THE ALBUM LEAF
In a Safe Place (Sub Pop, www.subpop.com)
But dang this is good. I was never on the Album Leaf train, at least not until I'd heard that Jimmy Lavell, who fronts the 'œband'? (so to speak, because it's basically just him), went to Iceland, hung out with Sigur Rós, and basically had a full-on audio makeover. That being the case, In a Safe Place is the album you are looking for to tide you over until the next Sigur Rós CD arrives. Some of the songs have vocals, some don't, most cruise by slowly and beautifully, building to heads and then levelling off. I was on a bus, heading home, listening to this and staring out the window. And it was a moment'¦ I kind of can't wait until winter, when I'll put this on and fully bliss out. '” AG
File next to: Glacial, Iceland, Sigur Rós, safety.

THE ARCADE FIRE
Funeral (Merge, www.mergerecords.com)
Talking about a band like The Arcade Fire in a zine like Wavelength nearly requires an academic dissertation on the justification of pleasure and free will in artistic communities. I know most of you have already written off these guys as jerks or boring or not Toronto enough but guess what? The best thing about being an adult is that you're allowed to like things your friends don't. And you know what? Funeral is a fucking great record. I don't care if Win and Régine are pompous asses faking the avant-garde and pissing you off because you're not getting enough attention right now. They're a fucking stellar band and you know you nearly cried that day in the basement of the Punch-Clock screen printing studio on Dovercourt when 50 of us crammed ourselves between the concrete walls and jumped around like some mythic faerie creatures advanced just enough to operate flashlights. So what happened? Suspend your disbelief and let yourself like something that other people do. '” SDT
File next to: Guelph and Montreal have more fun.

ARIEL PINK'S HAUNTED GRAFFITI
The Doldrums (Paw Tracks, www.paw-tracks.com)
When you're a whacked-out recluse, why wouldn't you dress up like Alice Cooper and pretend you're Elton John circa 'œIsland Girl'?? As long as your songs are as good as Ariel Pink's, you're doing everyone a favour, hell even a public service, by being a freak '” albeit, an irony-free freak. No one likes an ironic freak. But Ariel Pink sings this shit from the heart to the heart, and if you can't get up with it, hey that's your bag, but there's a whole lot of people who are gonna dig this. Animal Collective sure did, and that's why this is their label's first non-Animal Collective release. One thing's for damned sure: this sure beats Har Mar Superstar. '” KH
File next to: Gary Wilson, Kenneth Higney, early Guided by Voices and tape hiss.

MASAKI BATOH
Collected Works 95-96 (Drag City, www.dragcity.com)
The main dude from modern Japanese psych legends Ghost recorded a couple short psych-folk and atmospherics albums back in the mid-'90s and Drag City are the label who are gonna get 'em in your collection. Opening your album with a radically reworked cover of Can's 'œYoo Doo Right'? is a sure sign Batoh's taking the right doses, so I shouldn't need to tell you this is deeply moving and adventurous stuff because you already read my mind. '” KH
File next to: Wood nymphs, rock gardens, reverberating raindrops and becoming one with All.

BATTLES
B EP (Dim Mak, www.dimmak.com)
Oh holy jam, what can I say about Battles? They dig up the greatest bits of Don Caballero and don't shit on them like Damon has (see Bellini)? That they are more math than you will ever be? That even with all that math they are still funky? That with all of that funk they're still pretty? That each EP they've released so far has consisted of the same nature-colliding-with-technology artwork, and that I don't get it, but love it nonetheless? That they are the future of whatever's left of math-rock? That they're better than Storm and Stress and are even looking to take on Don Cab in this crazy Pittsburgh race? That they're everything you should want to sound like, even if they sound nothing like you want to. '” AG
File next to: My blown mind!

CHARALAMBIDES
Joy Shapes (Kranky, www.brainwashed.com/kranky)
So creepy yet so good. Tom Carter, his wife Christina, and the ghost of Heather Leigh Murray lay down some really spooky songs that will make you fear sleep. I don't listen to this often but whenever I do I get very weirded out. I don't know if it's good or bad, this weirding. I think it's good. The group blends psych with haunted houses, I mean, where is the bad in that? But sometimes Heather Leigh Murray's banshee wailing sends sparks up my spine and it feels like I'm sitting in on a séance. '” AG
File next to: I still hate you.

CONVERGE
You Fail Me (Epitaph, www.epitaph.com)
Holy fucking shit, Converge have done it again. As if Jane Doe wasn't enough of a masterpiece, the boys have matured even further and constructed an album that reminds me a lot of PJ Harvey. Which is a very, very good thing. All of the heavy hardcore with an added attention to the depth of rock. What else could you ask for? A fucking bowl of Cheerios in the liner notes? '” KH
File next to: Empty hope, desperation and Uh Huh Her.

DEATH FROM ABOVE
You're a Woman, I'm a Machine (www.deathfromabove1979.com)
I refuse to put the 'œ1979'? at the end of their name just because some coked up New Yorker who probably reads Vice to get tips on what's hot for his shitty Juan McLean project decided that it'd be fun to fuck with a band who're actually doing well for themselves by slapping a cease-and-desist on their name right when they were about to drop a verily great album on us and is probably enjoying life as a fairly soulless producer (at least I can kind of give the DFA props for supporting Black Dice) who'll be just another 2K era electro-clash footnote by the end of 2005, and is using his 15 minutes to do shitty things instead of good ones (Dice aside). That's why Death From Above will always be Death From Above. And this album rules SO HARD and the DFA suck SO BAD '” get that shitty Gatorade symbol and Rapture 12-inch out of my face before I punch the shit out of you. '” AG
File next to: Fuck you, DFA.

DEEP DARK UNITED
Ancient (Blocks, www.blocksblocksblocks.com)
DDU dig down into the essence of existence to unveil the sound of it unfurling before us, and there it is '” an autumnal, circling ebb and flow of no-wave-smacked free-jazz minimalism. Alex Lukashevsky's vocal delivery gets a little monotone after a while, and the lyrics are a little too know-it-all and omnipotent for me, even though dude's got a wicked grasp of symbolism and spiritual understanding, but a nice shot of modesty and a shaking of buddy's too-cynical foundations could guarantee DDU a future entry into the immortal world of All-Important Artists Who Get Remembered By Everyone For Being Super, if it hasn't yet been fully renovated into an Ikea. But until then it's DDU vs. The People, and the people always win. You gotta love them. '” KH
File next to: Pere Ubu, Henry Cow, the Tower Recordings and a roomful of Blocks kids making a helluva racket.

EX-PO
Harsh Lines Point Homeward (Film House, www.filmhouserecordsings.com)
Dean Marino, self-professed songwriter/recordist, captures a burst of sweet melody and melancholy harmonies presented for consideration in Harsh Lines Point Homeward under his Ex-Po moniker. The cover art, which features skiers on a frozen lake, betrays the warmth and sweetness of the music inside. Released on Film House Recordings, the Toronto-based label run by Marino, the songs are all about navel-gazing and reflection, but are perfect for those lazy afternoons when you need a little bit of indie-friendly Can-con. While usually fulfilling vocal, writing and guitar duties for the rock group Knacker, Marino here instead flexes his pop music muscles, and these songs would no doubt fit nicely amongst a play list featuring Mike O'Neill and Matthew Sweet. All of the tunes are instantly catchy, as precisely illustrated by 'œSister Look Up'? and 'œBombs Away,'? which both make this EP worth picking up. '” TW
File next to: East Coast power pop

THE FIERY FURNACES
(Live at Mod Club Theatre, September 12)
For my first foray into the lovely, albeit very Austin Powers-esque Mod Club Theatre, I decided to check out The Fiery Furnaces, whose latest album, Blueberry Boat has been uploaded quite heavily from me on Soulseek lately. The straight-up four-piece live version of the band turned their insane, circus-prog studio sounds into something much more accessible, but equally rocking. Their set was basically a big-ass 45-minute pastiche where they would go from one song to another, and back to one they'd played part of before. If this was any other band, it could have come off as a cheesy 'œmedley'? or 'œjam session,'? but it worked to their advantage, allowing the crowd to only react to the things that they were genuinely excited to hear (well, those who weren't scratching their heads, and looking at each other with expressions of pure 'œWTF? anyway'¦'?). To top everything off, all was said and done by 11pm, giving one enough time to continue the rock at Wavelength, or to get a good night's sleep for Monday like a wussy baby (me). '” SB
File next to: A Kinder surprise with ROCK! (not rocks) in it.

PJ HARVEY
Uh Huh Her (Island, www.pjharvey.com)
Polly Jean Harvey hasn't managed to become boring or predictable over the many albums in her career, constantly changing chameleon-like with songs that either whisper or howl. While not reaching the raucous heights of some of her earlier work, Uh Huh Her demonstrates the less-is-more aesthetic. The album is quite stripped down from those days of Rid of Me. With an album design that looks like a scrapbook, it appears that PJ is reflecting on her past to come to some understanding of self. There's a touching vulnerability present now more than ever. A much more personal and intimate effort, there's a mature progression from ideas suggested on Is This Desire and her album with John Parish. But die-hard fans have no fear, there are a few classic PJ tracks like 'œCat On a Wall,'? 'œWho The Fuck?,'? or note-writing as sexual metaphor on 'œThe Letter.'? '” SV
File next to: Kim Gordon on 'œMariah Carey/Arthur Doyle...,'? Karen O's crooner phase.

KING COBB STEELIE
Destroy All Codes (Outside Music; www.kingcobbsteelie.ca)
THE STRAGGLER
Torches Etc. (self-released; www.thestraggler.com)
The longevity of King Cobb Steelie is quite astounding, especially considering the Canadian music industry's general indisposition towards helping out innovative and influential bands who might not sell shitloads of records. The post-rock progenitors released their debut back in '˜93, beating out Tortoise by a full year. (Note: by 'œpost-rock'? I mean the original Simon Reynolds definition, referring to rock bands that incorporate electronics and non-rock influences. Mogwai are not post-rock; neither are Godspeed. That's drone-rock. Got me?) This is only the fifth KCS album since then, and it marks the first time guitarist Kevan Byrne has put away the lyric sheet completely. The band seems reinvigorated by the new instrumental direction. Destroy All Codes is a solid slab of abstract funk, and the band's air of melancholy menace is greatly enhanced by the wordless delivery. Dub-tastic bassist Kevin Lynn's solo record, released quietly late last year under the name The Straggler, seems like a more robotically whimsical counterpart to Destroy, to the point where it seems some tracks from the former have been reworked for the latter. Normally, when a band become less a 'œband'? than a bunch of guys messing around on computers, that's when they start to go horribly wrong, but not in the Kevs' case. Maybe it's because their '˜choons remain so relentessly rhythmic. Seeing the Steelie live and dancing my ass off every time they came to town used to be a monthly ritual for me. Maybe it's time to revive that tradition. '” JD
File next to: The 1994 they forgot to tell you about.

NAGISA NI TE
The Same as a Flower (Jagjagwuar, www.jagjagwuar.com)
What is it with this album? I don't understand Japanese but find myself singing along to some of these songs after repeated listens. The English translations of the lyrics make them less interesting to me than they are on disc. This pastoral mix of dreamy psych-folk and low-key pop from this Osaka duo is a nice little treasure to behold (even if I don't know what they're saying). Sincere singing and slow-moving guitar strums set a nice tone throughout. Some of the best songs are those that have Masako Takeda and Shinju Shibayama's layered Japanese vocals making more of an impression as musical sounds than discernible lyrics. Nagisa Ni Te translates to 'œOn The Beach'? and this seems to be the place that you go when listening to this album, serene summer days without a concern for anything but the moment. A captivating release. '” SV
File next to: Sugar Plant, Maher Shalal Hash Baz, watching 'œMaborosi'? without subtitles.

Q AND NOT U
Power (Dischord, www.dischord.com)
This album is great! High pitched squeaky vocals with power drumming and math-y guitar. Seriously making me re-evaluate Q and Not U, from decent post-punk to great post-punk (I don't want to call them dance punk, because that'd be a disservice). Even included on the album are 'œX-Polynation'? and 'œBook of Flags,'? so now I don't even have to get that single. '” AG
File next to: The only other decent Dischord band left, Black Eyes.

QUINIMINE
Like Pistons for Engines (Grey Flat, www.greyflat.com)
The new Quinimine sounds exactly like the old Quinimine. Take that however you want to... just that the band has established a niche and are sticking to it. Walls of reverb, chiming guitars, understated vocals, brushed drums, present but not over-present bass... that's basically the set-up. Let's say they sound a lot like Low and are still good. Let's say that they're another Hotel2Tango band out of Montreal that have been hyped as a Godspeed side project, and that that is unfair, because Godspeed have become the threshold by which shit should be judged. Let's just say they're decent slow-core and be done with it. '” AG
File next to: Low, Movietone, omnipresence.

THE SADIES
Favourite Colours (Outside, www.outside-music.com)
Up until now I never realized The Sadies were a Toronto band. I knew they were Canadian, but I always figured they were from out west or something. There is that definitely West Coast feel to their music, like The Byrds or Buffalo Springfield. Anyway, that's an aside, as this album is really nice, down-tempo country-pop, sort of like the two bands I mentioned, sort of like Hayden, all good. Too bad I haven't heard any other Sadies stuff, otherwise I'd probably have more to say. '” AG
File next to: Buffalo Springfield, Byrds, Hayden, Gram Parsons.

SEA SNAKES
Clear As Day, The Darkest Tools (Three Gut, www.threegutrecords.com)
Okay, so maybe I somehow got a copy of the Sea Snakes' new prize a little early. In June? July? I do not know where it came from. Jesus Himself could have slipped it into my backpack, I would not be surprised. Clear as Day, The Darkest Tools, is not an easy thing to contain. Every time I saw a member of the Sea Snakes on the street, it was all I could do to restrain myself from proclaiming 'œYOUR RECORD IS THE MOST FANTASTICAL THING EVER!'? It was like having a talking cat and not being able to tell anyone about it. Sea Snakes, you have turned me into Sabrina the Teenage Witch! Anyway. I gave up. I caved in. I could not pretend I had not heard this record, and so now I will declare it to all '” THIS RECORD IS THE MOST FANTASTICAL THING EVER! Sounding like so many things I'd forgotten I'd loved, but still sounding all its own. Parts lead to parts lead to parts I could never imagine and a voice I could never explain. Beautiful. And, though I was neither born nor bred in the GTA, this record gives me a surprising sense of hometown pride. The boys done good. '” RP
File next to: Wooden Scud Painters, Red House Stars, Karate Mountain Boys.

SIX ORGANS OF ADMITTANCE
The Manifestation (Strange Attractors, www.strange-attractors.com)
Basically what is here is a re-release of BaDaBing's 1999 single-sided twelve-inch, The Manifestation, a long guitar and vocal raga that has not seen CD release since. Let me say foremost that it is good. Drones, bells, and the ever-present acoustic guitar, along with dual vocals and chimes. But that isn't it. If it were, that would be fine. But it's even better. A second track, recorded just recently, featuring Current 93's David Tibet, is tacked on, and it is incredible. Basing its sound vaguely on harmolodic theory, but not really, since no one fully understands harmolodicy, it crackles like a dusty 78 dug up out of your grandfather's crates. I won't go into it, but it's amazing. This is amazing. Six Organs is amazing. '” AG
File next to: The new weird America.

GREG SMITH
Hot as a Lemon (Self-released, www.gregsmithsound.com)
Toronto guitar slinger Greg Smith shows on Hot as a Lemon that he is more than just handy with a six-string, but has creativity and ideas to spare. Known for his hook-ups with Martin Tielli and Christine Fellows, Smith shows here his own individuality over a diverse collection of songs, from hyper trash rock ('œStars to Me'?), acoustic ballads ('œBlue,'? 'œSuzy'?), catchy pop tunes ('œNiagara Falls,'? 'œThe Level,'?), experimentalist soundscapes ('œBorder Wars'?) and the downright weird ('œJust Another Moment In Our Beautiful Lives,'? 'œVince the Shoemaker'?). If the album was heavier on the pop successes, like the wonderful 'œYou're On,'? then the album would definitely take Smith places, but the large amount of excess throwaway songs just bog things down too much. But the good songs far outweigh the bad, and Greg Smith is definitely worth a listen. '” TW
File next to: Broken Social Scene, Neutral Milk Hotel.

SONS AND DAUGHTERS
Love the Cup (Domino, www.dominorecordco.com)
Wow, I heard this record for the first time and thought that PJ Harvey had actually made a good record again, had her and Liz Phair not already died in a hideous head-on car crash three years ago, leaving no bad records behind. But alas, that was too good to be true! Instead it was this awesome no-flash collection of about six great songs. Girl-singer-boy-singer outfit from Glasgow with liner notes that mention no famous friends. Good old pop. You might have seen them on tour with fashion band Franz Burdonhand, but don't hold that against them. It's great. '” MCOH
File next to: Busted singing in subway station aloud.

EVAN SYMONS
On Strike for Sanity (Self-released, www.stepandahalf.com)
Is the British Columbia weed a little too good? On Strike for Sanity, a pseudo tribute to the coked out '70s which features all the standard rawk instruments played by Vancouver resident Evan Symons, makes a compelling case for why a little restraint could go a long way. From this collection of songs as evidence, it seems the weed is strong enough to make Symons believe it's 1973 and he is a bare-chested, denim-wearing, fringe-flying guitar GOD, with a wickedly funny sense of humour that no one else never really seems to get. Symons does a great job of showing off his charisma and well-rehearsed and complicated guitar lines, but if he had a real rhythm section, this collection would have the potential to really swing. On Strike for Sanity was a road once well tread by Tricky Woo, but will no doubt satisfy all the kids down at Long and McQuade wearing Led Zeppelin t-shirts. '” TW
File next to: Psychedelic stoner rock, Just Say No.

TWILIGHT SINGERS
She Loves You (One Little Indian, www.indian.co.uk)
*sw33tpie: np: The Twilight Singers covers record.
*0hn0ra: 'œToo Tough To Die'? rulez!
sw33tpie: Yes!
sw33tpie: 'œBlack Is The Color,'? 'œHyperballad,'? 'œPlease Stay'?... I'm liking most of this a lot!
sw33tpie: 'œReal Love'? blows, though.
sw33tpie: Of course, I say this knowing full well that I'll love it in a few months.
0hn0ra: 'œReal Love'? is alright.
0hn0ra: Course, I have no knowledge of the original ;-)
sw33tpie: Oh I do!
0hn0ra: I'm sure
0hn0ra: Did you ever hear Blackberry Belle?
sw33tpie: I heard some of it in your car that time.
sw33tpie: I said it 'œsounded like porno music.'?
0hn0ra: LOL
0hn0ra: Not far off.
sw33tpie: You said something like, 'œwell that's basically what Afghan Whigs was.'?
0hn0ra: I remember.
sw33tpie: Though Afghan Whigs were very sexual; it was a lot more subtle and dark. Blackberry Belle was more blatantly 'œbow-chicka-bow'? sexy.
sw33tpie: This one's darker like the Whigs stuff, but focused on love rather than booty.
0hn0ra: Well I think the Whigs got less subtle the more they went along. 1965 is pretty in your face.
sw33tpie: That's true.
sw33tpie: Funny enough, this is the Dulli album with the most provocatively sexy cover image!
0hn0ra: Indeed. Reminds me of George Michael, LOL.
sw33tpie: Best album cover crotch since Amorica, dude.
0hn0ra: LOL. Nah. Black Crowes had pubes. '” SB
File next to: *Some screennames have been changed to ensure e-privacy.