Our Mercury
From Below (2005)

The second album from this Canadian born rock quartet brings a fresh sound that “whips you up into an irrepressible urge to scream and dance”.  It brings together a good variety of songs ranging from the fast upbeat numbers that you can rock out too and just as quickly switching to the more mellow pieces that fill you with the urge to chill.  The album itself starts off strongly with “Spirits Up”.  This is certainly a song that will get your spirit up, or if nothing else, push you to rise off your seat.  A very upbeat number with strong instrumentals, and (almost) completely comprehensible lyrics.  The album loses a little bit of this initial momentum as you start flipping through the tracks.  Specifically, you start hearing similarities in regards to the songs.  If you stop paying attention to the lyrics you might start wondering if you are listening to the a former track; perhaps not going that far, but a lot of the songs do have the same, if not a very close sound and feel.  However this does not take away from the album greatly as it ends just as strongly as it started with the song “Night of the Year”.  This track has a much lower tempo than what was started with, but makes just as strong a statement.   This album stayed pretty consistent in terms of quality, putting the similar sound aside, it proves to be a strong addition to the bands discography, and a great album overall.

Watermelon Slim and the Workers
Watermelon Slim and the Workers

From the raspy voice of the lead singer to the harmonica lining the background instrumentals this is pure blues from beginning to end. The CD opens with the track “Hard Times”, and from the lyrics, it certainly sounds like Slim is having hard times.  With lines like “too poor to pay attention…” you’ll be brought back to your youth, to lines that in any other context would seem corny beyond belief work quite well when sung by watermelon slim.  As well if your like me and haven’t listened to much blues in the past, this is certainly an Album that will get you started down a new and interesting road.  The lyrics are playful, and the instrumentals are strong.  It must be highlighted that in the middle of the album you’ll find a little gem known as “Possum Hand”.  In this track, Watermelon slim takes a little break and lets the Workers, get to work. It’s a purely instrumental track combining harmonica, drums, and (correct me if I’m wrong) an electric guitar, to make a very soulful track that sounds “thick and ripe”.  It’s a deadly combination that will leave you wanting more of the same, however for that you‘ll have to seek out the Workers.  Overall it’s a very strong album from Watermelon Slim and the Workers.  No notable instances detract from the experience as it will be a great addition to anybodies music library, both fresh ears and old jazz heads alike.

Million Dollar Marxists
Zero Culture

There are many clever quotes that could be used to express this sentiment, but plain and simply the album was not that great.  My first impression was that the album was pretty good, but unfortunately this first impression only lasts 15 seconds into the 1st song, after which the lead singer starts singing.  Now this is not to say that the lead singer is bad, but you simply can’t understand half the things that he’s saying, and the things you do understand seem to repeat endlessly throughout the track.  Thankfully, they include lyrics with the CD so you can keep up with what’s being said, but overall the first track did not impress.  However this initial disappointment was alleviated somewhat as I got deeper into the album.  The lyrics got deeper and the songs longer giving the singer more room to show his stuff, but it still was not enough to invoke any definable feeling.  The album just seemed like it was missing some element to make it into something you could rock out to, and although I’m not deep into the punk rock scene, I’m no stranger to head banging either, and this album did not encourage me to do so .  Overall the lyrics were ok when they could be heard, the instrumentals were passable but the combination of the two doesn’t quite make the grade.