Flotilla
Disaster Poetry (Independent, www.flotilla.ca)
Flotilla are a four-piece from Montreal who count among their group members a classically trained harp player, and a soprano who likewise seems to have spent a lot of time in conservatories. Add to this mix an accomplished composer who handles keyboard and bass duties, and Flotilla's formal musical credentials are dauntingly impressive. Disaster Poetry, their debut, finds them applying their theory chops to a pop medium, and the results are teasingly encouraging. Singer Veronica Charnley's vocals are as lilting and mellifluous as a songbird, with hints of a Joni Mitchell-style meter, tugging gently at her undulating tones. Leadoff track "Beneath The Snow" is a fine example of Flotilla at their most approachable and compelling: vivid imagery, fluid transitions and playfully scurrying harps conspire to craft an unique, addictive sound. While the record does not always consistently strike this gold, there is much promise in the meticulously arranged chamber pop of a group whose best work seems yet to come. -Pras Rajagopalan
File Next To: Songbirds, tempests and harps

The First Punic War
The Unicorn (Carthage Vs Rome, www.thefirstpunicwar.com)
Alberta bred and Des Moines-based noisemaker Jason Warden will spike your consciousness like a stainless steel stickpin stabbed through an eardrum. The first track, "Unicorn," is all drunken screams at the moon, drums spread across the stereo spectrum, and fits of acid-trip guitars. Probably the first time I've heard stomping Led Zeppelin drums mixed in with pure searing electrified noise that will ensure many speakers get inspected for grounding problems. "Punk Rock" jitters along to its own chopped and rocked beat, satisfying in a way like seeing a snotty NIN fan mauled by a bear. The final track, "Simon the Sailor," may or may not be a joke, perhaps aping the muffled masked screams of another notoriously meat-headed metal band from Des Moines. But for a total of five minutes and fifty-five seconds, you can't really go wrong. Especially when you're talking about a white 7 inch record with a sexy, naked, and somewhat aloof unicorn woman on the cover. I bet her name is Amanda. -Tyrone Warner
File Next To: Chrome, Jesus Lizard

J-Zone
Experienced! (Old Maid Ent., www.zonesite.net)
Sampling has come back into vogue in hip-hop but there are very few people who are chopping shit up at the level the best did years ago. J-Zone puts on a clinic on this EP. It's ten tracks of cut-up Jimi Hendrix riffs layered on his trademark off-kilter beats. The drums here stomp right through the chopped up guitars and the result is a lo-fi, head-nod inducing funk. This thing isn't really for sale, due to an album's worth of uncleared samples, so go download. - Malcolm Smith
File Next To: Paul C's ghost

Kimya Dawson
Remember That I Love You (K Records, www.krecs.com)
Upstart "don't call us folk" New York duo The Moldy Peaches went on hiatus in 2002, and since then each of its members (Adam Green and Kimya Dawson) have been equally prolific, recording five solo albums each. Remember That I Love You, Dawson's second release on K Records, is a predominantly acoustic album which strips away the fuller textures of her K debut, Hidden Vagenda. Dawson channels the spirit of her inner child to articulate her insecurities and question the arbitrariness and unfairness of it all. This makes the record sound as though it were one of the countless life-sucks-and-it-always-will affairs floating around out there. This is decidedly not the case, as in the absence of irony, the wit, charm and playful candour on RTILY can be cuttingly affecting. Despite her trepidation at soon becoming a mom, or the helpless despair at watching her own mother's life hang in the balance, Dawson exhibits considerable spirit, always finding the silver lining to the dark clouds that hang over her ("If you want to kill yourself remember that I love you/Call me up before you're dead/We can make some plans instead"). It's true that her attempts at social commentary ("12/26") may mean well, but do not translate well within the context of her faux-naïve ultra-personal narrative. Still, on this record Dawson, in her own quirky manner, nakedly explores the shittiness in her life, and her own unique way of coping with it '“ "I got good at feeling bad and that's why I'm still here." -Pras Rajagopalan
File Next To: Your kid sister on anti-depressants

Leaving The Fold
Contort for the Two of Them (Marquis Cha Cha, www.marquischacha.co.uk)
Leaving The Fold's two-track single is an exercise in stop-and-go. Both songs contain several distinct hooky segments ranging from screamo to dry monotone to lightning-quick The Streets-esque verbiage, all over an eclectic indie-punk backdrop. A far cry from your average verse chorus structure, the changes will leave your head spinning. Particularly enticing is the amount of pure feedback used in the middle of the title track; a nod to noted influence Sonic Youth. However, for all of the diversity within the songs, the two tracks pretty much dip from the same sonic palette. Whether LTF can expand upon this in the future remains to be seen. Still, if you've got an open mind and are into screamo, this could be the band for you. Recommended. -Jon Sohn
File Next To: Sonic Youth, ...And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead

Orillia Opry
Pandion Haliaetus (Ships at Night, www.shipsatnight.com)
I've come to the conclusion that I may be dyslexic. When I requested this CD to review I did it based solely on the fact that I had read the name of the band as "Gorilla Opera" (a mistake that my spell check made as well). I just figured a bunch of gorillas belting out an opera was such a hilarious mental image that I couldn't pass it up. Then I got the CD and realized that the gorilla of my dreams was actually Orillia and I was like "As in that place near my grandparent's cottage?", Then realized that that was not spelt correctly either. My illiteracy aside, this is an awesome CD. There's plenty of country influence here, which I loved, but it's still indie enough for the masses. And I'm also a sucker for any band with dual male/female vocals. Check out Orillia Opry, no matter what your eyes may label them. - Spencer Butt
File Next To: The Diskettes, Henri Faberge and the Adorables, A Dictionary.

Plastic Little
Thug Paradise (Anything, www.plasticlittleraps.com)
Where have you been all my life? This is two guys from Philly rapping about being black and middle- class over some wicked dance beats. They make fun of thugs and talk about their love of tinfoil. It's hilarious and it's amazing. Warning, though: you're going to get this stuck in your head for days. It's incredibly catchy. "I like those indie girls that say they like electro/clash, crash, that's cool/I like Fischerspooner too/but naw bitch, I don't bitch/I like some Ice Cube." The bonus freestyle track where the guy raps about the characters in Masters of the Universe is also great. - Ryan McLaren
File Next To: Finally, hip-hop that can laugh at itself.

The Soft Disaster
Roughs/Stalls (Independent, www.thesoftdisaster.com)
Ottawa's The Soft Disaster returns after a near five-year break with Roughs/Stalls. Alternating between airy and earthy sounds, this album is a bleak one that evokes images of a cold, frozen winter. Album opener "Sunset/Sunrise" makes ample use of programmed drumbeats to complement its more organic sounds, such as acoustic guitar and banjo, a trend that continues throughout the record. The contrast is welcome, and not at all jarring. Even though it was recorded in five different cities, Roughs/Stalls is not the scattered affair that one would expect. For the most part, considerable restraint is used with each song concealing a cold bitter edge. Roughs/Stalls finally explodes on second-to-last track "Repetition," providing a fulfilling climax. Listeners looking for something to keep them company on a cold winter's day should look no further. Highly recommended. -Jon Sohn
File Next To: Elbow, Spiritualized

Sufjan Stevens
The Avalanche (Asthmatic Kitty, www.asthmatickitty.com)
So from what I can tell, this is the album that officially kicked off the Sufjan backlash, right? It's about time I suppose, given that his albums always seemed to delicately walk that line between urgently important musical genius and well-intentioned songwriter. The stark reality is that Stevens' songs wear a thin mask of historical textuality which barely conceal the forlorn, self-focused songs that wouldn't be out of place on a Bright Eyes or Dashboard Confessional album. Stevens' last, Come on feel the Illinois, was a single album intended to be a double, but with 22 tracks and track titles, it felt like a double anyways, dressing up every sigh and quiver in a technicolour dream coat. The Avalanche may be billed as "Outtakes and Extras," but it functions more like companion album, like an Amnesiac, to Radiohead's Kid A, or to the detractors, the Re-Load to Metallica's Load. "The Avalanche" still celebrates an embarrassing amount of Stevens' talent; "Dear Mr. Supercomputer" is spry like a youth group all-nighter, "The Henny Buggy Band" struts like a marching band, "Saul Bellow" would've fit nicely on Seven Swans, "Springfield" is bittersweet and lumbering, "The Perpetual Self" rocks out better than anything Sufjan has attempted before. Perhaps the most promising inclusion is the "Multiple Personality Disorder Version" of "Chicago," which shows that maybe Sufjan Stevens hasn't yet laid all his cards out on the table, and still has a wealth of new ideas for future albums. -Tyrone Warner
File Next To: Musical scores, history textbooks and tear-stained diaries.

Think About Life
s/t (Alien8 Recordings, www.alien8recordings.com)
It's taken me a while to form an opinion on this. The songs on this album are good, but there's very little cohesion. Stylistically, it reminds me of the Unicorns, but the Unicorns really felt like they had it together, where these guys are still cutting their teeth. It's mostly fuzzy electro, heavy on the keyboards and drums. Some songs are melodic and some complete noise. The two rave inspired songs, despite whatever pretentions you might have, stand out above the pack. It's really weird, cuz the vocals on track 2 sound like Bright Eyes and the vocals on track 3 sound like a complete ripoff of Steve Kado (The Blankket, Barcelona Pavilion). And then on track 5 they actually rip-off an "ooh-oh-oh ooh-oh-oh" from the Arcade Fire. But ultimately, I really like this. The energy and spirit is enough to keep me coming back to it again and agin, despite lack of cohesion. If these guys keep it up though, I bet the next album will be freakin' amazing. - Ryan Mclaren
File Next To: a Blizzard with too many toppings in it, even though those toppings are all good.

Vangel
Postmodern Eros (independent, vangelmusic.com)
If you ever listen to this CD I'd advise you to skip the first track, coz it gets severely awesome after that. The first track is pretty much like Mortal Kombat music, but more ambient and less good. After that, sheer radness. Vangel is such an amazing and original producer and the whole shebang was mastered by partner in crime, Dorc. It's cool to hear live instruments on what essentially amounts to an instrumental hip-hop album. And it's still gritty and dark, which I like. The little snipits of dialogue are perfectly timed as well. Ignoring the first track, Postmodern Eros is a really good CD. Check out the new More or Les CD too, cuz Vangel produces a bunch of track son that, including the best song on that album, called Shooting People and Disrespecting Women. - Spencer Butt
File Next To: Edan, Mike Oldfieldís Tubular Bells, Express Rising, 4Hero

Veil Maker
Do Not Be Afraid EP (Seraph/Saraph, www.veilmaker.net)
This is an odd and difficult EP to review, because Veil Maker, while being a really talented, exciting band, are just too all over the place to really get a handle on any particular sound. For example, the first track, "Coral Landing," begins with dark, sludgy guitar nu-metal riffs, which eventually transform into xylophones for an indie-style chorus which then slips into an emo-ish breakdown. The band expertly makes the ruckus sound cohesive, but some listeners may not be satisfied by the random-shuffle style. I admit it's a difficult argument to make, because diversity in music should be celebrated and Veil Maker is nothing if not adventurous. But when the high-octane screamo track "Dirt Veins" leads into the Bedhead-like intro of 'œAshen Prayer Beads'?, for example, it just saps the momentum of the EP, which later jumps randomly into Green Day-like punk rock. I suppose what it all comes down to is that like anyone else, sometimes you just want to rock'¦ so just give me from 2:13 to 4:39 on "The Realm of Ends" and I'll be happy. -Tyrone Warner
File Next To: Prog-emo-math-rock