The CanCon Catalogue

Tuesday Revue: In which I write about the new releases that might actually be worth checking out.


The Tuesday Revue: Remember back before the internet? Back when if you wanted to hear a new album you actually had to wait for it to be released, and then go, physically GO, buy it? Those days sucked, right? But there was also something to the experience of carefully considering which works were worth your time and cash, and then experiencing them as a whole. The Tuesday Revue tries to present, for your consideration, albums that might actually be worth more investment than the time it takes to find a torrent. This week: Gentleman Reg and K'naan.


I. Gentleman Reg- Jet Black

I don't know whether it's microtizing or a huge marketing blitz across the spectrum (my money's on the former), buts ads for this release have been following me around the internet for the past much. Fair enough. Because from a marketer's perspective, this album is right up my alley: a semi-quirky singer-songwriter who is a former member of the Hidden Cameras and Broken Social Scene member and is regularly compared to (and works with) Sufjan Stevens releases his long-anticipated fourth album? That's definitely within my niche, even if I have the same amount of passion for Sufjan Stevens as I do for, I don't know, flax (I'm aware it exists and may even get a taste once in a while, but darned if I know or remember-- how's that for a metaphor?)

But even with the targeted marketing coming my way and the buzz coming out of ear-to-the-ground outlets as far back as November '08, I really expected to shrug my shoulders at this one, so when I actually sat down to give it a listen, I came out surprised. The first fourteen seconds of the first song, "Coastlines" had me thinking all my expectations were correct: acoustic guitar? Check. Lo-fi vocals? Check. Backing female vocals that sound like someone's sister? Check. But then, fifteen seconds in the song drops in key for mere moments, and suddenly the song sounds like mid-90s alt rock circa the Foo Fighters, and then at 0:36 there's actually some Talking Heads style guitar noodling. When the not-quite honky-tonk piano comes in, I'm sold.

And that's where Gentlemen Reg gets his strength. He plays the style of 2007-2009 indie rock that we all love to hate, but it's rooted in and draws from (alt) rock history, throwing in enough variety to keep it interesting. "When Heroes Switch Professions" sounds like it's recorded underwater, "How We Exit" has some Queen of the Stones Age type riffiage going on, and "Rudy" cribs an organ line from the Trojan Records catalogue. Every song has at least three distinct parts to it, and the variety of instruments is always used for effect, not novelty. Don't get me wrong, with the possible exception of "We're In A Thunderstorm," which draws on the trance movement of a decade ago, this album is firmly within the "twee" (if that's the word) singer-songwriter spectrum, but is better than average.

If nothing else, check out the first single "You Can't Get It Back," (posted below). This is a definite highlight, with Reg at his most rock and roll, the mumbled lyrics coming off like Hayden and the slightly distorted guitar coming off like Randy Bachman.

You can preview the whole album at Gentleman Reg's myspace, and you can buy the album from Arts and Crafts or cheaper at Zunior.

"Coastlines"




Next Review: K'naan, "Troubadour"

Tuesday Revue: In which I write about the new releases that might actually be worth checking out.


The Tuesday Revue: Remember back before the internet? Back when if you wanted to hear a new album you actually had to wait for it to be released, and then go, physically GO, buy it? Those days sucked, right? But there was also something to the experience of carefully considering which works were worth your time and cash, and then experiencing them as a whole. The Tuesday Revue tries to present, for your consideration, albums that might actually be worth more investment than the time it takes to find a torrent. This week: Gentleman Reg and K'naan.

II. K'naan- Troubadour

Like Gentleman Reg, this is that rare indie Canadian release that comes with a lot of pre-release buzz, although this time I think it's a little more mainstream. As the X3 Artist of the Month K'naan has been getting love from CBC Radio 3, aux.tv, and Exclaim! magazine, but perhaps more notably (in terms of the level of exposure he's experiencing) he's been everywhere from CNN to Jimmy Kimmel over the last month. Say what you will, he's out there working.

Musically, Troubadour starts out promisingly enough with TIA (standing for This Is Africa), with a beat that could almost be an M.I.A. throwaway. For anyone who listened to The Dusty Foot Philosopher, we are immediately given a familiar theme: Africa is way, way, way worse than anything most North American rappers are familiar with. From the first verse:

"I take rappers on a field trip any day.../I know where all the looters and shooters stay/Welcome to the city we all call doomsday."

The problem I had, and continue to have, with this type of track is that while it ostensibly trying to put self-styled North American gangsters in their position, it's being done in the same way that they put each other in their position: by bragging about how much toughter their hood is than anyone else's. Granted, it's undoubtedly true that K'naan's seen harder times, but it's still the same game of one-ups-manship that he's supposed to be against.

Fortunately, these tracks never get out of control, and he's far more reflexive elsewhere, remembering the time he was nearly killed by a grenade, or the choice his mother had to make in leaving behind K'naan's cousins in order to get her son our of war-torn Somalia. "Fatima" is perhaps the best of these reflections, finding K'naan lamenting about the girl he left behind when he came to North America, crying, "Damn you country, so good at killing/ Damn you feeling for perserving." He's a gifted lyricist, no doubt, whether talking about life for a soldier in Iraq, praising his mother, or describing the "fifteen minutes" it takes for a money transfer to be processed so he can eat again.

In fact, K'naan is that rarest of breeds: a rapper whose lyrics are better than his beats. And while he attributes this to the need to send money home rather than buy Kanye tracks, it is a setback. With some notable exceptions like "TIA," first single "ABC's" and the inverted blues Mos Def collaboration "America," too often the music veers into the overproduced dance/pop/hip-hop sound that you may be familiar with if you've spent any time listening to local "world" music. Actually, when I think of it, K'naan is also strange in that he's a rapper who's better live than recorded, since he performs with a backing band, which make for a more organic sound than most of what you find here.

That said, this is still definitely worth getting. There's enough good ideas and K'naan is engaging enough that it overcomes the shortcomings, even when it's Adam Levine of Maroon 5 being completely unnecessary in the otherwise fantastic stutter-funk of "Bang Bang" or Kirk Hammett getting in the way on a redux version of "If Rap Gets Jealous." At one point K'naan brags "I made the list this year, I'm honour roll." If that's true, then let's hope his next album sees him ditching the big-name vocal collaborations from other genres (Damian Marley, and Mos Def, and Chubb Rock, who actually have personal relationships with K'naan and sound natural here, excluded) and spending the saved cash on some big-name beats. But then again, given how good his stripped-down live performances on Q were (listen here), maybe he should just pocket it and skip the money transfers.

You can listen to Troubadour on K'naan's MySpace (but you should probably read this first), and you can buy it here.

"TIA"