album reviews album of the week FUTURE Honest (Sony)
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Rating: NNNNN Two years after his acclaimed debut, Pluto, launched Atlanta emcee Future into the mainstream, the scratchy-voiced prince of Auto-Tune returns. Except this time with less overt vocal processing – partly because Future’s voice has improved, and partly because it’s started to imitate that computerized sound. His pipes sound simultaneously like a wounded animal and sneakers squeaking on a waxed floor, and yet his vocals are imbued with unquestionable humanity; you won’t find anyone else as convincing serenading his sweetheart as he is pushing dope. It’s a relief, then, that the skittery electro-warped beats – not quite as outer-spacetastic as Pluto’s – never steal the shine from his perfectly
Rap IGGY AZALEA The New Classic
(Mercury/Island Def Jam) Rating: NNN Iggy Azalea is a 23-year-old American South-via-Australia rapper whose geographically ambiguous flow tends to rankle detractors. Her debut album won’t necessarily convert the haters. On Don’t Need Y’All, she cops Drake’s downtempo vibe to painfully derivative effect. Country-influenced 100 sees her stilted flow overpowered by a hook from Atlanta-based production crew Watch the Duck. Impossible Is Nothing suffers from lack of emotion in a song entirely dependent on it. But, despite Azalea’s nimble delivery sometimes lapsing into the mechanical, there are moments on The New Classic when she sounds ready for prime time. On Goddess, she’s impassioned, snarling at critics with the self-aware confidence of a veteran. Fancy features an irresistible four-chord progression and a charming hook by Charli XCX. Azalea is commanding here – cheekily trumpeting high-class living with a wink and a Kanye shrug. That Azalea is comfortable with a variety of production styles ensures she won’t have trouble selling iTunes singles, but she won’t become the artist she clearly aspires to be until she homes in on one or two of them. Top track: Fancy Iggy Azalea plays the Danforth Music Hall on Friday (April 25). JORDAN SOWUNMI
Pop/Rock BAND OF SKULLS Himalayan
(Psychocollective) Rating: NNN Band of Skulls make music that’s as suited to dingy underground clubs as it is to a Twilight film soundtrack or a Miracle Whip commercial. In fact, the English trio’s rock ’n’ roll, which ranges from moody slow
imperfect crooning. At 18 tracks, Honest doesn’t feel bloated. Future takes his time on slow, sensitive jams: triumphant and refreshingly humble on Blood, Sweat, Tears; infatuated on I Be U; and sincere on I Won, where he salvages the otherwise backward Kanye collab from full-on sexism. But for every tender ballad, there’s a classic Future banger in which he yelps the hook over and over, lest you forget it, on top of harsh beats: Covered N Money, My Momma (“ain’t raised no ho”), and most emphatically, Sh!t, which finds Future – at full vocal and energetic tilt – taking on lesser-thans of every variety. Top track: Blood, Sweat, Tears Future plays the Sound Academy July 11. JULIA LeCONTE burners to epic anthems, has appeared in all three places. On their third album, Band of Skulls stretch even further. Sultry-sounding Cold Sweat features bassist/singer Emma Richardson’s vocals haunted by reverb, and Hoochie Coochie is all arena rock with a hint of glam. Then there’s Toreador, with its midway-point guitar solo that could be difficulty-level “hard” in Guitar Hero. (They actually have a song in the video game.) Even at their grittiest, Band of Skulls are polished, primped and ready for mass consumption. Formed 10 years ago, they’ve long been ready for their close-up. But if they keep on like this, they’ll be just as prepared to look like tiny ants from the nosebleeds at a sold-out stadium show. Top track: Asleep At The Wheel Band of Skulls play the Phoenix Thursday (April 24). SAMANTHA EDWARDS
VANGAALEN ñCHAD NNNN
Shrink Dust (Flemish Eye/Sub Pop) Rating: With each album, Calgary producer/musician Chad VanGaalen plunges deeper into his weird world, where quivering, tender melodies and soft acoustic guitar share space with grotesque imagery, chaotic noise and lonely thoughts on life and death, evil and love. The balance used to be weighted toward the folk side, but noise has taken over more and more, in-
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cluding on fifth album Shrink Dust, which is full of cosmic-country aluminium pedal steel experiments. The songs are still there, though, even more so than on 2011’s Diaper Island, whose aggressive second half kind of lost the plot. Shrink Dust doesn’t give us a clear heart-tugger à la Willow Tree from 2008’s revered Soft Airplane, but each of the 12 songs – partly a score to a sci-fi film he’s making (which he describes as “like Bob and Doug McKenzie in space”) – is evocative and memorable. It’s also got more intimate, less harsh production values, like VanGaalen’s very nearby, reporting from his planet. Top track: Weighed Sin Chad VanGaalen plays Lee’s Palace on May 24. CARLA GILLIS
Folk ANDREW COLLINS TRIO A Play
On Words (independent) Rating: NNN Since the release of 2012’s Cats And Dogs, local mandolin man Andrew Collins has solidified his trio lineup, with James McEleney on bass and mandocello and Mike Mezzatesta on guitar, mandolin and mandola. It’s a smaller, steadier sound with lots of genre variety: folk, bluegrass, jazz, classical. Third song Vivace From Concerto In D Minor is borrowed straight from Bach. They also add vocals and lyrics, at least on some of the cover songs. Collins’s rough, rustic cover of Nick Drake’s One Of These Things First is a grower (he plays mandocello on it), and trad song Little Satchel (sung with Sofia Harwell) makes a good closer. The instrumental originals (six out of 10 of the songs) tend to be sunny and bright, but it gets interesting when the band sounds like it will unravel on Bill Evans cover Interplay. Top track: One Of These Things First The Andrew Collins Trio play Hugh’s Room Tuesday (April 29). SARAH GREENE
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More Than Any Other Day (Constellation) Rating: NNNN Even though none of the members are Canadian, Ought are very much a product of Montreal’s politically active DIY music scene, and their debut LP is heavily influenced by the charged atmosphere that took over the city during the 2012 “Printemps D’Erable” student strike and mass street protests. Claustrophobic post-punk riffs and frantic stream-of-consciousness ranting reflect the tension and earnest idealism of that historic moment, although Tim Beeler’s lyrics are more poetic than didactic. Ought’s sound is both familiar and esoteric, often evoking something between Talking Heads and Gang of Four, with nods to first-wave emo bands like Cap’n Jazz. However, unlike many post-punk revival acts, Ought don’t cram those references into a pop-friendly package, instead embracing awkward weirdness and dissonance. Even when they get quiet and contemplative, there’s a raw urgency that keeps the energy visceral. Top track: The Weather Song Ought play Tattoo Thursday (April 24). BENJAMIN BOLES
DAMON ALBARN Everyday Robots (Warner/Parlophone) Rating: NN As he often did on Blur’s early albums, Damon Albarn uses the occasion of his debut solo LP to satirize middle-class life. Right off the top, the eclectic Britpop maestro zeroes in on the pervasiveness of technology by envisioning mobile-phoneaddicted hordes “swimming in lingo” in a perpetual, dehumanizing stasis. Elsewhere the album is full of reflective autobiographical detail, so presumably he counts himself among those hordes. On Lonely Press Play, he sings droopingly of technology as compulsive self-therapy. Later, on You And Me, he alludes to past drug use. Not all of Everyday Robots is woe-begone. The mood perks up on the cutesy African-influenced ditty Mr. Tembo, and Brian Eno provides the uplifting hook on closer Heavy Seas Of Love. Throughout, sputtering rhythms, steel pan and samples courtesy of producer Richard Russell offset Albarn’s lilting dreariness. Though deftly orchestrated, Everyday Robots feels deflated and aimless, and the nature-versus-technology theme frequently results in clichés. Call him the quirky curmudgeon. Top track: Heavy Seas Of Love KEVIN RITCHIE
Blues
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This Shakin’ House (independent) Rating: NNNN When Toronto blues punks Catl went on hiatus last year following the departure of drummer Andrew Moszynski, it looked like it was the end of the project. Instead, Sarah Kirkpatrick moved from organ to drums, returning Catl to the drums-andguitar duo format they had before she joined the band. While the minimalist instrumentation is closer to the original concept, the feel has changed in subtle ways. Maybe because both members now play standing
up rather than seated, their raw, primitive blues rhythms seem more dance-floor-focused. Frontman Jamie Fleming’s vocals sound more confident, but he also steps aside to let Kirkpatrick sing lead on many songs, her soulful twang balancing his raspy hollering. The overdubs are few and far between, but tasteful use of chugging harmonica adds a pleasing, chunky quality to the grooves. This Shakin’ House is easily their most accessible and melodic album yet, with Catl’s basic formula intact. Old fans should enjoy it as much as new ones. Top track: Resistance Place Catl play the Horseshoe Thursday (April 24). BB
Funk KC ROBERTS & THE LIVE REVOLUTION Parkdale Funk 2:
Sides (independent) Rating: NNN Late last year, local funk seven-piece KC Roberts & the Live Revolution gave their loyal Toronto fan base a generous double-CD helping of their unique funk-rock-hip-hop-jazz blend. (Actually it was made possible by crowdfunding, so it’s as much a gift from fans to band.) KCLR believers will appreciate so much funky goodness (over two hours), but a tighter album would garner more new ones. Standout tracks like the jubilant, record-scratching Hanging From A Jet Plane Wheel, featuring D-Sisive, get lost among songs that don’t work quite so well – like Fire Burning, which evokes bad turnof-the-millennium punk rock. The group really does try everything here – nodding at drum ’n’ bass on Get Back To The Middle and going electronic on Daisy D. These aren’t their strongest tunes, but the experimentation is impressively ballsy. The core members’ – and 40(!) guests’ – musicianship brings the album to life, but ultimately it begs to be heard live: Roberts does a guitar solo in the countrified The Grip that I, at least, need to see to believe. Top track: Hanging From A Jet Plane Wheel KC Roberts & the Live Revolution play the Mod Club on Friday (April 25). JL
WALK OFF THE EARTH W/ HEAD OF THE HERD, TREVOR GUTHRIE, TYLER SHAW, BRETT KISSEL & MORE
Wednesday May 7 | Phoenix Concert Theatre Tickets available at cmw.net and Ticketmaster NOW APRIL 24-30 2014
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