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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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Authority
Zero
Andiamo
(Lava Records)
C
Website: www.authorityzero.com
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This band bears a resemblance
to Canadian punkers The Salads — Authority Zero just can’t
seem to decide on a stylem either. Which wouldn’t be such
a bad thing if the Arizona quartet didn’t do one style so
much better than the others. Blending ska, reggae, punk and even
Celtic together in one fast-paced sophomore package, Authority
Zero is obviously influenced mainly by Bad Religion and Sublime.
When AZ takes after the former, the results are great. Check out
standout punk anthems Find Your Way and Society’s Sequence,
both of which are kick-ass tracks. However, the band follows both
songs up with sub-par ska tracks that just ruin the effect. Hybrid
ska-punkers such as Solitude work at times, but this band should
stick to punk rocking.
Mike Warkentin
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Patti Scialfa
23rd Street Lullaby
(Columbia)
B
Website: www.pattiscialfa.net
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Patti Scialfa deserves
a great deal of credit. It surely must be a mixed blessing to
be a singer/songwriter in a family that already contains one of
the world’s best-known singer/songwriters: her husband,
Bruce Springsteen. Scialfa’s new album is pretty much cut
from the same stylistic cloth as her main squeeze; it’s
filled with somewhat misty-eyed tales of romance, regret and the
street angels who are sometimes hidden from wider public view.
There’s a near-confessional edge to many of the better tracks
here — a diary-entry exposé of the Rumble Doll’s
experiences. Steve Jordan’s production leans on an warm
organic sound that meshes beautifully with both Scialfa’s
easy-rockers and somber pop-dirges. About midway through the album
it’s clear that Scialfa has run out of anything new to say
— until then it’s not half bad.
Jeff Monk
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The Organ
Grab That Gun
(Mint Records)
B+
Website: www.theorgan.ca |
This sublime offering
from Vancouver quintet The Organ could have been pulled from a
box labelled “The Lost Blondie Tapes.” Presenting
lyrics tinged with the poetic honesty of one Stephen Patrick Morrissey,
vocalist and main songwriter Katie Sketch broods her way through
these 10 tracks with a kind of injured, lusty attitude. Musically
things plod along a bit lazily, but Sketch’s voice is so
deliciously sad that it doesn’t much matter. Sketch does
her best impression of Debbie Harry on the dark Steven Smith,
and the drum sound on There Is Nothing I Can Do rolled out of
almost every new wave band in the early ’80s. Which is really
the only trouble with Grab That Gun: It’s steeped in ’80s
nostalgia and doesn’t try to hide it. None of this stops
it from being full of beauty and sorrow, and it’s certainly
worth a whirl.
Liz Hover |
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FemBots
Mucho Cuidado
(Paper Bag Records)
B
Website: www.fembots.net
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This odd little thing
from Toronto-based FemBots is surprisingly good — even at
times magical — despite its cocktail of weird, experimental
sounds. Recorded in 2000, when FemBots was a duo (Brian Poirier
and Dave MacKinnon), these lo-fi songs clang and stutter along
with a dose of tongue in cheek. A great assortment of sounds make
it onto the album: Traditional instruments such as banjo, xylophone
and organ as well as analogue samples, scratches, a sledgehammer,
a squeaking chair and a toy piano. The result comes together a
bit like a high school percussion lesson but with added charm.
Which is no surprise considering that many of these pseudo instruments
came from the thrift store. Tracks Stevie Wonder and Mr. Pink
are particularly charming. One for late at night.
Liz Hover |
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Dave Alvin
Ashgrove
(Yep Roc)
B
Website: www.yeproc.com
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Dave Alvin’s brand
of American roots music rarely misses the mark. As a founding
member of The Blasters, Dave and his brother Phil set the table
for dozens of much less talented bands that followed in their
wake. On Ashgrove Alvin continues the fine tradition he has built
over the course of many essential albums filled with truly great
yet somewhat understated songs about real and fictional characters
embroiled in day-to-day life and all it offers. For 10 tracks,
Alvin and his usual fine crew of support players deliver a sweet
stew of stinging rockabilly rumblers and mournful ballads of regret
and remembrance. Alvin’s voice and overall delivery is deep,
warm, rich with character and very soothing when coupled with
his emotive guitar tone. Ashgrove leans a little more toward the
quieter numbers but stands as a worthy addition to any music collection
that prefers substance over style.
Jeff Monk |
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The Killers
Hot Fuss
(Island Records)
B+
Website: www.thekillersmusic.com
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If The Cure and Duran
Duran procreated, musically speaking, they might have spawned
this American quartet. One look at these dishevelled indie boys
from Sin City might have you thinking it’s the second coming
of The Strokes, but listen to Hot Fuss and you’ll hear a
more radio-friendly, new wave, synth-pop sound that borrows more
than its fair share from the two aforementioned acts. It could
almost be Simon Le Bon on the catchy Somebody Told Me, and The
Cure could easily have issued album opener Jenny Was a Friend
of Mine. The gospel choir on All These Things That I’ve
Done and Andy, You’re a Star (courtesy of The Sweet Inspirations)
is a welcome dimension to an album that could start to sound a
bit repetitive but is nevertheless hook-heavy throughout.
Liz Hover |
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Sparta
Porcelain
(Dreamworks)
A
Website: www.spartamusic.com
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A lot of bands out there
could certainly take a lesson from Jim Ward and co. and drop the
whiny, contrived crap that is so often pawned off as heartache,
angst and emotion. Porcelain is how emo should sound: Raw, aggressive
and visceral, yet delicate and vulnerable. It really shouldn’t
be surprising that Sparta is leading the way; after all, three
of the band’s four members have played together since 1994,
with seven years spent breaking the mould in the seminal post-hardcore
band At the Drive In. As Sparta proved live at the Pyramid in
June, these boys can play like hell, and Ward’s voice is
an incredible instrument in its own right — just check out
his gripping wails on End Moraine. A solid disc throughout, Guns
of Memorial Park, While Oceana Sleeps and La Cerca are definite
highlights.
Mike Warkentin |
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Starvin Hungry
Damnesty
(Grenadine)
B+
Website: www.starvinhungry.com
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This is the kind of music
that your younger brother plays in the basement at about 1,000
decibels on a Monday night. Just before you scream at him to turn
that crap off, you realize that the crap actually rocks. Starvin
Hungry is that basement band: An awesome and weird collection
of rock, blues and noise all presented with stripped production
and a style that shows that this Montreal-based quartet doesn’t
take itself too seriously. While Starvin Hungry has been around
in some shape since 1995, this is the band’s debut album,
and it features a solid lineup that includes former Tricky Woo
bassist Eric Larock. This entire disc seems slightly off centre
and a little disconcerting at times — but that’s exactly
where it’s at its very best. For a great example, take a
listen to the quirky Contagious. Other highlights include Shadows
and Flush My Love.
Mike Warkentin |
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Todd Rundgren
Liars
(Sanctuary/EMI)
A
Website: www.patronet.com
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One question for the (rock
of) ages will always be: “If an artist is, for a time, regarded
as a pop genius, does it follow then that at least some kind of
brilliance is possible later in the same career?” One-time
wunderkind Todd Rundgren has bounced from critical beefs to fan-provided
bouquets and back again over the course of his tempestuous career
in music. This time out finds the Philadelphia Runt in questioning
mode with a selection of songs that range from funky-fresh, real
soul to data-driven electro-beats and sweet ballads. Liars has
much overt political and religious commentary tuned tastefully
to Rundgren’s well-known “outsider” views. Mammon
points an unwavering lyrical finger at the connection between
organized religion and the need for zealots to get “God’s
cell number.” Soulbrother is a wickedly sharp skewering
of the current state of so-called soul music.
Jeff Monk |
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