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Check
out what’s going on
around Winnipeg tonight! |
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Check
out this week’s
online CD reviews by our
music staff |
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C-Rayz
Walz
Ravipops (The Substance)
(Definitive Jux)
A
Website: www.definitivejux.com |
South Bronx lyricist
C-Rayz Walz comes out swinging on his debut release, Ravipops.
Armed with a Brand Nubian bark and a barrage of charming hooks,
Walz effortlessly separates himself from the rest of the pack,
unleashing a flurry of tracks, each with an uncanny way of
truly representing hip-hop’s past, present and future.
Whether rhyming over a fluid, melodic classical guitar sample
and simple drum track on “Yeah” or belting out
his socially conscious sentiments on “We Live”
and “Dead Buffalos,” it’s Walz’s vocal
prowess that inevitably grabs your attention. Not that the
backing accompaniment is weak – for an underground artist,
his knack for assembling a groove and backup is bewildering.
What’s also refreshing is that the disc is seemingly
devoid of the bling, braggery and bullshit so prevalent in
the genre.
Shayne Stephens |
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Clann
Zu
Rua
(G7 Welcoming Committee)
B+
Website: www.clannzu.com |
Clann Zu’s debut
CD, originally a self-released disc by the Irish/Australian
five-piece, won’t be easy to describe to your friends.
To assist, here are few lines you can borrow: “Contains
traces of old and new Chumbawamba,” “Alternate-universe
Ashley MacIsaac fronting a group of revolutionaries.”
“Imagine composer/ex-PWEI frontman Clint Mansell producing
Tom Cora with Dutch band The Ex.” Either way, the combination
of danceable pro-gramming/percussion and brooding strings
works well with Declan de Barra’s accomplished vocal
talents (swoon to the sexy Irish accent), making Rua sound
distinctly original without making it inaccessible. As inevitable
as the Chumbawamba/Tom Cora comparisons seemed to this listener,
Clann Zu are definitely doing something inspired and different.
Also included as a bonus is a video for the track “Five
Thousand More,” a depressing but cool-looking short
animated by de Barra. In stores Tuesday.
Sam Smith
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Gang
Starr
The Ownerz
(Virgin/EMI)
B
Website: www.gangstarronline.com |
Respect. Everyone
in the rap game is crying for it. Few deserve it. Hip-hop
veterans Gang Starr have earned it. The boys’ seventh
release, The Ownerz, is classic Gang Starr material, featuring
Guru’s velvety monotone and DJ Premier’s diverse
catalogue of beats and hooks. Blending funk licks, soulful
beats and smooth, but ghetto-tough, verbiage, the boys maintain
a strong underground sound, despite their mainstream success.
The disc swings through 19 tricked-out tracks, stirring up
a groove that continues from song to song. As Guru’s
tone can, at times, get a little repetitive, the crew has
done a great job of both enlisting the services of such notables
as Fat Joe, Snoop, MOP and Judakiss, and mixing up the mellow
with the heavy. Ultimately, the fact that the boys are still
going strong only assures us that they are, in fact, hip-hop’s
co-Ownerz.
Shayne Stephens
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Various
Artists
Joe Gibbs Productions: Roots Culture DJs and the Birth of
Dancehall
(Soul Jazz)
B
Website: www.souljazzrecords.co.uk |
This rootsy collection
(1975-1983) features a mixed bag of artists and styles, all
released under the guidance of former label owner Joe Gibbs.
By the late 1960s Gibbs had enlisted the enigmatic Lee Perry
and others to produce for him. By loading his recording sessions
with the best available Jamaican players, Gibbs was also able
to swing a deal with fledgling U.K. imprint Trojan Records
to release some of his hip sides in England. The 19 tracks
here cover the full spectrum of reggae greatness, from the
quirky dub of Joe Gibbs and the Professionals’ “Chapter
3,” “Massive Fire” and “Stonewall
Jackson” to plenty of hard-to-understand, rub-a-dub
kookiness. Standouts include must-have rarities by Culture,
The Mighty Diamonds and Junior Murvin. The dancehall tracks
are an acquired taste, but make sense contextually.
Jeff Monk
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Josh
Rouse
1972
(Rykodisc)
A-
Website: www.joshrouse.com |
From the retro cover
art to the polished, lightly groovy songs within, Josh Rouse’s
latest is all about nostalgia. The Nebraska-born songwriter
was born in 1972 and he revisits the era of Carole King and
James Taylor, giving his usually melancholy tunes a sunny
twist in the process. The album is a gleaming, glossy recreation
of a musical time gone by, but it’s no sterile museum
relic. The gentle disco strut of “Come Back (Light Therapy)”
is tastily augmented with flute filigrees and weepy strings,
and “Sunshine (Come On Lady” is probably the most
unabashedly peppy songs he’s written. Rouse hasn’t
lost those loving feelings – the lyrics are often nothing
more pressing than sun, sex and having fun (although it’s
a bit disconcerting to hear the not-very-macho Rouse crooning
“It’s the end of the night and I’m feeling
sexual”) – and his vulnerable voice sounds downright
jubilant here and there.
Jill Wilson
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The
Trews
House of Ill Fame
(Bumstead/Sony)
C+
Website: www.thetrewsmusic.com |
Unanswered question:
Why are the Trews becoming one of Canada’s most talked-about
bands? They’ve garnered rave reviews from critics and
been compared to Sloan and the Tragically Hip (which is a
weird enough scope in itself). To these ears, the Niagara
Falls-based quartet’s debut disc is a cute, sincere
and solid pop-tinged entry into the college-rock field, but
it lacks the alluring qualities that made those bands stars.
House of Ill Fame is thick with luscious production from Big
Sugar’s Gordie Johnson, fat drums, crisp guitar riffs
and giddy pop hooks to spare (especially on “When You
Leave” and “Tired of Waiting”). But the
cuddly harmonies and watered-down blues-rock vocal stylings
(halfway between the Black Crowes and Wide Mouth Mason) sound
anachronistic next to, say, the White Stripes.
Melissa Martin
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Rancid
Indestructible
(Hellcat/Warner)
A
Website: www.rancidrancid.com |
Fans may have raised
eyebrows over 2000’s vicious but uneven self-titled
release, or wrung hands over Tim Armstrong’s sojourn
with the Transplants. But Rancid always been chameleonic,
which is why Indestructible is both comforting in its familiarity
– Armstrong’s spit-soaked delivery, Matt Freeman’s
adept basslines – and intriguing in its vital new flavours.
It’s also Armstrong’s marriage-breakup album,
and all over it are broad scars shaped like a certain Distillers
frontwoman. There is raw and tangible emotional immediacy:
their old street-savvy scrappiness is enhanced by introspection
and maturity. Lars Frederiksen leads the charge on the incendiary,
raised-fisted anthem “David Courtney,” Armstrong
counters with a delicate “Arrested in Shanghai,”
and then they meet in the middle for gleeful chant-alongs
like “Back Up Against the Wall.” Beautiful tunes
like “Start Now” and the sensual “Red Hot
Moon” blossom amidst the more visceral party-punk chaos.
Melissa Martin
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Sunday
Driver
A Letter to Bryson City
(Doghouse/ Panacea)
C-
Website: www.driveonsunday.com |
On face value, the
debut from Florida’s Sunday Driver has all the right
elements – crisp, gritty guitars, catchy choruses, lots
of pauses for thought. But somehow, it doesn’t add up.
A lot of the problem lies in frontman Alex Martinez. His lyrics,
for instance, are a weak spot; he’s fond of doublespeak,
which accomplishes little (“I promise you I’m
not promising anything / Don’t say a thing cause you’re
ruining anything... save it for someone who can take it, I
can promise you I’m not promising” goes one particularly
inscrutable line from “Faking”). With his breathy,
by-the-numbers approach, he loses the sincerity that emo needs
to succeed, and his limited range hampers the band’s
penchant for grandiose indie-rock arrangements and repetitive
“rocking chorus”-styled songwriting. This album
is a pretty flat listen, and an even less engaging read.
Melissa Martin
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Various
Artists
Verbal Remixes & Collaborations
(Ninja Tune)
B+
Website: www.ninjatune.co.uk
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It was only a matter
of time before Brazilian-born, Montreal-based pro-ducer Amon
Tobin hooked up with other producers to work on material.
Along with collaborations with Ninja Tune crew members Bonobo,
Kid Koala and P-Love, Tobin also hit the studio with Steinski
and Doubleclick. Kid Koala and Tobin’s untitled track
that opens the album is the best of the bunch. Koala’s
sedate drums and sad, lazy horn loops are the perfect fit
for Tobin’s eerie soundscapes. The second half of the
disc is remixes from his album Out from Out Where by hotshots
like Prefuse 73, Boom Dip, Topo Gigio and Kid 606 –
Prefuse goes with a fluid, straightforward approach, while
Kid 606 heads down a different path from his usual cutup madness.
Even if you are remotely interested in electronic music and
Amon Tobin, this is worth picking up.
Anthony Augustine
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