Amy Rigby
Little Fugitive
(Signature Sounds Recordings)

B+

Website: www.amyrigby.com

Annie
DJ Kicks
(!K7)

B-



Website: www.k7.com

Norwegian singer Annie has been compared to Kylie and Madonna, but she puts the pop aside to share some favorite tunes from her own collection on the latest DJ Kicks release. Her mix opens with fellow countrymen Toy’s Rabbit Pushing Mover, a happy track for dancing dolls and teddy bears, and Death From Above 1979’s Black History Month gets sugar-coated with a so-so remix by French disco-lovers Falke and Braxe. Annie contributes some sounds of her own, the soft electro rumblings of Wedding and the off-tone bars of Gimme Your Money. She also lends her voice to the Royksopp-esque Geared Up by Brundtland and Therson. The standout track has to be the wacky Lady Bug from Bumblebee United. It has two bugs making romantic plans over a nectar and tonic. Bzz!
Shannon Ander

Biology
Making Moves
(Vagrant)

B

Biology is the art-rock side project of From Autumn to Ashes singer/drummer Francis Mark, and its new album, Making Moves, is a generous mix of rock music, screeching vocals and guitar-induced imagery. The ultimate goal of this album was to fuse Mark’s two passions: visual art and music. The album artwork reflects this goal, as does the stage show, which apparently incorporates costumes, set-pieces and a giant robot that the band created. I applaud the band’s effort to make their music a kind of complete multimedia experience while maintaining the integrity of great music. The band evokes feelings of older bands such as Interpol, The Smashing Pumpkins and U2 while holding onto the esthetics of the current heavy alternative rock genre being pioneered by the likes of The Used, Underoath and Bleed the Dream.
Brodie Sanderson

Recently, artists have taken to adding a few new songs to entice their fans to purchase their greatest-hits set. Melissa Etheridge’s GH package is typical of this trend. A rather limp cover of Tom Petty’s Refugee is the single and does nothing to advance Etheridge’s career. Piece of My Heart is much better, with Melissa channelling Janis Joplin as she did on the Grammy telecast. The other originals are tunes that didn’t find a home on recent albums, probably with good reason. Christmas in America is just a lame attempt to write a Christmas song. All Melissa’s hits are here, from early work (Like the Way I Do) to later and bigger hits (I Want to Come Over). If you need a Melissa disc for the car, maybe this is for you.
Chris Brown

Timeless rock ’n’ roll music straight from the shores of Newfoundland. The Novaks are clearly inspired by a collection of classic rock icons, such as the Rolling Stones and Tom Petty, but they manage to avoid sounding dated. This self-titled disc pretty much rocks out for 38 minutes, leaving no room for filler. Singer Mick Davis has already got a rocker name and lives up to it with his slack, gritty, drawling way of presenting his lyrics. The rest of the band does a good job of keeping up, maintaining rock traditions but also keeping it fresh. I would compare the band to another successful ‘new classic rock band,’ Kings of Leon. If you like those guys, you’ll love The Novaks. Definitely a must-have for supporters of Canadian music and fans of classic, catchy rock.

Brodie Sanderson

Virginia Beach’s Skillz is the rapper who should have made it. After disastrous stints with Rawkus and Atlantic, Shaquan Lewis is still trying to unite his underground credibility with his desire for crossover appeal. On Confessions... he’s managed to craft joints that could easily gain spins in the club (Off the Wall, Suzie Q) and still keep the college DJs open (Hip Hop, Imagine). He’s also one of the dopest lyricists in the game. Nevertheless sometimes it’s an uneven affair. At times the club appeal seems forced (the Dr. Dre-esque P.A. to V.A.), and the use of multiple producers (six) does little to establish a cohesive Skillz sound. He has the cheque stubs to prove his lyrical invincibility but has yet to present a record that will knock the socks off.
Angelou Flores

If the thought of crummy holiday presents and painful gatherings has got you down already, then pop this joyful remix of retro tunes into your sound system for instant cheer. It’s a short disc, at only 45 minutes, which should give you just enough time to decorate the tree. Slide across the room as John Beltran remixes Bing and Ella’s Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer. Grab a loved one and slow-dance to Kaskade’s remix of Bing Crosby’s White Christmas. The Rondo Brothers remix of Patti Page’s Frosty the Snowman will have you wishing for a sunny day to put Frosty out of his misery. This collection isn’t as memorable as the original Christmas Remixed, but there are enough good moments to get you through dinner with the family. If that doesn’t work you can always spike your eggnog.
Shannon Ander

A decade ago, with his Music for the Native Americans, Robbie Robertson set a very high standard for what you might call aboriginal tribal/fusion music. One of the people who worked on that project was Jim Wilson, the producer of this much less successful and largely derivative CD. Ultimately Wilson doesn’t have Robertson’s grit, vision or musical savvy, and so Sacred Ground lacks both coherence and bite. In fact, the production decisions often seem a decade or two out of date — too many synth washes, too much contrived atmosphere and a heavy reliance on the flute to create a melancholy mood. If contemporary musical experiments drawing on traditional aboriginal themes and sounds appeal to you, you’d be better to try to find Robertson’s project, or even his rather more eccentric and experimental 1998 disc Contact From the Underworld of Redboy.

Jamie Howison