CD Releases: Sam Roberts, The Streets, Moneen And More!
Tuesday April 11, 2006 @ 02:30 PM
By: ChartAttack.com Staff

AEREOGRAMME Seclusion (Sonic Unyon)
Aereogramme are a little difficult to classify. Their sweeping guitars, industrial rhythms and haunting sounds should appeal to Tool-loving frat kids, not the indie rock crowd that can't get enough of the Scottish foursome. This probably has something to do with their two-disc stint on Matador, but intelligent songwriting helps too. While there are only six songs on Seclusion, all of them are fraught with so much emotion that any more would be hard to handle. Just listen to "Dreams & Bridges," a torturous track that starts with slow guitars and pounding drums, and ends with a barrage of monstrous riffs and a hail of snare. Unless you want your parents to think you have serious emotional issues, it's best to listen to this alone. Bryan Borzykowski

A PLOT AGAINST ME Who Do You Work For? Why Do You Do It? (Independent)
With their pounding beats and relentless, fuzzy guitar riffs, A Plot Against Me would have been right at home on last year's Nine Inch Nails-Queens Of The Stone Age/Death From Above 1979 tour. The Gatineau, Quebec duo of drummer Martin Desjardins and multi-instrumentalist Sylvain Lavigne deliver a dark, dense and apocalyptic vibe reminiscent of QOTSA's Songs For The Deaf, and Lavigne's vocals seem to be modelled closely on Josh Homme's. But if A Plot Against Me are a little derivative, they bring an intensity that even their ancestors would find difficult to match. They may be independent for now, but the band's energy and songwriting skills should make them a tasty catch for labels looking to boost their hard rock roster. Matt Semansky

ENVELOPES Demon (Brille)
There's an abundance of offbeat indie pop out there right now. Bands like Sweden's Envelopes are probably the result of the success of Fiery Furnaces' Blueberry Boat. I could think of worse catalysts, though. Demon is full of elements that made the Furnaces' career-defining record a hit — whimsy, sudden wholesale changes in instrumentation, and male and female singers. But while their predecessors also trade in what can only be described as fucking weirdness, Envelopes rely more on catchy choruses and childish charm. Add to that the fact that no one song sounds like the next (in a good way) and you've got a pleasant package. Noah Love

THE GAME G.A.M.E. (Fastlife/KOCH)
Here's a fun drinking game: throw on KOCH's latest collection of pre-Documentary era Game recordings and down a shot every time the rapper mentions hip-hop greats like Big, Pac and Pun. You'll be so wasted, you won't even notice how relatively undeveloped The Game's style and skills sound. On the menacing "Gettin' American Money Easy," the artist does his best Shyne impression, while he adapts Biggie's swinging musical flow on the soulful stomper, "It Gets Thicker." Though The Game hasn't quite found his voice yet on this early material, he stills sounds a hell of a lot better than the album's amateurish anonymous guests. James Simons

GIANT DRAG Hearts And Unicorns (Kickball/Universal)
Giant Drag open with a smile on Hearts And Unicorns. "Kevin Is Gay" and "This Isn't It," both smack of sweet Cali-pop behind their distorted overtones. An entire album of these optimistic riffs and vocals would've been just fine, but the multi-instrumental duo are interested in being more interesting than that. Some of the songs teeter precariously on the edge of generic, droning-guitar girl-rock, but, more often than not the guitar monotony gives way to some musical quirk. Also noteworthy: a surprisingly kick-ass cover of "Wicked Game" that's all the better without Chris Isaak's curled lip croon. David McDougall

KANO Home Sweet Home (679/Warner)
The debut from 19-year-old Kano is like a tour through current London club life — a vivid catalogue of what it's like to be a young urban Brit. It's also an affirmation that the U.K. hip-hop scene has achieved a depth and breadth that allows it to build on itself rather than its North American forebears. Kano's beats take their inspiration from his countrymen, with shuffling, rapid-fire garage dominating the album. Meanwhile, his rhymes are like a more sober and hyper-literate version of The Streets', with nightlife stories that are equal parts vulnerable and clever. Kano isn't afraid to let his insecurities show — he questions his own relevance with brutal honesty on "Sometimes" — and his openness only makes his music stronger. Matt Semansky

MONEEN The Red Tree (Vagrant/Universal)
Shoegazing rockers Moneen return with their third and most adventurous outing to date. The basic swaying verse/soaring chorus formula is still employed, but the material on The Red Tree is more upbeat and energetic than it has been in the past, with the music coming off as a lot edgier. The best thing about the Brampton, Ontario quartet is that they're heartfelt and catchy without coming off as generic, and, though they may fit in with other melodic rockers, Kenny Bridges' vocals are nowhere near grating. In fact, his voice is what makes songs like "This Is All Bigger Than Me" irresistible, where other singers might have made it annoying. As their contemporaries put out the same tired material, Moneen remain one of the freshest acts in their genre. Shehzaad Jiwani

GARY NUMAN Jagged (Metropolis/Outside)
After an almost 30-year reign as synth-pop's prince of darkness, Gary Numan has nothing left to prove to anyone, except maybe himself. On the bleak and dour Jagged, his first album of all-new material since 2000's underwhelming Pure, you can sense that Numan has grown weary of the icy gothscapes and industrial clatter-and-clank that have fed his cult for a generation. The trouble is, when you've been working with the same artistic toolkit since The Pleasure Principle, stylistic calling cards have a way of turning into crutches. The result — warmed-over Ultra-era Depeche Mode — is a letdown. But, to Numan's credit, nobody plays the alienated alien with more gloomy flamboyance. Steve English

PINETOP SEVEN Beneath Confederate Lake (Empyrean/Sonic Unyon)
Last year's The Night's Bloom was a careful record, all moody atmosphere and wordy narratives. Beneath Confederate Lake chiefly collects material cut from that LP and tops it off with an earlier album outtake, two film score snippets, one cover and three old songs put to tape last year. By its nature, the leftovers disc can't really live up to its predecessor, which was a cohesive whole. Still, there are some gems here. "Hurry Home Dark Cloud" may have been too lively for The Night's Bloom, but it's great to see Pinetop mastermind Darren Richard actually bust out in song instead of his usual sing-speak. It's definitely a fan-friendly, hit-or-miss collection, but the film score tracks and older song "Afterthought" stand out too. David McDougall

PINK I'm Not Dead (LaFace/Zomba/Sony BMG)
Pink raises a perfectly manicured middle finger to stupid girls, stupid suitors and stupid presidents on her slick fourth album. Whether it's the singer's Stefani-style sass or frenetic "Like I Love You"-esque guitars, lead single "Stupid Girls" is pure dance-pop perfection, rivaled only by "U + Ur Hand." Here, Pink and Swedish super-producers Max Martin and Dr. Luke combine the simple, stomping drums and power chords of a Joan Jett rocker with a driving chorus reminiscent of the Martin- and Luke-produced "Since U Been Gone." It's too bad Pink interrupts this fun to team up with Lilith Fairies the Indigo Girls on "Dear Mr. President," an unfortunate mix of "We Are The World" sentimentality ("How do you dream when a mother has no chance to say goodbye?") and simplistic finger-pointing ("You've come a long way from whiskey and cocaine"). James Simons

PRETTY GIRLS MAKE GRAVES Elan Vital (Matador/Beggars)
From the reggae-inspired beats and whistles of "The Nocturnal House," it's obvious that Pretty Girls Make Graves have produced the vastly different record they've been promising since last summer. With the departure of guitarist Nathan Thelan and the arrival of keyboardist Leona Marrs, there's more focus on keys and percussion than the dual-guitar attack the band have become known for. Andrea Zollo has also pared down her wail to what can only be described as "singing." The entire equation works beautifully on LP highlights "The Number" and "Wildcat." Also noteworthy is the Derek Fudesco and Marrs-sung, bass and key-driven track, "Pictures Of A Night Scene," which illustrates exactly why the band's detractors should check out this disc: it almost sounds like a completely different band. Noah Love

SAM ROBERTS BAND Chemical City (Universal)
Bookended by stellar tracks "The Gate," a chugging psychedelic rocker, and "A Stone Would Cry Out," a bleak piano ballad, Sam Roberts' sophomore album covers a lot of ground. Perhaps not as much as Roberts and co. did to make it (Australia to Montreal), but the grandeur of vast distances and wide-open landscapes resonates, particularly on the epic "Mind Flood." Though a few songs feel under developed and overly reliant on the trad-rock rulebook, Chemical City offers another potent concoction of propulsive rock, melodic pop and a little tenderness — qualities that coalesce beautifully on "An American Draft Dodger In Thunder Bay." Lorraine Carpenter

SAVES THE DAY Sound The Alarm (VagrantUniversal)
Most people thought Saves The Day had lost their edge after 2003's decidedly poppy In Reverie, and they had good reason. While that album stuck fairly close to the pop-punk formula, Sound The Alarm sees the New Jersey punks writing more complex songs that go beyond fast drums and Manuel Carrero's elastic basslines. Chris Conley's nasal whine remains, but he's become a fair bit ballsier, as evidenced on harder cuts like "The End." There's a much wider array of styles here, from the in-your-face lead track "Head For The Hills" to the bouncy "Bones." This variety makes Sound The Alarm a surprisingly enjoyable listen that may win back many of Saves The Day's erstwhile fans. Shehzaad Jiwani

THE STREETS The Hardest Way To Make An Easy Living (679/Warner)
Mike Skinner's previous albums sketched out his adventures as a drug-addled, apathetic British kid on a sonic canvas that used elements of hip-hop, garage and techno. On this latest disc, the ambitious production remains, but the Skinner story has moved on to another act, with the unlikely pop star having to deal with the ups and downs of fame. If that sounds like a been-there-done-that concept, remember that we're talking about The Streets — the themes may be familiar, but the execution is wholly original. Skinner's paranoia is the current that powers the album, whether he's beating himself up over his addictive tendencies ("Pranging Out") or complaining about cell phone cameras catching him doing lines in the club ("When You Wasn't Famous"). And in the midst of all the nouveau-riche navel-gazing, he drops "Never Went To Church," an aching ballad dedicated to his late father. Skinner may find it hard making his easy living, but his struggles are nevertheless fascinating to listen to. Matt Semansky

WILDERNESS Vessel States (Jagjaguwar/Sonic Unyon)
I was initially skeptical about artists like Sufjan and Devendra releasing albums yearly because I thought the quality would suffer quickly. But it turns out that the "one album every two or three years" rule is simply record label marketing madness and the artists who have been pushing past the boundary are flourishing. Case in point, Wilderness, who return to the fold with Vessel States after their excellent self-titled debut was largely ignored in 2005. The new LP is far more confident and features the same excellent Explosions In The Sky-meets-Trail Of Dead-meets-Bauhaus style of the band's debut. Maybe the quick turnover leads to a lack of innovation, but who's got time to be innovative these days? Great songwriting is enough. Noah Love

Previous Chartattack CD Reviews