New Pornographers, Mass Romantic LP (Mint Records, www.mintrecs.com, e-mail to [email protected] )

Blaine Thurier, Carl Newman, Dan Bejar, John Collins, Kurt Dahle and Neko Case do their tribute to New Wave and clever lyrics and do it well (especially on the title track, "Letter From An Occupant" and "The Body Says No".).

What with songs like a cover of "What A Wonderful World", "Stop Thinking About It", "I Got Knocked Down" and the title track, this can be a difficult listen, in light of the premature death of the man.

This does not sound all that different from a Ramones album – perhaps a smidgen slower and more flexible in rhythm, and the Ramones probably would not have had the barrelhouse piano comping along on "Stop Thinking About It". To my ear, there are only two duds ("Maria Bartilomo", about some TV reporter, and "Spirit In My House", which even Joey has the perspective to sound sheepish singing). "Venting" is like a sequel to "Bonzo Goes to Bitburg", though it is ironic to hear the star of "Rock and Roll High School" complaining about someone blowing up their institute of learning. "Searching For Something" has a churning acoustic guitar, and is a sweet song about inner peace, which one can only hope he attained some of, towards the end.

Sara Lund (drums), Vern Rumsey (bass) and Justin Trosper (guitar/vocals) were the first band on Kill Rock Stars, and started out in a thrashy/noisy mode. This record, though, is much more subtle, with keyboards, strings and backing vocals thrown in. Perhaps that is why it did not get noticed, which is a shame. Like Daydream Nation by Sonic Youth, it is a glorious sprawl of ambition and advancement, and should have been huge.

The members say they may do something else, but just not as a touring band. I can only hope that is true.

Things kick off nicely with the catchy guitar riff and rolling drums of "One Another", a stirring song about camaraderie, friendship and the bond between folks. The title track follows, with its moving meditation on self-destruction/self-directed aggression, fueled by moving harmonies and elegant yet subtle piano fills. ‘Leave It Behind" has a lovely slide guitar part and vocal gymnastics, but I couldn’t see the "you" in the song clearly – possibly because I’ve never had a relationship break up (yet). "Being The Joke" has neat minor harmonies and a dubby bass part, which is not all that surprising, as the bass player on the record arranged the track, not to mention a stinging guitar solo which balances between blues and jazz – this would be the track I am reading as queer, but it could apply to other outsiders as well. Both lyrically and musically, "Normal" sounds like one of Elvis Costello’s countryish numbers. "Conspiracy" is the most "gay" song, and had me laughing out loud (while I’ve never thought the mothership was coming to get me (I remember wishing I was a changeling, though), I do think it’s funny to infiltrate and destroy, such as the time at the bar I used to work for that I told a bunch of guys who were ragging someone for drinking light/’fag’ beer that, actually, gays drink pretty much the same brands they do…).

A very tasty, folky, rocking record, and I hope to hear more from this fellow as time goes on.

Dympna Radford, Songs For A Rainy Day CD-EP (self-released, I would guess at $10 US/CAN to 457 Barrie Street, Kingston, Ontario, K7K 3V1, CANADA)

I was in a songwriting group with Dympna many years ago, and it is nice to see her back again in a minimal setting (herself on vocals and guitar; Bonnie Dawson on accordion; Peter Cassidy on guitar; recorded live in a living room) that highlights her voice and songs so effectively.

While there are only four songs, they are done in loose, relaxed arrangements, thus taking up nearly twenty-five minutes (and that’s still not enough – more! more!! more!!!).

"Motherload" is thickly strummed, conversational and bluesy, with some subtle vibrato and falsetto vocal spikes adding to the charm of the arrangement. It’s a bit early Indigo Girls in its feel.

The more-or-less title track has a subtle drive under the strum, which mirrors the anxiety of a narrator who feels somewhat trapped and repressed, and is nicely accented by the weepy accordion. Again, the voice is bluesy and breathtaking.

"Amsterdam" goes to the depths of her voice for the true story of the loss of one of Kingston’s finest musicians, bassist Joe Chitalen, who died in Amsterdam a few years back from an allergic reaction. It is heartbreaking, and has one of the few special effects on the record, in a burst of echoed vocals that is glorious.

"Far Shore" closes the set with a vigorously strummed and scratched track about the desire to fight for life against drugs, which is jubilant, hopeful and delivered with a throaty vocal style and a warm, soaring accordion part.

Nathan Amundson (vocals/guitar/keyboards/drums) used to do the fanzine Pretty Bruises, in which, among other acts, he once did an entire issue on his fellow Minnesotans Low. Now that he has put out his debut CD, he has enlisted the production/guitar/percussion assistance of Alan Sparhawk and the vocals/percussion assistance of Mimi Parker from that band, along with contributions from Jay Kroehler on bass/percussion and LD Beghtol on ukulele/percussion, resulting in a 9-song, 45-minute exercise in intense quiet and beauty, characterized by his long-lined, breathy, emotional voice.

"Past Life" is my personal highlight, with its extended, relatively quick-paced drone over which Nathan sings in a Nick Drake/David Sylvian style – crisp short phrases alternating with long, vibrato-tinged turns. I am also partial to "Barreling…", though I wish there had been more than one line of harmony by Mimi (still, her percussion was superb thereon).

This 13-member Montreal collective works in the same drone/classical/improv mode as Godspeed You Black Emperor!, though the dynamic contrasts aren’t quite as great and there is far more spontaneous music here among the fifteen compositions, all the more astonishing in such a large ensemble.

In addition to four guitars and two drum kits, there is a string quartet, a bass clarinet, a French horn and someone who plays metallic percussion and microphones within this outfit, in addition to the sort of found vocals/sounds that characterize the work of Godspeed! (there are members of that project in Set Fire To Flames).

There are moments of great beauty, and also times when you wonder if the clanging will ever stop – however, it is never boring, and, for such relatively low-key music, quite engrossing.

Cramps, Exorcism Night 45 RPM LP (no contact info given)

It’s a live Cramps LP from 1979. It’s the classic line-up of Lux Interior (vocals), Poison Ivy (guitar), Bryan Gregory (guitar) and Nick Knox (drums). The second track begins with Lux quoting Screaming Jay Hawkins: "You may not want us, but we’re yours."

It’s rockin’, spooky, sexy, filthy psychobilly fun, with very good sound (and pressed on vinyl heavy enough to give you a hernia as you slip it from the sleeve). Beware, though – the track listings on Side A are wrong, wrong, wrong…

That being said, put this on and make every day Exorcism Night.

The Fall, Are You Are Missing Winner? LP (Cog Sinister)

After 168 000 000 000 albums, you would have thought The Fall would be running on automatic, with no new tricks at all.

Of course, it helps that Mark E. Smith changes the lineup quite frequently (or, more accurately, it changes on him, I should think, as he is notorious for being a demanding taskmaster), and, judging from the handsome collection of lads on the back cover, he has selected collaborators who are, on average, ten years younger than him. It also helps that he has shed most of the electronic indulgences that have cluttered the mix of recent work.

Side A of this picture disc (yes, it’s a picture disc LP) is rife with actual catchy pop songs…on The Fall’s terms (Mark E’s largely spoken, deadpan vocals, whose content and enunciation can defy literal understanding, undercut the band’s commercial potential, to be sure). "Crop Dust" is a Stoogesy rocker with an ultra-hooky, snakey lead guitar riff, which is reprised after a fake fade, so they clearly knew it was cool, while "My Ex-Classmates’ Kids" has rare compassion from the usually darkly ironic Mr. Smith, though he should avoid doing "ah-ah-aaaahs" if he means them seriously, as it is not a trick to which his voice is suited.

Side B is more experimental, with "Ibis-Afro Man" being loosely structured, noisy and lightly sprinkled with Who-like synthesizers; "The Acute" being actually sung, unusually direct in its lyrics and vocals, and driven by acoustic guitar(!); "Hollow Mind" being catchy enough, but with much repetition and an abrupt ending; and the "Reprise" being largely a drum loop that stops and starts, though a highly reverbed guitar weaves in and out, and an actual song starts to emerge towards the end entitled "Hey Bastardo". It’s reminiscent of a silly parody on rap the band did years ago called "Crew Filth" – it’s filler but fun.

Once again, let us raise a Guiness to casual genius (though the back cover suggests several members are Amstel dudes).

Well, it’s a live record of Lou Reed at the height of his early power - after the release of his average first album and just before the second one that gave him his biggest hit – after his first troubled tour, and before the Rock ‘n’ Roll Animal pandering.

There is also an interview on here that proves, for all of his macho pretensions, that he was much more of a bitch than Nico ever could have been.

All the early classics are here, in energetic and inventive takes, and pressed onto nice thick vinyl to boot. Give it a spin, sunshine…

Rocket From The Tombs, The Day The Earth Met The… 2-LP (Smog Veil Records, 774 Mays #10-454, Incline Village, NV, 89451, USA)

In the early 70s, Cleveland could have made a good case for being the birthplace of punk, or at least alternative rock. Ensembles like Pere Ubu, Electric Eels and even Devo trod the boards (well, not so much the Electric Eels, who played live six times, and Devo, who were not performing live until some years into their music/video career…but you know what I mean…).

And then there was Rocket From The Tombs, an ungodly mix of metal, the Stooges, the Velvets and Alice Cooper, who DID manage to develop a bit of a following in 1974 and 1975, but never recorded anything except rehearsals and live shows, because of personnel changes, personality conflicts and general, shall we say, bad/unhelpful attitudes. However, the band spawned, among other ‘celebrities’: David Thomas (vocals/sax/organ) and Peter Laughner (vocals/guitar), who went on to Pere Ubu (songs like "Final Solution", "Heart of Darkness" and "Thirty Seconds over Tokyo" went with them); Gene O’Connor (guitar/vocals), who became Cheetah Crome of the Dead Boys (Stiv Bators was briefly a vocalist in Rocket, but not on this album); and Craig Bell (bass/vocals), in and out of the Mirrors and the Styrenes.

The classics on these two platters include "Amphetamine", very much a Velvets take (in its final show, the band massacred "Foggy Notion" by that group – but I suspect they learned it from some fourth-generation tape…), and "So Cold", from the Alice Cooper angle, as well as "Ain’t It Fun", a bitter prophecy of the self-destruction of its author, Peter Laughner (died in 1977, age 24).

It’s a Patti Smith best of, honey – need you ask more?

The first CD’s contents were voted on by fans on the Arista website (nice to see six of my picks made it), which meant that, astonishingly, only ONE track from Horses (1975) made it (the true fan would already own the record, of course, and would not want to see one track singled off, or, if it must be, then ONLY one…), and has a ton of classics, as well as her bluesy, sensual take on Prince’s "When Doves Cry" (yes, I know – it surprised me too how good it was!).

Eight years since they got together, Johnette Napolitano (bass/vocals/guitar/keyboards), James Mankey (guitar/bass/keyboards/vocals) and Harry Rushakoff (drums/vocals) reassemble to produce a subtle comeback. One of the few advantages of growing older is learning that it isn’t necessary to be on 11 every time for maximum impact (literally or metaphorically).

"Roxy" is a sweet tribute to both an unspecified person and Roxy Music. There’s a bit of rough to "Valentine" and "Violent", while "When I Was A Fool" and "Take Me Home" are full of rueful, vaguely amused autobiography. "Your Llorona" is a Spanish-tinged blues number, while "Tonight" approximately skanks. "Fried" is a not entirely successful rap, sad to say, but most of the experiments here work just fine.

Welcome back, gang…

This is far more pop than Vagabond Ways from 2000, and is also rife with special guests (Beck (3 songs), Billy Corgan (also three songs), Blur, Pulp and Dave E. Stewart (one song each)).

"Song For Nico" stood out for me, with its late-Eurythmics-ballad feel, and the fact that it acknowledges the late German vocalist was not heterosexual (though neither is Marianne). Of Beck’s collaborations, "Sex With Strangers" is too stiff (no pun intended), but "Like Being Born" and "Nobody’s Fault" are elegant crosses of torch and country. The two main Billy Corgan tracks, "I’m On Fire" and "Wherever I Go" sound like late-period Smashing Pumpkins outtakes (and his odd production of her take on "I’m Into Something Good" is best not discussed – far too jaunty, but, then, it was a very strange choice of cover…). "Sliding Through Life on Charm" is the best, with backing by Pulp in its usual glam/disco cross. "Love and Money" was pretty darned cool as well, instrumentally performed and produced by Barry Reynolds, her long-time collaborator, though not co-written by him, with a very hooky guitar/bass arrangement. As to the title track, it is a long, compelling drone in combination with Blur, which works surprisingly well.

Obviously, the woman is out to surprise us still, but not always in a good way…