New Music

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This article was published 03/09/2011 (5471 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS

I’m With You (Warner)

After the bloated double album set, Stadium Arcadium, five years ago, the Red Hot Chili Peppers return with a more focused single-disc effort and new guitarist Josh Klinghoffer, who replaces the in-again/out-again six-string genius John Frusciante.

Not that Frusciante’s presence is missed much on the 14-track album, although his flashy solos might have helped elevate some of I’m With You’s weaker material as they did in the past. Klinghoffer’s contribution to the band’s sound is by fitting in rather than standing out, doing exactly what is required, whether it’s the chicken scratch overdubs on the funky Factory of Faith to the jangly campfire pop of Happiness Loves Company. Too bad his work rarely is prominent in the mix — even his solos aren’t boosted.

The band remains a funk-rock group at its core on such by-the-book RHCP tracks as Look Around, the celebratory Goodbye Hooray and Even You Brutus?, but go off on a few diversions, balancing African rhythms with Flea’s bouncing bozo bass on Ethiopia; delving into some disco on the fun Monarchy of Roses; offering up some second-rate pop filler on Dance, Dance, Dance (not a Steve Miller cover); and touch on some lite SSRq70s soul on Police Station.

One of the highlights of the album is Brendan’s Death Song — dedicated to late club owner/friend Brendan Mullen — which builds from a subdued ballad to a joyous climax before settling down again.

In the past, the Peppers have shown flashes that they can be more than just a soundtrack to a frat-party; on I’m With You the band has released the first album in its 28-year career that might get slapped with the “mature” tag. For better or worse, the boys are all grown up. Three and a half stars

— Rob Williams

 

POP AND ROCK

 

LIL WAYNE

Tha Carter IV (Universal)

During an astonishingly productive and accomplished run from 2006 to 2008, Lil Wayne claimed to be the best rapper alive. Such an assertion today would be downright laughable in light of Tha Carter IV, which despite sparks of his old ingenuity, bears the hallmarks of a once-fertile mind running out of good ideas.

The album smacks of coasting in too many spots, with Wayne’s once bulletproof punchlines now misfiring as often as not.

Still, when Wayne turns it on, it’s hard to resist. On first single 6 Foot 7 Foot — featuring a crazy Harry Belafonte-sampling banger courtesy of Bangladesh — Wayne is as fleet of mind (and mouth) as ever. Even there, though, up-and-comer Cory Gunz keeps up with him verse-for-verse.

But if one had to sum up how far Wayne has fallen, the clearest evidence is that he is nowhere to be found on two of the album’s strongest tracks: Interlude — featuring stirring verses from indie-rapper Tech9ne and the always amazing Andre 3000 — and Outro, on which Bun B, Nas, Shyne and Busta Rhymes close the 15-track version of the disc in style. (The deluxe edition adds four songs).

Did Wayne not include any verses on those because he didn’t want to be upstaged, or did he have nothing to add? Regardless, either scenario would have been simply unimaginable just a few short years ago. Two stars

— Basem Boshra, Postmedia News

 

RIVAL SONS

Pressure & Time (eOne/Earache)

The first fine thing you notice when you hear the Rival Sons’ sophomore CD Pressure & Time through your ear buds is that its production sounds kind of thick and juicy rather than sharp and crisp. Then, when lead throat Jay Buchanan starts wailing you get the sensation this Los Angeles quartet is the latest in a long line of SSRq70s rawk aficionados keening to get their proverbial rocks off, right now.

Pressure & Time was recorded at a studio simply called 1974, and while the rather short, 10-tracker pulls on some of the universal old-school threads, it’s what they don’t fling in that makes these songs work. Guitarist Scott Holiday keeps his solos tight and meaningful, avoiding the kind of contemporary, rapid-fire note production that sometimes makes these retro freaks so irritating.

Add in some sweet stop SSRqn’ start garage rock-inspired arrangements and it makes for a kick ass lesson in getting down to the rocking business at hand. Definitely a band to watch. Four stars

— Jeff Monk

 

THE F-HOLES

Angel in the Corner (Independent)

One of the best things about the F-Holes is that they are not easily categorized. Are they a Dixie-jazz band? A roots outfit? A bluegrass group? A ragtimey rock band? Yes, yes, yes and yes.

On the Winnipeg quintet’s second album, the F-Holes again pull out all the stops with a wild ride of styles and sounds, many with a classic old-time feel courtesy of instruments like stand-up bass, trumpet, euphonium, pedal steel, banjo and piano that make you want to hit the saloon and order a sarsaparilla. They create a strong New Orleans vibe on Even Stevens; get sultry on the Tex Mex-inspired Losing Touch; show off their swing thing on the groovy Two Cents; and blast off into jazz land on the instrumental Up for a While.

And as much fun as the music is on CD, make sure you check these guys out live. They are F-ing great. Four stars

— RW

 

BILLY THE KID & THE SOUTHSIDE BOYS

Ours (Lost Records)

On the surface it would seem everything that 29-year-old “Billy the Kid” Pettinger has done so far in her career would have led her directly into the awaiting arms and ears of a huge fan base. Main Our Lady Peace dude Raine Maida produced one of her albums and she has even worked with a range of “connected” players. Her latest 11-tracker is a pretty placid affair, though, which finds Pettinger and her capable bandmates doing their best to sound sincere and down to earth, but it’s a bit of a downer.

Pettinger herself doesn’t seem that unhappy, it’s the doleful cast of unfortunates she uses as her musical subject matter that bring this album fully into the elegy section. If her friends aren’t getting their hearts broken by living with the wrong person they’re raising their romantic expectations to unattainably high levels. Titles like Catastrophe, The Way I Miss You and Us Broken Hearts should key you into her vibe. Worth a listen, for those that pine for a good cry. Two and a half stars

— Monk

 

LENNY KRAVITZ

Black and White America (Roadrunner)

Black/white, Jewish/Christian, Lenny Kravitz’s career has always seemed like a ridiculously successful in-joke — the retro kitscho campo superstar who might just as easily have been laughed off the stage for the obviousness of his, er, influences. He’s as bi-racial as name, but not face, would indicate, and this is the long-awaited Kravitz Americafunk statement.

As riffy as it is funky (Rock Star City Life, Stand), the album’s real statement is I Would Quite Enjoy Remaining a Major Star, Please.

So all bases are covered. Superlove represents his slippery SSRq70s jones; Boongie Drop covers him club-wise with guests Jay-Z and DJ Military; Stand is pure pop pleasure-guilt; and Everything is very much the expression of that title.

As for Liquid Jesus — is he crazy? That is the most weirdly compelling weird song released by a major-label cat in eons. You can’t not love it. Three and a half stars

— Mark Lepage, Postmedia News

 

COUNTRY AND ROOTS

PISTOL ANNIES

Hell On Heels (Columbia Nashville/Sony)

The Pistol Annies are a hot new trio featuring newcomer Angaleena Presley, veteran Ashley Monroe and Nashville Star grad, chart topper and wife of Blake Shelton, Miranda Lambert who got together to do some songwriting and became a band.

Hell On Heels offers a healthy dose of attitude missing from a lot of major label releases with songs about gold diggers, hard times, hot southern boys, life on the road, shotgun weddings, family feuds and relationships gone awry.

The girls are straight shooters and prove it with no song running over four minutes on a 10-song debut that clocks in at a svelte half hour. This is real country done right from singer-songwriters who stand tall on their own vocally, lyrically and musically, but together are a force to be reckoned with. ‘Ö’Ö’Ö1/2

— Bruce Leperre

 

JAZZ

THE HEAVYWEIGHTS BRASS BANDS

Don’t Bring Me Down (Independent)

This Toronto-based brass band has a couple of members familiar to Winnipeggers — trombonist Chris Butcher and saxophonist Paul Metcalfe — and a lot of punchy, swinging music that conjures the street sounds of the French Quarter or Tremé.

Nueva Orleans, a Butcher composition, pays direct homage to the Crescent City, but all the tunes owe their party spirit and syncopation to the Second Line brass bands, including Just the Two of Us and even Michael Jackson’s Beat It.

The quintet of young players works well, playing loose enough to do justice to the brass band sound and tight enough to showcase their musicianship. Butcher’s trombone and Rob Teehan’s sousaphone, staples of the genre, stand out. Three and a half stars

— Chris Smith

 

CLASSICAL

TRINITY YOUTH CHORUS & CHOIR, TRINITY WALL STREET; MUSICA SACRA; THE ESOTERICS

Choral Music of Robert Moran (Innova)

Trinity Church on New York City’s Wall Street is just behind the location of the former World Trade Center so it was fitting to commission Philadelphia composer Robert Moran’s Trinity Requiem to commemorate the upcoming 10th anniversary of 9/11.

In eight movements, the work is calming and reflective with the scoring for youth choir a carefully considered move to show that no one is immune to terror regardless of age. The scoring for four cellos, harp and organ in its deeper register makes the vibrato-less young voices stand out. Though the melodic material isn’t especially memorable, the message is never in doubt in this moving experience and the performance by the young singers is outstanding.

Moran’s long arching lines and rich harmonies, gothic sounds and diverting spatial placements of the voices are heard in the three other works that round out the set. Three and a half stars

— James Manishen