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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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Eminem
Encore
(Aftermath / Universal)
C+
Website: www.eminem.com
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Ever since he broke
out with The Slim Shady LP back in 1999, Eminem has been evolving
into mainstream rap’s clown poet laureate. Half trash-talking
prankster, half brilliant social commentator, Em dragged fans
and politically correct haters alike through the recesses
of his chaotic creative wells. All good trips must come to
an end, however, and on Encore Em just sounds bored to be
home. With many of his demons apparently purged, he lazily
dusts off lyrical standbys and delivers them with an exhausted
sneer. Lose It is the musical equivalent of a shrug, delicious
in its ennui but bizarrely self-mocking. With the walls of
public outcry all but demolished, Em’s talent seems
to be lacking conviction and direction, transforming into
a juvenile angst that serves him poorly. Encore is by far
his weakest release but perhaps marks a turning point in his
career.
Melissa Martin |
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Queen Latifah
The Dana Owens Album
(Creative Battery)
A
Website: www.queenlatifah.com
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If we can put up with
Madonna’s pathetic attempts to rap, we owe it to The
Queen to give it a go at jazz and blues. She’s put the
gold bling and the baggy pants aside for bright red lipstick,
a pinstripe suit, a live band — and what a voice! If
you were born yesterday, you’d be forgiven for thinking
that jazz was the Queen’s claim to fame. This disc features
songs from past decades that have influenced QL throughout
her career. Simply Beautiful, a duet with original artist
Al Green, is slow and sensual, and the Queen’s version
of The Same Love That Made Me Laugh will put a smile on your
face. Hard Times is funky but I couldn’t help but laugh
at Latifah’s effort at scat — not that I’d
ever tell her that in person. Despite her tailored looks and
smooth voice, she’d still kick my ass.
Shannon Ander |
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Riddlin’ Kids
Stop the World
(Aware/Columbia)
B
Website: www.riddlinkids.com |
If you’re wearing
panties when you listen to this, you better just take them
off and and prepare to throw them at the speakers. Yes, this
is pop/punk of the sort that fills the air with vocal harmonies
and catchy riffs, as well as G-strings and the smell of Britney
Spears’ new perfume. The thing is, the sophomore album
from this Texas-based quartet is pretty decent. Vocals by
Clint Baker and Dustin Stroud work well throughout, bringing
an energy that is mirrored by the music. Of course there’s
the inevitable track about trying to get laid — pleasepleasepleaseplease
— and most of the songs are written about that most
legendary hot-chick of a heartbreaker — the ethereal
“You.” All that aside, these guys pull the whole
thing off far better than contemporaries such as New Found
Glory.
Mike Warkentin |
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Thievery Corporation
The Outernational Sound
(Eighteenth Street Lounge Music)
A+
Website: www.eslmusic.com
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Brazilian waxes aside,
anything Latin American brings a smile to my face. Mixing
sexy salsa beats, ’60s-influenced jazzy house and island
vibes, the boys from Thievery Corporation can do no wrong.
Since their first album Sounds from the Thievery Hi-Fi in
1996, Rob Garza and Eric Hilton have continued to enhance
classic musical styles with electronic rhythms. This compilation
is no different. Ya Ma Le’s Gimmicks and Block 16’s
Slow Hot Wind could easily be tracks by Sergio Mendes and
Brasil ’66. Big Boss Man’s Sea Groove combines
a ’60s groove with funky guitar riffs, and Karminsky
Experience’s Shall We Dance is better than the 2004
movie of the same name — and no, I’m not bitter
that my part got cut. Those who can’t get enough of
a mix of electronic, afro-beat, Jamaican, rock, soul and Brazilian
music will enjoy this compilation.
Shannon Ander
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Dan Treanor and Frankie Lee
African Wind
(Northern Blues)
B
Website:
www.northernblues.com
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Sometimes it seems
like every good blues lick has been driven so deep into the
collective consciousness that it would be either redundant
or impossible to try and deliver anything that sounds anywhere
close to new. African Wind finds testifyin’ blues and
soul singer Frankie Lee going heart-to-gut with talented multi-instrumentalist
Dan Treanor. By using his arsenal of handmade African instruments,
Treanor drags the idiom closer to it’s true roots. Using
a kalimba to deliver the root melody of the title track, Treanor
links Lee’s fairly common blues lyrics sonically to
the motherland.
Jeff Monk |
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U2
How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb
(Island/Universal)
B+
Website:
www.u2.com
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Bono promised us a
monster with this album. Of course, he also thinks he can
help eradicate Third World debt. Thankfully, ol’ Big
Mouth and his pals Edge and Adam and Larry know what they’re
doing in the studio, so this Bomb does indeed go off, although
the explosion is not of nuclear proportions. Opening cut and
first single Vertigo is certainly a monstrous tune, huge and
propulsive and absolutely, completely catchy. But it doesn’t
so much set the tone for the album as it draws you in like
a circus barker, urging you in to sample the rest of the delights.
There are many, too — ruminations on self and spirit,
holy and profane in the shape of Sometimes You Can’t
Make It On Your Own and All Because of You; Miracle Drug and
Yahweh again celebrate similar themes of love and faith, but
A Man and A Woman veers far too close to soundtrack territory.
It’s just one of 11, though.
John Kendle |
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Tony
Iommi with Glenn Hughes
The 1996 DEP Sessions
(Sanctuary)
B
Website: www.iommi.com
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From the Tapes in
the Vault category comes this eight-track gem featuring the
fretwork of the great Tony Iommi and the gripping vocals of
Glenn Hughes. Rock pedigrees don’t get much better than
that of Iommi, who penned some of the most memorable licks
in metal. Then there’s Hughes, who spent time in Deep
Purple with David Coverdale and who could easily out-wail
Chris Cornell on the grunger’s best day. This disc features
the pair doing what they do best, with Iommi laying down fat,
rock-solid riffs while Hughes howls in a bombastic, bluesy,
over-the-top style. Don’t You Tell Me is evidence enough
that Iommi can still churn out some lip-curling riffs, and
the shit-hot I’m Not the Same Man is a tense, rising
affair that should have been released long ago.
Mike Warkentin |
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They Might Be Giants
The Spine
(Idlewild Recordings)
B
Website: www.theymightbegiants.com
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John Linell and John
Flansburgh are still the two Johns behind the controls of
the wacky musical rocket ship that is TMBG. These clever dudes
have delivered singalong pop of the highest order for a couple
of decades now, and The Spine veers not from the felicitous
formula. These guys pack more listenable melodies and memorable
hooks into 35 minutes than most bands can even hope to cobble
together in a whole career. Linell and Flansburgh have been
doing this long enough to know that a cute turn of phrase
lasts only as long as the refrain, so they make every word
in a song count. The emotions portrayed in tracks such as
Bastard Wants To Hit Me will resonate strongly with the outsiders
among us, while Memo To Human Resources uses the lexicon of
the workplace to create a semi-serious romantic scene. What
is bigger than a giant?
Jeff Monk |
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Various
Artists
Enjoy Every Sandwich – The Songs of Warren Zevon
(Artemis)
C
Website: www.artemisrecords.com
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Late singer/songwriter
Warren Zevon left behind a wonderfully thick body of work
that will live on for decades to come. His songs surely fall
into the pop category, and he had a keen ability to connect
through his sometimes-sentimental wordplay. This album features
a mix of artists, some of whom were pals of Zevon during his
life and enjoyed success by covering his songs. Don Henley,
Jackson Browne, David Lindley and Jorge Calderon represent
the old-school, L.A. contingent strongly. Springsteen is here
with a moving, live take on My Ride’s Here and there’s
even a loose, live recording of a Bob Dylan version of Mutineer.
The gold is in the superb covers done by younger Zevon aficionados
such as The Pixies (Ain’t That Pretty At All), Pete
Yorn (Splendid Isolation) and Zevon’s son Jordan (Studebaker).
Sandwiches optional.
Jeff Monk |
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