In Mania, the California trio come together once again to produce another summertime soundtrack. Opening strong with “The Mirror,” the three emcees trade introspective verses, “I like to get high but its great to be sober / Yesterday was hard but it made me a soldier,” over a joyful string section sample before jumping into a plethora of songs with their distinctive blend of braggadocio and playful misogyny. Like, Big Mibbs, and Be Young switch up the mood for a bit with “Nobody’s Perfect,” reminding us to keep our head up over an irresistible piano-laced backdrop and soothing female chorus. After that, its back to regular business for a while as the trio rips apart Lords of the Underground’s “Chief Rocka” instrumental before going in on the minimalist “Your Fucking Song.” “Saved” brings the mood back to uplifting with its bouncy piano and a chorus that hearkens back to their Church League Champions days, “Man I just got paid / Put your hands in the sky like you just got saved.” Mania mixes the playful sound Pacific Division is known for with a few tracks with a distinctive West Coast Bay Area bounce that adds a welcome freshness to their repertoire. Their album, Grown Kid Syndrome, may not have a release date just yet, but Mania should hold you down for the summer. (2 Dope Boys, www.2dopeboyz.com) RB Beniza
Mother Mother – Eureka
I’ve travelled to B.C. a couple of times, and it’s always been a pleasant experience, but I must’ve been missing something. It seems to be home to some of the happiest bands on the planet. Birthplace of power-happy power-poppers the New Pornographers, and now ultra-smilers Mother Mother. And it’s a very specific brand of happy. If you’ve heard the New Pornographers before, you have a pretty good idea of what Mother Mother sounds like. Synth-tinged power-pop jams that pretty much necessitate moving your hips or torso in a silly fashion. One of the catchier tunes on the album, “My Baby Don’t Dance,” is a bit of a paradox, because any Baby not dancing would simply need to listen their eponymous song. It’s like a logic loop. Don’t think too hard about it. Mother Mother seem to thrive on dance-worthy beats, because when it’s time to make serious-face serious music, such as “Simply Simple,” they seem to falter a little bit. The slower jams seem to stretch, but are mercifully few and far between. They’re not terrible, but after the first half of the album, their cliched melancholy is a bit of a bringdown, and not in the way they were intending. It’s just plain old boring music bringdown. So don’t let the New Pornographers references lull you into thinking this is a successor to Mass Romantic. Mother Mother still has some practice to get in at balance and consistency. Still, despite the old second-half blues, this new Mother Mother joint is a hand-clappin’, knee-slappin’, toe-tappin’, happy-happenin’ good time. Just turn it off after “Born in a Flash.” (Last Gang Records, http://mothermothersite.com/) David Nowacki
Gary War – Police Water EP
Slip on your headphones, my dears, sit tight… and now we enter hyper-space. The journey starts out with the sound of liquid swooshy happy heartbeats on “Born of Light.” Laser guns enter, blazing the way for the galaxy, decked out in its best ’80s night outfit, to strut its stuff against a background of singing. I have no idea what the echoing lyrics are going on about, but this isn’t so bad – War’s voice is just one of what seems like hundreds of effects and experiments, and as a whole, Police Water comes off as dizzyingly instrumental. “On Its Head” again features indecipherable urgent whispering amid a whirling, colourful soundscape built with lashing drums and rapidly squiggling synth. We don’t see any melodies, just a stream of the same glittering ether leaking out into formless forms, layered over at the end of the track with cacophonous chords, what sounds like a plane taking off, and dashes of microphone feedback. As we approach the centre of the EP, things start getting a lot more dancey with a great squeaky interlude on “Grounds for Termination.” And then there’s the heavy, repetitive, exhilarating “Sirens.” This is where our voyage ends if you own the vinyl, but the CD offers two bonus tracks, both of which are, as always, hypnotic, high-energy, and much more accessible than you’d ever imagined from the start. (Sacred Bones Records, www.sacredbonesrecords.com) Adrienne Yeung
Julianna Barwick – The Magic Place
Abandon all sense of normalcy: Julianna Barwick is her name but a choir of wordless voices is her music. Well, it has been, anyways. On her EP Florine, the Brooklyn-based performer made a distinct sound for herself by looping her vocals with lots of reverb. With a select few instruments on The Magic Place, her first for Asthmatic Kitty, Barwick has made nine songs that are multi-layered loops of pure bliss—echoes of choirs for contemplating the church of the Self. A language constructed is simply destructive. Barwick is true to what sounds right. With her voice, and without her words, it’s impossible to misinterpret her intentions, and what she sends out into the world. Pure, pure, pure. (Asthmatic Kitty, www.asthmatickitty.com) Taylor Burgess
LOST: Stan Getz and João Gilberto-Getz/Gilberto
These songs have been covered by numerous adult contemporary artists. However, comparing adult contemporary versions to the original is like holding up a mall-rat’s cheaply made sports jersey knock off to your parent’s old little league jersey. Please do not peg me as one that peddles the superiority of all things “vintage”. The fact of the matter is that Getz and Gilberto sound BETTER than most, maybe all the new jazz I have come across. It is delightfully smooth (though not superficial or unremarkable). Getz and Gilberto being the founding fathers of bossa nova jazz, blend rhythm guitar, saxophone, simple hi-hat/cymbal/snare rim beats and a slow and essential bass line. Along with the vocals (English or Portuguese) these elements create a dreamlike state of relaxation and appreciation. This is an album perfect for listening to as you are walking home on a sunny morning after a night of partying or lying on a beach or playing with your cat or cooking, the list goes on. The bottom line is that this music makes me incredibly happy and that’s not just because it reminds me of Peter Sellers from the 1968 film “The Party”. (Verve Records www.vervemusicgroup.com)
Lost: I Want To Be your Man
Emma Cloney – Something to Say
Emma Cloney’s debut Something to Say has the sound of an old favourite. Like something pulled out of a box of long forgotten albums. Maybe it’s that Gordon Lightfoot influence she nods to. Or her adherence to a classic folk sound tempered by her feminine rumbling voice. A voice that takes you back to the female artists boom of an early Lilith Fair variety (think Jewel, McLachlin, Harris). And by familiar we don’t mean tired but comforting. Perhaps, even a breath of fresh air. Assuming, of course, you appreciate a roots sound that gets at times a little Country. Representing Manitoba in the Canadian music scene, Cloney stays true to her love of a more traditional folk sound embracing the classic instruments of her genre like the fiddle, mandolin, upright bass and banjo. No electric guitar, no skinny jeans, just a girl and her guitar singing about rivers, home and her family. Song not to miss on this one: a hootenanny of a track entitled, “Daddy’s Guild Guitar.” But for a more contemporary listener “Love the Way You Love Me” will suit you fine. (STUDIO 11, www.studio11audio.com, www.emmacloney.com) Cindy Doyle
Review: Sufjan Review – Age of Adz
The only thing lacking from Sufjan Stevens’ latest endeavor Age of Adz is a warning on the front cover, cautioning the soft-spoken singer-songwriter’s fans that his new album is anything but soft or singer-songwriter-esque. Imagine the string-strumming Sufjan we all know and love, but dragged through a synthesizer and re-arranged into an Edward Scissorhands version of his former self. Voila, this is Age of Adz. Stevens’ inspiration for his new album seems to range from the artwork of the former manically futuristic artist Royal Robertson, a self-described abandonment of a “re-meditated, scholastic, intellectual approach to songwriting” (www.eyeweekly.com) and an existential crisis (Mmm, right). Pretentious? Not really. Consider the scope of this guy’s discography: an experimental collection dedicated to the Chinese zodiac, a biblically-inspired narrative album as well as a five-disc set of all the Christmas classics. I suggest listening to Age of Adz in short intervals of 3-4 songs at a time if you’re an old Sufjan fan, and if you’re just looking for a couple songs to throw on a playlist, I’d suggest checking out “Futile Devices,” “Age of Adz,” “Vesuvius,” and “I Walked.” (Asthmatic Kitty Records, www.asthmatickitty.com) Victoria King
Review: Jenny Berkel – Gather Your Bones
From the local “one to watch” category comes an introductory, five track e.p. from singer/songwriter Jenny Berkel. The southwestern Ontario-bred Berkel sings with a deep and rather resonant voice evoking an old soul-like veracity and with the sparse, all-acoustic accompaniment creates something a pleasant, albeit gloomy sound. The depths of Berkel’s lyrics are what really sell this piece. Her geographic displacement has taken its toll on her psyche and she tries to sing away her sadness with lyrics like “You come from far away / You come to give and take / Pull the city, she cannot stay”. Joining Ms. Berkel for the quiet ride are a few friends that add poignant musical filigree such as banjo, harmonica and slide guitar – just enough so you would almost notice, somehow necessary to the overall drift of this set. By the sound of it, Berkel may be just passing through and Winnipeg folk music fans should take note of this burgeoning talent before she again follows her muse to points beyond the Perimeter. (Independent, www.myspace.com/jennyberkel) Jeff Monk
Found: Twin Sister’s Handjive
Somethin’ about this song is particularly funky (it’s definitely the staccato guitar), but the video from this Brooklyn band is even funkier. This is some straight-up Sesame Street psychedelia meets Flashdance, slathered in so many soft filters that must be a self-conscious nod to Napoleon Dynamite glamour shots. Maybe not. Whatevs, this cool track from Twin Sister’s Colour Your Life EP was directed by Mike Luciano and animated by Andrea Estella, the lead singer of Twin Sister herself!
And man, check out their handjive! Also, check out Kyra Leib’s interview with the band which will be online soon, and is in the Dec/Jan issue of Stylus on stands now.