New music

CARLY RAE JEPSEN / KISS (SCHOOLBOY/INTERSCOPE

Rarely is a pop cycle so concentrated. Impossibly friendly sugar shot Call Me Maybe slowly wins over even the pop-phobic. It ascends uncontrollably to this year's Beat It or Losing My Religion status. Needing only to prove that unfailing bubbliness isn't a one-hit jinx, Kiss never strays from major-key four on the floor, with lyrics so remarkably banal they attract two unfortunate collaborators, Justin Bieber and Owl City. But the sheer constancy quickly becomes its own wonder; with only two songs that pass as ballads, the Owl City duet a surprise highlight, and several classics (Hurt So Good, More Than a Memory) you'd swear are ripped off, this is the fluff pinnacle Wilson Phillips didn't have the humility to make. HHH 1/2

Download this: Call Me Maybe

-- Dan Weiss, Philadelphia Inquirer

DJ SHADOW

Total Breakdown: Hidden Transmissions From The MPC Era, 1992-1996

Self-released

Few artists have had the type of genre-defining debuts as San Francisco crate-digger DJ Shadow. His drum-heavy excursions into samplebased trip-hop on Endtroducing... set him apart from most other producers at the time, demonstrating just what could be done with a bunch of records, a sampler and focused vision that emphasized jazzy breaks, funk bass lines, swirling Rhodes keyboards and moody soundscapes. Pulling together beats created prior to his debut, Total Breakdown: Hidden Transmissions From The MPC Era, 1992-1996 reveals the building blocks of his sound. This may not be the treasure chest of unreleased cuts everyone was hoping for, but it reinforces just what a student of the drums Josh Davis has always been. HHH

Download this: Vee in Detroit, Mystical with Solo, Aye

-- Anthony Augustine

THE KILLERS

Battle Born (Universal Canada)

The fourth studio album from Las Vegans the Killers takes a few listens to really get under your skin, but once you let these passionately epic rock songs live in your head for a while you realize that lyricist and singer Brandon Flowers is one exceptional guy. Most of the songs are about girls and relationships and trouble, but then again, what else is there to write about these days?

There are slender yet real threads linking this music to the early, horizon-chasing work of Bruce Springsteen and there's no doubt this band has a soft spot for the music of the Cars. References aside, Flowers and the band are chasing their own stadium dreams here, and it seems as if the battle is going their way. HHHH

Download this: Runaways, From Here On Out

-- Jeff Monk

DEADMAU5

" album title goes here " (Ultra)

Deadmau5's new anti-titled electronic dance music CD is a lot of things. It's a thumping dance tapestry. It's pockmarked with features from the likes of Cypress Hill and Imogen Heap. And it also underscores Deadmau5's global reach and feel.

It just isn't very good.

The album from the Mickey Mouse-mask-wearing electronic dance music vet pushes no boundaries that weren't already pushed 10 years ago. From Joel Zimmerman, the lack of creativity is a sin.

Fn Pig is one of the few tracks on board with some sizzle. It's an eight-minute track that teases you for the first two before any semblance of a proper beat emerges. But once it gets going, the bass line grabs you by the shoulders and refuses to let go. It's an addictive track.

Download this: Closer

-- Ron Harris, The Associated Press

JAZZ

MARK MASTERS ENSEMBLE

featuring Gary Smulyan

Ellington Saxophone Encounters (Capri Records)

This nine-piece band focuses on the essence and skill of some of Duke Ellington's sidemen rather than the master himself.

Johnny Hodges, Paul Gonsalves, Jimmy Hamilton, Ben Webster and, of course, Harry Carney are represented on a dozen compositions.

While the Masters' band includes great players such as Pete Christlieb and Don Shelton, it is baritone saxophonist Gary Smulyan who stands out, not just for the role the bari played in Ellington bands in the hands of Carney, but for Smulyan's delightful vision of that music.

Smulyan stands out on the Carney tunes -- We're in Love Again and Rockin' in Rhythm -- but adds great solos to others like Hodges' Jeep's Blues, and Ultra Blue, a Hamilton tune. HHH 1/2

Download this: Rockin' in Rhythm

-- Chris Smith

KANYE WEST, JAY-Z & BIG SEAN

CLIQUE (ISLAND DEF JAM)

The latest from Kanye's collaboration extravaganza Cruel Summer thumps with a hollow, hypnotic bassline, operatic peaks that build in dramatic waves, and a deliciously repetitious chorus. Not many people can do the swag 'n' brag thing as convincingly or as charmingly as Kanye and Jay-Z, and Big Sean holds his own too. 'Ö'Ö'Ö'Ö

CARLY RAE JEPSEN

THIS KISS (604 RECORDS)

Following up Billboard's song-of-the-summer-2012 Call Me Maybe wasn't going to be an easy job. This Kiss isn't as immediately catchy as its predecessor, but the upbeat '80s synths and flirty, inoffensive lyrics will be sure to please tween girls and moms alike, and annoy everybody else. 'Ö'Ö'Ö

LIFEHOUSE FEAT. NATASHA BEDINGFIELD

BETWEEN THE RAINDROPS (GEFFEN)

The first single off the wuss rockers' upcoming sixth album sports a solid vocal pairing and an unexpected, old-timey western vibe in the final act. But ultimately it sounds like something that was specifically written to run in a promo for next week's episode of Saving Hope, or a commercial for Cymbalta. 'Ö'Ö1/2

GROOVE ARMADA FEAT. SLARTA JOHN

PULL UP (HYPERCOLOUR RECORDS)

Simplistic and slightly sinister electro and a tough ragga vocal from Slarta John (probably best known from Basement Jaxx's Jump 'n Shout) throws back to the early '90s days of hip-house, but with a glossy modern makeover. HHH1/2

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition September 27, 2012 ??65529