Bell Orchestre

What begins as an earful of noise slowly morphs into beautiful music. What starts off as something playing in the background quickly takes its place as something you would be hard-pressed to ignore.

The Bell Orchestre, made up of members from band-of-the-moment Arcade Fire, takes the listener on a wordless journey.

The whole album is a testament to how creative you can be without words. The music tells the story, and the story is different on each listen. With every spin in the CD player

new sounds are noticed, or arrangements picked up on.

This isn’t your typical orchestra sound, but the instruments are still played with grace, and subtlety. Every sound is there for a reason, and no sound overshadows another. You hear everything and can appreciate each note as it is played.

Some pieces are more fanciful than others, while some are full of heavy sadness. But in the end, all songs flow together, creating layer after layer of magical whimsy.

Bell Orchestra play the Music Gallery (197 John St.) on November 11

Wolf Parade

Apologies to the Queen Marywas sitting in the S&H.ca mailbox without a press release or a URL to the band’s personal website. Nothing! So, with that, we opted to go in blind and let the tunes either sink or swim…

The CD slipped gingerly into the player and bang! the first track ‘You Are A Runner And I Am My Father’s Son’ starts to rip through your speakers. If the first track was any indication Wolf Parade was set to kick your ears’ ass.

Without venturing too deeply into the album, the key to this release is the layered vocals and oft-bizarre sounds and musical compositions. The four members of Wolf Parade do a great job of creating a mix of melodic moments with straightforward musical numbers like a trancelike kick in the face. The illustrations on the CD jacket and insert really suit the band (and the album): colourful, a bit raw, and definitely abstract.

No lyrics printed, which is not common these days – another change of pace. Track 6 (‘Same Ghost Every Night’) is a perfect example, you can hear words but it’s the way they are sung that really haunts you, like a ghost. Track 7 (‘Shine A Light’) with its great Beatles intro slips into the band’s T-Rex upfrontness. Track 9 (‘Ill Believe in Anything’) is another favourite, with its jingle-jangle sound and odd vocal style.

After weeks of trying to figure out Wolf Parade, turns out they’re the talk of the musical town. Good for them, this release is truly a must buy!

Roué

The dictionary defines roué as “a man devoted to a life of sensual pleasure; a debauchee; a rake.”

There’s no sensuality to be found on the debut full-length from Cleveland’s Roué. However, it is clear that the band is devoted to a life of sonic debauchery. Upward Heroic Motive is a loud, noisy and frequently ugly slab of art punk.

Destruction seems to be the album’s unofficial theme. The incendiary blasts of distorted guitars and howled vocals on songs like the aptly titled ‘Danger! On Fire’ create an aural firestorm that leaves little standing in its path. ‘Rockin’ This Disaster’ is a short and to the point explosion of boisterous hardcore.

Frontman Justin Coulter’s voice swings unevenly between a sneering nasal monotone and a hair-raising shriek.

A few melodic moments do manage to bleed through a blaring wall of noise that defines many of the album’s tracks. ‘To the Click’ answers the question of what it would have sounded like if Richard Hell had recorded a song with My Bloody Valentine while the sharp punk of ‘Bender Season’ sounds like an outtake from Television’s genre defining classic Marquee Moon.

Upward Heroic Motivewill shake you, stir you and frequently leave you breathless. Although the unremitting intensity does start to wear thin over the course of the album’s 10 tracks, the sheer power of this effort obliterates any trivial complaints.

Lou Reed

Even if you consider yourself to be a hardcore Lou Reed fan, chances are you’d find it pretty tough to find anything cool or worthwhile about this DVD of Reed and his band performing live in Spain in August 2004.

Poor ol’ Lou; the years have not been kind. For starters, he looks awful, corpse-like. Moreover, for an artist of Reed’s magnitude, to be caught on film looking completely bewildered more than once as he kept forgetting the words to his own songs, it’s downright sad.

Classic, timeless rock songs from his Velvet Underground heydays such as ‘Sweet Jane’ and ‘Perfect Day’ sounded flat, with vocals that are badly off-key and with Reed’s glaring inability on guitar to keep up with the rest of his band.

Of his more popular solo efforts from years gone by, the beautiful and powerful ‘Romeo Had Juliet’ from his 1989 album New York was reduced to forgettable fodder. The band kicked into this song full-on (six songs into the set) and it started out incredibly well, with the Spanish audience pumping their fists in enthusiastic unison, only for it all to drain away as Reed struggled to remember the guitar chords, and then the lyrics. As a result, the band dredged through more than 10 minutes of this three chord boondoggle that ensured anyone watching would get a nice, thick eye-glaze goin’ before it was all over.

Likewise, the rendition of ‘Walk On The Wild Side’ was absolutely terrible, though it was on par with the near non-existent light show for this performance.

Some rockers just fade away. In Reed’s case, he should just go away and count his royalty cheques from finer days long gone. Avoid purchasing this DVD at all costs.

Peter Walker

Paul Walker invites us to join his perspective, the sights he’s seen and the emotions he has felt. Landed is a brief and to the point rock album with a sentimental edge.

Many of Walker’s songs talk about sitting alone, wondering and just being in the moment, which is what many of us do, just not in rock songs. Walker can be compared to Pete Yorn or Brendan Benson, although there is something sterner about Walker’s vocals. There are periods in the songs where you think Walker is really going to open up and croon, but he doesn’t, he just keeps it in and does a Billy Corgan screech.

In ‘I Came Around’, Walker shares with us an intimacy that all the other songs lack. The strongest song on the album is the last one, ‘Easy Road’ – Walker sings, “Don’t take the easy road, if you want something to last.”

Producer Joe Chiccarelli, who has worked with Frank Zappa and U2, collaborated with Walker’s ideas and concepts. His all-star band, guitarist/keyboardist Jay Bennet (Wilco), drummer Jay Waronker (R.E.M.) and bassist Justin Meldal Johnsen (Beck), helped make his “rock star” dream come true.

“I dreamed I went to Pluto / it was a long plan ride / we were kind of disappointed when nothing seemed right.”

We know what you mean Peter Walker. Oh, we know what you mean.

Blockhead

Following up his last release, Music By Cavelight, Blockhead (aka Tony Simon) has served up a piece of energetic simplicity with Downtown Science. Its muse, Downtown Manhattan, a place Blockhead says is his environment, both romantic and violent.

Dropping instrumental hip-hop on the masses, Blockhead leverages his hometown of Manhattan – born, raised and lives – to reflect on everything from his ‘hood to failed relationships.

His choice of samples on Track 2 (‘Roll Out The Red Carpet’) captures the Broadway glitz of old; best part about this track is the music follows an odd intro where voices seem to morph into the munchkins from The Wizard of Oz. It seems not to fit, but Blockhead’s skills are apparent when you continue to groove along with the track… and the rest of the album.

Blockhead manages to capture NYC before the Rudy Guilianni cleanup, showing all its beautiful scars for us to listen to. Pick any track you want and you’ll get something unique: ‘Serenade’ starts off comical but turns into a soulful piano piece; imagine yourself driving through a city, all calm and cool while listening to ‘Cherry Picker’; or strap on your disco platforms and get ready to dance-groovy with ‘The Art of Walking’.

And to make it an even more enticing purchase, the release includes a bonus DVD that has the winners of the filmmaking competition Ninja Tune ran for Music By Cavelight. The videos on this bonus DVD are as eclectic as Blockhead’s music.

Ministry

Jumping back into the fray is Al Jourgenson, brain trust of Ministry, rehashing and re-touching his industrial-goth rock hits of the 1990s and sounding startlingly fresh in the process.

Despising U.S. President George W. Bush is all the rage these days, but one suspects Jourgenson’s disdain for his country’s top puppet runs much deeper than for show. Thus he’s gone to lengths to rework his past material with new influences of the current problems of the world as he sees them. Fancy that.

This 15-song CD is a must-have for Ministry fans and no doubt an eye-opener for the young’uns who thought Trent Reznor was the first angry goth kid to emerge from the States.

Of the tracks, certain songs rise above the others though it’s tough to find any faults at all on this greatest hits package. For instance, ‘Jesus Built My Hot Rod’ (from Psalm 69) has never exploded better. Likewise, ‘Stigmata’ (from The Land of Rape & Honey) is enough to make the most docile dope smoker get up and put his fist through the wall. Could be what’s needed in this apathetic society right now.

Believe it or not, it’s been 25 years since Jourgenson founded Ministry. The light-hearted electro-pop Ministry of the 1980s (who could forget the song ‘Everyday Is Halloween’?) is absent from Rantology, and perhaps it’s for the best. Ever eruptive, abrasive, dark, and pissed off, Ministry is just what democracy disordered.

Tenth Planet

Someone should tell Tenth Planet that grunge has been dead for over 10 years.

The latest EP from this Toronto quartet probably would have sounded great if it had been released in 1992 when this musical style was actually relevant. Here, it sounds hopelessly and laughably dated.

To his credit, singer Martin Ouellette does reasonably impersonate Alice in Chains’ Layne Staley on the disc’s six tracks. The lead off song ‘Shadow’ opens with a murky sounding bass line that sounds like it was lifted from AIC’s ‘Would’. The EP even features a couple cheesy power ballads, something that’s almost de rigueur for modern rock acts. ‘We Are The Cause of Everything’ and ‘Do You Remain?’ will doubtlessly be lapped up by fans of Nickelback and Theory of a Deadman.

The worst offender is the final track, ‘Overboard’; a song that blends all the elements needed to score a mainstream hit into a bland whole. Strings? Check. Angsty vocals? Check. Quiet loud/loud structure? Check. Something that had this writer reaching for the skip button? Check.

A collection of generic bread rock tunes that couldn’t leave my CD player quickly enough? Check and double check!

The Lovekill

The debut EP from Cleveland’s The Lovekill captures the essence of their intense and loud live show and distils it into a short, ferocious blast of raw punk rock.

A squalling blast of feedback leads into a barrage of distorted guitars, pummelling beats and snarled vocals on the lead off track, ‘Broken Records’. The blistering ‘Staccato’ is aptly named. They take things down a notch for the menacing ‘Perfect Second Try’, one of the disc’s standouts. The Constantines-style quiet verse/loud chorus/explosive ending sets it apart from the breakneck pace of the EP’s other songs.

Singer Chris Rager’s voice is perfectly suited to his surname. His vocals exude anger and cynicism in equal measure, particularly on the EP’s stunning closer, ‘Obsolete’.

The five tracks found here definitely bode well for The Lovekill’s forthcoming full-length album, These Moments are Momentum.

The Switcheroo Series

The Alexisonfire/Moneen split EP is a 6-song cover album where both bands cover popular songs by the other as well as including a new song from each.

The irony is that the two standouts are Alexis covering ‘Passing Out In America’, and Moneen’s version of ‘Accidents Are On Purpose’, by in large two of the biggest singles for each.

It’s hard to admit at first, but it’s almost more palatable to hear Moneen covering Alexis and vice versa. Moneen’s lyrics seem to carry more weight when George Pettit screams them out, and Alexis more melodic with Moneen focusing on harmony.

The best part is that it forces each band to slow down, and like true fans, convey a personal interpretation of each other’s music. If you’re already a fan, the EP is a must-have for your collection.

Peter Katz

This is the kind of six-song release that should have had a few more tracks added to it – you feel ripped off when you don’t see a Track 7 come up on your audio player. Damn ripped off!

Circus-like, dusty and honest encompass the feel of this release. Katz takes a chance with his unique blend of folk on Track 1 (‘IX (Sink or Swim)’), straight-up jazz on Track 2 (‘Apples’) or even the ballad of the album track 4 (‘Posters’). Some would say Katz has taken on too much, melding too many styles together, which is not the case. He’s a great musician who knows the sound(s) he’s listening for, maintaining a uniqueness throughout the release.

Katz is also not your typical artiste; he has scored music for theatre and dance as well as doing a little acting, which garnered some great reviews by critics. His eclectic resume speaks for itself, so it’s no surprise to find him inspired by so many musical genres and other artistic modes of expression.

Whether solo or with his 5-piece band, Peter Katz is a gifted musician. Let’s hope his next release is a full 10 or more songs.

Precious Fathers

Imagine what would have happened if Broken Social Scene had decided to remain an instrumental band for their second album and you have an inkling of what the debut release from Vancouver’s Precious Fathers sounds like.

The similarities to BSS don’t end there. The Fathers are also a super group whose members play in Destroyer, Loscil, Sparrow and The Battles. They also bear a striking resemblance to Do Make Say Think, another Social Scene appendage, particularly on ‘Gallant Foot’.

Comparisons aside, the disc’s nine tracks definitely stand on their own. The album unfolds at a leisurely pace, creating rich soundscapes that evoke images of desolate prairies (‘Prairie Wind’) and snowy peaks (‘Snowshoes’).

The tense undercurrent that informs ‘Red Norvo’ is somewhat at odds with the mellow vibe the rest of the album exudes. At the same time, it doesn’t sound completely out of place. The dramatic and abrupt climax provides a much-needed jolt after being lulled into a relaxed state by the other tracks.While it can be repetitive and does tend to drag in spots, they have created something unique by playing instrumental indie rock tunes that straddle the line between arty pretentiousness and crowd-pleasing accessibility.

Ric Ocasek

As the lead singer for The Cars, Ric Ocasek was for many years fronting a band that was at the leading edge of American new wave rock from the late 70s and onwards. When The Cars fizzled, he kicked out a couple of forgettable pop records that weren’t bad before reinventing himself as music producer extraordinaire by bringing to the world Weezer.

Fast forward to present day, Ocasek has just released his sixth solo album, aptly titled Nexterday, and in doing so, has launched himself back into the innocuous sounds of days gone by.

Sure, songs like ‘Bottom Dollar’ has its charm complete with an infectious, sing-a-long melody and clever guitar hooks, as does ‘Come On’, but stretched out over an 11-song CD it starts to lose its lustre.

City And Colour

The most anticipated Canadian indie album of the year has finally arrived: Dallas Green’s solo project, City And Colour, has just put out its first release on Dine Alone Records.

And looky here, it’s an actual album. A real album, not some collection of singles strung together with some b-side grizzle left behind when the budget ran out, but an album you can put on, press play and listen to all the way through.

The thing about Green is when he opens his mouth, angel’s fly out. These brutally honest, broken but brave angels that force you to sing along, appreciate and relate until you cry.

Chicks definitely dig it, but boys will come along, unashamed, for the ride.

Standouts: The first single, ‘Save Your Scissors’ is at worst infectious, ‘Casey’s Song’ haunts like it’s sung from the grave and even the repetitive ‘Comin’ Home’ still manages to sound strong in its simplicity.

There are only two reasons not to buy Sometimes: 1. You’re dead. 2. You already downloaded it months ago.

Robert Cherry

Fans of Robert Cherry’s previous band Ether Net may be surprised and even disappointed when they hear the debut solo effort from the Cleveland musician.

Cherry has largely abandoned the atmospheric rock sound of his former band in favour of a psychedelia-tinged classic pop-rock sound that wouldn’t sound entirely out of place on the play list of a classic rock station. Fans of Toronto’s Peter Elkas will definitely dig this CD. While the boisterous, arena-friendly rock of the lead off track, ‘Perfect Soul, might lead the listener to think otherwise, the nine tracks that follow are decidedly more subdued than the disc’s opening moments.

Given the nature of The New Forever’s lyrical content, it might be tempting to write Cherry off as yet another introspective singer-songwriter. However, songs like ‘Time to Stop’ and the achingly beautiful closing track ‘Green and Silver’ reveal a level of maturity that distinguishes him from the other guitar-wielding sensitive types.

Cherry’s warm vocals compliment his lyrics perfectly. They mix equal parts pathos and cynicism, bringing a sense of confessional intimacy to the disc’s 10 tracks.

The New Foreveris one of those damn near flawless pop records that actually stands up to repeated listens. While Cherry’s music isn’t going to change the world, it will doubtlessly win the heart of anyone who tracks down this gem.

Tricky Woo

Tricky Woo are back after a four-year absence with one of their finest albums to date.

Don’t pick up this album expecting any profound statements. The Woo have abandoned the mellow sound of their last release, 2001’s Les Sable Magiques, and returned to the straight ahead rock and roll sound we have come to know and love them for.

The band continue to wear their 70s rock influences like a badge. ‘We Are the Vampires’ is a ringer for Destroyer-era KISS and the title track has AC/DC written all over it. But rather then trying to play spot-the-influence you should just sit back and enjoy the album for what it is: a fun batch of rock songs that doesn’t pretend it’s anything else.

We predict that you’re going to hear First Blush issuing from many car stereos next summer.

Conjure One

From the ashes of Front Line Assembly and Delerium comes the latest effort from Rhys Fulber – dubbed Conjure One – finding the songwriter/instrumentalist cutting a fresh path for himself a la Alan Wilder. That is rather than fall backwards and dredge up an album that sounds like his former musical egos, Fulber has chosen to take it in a fresh, and dare we say it, more optimistic direction.

Featuring the vocal talents of several female artists including Chemda, Joanna Stevens, and Tiff Lacey, Extraordinary Ways is a gorgeous, lush electronic disc that’s akin to Enya meets Dead Can Dance in some respects.

The atmospherics surrounding songs like ‘Endless Dream’ and ‘Dying Light’ are enough to make one quiver. Compelling and original in a time of predictability, Conjure One’s debut is a gorgeous, lush, and captivating effort that inspires with each listen.

David Myles

It’s a rainy day and you feel like going nowhere. You called in sick to work. Your lover just left on a plane for a business trip. Singer-songwriter David Myles’ full-length debut album Together and Alone is the perfect soundtrack at a time like this. Myles is a New Brunswick native who has studied in China and Toronto, among other places. He’s a man with a familiar voice, as if you had a conversation with him long ago.

His music is sweet and tenderly, always comforting you in the moment. The album begins with a soft melody (‘On Your Own’), where he sings: “You can't decide / If it’s better or if its worse / If being alone is a blessing or a curse.” Myles’ philosophy is “less is more” and in the album, it’s true because every song is stripped down to its bone. Together and Alone is mature and bare, yet filled with joy and memorable lyrics.

The album also features Mike Doherty on piano, Tom Easley (Hot Toddy) on bass, and vocalist Tania Breen. On Track 4 (‘Sunshine’), Myles and Breen sing a beautiful duet together, “Moon shines down upon your pale face / Like a flower belonging to no time nor place / A painter may paint it, a writer may write / But they're still imitations of your beauty tonight.”

Together and Aloneis both beautiful and sad. Personally, I wouldn’t want to listen to this CD alone, unless I had two boxes of Kleenex beside me.

The Winks & Tights

When two bands work together well, why not release a dual CD? Drip Audio did just that, bringing together The Winks and TIGHTS – two very interesting musical experiences.

The Winks are breathy, spoken word Bach on a few hits of acid. You can easily trip out to their use of cello, woodwinds, and mandolin. Powerful percussive moments mix with airiness in equal parts. Tyr Jami’s voice is so squeaky wonderful. She sounds like a mouse creeping through each song. Their contribution to the release (first seven tracks) can be haunting if you don’t watch yourself – the music makes for some pretty scary stuff in the middle of the night when you wake up to go to the bathroom and forgot to hit the Sleep button on your CD player.

The first track on TIGHTS’ contribution (‘Deadly Enemies/Feathered Friends’) starts off with honking of horns – wake up, it’s time to get freaked out. The music feels metallic, almost spacey, and definitely a little auditory abrasive. But really good! Great use of noise, samples, digital processing, and ambient resonance. The music must be what a baby robot might talk like: sharp sonic expressions while it learns.

TIGHTS’ ‘B Major’ almost makes you want to chuck, it’s kind of dizzying; ‘House The Sun’ by The Wink’s is just similar, like an Arabic recording played backwards. These two groups together really mix the weird with the infectious. You want to hear what the next song sounds like because you sometimes can’t believe you liked the last one so much.