Anti-Flag
For Blood and Empire
(RCA Records)

A-

Website: www.anti-flag.com

Basement Jaxx
Crazy Itch Radio
(Xl Recordings)

B-



Website: www.xlrecordings.com

Timed to arrive between mosquito and dandruff season, this disc will aggravate your itch to dance. Take Me Back to Your House covers an entire night at the bar in less than 6 minutes. It starts out respectably before tottering drunkenly on its heels as women squeal the title phrase. It’s a big tune on BJ’s current tour, but it could be categorized as ‘banjo house’ and sadly won’t cross over to North American radio. Hey U brings the Jaxx back to their roots with piles of squealing horns, a jazzy beat and Swedish pop singer Robyn. U.K. MC Lady Marga gets dirty on Run 4 Cover, a mash of regal horns and heart-racing beats. Brit legend Linda Lewis squeaks out sleepy notes on the misplaced snooze-fest When the Lights go Down. Skip that track and this disc is a dance party waiting to happen.
Shannon Ander

Bob Egan
The Glorious Decline
(Universal)

C+



Website: www.bobegan.com

Bob Egan is a multi-instrumentalist and a member of Blue Rodeo. He’s also an American who’s quick to tell you he has personally met over 10,000 Canadians with Blue Rodeo. He’s played with Freakwater, Wilco, The Sadies and The Tragically Hip, but Egan’s music is an acquired taste and what he does vocally can only loosely be called singing. But like Dylan or Leonard Cohen, Egan grows on you. His songs are always interesting and he’s such a nice guy that you can’t help but root for him. An Airport Bar on Christmas Day, written with Rodeo pal Bazil Donovan, is a sad and mournful tale of loneliness and loss. Most of the tunes have Bob’s tragic pedal steel or his sparse guitar creating the sombre mood. If you’re looking for a roots record from a seasoned pro, you could do a lot worse.
Chris Brown

Escape the Fate
Dying Is Your Latest Fashion
(Epitaph)

C



Website: www.escapethefate.com

All will be revealed if you listen to The Guillotine, Reverse This Curse and Cellar Door back-to-back. The former track starts with emo harmonies but quickly becomes a bit of a death metal experiment where the hoarse vocals really don’t work. The end of the song is just a mess. Reverse This Curse, however, is pop-punk inflected emocore. Cellar Door is essentially an emo ballad. This band just doesn’t have things dialed in yet, which makes sense when you remember that the Las Vegas quintet released the five-song EP No Sympathy for the Dead in May. Dying Is Your Latest Fashion simply feels rushed and unfocused, and that’s a massive problem when you’re trying to crack into a genre that’s swamped with shit right now. This band isn’t shit, but it isn’t chocolate, either.
Mike Warkentin

U.S. instrumental scenesters Los Straitjackets may disguise themselves onstage by wearing Mexican wrestling masks, but there’s no hiding their abiding love of all things twang-tastic. Their body of work drives home the point that rock ’n’ roll has gotten way too serious, and they set out to make it fun and danceable again. With the help of hipper-than-thou Scotsman Kaiser George handling rare vocal duties, the fearsome foursome up the ante by presenting a sweet homage to all things twist-related on this party-primed new album. Directions? Stand in one spot and wiggle around to gems like Twistin’ Gorilla, Kitty Kat or the classic Peppermint Twist. The accompanying DVD has a couple of wacky videos and step-by-step dance lessons courtesy of the fabulous Pontani Sisters. What are you waiting for?
Jeff Monk

Think of this band as Mastodon’s depressed little brother. Post-hardcore outfit Planes Mistaken for Stars has a bit of the same rasping groove as the Atlanta-based juggernaut, but PMFS is more about catharsis than digging up crystal skulls buried under Blood Mountain. Call this heavy emo shot through with American metal and a even a bit of grunge — then call it wicked. This dirty and ragged disc is strong throughout but really hits its stride with To Spit a Sparrow and Never Felt Prettier, which fall in the middle of these 11 tracks. The latter cut is a brilliant black love song that builds itself to a wrenching emotional peak that’s matched perfectly by the music. Have a stiff one and let this thing run to Penitence, its grim conclusion. It’ll tear your heart out.
Mike Warkentin

This is one of the few rap groups with an actual drummer, so it’s kind of redundant to say that the beats on the new Roots album are fantastic. Drummer/producer/de facto bandleader Ahmir (?uestlove) Thompson is the key to a lot of Game Theory’s best tracks, providing the funk-based backbone to the hip hop jams. Because this is a band rather than simply a rap group, vocalist Black Thought weaves in and out of the rhythms, propelling the sound like another instrument — and he’s got one of the most exciting ‘instruments’ in rap. As on previous albums, Thought’s lyrics are of the politically motivated variety, but it’s really all about contributing to the groove. There are some low points on Game Theory, but when there’s a feeling of urgency to the songs (as on Here I Come) The Roots are at their finest.
Sam Thompson

Scissor Sisters waft another feather boa in our faces with this disco gem, and you’ll either love them or hate them. Sure, you can reel off a mile-long list of obvious ’70s and ’80s inspirations that Scissor Sisters draw on, but they do it with good intention. Heck, even Elton John was moved to play piano on opener I Don’t Feel Like Dancin’. Scissor Sisters have generated a gargantuan fanbase everywhere except in their native America, and they scored a chart double with No. 1 spots for both this album and the Elton collaboration in the U.K. Ta-Dah does contain some weaker ballads, and the Sisters are at their disco-tastic best when they’re knocking out a dance number and you can almost feel the carpet light up under your feet. Gather up your friends and cut some rug.
Liz Hover