Comebacks and solo albums and side projects, oh my; seems like everybody’s got a brand new bag this week.
Duff McKagan’s Loaded
The Taking
Rock
3.5 stars (out of 5)
McKagan will forever be branded an L.A. rocker. But the ex-Gunner and sometime VR bassist has lived in Seattle most of his life. So it’s no wonder his third Loaded CD outfits his arena-sized riffs and hooks with superfuzz guitars and thumpy low-slung backbeats. But you might be surprised by his ever-evolving songwriting chops and scrappy Iggy yowl. Don’t take him for granted.
Download: Lords of Abbadon; King of the World
Roxette
Charm School
Pop-Rock
2.5 stars (out of 5)
I don’t know about The Look, but they’ve still got the hooks. The reunited Swedish pop duo’s first disc in a decade — they went on hiatus after singer Marie Fredriksson had brain surgery in ’02 — is a shamelessly slick throwback to the pulsing electronics, crunchy guitars, glossy production and giant choruses of their pre-grunge heyday. Whether that’s good news or bad is up to you.
Download: Way Out; She’s Got Nothing On (But the Radio)
Tennant / Lowe
The Most Incredible Thing
Dance-Pop
2 stars (out of 5)
All dance music is not created equal. With 25 years of soundtracking clubs under their belts, Pet Shop Boys Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe step up by scoring a ballet based on a Hans Christian Andersen story. Their ambitious and dramatic blend of synth-pop energy and symphonic elegance coheres surprisingly well, but nobody deserves 82 minutes of instrumentals. Wait for the DVD.
Download: The Grind; Physical Jerks
Hot Tuna
Steady as She Goes
Folk-Blues
3 stars (out of 5)
Make that Slow and Steady — this is the acoustic Jefferson Airplane spinoff’s first studio CD in 20 years. Good thing it’s a keeper. Switching between gospel-blues rousers, psychedelic jam-rockers and folk soothers, mellow singer-guitarist Jorma Kaukonen, bassist Jack Casady, MVP Larry Campbell and co. give old freaks a flashback and show young folkies what they missed.
Download: Children of Zion; A Little Faster
Pentagram
Last Rites
Doom-Metal
3 stars (out of 5)
Even the losers get lucky sometimes. After decades in the trenches (and his parents’ Virginia basement), drug-addled metal mess Bobby Liebling somehow gets his act together on his first CD in seven years. Thanks to some long-lost tunes and the return of his best guitarist, this is a fearsome, devil-horned throwback to the psychedelic sludge of Sabbath and Blue Cheer. About time.
Download: Treat Me Right; Into the Ground
Meat Puppets
Lollipop
Psychedelic Roots
3.5 stars (out of 5)
Easy does it for Meat Puppets. Just like it used to. The Arizona trio hang loose once again on their 13th disc, casually unspooling an eclectic set list that meanders from jangly psychedelia to twangy country to gentle folk-pop, hazy desert-rock and even sunny ska. Bros Curt and Cris Kirkwood hold it all down with their stoner harmonies, spaced-out lyrics and trippy sonics. Sweet.
Download: Orange; Way That it Are
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DOWN/STREAM
Beastie Boys
Make Some Noise
They’re baaaaaaaaack. And they brought the cowbell. Everybody’s favourite rap goofballs return May 3 with their long-awaited Hot Sauce Committee Part 2. If this first sneak peek is anything to go by, it’s a raucous return to their fine funky form, with plenty of cheap keyboards and wicki-wack scratching behind MCA, Mike D and Ad-Rock’s ridiculous rhyme schemes. Ch-check it out.
beastieboys.com
Death Cab for Cutie
You Are a Tourist
As publicity stunts go, Death Cab’s latest video — which was broadcast live on the Net as it was filmed in one take earlier this month — is pretty impressive. Thankfully, the gently rocking number — from their May 31st release Codes and Keys — is also capable of standing on its own quite nicely. Hear the track (and watch the clip if you haven’t already) over at their website.
deathcabforcutie.com
The Weeknd
House of Balloons This one’s been floating around for a few weeks, but hey, better late to the party than never, right? If you still haven’t heard enigmatic Toronto crooner Abel Tesfaye’s much-lauded (and Drake-hyped) mix tape — a languid collection of chilled-out R&B and undercooked hip-hop slow- burners about bad romance — it’s still a free download on his site. And FYI, it’s pronounced Weakened.
the-weeknd.com
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CDs
Timber Timbre
Creep On Creepin’ On
Goth-Folk
4 stars (out of 5)
Something wicked this way comes. Again. TO necromancer Taylor Kirk ups the spooky stakes on his fourth CD, conjuring zombie waltzes and David Lynchian doo-wop from a palette of plinking pianos, surfy guitars, slapback echo, mournful strings — and, of course, his Elvis-at-a-seance vocals and black-hearted narratives of hypnotists, poltergeists and bad juju. Get your creep on.
Download: Bad Ritual; Woman
Simon and Garfunkel
Bridge Over Troubled Water: 40th Anniversary Edition
Folk-Pop
5 stars (out of 5)
OK, so the math is a little fuzzy — Simon and Garfunkel’s fifth and final studio album actually came out in 1969. But that doesn’t make this 40th Anniversary Edition any less compelling. Along with the original album in its remastered glory, you get an extra CD with a 1969 performance — including several songs with a full band — and a DVD with two hours of documentaries. Groovy.
Download: Mrs. Robinson (live); Cecilia
Matthew Friedberger
Solos: Meet Me in Miramas
Art-Rock
3.5 stars (out of 5)
And then there were two. Fiery Furnaces musical multi-tasker Friedberger continues his ambitious, year-long eight-LP subscription series by moving from piano to electric guitar and strumming his way
through 40 idiosyncratic minutes that run the gamut from zippy beatbox pop to freaky pedal-board soundscapes to disturbingly dark dirges reminiscent of Lou Reed. Up next: The harp!
Download: Meet Me in Miramas; But Seriously, Why Did You Do It?
Bell X1
Bloodless Coup
Electro-Rock
3 stars (out of 5)
Revolutionary? Not quite. But the Irish trio’s fifth album is evolutionary. Between their swooning melodies, twitchy sonics and yelpy vocals, they still suggest David Byrne fronting a Coldplay-
Radiohead hybrid. However, by deftly balancing their increasing electronic reliance with earthier songcraft, they make it clear they’re not spinning their wheels — even if they don’t reinvent them.
Download: Sugar High; 4 Minute Mile
Agnostic Front
My Life My Way
Hardcore Punk
3 stars (out of 5)
Roger Miret cannot be stopped. Or even slowed down. Months after releasing Gotta Get Up Now with The Disasters, the punk legend returns with the umpteenth disc from NYHC pioneers AF. Backed by Vinnie Stigma’s sawtooth guitar, Miret wails and warbles through a relentless roster of mosh-pit anthems and full-throttle hardcore thrashers. Who says punk is a young man’s game?
Download: City Streets; That’s Life
Joan as Police Woman
The Deep Field
Indie-Rock
4 stars (out of 5)
Tonight’s Episode: Rhythm ‘n’ Blues. Even a policewoman needs to let her hair down sometime. So, on her third album of original material, singer-songwriter Joan Wasser drops the cabaret and chamber-pop. In their place: Supple late-night grooves, gently funky basslines, growling saxophones and husky murmuring — all the better to back up her seductively soulful vocals. Arresting.
Download: The Magic; Run For Love
Bill Callahan
Apocalypse
Singer-Songwriter
3.5 stars (out of 5)
What’s the opposite of Smog? Whatever it is, that’s what singer- guitarist Callahan has become. Along with ditching his hazy nom de disque, he’s also upended his sound, his creaky yowl and untuned
guitars giving way to a rich baritone and elegant finger-picking. His 15th CD of literate Americana is an intimate masterpiece, transfixing in its quiet beauty and hushed intensity. Find it.
Download: America!; Riding for the Feeling
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TRIBUTES
Ben Waters
Boogie 4 Stu: A Tribute to Ian Stewart
Boogie-Woogie
4 stars (out of 5)
Piano pounder Waters is no household name. But you may know some of the VIPs on this tribute to late great pianist and sixth Rolling Stone Ian Stewart — like Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Ron Wood and Charlie Watts, who sing and play on several of these rollicking blues and
boogie-woogie cuts, even reuniting with Bill Wyman for the first time in nearly 20 years. One for Dad.
Download: Watching the River Flow; Worried Life Blues
Sin-Atra
Various Artists
Metal
0 stars (out of 5)
It sounds like a good idea (or at least an interesting one): A heavy metal tribute to Frank Sinatra. But the reality — vocalists such as Glenn Hughes, Dee Snider, Geoff Tate and Joey Belladonna wailing Old Blue Eyes’ classics over bombastic orch-metal cheese — is frankly
unlistenable. Good thing for all concerned the Chairman of the Board is gone or they’d be sleeping with the fishes.
Download: Any Sinatra album
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GARAGE BAND
Through These Words
St. Catharines, Ont.
www.purevolume.com/ThroughTheseWords
Most kids are always in a hurry. Not these young St. Catharines noisemakers. On the song Back to the Sky, the metalcore brigade bring all the mandatory craggy riffage, shifting beats and hammering double-bass drums, along with — of course — vocals that alternate between guttural flamethrower and sincerely soaring. Trouble is, they bring it so slowly and deliberately they’re less like a band of fearsome marauders and more like a group of seniors descending an icy staircase. Pick up the pace boys; we’re not getting any younger here.
VERDICT: “Put the pedal to the metal.”
2 stars (out of 5)
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UPCOMING
April 26
I’ll Never Get Out of This World Alive
Steve Earle
Hard Bargain
Emmylou Harris
The Complete Original Masters: Centennial Collection
Robert Johnson
The Momument Singles Collection (1960-1964)
Roy Orbison
May 3
Hot Sauce Committee Part 2
Beastie Boys
Danger Mouse & Daniele Luppi
Rome
The Dwarves Are Born Again
The Dwarves
Helplessness Blues
Fleet Foxes
In Your Dreams
Stevie Nicks
This is Gonna Hurt
Sixx:A.M.
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