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The
Boggs
Stitches
(City Rockers)
B
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What a weird disc
this is. The Boggs use a wild blend of instruments and some
truly strange and meandering lyrics to create a simple, off-beat
yet engaging progressive folk sound. The vocals are alternately
wailing, plodding, whimsical and downright lazy — the
kind of singing you might expect from a stoned slacker-philosopher-king
plucking his guitar in the corner at a basement party. Songs
such as However are eerily striking while tracks such as Low
Light Hour are frantic and frenetic experiences. At some level,
this disc references the weirder moments of Led Zeppelin and
The Doors — which is not necessarily a bad thing. While
it can be a little disconcerting and grating at first listen,
Stitches has a charm that warrants another go ’round.
In the end it proves an oddly pleasing winner.
Mike Warkentin |
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Yellowcard
Ocean Avenue
(Capitol)
C
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Where punk was once
the last bastion of disenfranchised, angry dudes with Billy
Idol sneers, purple hair and a collection of axes to grind,
it is now the playland of Junior Woodchuck groups such as
Eve 6 and Yellowcard — as trendy as skater kicks and
Atari T-shirts. Blink 182 is current ruler of the genre, but
at they’re at least less sacharrine than Yellowcard.
This album opens with the hookish (and decent) Way Away, but
soon wears thin as its lyrics grow melodramatic and the nasal
vocals become whiny and strained. Extensive use of a violin
is intriguingly successful at times (the intro to Life of
a Salesman), but falls flat on other tracks (View From Heaven).
There are some decent hooks here, but this band is just too
goddamned cute for its own good.
Mike Warkentin |
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Liquid
Stick
where 6 would be
(Liquid Stick)
C-
Website: www.liquidstick.com
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It’s possible
that these white Toronto dudes watched Shaft once too often
and decided to write their own soundtrack. Funk is a difficult
genre to crack, perhaps due to the very real danger of sounding
like the opening scenes from a ’70s porn flick. What
works well in a bar gig sometimes doesn’t transfer to
a CD, and this may be the case here. Their sophomore effort
lacks punch, character and emotion — three qualities
that can’t be absent from a collection of funk-rock.
The wah-grooves are too repetitive and the vocals are thin,
forced and lack any sort of visceral kick. Check back with
these guys in a few years, right now check out Dave Matthews.
Mike Warkentin |
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Northern
State
Dying in Stereo
(Star Time/RED)
A
Website: www.northernstate.net
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It’s hard to
believe, some 25 years in, but rap can finally boast an all-white
girl group. Northern State is the Long Island trio of Hesta
Prynn, DJ Sprout and Spero, a college-educated crew steeped
in the old-school vibe of big beats and early Beasties. This
is culturally specific stuff (hard to think of 90210 and Clue
board game references coming from, say, Salt N Pepa) which
also recognizes the pervasiveness of the hop hop world. Dying
in Stereo is a decidedly NYC album — a compendium of
the girls’ collective experiences, shot through with
quick wit, sharp-tongued social critique and a brand of b-girl
feminism that demands respect (and not just sexually, either).
At just eight cuts and clocking in at under 33 minutes, this
debut could offer more, but it still screams “Yo, check
this out!”
John Kendle |
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Ani
DiFranco
Educated Guess
(Righteous Babe)
B+
Website: www.righteousbabe.com
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This is the first
completely solo recording DiFranco has done since the earliest
days of her career. It’s also her first effort at self-production
and recording. The result is an idiosyncratic acoustic-guitar-with-vocal
album unlike anything you might have expected. Ani explores
folk and jazz inflections, plays with lyrical phrasing and
goes on a sonic, acoustic journey which explores new territory
at almost every turn. At times this disc sounds as though
Ani recorded her ideas as they occurred, but anyone familiar
with her work will know that mental agility and fearlessness
are her two best traits. Educated Guess confirms this, with
new twists at every listen.
John Kendle |
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Young
and Sexy
Life Through One Speaker
(Mint)
B+
Website: www.youngandsexy.org
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Overlooked when it
came out last fall, this album is a pure pop gem — of
the sort of pop that was being fashioned 35 years ago. With
practically no irony whatsoever, this Vancouver quintet creates
the swirling, dreamy soundscapes that were once the sole domain
of Brian Wilson and Lennon/McCartney. They do it well, too
— presenting achingly real, everyday melodramas given
even more emotional weight by layered vocal harmonies, airy
keyboard washes and reverb set just so. If anything, it can
all be a bit too twee — but Lucy Brain’s absolutely
deadpan and oh-so-pretty delivery of a lyric such as “and
you pissed on my lawn” (from Lose Control, about a breakup)
makes this a keeper.
John Kendle |
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Matthew
Barber
The Story of Your Life
(Warner)
B
Website: www.matthewbarber.com
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It’s tempting
to say ‘smells like Sam Roberts’ when you see
Warner is releasing a six-song EP to introduce its latest
signing — an Ontario singer/songwriter whose previous
release was an indie effort on Paper Bag. Oh well… major
marketing campaigns are hardly original. But Barber is. A
27-year-old philosophy MA who sings straightforward ’70s-style
pop songs with a smart lyrical edge, the guy has rocked up
his sensitive approach with bigger drums and more electric
guitar. The Story... gives off an earnest vibe that makes
Barber believable even when he sings something as commonplace
as “seeking someone to save my soul” (from We’re
Gonna Play, this EP’s best cut). Catch him with Buck
65 on Jan. 27 at the WECC.
John Kendle |
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The
Two-Minute Miracles
Volume III — “The Silence of Animals”
(Teenage USA/Outside)
B+
Website: www.teenageusarecordings.com
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Brass arrangements;
understated guitar distortion; melodies like a gentle autumn
breeze; Rubicon rhymed with lexicon in a song (Aphasia) which
also contains the line “fashion sense of dread.”
This is clever stuff indeed from the London, Ont. quintet
led by J. Andrew Magoffin, a production and recording genius
who has worked with half the best bands in Canuck indie rock.
As the band’s name suggests, it’s also brief,
to the point, and free of the navel-gazing found in a lot
of ironic indie musings. This should sit nicely beside The
New Pornographers and Young and Sexy in your Can-pop collection.
John Kendle |
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The
Evaporators
Ripple Rock
(Mint/NardWuar)
C-
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It’s difficult
to review the new album from Vancouver’s talented garage-rock
combo The Evaporators without mentioning that their lead singer
is T.A.K.A.N.T.H.S. (The Asshole Known as Nardwuar the Human
Serviette). Whether you view the “Nard” as just
another self-deprecating sub-genius or the worst kind of self-obsessed,
ADD-suffering, belligerent twat makes no difference to the
music here. The trio of Canuck indie-rock chappies (and various
guests) make a really cool ’n’ stupid racket on
most of the songs on this new 23-tracker. What brings the
whole shebang down to the level of camp is the singer’s
need to draw as much focus to himself as possible. His voice
swoops and soars all over the place, and if you’ve heard
him doing him ambush/interview shtick you know how positively
grating his vocal mannerisms are. Give this one a pass and
wait for the karaoke version.
Jeff Monk |
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