March 2016 reviews

Highly recommended: Black Mountain

Highly recommended, reviewed in earlier post: Eric Bachmann

Well worth your while: Selina Martin, Minotaurs, Poirier

Streaming is great for sample purposes, but please support your favourite artists financially.

The following reviews ran in the Waterloo Record in March.

Black Mountain – IV (Dine Alone)

“Our Strongest Material To Date.” That was the in-jest working title of the new album by this Vancouver band, according to keyboardist Jeremy Schmidt. A joke, perhaps, but not without truth.

When Black Mountain debuted in 2004, they were a total throwback to psychedelic hard rock of the ’70s, equal parts Black Sabbath, Pink Floyd and Lou Reed. Very little has changed, other than the increased prominence of co-lead vocalist Amber Webber, who’s a welcome disruptor to the sausage party led by songwriter and guitarist Stephen McBean. The more whimsical side of the band has also evaporated; they’re heavier and naturally more humourless—and more power to them. (Maybe that’s why they dropped the working title and went with the Zeppelinesque IV.)

Most important, however, is that Black Mountain has found the perfect balance of sludgy, head-banging riffs and the respite of intervals soundtracked primarily by Schmidt’s spacey keyboards—as well as McBean’s guitar, which is more textural here than it’s ever been, not just power chords and solos (though his wrenching lead on closer “Space to Bakersfield” is surely his finest moment, the closest he’s come to Eddie Hazel’s work on Funkadelic’s “Maggot Brain”).

The most accomplished tracks here run more than eight minutes long, showcasing all the band’s strengths simultaneously; these are songs that celebrate Black Mountain’s longevity, their unity of purpose six years after their most recent albums, their ability to mature within their imposed parameters and push themselves to their full potential. One of Canada’s greatest rock bands of all time is back—yes, with their strongest material date. (March 31)

Stream: "Mothers of the Sun," "Crucify Me," “Line Them All Up”

Jeff Buckley – You and I (Sony)

Were he alive, Jeff Buckley would turn 50 this year. He died when he was 30, having released only one full-length album, 1994’s Grace. The last 20 years have seen five live albums (one is a two-disc version of a 1993 EP) and two collections of demos: one made with guitarist Gary Lucas in the early ’90s (Songs to No One), one of recordings meant to comprise his follow-up to Grace (Sketches for My Sweetheart the Drunk).

Now we’re hearing the demo reel he cut shortly after signing to Columbia Records: just Buckley and his guitar, with his A&R man and a sound engineer in the room. With the exception of the song “Grace” and the sketch of a song that is the title track here, it’s Buckley running through eight eclectic covers, three of which can be heard on the extended Live at Sin-é album (Bob Dylan’s “Just Like a Woman,” “Calling You” from Baghdad Café, Led Zeppelin’s “Night Flight”). New to all Buckley fans will be his takes on the Smiths’ “The Boy With the Thorn in His Side,” Sly and the Family Stone’s “Everyday People,” the blues standard “Poor Boy Long Ways From Home,” and the oft-covered classic “Don’t Let the Sun Catch You Crying.”

Seeing how Buckley’s most enduring recordings and performances are of him performing Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” solo, it’s shocking that this reel took so long to see the light of day. Those other releases can—and have been—accused of scraping the bottom of a barrel, but that can’t be said of You and I. Buckley was always a superior interpreter rather than a gifted songwriter; turning these songs inside out with that unbelievable voice of his.

You and I, for all its charms, also displays some of young Buckley’s flaws. Though he’s capable of elevating “Just Like a Woman” to places Dylan could never take it, his caterwauling emulation of Robert Plant is best left forgotten. And the sense of hushed dynamics he would later display on “Hallelujah” would be welcome on “Calling You,” where he sounds more like a young buck trying to impress than a singer who’s taken time to inhabit the song.

Of course, that’s exactly what he was: young and trying to get our attention. Which he certainly did—and continues to do, all these years later. (March 17)

Stream: “Everyday People,” “Don’t Let the Sun Catch You Crying,” “Just Like a Woman”

Låpsley – Long Way Home (XL/Beggars)

This 19-year-old Brit starting writing songs late at night in her parents’ basement, when she was supposed to be studying for exams. Her academic plans quickly took a back seat. Her second-ever gig was a set at the Glastonbury Festival. Now, following an acclaimed 2015 EP, comes her debut, produced by Rodaidh McDonald, whose atmospheric work with The XX is utilized effectively here.

Holly Låpsley Fletcher is a piano-ballad kind of girl with a big, soulful voice, but she’s also in love with electronics, which means Long Way Home sounds at times like a marriage between Adele and James Blake—a happy marriage, at that. For someone with as huge as voice as hers, Låpsley uses it judiciously, never indulging in showboat moments. In fact, the cadence of her delivery owes more to the noirish ballads of Drake or Kanye West—except, of course, she can actually sing, unadorned. The only incongruous moment on this nocturnal record is the disco excursion on “Operator”; it’s a direction one could see Låpsley going in the future—perhaps collaborating with her labelmate and BFF Shamir? (March 17)

Stream: “Heartless,” “Falling Short,” “Cliff”

Loretta Lynn – Full Circle (Sony)

I simply cannot believe this woman is 83 years old. There is virtually no sign of the ravages of time in her delivery or her timbre—how do we know these aren’t vocal outtakes from 1980 set to new instrumental tracks? Has anyone fact-checked this? It seems too good to be true.

Yet here she is, on her first new album since 2004’s Jack White-produced Van Lear Rose, shacking up at the Cash Cabin Studio in Hendersonville, Tennessee, with co-producers John Carter Cash and her own daughter, Patsy Lynn Russell. As on seemingly every single album by an artist on the other side of 75, there are re-recordings here of iconic early hits (“Fist City”), songs she grew up with (“In the Pines”), and songs that directly confronts mortality (“Who’s Gonna Miss Me?”, the Willie Nelson duet “Lay Me Down”). There are no sonic tricks, no attempt to pander to young hipsters, just a straight-up, traditional country record featuring a legendary singer and a well-curated slate of songs. (March 10)

Stream: “Wine Into Water,” “Everybody Wants to Go To Heaven,” “Who’s Gonna Miss Me?”

Majid Jordan – s/t (OVO/Universal)

The Toronto duo who helmed Drake’s monster 2013 hit “Hold On We’re Going Home” finally gets a proper introduction on their debut full-length, where their take on smooth and soulful electro-R&B stakes its place in a crowded field. Seductive singer Majid Al Maskat is easily the sexiest Canadian singer since Mike Milosh of Rhye—hell, he can even make an ode to the suburb of “King City” sound alluring. Majid Jordan sound distinctly suburban, the soundtrack to driving down six-lane roads home from downtown at 3 a.m. They don’t have the audacity of The Weeknd or the swagger of Drake; because they’re signed to Drake’s OVO label, expectations were sky-high—and not remotely close to being achieved, as many chart-watching cynics were quick to point out based on the first few weeks of sales. But Majid Jordan is more about the soft sell; they have more in common with the Junior Boys than they do Miguel. Despite their Drake hit and their high profile, they’re also still finding their feet; right now, they sound like they’re one album way from greatness.

(March 17)

Stream: “King City,” “My Love” feat. Drake, “Learn From Each Other,”

Selina Martin – Caruso’s Brain (independent)

“Why is the harder road always the way to go?” sings Selina Martin on her fourth album, the music of which answers her question for her: because refusing to take the easy route makes Martin’s music that much more rewarding. She’s a female singer-songwriter who doesn’t do acoustic ballads; she’s a rocker who doesn’t hide anonymously behind a band; she’s a guitarist who loves manipulating electronic textures. 

Martin has always had an ear for pop hooks—her last album, Disaster Fantasies, was full of them—but here she and producer Chris Stringer seem just as interested in what lies underneath, both in terms of overall sonic sorcery and in particular the ways in which they can manipulate the live drums of Jesse Baird (Feist). Martin is interested in messing with rock music in ways few people have in recent years; the only recent analogue that comes to mind is EMA; the furthest precedent is Post-era Bjork (the groaning electronic sirens in “The Addicted” recall “Army of Me,” but there are other hints throughout). Always a strong lyricist, Martin scores here on several tracks, but most especially “Wish List,” the rare new Christmas song that will actually survive the (past) season, with bonus points for local references (“I’m feeling hollow / here in Toronto”). (March 3)

Stream: “Lay Down Your Arms,” “Hawaii,” “When the City Fell”

Minotaurs – Weird Waves (Static Clang)

Guelph’s Nathan Lawr has had a rich and varied career, both as sideman (Royal City, Bry Webb, King Cobb Steelie) and as a solo singer-songwriter, but it’s his third album with Minotaurs that might well be his finest hour. The band started out as a way for Lawr to explore his love of 1970s Afrobeat, an influence that still reigns supreme. On Weird Waves, however, he recorded his live band’s rehearsals and then deconstructed the tracks at home, applying a dub reggae remix sensibility to the material and applying psychedelic textures throughout. Lawr (full disclosure: an old friend) told me he took singing and dancing lessons before the writing and recording of Weird Waves, and it shows: his vocals are stronger than ever, and his grooves have never sounded so fluid, the funk never forced. By letting go, he’s never been so in control. (March 10)

Stream: “Echoes,” “Gold Rush Lady,” “Underground Age”

Nap Eyes – Thought Rock Fish Scale (You’ve Changed)

Fronted by a mumbly man who owes debts to Lou Reed and Stephen Malkmus and fronts a surprisingly subtle rock band who don’t use any distortion, Nap Eyes just might be the most refreshing thing to happen to what’s left of Canadian indie rock (’90s definition) in many years. Singer/songwriter Nigel Chapman exudes a nonchalance that’s countered by an obvious attention to detail he employs in his lyrics. That’s true of the band’s arrangements as well, which sound like what a skilled and sympathetic group of players managed to conjure on the spot (shades of mid-period Destroyer). That said, this is still a young band where the promise outweighs the results, but they’re one to watch. You can watch Nap Eyes at the e-Bar in Guelph on April 6 with Julie Doiron, as part of the can’t-miss Kazoo Festival, which runs April 6-10. Check out the festival’s full schedule at kazookazoo.ca. (March 31)

Stream: “Stargazer,” “Don’t Be Right,” “Lion in Chains”

Sarah Neufeld – The Ridge (Paper Bag)

Pulsing 16^th notes are usually the domain of metal, punk and frenetic techno. Here, they drive the solo violin work of Arcade Fire’s Sarah Neufeld on three tracks that form the centrepiece of her third album, two of them over seven minutes long—of course, they fall into none of the aforementioned genres. The Ridge is billed as Neufeld’s “pop” album, which it surely is only in relation to the rest of her catalogue, solo or with Bell Orchestre. Unlike her debut, 2013’s Hero Brother, The Ridge features Neufeld’s voice prominently on several tracks; Arcade Fire bandmate Jeremy Gara also contributes drums, while Colin Stetson—with whom she made the Juno-winning duo album Never Were the Way She Was—plays some bass synth. “Chase the Bright and Burning” sounds like the Doctor Who theme repurposed for bass drum, voice and violin; little else here begs obvious comparisons—which of course is to Neufeld’s advantage. (March 3)

Stream: “We’ve Got a Lot,” “The Glow,” “Where the Light Comes In”


Poirier – Migration (Nice Up!)

For the last 10 years, Montreal producer Ghislain Poirier has been mutating dancehall, soca and Brazilian styles into his DJ nights and original material. He’s released various EPs and singles since his 2010 album for Ninja Tune, Running High, as well as a detour back to his roots in abstract electronics under the name Boundary (Poirier originally came from the same minimalist scene as Tim Hecker).

So for his first full-length in six years, Poirier comes out swinging, with massive tracks that build on everything he’s ever done, whether it’s straight-up reggae and soca or draping chilly electronic textures over instrumental dancehall beats. Global guests on the aptly titled Migration include New York-via-Jamaica dancehall MC Red Fox, electro-reggae Chicago-via-Panama MC Zulu, Berlin-via-North Carolina producer Machinedrum, Toronto’s Dubmatix, Montreal-via-Haiti MC Fwonte and longtime collaborator Face-T. The thread throughout is Poirier’s finely honed aesthetic: the man is a veteran, not a dabbler, and his 15 years of experience can be heard in every track. His curiosity carries him anywhere with bright sunshine and deep bass, bringing it all back to the city in Canada where you’re most likely to find a street party on any given summer night. (March 10)

Stream: “Positive Up” feat. Face T, “Jump” feat. Red Fox, “Cobra”

Iggy Pop – Post Pop Depression (Loma Vista/Universal)

Iggy Pop knows everyone wants him to be the shirtless rocker that still fronts the Stooges occasionally: much of his discography of the last 30 years bears that out, with mixed results, to say the least. But there’s the other side of Iggy Pop that he keeps insisting on, that of the poetic lounge lizard, the kind of guy who records bossa nova classics and songs by Serge Gainsbourg and Edith Piaf or recites Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass. (All of which he’s done recently.)

On what he’s suggesting is likely his last album, the 68-year-old teams up with Josh Homme (Queens of the Stone Age, Eagles of Death Metal) for a dignified departure, one that captures the crunch from the best of his non-Stooges solo work—i.e. his 1977 albums produced by David Bowie, or his late ’80s, early ’90s renaissance—and sets it to material worthy of the baritone crooner he’s always deserved to be recognized as. Strings, brass and orchestral bells augment a heavy rhythm section, with Spanish and Asian influences sneaking into the mix alongside an ’80s post-punk gloom (in fact, one can just as easily hear Siouxie Sioux singing much of this material).

It’s all going so well… until the last two tracks, the second last of which has the rather befuddling chorus of, “When you get to the bottom, you’re near the top / Your shit turns into chocolate drops.” Um, well then. What’s an Iggy Pop album without a detour into the gutter? Sadly, the whole affair ends with a two-minute rant tacked onto the end of “Paraguay,” where the proto-punk rocker sounds like Clint “get off of my lawn” Eastwood, yelling at some poor sod to “take your laptop and shove it into your goddam foul mouth…” It gets even worse from there.

Oh, Iggy. (March 24)

Stream: “Break Into Your Heart,” “Gardenia,” “American Valhalla”

Santigold – 99 Cents (Warner)

Three albums in eight years leaves a lot of long gaps for a pop artist, but Santi White is always worth the wait. Modern pop and R&B fuse with reggae and ’80s bubblegum, often all at the same time. That’s why she’s collaborated with everyone from the Beastie Boys and the Yeah Yeah Yeahs to Kanye West, A$AP Rocky and M.I.A., and written songs for pop stars. When she makes her own records, she calls in plenty of heavyweights: this time out her old pals Diplo and Switch are too busy, but TV on the Radio’s Dave Sitek returns, while Rostam Batmanglij (ex-Vampire Weekend) and Hit-Boy (Beyoncé, Jay Z) also pitch in. Toronto’s ILoveMakonnen shows up for a catchy duet, produced by Doc McKinney (The Weeknd). The consistent sound here shows that it’s Santigold in charge, however. It’s hard not to compare the sound of this record to Grimes’s Art Angels—one of biggest buzz records of the last six months—and realize that Grimes and everyone else are just catching up to where Santigold has been for years. If only Rihanna’s Anti sounded this good. (March 3)

Stream: “Big Boss Big Time Business,” “Chasing Shadows,” “Who Be Lovin’ Me” (feat. ILoveMakonnen)

God Don't Never Change: The Songs of Blind Willie Johnson – Various Artists (Alligator)

Tribute records are usually the worst, a hangover from the ’90s that overstayed their welcome. These days most are online only and a curiosity at best. What, pray tell then, is this, a glossy, well-packaged tribute to the blues singer Blind Willie Johnson, a man who only recorded 30 songs in his lifetime, all cut between 1927 and 1930?

Producer Jeffery Gatskill has been working on this project slowly for eight years; his patience paid off in the lineup he assembled here: Tom Waits, Lucinda Williams, Cowboy Junkies, Sinead O’Connor and more. There’s no telling if he commissioned others and jettisoned anything that didn’t cut the mustard, but his quality control is impeccable. Unlike 95% of all tribute albums ever made, there’s no filler here.

At first glance, it’s peculiar that Gatskill commissioned all white artists—with one exception, the Blind Boys of Alabama—to cover an iconic African-American artist. On the flip side, Gatskill’s previous project, Gotta Serve Somebody, focused exclusively on African-American gospel artists covering Bob Dylan. Still, the lineup here reflects the odd fact that the only bankable stars who champion blues in 2016 are ones largely removed from the music’s history. (Still: no Ben Harper? Gary Clark Jr.? And though not “bankable names,” I’d love to hear Willis Earl Beal or Mirel Wagner here.)

Waits and Williams get two songs each here—and deservedly so. Waits has drawn closer to the blues the older he gets; Williams started out singing mostly blues covers; both inhabit these songs and turn them inside out, with equal parts reverence and reinvention—which is all anyone could ask for in a cover version. Cowboy Junkies pull the audacious trick of sampling the original artist in their performance, which shouldn’t work at all—a middle-class Canadian woman duetting with a long dead bluesman who died in poverty—and yet it does. Maria McKee, who hasn’t been heard from in at least 10 years, reappears in fine form and full voice on “Let Your Light Shine on Me.”

Of course, like any tribute album good or bad, this ultimately makes you want to revisit Blind Willie Johnson himself. But these recordings all stand tall on their own, enhancing his legacy rather than tarnishing it. (March 31)

Stream: “The Soul of a Man” – Tom Waits; “Jesus is Coming Soon” – Cowboy Junkies, “It’s Nobody’s Fault But Mine” – Lucinda Williams

March 2015 reviews

Petite Noir

Highly recommended this month: Petite Noir, Pierre Kwenders

Well worth your while: Kronos Quartet featuring Tanya Tagaq, Michael Feuerstack, Will Butler, Buena Vista Social Club

Also this month: I wrote this feature on Will Butler for Maclean’s.

Bright Lights Social Hour – Space is Still the Place (Frenchkiss/Maple)

Five years is a long time wait between your first two albums, especially if you’re an active touring unit. Why it took this psychedelic Austin band so long to hustle back into the studio barely matters: these guys clearly live and die by their live show, and you can hear the years of sweat and blood in every note of this album. The rich harmonies are impeccable, the guitar solos and textures always tasteful without sacrificing any driving energy, and the synths set them apart from other jam bands.

Thankfully, this isn’t just a bar band wandering into the studio: “Space is Still the Place” (apologies to Sun Ra) is drenched in reverb and effects and carefully sequenced, with songs bleeding into each other seamlessly. Bright Lights Social Hour shares sonic space with the War on Drugs or a southern take on Broken Social Scene, but their closest comrades might be My Morning Jacket: only with more slide guitar, way more Hendrix, and a few more CDs by ’70s German bands in the tour van.

Once this album blows up after a slow-building buzz, expect them to be headlining every festival in the summer of 2016. (March 12)

The Bright Lights Social Hour play the Horseshoe in Toronto on April 15.

Download: “Infinite Cities,” “Sweet Madelene,” “Sea of the Edge”

Buena Vista Social Club – Lost and Found (World Circuit/Warner)

Along with the Pops Staples record last month, this is the least expected album of 2015. The Buena Vista Social Club sensation is now almost 20 years old, dating back to when Ry Cooder corralled many of Cuba’s top players and singers to showcase traditional “son” music, resulting in a multi-million-selling album, tour, live album and a Wim Wenders-directed documentary.

Now five of the original members are deceased—not surprising, as many were, at the very least, 70 years old when the original album was recorded. Gone are Ibrahim Ferrer, Compay Segundo, pianist Ruben Gonzalez, percussionist Miguel Diaz (whose daughters just released their debut album as Ibeyi), and bassist Orlando Lopez. All live on in these recordings. The five remaining members (wait a minute, who’s left?!) are going on tour to mark the anniversary, and this collects various outtakes and live tracks.

On paper, Lost and Found sounds like it could be cash grab. It isn’t.

Instead, it’s a reminder of how potent and polished that original lineup was, what rich traditions from which they were drawing, how impeccably placed was every note, every rhythmic accent. Every player here is given room to showcase, without showing off; Gonzalez in particular is a quiet master of restraint.

During the first wave of Buena Vista mania, the World Circuit label was more than eager to satiate demand with plenty of spinoff recordings. At the time, it seemed too many. Now it doesn’t seem like enough. (March 26)

Download: “Brunca Manugua,” “Habanera,” “Black Chicken 37”

Will Butler – Policy (Merge)

If Reflektor and 2010’s The Suburbs were high-concept and over an hour long each, Policy—the debut release from Arcade Fire’s Will Butler (younger brother of frontman Win) is decidedly low-concept and concise: eight songs in 28 minutes. The first single, “Anna,” was written during the last two hours Butler had in the studio with Arcade Fire drummer Jeremy Gara. Another track, “Something’s Coming,” was salvaged from the soundtrack for a TIFF-commissioned short film by New York-via-Winnipeg artist Marcel Dzama, Une danse des bouffons; it features Dzama himself on synths (as well as Gara and Arcade Fire’s Tim Kingsbury).

Policy is light-hearted and even goofy—though these are no more novelty songs than, say, the Rolling Stones’ “Shattered,” or Jonathan Richman’s “Roadrunner,” or any other rock’n’roll classic clearly born from either improvisation or carefree creation. Lyrics include: “If you come and take my hand, I will buy you a pony / we can cook it for supper / I know a great recipe for pony macaroni.” (It’s a play on “Bony Maronie,” the ’50s R&B hit covered by Joni Mitchell, John Lennon, the Who, and referenced in songs by Wilson Pickett, Patti Smith and Echo and the Bunnymen—which sums up Butler’s pop influences almost perfectly).

Don’t mistake this for a lark, however: the simplicity is deceptive, and Butler sneaks a lot of subtle treats into these tiny, perfect pop songs. (March 5)

  

Download: “Anna,” “Something’s Coming,” “Son of God”

Etiquette – Reminisce (Hand Drawn Dracula)

You know this band already. At the very least, you’ve seen Julie Fader sing with Sarah Harmer, Great Lake Swimmers, Blue Rodeo or Chad Van Gaalen. And you’ve seen her main man Graham Walsh with Holy Fuck, or heard records he’s made for Metz, Hannah Georgas or Alvvays. Together, they make lazy, hazy dream pop, laden with synths, drum machines and new wave guitars; fans of Beach House, Air and Saint Etienne should get on board. Fader’s voice is perfect for this sound; she last explored these areas in the later days of her old Hamilton band, Flux A.D., circa late ’90s, early 2000s; that’s also where she first met Walsh. It’s full circle, in a way, to the sounds that united them in the first place. Walsh is no slouch as a producer, of course, but this material sounds even better live. (March 26)

Download: “Pleasantries,” “Attention Seeker,” “Twinkling Stars”

Michael Feuerstack – The Forgettable Truth (Forward)

Writing about a new Michael Feuerstack album is hard. What to say? He’s been writing music for 25 years. He keeps getting better. He’s oblivious to trends. He has lot of influential friends. He ditched the albatross of his long-running stage name, Snailhouse, and reverted to his birth name. None of it ever seems to add to an increased profile, not even last year’s Singer Songer album, in which he enlisted the Weakerthans’ John K. Samson, the Constantines’ Bry Webb, Jim Bryson and others to sing songs he wrote with them in mind. Many of those people were quoted in a recent, glowing Globe and Mail profile of Feuerstack written by Giller prize-winning author Sean Michaels, the kind of tribute that usually only appears after an artist has died—not for somebody with a new record to promote.

And so here we are: another fantastic record, and some more collaborators one degree removed from Arcade Fire (Pietro Amato of Bell Orchestre and the Luyas—Feuerstack also plays in both bands—and Laurel Sprengelmeyer of Little Scream). Feuerstack’s fatal flaw is that his mannered music often seems too polite, too stuck the same mid-tempo favoured by most sensitive singer/songwriters, and there’s plenty of that again here. (Not that there’s anything wrong with that.) But there are also tracks like “The Devil,” which features the noisiest, most raucous guitar solo heard on any recordings he’s made outside the Wooden Stars, his ’90s band.

There’s never a bad time to discover Michael Feuerstack. Might as well do it now. Apparently, some people have already: his recent Toronto show was sold out. (March 26)

Download: “Receiver,” “I Wanted More,” “The Devil”

Kronos Quartet featuring Tanya Tagaq – Tundra Songs: Music by Derek Charke (Centrediscs)

The Kronos Quaret: is there anything they can’t do? The iconic string quartet has adapted Jimi Hendrix, flamenco, African folk songs, Chinese opera, Bollywood pop, and commissions from every corner of the world, while also appearing on pop albums by everyone from Nelly Furtado to Nine Inch Nails. Here they take on yet another seemingly impossible task: adapting Inuit throat singing to stringed instruments.

This music, by Nova Scotian composer Derek Charke, has been performed for almost a decade now; why it took so long to make it into the studio is anyone’s guess—for starters, Kronos is unbelievably busy, and this probably doesn’t rank among the most commercial of projects for them to prioritize (not that that’s ever been a concern). Now that Tanya Tagaq is more of a mainstream name—following her 2014 Polaris Prize win for Animism, and profiles in Chatelaine and The New Yorker—this music has added marquee value.

To emulate the guttural vocal sounds of throat singing for a string quartet, Charke developed techniques called circle bowing and vertical bowing (the liner notes here are extensive and helpful). Kronos, of course, is up for any challenge, and they make this material more than just a curiosity; it’s entirely engrossing even when you forget what it is you’re listening to.

Charke doesn’t want you to forget, however: both the main pieces here feature audio gathered in the North, both sounds from nature and storytelling. Tagaq features on the title track, both vocalizing and reading a version of the Inuit legend of Sedna written by Laakuluk Williamson Bathory (apparently used without direct permission, for which Tagaq has apologized), a harrowing tale matched in intensity by the swirling strings around her. It’s incredibly powerful and unforgettable—not, of course, unlike anything else Tagaq is involved in. But here the renowned improviser proves she can successfully fit into someone else’s vision; together with Charke and Kronos, they all bring out the best and most challenging in each other. (March 19)

Download: “Cercle du Nord III,” “Throat Song,” “Tundra Songs”

Pierre Kwenders – Le dernier empereur bantou (Bonsound)

Montreal has Canada’s best African music scene and its best electro scene. Naturally, it’s also the city most likely to witness fusion between the two. Kwenders was born in Kinshasa and came to Canada from the Congo at 16; his fellow Montreal producers hail from Mozambique (Samito) and New Brunswick (Alexandre Bilodeau of Radio Radio, whose bizarro Acadian take on hip-hop landed them on the Polaris Prize shortlist a few years back). One track here, “Mardi Gras,” featuring a lilting, distorted violin track, is perhaps the only Cajun-Congolese electro track ever made (see below). That’s only the beginning of the successful cross-pollination happening here: dancehall, South African rhythms, cumbia, Bollywood vocals, rock guitars and hip-hop all help colour Kwenders’s tracks. If Manu Chao or Bran Van 3000 had kept pushing their sonic explorations further, they’d likely end up in a similar place to Kwenders. Whatever you do, the man who sings in four languages told the Montreal Gazette, don’t call it world music: this is polyglot pop, and it’s a matter of time before Santigold or Rihanna starts ringing him up. (March 19)

Download: “Popolipo,” “Mardi Gras,” “Ani Kuni”

Madonna – Rebel Heart (Warner)

Yes: Madonna is 56. Yes: ageism is bad, and Madonna’s career still doesn’t demand the same kind of respect that Mick Jagger or David Bowie’s does, even though it should. That’s not what we should all be upset about with all the kerfuffle surrounding her 13^th album. What’s really offensive here is how terrible Rebel Heart is, musically and lyrically. This would be embarrassing if 23-year-old Miley Cyrus made it; age has nothing to do with it.

Rebel Heart starts out well enough. “Living for Love,” “Devil Pray” and “Ghosttown” are decent late-period Madonna singles: the former hearkens back to the early ’90s, which puts the legend in the unusual position of chasing an imitator 30 years younger like Kiesza, who rode this sound to the top of the charts last year.

From there, however, she transforms into “Unapologetic Bitch” (followed shortly by “Bitch, I’m Madonna”) and various other braggadocio numbers that sound sad, not sassy. Then the woman who once—more than 20 years ago—published a book called Sex has a song called “S.E.X.,” which is easily one of the least sexiest songs she’s ever done. There are unintentionally hilarious, faux-provocative songs called “Messiah” and “Holy Water.” Apropos of nothing, Mike Tyson shows up on a track, alongside Chance the Rapper.

Madonna has always craved our attention, no question—but she’s always commanded it just by showing up. Here she’s all crass, no brass. Considering her current pop competitors, is that her fault? Maybe. She once changed cultural conversations and helped North America shed its prudishness; now she has to shout to be heard.

What’s worse: Rebel Heart is interminable: 19 songs in 75 minutes, featuring a faded icon grasping at straws. It’s been 10 years since her last strong single, at least 15 years since an album worth hearing all the way through, but she’s always at least been somewhat interesting. It’s hard to recall a time when Madonna has sunk lower than this. (March 19)

Download: “Living for Love,” “Rebel Heart,” “Ghosttown”

Meligrove Band – Bones of Things (We Are Busy Bodies)

Golden Dogs – 3½ (independent)

The Elwins – Play for Keeps (Hidden Pony)

“Don’t Wanna Say Goodbye,” sing Toronto’s Meligrove Band on their fifth album in 15 years. After a career of ups and downs, this band gave up on reaching the top a while ago—but that hasn’t changed their approach to power pop, which they attack with the same enthusiasm and exuberance they did when they were teenagers. Sure, there are now a few mandolins and psychedelic detours thrown in for good measure, but this is a band who sees no good reason to slow down—and offers no audible evidence why they should, either.

Likewise, the Toronto-via-Thunder Bay Golden Dogs have been silent for the past five years, but return with keyboardist Jessica Grassia moving behind the drum kit and taking more vocals from her partner, singer/guitarist Dave Azzolini. With two new bandmates on board, the Golden Dogs sound young and hungry and ready to push out in all directions, sounding louder and wilder than ever before. Opening track “Decided” begins with shades of ’70s funk and falsetto before shifting into a heavy-metal spy-movie theme. All the more impressive—it was recorded entirely live off the floor at Toronto’s Revolution Recording. Everything here sounds like a band falling in love with music all over again, jamming in the studio with no expectations, for pure pleasure.

On the heels of both these geezers are the Elwins, a young band from the shores of Lake Simcoe whose second album is full of big, bright hooks that should rule the summer of 2015—starting with soaring lead single “So Down Low.” There are times when they sound like they’re trying a bit too hard, like the cloying opener “Bubble”—much better suited to, say, Katy Perry—but this is a band who is nothing if not eager to please. Seeing how their tour schedule finds them spending most of the spring in Germany and China, catch them in a small local venue now while you can. (March 5)

Download Elwins: “So Down Low,” “You Have Me,” “Sexual Intellectual”

Download Meligrove Band: “Tortaruga,” “Don’t Wanna Say Goodbye,” “Disappointed Mothers”

Download Golden Dogs: “Decided,” “Do It For You,” “MK Ultra”

 Zeynep Ozbilen – Zee (independent)

Let me get this straight: a Turkish woman fronting a Latino band singing an American classic by a Canadian songwriter? Zeynep Ozbilen’s cover of “Spinning Wheel”—by Torontonian David Clayton-Thomas, of Blood Sweat and Tears—transcends any obvious novelty factor and comes out swinging, in more ways than one. She takes a well-worn standard and makes it entirely her own. Listening to the rest of this fantastic album, it’s indicative of only a portion of her talents.

I couldn’t make up this woman’s bio if I tried. Born and raised in Istanbul, for 10 years this classically trained singer led what was apparently Turkey’s pre-eminent Latin band. She now lives in Toronto, where she puts her M.B.A. to work in a corporate career while also owning a gallery and creating sculpture when she’s not busy singing jazz or melding Arabic and Latin influences into her own songs, all expertly arranged by pianist and producer Roberto Linares Brown.

How good is this album? She turns the soggy chestnut that is Phantom of the Opera’s signature song, “Memory,” into a salsa barnburner—and it works. That takes serious chutzpah—and talent. (March 26)

Download: “Spinning Wheel,” “Alufte,” “Icin Icin Yaniyor”

Petite Noir – The King of Anxiety EP (Domino)

Lapsley – Understudy EP (XL)

New wave? Nope—“noir wave,” according to 24-year-old Yannick Ilunga of Cape Town, South Africa, a.k.a. Petite Noir. It’s like Daniel Lanois producing Joy Division with Fela Kuti’s Tony Allen on drums, and it’s pure magic. Much like another Cape Town resident, Canadian expat Zaki Ibrahim, Illunga combines great melodies with forward-thinking production that embraces electronics with elements of traditional rhythms. Opener “Come Inside” has a loping drone not unlike Malian desert blues; “Chess” is the kind of subtle, pulsing pop song that U2 gave up trying to write after Zooropa; “Shadows” would sound right at home delivered by Santigold or TV on the Radio. All this from a guy who spent his teen years playing in metal bands and claims to have had a life-changing experience after Kanye West’s 808s & Heartbreak came out. Production and songwriting aside, it’s Illunga’s multi-octave range that’s the real star here, and what is most likely to push him ahead of the pack. Expect even bigger things when his full-length drops later this year.

On a similar wavelength is 18-year-old Liverpool singer/producer Lapsley, who draws more from torch-song balladry and sets her songs to late-night, downtempo electronics. She’s young enough to be heavily influenced by James Blake and Drake, but as with Petite Noir, it’s her soulful voice that sets her apart from every other bedroom shut-in thinking they can be a pop star. She’s signed to the same label as The XX; don’t be surprised if she becomes just as big. Lapsley plays the Drake Hotel in Toronto on May 5. (March 5)

Download Petite Noir: “Come Inside,” “Shadows,” “Chess”

Download Lapsley: “Falling Short,” “Brownlow,” “8896”

Joel Plaskett – The Park Avenue Sobriety Test (Pheromone)

What’s the definition of “dad rock,” exactly? Never mind Wilco, I’d offer this eighth album by Joel Plaskett as Exhibit A. Plaskett’s always been a bit of a freestyling cornball, but here he can be heard singing: “I’ve got a little boy and all my songs are silly / if I have another son, I might name him Philly.” So-called “mom music” is often mocked—largely for entirely sexist reasons—but surely even the worst mom music doesn’t sink this low, does it?

There are plenty of references to whisky, and in more than one song, we’re privy to Plaskett asking a mysterious man named Thomas if, in fact, the tape is rolling (it is). I don’t know exactly what a Park Avenue sobriety test is, but this album sounds like it was made during a bender of a weekend with a bunch of fellow dad dudes in the basement. “Dear Lord, I’m meandering I don’t how to stop it,” Plaskett sings. “If you buy my compact disc, this song might be on it.” Yeesh.

If this were almost anyone else, we’d have little reason to care. But this is one of the finest Canadian songwriters of his generation, something he proves yet again on about half the songs here—particularly three ballads in the middle of the record. One of which is the head-scratcher “Captains of Industry,” a country ballad set to a drum machine and lyrics that appear to be written by Naomi Klein. (“The captains of industry are driving us home / selling us lies and tapping our phones / shaking us down and we don’t even know it / if you want real love, show it.”) No matter, it works—and also features one of the finest guitar solos ever heard on a Plaskett record.

Largely, however, Park Avenue Sobriety Test sounds like Plaskett letting all guards down and jamming with his extended musical community. His role as East Coast musical ambassador is cemented in the album’s first full-band song, “On a Dime,” a fiddle-driven road song. “Alright/OK” is tailor-made for the live show, a chance to show off his band and engage in some rap swagger, complete with a shout-out to Nova Scotian pride. I’d love to hear it live; I never want to hear the recorded version again.

The Park Avenue Sobriety Test is Plaskett on autopilot, tailor-made for CBC Radio 2, rowdy folk festivals and Canada Day concerts. He’s (east) coasting, but he’s entitled. (March 12)

Download: “Alright/OK,” “When I Close My Eyes,” “Captains of Industry”

Alana Yorke – Dream Magic (independent)

Who is Alana Yorke, and why are she and musical partner Ian Bent dressed in black posing with falcons on the back of this Halifax artist’s debut album? The mystery only deepens when one hears the majestic, cinematic art-pop that results from a magical connection between Yorke and Bent—friends, apparently, since they were five years old. Much like Toronto’s Lydia Ainsworth, Yorke is a disciple of Kate Bush, but doesn’t let that influence overshadow her many strengths. Recorded by Charles Austin (Super Friendz) and mixed by Mark Lawson (Arcade Fire), Yorke’s debut is not likely to remain an East Coast secret. (March 12)

Download: “The Wichita Years,” “Time Revisited,” “Anthem”