CD Reviews
Nortec Collective
Tijuana Sessions Vol. 3
Nacional Records, 2006
4 out of 5
There’s a strange, intriguing little subgenre of electronica floating around out there nowadays. Known as “Nortec,” this Tijuana-based dance music originates in the mixture of traditional Mexican music styles (specifically Norteno, an accordion-based Tex-Mex polka) with house techno arrangements and drum loops. The main representatives of this new style are a group of five Mexican DJs — Bostich, Clorofila, Panoptico, Fussible and Hiperboreal — that together record under the name of Nortec Collective.
Tijuana Sessions Vol. 3, despite the name, is the second album from the previously mentioned Nortec Collective. Originally released in Mexico in 2005 and just now hitting Canadian shelves, this is a groovy, laid-back album of charming music that you quite literally have never heard before — unless of course there is an entirely different half-electronica-half-Mexican-polka style of music out there that I just haven’t heard of yet.
This new album isn’t perfect; some of the longer tracks get repetitive after a while, and the few attempts to include vocal parts on the album flirt dangerously with failure and tragedy. (I’m exaggerating on that last point, but only barely.) But it is greatly entertaining, and it is rampantly catchy. If you can imagine the soundtrack that would accompany a big-budget movie about a covert mob heist in an upscale Mexican casino, then you can gather what this album sounds like.
James Howard Volunteer Staff
The Little Willies
The Little Willies
Milking Bull Records / EMI, 2006
4½ out of 5
Does modern country radio make you break out in hives and long for ‘the good old days’ of country music, even if you personally weren’t actually alive during the good old days of country music? When you think of the phrase “honky tonk,” does it bring up any positive mental associations other than that one goofy professional wrestler from the 1980s? Have you been wondering what Norah Jones has been up to lately? If so, The Little Willies is an album that is going to delight you. This is the group’s self-titled debut album, and it may well be the best old-school country album released so far this millennium.
Jones and four of her friends from the New York scene got together a few years ago and formed the Little Willies as an excuse to get together and cover old country songs; even though the album keeps a delightfully down-to-earth and low-key vibe, it does a great job of conveying the fun the band has with its choice of material. One of the few original songs on the album amid the covers, for example, is a wacky little track about Lou Reed storming through the countryside and tipping all the cows.
Everything about this album is quality, and The Little Willies is American country music at its finest.
James Howard Volunteer Staff
The JW-Jones Blues Band
Kissing Up in 29 Days
NorthernBlues Music, 2006
3 out of 5
Kissing Up in 29 Days is the fourth release from Canadian blues guitar wunderkind JW-Jones and his band, the follow-up to his excellent 2004 album My Kind of Evil. While it doesn’t play to Jones’s strengths as well as his previous work did, Kissing Up is a fine exercise in different variations of the electric blues genre.
In terms of performance, there is little if anything to complain about. Notably bolstered by the appearance of David ‘Fathead’ Newman on a few songs, the band puts together a definite showcase of solid blues skill; with this support, Jones and his music — 11 of the 14 tracks being originals — combine great energy with (usually) enjoyable songwriting.
Jones also takes over the production duties with this album, the production work on the last album having been managed by Fabulous Thunderbirds luminary Kim Wilson. However, the resulting shift in production values makes this disc seem strangely empty — especially on the several tracks where the low end is so quiet that it may as well not even be there.
The album is shaky to start, bouncing around from honky-tonk to 1930s swing to vocal jazz, then improves dramatically as it settles down into the standard electric blues mould that Jones excels at. There are a few missteps, but overall this makes a decent addition to one’s blues collection.
James Howard Volunteer Staff
Five Alarm Funk
Five Alarm Funk
Warner, 2006
3½ out of 5
Five Alarm Funk is the self-titled debut album of the Vancouver 12-piece instrumental afro-funk act, and although it has a couple of rough spots it makes for a danceable and fun listen.
Most of the performances and arrangements work out quite well, sucking the listener into the rhythm. By far the album highlight is the spectacular and inventive final track, “March of the Latin Zombies,” which sounds much like you’d imagine. But, as previously mentioned, there are a few places where the album wears itself thin and drags — and throughout the entire album the rhythm and lead guitars have a strange, spacey production effect, which can get annoying if one listens too closely.
Five Alarm Funk is basically the Vancouver equivalent of Winnipeg’s Moses Mayes, but with the turntabling swapped for African influences. If that description sounds like something you’d be into, then this album should be right up your alley. If you’re a major afrobeat fanatic, you may be disappointed with this album. While entertaining and capable of carrying a groove, the band doesn’t really measure up to Fela Kuti or the Antibalas Afrobeat Orchestra. If you dislike repetitive groove-based music, then you likely already hate funk to begin with and this album will not change your mind. Take it as you will.
James Howard Volunteer Staff
Morgan Doctor
Is This Home
Aporia Records/ Aquarius
International Music, 2006
1 ½ out of 5
After listening to this album, I had to ask myself if I was masochistic. That would be the only explanation for sitting through it.
At first, you decide you hate it because you don’t need women with fake British accents telling you where they live (aren’t we all sick of Madonna yet?) or the unnecessarily fancy instrumental music (otherwise known as elevator music). But then, when you least expect it, you experience a cool jazz vibe that makes a voiceless song what it is: something to be savoured and absorbed. When I made it past the singer’s pretentious, pseudo British accent and the bad instrumentals of the first songs, it wasn’t so bad.
The first song, “Where you Live,” reminds me of a drunken person describing his or her home, hoping that someone will tell him or her where he or she lives. “I live in a tall thin house with a thin garden.” (I assume the drunken part because I hope Morgan Doctor would never speak that way sober.)
Don’t get me wrong, though. There were songs I liked. I absolutely adored the song “Queen in Parksdale,” which had a terrific bass melody and an eerie background chorus.
In the end, Is This Home is a great instrumental album. Well, as long as you skip the first couple of songs.
Chelse McKee Volunteer Staff
Hawthorne Heights
If Only You Were Lonely
Victory Records, 2006
3 out of 5
Hawthorne Heights made a name for themselves when their 2004 debut album, The Silence in Black and White, went gold, after fans soon realized that these boys from Dayton, Ohio were better than your average screamo band. However, with the release of If Only You Were Lonely, Hawthorne Heights took a giant step away from their debut album and morphed their indefinite screams and loosely structured songs into more tricky rhythms and almost glistening dramatic pieces.
From a music fan’s point of view this band has amazing flow in their songs and would be able to hold their own in concert. Though from a critic’s point of view, Hawthorne Heights’ lyrics lack depth and their guitars lack the charge needed to be remembered. But compared to many of the sophomore albums from bands that are expected to be “one album wonders,” Hawthorne Heights delivers a product that makes you think that they can do two things well: write music under pressure and expand their limits beyond what anyone expected. This is a CD that’s probably a good investment. The only problem is that there are two versions, and apparently both are needed to “complete the story.” All this really means is that there are two versions of the album artwork. The tracks within the album are identical, so this appears to be nothing more than an attempt to maximize profits from fans with large disposable incomes.
Shaun McLarty Volunteer Staff
Bubba Sparxxxx
The Charm
Purple Ribbon/Virgin Records , 2006
3½ out of 5
After two critically acclaimed albums on Timbaland’s Beat Club Records, Bubba Sparxxx is looking for commercial (read platinum) success with Big Boi’s Virgin Records imprint, Purple Ribbon Entertainment.
On his third effort, The Charm, Bubba does not stray too far beyond his consistent country-infused hip-hop. On “Wonderful,” he introduces his “Bubba Kay” moniker that sensationalizes his southern twang.
Fans may have given up on Bubba, but the industry hasn’t. Big Boi of Outkast fame lends his hand on the boards for the album best track, “Ain’t Life Grand,” featuring labelmate Scar, whose chorus carries this song beyond some evident monotony. “Run Away,” featuring Frankie J, is another R&B collaboration that is a blatant attempt at radio spins. But Bubba stills delivers his most sensitive lyrics on the previous two songs and proves that he is not always rims and strippers. But then again, this album is Sparxxx’s best because of hard bass and blaring sirens on songs like the club anthem “Ms. New Booty.” The Charm is Bubba’s most complete album, at a minimal 11 tracks. Beyond “Hey (A Lil’ Gratitude),” Timbaland’s only contribution, Bubba proves that his new confidence and stellar production provided by Mr.Collipark and Organized Noize is the sound of the “New South.”
Navin Bahl Staff
Various Artists
The Best Beer Drinking Album In The
World . . . Ever! Vol 3 Poker Night
EMI/ Capitol, 2006
3½ out of 5
WARNING: Drinking beer and listening to this CD will not make you a better poker player.
Most of the tunes on the disc are upbeat, energizing songs, which may make you feel like you are better at poker than you actually are. Almost all of the songs on this compilation have absolutely nothing to do with drinking beer or playing cards, with the exception of “I drink alone” and “The Gambler.” So why bother having a poker night volume of drinking songs? It seems that the strategy for producing these Best Beer Drinking albums is to have two or three songs related to drinking, and span it out over several albums, which holds true for this third installment. Perhaps they did this to increase sales of multiple albums as opposed to releasing only a single album.
Songs directly related to poker and gambling, such as Swollen Members’ “Poker Face,” were left off the disc. Having said that, the album does deliver a good selection of classic and modern rock — Billy Idol’s “Rebel Yell” and Concrete Blonde’s “Joey” appear on this disc — that’s perfectly suitable for drinking. If anything, the selection of songs on this disc would be too distracting to listen to while engaged in a poker game.
David Lipnowski Staff
Daft Punk
Musique Vol. I 1993-2006
Virgin Records/EMI, 2006
3½ out of 5
Techno is dead. Electronic music is defined by memorable jungle, house and drum n’ bass hits. Daft Punk’s earlier work introduced commercial audiences to house tracks that are accessible to pop radio stations. Musique is a 12-song greatest hits album that is packaged as both sounds and images.
Who is Daft Punk? Very few can put a face behind the name of the band. All of their single and album cover art displayed creative artwork from Japanese Manga to futuristic robotic figures instead of their mugs. Acclaimed directors Michel Gondry, Spike Jonze and Roman Coppola were frequent video collaborators giving moving images to Daft Punk’s excitable sounds. As the two Parisian DJs put it, Daft Punk makes the machines sing. They sure do: “Around the world . . . A--round the W-orld.” Other surefire dance-floor packers include “One More Time,” “Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger,” and “Da Funk.” “Technologic” and “Robot Rock” are perfect examples of how Daft Punk never dulls its appeal by overusing artificial instruments. On “Something About Us,” they mellow it out to the tune of a synthesized voice longing for his love. Daft Punk even successfully imitates the funk sound perfected by Parliament on one of the three bonus rare remixes, “Mothership Reconnection.”
Despite two other sub-par remixes, not one of these 12 original singles disappoints. After over a decade in the industry, Daft Punk proves that electronic music is no longer a fad. These machines do indeed sing quite human-like.
