September 2009 Archives

Toronto's favourite gay church-folk collective is in usual form on Origin:Orphan, their first on Arts&Crafts (in Canada) and their fifth studio record overall. Shying away from their indie-pop mechanics to revel in world-music experimentation, Joel Gibb's tenorous harmonization soars above the fray on "Ratify The New" and "Walk On," featuring a guitar part that sounds ripped off from U2. While their sex talk has faded (there are no golden showers here), the standout track remains the slow burning "Do I Belong?," in which the band channel Max Webster synth sleaze while experiencing an existential crisis. Though the breezy "In The NA" remains the "Doot Doot Plot" of Origin:Orphan, music is no longer Gibb's sole boyfriend -- he's doing lyricism on the side. Eye Weekly

The garage-rock bandgasm that is The Almighty Defenders finds the King Khan And The BBQ Show and the Black Lips in a gospel-inspired collaboration resulting from the Lips fleeing India and ending up at Khan's Berlin flat. Their self-titled debut is pretty much just what you'd expect: distortedly ecstatic call-and-response vocals, 1950s song structures and the lowest in lo-fi recording. While the music isn't nearly as memorable as what King Khan, Mark Sultan or the Black Lips are capable of on their own, there's an infectious vibe of wasted camaraderie that makes you want to down a bunch of tequila shots and praise the gods of garage in the best way possible: starting a band of your own. The Almighty Defenders should go over well with the bands' current congregations. but I doubt we'll see many new converts -Eye Weekly