The Wake

In the late 90s, Eminem became hip-hop’s light-skinned rapper with dark thoughts. A couple of years later, his hometown crew attempted to ride this shock wave as far as it would take them. They found success with “Purple Hills,” and showed audiences six similarly twisted, yet diversely gifted personas, each accompanied by a split personality. Proof was considered by many to be the most promising member of d12. Finally, he’s getting his chance to shine on Searching for Jerry Garcia. The album’s design and title allude to an experimental approach of soul searching on this rapper’s first full-length release. If you’re looking for raw beats, well-constructed flows and star-studded guest appearances, than you might add this one to your collection. But with the exception of a handful of tracks, this album sounds like Proof is …

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After a seven-year stint of recording as a solo artist, Jay Farrar has resurrected the band Son Volt. Their new release, titled Okemah and the Melody of Riot, finds Farrar’s rich voice embedded once again in the edgy, alt-country sound that this band is known for. Showcasing some of Farrar’s best songs to date, Okemah is both consistent and inventive. The music is well structured without seeming rigid, and ambient without becoming aimless. The lyrics are brazenly free form, lacking repetition and structure in many cases.“The words of Woody Guthrie ringing in my head,” sings Farrar on the opening track, “Bandages & Scars.” The mention of this folk icon is an immediate indication of the melodic, folk-like songs that fill the album. Tracks such as “Atmosphere” and “Who,” are incredibly catchy without being painfully simple.While …

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Dear Coldplay, Please stop trying to trick me, this isn’t good music.The new Coldplay album, titled X and Y, is rooted in pretension and laziness. It seems to me that the group ran out of good ideas and talent, and decided to make up for it by producing until there wasn’t one real guitar riff left. The bizarre, encoded liner notes are just a cover, trying to make up for the lack of real music. The front of the album is video game art of a pill bottle in rainbow colors, and when opened the middle of the liner notes contains a chart of some kind with letters and numbers and more rainbow blocks. I thought that maybe the music would contain some sort of clue into this mind trick that Coldplay presented, but all …

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Stars, burning bright from Montreal, create delightful, yet flawed baroque pop. Set Yourself on Fire, the band’s third album, canters through joyful melodies and mellow introspections. Though their sound is light and airy Stars do get heavy and perhaps pretentious with the lyrics. During a few songs Torquil Campbell and Amy Millan’s vocals stretch too far and seem misplaced. For instance, when Millan yelps “this scar is a fleck on my porcelain skin” one can’t help but feel jarred. Likewise, when Campbell confesses “In the year of my decline sucking freezies in the rain,” a disjoint forms within the music’s flow. It seems the band is overextending itself at these moments and it is hard to take them earnestly. Lucky these instances are few and far between. Stars truly master the various binary oppositions in …

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When I think of music and Canada, a barrage of Bare Naked Losers – oh, I mean Ladies – a certain country singer turned pop punk (*cough* Avril Lavigne) and bodies drowning to the sound of Celine Dion’s Titanic of tunes fill my aggravated ears. But, no longer. One of the most eclectic and dare I say, easy on the eardrums, band as of late has actually come from this same former, northern wasteland . They are Apostle of Hustle and their new CD is “Folkloric Feel.” Praise the Lord that head Apostle Andrew Whiteman (Broken Social Scene) visited Cuba for two months instead of attending the same last supper as his predecessor, St. Andrew, did thousands of years ago. Without this sunny stint, “Folkloric Feel” would not …

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There is only one word that can fully describe Scissor Sisters’ self-titled album –- pastiche. Their postmodern reveling crosses the boundaries of time and within one album, the listener gets to experience at least three decades of musical influence. The Sisters, who hail from New York, take Elton John piano thumping and vocal projection (“Take Your Mama Out”) into a new era where the crazed combination of genres make celebrity. But that’s not to say Scissor Sisters don’t deserve the attention their danceable album has received. Their songs are well-crafted, beat-driven, hectic fun. Not only do they invoke Elton’s glory, they also bring back the long shunned disco, art rock and glam rock from yesteryear. To exemplify this, one only has to listen to the Sisters’ cover of Pink Floyd’s “Comfortably Numb.” Scissor Sisters …

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It’s quite possible that listeners will be confused about how to feel after hearing Pedro the Lion’s latest effort, “Achilles Heel.” In many of the tracks, singer/songwriter David Bazan tells haunting stories in a matter-of-fact matter over upbeat and poppy guitar parts. Somehow, Bazan’s almost monotone voice and the soothing melodies of the guitars fit together adequately.Bazan tells morbid stories of a man who gets his legs cut off by a train (“Transcontinental”) and a drunk who wakes up in a hotel in a pile his/her own slop (“Keep Swinging”). The album contains some songs that reveal that Bazan might have a sense of humor, however dark and strange it may be –-such as “Arizona,” which tells the story New Mexico’s jealousy over Arizona’s new relationship with California. Whether it …

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The Micranots (I Self Divine and Dj Kool Akiem) have launched an album of social upheaval with The Emperor and The Assassin, full of messages of motivation, truth, inner-city life, love, and resilience. After waiting five years since their last release Micranots’ fans will be glad to hear that I Self is back in full-stride with forceful, staccato, innovative, poetic form and Kool Akiem has developed on the production side while still maintaining that original Micranots sound. The dynamic duo wastes no time beating around the bush immediately hitting their listeners hard with the second track “Glorious,” and never letting up after that. As far as pseudo-underground rap artists go, local emcee I Self Divine of the Micranots is living the good life. In the last six months he has released two new full-length albums, …

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