Uptown Magazine Online - Winnipeg's Online Source for Arts, Entertainment & News

Uptown Magazine - Winnipeg's Online Source for Arts, Entertainment & News

September 4, 2008


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2008-09-04

Amos Lee

Last Days at the Lodge

(Bluenote Records)

C+

Website: http://www.bluenote.com

How can you easily tell a label has its eye on breaking a new solo artist into big time? Check the backing band they saddle the lad with and it will give you a pretty solid idea of the map being used. Amos Lee has a sweet and sturdy voice, sings about 'reality' for the most part and, gosh darn it, is really likable on Last Days. He even has Who bassist Pino Palladino, guitar demi-god Doyle Bramhall Jr. and Memphis songwriting legend Spooner Oldham playing on this thing. The album is truly generic courtesy of the Don Was production and a style that peels a page from the easygoing, barefoot-troubadour songbook.
— Jeff Monk

Brazilian Girls

New York City

(Verve Forecast)

Website: http://www.braziliangirls.info

If you are a high-need music fan, every now and then you crave an album that will knock you out of your chosen comfort zone. That is exactly what this fine new album from Brazilian Girls should accomplish if you choose to open your soul to its wildly eclectic reverberations. The trio (which includes only one actual girl) mixes and mashes juicy bits of pop, funk, world music and even disco and quasi-opera into a melting pot of sounds that is dizzyingly entertaining. Singer Sabina Sciubba is pretty much the centre of attention here, but her tandem bandmates make it a wild journey complete with everything you need to unclutter those ears.
— Jeff Monk

Fake Shark Real Zombie

Zebra! Zebra!

(Independent)

Website: http://www.braziliangirls.info

Complete chaotic madness, Zebra! Zebra! is a serial killer's soundtrack to psychotic murders. This is music for those with ADD, as themes fly by as fast as a bag of coke at a Hollywood party. Taking cues from The Boredoms and the now-defunct Test Icicles along with legendary psychos such as John Zorn and Mr. Bungle, FSRZ is just as at home with Blood Brothers-style noise rock as it is with electronic groovers. Frighteningly tight, these B.C. wackos will keep you and your equilibrium on your toes. It's so refreshing to hear a Canadian band break the mold.
— Ashley McCurdy

Matmos

Supreme Balloon

(Matador Records)

B+

Website: http://www.matadorrecords.com

Experimental sound duo Matmos (Drew Daniel and Martin Schmidt) has turned back the hands of time for its latest album Supreme Balloon. This time out, the pair stepped into some kind of wacky way-back machine and used the oldest of old-school synthesizers to make every note on the album. With the phrase "what once was old is new again" reverberating on each track, here the duo uses its ARP 2600, Roland SH-101, Akai AX80 and stylophone (and much else) to magnificent effect. It takes a bit of getting used to but it's well worth the effort.
— Jeff Monk

The Pogues

Just Look Them Straight in the Eye and Say Poguemahone!!

(Rhino)

Website: http://www.myspace.com/thepoguesofficial

It's a cliché to say that a band's sound is timeless, but that truly can be said of The Pogues. The band mixes traditional Irish music with the anger and energy of punk rock - and it sounds just as fresh today as it did when it formed in 1982. This new five-disc boxed set traces the band all the way through its tumultuous career, numerous lineup changes, break-ups and reunions. But instead of just packaging together the band's most popular hits, Rhino has included previously unreleased tracks, demo versions and live cuts. While it's not an ideal introduction to the band, it's definitely worth checking out for longtime fans.
— Mike Sherby

Tony Rice

Night Flyer: The Singer Songwriter Collection

(Rounder Records)

Website: http://www.rounder.com

This semi-comprehensive set of tracks from bluegrass guitar legend Tony Rice zeros in on a quartet of albums from earlier in his career plus a few previously unreleased tracks, giving it value to pure bluegrass completists. Rice has been kicking around a long while and had much to with breaking conventional bluegrass out of its heavy traditional shell, noticeably pushing boundaries along with other like-minded dudes such as Clarence White, David Grisman, Jerry Douglas and J.D. Crowe. This album features our hero Tony sounding rather benign vocally (he either sounds like Gordon Lightfoot or John Denver with a throat infection), but all there instrumentally.
— Jeff Monk

Time Again

Darker Days

(Hellcat Records)

Website: http://www.timeagainband.com

A new breed of filthy, balls-to-the-wall punk rock bands are emerging and close to the top of the list is Time Again. This L.A. band is another one of Tim Armstrong's discoveries. Armstrong has the knack of sorting through the bullshit and finding genuine kids that are in it for the right reasons. (The right reasons are, of course, beer, chicks and just a little respect.) Like the music, the lyrics are the real deal that explore personal topics and prove these punks are in it for the long haul.
— Ashley McCurdy

Tiamat

Amanethes

(Nuclear Blast)

B-

Website: http://www.churchoftiamat.com

I guess Swedish goth/symphonic metal is supposed to be gloomy as a rainy day in an Eastern European cemetery, but would it kill Johan Edlund to alter the pitch of his voice a little more often on the 15 dark, satanic tracks on Amanethes? It probably would, but Edlund knows he's going to hell, so I bet he just does whatever he wants. What I want is something that sounds less like a group of evil monks covering Type O Negative. Songs such as Lucienne and Raining Dead Angels (a truly bitchin' song title) show a bit of promise, but far too often these vampires are content to suck the life out of metal.
— Mike Warkentin

The Hold Steady

Stay Positive

(Vagrant/Universal)

Website: http://www.theholdsteady.com

Disc of the Week

Hardcore fans may take a while to warm to the wide-open, singalong strains of Constructive Summer and Stay Positive - the two tracks on this album that seem to be reaching for a broader audience. But Stay Positive is hardly a 'sell-out' album from this hardscrabbling and lovable Brooklyn-based quintet. Craig Finn is singing a little better, yes, but his tales of risky encounters gone wrong are still microscopic examinations of anguish and faith and hope and defiance, delivered with a pithy observational wit. What elevates Stay Positive beyond its three predecessors is that its big, ambitious sound - a mix of manic punk energy with a mid-tempo, Springsteenish vibe - is hitting on all cylinders on each of these 11 cuts (plus three bonus songs added after an Internet leak). This the sound of a band that's let go and found that it can soar.
— John Kendle

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