Highly recommended this month: Couer de Pirate, Lianne La Havas,
Robyn & La Bagatelle Magique
Well worth your while: Battles, Tami Neilsen, Peaches,
Telekinesis
Also reviewed: Beirut, Concealer, Carly Rae Jepsen, Katie Moore,
Yo La Tengo
Reviewed earlier: The
Weeknd
As always, the following reviews ran in September in the Waterloo Record.
Battles – La Di Da Di
(Warp)
When Battles made their full-length debut back in 2007, they
were the rare prog rock band you could dance to, the rare rock band that
successfully incorporated innovative electronics, the rare band whose superior
technical skill is matched by their ability to engage and form cohesion from
chaos. That album also came out at the height of the George W. Bush era, and
more than any actual protest music seemed to embody the infuriating zeitgeist.
Eight years later, La Di
Da Di is just as effective. In between there was a transition album where
they coped with losing an intergral founding member, but here the trio come out
swinging—through trippy time signatures, of course, with the monstrous drumming
of John Stanier (Helmet, Tomahawk) holding down the kit. Guitarist Ian Williams
and bassist Dave Konopka rarely conjure any sounds their instruments are
supposed to. Together, it sounds a bit like a heavy metal drummer playing
Afrobeat while an Indonesian gamelan band wrestle with a German electronic
group on top of him—less entertaining, perhaps, but a fascinating flurry of
sound, rhythm and melody that functions far better than you might expect.
These Battles are not lost. (Sept. 17)
Battles play Lee’s Palace on Oct. 1
Download: “FF Bada,” “Summer Simmer,” “Tricentennial”
Beirut – No No No (XL)
Zach Condon is a happier man, and it sounds like it. He’s been making
music professional since his late teens, when his debut, 2006’s Gulag Orkestar, became an unlikely
underground hit, marrying Eastern European brass melodies to plaintive ukulele
folk songs. Ten years down the road, he’s been divorced, collapsed on the road
from exhaustion, and about a year decided his creative well had run dry.
Thankfully, that’s not the end of the story. With the help of
his bandmates, he started to take himself less seriously and lighten up, and
his fifth album is more upbeat, hopeful and playful than anything he’s ever
done. There’s more electric piano than accordion, more—wait for it—funk in the
backbeat, and rich vocal harmonies backing up Condon’s sad-sack croon. (Sept.
24)
Beirut play the Danforth Music Hall in Toronto on Nov. 13.
Download: “Gibraltar,” “No No No,” “Perth”
Coeur de Pirate – Roses (Dare to Care)
Beatrice Martin is related to neither Swedish hitmaker Max
Martin Coldplay’s Chris Martin. But Beatrice, a.k.a. Coeur de Pirate, has just
made an album full of songs that those men would kill to have in their own
repertoire. The Quebecois artist has sold a million records in her own province
and France, and is the only Francophone artist in recent memory to attract any
significant notice in English Canada (she sold out Massey Hall in Toronto last
year). Now, with her first album of original music featuring songs in
English—seven of 10 here—Coeur de Pirate is poised for a major crossover.
Approximately 95 per cent of what you read every week in this
column is the entirely subjective opinion of some guy who’s had a pathological
addiction to new music for 35 years. But this is an objective fact: Roses is
packed with future hits.
Martin is all of 25 years old, but writes like she’s studied
Brill Building and Broadway and pop masters for decades. Everything here sounds
enormous, Phil Spector’s Wall of Sound updated for 21st-century
fireworks displays. Traces of modern R&B form the rhythm tracks, where
Martin nods to her love of The Weeknd (she once covered his “Wicked Game”) and
Rihanna (replicating the “Umbrella” beat on “I Don’t Want to Break Your Heart”).
Meanwhile, tracks like “Undone” are the kind of stadium pop that Bono has been
trying to chase for the last 20 years, the kind that Katy Perry might make if
her songs weren’t stuffed with sonic steroids. Even the sparse ballads (“Oceans
Brawl,” “Cast Away,” “Tu oublieras mon nom”) boast melodies meant to be sung by
thousands in unison.
For many of my favourite Quebecois artists, I can usually
understand that their music itself, not just the language, sounds slightly
foreign to English Canadians. That’s no excuse this time. (Sept. 3)
Couer de Pirate play the Phoenix in Toronto on Oct. 7.
Download: “Carry On,” “I Don’t Want to Break Your Heart,” “Drapeau
blanc”
Concealer - Feted: fetid (Coax)
Cowboy goth? Sure, why not. Edmonton’s Mark Davis and
MissMannered call their new project “heavy wave.” Davis comes from a country
rock background, having spent the better part of a decade in acclaimed roots
band Old Reliable, and with three most excellent solo albums under his belt,
all of them as melodic as they are morose. That tone continues here, but synth
player Missmannered (Sean Picard) amps up the atmosphere, until it sounds like
Townes Van Zandt being produced by the Jesus and Mary Chain.
The duo behind Concealer admit they’re an odd couple. As Davis
told the Calgary Herald, “I’m the older,
stoic, stay-at-home roots-rock guy, and Sean is more of a young, flamboyant,
gay socialite DJ/makeup artist.” But that’s only in person. What we hear here
is an entirely natural synthesis, one that finally takes Davis out of the
alt-country ghetto where he’s been pigeonholed.
Concealer’s only real fault is that
the sonic palette is limited: Davis plays mainly bass and drum machine, Missmannered
plays synths, and the tone is—shall we say—consistent, and rather dreary.
Davis’s melodies carry the day, however, as they always do. It’s exciting to
hear him trying on different clothes, but I hope he throws them in the laundry once
in a while. (Sept. 24)
Download: “Horns and Crown,” “Your Master’s Wishes,” “Throw Me
to the Lions”
Carly Rae Jepsen – E.MO.TION (Universal)
Guilt free! That’s what Carly Rae Jepsen offers fans of
bubblegum who find Katy Perry too tacky, Taylor Swift too cloying. Jepsen
scored a massive hit a few years back with “Call Me Maybe,” and here the
30-year-old B.C. singer is out to prove that she has staying power. She most
certainly does: there’s at least four or five songs here likely to linger around
the charts for the next year, with the help of collaborators Sia, Vampire
Weekend, and the producers behind Haim, Solange Knowles and, yes, Katy Perry
and Taylor Swift. It’s a sugar rush, and it’s a good one. But the new Robyn EP
that dropped last month is a much better bet. (Sept. 10)
Download: “E.MO.TION,” “Run Away With Me,” “Gimmie Love”
Lianne La Havas – Blood (Warner)
“Unstoppable”? You bet. That’s the name of the lead single from
this British singer’s second album, produced with predictable class and bombast
by Paul Epworth (Adele, Florence and the Machine, U2). On it, she rides a
slinky, seductive groove while harps and strings swirl around her and she
unleashes her unbelievable voice, a set of pipes that wows everyone within
earshot.
This 25-year-old has made a modern R&B record that’s
completely out of step: she’s not retro enough to be lumped in with Leon
Bridges or Sharon Jones; she’s not weird enough to join Miguel and The Weeknd.
Her music is as slick as Sade and delicate as Feist’s Let It Die, but she can belt it out Broadway-style, like Janelle
Monae.
Most important, she’s (almost) as fantastic a songwriter as she
is a singer. That title track could be the next great James Bond theme (for
which Sam Smith has been tapped instead, alas), while the ballad “Wonderful” is
one of the most sensual songs in recent memory (“electricity lingers in our fingers”).
Mary J. Blige should be covering “Grow” on her next album. R&B and
ornamental pop songs are balanced by songs based around just her guitar, while “Never
Get Enough” alternates between verses with acoustic guitar playing bossa nova,
and heavy choruses rich with distorted vocals and industrial synths.
Is there anything this woman can’t do? No wonder Prince is such
a huge and vocal fan. Soon you will be, too. (Sept. 17)
Lianne La Havas plays the Danforth Music Hall in Toronto on Oct.
2.
Download: “Unstoppable,” “Tokyo,” “Wonderful”
Katie Moore – Fooled by the Fun (Club Roll)
Outside of Montreal, where she’s been a musical MVP for a decade
now, few people know Katie Moore unless they’ve seen her sing with Socalled’s
raucous live show, always go to Pop Montreal every September, are acutely tuned
into that city’s roots scene, or closely follow Patrick Watson, Plants and
Animals, or the Barr Brothers. To be fair, her heartbreaking voice has always
been better than any record on which she’s put her own name—until now.
Fooled by the Fun was recorded live in a studio, and an all-star
cast of Montreal musicians—including Socalled on electric piano, which casts a
warm and earthy early ’70s vibe over the whole affair—bring the best game to
Moore’s songs, which have improved so much over the years that a Tracy Chapman
classic (“Baby Can I Hold You”) fits in seamlessly with the original material.
Moore’s voice is still the primary selling point, however, a perfect balance of
humility and confidence, not unlike Emmylou Harris. Montreal may be a big city,
but it’s not big enough to contain a voice like Moore’s. (Sept. 3)
Download: “Talked All Night,” “Leaving,” “Find You Near”
Tami Neilson – Dynamite! (Outside)
The hottest country artist from New Zealand is Canadian. Tami
Neilson grew up playing in her family band—that would be the Neilsons—in Canada
in the 1990s, before moving to New Zealand to start her adult career. There,
she’s won no fewer than five nods for Country Album of the Year at that
nation’s equivalent of the Junos or Grammys, among other laurels. This,
however, is the first time one of her solo records is getting a Canadian
release. It couldn’t possibly be a better introduction.
Nielsen is a throwback; everything here is steeped in ’50s
rockabilly and Nashville, and she’s got it down pat: the bare-bones production,
the ace band, and a showstopper of a voice that could fill any room without a
microphone. Her lyrics might be well-worn tropes—songs about a heart the size
of Texas and lipstick on your collar—but the melodies, arrangements, and
especially her vocals are all fantastic.
Let’s hope for a 2016 summer tour with Lindi Ortega, to see two
of this country’s best belters duke it out. (Sept. 17)
Download: “Walk (Back to Your Arms),” “Dynamite,” “Running to
You”
Peaches – Rub (XL)
When this provocative performer debuted with The Teaches of Peaches in 2000, it was a
fascinating feminist art project dressed up in a libidinous electro sheen. Yet
everything about it seemed destined to be dated: the minimalist production, the
songs consisting of little more than one-joke catchphrases, the fact that it
arrived in the midst of the short-lived electroclash movement.
And yet: 15 years later, The
Teaches of Peaches has just been nominated in the 2000s category for the Polaris Heritage Prize;
it remains beloved and respected and influential. That same week, Peaches
released this, her fifth album, which proves—six years after her last album, I Feel Cream—that she’s still more than
relevant, still pushing herself, still pushing buttons. And still, of course,
NSFW.
She’s still tossing off silly jokes like “Dick in the Air” and “Vaginoplasty”
(“Catch the whiff coming off my midriff!”), but she also turns up the heat on
the title track (“whistleblow my clit”), and gets downright dark on “Free Drink
Ticket” and “Dumb F--k,” tracks where her lyrics take more disturbing turns.
Even on the lighter tracks, though, her lurid bathhouse soundtrack is always
fuelled by an empowered female gaze and increasingly clever—though never
subtle—turns of phrase. Part of the reason Peaches continues to endure is that
she’s improved as an MC. “Use a thumb, or take a fist / Roll with it, Sisyphus
/ no hissy fit”; “Take it like a real woman, not Ayn Rand.” Feist and Kim
Gordon show up as guests, but Peaches is more than juicy enough on her own.
(Sept. 24)
Peaches plays the Phoenix in Toronto on Oct. 20.
Download: “Close Up,” “Dick in the Air,” “Free Drink Ticket”
Robyn & La
Bagatelle Magique – Love is Free EP
(Universal)
It’s been five long years since Robyn dropped her pure pop
masterpiece Body Talk. Her somewhat
abstract 2014 EP with Rokysopp was interesting, but the intention was not to
deliver any of the club hits she’s known for. Now comes this new collaborative
EP, with her touring keyboardist and the Swedish producer Christian Falk, best
known for producing the 1994 hit for Neneh Cherry and Youssou N’Dour, “7
Seconds.”
There are five tracks here, each aiming for maximum punch, each
designed specifically for the dancefloor. “Got To Work It Out,” with its dabs
of Daft Punk and ABBA, could easily have fit onto Body Talk; the title track echoes vintage house and boasts a
strange Spanish rap interlude; a previously released, faithful cover of Arthur
Russell’s “Tell You (Today)” (it appeared on a Russell tribute album for the
Red Hot organization last October) dabbles in jazzy Latino disco with a big
brass section. And if Canadian opposition parties were remotely hip, they’d
license “Lose Control” for an anti-Harper ad this election season: “If you
can’t control it, you just don’t like it.”
The only complaint here is that it’s too short—but with the
passing of Falk, who died during recording, this is the last we’ll hear of this
trio. He certainly leaves on a high note. (Sept. 3)
Download: “Lose Control,” “Tell You (Today),” “Love is Free”
Telekinesis – Ad Infinitum (Merge)
Practically nobody knows Seattle songwriter and drummer Michael
Lerner or his band, Telekinesis; his third album, 2013’s Dormarion, was all but ignored, despite the fact it’s a power-pop
masterpiece, the kind that all those people whining about new records by Weezer
or Sloan or Ben Folds or Spoon or whomever would be wise to pick up sooner than
later.
And so few people will notice or care that Lerner has put his
drumsticks down and built a home studio of synths and drum machines. The songs
are still there, even if they lack some of the punch of earlier Telekinesis
records; you can tell he’s been listening to a lot of Giorgio Moroder and
Angelo Badalamenti soundtracks. It’s odd to hear such a great drummer
programming Linn drums instead—think of just about any big ’80s hit: “Maniac,” “Take
On Me,” “Love is a Battlefield”—but Lerner is clearly out to reinvent himself
as a man of many moods, not just a quick sugar rush. (Sept. 17)
Telekinesis plays Toronto’s Horseshoe Tavern on Oct. 25.
Download: “Sylvia,” “In a Future World,” “Farmers Road”
Yo La Tengo – Stuff Like That There (Matador)
This year marks Yo La Tengo’s 30th year as a band;
this album, featuring the return of original guitarist Dave Schramm, is a nod
to their 25-year-old album Fakebook,
a collection of covers. Of course a band at this stage in their career runs the
risk of repeating themselves—and that’s more than the case here. Every one of
these songs—by the likes of Hank Williams, The Cure, the Lovin’ Spoonful and
obscurities by Antietam, the Parliaments, and the Cosmic Rays—is rendered
acoustically, at mostly the same tempo, with the same whispered harmonies. Yo
La Tengo have succeeded making full-on mood records before, like 2000’s And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside Out,
but oddly enough they material they choose here—which includes two new songs,
and three reworking of earlier material—doesn’t suit the task at hand. It’s all
lovely and pleasant, but not particularly revelatory, nor an essential part of
their long discography. (Sept. 24)
Yo La Tengo play the Queen Elizabeth Theatre in Toronto on Sept.
30. There is a dinner package catered by Fat Pasha available.
Download: “Somebody’s in Love,” “Friday I’m in Love,” “The
Ballad of Red Buckets”
