Low and Dirty Three – In the Fishtank (Konkurrent): There are few American bands that embody the American sound like Low. Low mix a wonderful blend of alternative country and droning lo-fi pop. The “In the Fishtank” session were started by low as an opportunity to collaborate with other artists on a tight schedule. This time, they team up with Australia’s alt-country greats The Dirty Three. Two days in the studio produced this album, about 30 minutes of haunting pop. The two bands create lots of fuzzed out country guitar with a slight spiritual bent. They even tackle Neil Young’s “Down by the River”, which they extend into 9 minutes of lush sounds. If you dig this style of music, or alternative country, check out Low.
Final Grade: B
33.3 – Plays Music (Aesthetics USA): Instrumental bands are a bit of an enigma in music today, especially if they don’t play surf or metal. 33.3 are an instrumental band with a strong background in classical and avant garde jazz. They use cellos, violins, trombones, a bass and a drum set to make some of the best instrumentals I have heard in a long time. The music could easily fit onto your favourite easy-listening station, but I doubt this would ever happen. Most of the tunes have a subtle dark undercurrent to them, which makes the listen just a tad unsettling. At least you don’t fall asleep to it. Nods also to the work of Frank Zappa and John Zorn seem to percolate through the disk. Very good effort.
Final Grade: B
Mayor McCA – Me is He (Sonic Unyon): There are few individuals who can say they can out-weird Beck, but Mayor McCA is one of them. The Mayor is a solo act from Hamilton, Ontario. Much of the material on this disk falls into the Beck-ish area of wigged-out folk rock, though the Mayor is not content to stay there. Dissonance is often the name of the game here, as he melds off-beat classical piano, skronking garage rock, dumbed-down funk, bubblegum pop and all sorts of other strange musical territories into a strange melange of lo-fidelity rock. This is an eyebrow-raiser of a disk, in disgust or in audacity.
Final Grade: B-