Lady Gaga’s Artpop album
Too often, her songs are derivative and blunted by self-indulgence,
ARTPOP Lady Gaga (Interscope/Universal) ★★★
Just because you call it art, does it make it so? The problem with Lady Gaga’s decent third album is that it’s neither artful nor poppy enough. Flirtations with dubstep and disco get bogged down by awkward lyrics, leaving her scrambling for something that will stick. Fun opener Aura comes alive when Gaga rap-chants over a Daft Punkesque electro breakdown. She gets frisky on G.U.Y. and Sexxx Dreams, and is overshadowed by R. Kelly on Do What U Want; hits the runway on Donatella and Fashion!; and talks drugs, metaphorical and real, on Dope and Mary Jane Holland. Throughout, we get glimpses of her sharp pop instincts, but they are too often derivative (count the Madonna references) and blunted by self-indulgence.
T’cha Dunlevy, Postmedia News
LOVE BETWEEN US Karneef (Club Roll Music) ★★★
A familiar ’fro to Montreal afterparty night owls, Philip Karneef’s solo endeavour is jarring enough to jolt a loft space crowd into action, and groovy enough, with enough sweet spots, to keep them twitching. Love Between Us marches to its own awkward rhythm, and does so resolutely — it’s a nerdy ’80s interpretation of clean, studio funk: full of fat bass lines, austere guitar riffs and spaced-out synths. Comparisons with David Byrne are inevitable and warranted, but the Karneefisms peppered throughout the album’s off-kilter hooks and fun breakdowns are unique to his orbit. Whether he’s engaging in a spokenword dialogue with an unintelligible big shot, like on Talking Man, maxing out his credit card on We Found Money or lamenting a botched resurrection on Bring You Back, the lighthearted loose bits feel native to his intriguing headspace.
Erik Leijon, Postmedia News
ON AIR — LIVE AT THE BBC VOLUME 2 The Beatles (Capitol/ Universal Music Canada) ★★★★
The real exciting stuff, like Clarabella and Soldier of Love, was on the first volume of Beatles BBC radio recordings, released in 1994. The leftovers are represented by this newly issued sequel. Two covers — Chuck Berry’s I’m Talking About You and a rockin’ version of Beautiful Dreamer — are the only tracks officially unavailable elsewhere in a studio or alternate version. Of the 40 songs represented on this double disc, 13 were on the 1994 collection, as mildly different performances, and most of the rest are more than familiar. Still, there is sublime pleasure in hearing the Beatles, sometimes as sloppy as a vintage rockabilly Bside, joking with the hosts and banging out their hits and old favourites like a card-carrying garage band.
Bernard Perusse, Postmedia News
WILD LIFE Hedley Universal ★★★ 1/2
First, enough with the “punky” references to any and every band that evinces the slightest attitude in any genre — that word is retired, especially for anyone who was on an Idol show. Jacob Hoggard is not “punk.” Second, not sure how much dancier this is than Storms (2011) and I’m not going back to find out, but this somewhat surprisingly adored B.C. band brings the same energy as it moves ever danceward. Lead track Anything is cheekily catchy, bad word and all, and the bulk of the record maintains that attitude. There has to and will be dance-pop. Let’s go with a version this engaging, at least this week.
Mark Lepage, Postmedia News