CD Reviews: Buck 65, Neverending White Lights, Ween And More!
Tuesday October 30, 2007 @ 08:30 PM
By: ChartAttack.com Staff

BAT FOR LASHES Fur and Gold (EMI)
Natasha Khan is a bit of a weirdo and her Bat For Lashes project puts a distinctly provincial slant on the female singer-songwriter milieu. She enjoys dressing up in strange costumes and using plenty of face paint. Yet, when it comes to her music, she tows the line as a less difficult Cat Power or a less coked-up Stevie Nicks. Sinead O'Connor is another good comparison, seeing as Bat For Lashes take bits and pieces from various world music styles and filter these elements through a contemporary lens. Amazingly, this approach is surprisingly straightforward and, even when presenting her songs with a mere voice and piano, she manages to captivate the listener in a subtle and unnerving fashion. More often than not, this formula works. "Sad Eyes" and "Seal Jubilee" are as spooky as they are affecting. Cameron Gordon

BUCK 65 Situation (Warner)
I like Buck 65. But don't get me started on the mechanics of that decision. I always found his vocal delivery at odds with itself — it's at once kind of jokey, but also completely engaging. Now that I finally enjoy it wholeheartedly (it's an acquired taste, to be certain), I can say without much doubt that Situation is one of the most ambitious and well-executed hip-hop records in Canadian history. Its sample-heavy beats give "1957" and "Shutter Buggin'" a classic feel, while the lyricism on "Spread 'Em" is both poignant and funny. In fact, despite its sometimes comedic bent, this might be the most poetic hip-hop record you'll turn on this year. The other surprise is how easily the album slides by. Even at 15 tracks, it breezes past with effortless cool, both catching your ear and never overstaying its welcome. If Situation doesn't take Buck to the next level, nothing will. Noah Love

C'MON Bottled Lightning (Of An All Time High) (Maple/Universal)
With a legacy bested only by the length of his beard, Ian Blurton has emerged as something of a godfather in the Toronto indie rock community. When he's not mixing and producing and all that crap, he still manages to pillage and plunder with the best of 'em with his power trio, the mighty C'mon. Bottled Lightning (Of An All Time High) proves that, even after 25 years of toeing the line on Queen Street West, Blurton still has an ample amount of piss in his vinegar and the result is something equally as salty. An audio extremist in the true sense of the word, Blurton keeps things cranked at all times. Even when Final Fantasy's Owen Pallett checks in to lend some strings, his efforts are immediately dwarfed by C'mon's dense, riff-happy artillery. Cameron Gordon

THE DIABLEROS Aren't Ready For The Country (Baudelaire/Outside)
Pete Carmichael and company are back with another man-sized portion of indie tomfoolery. Aren't Ready For The Country follows in line from the band's You Can't Break The Strings In Our Olympic Hearts debut with the primary difference being belligerence levels set forth upon the listener. The swollen organ parts that dominated Olympic Hearts are kept at bay and, in lieu, The Diableros focus more on arrangements, time shifts and dynamics. It's a touch less engaging, but perhaps a better approach overall. Carmichael's vocals alone are far more distinct and, with echoes of the Brian Jonestown Massacre and the Dream Syndicate ringing out in the background, the band performs sub-psychedelic opuses such as "Turning Backwards" with both confidence and mystique, which is a tough two-spot to pull off. Cameron Gordon

GOB Muerto Vivos (Aquarius/Universal)
I might be one of the only people who actually enjoyed Gob's last album, Foot In Mouth Disease. Compared with most of the other crap that was coming out of the pop-punk woodwork, that record was fast, catchy and not trying too hard to be something it wasn't. The same can be said of Muerto Vivos, Gob's first album in four years. The Vancouver quartet haven't changed much, but they've added a harder edge to their power-pop. Vocalist Tom Thacker screams his lungs out on a number of tracks, and the riffs are more System Of A Down than Sum 41. It's a shame these guys never saw as much success as some of the other faceless acts that blew up a few years back, because their hooks are far catchier than any of Simple Plan's and some songs are, by pop-punk standards, kind of bad-ass. They might not be the punk band they were a decade ago, but Gob still know how to write a great song or 10. Shehzaad Jiwani

HOLY FUCK LP (Dependent/Young Turks/Beggars)
Take five of the six tracks from Holy Fuck's self-titled EP, add on four heavy-hitting new ones, and you have a cohesive, grimy, fast-paced record that'll blow your mind. LP starts out in the smartest way possible, with a live track. The screaming electro-antics of "Super Inuit" demand attention and remind listeners what this ferocious band are all about — their uninhibited, mostly improvised stage shows. That feeling translates well on LP, which bounds from one beat-heavy rollercoaster to another. The industrial-disco of "Frenchy's" skips and bleeps comfortably into the optimistic, orchestrated "Lovely Allen," which evokes memories of hair metal, '90s indie and Chemical Brothers. In the end, Holy Fuck's music is party music and LP is an unapologetic party album. There are no lyrics to analyze, just the band's power to create heavy, rock-based, spontaneous dance music with feeling, lots of noise and punk attitude. Phil Villeneuve

NEVERENDING WHITE LIGHTS Act II: The Blood And The Life Eternal (Ocean/Maple/Universal)
Windsor, Ont. native Daniel Victor often refers to Neverending White Lights as a "project," and not as a band. It's an apt description for a man who writes, records and produces all of his own material, but searches out a different guest vocalist for nearly every single track. For Act II, he's tapped the likes of Aqualung, Sune Rose Wagner (The Raveonettes) and Lexi Valentine (Magneta Lane), to name but a few. Lead single "Always" stands out with its shoegaze guitars, Victor's own soaring vocals and a pounding beat driven by an unrelenting kick drum. It's indicative of the marked progression of NWL. Victor's dramatic and often sullen post-rock arrangements have been tightened up, making for a record that steadily flows from start to finish. Project or band, Victor had better be prepared for the same sort of ubiquity his collaboration with Dallas Green yielded last time out. Matt Littlefair

TOKYO POLICE CLUB Smith EP (Paper Bag/Universal)
Wait! Holy crap, is it? It is! It's Tokyo Police Club! What? Still no full-length? Well, it may only be seven or so minutes long, but the Newmarket, Ont. quartet have offered up another brilliant sample-sized offering of their frenzied post punk indie rock. Smith is comprised of tracks previously only available as bonus material on domestic and foreign vinyl issues of their debut mini-album. While "Box" and "Cut Cut Paste" are typical (read amazing) TPC fare, it's the austere piano ballad "Lesson In Crime" that proves the most daring of the three. It's the antithesis of what we've come to expect from a group renowned for two-minute cuts that erupt like a lunar-bound rocket. I would give Smith a solid 5/5, but I have to deduct one point for making everyone wait for the LP. Your move, Tokyo Police Club. Matt Littlefair

TWO-MINUTE MIRACLES Volume IV: The Lions Of Love (Weewerk/Outside)
Considering Andrew Magoffin's musical connections, it's somewhat surprising how low a profile he keeps when it comes to his own band, Two-Minute Miracles. Over the years, he's produced records for the likes of the Constantines and Great Lake Swimmers. As his latest disc, Volume IV: The Lions Of Love further proves, the London, Ont.-based musician has no shortage of his own songwriting chops. As on previous efforts, Magoffin works the pop-infused acoustic folk rock formula to great effect here, laying it out loose on irresistible opener "The Minus Ball" and buzzing along in fine power-pop form on "The Bee Hell" and "In A Good Light." Elsewhere, Magoffin opts for a more impressionistic musical approach, only slightly succeeding with subtle guitar arpeggios and sonic flourishes on "No Fairway," but bringing it home with skillfully layered piano and horns on sleeper standout "Since We Were Married." If Magoffin's not careful, he could find himself in the spotlight sometime soon. Matt Reeder

WEEN La Cucaracha (Universal)
Those seriously silly Ween boys have returned with their uneasy marriage of juvenile humour backed by unassailable musicianship and songwriting talent. Whether Gene and Dean are aware of the tightrope they walk between Bart Simpson and William S. Burroughs is irrelevant unless they stumble too far to one side, as they have on La Cucaracha. The best Ween songs are the ones where you can't tell whether or not the duo are taking the piss. "The Fruit Man" is a good example. It's a space dub tune about multiculturalism sung with a fake Caribbean accent. Sly social commentary or stupid racist humour? Unfortunately there are too many songs on this album that are up-front gags. "Shamemaker," the fish-in-barrel shot at teenage angst and "Friends," the fake ecstasy rave, both invite the one label I've always avoided attaching to Ween: novelty band. There are probably thousands of fans who would tell me I think too much about their favourite drug music. But that's, you know, dumb. Evan Dickson

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