegoodthebadandthequeen.com
-Liz Lulu
Ghost House
Departures
Ghost House
As experienced on the front cover, these Ghosts
don't forget their piano in the afterlife. I've never been
scared of folded paper shapes before and "Origami Nightmare" is no
exception as Shannon Wood takes the lead in this song. "Your Big
Day" is as shiny and peppy as you would hope that day to be and a
favourite. "Mail Lady" keeps the pep in your step and if you
thought your feet were going to slow down "No Pressure" will keep them
quick. B.C. based Ghost House open for Joel and the Last of the
Neighbours this summer.
www.ghosthousemusic.com
www.jessegander.com
-Heather Rayment
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Grand National
A
Drink & A Quick Decision
Recall Group
Grand National’s, A Drink & A Quick Decision, is an underwhelming
light indie pop effort that is so vanilla it’s Haagen Daz.
Quadruple-tracked whispered vocals waft along; uttering forgettable
melodies over awful 80’s synth pop riffs that actually make your stomach
turn a little. It’s the kind of music you’d hear palpitating quietly in
a trashy woman’s clothing store at Yorkdale Mall. The only two tracks of
the twelve that aren’t embarrassing for Grand National are the upbeat
“Going to Switch The Lights On” and album closer, the piano ballad “Part
of A Corner”. Not surprisingly what raise these tunes up from the
drudgery of the rest of the album is the use of real instruments and
singing at a level appropriate for a bar, not a library. You might like
this album if you’re a pussy or a chick that likes pussies but those
with a backbone will pass by with their noses held high.
http://www.grand-national.net/
- Sam Stilson
Graig Markel
Via Novella
Sonic Boom
Recordings
This is pretty desolate sounding stuff. At times, it has the lonely sounding production and guitar work that might be found on a Daniel Lanois album. The songs are never in any hurray to go anywhere, which is both comforting and frustrating. The songs aren’t particularly long, so it is difficult to grow bored with them, and the screeching guitar work in the background does compliment the quiet one line choruses. Frustrations do arise though when you realize that each song shares the same sparse sound, and there is very little expansion on that sound. This can be perfect if in the right mood for a quiet morning or night. Lay in the bathtub and put this on when you want to be really mellow, but if you aren’t in the bathtub, you might get bored somewhere in the middle of the album. The production is deceptively simple, with many quiet layers of drum, keys, chimes, and synth work stacked on top of the vocals. The electronic strings, and Markel’s voice are at times reminiscent of The Flaming Lips, but much colder and distant. It’s not quite enough to be depressing, but certainly not lively enough to grab you, so I think it’s fair to say that this is an album for solo listening, but only on those occasions when you want something you can choose to pay little attention to, or ignore if necessary.
-Daniel Demois
The Great Outdoors
Food, Booze, and Entertinment
DDG Records
One thing that’s beyond dispute about the Great Outdoors: they know how to package an album. Like previous releases, this one comes bound as a small book, complete with text and graphics, and even a scribbled library card in the back, just like you used to get in elementary school. Pretty cool. Why anyone would want to distract from the music, however, I cannot understand, because Food, Booze and Entertainment is one great album – provided you’re in the mood for roots folk. But who isn’t these days? The “citygrass” movement is everywhere, and these guys are part of its old guard. Comparable to other Canadian neo-folk staples like Ox and Kingsway, the Great Outdoors have crafted in this album a detached, drawling ode to the fine art of old fashioned songwriting, complete with banjo, fiddle, and singing circle to boot. Wistful and weary, it’s good listening for a tired world.
- James Sandham
Without a hint of sarcasm I can say that this is one of the best albums for falling asleep to that I’ve found in a very long time.
This is partly because the CD is full of gentle, pretty melodies and partly because a whole case of Red Bull couldn’t keep me awake while listening to it.
4 songs into the 12 track disc and I can’t remember a single thing about any of the songs I’ve just heard, except that they sound almost exactly like the song I’m listening to right now. Ida Nilson’s voice seems only to have a range from breathy sad to breathy melancholy, and her piano clunks along with chords, albeit pretty ones, as though they weren’t aware the instrument could do anything else. There are some interesting sounds on the album; trumpets, violins, lap steel and an accordion, for example, but each of these seems to have been calculated as no more than a nice way to fill up the space in any given song. You get the sense that you could interchange any of the “interesting” instruments and the sound would be pretty much the same.
The whole album makes me wonder whether Great Aunt Ida is writing songs for themselves or writing songs for other people. They’ve created a very introspective album, and as an audience member it’s difficult to find any access points so that I can make these songs relate to me and make them memorable. Listening to this album makes me feel a little bit like listening to a conversation between a group of people I don’t know that’s full of inside jokes I don’t understand.
That being said, it’s really not bad. It’s definitely hesitant, but that isn’t unusual for a debut release. It’s like listening to Belle and Sebastian, but without the hooks. If I didn’t own it already I would certainly go out and buy it, even if it was just for falling asleep to.
- Sarafina DiFelice
The Graboids
Infinite Delay
Stickfigure Recordings
“I know, we’ll call them graboids!” This is the line from that wonderfully cheesy movie that we all know as Tremors. The Graboids, however, are not subterranean snake creatures. They’re the ambient rock band from Virginia. Although ambient rock is nothing new, the Graboids do it well. They mix spacey guitar riffs with mellow beats and finish it off with a distinct ambient swell. Their sound is much like another band by the name Explosion in the Sky only with heavier guitars and more psychedelic. They released their sophomore album in February 2007. Each song on the album fades into the next giving you the feeling that you’re listening to one continuous track. This music works very well as background music while working on the computer, or perhaps driving. The graboids are on tour July 2007, however the closest venue to Toronto is in New York.
http://www.myspace.com/graboids
-Phil Kedrosky
Graham Coxon
Love Travels At Illegal Speeds
Parlophone
Having parted ways with the Brit-pop icons Blur four
years ago, their former guitarist is back with his sixth solo release.
Love Travels at Illegal Speeds is raunchy, rocking Brit-pop true to
Coxon’s Blur roots but unfortunately missing much of the distinctive
magic only Damon Albarn could bring to the sound (which is not to say
the album should be dismissed). The album is personal and catchy with
an inviting narrative that any scruffy, lovelorn kid could relate to.
Fans of Modern Life is Rubbish-era Blur should be impressed, but the
quirky je ne sais quoi that made Blur into an international phenomenon
is sadly absent from this work. Perhaps launching one mega-group was
enough for Coxon. These days, he laments, “I’d like to get married
and go raise pigs in the countryside.” Hand that alternative to his
fans, and perhaps Love isn’t such a bad offering after all.
www.grahamcoxon.co.uk
-James Sandham
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Ghost Stories
Quixoticism
Sonic Boom
Recordings
Ghost Stories is the one man musical project of Seattle-based maestro Ron Lewis, and his debut, Quixoticism, is a solid album of upbeat pop underscored by a subtle vein of eerie melancholy. His opening track, “Catacombs”, is a case in point. The lazy acoustic guitar work anchors it solidly in the genre of musicians like Donovan Woods and Bright Eyes, but the swelling strings that carry the melody add a haunting undertone to the piece. Like the rest of the album, it’s a well-arranged piece of musicianship, all the more impressive since Lewis accomplished much of the recording process on his own, with nothing more than an 8-track tape machine and an empty house. It’s a low-fi approach that works well with the album’s general mood of suborned resilience. Things pick up as the album progresses, with the Clap-Your-Hans-Say-Yeah-like second track, “the Upper Ten/the Lower Five”, and “the Black Hand.” Ghost Stories also channels tried and true pop sounds a la Shins on tracks like “You Wear it like a Stained Glass Window.” So while the album might now blow minds with its originality, at the very least it draws from the current pantheon of pop rock hit makers. Great work for Lewis’ first time out.
www.sonicboomrecordings.com/ghoststories
- James Sandham
Girl Nobody
Balaclava Casino Heista
Jericho Beach Records
The breathy, quivering vocals of Girl Nobody’s lead singer Marta Jaciubek-McKeever goes well with the sleepy tracks on their Balaclava Casino Heist album. The disc is kind of spacey, as if you’re blasting off into an unknown universe. There’s no easy way to categorize the group but trip-pop roots with jazz-flavour and folkie-acoustic renderings happen to give this album an interesting flair.
McKeever’s voice is an unusual one; sounding as though it’s not quite developed, almost childish but it works because it keeps you interested and listening rather than nodding off to the sleepy, whimsical beats.
Can’t say the same for the male singer though, especially on “Grandfather.” Nothing makes you want to bang your wrists against the wall more than hearing some whiny voice exploit his grandfather’s cancer sickness in a song. Thankfully “Tacit” makes you forget about the previous track’s depression with its gentle, piano harmonies.
An eclectic mix to say the least on this album, with a fair dipping into a few musical genres to make it a light, airy listen.
-Antoinette Mercurio
The Odd Couple
Gnarls Barkley
Atlantic
The problem with writing one of the most popular songs in the past five years is everything you do afterwards will pale in comparison. Gnarls Barkley will never write another “Crazy” or at least it`s not on their new album The Odd Couple. The duo of Cee-Lo and Danger Mouse are undeniably talented and every now and then when they click, it`s magic. For the most however Gnarls Barkley are an interesting diversion that gets old quick. The new album is at it`s best when it`s rocking. Single “Run” and “Going On” are two great high energy songs from the group but clunkers like “Open Book” and “No Time Soon” show up too often and deflate any excitement built up beforehand. The album is worth a spin but Gnarls Barkley may be heading into niche fan-base territory.
- Sam Stilson
God Made Me Funky
We Can All
Be Free
New EmPire
Entertainment
Funk Collective God Made Me Funky have been bringing the funk to Toronto and surrounding areas for years, but never in as polished and radio-friendly a way as can be found on their sophomore release We Can All Be Free. While their 2004 self-titled debut reflected as closely as possible the feel and flow of their raucous live performances, their new album shows a group who have learned to use the studio to their advantage and create multi-layered tracks that show all of their potential.
GMMF describe themselves as a “collective”, always in a state of flux and cycling musicians in and out (including two new lead vocalists and a new keyboardist on this album). The one thing that stays consistent throughout, fortunately, is the quality of music, a mix of Parliament Funkadelic stylings and family-friendly rapping all done with a tongue-in-cheek attitude that helps remind us that the first three letters in Funk are F-U-N. Guest appearances from such artists as (Godfather of Canadian Hip-Hop) Maestro, among others, help to give this group the industry ‘cred’ they so rightly deserve.
God Made Me Funky is on the verge of something with this new record: a funk revolution threatening to take over the world with fresh sounds and a whole lot of fun.
www.godmademefunky.com
-Matthew Gorman
Gomez
How We Operate
ATO Records
Oh Gomez. The U.K dawlings are back with How We
Operate, 12 songs of fuzzy brown cardigan sweetness. Signed to Dave
Matthews’ label, Gomez have been adjusting their black rim glasses on
stage for just about a decade. The songs oscillate between the naïve
pensiveness (sha la la’s included) and just over three minute pop
ditties that will have your loafers tapping. Heeding the critics
warning, How We Operate is more pared down then Gomez’s last couple of
efforts. But don’t get this reviewer wrong, Gomez has the ability to
rock, sort of. Woman! Man! is full of aw shucksness while Notice has a
melody that defies you dislike. Produced by Gil Norton of Pixies, Echo
and the Bunnymen, Feeder and Counting Crows (?) fame, How We Operate
works when Gomez is in their element; cute and catchy. Unfortunately, I
do not believe half the CD; for example, when they decide that a banjo
is a propos, Gomez come off a little like Anthony Michael Hall in that
Blues club scene in Weird Science. Trust me; you will not be surprised
to learn some of the members of Gomez met in University.