Album: Collapse into Now

Label: Warner Bros.

Rating: 4/5

It’s been nearly thirty years since R.E.M. released their debut album, and with their fifteenth LP they have finally come full circle. After a series of lower profile releases over the past few years, R.E.M’s Collapse into Me arrives with forceful intent.

A relatively short album, Collapse into Me is a culmination of everything R.E.M. has accomplished previously in their storied career. There are moments from Lifes Rich Pageant and Green that are sporadically interspersed with elements from Automatic for the People and Monster (to name just a few of their albums that are nostalgically remembered here). In essence, it’s like a greatest hits album that consists of brand new material.

What is readily apparent, though, is that the band is gleefully embracing a sense of reckless abandon. Unashamed of their history, they are wholeheartedly allowing their past to influence the sound of this record.  Rollicking feel-good tracks like “Mine Smell Like Honey” (which includes energizing backing vocals from Mike Mills), “Alligator_Aviator_Autopilot_Antimatter” and “That Someone is You” have all been heard before to some degree, but yet seem innovative and original.

While at other times, the melancholic sensitivity that has always permeated throughout Michael Stipe’s song writing and vocals is echoed on the tracks “Oh My Heart”, “Walk it Back” and “Me, Marlon Brando, Marlon Brando and I”. Other musicians may know how to sing a sad song, but no one truly makes you feel it quite like Stipe does.

It’s readily apparent that Stipe, Mills and Peter Buck have graciously progressed into middle age with a new found passion for music. The album is refreshing in its approach because their rejuvenation resonates throughout the duration of every track, and consequently stimulates the listener’s ears. And, of course, it must be mentioned that the obtuse lyricism that has come to define the band as quirky eccentrics is still exemplified here.

An invigorating treat, R.E.M’S Collapse into Now is a reminder of how great this band still truly is.

Album: The Big Roar

Label: Canvasback Music, Atlantic, Black Bell

Rating: 4.5/5

Simply put, The Joy Formidable’s The Big Roar is a monumental odyssey into the realm of musical ecstasy. Juxtaposing ambitiously loud and monstrous sounds with powerful and eerily hypnotic vocals, the album is an embodiment of a wondrous imagination at work.

From the opening track “The Everchanging Spectrum of a Lie”, a Sonic Youth-inspired eight minute extravaganza, the listener is greeted with an audacious piece of epic grandeur. Swarming with an array of rhythmic abundance, the song is a blue print for what is to come over the next eleven tracks. And what is to come assembles into one of the best albums of the year.

A landscape of sonic majesty, The Big Roar confronts the listener with multitudes of style. Whether it’s the hard-hitting and confrontational “The Magnifying Glass”, with its booming combination of distorted guitars and thunderous drum patterns, or the enigmatic “Llaw=Wall”, with its simplistic melancholic structure that eventually gives way to a chorus that explodes with jubilant desire, the album revels in its diversity.

Though, if there is one aspect that really ties the album together, it’s located in its thematic make-up. There is a loneliness that permeates throughout The Joy Formidable’s richly-textured songs, and rather than undermine The Big Roar’s slight leanings toward catchy pop hooks, it instead provides greater character to the overall structure of the album.

A joy to listen to, the Welsh trio’s debut LP is an amazing achievement that will continue to appreciate with age.

Album: See It All

Label: None

Rating: 2.5/5

There is something to be said about a debut album that contains 17 tracks and lasts over 66 minutes. Unfortunately, everything that can be said is not always positive.

Now, there is no denying that White Lightning’s See It All is ambitious in its pursuits. It attempts a lot, and not surprisingly, frantically struggles to hold on. Though talented in their own right, the band’s overambitious plans deter from what may have become a great record

The album bizarrely commences with odd trance-like chamber music, and then awkwardly transitions into a Datarock influenced track entitled “Satisfaction”. From here, the album incorporates sounds ranging from pop and punk to alt rock and simple piano medleys, and then finally concludes with a bouncy remixed version of “Satisfaction”. Though the last song is interesting and one of the few tracks that is quite enjoyable, it does seem largely out of place.

See it All also seems to suffer from a lack of memorable songs. Save for “Satisfaction” and “Hold On”, the album’s track list comes off as highly forgettable. And even the times when the album begins to come alive musically, it is usually for all the wrong reasons. The song “City Lights” instantly ignites thoughts of 311 rather than an original White Lightning tune.

Overall, the largest problem just seems to be a lack of identity found on the album. There is no real clear-cut way to define this band (and that may seem like a positive attribute to have), but not on your debut record. You want to embrace the listener rather than mystify them with diverse aspects of your sound. Though there are moments of brilliant musicality, this ends up becoming a highly schizophrenic introduction from the Edmonton-based trio.

Album: Fair Hero

Label: Ironside Productions

Rating:  4/5

There is no doubt that Kinley is a name foreign to many ears. An Acoustic Folk singer from the prairies of Saskatchewan, Kinley (alias for Josh Docksteader) humbly introduces himself by weaving a web of simplistic pleasure on his debut album Fair Hero. 

Clearly faith-based (Religious-wise) as a songwriter, Kinley’s songs are personal inspirational tales of hope and perseverance in a world gone astray. Devoid of pretentious motives, the songs are truthful expressions of a longing heart. And though melancholic at times, there is no denying the optimism that resonates throughout the core of the album.

Kinley’s voice is a blend of sorrowful regret and unwavering endurance, and it truly aids the thematic structure of the album. Themes of loss and submission found in the songs “Mercy for Us All” and “Defeat” are interspersed with themes of rejuvenation and rebirth in “On the Edge of Triumph” and “Winter to Spring”. So, as straightforward as the album is stylistically, there is great emotional depth lyrically.

Though there are other musicians credited on the album (and they do provide exceptional support), this is a highly personal record that derives from one soul. And with nothing to lose, Kinley lays it all out for the listener to embrace.

Simplicity at its best.

Album: It’s a Beautiful Future

Label:  Rebel Time Records, Clandestine DIY Collective, G7 Welcoming Committee Records, Out of Tune Records

Rating: 4/5

The Rebel Spell’s It’s a Beautiful Future is an embodiment of what punk rock is supposed to resemble; an uncompromising lyrical molestation of the senses that is fearless in its onslaught of confronting social injustices. Without the presence of ambiguity, the album is a raw, abrasive, stripped-down DIY entity that strikes a voice for the little man through the subversion of mainstream ideals.

There is no time to waste as The Rebel Spell (out of Vancouver) relentlessly blast through 12 songs of outspoken attacks on what they deem troublesome with the world we live in. “Beautiful Future” is a sarcastic sneer towards our impending doom while “Uncontrollable” angrily leads a rebellious uprising against the oppressive forces of the powers that be.

Personifying the simplistic style of punk rock, The Rebel Spell infuse their commentary with a highly regimented mode of aesthetics. Throughout the duration of the album, the band incorporates a minimalistic use of chords (3-4 at the most), aggressive in-your-face drum patterns, and angry, venom seared verbalism directed towards anyone who has had the gall to piss these punk rockers off.

At times, however, there are concerns that the album will delve into parody as a result of thematic repetition, but the band quickly abolishes any thought of redundant blather by providing a highly energized presentation of the material.

There are traces of Bad Religion, The Offspring, and Rise Against filtered throughout, but The Rebel Spell understand how to incorporate (rather than copy and paste) their influences into assisting them personalize this album.

It’s a Beautiful Future truly breathes fresh air into the punk rock scene!

Album: The Bread and the Bait

Label: Antenna Farm

Rating: 3.5/5

A highly deceiving album, Foxtails Brigade’s The Bread and the Bait revels in its trickery. This is an LP that commences in a very simplistic way but quickly becomes a highly diverse piece of transcendent beauty.  Through the use of guitar, cello, and violin, Foxtails Brigade creates a sense of feeling regarding time and place. During most of their eleven-track debut album, the listener is transported to an era once lived.

At times, the soft, melodic tone of singer Lauren Weinbach’s majestic voice summons the innocence of a mother singing her child to sleep. While at other moments the tranquil pitch of harmonic beauty is interrupted by accelerated guitar finger plucks that insinuate nightmarish visions of increasing horror.

This is greatly emphasized on the songs “Pan-Asian Delight” and “Steak and Cookies”. Two truly bi-polar melodies where peaceful and innocent lyricism is interspersed with dark and foreboding imagery.

Though, at times, some songs (“Creeping Ophelia” and “The Hours”) inch towards the mundane and the simply boring, it never once takes the time to admire these characteristics. There is a vivacious spirit present here, and the album refuses to remain bound by simple genre limitations. Musically, it bounces around (in a good way) with the energetic exuberance brought about by inspiration, and through this motivation dares to delve into numerous themes ranging from gentle sombreness (“The Clown”) to nostalgic remorse (“Long Day”). In essence, each track benefits as a result of its unpredictable nature.

Though not for all tastes, The Bread and the Bait offers something new and exciting to the listener privileged enough to hear it.