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Check out
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around Winnipeg tonight! |
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Check out
this week’s
online CD reviews by our
music staff |
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Armor for Sleep
What To Do When You Are Dead
(Equal Vision Records)
D
Website: www.armorforsleep.com
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I thought maybe I was
getting something good with Armor for Sleep. The producer, Machine,
has worked with the likes of Clutch, White Zombie and Lamb of
God. What to Do... had the potential to be the best, heaviest
emo album ever. But it sucks. OK, maybe I’m being too hard
on AFS. These guys can play their instruments, the tunes are polished,
the melodies are dreamy, the… No, wait a minute... it’s
still crap. Emo has to be the worst new trend ever. There have
been other bad trends — Limp Bizkit style rap-rock, Cherry
Pie-eating hair metal, Nickelback safe-rock — but emo takes
the shit cake. Something makes me think skinny guys who wear girls’
pants, die their hair black and part it to the side will love
this album. I’d give my copy away to one of them —
but it’s very broken.
Jared Story
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Damn 13
Black Heart Northern Soul
(Sanctuary)
B-
Website: www.damn13.com
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Toronto-based hard
rock group Damn 13 comes across with the thundering power of
Black Label Society. The overall flavour here is of oil and
Jack Daniel’s — this is rough and ragged rock that
relies on relentless, grinding riffs and the roar of singer
Adam Sewell. The vocalist, formerly of Monster Voodoo Machine,
boasts a wicked voice that’s aggressive and bombastic,
and his screams on tracks such as Broken Bones are something
to behold. These damned souls burn high-octane fuel here, and
this album drives with a vengeance. Even if Black Heart Northern
Soul isn’t particularly groundbreaking, it is filled with
intensity and does sustain itself from start to finish. Closing
track Anywhere but Here is the only real disappointment. After
kicking the shit out of 10 songs, why let the last one off the
hook?
Mike Warkentin |
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Eels
Blinking Lights and Other Revelations
(Vagrant)
B
Website: www.vagrant.com
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Eels is actually Mark
Oliver Everett, and Blinking Lights is his latest two-disc opus.
In his own way, Everett stands tall amidst the current tidal wave
of low-sparked boys willing to portray themselves as bona-fide
down-and-outers. To hear Everett tell it, he can’t keep
his muse in check and practically can’t go five minutes
without jotting down his most intimate thoughts, later to coddle
them in a tune. There is plenty to like on Blinking Lights —
there’s just too much of it. From Son of a Bitch to Going
Fetal and God’s Silence, you get a full range of misty-eyed,
downtrodden pop, all delivered by a man who should have cleared
his throat at least a few times during these sessions. The appearance
of like-minded bawler Tom Waits on one track shouldn’t confuse
Waits watchers — this is no stumble through the park.
Jeff Monk
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Emiliana Torrini
Fisherman’s Woman
(Rough trade Records)
B+
Website: www.roughtradeamerica.com
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No, this isn’t a
Celtic, floorboard-pounding disc. It’s a whispering blend
of sweet sounds from the Icelandic-born songwriter whose voice
is comparable to Beth Hirsch and Kirsty Hawkshaw. Following the
success of 1999’s Love in the Time of Science, Torrini performed
Gollum Song on The Lord of the Rings, wrote and toured with Thievery
Corporation and wrote Kylie Minogue’s hit Slow. With the
help of Mr. Dan on guitar, Torrini decided to shift her focus
from electronica to acoustic music on this release. Opening track
Nothing Brings me Down is a romantic tune about waiting for the
one you love to come home. Other favorites include Honeymoon Child
and Serenade. If you’re put off (like I was) by the thought
of an acoustic album, you’ll be pleasantly surprised with
this disc. Torrini’s crystalline voice is as heavenly alone
with a guitar as it is with electronic production.
Shannon Ander |
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M.I.A.
Arular
(XL)
B+
Website: www.miauk.com
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Maya Arulpragasam is the
28-year-old Sri Lankan who moved to London with her family when
she was 10 because her father was a Tamil Tiger, fighting a civil
war against Sri Lanka’s Sinhalese majority. In London she
discovered hip hop, electronic music, bhangra, dub, reggae and
dancehall and also graduated from the St. Martin School of Art.
Her visual style is a jarring cross of vivid colours, martial
images and South Asian motifs, and her music sounds just like
her art looks. The tunes here are stripped down to their essential
beats, and M.I.A. holds together the ragged melodies with a sing/speak
style that juxtaposes political slogans, street smarts, rebel
bravado and South Asian and London slang. The singles Sunshowers
and Galang (both included here) won M.I.A. her initial raves in
the U.K., but Pull Up the People is her defining statement on
this full-length.
John Kendle |
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Wednesday
13
Transylvania 90210: Songs of Death, Dying, and the Dead
(Roadrunner Records)
B
Website: www.wednesday13.com
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Transylvania 90210: Songs
of Death, Dying, and the Dead is the equivalent to a B horror
movie. It’s campy and cheesy but so very pleasing. For Wednesday
13 it’s Halloween everyday. Its songs never stray far from
the graveyard, with lyrics focusing on zombies, the boogeyman
and loads of killing, all served up with a punk-metal sound. I
Walked With a Zombie is a damn catchy tune, bordering on pop-punk.
Think Blink 182 possessed by the devil. Bad Things is a great
fuck-you song, but some of the tunes do get a little too cute.
The title track is downright laughable, a slow number that’s
way more Army of Darkness than Evil Dead — too much fun
and not enough scare. Nevertheless, this is an enjoyable disc
that has ‘cult classic’ written all over it.
Jared Storey |
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Massari
Massari
(Capital Prophet Records Inc.)
D
Website: www.capitalprophetrecords.com
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Move over Sean Desman,
your cheesy nemesis has arrived — and his name is Massari.
The Lebanon-born R&B crooner wants to give women something
to listen to while they’re getting dressed for a party.
He’s got the goatee, diamond earrings that no real man
would be caught dead wearing, and hordes of gyrating women wearing
swimsuits. Hey Massari! Canadian women don’t wear swimsuits
at house parties! Nevertheless, Mr. M seems oblivious to all
things Canadian but will have American appeal thanks to his
collaboration with Harlem rapper Loon on Smile for Me, where
the boys take turns being surrounded by busty ass shakers. On
Be Easy he sings about Dom Perignon, Gucci and Prada. Everybody
knows we’re too cheap for expensive champagne and designer
labels. We drink Moosehead and Baby Duck and shop at Winners
— where the swimsuits are always on sale.
Shannon Ander |
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Raging Speedhorn
How the Great Have Fallen
(Fusion 3/Steamhammer)
A-
Website: www.ragingspeedhorn.co.uk
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Hey Speedhorners, what’s
with all the reverb? Wait a minute... this disc rules! Boasting
songs titled A Different Shade of Shit and Fuck You Pay Me,
this British metal outfit is all about tearing you a gaping
new one. How the Great Have Fallen is an ass-kicking mix of
heavy, rugged riffage and shrieking vocals, and there’s
a deeper cohesion that ties this savage disc together. Everything
is drenched in reverb here, giving the whole disc an almost-muffled
vibe. The effect actually works for the most part, adding a
droning, buzzsaw quality to the tracks and taking the edge off
the howling vocals. It’s too bad the bass drum is AWOL
on some songs. Nevertheless, this raw, 10-song album kicks about
as much ass as the new High on Fire album, Blessed Black Wings
— and that’s a fair bit of ass.
Mike Warkentin
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Ryan Adams
Cold Roses
(Lost Highway)
C
Website: www.ryan-adams.com
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I wish musicians, like
authors, could benefit from a good editor. Ryan Adams’
new release, Cold Roses, rambles through two full discs as he
returns to his alt-country roots. I can’t help but feel
Adams has the potential to produce a career-defining album —
and soon — but this ain’t it. Those of you familiar
with his 2003 RockNRoll release will toss this record, while
fans of Love is Hell and Adams’ time with Whiskeytown
will be more comfortable here. Cold Roses gets off to a slow
start, but Meadowlake Street and When Will You Come Back Home
are vintage Adams, well-written, beautiful and more country
than rock. Disc 2 begins with the Byrds-inspired Easy Plateau
and warms up with the title track and Dance All Night. There
is a better album buried in this bloated set, but you have to
dig to find it.
Chris Brown |
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