Bleed the Dream
Built by Blood
(Warcon)

A-

Website: www.bleedthedream.com

Corb Lund & the Hurtin’ Albertans
Hair in My Eyes Like a Highland Steer
(Stony Plain)

A

Website: www.corblund.com

Corb Lund is a country throwback… way back… past Dwight Yoakam, past Elvis… back to the halcyon days of Buck Owen, Bob Wills and Wilf Carter. His songs sound like 1940s twangin’ tunes as they spin out tall tales of obsessive card playing, crazy Calgary cowgirls, pickup trucks stuck in the mud, hurtin’ Albertans, Oilers hockey games and drinking before noon. Each tune is seriously twisted with lines like “good Copenhagen is better than bad cocaine” and “always keep an edge on your knife son, cuz a good sharp edge is a man’s best hedge against the vague uncertainties of life.” If your guilty pleasure is listening to chicken-pickin’ western music, then Corb Lund is your boy. He plays the West End Sept. 24.

Chris Brown

Divine Brown
Divine Brown
(Blacksmith Entertainment)

B



Website: www.divinebrown.ca

Canada’s splendid diva has already made waves with her first single from this album, the intoxicating Old Skool Love. Miss Brown deserves top marks for making old-school soul hip again, and the album follows the promise of the single wonderfully. U Shook Me is the obvious follow-up with it’s call-and-response backups hearkening much further back in musical history than the steamy, ’70s-era funk that this album provides so sweetly. Brown is both a classy and classic singer — her voice rises with gospel music intensity and she’s equally capable of twittering like a child when the spirit of the songs necessitates. She’s hip without the hop, and the single rap on the album proves Brown isn’t satisfied with merely being current — she’s in this for the long haul. More please.

Jeff Monk

Harry Connick Jr.
Occasion
(Marsalis/Rounder)

B+

With the simpatico Branford Marsalis on saxophones, Harry Connick Jr. has created an album that releases his inner jazz bohemian. Make no mistake, this is ‘written’ music full of intricate piano and horn passages meant to rival the legendary charts of these cats’ jazz influences. Names like Monk and Coltrane come to mind when you hear the studious Marsalis and Connick wandering into the challenging arrangements full throttle. At times Occasion hits the head more than the heart, which may be a good thing because both these dudes have been known to be a tad self-serving on some of their previous outings. It’s cool to hear them flying by the seat of their designer slacks every now and then. A rare and welcome occasion indeed.

Jeff Monk

Kazzer is the name of a quintet led by top-grade mouthpiece and guitarist Mark Kasprzyk. Kaz and his rough crew align their rockist sound to the likes of the Red Hot Chili Peppers and the older (and infinitely more cool) school Bad Brains. It’s a fast-talkin’, light metal throwdown, and though it may be past its sell-before date in the (mass) marketplace, Broke actually delivers some fine melodies woven into the generic-sounding thrash. Kaz himself is no shy boy, and he spits and spews some pretty epic glottal verbiage that’s more about getting the song across than breaking a word-per-verse challenge. Lyrically, he makes the grade by balancing the boasting with some actual personal and practically sweet sentiments. A cut above the norm and worth a listen for fans of the genre.

Jeff Monk

The much-vaunted Sweet Neo Con, with its thinly veiled references to Bush’s America, may well be the Stones’ most pointed tune in years, but it’s basically a rewrite of Love is Strong. Far better expressions of the essence of Mick and Keef and Ronnie and Charlie are the bawling (and balling) opener Rough Justice, the sharp country blues of Back of My Hand or the funky, swamp vibe of Laugh I Nearly Died. A couple of other songs, Oh No, Not You Again and Look What the Cat Dragged In, seem like all-too-familiar rave-ups until the exquisite guitar interplay of Richards and Wood kicks them up several notches, while Streets of Love is the kind of wonderfully turgid ballad the band mastered in the ’60s but hasn’t attempted in ages. And still they gather no moss.

John Kendle

This sophomore outing from The Trews finds them upping the stakes and going with a big-name producer to capture their live energy. Jack Douglas succeeds for the most part, and the arrangements usually favour the four Nova Scotians — even if they take something away from the four-on-the-floor rock sound that carried the band on House of Ill Repute. This is a polished pop-rock effort but it’s maybe too polished at times, as when the harmonies grow just a little too sugary. There was a certain reckless abandon to tracks such as Not Ready to Go, and while Fire up Ahead and So She’s Leaving capture that vibe, other tracks trim too much of the edge off The Trews. This is good retro rock, but it’s always a shame when a producer imposes a vibe rather than augments one.

Mike Warkentin

The title track is not about taking photos of cute kittens and bunny rabbits. Think more along the lines of picking up some guy on the street and taking risqué photos of him in your car. It’s dark and dirty and makes me want to take a shower with bleach. Electro creepiness oozes on every track here, with tweaked frequencies and gritty beats also in evidence. Corrupt machines whir on Enter My World, and Big Chevy’s sneaky groove makes it an ideal choice for the next blockbuster spy film. There are several guest stars, including Neneh Cherry, who drops the Buffalo Stance with her catchy wails on High Drama. Things get funky on 4 UR Ears with catchy guitar riffs and Kelis’ sensual voice. U.K. hip-hopper Rodney P raps over an Eastern groove on Release, which feels out of place on this electro-filled disc.

Shannon Ander