Album reviews
Run With The Kittens
Myth in the Sky, Currently unsigned
A+
TORONTO INDIE BAND Run With The Kittens have been steadily producing albums since their 2007 debut Cad Gold Jr.. All three of their records, written under the watchful eye of Rush and Blue Rodeo producer Terry Brown, have been building up to the band’s latest release, Myth in the Sky.
Run With The Kittens new LP bodes well for the group, upholding their reputation for an indie-rock sound and creative, fast-paced songwriting. The opening track destroys all preconceived notions of the term “genre,” but the genre-busting stops there. As the album progresses, it becomes clear that the band is more focused on distilling their sound into straight rock—they keep their style consistent, relying on crystal-clear bass lines, versatile guitar work, and the blistering pace kept by drummer Jake Oelrichs. With bongo-infused piano breakdowns in “Little Fawn,” and rock simplicity in “Old-Time Cell Phones” that would leave Dallas Green de-fogging his glasses, Myth in the Sky is surely no waste of Run With The Kittens talent. The final track, for which the album is named, comes in hard and leaves that way—but not without slowing the tempo down and riffing up some excellent solos in between. Overall, this new album from Run With The Kittens is an immense success, proving that this is one band Canadians should keep an eye on.
—Jesse Kelly
Nine Mile
Country Porno Electric Fireplace, Xiola Records
C-
COUNTRY PORNO ELECTRIC Fireplace is probably the most inventive and entertaining album name most music fans have ever heard of—it’s just really unfortunate that Nine Mile doesn’t have the musical creativity or personality as a band to back such a ridiculous title.
This album is by no means terrible, but it is really boring. If elevator music used pipe organs and slide guitar exclusively, it would sound just like Country Porno Electric Fireplace. Every song sounds exactly the same and almost every track uses the same slow, plodding tempo, the same instruments, and the same forgettable vocal melodies and lyrics. Even the song featuring Australian singer-songwriter Xavier Rudd is virtually indistinguishable from the rest of the album. The track “Food For Thought” is an ironically telling example of the band’s lack of creativity—there is absolutely nothing about the song to set it apart, much less make it stimulating. Nine Mile gets an A grade for sticking words together to create a silly, intriguing, sensationalist album title, but every other aspect of this record is a C- at best. Just wake me up when it’s over.
—Mike McCabe
Massive Attack
Heligoland, Virgin/EMI
A-
YOU SHOULD KNOW that Massive Attack is bigger than the music for the opening sequence to the TV show House (Psst! They’re trip-hop legends!). Heligoland, the group’s fifth effort and first since 2003, sees Massive Attack add to their already impressive musical canon with more deadly bass, careful keyboards, inventive guitar work, razor-sharp programming, and trademark drums. “Splitting The Atom” and “Saturday Come Slow” are the key cuts this time around—the former a druggy horrorshow, the latter a troubled track that plucks the heart-strings—while “Paradise Circus” with its plush amalgam of piano, strings, bass, handclaps, and cooing is the just gorgeousness laid to tape. Yet a play-through of Heligoland sometimes doesn’t feel like a Massive Attack record, largely because uber-famous guests grace the project with their pipes: founders Robert Del Naja and Grant Marshall rarely stand out in the creative vocal orgy that includes Damon Albarn of Gorillaz, TV On The Radio’s Tunde Adebimpe, and American songstress Hope Sandoval. Such outsourcing might irk purists, but for most it’s an aural orgasm, one that should make casual fans reconsider labelling Massive Attack as mere House music.
—Michael Olender
Charlotte Gainsbourg
IRM, Wea International
THREE YEARS AFTER her sophomore album 5:55, Charlotte Gainsbourg has finally released IRM. The album, which is an ode to her near fatal experience after a serious cerebral hemorrhage in 2007, shows just how far Gainsbourg has come these past few years.
This album is a seemingly therapeutic effort from Gainsbourg; the lyrics throughout IRM show her process in coming to terms with her brush with death. On the haunting and ghostly title track, Gainsbourg takes listeners through her experience with an MRI machine, singing, “Leave my head demagnetized / tell me where the trauma lies.” Throughout the album, Gainsbourg reflects on events in her past and her present struggle to stay afloat. This motif becomes especially apparent on the poppy, playful first single “Heaven Can Wait,” on which Gainsbourg expresses the feeling of being unable to deal with life’s constant tribulations.
What Gainsbourg achieves in IRM is the ability to juxtapose her often morose lyrics with a fun, avant-garde backing—largely thanks to Beck’s production and his own ability to do the same (think “Loser,” “Devil’s Haircut”). His influence bleeds through the tracks, blending with Gainsbourg’s wispy vocals and string sections that sound similar to Beck’s own album Sea Change. With the exception of “Dandelion”, an unfortunate track that toys around with twangy, country guitar, IRM is a solid effort. This is an album that fans can listen to from start to finish, enjoying the entire ride.
—Andrew Stanley
the Charlotte Gainsbourg review is RAD. kudos.