New Music

ZAC BROWN BAND / UNCAGED

(SOUTHERN GROUND/WARNER)

ZAC Brown has never been one to play by the Nashville rules and Uncaged proudly proves his modus operandi hasn't been tampered with on his third major label offering.

The last album featured Alan Jackson on a track, but this time Zac casts his broad net further, pulling in Trombone Shorty and Amos Lee for guest spots on a couple of soulful numbers. Lee's vocal complements Brown's on Day That I Die, while Shorty's horn enhances the Marvin Gaye-inspired sexy and funky Overnight. The unlikely first single The Wind is a tasteful hoedown with a Charlie Daniels Band fervour that you can polka to (and a video directed by Mike Judge). Uncaged is old school '70s country rock celebrating dreaming without boundaries. The only weak moments are when Brown continues to visit the islands with Jump Right In and Island Song.

Fiddles and Dobros, Hammond organs and pedal steels and even Latin percussion join in with the usual musical suspects. As on previous ZBB discs, the musicianship is flawless, the vocals (including the harmonies) exquisite and Keith Stegall's production is something Goldilocks would be ecstatic about.

The Zac Brown Band has done it yet again.

****

-- Bruce Leperre

POP AND ROCK

SERJ TANKIAN

Harakiri (Warner)

SYSTEM of a Down frontman Serj Tankian has never been one to shy away from speaking his mind, and on his third solo effort he examines and questions everything from the environment to reality TV to animal suicide. "Why can't we ditch autocracy for eco-centric persuasions?" he wonders on opening number, Butterfly.

If the lyrical subject matter doesn't interest you, there's the music, an unpredictable Zappaesque ride of ever-changing twisting tempos, metal riffs and electronic effects that work hand-in-hand with his unique voice that serves as another instrument bouncing from a lower-register tenor to a high-pitched falsetto. There are plenty of hard-charging up-tempo numbers, but Tankian slows things down a couple of times on subtler tracks like Deafening Silence and the beginning of Forget Me Not, which builds to an apocalyptic climax.

SOAD fans turned off by Tankian's recent experimental flirtation with classical music will appreciate the return to form.

*** 1/2

-- Rob Williams

DANGER CAT

Where I'll Be (Newform Label)

ON their debut full length album -- a relatively short listen at 10 songs in under half an hour -- Winnipeg pop punkers Danger Cat blast out their thoughts and feelings like it was 1990 all over again. Honestly, this is one lifeless genre that has been on running on acrid fumes for what seems like at least a couple of decades. Who knew that so-called punk (or angry, or hard-"fill in the blank") rock would have a shelf life as long as it has done?

The trio pounds and screams well, with vocalist Keith Dueck playing the Mr. Yelling Yellerson role to the absolute hilt. His voice is an acquired taste as they say, while the music (including Dueck on guitar) rocks pretty hard, even though they are kicking out some fairly paint by numbers jams alongside some relatable melodies.

** 1/2

-- Jeff Monk

JETS OVERHEAD

Boredom and Joy (Warner)

A strange thing happens at about the halfway point of this Victoria, B.C., shoegazer act's third album. After offering some engaging pop songs such as the glorious title track, which sounds every bit as hypnotic as something from Cease to Begin-era Band of Horses, and the haunting Beach Dream, the band seems to mysteriously morph into something you would hear on your grandparents soft-rock station. Such is the peril of dream pop: It's often only a sigh and murmur away from sinking into the banal flatlands of adult contemporary.

There's no denying this quintet's command of its sound. The swirling textures, chiming guitars and lush harmonies between husband-and-wife team Adam Kittredge and Antonia Freybe-Smith are all delivered with a sure hand. But once the band hits its nadir with droning, tuneless bores such as Your Desire, Time and Place and Directions, you can't help but wish they would spend their considerable talents sharpening a few more hooks.

***

-- Eric Volmers, Postmedia News

ELECTRONIC

GUY GERBER

Fabric 64 (Fabric)

STACKING up 16 of your own compositions that were done in a hectic two-month span following the breakup of a long-term relationship was a huge gamble for Israeli tech-house producer Guy Gerber. While Ricardo Villalobos, Omar-S and Shackleton have all done mixes for London nightclub Fabric, with their own tracks, Gerber's emotive, introspective and sometimes revealing collection is far and away the best of the bunch.

Rather than digitally stitch together other artists into a cohesive arch for his mix, Gerber finds solace in his own apprehensions, emotions, fears and desires. There is an understated softness and vulnerability to the tracks that offer a snapshot into the producer's life at that time.

Although the songs were created in a condensed time period, they don't feel rushed; rather they have a common thread of meticulously crafted melodies, whisper soft vocals, crisp drum patterns and drowsy bass lines that pulls the concept of the album together.

Easily one of the best releases of the year so far and a real standout among Fabric's long-running series.

****

-- Anthony Augustine

SHOUT OUT OUT OUT OUT

Spanish Moss and Total Loss (Normals Welcome)

ELECTRONIC music, for many casual music fans, can be heard as overly stiff, digital and lacking human warmth, but Edmonton quintet Shout Out Out Out Out digitizes playfully and with purpose. Perhaps this happens because many of the band members have their roots in punk music, and that usually means they don't want to toe some kind of industry-designated line.

British cold-rock pioneer Brian Eno once said his ambient electronic music was a perfect soundtrack for doing the vacuuming. In the case of Spanish Moss it holds true. There are even elevating tunes here, if you can argue that a subtle change in time clock drum beats can alter your mood. It works on so many levels, but mainly it is listenable and most importantly for any kind of music, it's not boring. Dark, trancey or danceable -- it's all here.

A must for fans of the genre.

****

-- Monk

COUNTRY AND ROOTS

KERI LATIMER

Crowsfeet and Greyskull (Independent)

KERI Latimer doesn't stray far from her comfort zone on her impressive solo debut, but expands her musical palette to include a roster of guest stars that help make this 10-track effort anything but grey.

Latimer, co-frontwoman of local Juno Award-winning roots outfit Nathan, recorded Crowsfeet and Greyskull (the nicknames she and her husband call each other) in her kitchen with a variety of artists stopping by for guest appearances, giving the album its own distinct vibe filled with folk-pop, roots and alt-country gems that will have you dancing one mind and swaying the next.

Mud and Slobber might be the most beautiful song released by a local artist this year as she and Neville Quinlan (NQ Arbuckle) harmonize on a sweet ballad based on the e.e. cummings poem, spring omnipotent goddess Thou. Liquidation Sale is a rootsy shuffle with a funky bass line and multi-tracked vocals. Here Comes Ted is a mellow bluegrass-inspired number with some plucky mandolin courtesy of Keith McLeod. The haunting trumpet intro of Bloomington leads into another gentle song filled with pizzicato violin work.

Fans of Latimer's songwriting and distinctive voice as part of Nathan will also find plenty to like in the grooves of these Crowsfeet.

****

-- RW

CLASSICAL

ALAN OPIE, THE BACH CHOIR, BOURNEMOUTH SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA, DAVID HILL

Delius: A Mass of Life (Naxos)

ENGLISH-BORN Frederick Delius is still barely noticed on this side of the Atlantic, even with 2012 being the 150th anniversary of his birth. Delius was a cosmopolitan, an unclassifiable original and genuinely great composer championed by legendary conductor Sir Thomas Beecham, who recorded Delius's music prolifically.

A Mass of Life was premiered by Beecham in 1909 and notwithstanding a share of inflated writing in its approximately two-hour duration, comes across as an extraordinary work that should convert many to Delius's world. The texts are drawn from the more poetic passages of Nietzsche's Also Sprach Zarathustra. The music contains many moments of vivid, sensuous and moving happenings, both as underpinnings and self-contained scenes. Delius was always at one with Nietzsche's dictum that without music life would be a mistake, and it's easy to concur here.

The performance is outstanding, with baritone Alan Opie most eloquent as the philosopher, a wonderful chorus and massive orchestra beautifully captured in the recording.

**** 1/2

-- James Manishen

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition July 14, 2012 G4