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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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The Polyphonic Spree
Together We’re Heavy
(Hollywood Records)
A
Website: www.thepolyphonicspree.com
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To many, The Polyphonic
Spree is an odd concept. The band consists of over 20 robe-wearers
whose bouncing and dynamic live shows are short of a religious
experience. The band has been likened to Yes, The Flaming
Lips and Jesus Christ Superstar. The Spree’s live performance
is so enormous in sound, space and energy that it’s
been a challenge to fit it all on a stage, let alone a tiny
CD. Despite critical acclaim, the band’s first album,
The Beginning Stages Of…, didn’t manage to replicate
that sprawling aural quality. So it’s a relief to hear
that Together We’re Heavy has done it — and that
might explain why this CD comes with a bonus live DVD. Highlights
include Two Thousand Places and Everything Starts at the Seam.
The Spree’s charming style is an antidote to the miles
of guitar rock churned out today. This is one glittering,
life-affirming record.
Liz Hover
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The Tragically Hip
In Between Evolution
(Universal)
B+
Website: www.thehip.com
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PIt takes a while
for a new Hip album to sink in. So you live with the album
for a while and acknowledge that it’s more of a rock
recording than Music@Work and In Violet Light. You faithfully
lug it from work to car to home and back again. And you come
to look forward to the dissonant ring of the first tune, Heaven
is a Better Place Today. You understand how Summer’s
Killing Us as you suffer in the heat and hear of the mishaps
of lost friends. And as you fall in love with the album, you
begin to steal Gord’s words as your own and it’s
suddenly here, there and everywhere, and you try to reel your
Irish in while every young snotnose you run across disses
the band as old and past it. In Between Evolution is just
as its title would suggest — a mid-career recording
which nods to this band’s past but which looks to the
future with renewed energy and vigour.
John Kendle
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Lars Frederiksen & the Bastards
Viking
(Hellcat/Epitaph)
B
Website: www.epitaph.com |
The ‘fuck band’
is a time-honoured concept in North American punk rock —
a not-so-serious side project for bored players during downtime
(or long, cold Winnipeg winters, in the case of the Trouser
Mouth). The Bastards are Frederiksen’s fuck band outside
Rancid — and this endeavour has become real enough for
Lars and Tim Armstrong (in the producer’s chair) to
put out two albums. The first was a mostly autobiographical
account of young Mr. F. This second, replete with Mötley
Crüe-ish liner pics of naked models, is more of a self-aggrandizing
affair — the kind of myth-making, indulgent tripe The
Clash was writing around the time of Give ’Em Enough
Rope. Give Lars and the boys full marks for the full-on, old-school
musical assault — more than a few fey emo kids should
hear this record to get good old kick in the ass. But there’s
a reason these odes to groupies, weapons and Lars’ survivalist,
outlaw-biker ethos don’t make the Rancid albums.
John Kendle |
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Alfie
Do You Imagine Things?
(Regal Records)
B+
Website: www.alfie.net
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This third album from
British band Alfie is a heady, psychedelic, summery ride.
It almost sounds like Tim Burgess from The Charlatans singing
Badly Drawn Boy songs with a few magic mushrooms thrown in.
In fact, Alfie was signed by Damon Gough (aka Badly Drawn
Boy) to his Twisted Nerve label, and the band shares the same
management company as The Charlatans, so the likeness is probably
not all that surprising. There’s also a heap of the
Super Furry Animals sound flying out of this record —
an obvious inspiration since Alfie lists SFA as their current
favourite band on its Website. Stuntman is a particularly
beautiful track, as is Winding Roads with a ton of glorious
harmonies, a bit Beta Band in style — lo and behold,
The Beta Band is signed to Alfie’s own label, Regal
Records. Oh the incest of it all!
Liz Hover |
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Morrissey
You are the Quarry
(Attack Records)
B+
Website: www.morrisseymusic.com
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Morrissey’s
characteristic melodrama is still much in evidence on this
his first solo album in seven years. But You are the Quarry
finds Mozzer musically brighter. Lyrically he’s as ironic
and wallowing as ever, tackling everything from war, love
and religion to America, London and lesbians. He tells us
he’s not sorry but wants us to love him but says we
couldn’t possibly understand how he feels. This album
is chock-full of great hooks and melodies, but instrumentally
Morrissey is more adventurous, even using samples and loops.
Perhaps more unusual is the record’s producer Jerry
Finn (who is better known for his work with Blink-182, AFI
and Green Day — not a natural choice for Morrissey’s
sound). But the singer himself says he wanted a louder sound
this time around. Highlights include Irish Blood, English
Hear, I Have Forgiven Jesus and The World is Full of Crashing
Bores. The result is a highly listenable album.
Liz Hover |
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The Paybacks
Harder and Harder
(Get Hip)
B+
Website: www.thepaybacks.com
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Put a brick on the
accelerator because you’re going to want both feet free
to stomp the floor while buzzsaw guitars tear holes in the
upholstery of your car. The Paybacks’ follow-up to 2002’s
Knock Loud is a wild and raucous trip into some of the coolest
garages in the greater Detroit area. Far beyond guitar driven,
these tracks are full of crackling energy and killer solos
that beg for just a little more volume. The crackling continues
with Wendy Case’s vocals, which sound like a shotgun
marriage of Rod Stewart and Bon Scott. When these 11 tracks
aren’t straight-ahead rocking, there are subtle touches
of blues and punk that colour the mix. Clocking in at 35 minutes,
this quartet gets in your CD player, does its beautifully
messy business and gets the hell out.
Mike Warkentin |
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Static-X
Beneath... Between... Beyond...
(Warner)
C
Website: www.static-x.com
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This disc is the kind
of thing angry robots of mediocre intelligence would produce
after watching Keanu Reeves beat robot ass in The Matrix.
A violent fusion of metal and electronica, Static-X’s
latest is a collection of 18 B-sides, remixes and rarities
created between 1998 and 2003. The music is heavily laced
with techno effects and programming, and even the vocals are
heavily produced, giving an industrial flavour to the entire
mix. Static-X is often criticized as just another Korn knock-off,
but the best tracks here are actually industrial covers of
Ministry (Burning Inside), Sabbath (Behind the Wall of Sleep),
The Ramones (Gimme Gimme Shock Treatment) and the Paul Barker
remix of I’m With Stupid from Wisconsin Death Trip.
This is kind of cool music to smash things by, but it’s
not terribly original and most bangers already have a lot
of smashin’ music.
Mike Warkentin |
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Taking Back Sunday
Where You Want to Be
(Victory Records)
C
Website: www.takingbacksunday.com
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One look at these
dudes will tell you what sort of music they play, and it turns
out you can judge a punk by his Vans. Now that’s not
to say that the sophomore disc from Amityville, N.Y., quintet
Taking Back Sunday is garbage. There are some catchy tunes
here, and Where You Want to Be is at times edgier than the
absolute shit released earlier this year by the likes of Yellowcard.
That’s not to say that this is a great CD because it
certainly isn’t. However, it might be the best of a
bad bunch of radio-ready music that is being pushed on every
kid who thinks that listening to Blink 182 is rebellious and
extreme. If you like bands such as Sum 41, you’ll most
likely enjoy this pop/punk/emo/rock offering that wisely borrows
from several popular styles.
Mike Warkentin |
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Various Artists
Music from the Motion Picture De-Lovely
(Columbia Records)
B
Website: www.delovelymovie.com
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This is classic Cole
Porter revived — but most definitely not reinterpreted
— for a new movie about the composer’s life. It’s
a simple notion with predictable results. There probably isn’t
a person in the land that hasn’t heard a Cole Porter
song, and here we have another regurgitation of his beautiful
tunes. This time it’s with a little help from contemporary
artists such as Alanis Morissette, Robbie Williams, Sheryl
Crow and Elvis Costello, plus a couple of numbers from Kevin
Kline, who portrays Porter in the film. This is a true-to-form
tribute, and highlights include Sheryl Crow’s rendition
of Begin the Beguine, Elvis Costello doing Let’s Misbehave
and Vivien Green singing Love for Sale. And if you’re
hungry for the genuine article, then you’ll enjoy the
original Porter recording of You’re the Top that closes
the album. A great collection of songs.
Liz Hover |
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