New music

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This article was published 17/06/2021 (1667 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

POP / ROCK

Garbage

No Gods No Masters (Infectious)

Oof! It seems just yesterday that Nirvana producer Butch Vig put together a ban with buddies Duke Erickson and Steve Marker and persuaded a young Scottish singer he’d seen on MTV’s 120 Minutes to leave her band, cross an ocean and join them.

The first Garbage album is 26 years old this year, a veritable relic in this day and age, yet its music still holds up. While Vig and co. haven’t exactly been prolific over the years (this record is just their seventh), they prove with this release they aren’t relics, either — bringing their collected talents to bear on 11 modern-rock songs that are just as vital and vibrant as their earliest work. (Digital and streaming versions include eight bonus tracks — previously released singles and covers such as Bowie’s Starman and Springsteen’s Because the Night.)

Singer Shirley Manson has been the focus of advance chatter about No Gods No Masters, mostly because she’s the band’s frontperson and star, but also because she’s been typically candid and outspoken about her frustrations with the Trump and Brexit years, her support for #MeToo and Black Lives Matter and her anger at social and political injustice which only seems to get worse with time.

Her outrage is immediately palpable on album opener The Men Who Rule the World, an aggressively pulsating, funky guitar number and it continues on Godhead, a raging anti-sexist rant, while the likes of Waiting for God and the title track are exasperated expressions of frustration and disappointment. The Creeps and Uncomfortably Me (the album’s most melodic song), meanwhile, explore her lifelong journey with anxiety and insecurity.

Behind her, Erickson, Marker and Vig set up a sonic world that alternates between roiling tumult, throbbing atmospherics and highly intense crescendos, all of which make No Gods No Masters a most welcome return. ★★★★ out of five

STREAM THESE: The Men Who Rule the World, Uncomfortably Me, Godhead

— John Kendle

SWAMP ROCK

Tony Joe White

Smoke From the Chimney (Easy Eye Sound)

Polk Salad Annie by Elvis, Rainy Night in Georgia by Brook Benton, Steamy Windows by Tina Turner — Tony Joe White is probably best-known through other performers’ versions of his songs. But the Louisiana-born “Swamp Fox,” who died at 75 in 2018, was a mesmerizing performer in his own right.

Smoke From the Chimney contains nine White guitar-and-voice demos fleshed out by producer Dan Auerbach with his usual stable of Nashville studio aces. The Black Keys frontman does a terrific job of capturing the deep-voiced singer’s brooding swamp-rock essence, giving this American original a worthy sendoff.

Of course, it helps that White is in top form as a writer. The title song is a poetic evocation of grappling with old age and mortality, Listen to Your Song imparts a hard-earned lesson, and Scary Stories conjures a goosebump-inducing sense of menace.

He brings dignity to the unabashed tearjerker Over You, and even the slighter stuff, like Boot Money and Bubba Jones, gets by on White’s charm and wit.

The closer, Billy, like much of the album, takes on an added poignancy in light of White’s death: “We’ve been bucked off and kicked so many times/ And the ground just keeps getting harder/ Billy, you know as well as I/ We ain’t gettin’ no younger/ … Ain’t no easy way of saying goodbye/ So be sure to tell ’em all down in Texas I said hi.” ★★★★ out of five

STREAM THESE: Smoke From the Chimney, Over You

— Nick Cristiano, Philadelphia Inquirer

JAZZ

Erin Propp & Larry Roy

We Want All the Same Things (Chronograph)

Winnipeg vocalist Erin Propp and guitarist Larry Roy are frequent collaborators on gigs and sessions with bands such as the Winnipeg Jazz Orchestra, as well as duet outings. This album was put together over several sessions and venues in 2019, and covers a wide range of their work in various settings; it is a treat from beginning to end.

The basic combo has Roy on guitars and Drobo, Larnell Lewis on drums, and Will Bonness on piano and Wurlitzer. Various bass players include Julian Bradford, Mike Downes or Karl Kohut, with guests including Shannon Kristjanson on flute and Ken Gold, Jimmy Greene or Steve Wilson on saxes. Miron Rafajlovic and Derrick Gardner take trumpet solos on several tracks.

The mood here is often very personal, and Propp’s clean and effortless voice is beautifully suited to the task. Roy’s guitars are a perfect collaborator for the vocals, as the two performers’ long musical relationship has proved. Songs like Hello Morning have a bit of a Joni Mitchell feel but with Propp’s individual musical sense. Other original tunes have the same appeal, as the lyrics make one nod with recognition. Familiar covers like Carole King’s So Far Away (with saxophonist Greene sitting in) are beautiful as well, and The Nearness of You with added brass solos is lovely.

Roy is a constant partner in all the music, and one wishes for more from these talented local musicians. One of the biggest challenges for a singer is choosing repertoire that suits the voice and range. We have all heard examples of bad choices, but there are none here. Propp has made all the right choices and delivers the moods perfectly. We are privileged to have these two and their guests in our midst. ★★★★ out of five

STREAM THESE: Each Hidden Joy, The Light

— Keith Black

CLASSICAL

Johannes Brahms

Piano Sonatas & Rhapsodies

Garrick Ohlsson (Hyperion)

Garrick Ohlsson, an American pianist and winner of the 1970 Chopin International Piano Competition, performs the music of Johannes Brahms sonatas in this upcoming release, which also displays the late Romantic composer’s symphonic approach to otherwise intimate solo repertoire.

First up is Piano Sonata No. 1 in C major, Op. 1, with Ohlsson attacking its rhythmic opening theme (which evokes Beethoven’s Hammerklavier Sonata, Op. 106 with crisp military precision. The following Andante that unfolds as a series of variations based on a Minnelied-inspired theme showcases the artist’s luminous touch, right at home in Chopin, with more pyrotechnics unleashed in the earlier work’s closing movements, including a particularly fiery final Allegro con fuco.

The decidedly darker Piano Sonata No 2 in F sharp minor, Op 2 infuses the entire album with drama, further heightened by cascading chromatic octaves during the opening Allegro non troppo, and sparkling figuration in both the Scherzo and Finale: Sostenuto. However where Ohlsson shines most is in the two pieces’ slower movements, including his deeply felt interpretation of Andante con espressione that’s an album highlight.

The two cornerstone sonatas are balanced with a pair of rhapsodies, Op. 79, No. 1 in B minor, and Op. 79, No. 2 in G minor, with the pianist’s thoughtful, more contemplative approach to each piece adding further layering to his program. Admittedly, there are those who will prefer their Brahms more firmly rooted in a rustic village square than a genteel chamber salon; however, Ohlsson’s conviction throughout creates a compelling vision of these timeless works while equally showing the passionate soul of an artist at work. ★★★★ out of five

STREAM THIS: Andante con espressione from Brahms’ Piano Sonata No 2 in F sharp minor, Op 2

— Holly Harris