Reviews: Brendan Canning, CSS, Dr. Dog and more
Tuesday July 22, 2008 @ 12:00 PM
By: ChartAttack.com Staff

BODIES OF WATER A Certain Feeling (Secretly Canadian/Sonic Unyon)
The thing about the success of any new band is that they tend to spawn a legion of imitators. Take, for example, the number of bands who sounded like Interpol after Interpol broke. A number of bands have garnered Arcade Fire comparisons since Funeral came out in 2004, but, strangely, none of them have actually sounded anything like Montreal's wunderkinds. Bodies Of Water probably come closest, and that's only in terms of instrumentation. (Mind you, the group chant on A Certain Feeling's "If I Were A Bell" is undeniably similar to "Wake Up.") The biggest difference is that Bodies Of Water are what Arcade Fire might sound like if Regine fronted the band 80 per cent of the time instead of Win. Organist Meredith Metcalf leads the proceedings here, but her bandmates are on the mic almost all the time as well. With shades of Danielson, Radiohead and The New Pornographers in the mix, A Certain Feeling is an assured sophomore effort that hits more than it misses, but don't count on international fame and fortune just yet. Noah Love

BROKEN SOCIAL SCENE PRESENTS: BRENDAN CANNING Something For All Of Us…(Arts&Crafts/EMI)
The stakes were undeniably high going into this venture seeing how Canning's bandmate Kevin Drew had already crafted a wildly popular solo effort under the BSS Presents label. What will ultimately set Something For All Of Us... apart from Drew's Spirit If... is it's apparent that Canning had a clearer vision about how he wanted this disc to sound. It isn't just one song piled on top of another. There's significant variety and a sense that some sort of journey has been completed when the album ends. It's not short on Social Scene influences — the first and title track starts with a yowling guitar that eventually collapses into a jam session and chaotic drum assault — but Canning also visits the lo-fi and a few surprisingly danceable beats. This definitely isn't a party album. It's for head space and taking a trip in a dark room with your headphones on. Whether he was looking to or not, Canning has definitely one-upped his bandmate. Scott Bryson

CSS Donkey (Sub Pop/Outside)
Listening to Donkey is kind of like watching a child star grow up. So much of the charm of CSS' debut album came from the sloppy playing, idiosyncratic ESL lyrics and the naive, almost childish joy and energy the band brought to the table. With a few more years, more experience, improved English and hundreds of shows under their belts, the band are no longer those sweet, wacky little moppets the indie world fell in love with. The good news is that CSS are more like the kind of child star who grows into someone with a respectable adult career than to the musical equivalent of one of the Coreys. "Jager Yoga" and "Let's Reggae All Night" prove they can still do playful and quirky, while "Rat Is Dead (Rage)" shows off their slightly more serious side. Some of the songs are a little too reminiscent of The Sounds' brand of retro pop, but Donkey is still a decent sophomore effort. That original, youthful spark is probably gone forever, but there's still hope for the future of CSS. Sarah Kurchak

THE DIRTY HEARTS Pigs (Socyermom)
With an excellent image of a swine on the front cover and shots of prime cuts of meat on the back, I had high hopes for Pigs, the sophomore album from Austin, Texas hard rockers The Dirty Hearts. Unfortunately, it's a decent but ultimately forgettable plate full of gritty rock 'n' roll silliness. Enrolling in the Stooges/Mudhoney/Wolfmother school of rock, The Dirty Hearts keep things pumping at a pretty decent clip through Pigs but there's typically very little to distinguish one track from the next. "Alone" rollicks and "Cold Feet" churns. The title track even crackles like roasting pig. It's all very nice but doesn't provide much in originality, lyricism or anything else, really. There's not much repeat listenability and it's "sow" disappointing in its entirety. Cameron Gordon

DR. DOG Fate (Park The Van)
It would be a wholly fruitless endeavour to try and place Dr. Dog among contemporary bands. While they possess a bit of Beirut's flair, and vocal intricacies that sometimes linger close to Hawksley Workman territory, the 11 creations that constitute their fifth full-length lie decidedly in the past. Dr. Dog resoundingly succeed in their ability to resurrect the best parts of music from the '60s and '70s without sounding dated. Stylistically, they're a little jumpy. Fate moves from The Band-inspired rock through gritty jailhouse blues, settles for a while in The Partridge Family pop and eventually comes to a rest as back-porch country. Taken as a whole, this album could certainly come across as directionless. But on a track-by-track basis, there are some valuable gems waiting to be uncovered. Mid-record songs "From" and "100 Years" will likely end up on folk lovers' year-end, best-of lists. Scott Bryson

FALCON Falcon (No Office)
Whether it's true or not, Falcon have one hell of a back story. The five tracks on this debut EP are supposedly taken from a collection of 336 songs that a now deceased 14-year-old boy named Jared Falcon wrote more than 20 years ago. Band members Neil Rosen and Shannon Ferguson went to junior high with Falcon and recently unearthed and reproduced some of the songwriting prodigy's Fisher Price tape recordings. Like the first time you heard Mercury Rev or The Flaming Lips, there'll be a minor adjustment period before you become accustomed to Rosen's falsetto, but the investment is definitely worthwhile. Falcon's sound is, in fact, rather akin to Mercury Rev's with a bit of The Diableros added to roughen the edges. EPs are an attractive medium to work in, since the condensed space provides a much higher likelihood that perfection can be achieved. Falcon comes radically close to that mark. Scott Bryson

I AM ALASKA A Day In A Life (No Sleep/Attic)
When Cedric Bixler-Zavala and Omar Rodriguez-Lopez left At The Drive-In to form The Mars Volta in 2001, they ended the career of arguably the best post-hardcore band of all time. Since then, there have been numerous bands that have tried to emulate At The Drive-In a little too much. I Am Alaska fit in this category. While there are songs on their A Day In A Life that are quite unique, there are parts that will make you go, "Are you serious?" Don't get me wrong, though, it's not like I Am Alaska directly rip-offs of At The Drive-In or other prominent post-hardcore acts. There are just little subtleties that will sound familiar to anyone with that specific sort of record collection. I Am Alaska have promise, and with a little more focus on their own sound — which there still is plenty of on this EP — they could be something great. Logan Broger

THE MIDWAY STATE Holes (Remedy/ Universal)
Teenaged girls: If you've worn out your Wave and Third Eye Blind CDs and you're in the market for a replacement, look no further. Holes begins with just the sort of cringe-worthy piano line you're used to and travels into even more recoiling lyrics: "Hey, you surround me like a blanket in my bed." That's about as cerebral as things get on this disc. At times, The Midway State are reminiscent of post-sell-out Snow Patrol, but their image quickly recedes from even that point. The title track is straight out of Flight Of The Conchords, but sadly, it's not meant to be comedic. When singer Nathan Ferraro hits his falsetto stride, it fundamentally paints this four-piece as a boy band with guitars. It's not all bad; they're at least consistent in their sappiness. This is probably near the top of the heap. But you can do so much better, girls. Scott Bryson

MISERY SIGNALS Controller (Ferret/Red Ink)
It's hard to figure out where to start with Misery Signals' Controller. They received acclaim for both 2004's Of Malice And The Magnum Heart and 2006's Mirrors. Split between these releases however, was the love of fans and critics, with fans choosing the former and critics leaning towards the latter. Misery Signals have combined elements of the two previous releases on Controller to create an album that should unite both. Controller's 10 melodic metalcore tracks will astonish you if you're even a remote fan of the genre. While the album takes a couple of songs to get going, the overall product is top quality. Canadian Devin Townsend's production is flawless and a perfect complement to the music. Controller is simply one of the most controlling metal releases of the year. Logan Broger

PRIMAL SCREAM Beautiful Future (Atlantic/Warner)
Primal Scream are one of the more fluid rock bands in recent times, having shifted from jangle rock to rave to Stones' style butt rock to trip-hop to quasi-industrial, and back. Beautiful Future falls somewhere amid all these genres but still bears a lot of trademark Primal Scream ornamentation. The title track might be the best representation of the album's MO, a vaguely anthemic call-to-arms that sounds like The Jesus And Mary Chain covering U2. Vocalist Bobby Gillespie yearns and urges with his trademark detached croon, but this time there's some meaning embedded beneath the blasé. The remainder of the disc features an assortment of testy, textured modern rock that retains the urgency of Primal Scream's last few albums and the danceability of Screamadelica. Cameron Gordon