New music

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This article was published 05/10/2017 (3207 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

FOLK & SOUL

Cold Specks
Fool’s Paradise (Arts & Crafts)

Ladan Hussein is Cold Specks, a Toronto-born and -raised singer/songwriter whose arresting take on folk and soul music happily captivated listeners on her 2012 debut album, I Predict a Graceful Expulsion. Her followup, 2014’s Neuroplasticity, found her opening her arms to new musical approaches to old forms, creating an exciting mix of modern songmaking and throaty, soulful singing. Cold Specks’ third outing dropped Sept. 22, and its 10 songs again mark a shift for Hussein and her co-producer, Jim Anderson. Fool’s Paradise is keyboard- and synthesizer-based mood music — perhaps meant to evoke a mood of discovery and wonder, as Hussein says she thoroughly explored her Somali heritage and her family’s history in the past three years. That journey is most evident in the title track, which explores the myth of ancient Somali queen Araweelo in both English and Somali, featuring cascading vocal lines underlined by pulsating bass. Album closer Exile touches on notions of loss and displacement

New Moon has been described by Hussein as the result of a journey of self-discovery and affirmation and it is by far this album’s best song — a blend of plaintive lyric, simple keyboard hook and gently propulsive drum sample that could easily slide onto almost any Prince album.

★★★1/2 out of five

Stream these: Fool’s Paradise; New Moon; Exile

— John Kendle

 

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ALT ROCK

The Killers
Wonderful Wonderful (Island)

The Killers have been away nearly as long as LCD Soundsystem, but there’s strangely little urgency surrounding Wonderful Wonderful, their first album in five years. Brandon Flowers and Co. led the wave of synth-dependent bands who’ve dominated alt-rock for the past decade, but it’s their sheer goofiness (Life to Come implores us to “dropkick the shame”) and knack for dynamite singles, not their albums, that’s ensured their place in the pantheon. Wonderful Wonderful is their most anonymous effort since 2008’s Day & Age — which is unfortunate, considering its two standouts: The Man, an excessively silly Miami Vice-style theme song (the cash-register noise!), and Run for Cover, which targets the Trumpocalypse more explicitly than anything on the LCD record, rhyming “progenitors” with “senators” and “apology” with “toxicology.” Both are singles. ★★1/2 out of five

— Dan Weiss (The Philadelphia Inquirer)

 

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ALT INDIE

Moses Sumney
Aromanticism (Jagjaguwar (ASTERISK)(ASTERISK)(ASTERISK) 1/2)

Los Angeles songwriter Moses Sumney’s talent has been teased on a series of EPs, singles, and festival appearances over the last few years, and it comes to full fruition on Aromanticism, an 11-song collection that takes its title seriously. If 99 per cent of pop songs revolve around romantic love, Sumney is happy to be among the 1 per cent. On the spoken-word interlude Stoicism, he recalls being dropped off by his mother as a child and having his "I love you" returned only with "Thank you." And on Doomed, the centrepiece of the asymmetrical, quietly beautiful album, the singer —who grew up in Southern California and Ghana and who has toured with Sufjan Stevens and Karen O and contributed to Solange’s A Seat at the Table — employs his delicate, seductive falsetto to ask: "Am I vital if my heart is idle? Am I doomed?" Based on Aromanticism’s artistic accomplishments, the answers would seem to be yes and no. ★★★1/2 out of five

— Dan Deluca (The Philadelphia Inquirer)

 

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HIP-HOP 

Wyclef Jean
Carnival III: The Fall and Rise of a Refugee (Heads Music/Legacy Recordings)

Twenty years after his multiplatinum, multinational, multigenre The Carnival, the Fugee soloist who isn’t Ms. Lauryn Hill returns — not a minute too soon — to reap the rewards of a scene that appreciates harmony-filled hip-pop and the funky, future-forward intrigue of DJ Khaled, D’Banj, WizKid and Davido. Add Young Thug’s torrid track Wyclef Jean to the pileup, and it’s a real love fest for the Haiti-born, Newark-raised soul-sonic force. While the snazzy, jazzy Fela Kuti finds Wyclef showing off his own brand of Young Thug-ish tribute to a respected hero (to say nothing of Wes Montgomery-like guitar chops found also on the breezy What Happened to Love), the Afrobeat vibe born of the first Carnival can be found, anew and renewed, on the hop-scotching Double Dutch and the woeful Warrior. Even the Southern-influenced Trapicabana merges Le Chic with the Afrique. As far as what’s being said within its walls, “the refugee” as a historic subject is significant. It often feels, though, as if Wyclef lets too many kitchen aids (e.g. producer Super Mario, singer Emeli Sande, comedian D.L. Hughley) in on the bouillabaisse, and the merrily messy music gets muzzy and wonkily unbound. Still, if it’s Wyclef at the front of the Carnival cruise conga line, preaching his prayer of Marleyesque “one love,” it’s fine. ★★★ out of five

— A.D. Amorosi (The Philadelphia Inquirer)

 

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ROOTS / COUNTRY

Antibalas
Where The Gods Are At Peace (Daptone/AfroSound)

If you were looking for positive results of having a character such as Donald Trump as the reality show commander-in-chief stateside then look no further than the new album by New York’s Antibalas. Using the current political climate as a sort of leaping-off point for its creatively inspired tale of greed and lust for control — while taking advantage of those with lesser influence — the band simmers its way through a hot, though short, five tracks here. The band always has been known for its spot-on veneration for boiling Afrobeat arrangements and instrumentation, and Where The Gods Are At Peace is no different in that regard. The three-movement Tombstown is a lyrically dense triad that tracks the fate of an imaginary magical island, “rich with gold,” settled by a peaceful folk who are eventually taken advantage of by “no ears no eyes no mouth nu sheriff intending to loot my heart…” Indeed, the song is a tad lyric-heavy and almost denies the 14-piece-strong combo room to expand its sound past buoying the over long story. Thankfully, vocal group Zap Mama is on board in this piece, adding an eerie balance to the story. For aficionados, both opening track Gold Rush and Hook & Crook offer the kind of accustomed, non-stop funky boogaloo this band consistently aspires to. Horn solos (particularly from trombonist Raymond Mason) are off the charts and elevate skyward over their lengthy blast. Perhaps not Antibalas’ best album by any stretch, but a superb statement on the times. ★★★ out of five

Stream this: Gold Rush

— Jeff Monk

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JAZZ

Chet Doxas
Rich In Symbols (Ropeadope)

I’ve reviewed many albums that defy easy definition in a jazz sense (frankly a mug’s game, anyhow), but this one moves in a fairly well-known direction. Saxophonist Chet Doxas has recorded a lot of jazz in Montreal and as part of trumpeter Dave Douglas’ Riverside quartet, but on this new album he unquestionably is into a visceral, rock-flavoured presentation. The mood is gritty and hard-driving — and while there is a strong jazz improvisational mode, this is basically really cool jazz/rock. Doxas’ band has Matthew Stevens on guitar, Zack Lover on bass and Eric Doob on drums, with guest appearances by folks such as Dave Douglas (Hot Ones), pianist John Escreet (Orchard) and guitarist Dave Nugent. The compositions were influenced by the visual art scene on New York’s Lower East Side in the 1970s and ’80s. Doxas is ensconced in the New York jazz world and this eclectic album is the first real indication of new directions for him. The music soars, swoops and is clearly in your face a lot of the time. There are a couple of quiet tracks, but the underlying harder groove is never far away. It was not what I expected to hear when I first listened, but I admit that it works for me. Turn up the volume as much as your neighbours will allow and simply let it happen. ★★★★ out of five

Stream these: Starcrossings, While You Were Sleeping

— Keith Black

 

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CLASSICAL

Alan Rinehart Guitar
Verdi’s Guitar (Ravello Records)

Anyone who loves Verdi and guitar music will revel in this new release by Ravello Records. Kelowna, B.C.-based Alan Rinehart performs six fantasies for solo guitar penned by 19th-century composer Josef (Johann) Kaspar Mertz, in turn derived from famous operas by Italy’s favourite musical son. What makes these works so unusual is the fact that Mertz compressed an entire two- or three-hour work into 10- to 12-minute medleys, neatly balancing Verdi’s dramatic sound world with that of the intimate chamber music salon. The album includes Verdi’s more popular works: a darkly rendered Il Trovatore (The Troubadour), replete with pregnant pauses and abrupt tonal shifts. Rigoletto and La Traviata (The Fallen Woman) begin similarly, moving from shadows to light, with Rinehart’s guitar surprisingly adept at capturing the lyrical operatic vocal lines. The famous Drinking Song also becomes infused with gracious lilt, creating a fascinating contrast to its more boisterous orchestrated version. It is also notable how seamlessly the solo instrument glides between traditional choruses and solo arias that never feel skeletal in any way. Also included are Nabucco (Nebuchadnezzar) and the lesser heard Ernani and Il Vesperi Siciliani (The Sicilian Vespers). But this album might change that ethos, inspiring new audiences to enjoy these works as tiny, compact incarnations of their former selves. ★★★★ out of five

— Holly Harris