THINK ABOUT LIFE - Family

The artwork for Think About Life’s sophomore album Family shows the three band-members (vocalist Martin Cesar, keyboardist Graham Van Pelt and drummer Matt Shane) sitting on a Persian rug at Friendship Cove, the venerable Montreal venue where parts of this album were recorded and where 2/3 of the band used to live. Behind them hangs a green screen backdrop, which has been Photoshopped to show different scenes, including a marsh, a beach, and a waterfall. The way they’re sitting makes it look like they’re posing for a family portrait, which is fitting considering the name of the album. Besides that, the artwork is slightly ridiculous, though still pretty amazing. You may be wondering, “Alright, you like the artwork, but what about the music?” Okay, sorry. This album is fun, catchy, and 100%-danceable. I find myself walking around the street humming “Sweet Sixteen” on a daily basis. This might just be the strongest album I’ve heard all year, from start to finish. This is all coming from someone who doesn’t really dance, and who primarily sits at home listening to slowcore and brooding alone in my bedroom, so this album is a bit of a coup d'état for me. Instead of resisting the urge to revel, I’m going to embrace the new outlook on life this album has provided me. Soon you’ll see me walking down College with a neon t-shirt, oversized sunglasses and a copy of Family blasting from my ghetto blaster. Won’t you join me?

ATTACK IN BLACK - Years (by one thousand fingertips)

Attack In Black used to play hardcore music, but over the course of three full-lengths and a few EPs, they’ve transformed into a folk-rock force to be reckoned with. Nevertheless, most people know them for their song "Young Leaves," which was a staple on mainstream rock radio a few years back. If you were to attend a recent AIB concert, you wouldn’t hear that song. In fact, you would be lucky to hear many songs from that album (2007’s debut LP Marriage). Instead, you would hear some electrified versions of songs from their vinyl-only follow up to Marriage, the home-recorded acoustic album The Curve of the Earth, plus a lot of songs from their newest album Years (by one thousand fingertips). Trust me, this is excellent news. Not that Marriage was a bad album, but it was made before the band has really found their voice. Rather, voices. Until The Curve of the Earth, Dan Romano was the only singer in the band, and he sang in a rough, aggressive style, which was fine for music they were making at the time. Since they’ve mellowed out, all the other members (guitarist Spencer Burton, drummer Ian Romano and bassist Ian Kehoe) have taken a turn at the microphone, which adds a welcome dimension to the band. On Years, which was recorded entirely in the Romanos' parents' basement in Welland, ON and at friend Shotgun Jimmie’s farm in Sackville, NB, Attack In Black complete their transformation from radio-friendly punks to lo-fi indie-rockers. With this transition, hopefully people who had them pigeonholed will give them another listen, since a band this talented deserves a second chance.

IRON AND WINE - Around The Well

It’s hard to believe that Iron And Wine has just released a 2-CD/3-LP collection of B-sides and rarities. Most artists require a bit more time to amass enough songs for such a large collection, but not Samuel Beam. While his debut album was released in 2002, it wasn’t until his follow-up (2004’s Our Endless Numbered Days) that he truly became a household indie name. Since then he’s been a busy (and ever more bearded) man, with a series of EPs (including 2006’s marvelous collaboration with Calexico In The Reins) and another full-length now under his well-worn belt. Still, at 23 tracks, Around The Well is an impressive compilation and proof that the last few years have been quite productive for the fecund Austin-based singer-songwriter. From never-before heard early recordings to covers of songs by The Flaming Lips, The Postal Service and New Order to songs from movie soundtracks (“The Trapeze Swinger” was recorded for the 2004 film In Good Company - luckily the song is far more memorable than Topher Grace’s performance) all the way to tracks from 2007's The Shepherd’s Dog sessions, fans will find a lot to love here. It won’t take long for these songs to make their way on to the next mix-tape you’re going to make for the cute boy/girl down the way that you’re too nervous to talk to.

GRIZZLY BEAR - Veckatimest

Sometimes you just wish Pitchfork would shut up already. It's not that I question their sincerity, but their rabid hyperbole leading up to this very anticipated third album by Grizzly Bear only further incites the wolves of backlash to salivate at the Brooklyn quartet's backdoor, 'cause here's the thing: it's not as though Veckatimest sits above reproach. Despite their burly moniker, Grizzly Bear make precious, subtle, intricate indie-folk that is short on backbone and long on wind--they don't sit well jammed down your throat. Their strength is as the underdog, the private find; this whole "saviours of indie" thing fits as awkwardly as a David Byrne hand-me-down. But away from the impossible glare of perfect-score track reviews and hopelessly knock-kneed blogging, the true beauty of this very lovely album emerges. Veckatimest is a well-struck merger between 2006 breakout Yellow House (see awesome rolling and tumbling opener "Southern Point") and co-lead vocalist Daniel Rossen's 2008 Department Of Eagles disc In Ear Park (the crisp trot of "While You Wait For The Others"), and further listens really reveal some expert writing and performances, via the gently cascading waves of "Cheerleader" and the devastating climaxes of "I Live With You". As for the inevitable backlash, loving Grizzly Bear is like believing in Christmas--sure, you can find plenty of logical reasons not to believe the hype, but those who do are guaranteed to have a lot more magic and happiness in their lives.

SUNN 0))) - Monoliths & Dimensions

Bringing the black into the white, the heavy into the light, the masculine into the feminine and their sludgy doom-drone into the airy environs of brass, choral and string arrangements, Monoliths' four sidelong pieces (the perfect length for a forthcoming 2LP edition, release date TBA) offer the most balanced perspectives yet on Greg Anderson and Stephen O'Malley's ever-expanding soundworld. Also, since it's an increasingly important factor these days when deciding what to physically own and what to simply download, it must be noted that Sunn 0))) have really outdone themselves with this disc's vellum-veiled packaging and cyanotype-and-Serra art direction; besides, without the lyric sheet, how can you expect to follow along with the front-and-center guttural philosophizing of frequent guest vocalist Attila Csihar?

ISIS - Wavering Radiant

With 2006's In The Absence Of Truth, this onetime Boston, now L.A. quintet beautifully blurred the lines that separate the genres they pulled from--metal, post-rock, doom, grindcore, you name it--but it came at a cost. As high as that album's peaks were, there were definite lows as well, moments where the band's increasingly glossy sound, gentler tendencies and meandering writing deadened the visceral thrills that made 2002's Oceanic such an achievement. Wavering Radiant, however, finds the band solidifying the case for their new direction with an effort that bests ITAOT in every way: think Disintegration-era Cure making an art-metal album and you get the picture. This album trades in their initial approach of repeated riffs and quiet-LOUD dynamics for what is easily the most nuanced and varied writing of their career--in other words, they're taking a similar path to that of Mogwai, except that where the Scots' last two albums have sadly revealed the weaknesses in their writing, Isis have truly found another gear to shift to here. Early fans and metal diehards who contend that the band is just going soft won't have their minds changed, but the brilliant performances and well-honed communication on Wavering Radiant will make the group plenty of new friends, even without their narrow-minded endorsement.

BECK - One Foot In The Grave: Expanded Edition

Much like Dylan and The Band's Basement Tapes (also recently reissued, as it were), One Foot In The Grave saw Beck Hansen temporarily setting up camp in a new town, in this case Olympia, Washington, woodshedding with willing players (K Records' Calvin Johnson, The Spinanes' Scott Plouf, Lync's Sam Jayne and James Bertram, and Chris Ballew from The Presidents Of The United States) and cobbling together an inspired, ramshackle and oft-old-time-influenced batch of songs ranging from the nonsensical and light-hearted to the dead-serious and forlorn. Beloved by many since its initial release on K back in 1994, this expanded edition on Beck's own Iliad imprint practically doubles the playing time, including the originally-omitted blues-harp stomper title track, the tender two-chord ballad "It's All In Your Mind", and enough other unreleased off-cuts to fall for that budding young 'alternative' troubadour all over again.

APOSTLE OF HUSTLE - Eats Darkness

Andrew Whiteman's previous effort National Anthem Of Nowhere saw him exploring a world of crisp Cubano indie-rock (sort of like Spoon lost in Havana), and the result was a high point in his songwriting. Eats Darkness is a decidedly different affair, less about songcraft than collage, rhythm, and inter-band communication. The album plays out much like a hip-hop record, with cut-and-paste one-minute skits rudely bashing into proper songs. It's fun and frenetic, but the real sticking power of the disc comes from the considerable talents of drummer Dean Stone and bassist Julian Brown. Always a big part of the AoH experience, Darkness gives them the wheel and the result is a sinewy, taut collection of tunes where lyrics are often reduced to little more than repeated mantras. It's a bold move for the band, but one that successfully mixes their rhythmic gifts into an original gumbo of musical influences.

VA - Marvellous Boy: Calypso From West Africa

Remember that whole Blur vs. Oasis snafu and its London art-schoolers vs. Manchester lads battle for British supremacy? Oasis may have borrowed most blatantly from the Beatles catalogue, but it's always been clear that Blur best understood the Fab Four's spirit of innovation and exploration. So while Liam Gallagher launches his attack on skinny jeans with mundane new clothing line Pretty Green, Blur/Gorillaz mastermind Damon Albarn's Honest Jon's label has slowly but surely been archiving all manner of exceptional unheard music from around the world. Calypso has been a big part of the label's identity from the start, and Marvellous Boy fits right in. Detailing a vibrant movement in West Africa in the '50s and '60s when African ex-pats were returning to home soil from the Caribbean, this collection is sunny and effortlessly enjoyable, but it also carries a historical punch courtesy of the label's typically thorough and well-written liner notes, as well as tracks like "Dick Tiger's Victory", which chronicles the Nigerian middleweight boxer's success in America. The range of genres within is impressive, from swing and highlife to Afro-Cuban jazz and military bands, and it's no shock that Marvellous Boy is a winner from start to finish. Patio music of the highest order.

DOG DAY - Concentration

There has always been a certain despondency to Dog Day's music. It could be the weariness in guitarist Seth Smith and bassist Nancy Urich's voices, or the hopelessness of their lyrics ("The neverending pursuit of happiness is hell but it ain't gonna find itself"). Whatever it is, Dog Day have never sounded gloomier that they do on their new album Concentration. In spite of this, the Halifax-based quartet--rounded out by drummer KC Spidle and Crystal Thili on keys--have crafted their finest release to date. Filled with subtle hooks and hypnotic moments throughout, Concentration may take a few listens to fully reveal itself, but when it does, you'll be hooked. With the help of mixer John Agnello (Sonic Youth and Dinosaur Jr.), Dog Day have created a truly possessive album that won't soon leave your CD player. Never before has gloomy been so catchy.

THE VASELINES - Enter The Vaselines

Just as Nirvana rose above the grunge pack with their love of melody, Scotland's Vaselines distinctly strayed from the path of their peers when they emerged in the year of the legendary C86 comp that firmly established bookish, asexual and twee as key features of indie-pop to this day. What set The Vaselines apart from the crowd was a scrappiness that put them in league with the American indie scene, especially the burgeoning home-recording/lo-fi aesthetic led by Calvin Johnson. Eugene Kelly and Frances McKee were defiantly sloppy, carefully balancing his vocal laziness (and wild fuzz-guitar solos) with her sunny exuberance. Buried under the amateur playing and production, though, were classic tunes that would endure far beyond their initial run (in fact, they are actively touring once again, playing Lee's Palace on Fri. May 15). By 1989 they were history, and in 1992 Sub Pop reissued the two EPs and album (Dum-Dum) that comprised the entirety of their released output as The Way Of The Vaselines: A Complete History. Here, you get that collection, along with a bonus disc of live performances and demos that make clear why Kurt Cobain loved The Vaselines enough to cover three of their songs throughout Nirvana's career (and name his daughter Frances).

MOKIRA - Persona

It goes without saying that we're always on the lookout for new music, so thanks to the mighty Boomkat (as well as the recommendation of one of our regular customers) for the tip on this one. Although Sweden's Andreas Tilliander has been crafting electronic music for the better part of the last decade, releasing self-described 'clip-hop' on Raster-Noton and Mille Plateaux in the early '00s, his music as Mokira for the Type label (this disc follows 2004's Album) strips the beats away and finds him fashioning finely-honed ambient floaters. Most of Persona is a seamless suite, making it all the easier to get carried off into its drift, as its elements crossfade from crackle-and-hiss-laden treatments to weighty feedback murk, with percussive shards spiking out and eventually clanking together some semblance of melody. Tilliander's recent straight-up TB-303 techno (released under his own name, and heard on his MySpace page) creeps in obtusely on "Valla Torg Kraut", while the home stretch turns to Spiritualized and Spacemen 3 for inspiration, only to then take a deep breath and plunge back into the depths for a misty tape-fuzz finale.

JOYCE, NANA VASCONCELOS & MAURICIO MAESTRO - Visions Of Dawn

Despite the trio billing and the outstanding ensemble playing throughout, for all intents and (collectors') purposes, this is Joyce's great unreleased record from the mid-'70s. All three were graduates of Luis Eca's Familia Sagrada that toured Mexico and produced the legendary (and insanely arranged) La Nueva Onda De Brasil. Recorded during the same European stint that produced the beautiful Passarinho Urbano, this album was recorded in Paris but never issued until now. An excellent transitional album, Visions bridges her folky psych-samba of the early '70s and points to the dancefloor jazz heights she would achieve with 1980's Feminina after hooking up with future husband Tutty Moreno. The legendary Nana Vasconcelos handles percussion duties and keeps things dreamily atmospheric, occasionally ramping up the energy on tracks featuring Joyce's emerging scat singing style. Thanks to Far Out, the only full-length that remains unreleased from her first decade of recording is the Claus Ogerman-produced Natureza from 1977. Don't miss her when she makes her Canadian debut this summer!

THOMAS MAPFUMO & THE ACID BAND - Hokoyo!

This debut album under Thomas Mapfumo's own name (after earlier efforts with the Hallelujah Chicken Run Band) was released in 1978, one year before The Clash's London Calling, and in a way Mapfumo, the "Lion Of Zimbabwe", can be seen as his country's Joe Strummer, deeply political and musically direct. Mapfumo's key innovation, dubbed chimurenga, was to translate traditional Shona mbira melodies onto the guitar, creating a simpler style played in a taut staccato in contrast to the more fluid and complex style of highlife and rhumba found elsewhere in Africa. The way his Acid Band played in 6/8 or 12/8 time de-emphasized syncopation, making it no less tricky to groove to, while keeping things melodically repetitious in order to drive his revolutionary rhetoric straight to the widening consciousness of his people. Hokoyo! was a massive commercial success, and played no small role in swaying the then-Rhodesian musical and political climate, much to the chagrin of the colonial rulers who were defeated with the establishment of Zimbabwe in 1980. Keep an eye out for his second solo disc (this time with The Blacks Unlimited), Gwindingwi Rine Shumba, also reissued on Water.

RICHARD SWIFT - The Atlantic Ocean

Some would call Richard Swift a revivalist. For some reason, this works against artists these days--hipper strains of music journalism cast these albums as having "been done before". Well, Richard Swift takes what has been done before and bends it just slightly. With his keyboard choices on some of these tracks, he has almost created some type of space-age Tin Pan Alley fusion. On the tune "Bad Coma Motown", Swift interjects Salvation Army horns and banjo to fully realize this boozy march. For its part, "A Song For Milton Feher" grabs all the upbeat qualities of British flower-pop artist Keith West; on last track "Lady Luck", Swift goes all falsetto and channels his inner Smokey Robinson. On this fourth album under his own name (not including recent rock'n'roll and electronic sidesteps as Onasis and Instruments Of Science And Technology), Swift falls into company with contemporaries Plush and Kelley Stoltz, an esteemed group of younger men looking to carry the piano-pop torch into the next couple of decades.

ST. VINCENT - Actor

Annie Clark is the kind of omnivorous talent whose wandering eye can easily get in the way of commitment. She's firmly in the camp of an indie-rock Kate Bush, but like its title suggests, Actor is all about presenting as many layers of sonic textures and styles as possible. It all sounds immediately beautiful and lush, but if you end up wondering just who the real Ms. Clark is, I'd wager so does she. Still, what appears an act at first ends up quite personal, and as someone only halfway through her twenties and effortlessly capable of realizing whatever ideas arrive at her door, her willful flightiness ain't a bad thing. Actor doesn't quite jump out of the gate in the fashion of her spectacular debut Marry Me, and she could stand to harness a bit more of the raw guitar pyrotechnics that make her live show such an event, but what we do get is something just as worthy--a collection of petite poperettas whose bewitching dramas grow more commanding with each performance.

THE WEATHER STATION - The Line

With spring finally blasting sunshine in full force, it seems like an odd time to get into the deep blissful sulk that an album like The Line can inspire, but Tamara Lindeman's performances connect with such an immediate sense of intimacy that you cannot help but be surrounded in her songs. Although The Weather Station's first full-length release is comprised of the five songs from 2007's East EP (albeit in more finely-tuned form) plus six newer tunes, it is by no means a padded revamp, but rather a continuation of the same themes. Dark banjos, bowed strings and and the ambient rustling of wooden objects dominate the rural soundscape, and immediately betray the music's origins in Lindeman's self-recordings. Although augmented by friends and bandmates, these recordings remain personal, with Lindeman's voice sinking into the arrangements as if her words alone cannot express the whole of each song.

LHASA - S/T

When discussing her astounding trilingual 2004 album The Living Road, Lhasa offered that the songs on that record chose the language in which they were going to be sung, be it Spanish, French or English, but even the all-English titles found on the back of this record don't quite prepare you for Lhasa's gentle country-ballad opener "Is Anything Wrong", seemingly miles removed from the dark Spanish beauty of her debut. Then, there in the bridge, it appears--a subtle Latin hand-clapping break that provides the flavour we were expecting all along. Lhasa may only have two other albums to her credit, but they cast a long shadow amongst her faithful and she seems playfully aware of it, this time creating an album that explores what her voice can mine from her Anglo songbook. Though capably backed by members of the Godspeed/Silver Mt. Zion collective, this album is not anywhere as dark or intense as similarly-staffed excursions by Carla Bozulich as Evangelista. In fact, after a few spins, the more things change the more they stay the same--different palette, new colours, same uniquely expressive painter.

GLORIA JONES - Share My Love

Originally revered for the northern soul classic "Tainted Love" (before Soft Cell canonized it in 1981), Gloria Jones is also known as the backup singer and keyboardist in the latter half of T.Rex's career. When Bolan died in a car accident in 1977, she was the driver of the car. Share My Love was recorded in 1973, one year before she joined T.Rex. Aided by the great Motown arranger Paul Riser, Jones shows remarkable stylistic range, from the deep soul of "Try Love" and reggae of "Why Can't You Be Mine" to the proto-Philly sound of the title track and Mediterreanean flavour of "Oh Baby". Here, the then-Motown songwriter offers no musical hint of the stylistic shift she would take after joining Bolan both musically and matrimonially. At times, her singing mines a grittiness similar to that which also characterized Betty Davis' vocals, a sound she would largely abandon for her T.Rex years. Guaranteed to make many end-of-year soul reissue lists.

ANITA CARTER - Songbird

By the time the Carter Sisters took over the Carter Family name following the 1960 death of A.P. Carter, Mother Maybelle's youngest daughter had already taken her first steps as a solo artist 10 years earlier. Always reluctant to flee the nest, Anita didn't pursue a career outside of her family with the enthusiasm that her talent would have allowed her. This collection shows her moving from strength to strength in a stellar set of songs drawn mostly from the late '60s that makes this the best release by a long shot on the already-great country rarities label Omni. The bass-playing singer possessed a pure and soaring voice of remarkable beauty that made her a favourite duet partner of Hank Snow, Waylon Jennings (their classic "I Got You" is included), and Johnny Cash (she co-wrote "Ring Of Fire" with sister June, incidentally). Comparisons to Lynn Anderson are justified, although her pedigree gives her country pop a deeper authenticity. Throw in a few key Carter Family songs, and this is an unbeatable collection that will hopefully correct her underrated status in country music.