July '15 reviews

The following reviews ran in the Waterloo Record in July.

Highly recommended this month: Mbongwana Star, Vince Staples, Miguel

Recommended: Bully, Nick Craine, Joyfultalk, The Straggler, The Weather Station

Braids – Deep in the Iris (Arbutus)

Get out of town. That’s what Montreal trio Braids did for this, their third album, which was written and recorded after road trips to retreats in Arizona, Vermont and upstate New York. They’ve never sounded more confident, more bold—or more poppy, with the vocals of Raphaelle Standell-Preston placed high in the mix, and melodies that at times lean toward stadium pop. It’s a far cry from the esoteric abstractions that defined their first two records, though jazz-trained drummer Austin Tufts—the real star here—and his two bandmates on synths still like to throw textural and rhythmic curveballs. Sometimes their new-found directness falls flat, like on the focus track “Miniskirt”—a song about sexual harassment and an abusive family—where a powerful message and narrative comes out clumsy and awkward. Standell-Preston’s role in this closely knit trio is peculiar: her vocals sometimes seem shoehorned into the inventive arrangements, especially compared to her gorgeous side project, Blue Hawaii. (July 23)

Deep in the Iris is shortlisted for the Polaris Music Prize, and they play Lee’s Palace in Toronto on Sept. 22.

Download: “Letting Go,” “Taste Revised,” “Getting Tired”

Bully – Feels Like (Sony)

Alicia Bognanno is 25 years old—and so is the debut record by her Nashville band, Bully. That is, Feels Like feels like it could easily have come out in 1990, somewhere between the Pixies and Nirvana, maybe around the same time Courtney Love’s Hole or Bettie Serveert were first forming. Most new bands revisiting ’90s indie rock and/or grunge only take on the worst parts: amateurism, lugheadedness and punishing volume. Bully, on the other hand, bring great melodies, strong lead guitar parts, dynamics and a joie de vivre overriding their early 20s angst—and of course feminine energy, which is what made the ’90s different from other rock eras in the first place. Part of the reason it all sounds so effective is that Bognanno is a recording engineer who interned with Steve Albini (Pixies, Nirvana)—and obviously used her time wisely. Though her lyrics are a big part of the appeal here, Bully is not a one-woman show: it’s a solid band, with a drummer whose name is actually Stewart Copeland (talk about a birthright). Much like their contemporary Courtney Barnett, of whom they’re big fans, Bully manage to revivify a genre long—and often justifiably—left for dead. (July 30)

Bully play The Garrison in Toronto on Sept. 21.

Download: “I Remember,” “Trying,” “Six”

Nick Craine – Songs Like Tattoos (independent)

Nick Craine is 43 years old—the definition of middle age. The acclaimed illustrator and 25-year veteran of Guelph’s music scene (full disclosure: I played with him in Black Cabbage, 1993-99, and he remains a good friend) has not released an album since his 2001 solo debut, November Moon. Time passes. His son is almost a teenager. Friends have died. Carpe diem. Time for a portrait of the artist as a not-so-young man.

Songs Like Tattoos, a collection of covers, is drawn from deep personal memories and associations—from his mother’s favourite album to songs he sang at open stages for years to lullabies he sang to his son. Many of the musicians employed here are personal heroes of Craine’s, which speaks to both his belief in his local community and the fact that in a town like Guelph there’s often only one degree of separation between those people and the likes of Bob Dylan.

With producer Scott Merritt, Craine pulled in Margo Timmins (Cowboy Junkies), guitarist Kevin Breit (Norah Jones), guitarist Colin Linden (Bob Dylan, Bruce Cockburn, Blackie and the Rodeo Kings), Hawksley Workman, Jim Guthrie, Jenny Omnichord, Rebecca Jenkins, Carlos del Junco, and many more to cover the likes of Bruce Springsteen, Van Morrison, Stevie Wonder, Joni Mitchell and Dolly Parton.

Craine and Merritt know what each of these musicians is capable of, the colours of their palettes, and what nuances lie deep within these songs that Craine’s vocals can bring to the surface. There are no drums here, leaving all the more space for Craine’s croon to inhabit the sonic atmosphere.

Many people cover Joni Mitchell songs—usually badly. Craine finds something new in the title track of Mitchell’s most beloved album, Blue, rather than just aping the original arrangement. And it takes serious cojones to cover a k.d. ballad (“Save Me”), but Craine pulls it off with apparent ease, giving lang herself a run for her money—and that’s not a compliment I’ll dish out casually. Anyone who’s ever seen him play a solo set has heard his take on the 1987 Oscar nominee “Calling You” (from Baghdad Café)—a song once covered by, yes, k.d. lang. He loves every lilt in this melody, and honours it here with the vocal performance of a lifetime.  

Craine is not some, ahem, ingénue with some serious connections; he’s the equal of everyone he corralled into this project. In a move that will speak to the hearts of geeks for whom music has always meant (almost) everything, Craine closes the album with Stevie Wonder’s “I Believe”—the same song heard over the closing credits of the 2000 film High Fidelity. A classy move from a classy man.

Desaparecidos – Payola (Epitaph)

Neil Young – The Monsanto Years (Warner)

How do you maintain a career as a hyper-political artist, bottling the fury and righteousness of your youth well into your 30s and beyond? One of these artists has the answer. And it’s not Neil Young.

Desaparecidos is the Nebraska punk band fronted by one Conor Oberst, the prolific songwriter best known for his Bright Eyes project (1995-2011), who now performs under his own name. This band was, until now, just a footnote in Oberst’s discography, 10 times louder and more raucous than anything else he’s ever done. Here, however, they show that they bring out the best in him.

Oberst’s pained yelp can be hard to take in quieter scenarios, but it’s perfectly suited to outrage and the impassioned sloganeering heard in Desaparecidos. Oberst, 35, is not a subtle guy, and a line like, “If one must die to save the 99, maybe it’s justified” sounds a lot better at full volume than it does over an acoustic guitar.

There are, of course, even more hardcore lefty political punk bands out there—let’s start with Winnipeg’s Propagandhi, for one—but few as melodic and indicative of a direct lineage from The Clash as this one. Not surprisingly, the singer of the most high-profile such band, Against Me!’s Laura Jane Grace, guests here. Now that pop-punk is used to soundtrack children’s cartoons, it’s rare to hear it roar with cries of social justice.

It’s not at all rare to hear Neil Young sing—or rant—about social justice. He’s become more and more preachy as he gets older. On The Monsanto Years, however, he’s downright insufferable—even if you happen to agree with every political sentiment contained within. He’s angry about the corporate takeover of democracy in America, about GMOs taking over the food supply, about short-term interests trumping long-term sustainability. Sure, who isn’t? No argument here. But he does so with the subtlety of a ninth-grader who’s just discovered that the forces of good don’t triumph in our modern world. He’s more interested in naming names—Monsanto, Monsanto, Monsanto, over and over again—than even bothering to write a chorus with a slogan worth remembering.

The only good news here is that his new backing band, Promise of the Real, featuring two of Willie Nelson’s sons, prove themselves worthy of the Crazy Horse legacy, with rich backing vocals and some of the better guitar solos heard in Young’s recent discography. Not that they can save this material, but they certainly get points for trying.

To be fair, Young puts out at least one album a year. Payola, on the other hand, is only the second Desaparecidos release in 13 years. But they still made the better record in 2015. (July 2) 

Desaparecidos play TURF in Toronto at Fort York on Sept. 18 and 19.

Download Desaparecidos: “The Left is Right,” “Radicalized,” “Anonymous”

Download Neil Young: “People Want to Hear About Love,” “Rock Star Bucks a Coffee Shop,” “New Day for Love”

The Henrys – Quiet Industry (independent)

The Henrys are cursed with one of the most forgettable names in the history of music (although, hey, that did work for the Smiths). It doesn’t help that they only put out an album every six years or so. But when they do, Canadian musicians of a certain vintage perk up right away, because the Henrys is led by guitarist Don Rooke, best known for his work with Mary Margaret O’Hara and his Hawaiian kora guitar, and each time Rooke pulls in other ace collaborators from Toronto jazz circles (and Bruce Cockburn sidemen) like Hugh Marsh, John Sheard, Jon Goldsmith, Andrew Downing, and Guelph’s Davide DiRenzo.

Until now, if you’d heard one Henrys album you’d pretty much heard them all. This one, however, features Gregory Hoskins on plenty of lead vocals, and the arrangements are no longer focused just on Rooke’s kora. There’s still the delicate, dreamy, rainy-day vibe that is the mainstay of everything the Henrys do—and do so exceptionally well. (July 23)

Download: “Was Is,” “I Kneed You,” “When That Far Shore Disappears”

Joyfultalk – Muuixx (Drip Audio)

Calgary is a lot weirder than you think. It’s home to Chad Van Gaalen, the man who writes grungy electronic folk songs in ways we all wish Neil Young did, and does so in his home studio of modified instruments and damaged drum machines. But Calgary was also, until recently, the home of Jay Crocker, a man whose experiments with folk music and noise and jazz and just about everything else left behind an eclectic discography.

Now Crocker has left the oil capital and moved to rural Nova Scotia to live, in his words, a more sustainable lifestyle. He’s built a studio in a barn and packed it with all kinds of synths and homemade drum machines and other toys, and has reinvented himself as Joyfultalk, an instrumental electronic project that draws from early 2000s Berlin and the history of Krautrock in general, but also found-sound collage artists like the Books. Many of Crocker’s sounds appear to be acoustic instruments digitally manipulated into otherworldly sounds. Is that a gamelan? A cello? A hammered dulcimer? Don’t know, and it doesn’t matter.

This is fantastic sci-fi soundtrack music from a man who fled Canada’s economic engine and its most sprawling city to pursue a more meditative existence in the middle of nowhere, released on a record label run by the violinist in Tanya Tagaq’s band. There’s a track here called “Possible Futures.” Jay Crocker has many. (July 30)

Download: “Buschbabies,” “Possible Futures,” “Pommel Horse”

Mbongwana Star – From Kinshasa (World Circuit)

Two musicians from this new Congolese band started out in one of the strangest musical stories of the last 10 years: Staff Binda Bilili, a group of homeless, polio-afflicted musicians in wheelchairs playing homemade instruments assembled from garbage who made two records, toured the world and were the subject of an acclaimed documentary. Like any band, that unexpected spotlight strained internal relations and Staff Binda Bilili split up.

Now two of its elder members are back with younger musicians, including a psychedelic guitar wizard, and an Irish producer. Together, they recorded in a backyard in Kinshasa with a power generator, invited some friends over—including the electronic kalimba group Konono No. 1—and then the tracks were remixed and reassembled in Paris. The result is astounding blend of propulsive Congolese rumba beats, heavily distorted sounds, spirited vocals, Western funk and dub, blues—and more than a few shades of Toronto’s circuit-bending rock band Holy F--k. It’s joyful, it’s heavy, it’s haunting, it’s fascinating, it’s diverse—and it’s always infinitely danceable.

If there’s one record I want to hear on repeat at full volume for the rest of the summer—nay, the rest of the year—it’s this one. Saying merely that it’s the best African record you’ll hear this year is selling it short. (July 30)

Download: Nganshé, Malukayi (feat. Konono No. 1), Kimpala

Miguel – Wildheart (Sony)

Of all the genres that comprise pop music, it’s R&B and hip hop where the weirdoes have been winning lately. Kanye West, Drake, Kendrick Lamar, Frank Ocean, The Weeknd and D’Angelo have all mined the drugged-out, psychedelic and sometimes even goth underbelly of soul music. And then there’s Miguel, who betters them all by combining the above with pop hooks and rock guitars, making him the sort of fascinating amalgam that hasn’t existed since Prince.

Miguel is not a Prince pastiche, or any kind of pastiche: He’s his own man. But, like Prince, his ability to pull from every remote corner of the pop spectrum into a seductive stew is remarkable. Opening track “A Beautiful Exit” sounds like Beach House backing John Legend; “Leaves” rides a guitar riff that could be from an early R.E.M. album, while “Face the Sun” starts out like Billy Bragg before turning into a U2-size ballad with a guitar solo by Lenny Kravitz—and it’s a lot better than that combo might suggest. The song “NWA,” featuring the MC Kurupt, could be Outkast trying on a one-chord blues. (It’s also guaranteed to be the only R&B song in 2015 to make a Lee Iacocca reference.) Most of all, of course, Miguel in 2015 sounds a lot like the Miguel whose 2012 breakout Kaleidoscope Dream was the rare record that was as weird as it was wildly commercially successful.

“I’m in a crowd and I feel alone / I look around and I feel alone / I never feel like I belong,” sings the half-black, half-Mexican crooner on “What’s Normal Anyway.” The native of L.A. knows what it’s like to live in a libidinous culture of hopes and “lost Hollywood dreams,” and he’s crafted an ode to his hometown and all its futuristic, hypersexualized, sunbaked and emotionally needy characters. As he told VH1, “This album is Los Angeles, its attitude, its aggression, its sex, its psychedelia, its lust, its loneliness.”

The one misstep is “The Valley,” featuring a pulsing electronic drone that sounds like it’s manually being bent out of tune—it’s appropriately discombobulating for a pseudo-erotic escapade with the chorus, “I want to f--k like we’re filming in the Valley” (the San Fernando Valley, home to America’s porn industry). It’s one of the rare times here where Miguel tries to come on hard, and ends up sounding icky and gross—not just lyrically, but musically as well. Back to Prince: “The Valley” here stands out in the same way “Darling Nikki” did on Purple Rain—except that equally cartoonish song managed to convey pent-up sexual frustration in ways rarely ever expressed before. “The Valley,” on the other hand, sounds like a parody of The Weeknd (who is pretty good as self-parody himself).

What’s weird about that song is that Miguel usually has no trouble whatsoever making anything sexy. Sweet Jesus, just look at him—but then listen closely, because it’s hard to imagine a better male singer working in pop music today, from both a technical standpoint and for pure style. And this guy has style for miles. (July 9)

Download: “Coffee,” “What’s Normal Anyway,” “Leaves”

Vince Staples – Summertime ’06 (Def Jam/Universal)

This is the year when all rappers live in the shadow of Kendrick Lamar, mostly because his 2015 release To Pimp a Butterfly is one of the most artistically audacious albums of recent times to also be wildly commercially successful, not just in hip-hop but any genre.

Now here comes Vince Staples, whose debut album—like Lamar’s 2012 major-label debut, Good Kid, M.A.A.D. City—is a look back at the misadventures of his youth (hence the title). Lamar wrote about the L.A. neighbourhood of Compton, while Staples is from adjacent Long Beach. Lamar’s lyrical goals are James Baldwin-level loftier; his music draws from deep traditions of jazz and funk and hip-hop. Staples, on the other hand, sticks here to cautionary tales of gangs and gunplay, but his music is decidedly forward-looking and puts him in on a whole other level.

Staples has a captivating flow that elevates even his more pedestrian rhymes—for all his talk in interviews about not glamourizing the poor decisions and circumstance of his youth, he offers little here beyond straight-up narrative. It’s the music, largely overseen by Kanye West protégé No ID, that’s truly exceptional. The Latino influence is subtle but profound, which is why the electro downtempo descarga behind “3230” is so striking. “Loca” sounds like Drake lounging in Havana. The acoustic New Orleans percussion behind “Jump Off the Roof”—with a choir sampled from a Polish jazz musician on top—sounds like nothing else you’ll hear this year. Several tracks appear to be inspired by John Carpenter’s horror movie soundtracks set to dub reggae rhythms with Trent Reznor at the controls.

None of this sounds out of place. It all fits perfectly into Staples’s vision. And if it didn’t come out on the heels of To Pimp a Butterfly, there’s no doubt this would be the hip-hop record of the year. (July 16)

Download: “Norf Norf,” “Get Paid,” “Jump off the Roof”

The Straggler – Residual (Static Clang)

A straggler: someone who takes his time or lingers behind while the world moves on. On the surface, it might be an apt term for King Cobb Steelie bassist Kevin Lynn: one of the best bassists I’ve ever heard in my life, we don’t hear much from him ever since his main band slowly receded from view over the course of more than 20 years (they announced their definitive end last year). This is only the second release by his solo project, and it’s the first one in 11 years. By his own admission—and as you can infer from the title—these are tracks he had lying around his computer for years and decided to finally release (albeit quietly, on Bandcamp).

So yes: the man straggles. And yet, even Lynn’s decade-old dabbling sounds up-to-the-minute modern, in both its sonic approach and exploratory spirit, his tools and his methods completely au courant and sympatico with next-level producers like Haxan Cloak. Fans of King Cobb Steelie’s underrated, (largely) instrumental 2004 album Destroy All Codes can see how much of that was likely Lynn’s doing.

Lynn’s long-time love of dub reggae, post-punk and experimental music resonate through this material; the sound is monstrous—in particular the rhythm section, whether it’s Lynn on electric bass with a real drummer, or synths and drum machines. There are riffs and snippets of melody here, but rhythm rules supreme. As it should. (July 9)

Download: “Gourock,” “The Creep,” “Make Your Own Microbe”

The Weather Station – Loyalty (Outside)

In the broken social scene of Toronto music, Tamara Lindeman is one of the central threads. She performs with Bruce Peninsula, she’s co-written songs with the Constantines’ Steve Lambke (who put out her earlier albums on his You’ve Changed label), has worked with Daniel Romano and now here, on her third and finest album—long-listed for the Polaris Prize—she collaborates with Bahamas’ Afie Jurvanen, who produces and plays on this album recorded in a mansion in France. (Which, for the record, neither one of them owns—yet.)

Lindeman rarely sings above a whisper, yet consistently conveys a quiet strength. It’s a joy to hear her and Jurvanen play guitar together, and he employs only the most judicious of extra instrumentation, allowing her songs to speak for themselves. It’s a lovely, intimate record, though perhaps better suited to late-night campfires than rowdy tents at festivals. (July 16)

The Weather Station plays the Arboretum Festival in Ottawa on Aug. 22, Camp Wavelength in Toronto on Aug. 29, and opens for Bahamas at Massey Hall on Nov. 27.

Download: “Way It Is Way It Could Be,” “Loyalty,” “I Mined”

November 2014 reviews

Highly recommended: Amelia Curran, Lynne Hanson

Well worth your while: Jennifer Castle, Sagot, Neil Young

As always, these reviews ran in the Waterloo Record this month.

Jennifer Castle – Pink City (Idée Fixe)

We’ve all had those artists we don’t “get” for years, until one minor epiphany suddenly reveals to us what we’ve been missing all these years. Some of the biggest musical loves of my life have been revealed to me slowly in this fashion, finally overcoming some strange subjective grudge. For years, my friends in Toronto’s music community have sung the praises of Jennifer Castle, known for her solo performances, her guest spots on Fucked Up albums, and her band with the Constantines Dallas Wehrle, Deloro. I’ve seen her play a couple of times; I’ve heard her recordings. I was always left cold, even the first dozen times I heard this album, which features some of Toronto’s finest musicians and string arrangements by Owen Pallett.

This month, she played Toronto with Denmark’s chamber-pop songwriter Agnes Obel, who has taken Castle on tour. In an acoustically pristine soft-seat theatre, Castle’s solo performance was jarring, captivating and curious. Everything about her stage demeanour appeared out of place, yet her voice was in full focus: every quiver, every time she slid between notes, the full body of her lower register.

Castle’s music sounds like it was made in isolation, crafted in a remote Appalachian (or Algonquin) cabin (“I don’t need a home / don’t need a lover / I’ll be out on my own / come hell or high water”). Though rooted in folk forms, she doesn’t always follow familiar refrains, chord patterns or consistent tempos; many of her instrumental voicings and melodies owe more of a debt to jazz. Then there’s her voice itself: part Mary Margaret O’Hara, part Vashti Bunyan, a folkie flower child sounding alternately lost and innocent or wise and weary. In her left-field approach to folk, she also recalls Nick Drake, who used jazz players and stood far apart from his contemporaries. (She does not, however, sound like Nick Drake.) Though it was her solo performance I found so striking, Pink City is very delicately decorated with subtle touches from players careful not to tread on her unique talent.

Of course, at the same concert where I had my conversion, my companion had the complete opposite reaction. To each their own. It takes time to enter this magical Castle’s world. (Nov. 13)

Download: “Truth is the Freshest Fruit,” “Nature,” “Broken Vase”

Amelia Curran – They Promised You Mercy (Six Shooter)

If you’re a folkie singer/songwriter looking to expand your sound, you’d be hard pressed to find a better producer than ex-Rheostatic Michael Phillip Wojewoda, a man who’s worked in almost every genre of music and knows how to capture dynamics. Your song that sounds perfect with just your own stunning voice and minimal guitar accompaniment sounds even better with what Wojewoda decides to add and how he does it.

The East Coast’s Amelia Curran has been stopping listeners dead in their tracks ever since her 2008 album War Brides brought her to national attention. Until now, her approach has been relatively bare bones; this, on the other hand, is a full-blown rock record by comparison, full of ringing electric guitars, powerful drums, strings (by Drew Jurecka, of Jill Barber’s band), horns (by Bryden Baird, of Feist’s band), lap steel, accordion, and some stunning jazz piano and organ work by Aaron Davis (Holly Cole Trio).

A great band and great producer don’t make a great record, of course, and it’s Curran’s voice and songs that are always centre stage. She is a master of empathy, the kind of voice you need to hear in your darkest moments, the kind of voice that has lived through mood disorders and anxiety (the topic of a current public awareness campaign she’s spearheaded) and reaches out in song.

Here, with the help of many friends, a variety of tempos and textures ensure that it’s not a dour affair. It’s much more than that: it’s a powerful record by a major artist. (Nov. 13)

Download: “I Am the Night,” “Coming For You,” “Somebody Somewhere”

Lynne Hanson – River of Sand (independent)

She’s chasing whiskey with what’s left of her tears. She says, “There are days I only feel the pain / Even god don’t wanna know my name.” She’s “living life like a country song.” She writes painfully honest songs about divorce, addiction and sexual predators. She is Ottawa songwriter Lynne Hanson, and she’s made the only roots rock record of 2014 to hold a candle to Rosanne Cash’s The River and the Thread.

This is Hanson’s third album, but her first in four years. Produced by veteran songwriter Lynn Miles and featuring a host of ace Ottawa session players, Hanson’s album boasts 11 songs that project a confidence and boldness that her characters are searching for. Her honey-sweet voice and lovely arrangements offset the subject matter; unless you’re listening closely, you might merely think this was a gorgeous, Sunday autumn afternoon album. There’s a lot more inside, however, and Hanson is the new(ish) Canadian songwriter you should be getting to know better right now. (Nov. 7)

Download: “River of Sand,” “Whiskey and Tears,” “Foolish Things”

The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Pt. 1 OST – Various Artists

Every Hunger Games soundtrack so far—this is the third—has promised more than it delivered. Yet it’s that promise that excites every time, even if the albums have borne diminishing returns since the T Bone Burnett-produced original featured Taylor Swift in a surprisingly subdued, folkie mode, as well as solid contributions from Arcade Fire, Neko Case, Miranda Lambert and others. The Catching Fire soundtrack was handled by a traditional Hollywood music supervisor, whose best move was getting Lorde to cover Tears For Fears’ "Everybody Wants to Rule the World," one of the most memorable covers of recent years.

Lorde returns to assemble this soundtrack. In many ways, she’s an ideal curator: she is, after all, 18, the same age as Katniss Everdeen at this stage of the story. She offers two new songs (and a Kanye West reworking of one of them); sadly, neither stand out. She does, however, appear on a track with Stromae, Pusha T and Haim, surely the strangest collaboration of the year—and also the best. Charlie XCX, 22, gets Duran Duran’s Simon LeBon to guest on her track, another highlight here. Some of the high-profile collabs don’t pan out as well: Ariana Grande tries her best over a weak Major Lazer track, and Miguel is smothered underneath a sonic onslaught from the Chemical Brothers.

Tinashe, 21, stands out with the slow-burning "The Leap." At the other side of the age divide, roping in Grace Jones, 66, is another coup (much like getting Patti Smith for Catching Fire), even if her new song, the largely percussive "Original Beast," is a mere throwaway.

Even if at least half of this soundtrack doesn’t work, it still marks one of the rare occasions today when a Hollywood studio actually prioritizes an original soundtrack, one with modern, high-profile, relevant artists writing new songs in thematic accordance with the actual script. It’s that attention to detail—and carefully catering to its targeted fan base—that has made the franchise so wildly successful. (Nov. 20)

Download: “Meltdown” – Stromae feat. Lorde, Pusha T, Q-Ti and Haim; “Dead Air” – CHVRCHES; “Kingdom” – Charlie XCX feat. Simon LeBon

Jenny Hval and Susanna – Meshes of Voice (SusannaSonata)

This summer, Kate Bush returned to the stage for the first time in 35 years. That prompted plenty of long-dormant fans to book plane tickets to London for 22 shows that sold out in 15 minutes, and others to pen essays about how there has never been another pop performer like her. There has, of course: people like Bjork and Owen Pallett and St. Vincent—and more recently, EMA— all blend avant-garde sensibilities with pop music, making brainy music that also provides visceral release.

These two Norwegian performers, each with moderately successful solo careers, easily tap into Bush’s template of melodramatic, narrative piano ballads subverted by bursts of noise and abstraction and atonality that challenge your expectations around every corner. Hval is also a novelist and performance artist; in much of her work, the sounds she uses—as well as the way her voice slides between notes—are as much a part of the narrative as her lyrics. (Her 2013 album Innocence is Kinky was one of that year’s best.) Susanna’s music is usually much prettier than this; together, they’re fascinating and daring. (Nov. 7)

Download: “I Have Walked This Body,” “Black Lake,” “Running Bones”

Lost on the River: The New Basement Tapes – Various Artists (Universal)

If this project sounded too good to be true, that’s because it is. Take some long-lost lyrics by Bob Dylan, written after his 1966 motorcycle crash, and hand them over to producer T Bone Burnett, who in turn invites Elvis Costello, Jim James of My Morning Jacket, Marcus Mumford (Mumford and Sons), Rhiannon Giddens (Carolina Chocolate Drops) and Taylor Goldsmith (Dawes) to write accompanying music to be performed by all involved—except Dylan, of course.

It doesn’t work, and there are plenty of reasons why. For starters, maybe these lyrics were long-lost for a reason; there’s nothing particularly Dylanesque about them. Maybe there are too many cooks in this kitchen. Maybe it’s because this was written and recorded in two weeks. Maybe everyone was trying too hard to sound like Bob Dylan. Maybe everyone was trying too hard not to sound like Bob Dylan. Who knows? What we have here isn’t even these artists sounding like the best versions of themselves—and that’s the bigger crime than whether or not this serves the legacy of Bob Dylan or not.

It’s not entirely terrible, of course; there’s enough talent here to make it at least listenable. Giddens delivers a beautiful “Lost on the River #20,” and her fiddle is a welcome presence throughout. Mumford offers the biggest surprise, with the sparse, somewhat funky and haunting “When I Get My Hands On You.” Taylor Goldsmith, probably the least known of these performers, acquits himself well.

Lost on the River comes on the heels of a six-disc “complete” version of The Basement Tapes, the original songs and cover versions recorded by Dylan and The Band in 1966; surely Dylan freaks will find much more there to pore over than the detritus heard here. The record company isn’t lying when it says, somewhat carefully, that this is “a music event 47 years in the making.” Whether it was worth waiting for is a whole other issue. (Nov. 20)

Download: “Diamond Ring,” “Lost on the River #20,” “When I Get My Hands On You”

Nickelback – No Fixed Address (Universal)

Nickelback is the biggest rock band in the world. (They’re also the loudest, based on the ear-splitting mastering job here.) Now they’re ready to—get funky? Check out the disco, up-stroke strut of “She Keeps Me Up,” where the constantly constipated Chad Kroeger sings, “Funky little monkey / she’s a twisted trickster / everybody wants to the sister’s mister / Coca-cola rollercoaster!” Even that doesn’t prepare you for the appearance of rapper Flo Rida (he of Low fame) on the somewhat Latin-tinged “Got Me Runnin’ Round,” which also comes with a horn section on top of the grungy chords and dash of wah-wah guitar, while Kroeger sings, “She tastes like the sunshine kissing me.” What fresh hell is this?

It’s actually a welcome change for Nickelback, who already flirted with ska on their last album—anything to break up the monotony of a litany of soundalike singles from this bludgeoning band should be encouraged. No, what’s weirder is that the man who only ever seems to sing about beer, boobs and babes is heard here railing against Wall Street thieves, rhyming mass delusion and mass confusion and chanting: “Hey hey, just obey / your secret’s safe with the NSA / in God we trust or the CIA / standing on the edge of a revolution.” Somewhere in Russia, Ed Snowden is snickering. (Nov. 20)

Download: “Edge of a Revolution,” “She Keeps Me Up,” “Got Me Runnin’ Round”

Pink Floyd – The Endless River (Sony)

As someone who hasn’t liked a Pink Floyd album in 39 years—that would be Wish You Were Here—I find it absolutely shocking that this, their final album, assembled from jam sessions recorded 20 years ago, is as lovely and reaffirming as it is.

All credit is due to the late keyboardist Richard Wright, who died in 2008; he’s the star of this instrumental show, which harkens back to the band’s pre-Dark Side of the Moon, considerably more experimental phase. Guitarist David Gilmour and drummer Nick Mason found 20 hours of improvised material from sessions for The Division Bell and shaped it into what is now The Endless River, with plenty of new overdubs and help from Roxy Music’s Phil Manzanera.

The reviews write themselves: cold leftovers from Pink Floyd’s worst album? No thanks. But listen again: It’s a helpful reminder of what Pink Floyd always did best, before the portentous weight of Roger Waters and Gilmour got the better of the both of them. It’s no surprise, then, that the sole track to feature vocals, the closing “Louder Than Words,” is the weakest one here.

Shine on, Richard Wright. (Nov. 13)

Download: “It’s What We Do,” “Sum,” “Things Left Unsaid”

Sagot – Valse 333 (Simone)

Something evil is afoot here. Julien Sagot sounds like he’s lurking around the shadier sides of Montreal, hanging out with eerie drone-pop savant Dirty Beaches and getting into trouble. At times he’s devilish, at times he’s fragile; at all times he sounds either frightening or frightened half to death at the voices in his head. Sagot borrows from Tom Waits, but only The Black Rider. Sagot borrows from Serge Gainsbourg, but only Histoire de Melody Nelson. Sagot favours twangy guitars, metallic percussion, cabaret piano, squalls of noise, and singing in a voice that we probably shouldn’t trust.

Sagot’s day job used to be in Polaris prize-winning band Karkwa, but neither this nor his 2012 debut, Piano Mal sound anything like that. Sagot doesn’t sound like anyone else in Quebec, anyone else in North America—maybe Italian weirdo Vincent Capossela. But seeing how that guy is one of Europe’s best-kept secrets, it’s up to us to seek out Sagot. We’ll probably find him in the last non-gentrified warehouse in Montreal’s Parc X, his studio set up like a madman’s lair. The lights are dim. The smell is unusual. The sounds, however, are completely intoxicating. (Nov. 7)

Download: “Avion,” “Transsiberien,” “Les Squellettes”

Neil Young – Storytone (Warner)

This is Neil Young’s 37^th album in 46 years. Since his ’70s heyday, he’s managed only about three albums per decade that every fan should own. Each new release is greeted with the same reaction: do we really need this one? When it’s Neil recording cover songs inside a phone booth at Jack White’s studio, as he did earlier this year, maybe not so much. This time, however, the answer is yes.

Storytone finds Young in acoustic and orchestral mode—not unlike much of his 1972 classic Harvest. Unlike when Young employs, say, Daniel Lanois or Crazy Horse to inject life into songs that he may or may not have written hours before going into the studio, he must know that he can’t mess around when he’s hiring a symphony orchestra. Consequently, this batch of songs is his most melodically strong in a long while, even if some of the string arrangements have Disney moments and the attempts at introducing some Chicago blues into the equation (“I Want to Drive My Car,” “Say Hello” to Chicago) are a tad awkward. If strings ain’t your thing, these nine songs also appear in stripped-down solo format, with just piano, guitar, ukulele and harmonica. (Though that still doesn’t save “Say Hello to Chicago.”)

Storytone also comes at a time in Young’s life when he’s more inspired than usual. As befitting the sonic backdrop, Young sounds fragile. He and his wife of 36 years, Pegi Young, filed for divorce in September (“Like I Used To”); lately he’s been dating actress and environmentalist Darryl Hannah (“I’m Glad I Found You”). And that cross-Canada tour to protest the oil sands manifests itself in “Who’s Going to Stand Up?”—one of the most potent protest songs he’s ever written.

Neil Young: a sustainable resource if there ever was one. (Nov. 7)

Download: “Who’s Going to Stand Up?” “Plastic Flowers,” “Tumbleweed”