the old suit, dark shades and fedora Dave Holland Quintet, Critical Mass (Sunny Side) In their 10 years together, the DHQ has found a groove unto their own amidst a traditional big-band feel, replacing piano with vibes and marimba, allowing for a cool, airy openness for the ensemble to interact. Another essential element of the group rsquo;s sound is the complex-yet-funky drumming that lends itself perfectly to frontman Holland rsquo;s double-bass stylings, with saxophone and trombone rounding out the group and setting the scene for near-telepathic interplay between musicians.
Kenny Garret, Beyond the Wall (Nonesuch) Alto saxophonist Kenny Garrett delivers a powerful debut, recounting a three-week visit to China in December 2005.

Beyond the Wall explores Asian music from a jazz perspective, with the undeniable influence of John Coltrane, among other lsquo;60 rsquo;s jazz greats. Garrett never compromises his personal sound and style, from contemplative ballads to bold instrumental outbursts.
Branford Marsalis, Braggtown (Marsalis Music) This album begins with Marsalis on tenor sax for the uptempo ldquo;Jack Baker, rdquo; followed up by ldquo;Hope, rdquo; where he switches to the soprano for a very slow, beautiful ballad.

This juxtaposition only strengthens the emotional power that this recording provokes; you just never know what rsquo;s around the next corner. As half the songs are over 10 minutes long, Braggtown commands your undivided attention for its full appreciation. It rsquo;s worth it.

Ornette Coleman, Sound Grammar (Sound Grammar) Listening to this jazz icon rsquo;s latest release, it rsquo;s hard to believe he was 75 when it was recorded live in Germany! Featuring Coleman on alto sax, trumpet and violin, his sound is as exploratory as it ever has been mdash;letting key signatures and chord changes take a back seat to the moment of the music. This excellent live album will appeal to fans, and this would be a fine starting point for those new to the world of ldquo;free jazz.

rdquo; mdash;MIKE GARTH / michael@vueweekly.com Cee-Lo Green, The Closet Freak: the Best of Cee-Lo Green the Soul Machine (Arista) ldquo;Crazy rdquo; actually made it on to EZ Rock, which means it rsquo;s pretty much the perfect time to release the greatest hits of one Cee-Lo Green (he rsquo;s the singer for Gnarls Barkley, as anyone who listens to EZ Rock is no doubt unaware). Cleverly combining the titles of the only two solo albums he rsquo;s ever put out (there rsquo;s also some token representation of his work with Goodie Mob), even if it rsquo;s just a bandwagon piece, it rsquo;s a fine introduction to one of the most fun, previously underappreciated artists to make music in the last decade.

Dave Matthews Band, The Best of What rsquo;s Around, Vol. 1 (RCA) Buying a greatest hits album for a Dave Matthews fan has to be tricky: on the one hand, most of his fans are drive-to-Tennessee-to-hear-him-breathe-while-he-sleeps crazy, meaning they definitely own all the songs on here, as well as a bootleg of the time he hummed ldquo;Crash Into Me rdquo; in the car on the way to brunch at IHOP on Jun 5, 2001. On the other hand, there rsquo;s a good chance they rsquo;ll cannonball off the High Level if they don rsquo;t own at least two copies of everything he puts out.

Having said that, this might also serve as an introduction to people who have heard ldquo;The Space Between rdquo; while eating food court Italian and thought, ldquo;I wouldn rsquo;t object to this playing in the background of my next dinner party. I should call Sheila. rdquo;
Merle Haggard, Hag: the Best of Merle Haggard (Capitol Nashville) Why should Johnny Cash be the only old-time country singer to enjoy a late-career renaissance?

Granted, ldquo;Okie from Muskogee rdquo; isn rsquo;t ldquo;Folsom Prison Blues, rdquo; but Haggard has a legacy of broke-down Southern Americana rivaling any of the old guard, and he rsquo;s never once dipped into the pop sensibilities that have handed country to the Toby Keiths that cover him today (though Mr Boot in Your Ass also makes an appearance here). Still, it rsquo;s soul food for anyone who needs gravel in their voices and twang in their guitars, or for anyone who you think should need it.
ABBA, Number Ones (Polydor) Knowing me and knowing you, every dancing queen, from Fernando to Chiquitita, has a dream of owning all of ABBA rsquo;s number one hits.

They don rsquo;t need to send out an SOS this year, though, because those winners can take all of ABBA rsquo;s 18 number ones home on one disc. You rsquo;re going to want to take a chance on spending your money, money, money on this super trouper, or risk facing your own personal Waterloo. Mamma mia, though, I hope those people aren rsquo;t just saying, ldquo;Gimme!

Gimme! Gimme! rdquo; because that could make one of us say, ldquo;Voulez-vous.

rdquo; Or, uh, ldquo;Summer night city. rdquo; ldquo;I do, I do, I do, I do, I do? rdquo; mdash;DAVID BERRY / david@vueweekly.

com Dyad, No Pedlars or Preachers (Copperspine) This trio is dredging the rivers of darkness, pulling up ghostly Appalachian mountain balladry, gentle Civil War laments and good ol rsquo; fashioned tales of murder. The vocals alternate between male and female, while the sound remains sparse throughout, giving the disc an entrancing sepia glow.
Dixie Chicks, Taking the Long Way (Open Wide) The Dixie Chicks don rsquo;t work for me, mainly because of the slickness of their sound.

It rsquo;s all just a little too faux-rebellious from my perspective. Still, for someone who loves their country to be big and bombastic mdash;kind of like a lot of lsquo;80s rock was mdash;then this is a perfect album. Plus, it rsquo;s just been re-released, packaged with a bonus DVD of live cuts and interviews on the making of the album, so you can even give it to someone who already has the original release.

Roger Dean Young the Tin Cup, Casa (Copperspine) This is the sort of thing you can imagine as the soundtrack to an old, gritty Western. Young sings in a kind of drunken, half-mumbled ramble over top of barely-there chord progressions. It rsquo;s hard to figure out exactly what Young is singing at times, but that only serves to make the mystery even more attractive, enticing you to jump into his world with both feet.

Guy Clark, Workbench Songs (Dualtone) And here rsquo;s one for fans of the old country from one of the old boys. Guy Clark rsquo;s latest is more of the same well-written Texas country that he rsquo;s been dishing out since the lsquo;70s. It rsquo;s hard to complain about the sameness here, though, because Clark is just so damn good at what he does.

Sure, the techno-imagery of ldquo;Analog Girl rdquo; is a bit silly, but he more than makes up for it with ldquo;Funny Bone, rdquo; a song about a brokenhearted rodeo clown. mdash;EDEN MUNRO / eden@vueweekly.com For your college roommate, his bedroom mirror and his many, many dance moves
Shout Out Out Out Out, Not Saying/Just Saying (Normals Welcome) Shout Out Out Out Out is so good good good good it rsquo;s not even funny funny funny funny.

Besides repeating things four times over, the local boys also find time to give some lovin rsquo; to the most underappreciated instrument of them all: the cowbell. If that isn rsquo;t enough to put a lil rsquo; shimmy in your step, then what is? Chad VanGaalen, Skelliconnection (SubPop) Despite his unabashed status as a Calgary resident, Chad VanGaalen rsquo;s jittery, epileptic sophomore effort makes you feel like you rsquo;ve just shotgunned a whole case of Red Bull.

I rsquo;m talking spastic, jump-kicks-off-the-furniture, electrocuted kind of energy.
Ratatat, Classics (XL Recordings) Amidst the myriad of similar-sounding electronic acts, Ratatat stands out with their clever, approachable take on blips and beeps. At times playful, at times a wee bit campy, you rsquo;ll win over your G N rsquo; R lovin rsquo;, techno hating friends with their melody-driven songs.

Justin Timberlake, FutureSex/ LoveSongs (Zomba) Listen up, haters: Justin Timberlake is undeniably, almost annoyingly, talented. Anyone that denies the sheer enjoyment of getting their sexy on is a bald-faced liar. JT is the all-time MVP of bedroom dance parties.

mdash;JOEL KELLY / joel@vueweekly.com For your Mom, to show her that there rsquo;s more out there than just Rod Stewart rsquo;s Great American Songbook series
Foo Fighters, Skin and Bones (RCA) Dave Grohl might not be the first guy you think of when looking for a present for your mom, but you might want to reconsider. This mostly acoustic live album is full of subtle little colourings courtesy of added instruments like vibes, violin and accordion, and although there rsquo;s the occasional burst of Foo screaming, it rsquo;s pretty relaxed for the most part.

Your mom will appreciate the intricate fingerpicking that finds its way into the songs, and you rsquo;ll appreciate her not blasting you out with Meat Loaf rsquo;s Bat Out of Hell for the zillionth time.
Ryan Star, Songs From the Eye of an Elephant (Koch) If your mom loves those darlings from American and Canadian Idol, then she rsquo;s sure to be pleased with this dark horse from Rockstar: Supernova. Ryan Star didn rsquo;t make the final cut to front those modern day Monkees, but he rsquo;s not letting his 15 minutes of fame go to waste, dropping this album with a full 20 piano and acoustic guitar demos loaded with his sullen thoughts and sulking melodies.

Various Artists, One World, Many Cultures (Putamayo) The Putumayo series of albums sometimes catches flack for its prevailing presence in gift stores, but it rsquo;s a surprisingly solid collection that draws samples of some of the best music from around the world. This offering features tracks that combine the music from two different nations, showing just how united this world can be. Willie Nelson chimes in alongside Toots and the Maytals for a countrified reggae tune that rsquo;s better than anything on Nelson rsquo;s own reggae album from last year.

The Jeff Beck Group, Truth and Beck-Ola (Legacy) There was a time when someone could mention ldquo;Beck rdquo; and no one would think of the alternative musician of today. Nope, this Beck was named Jeff, and he was known for outrageous, louder than loud guitars. On these albums he was joined by the Rolling Stones rsquo; Ronnie Wood on bass and the music captures the incendiary energy that this band briefly had.

And on vocals, we rsquo;ve got the one and only Rod Stewart, proving that the raspy-voiced one didn rsquo;t always suck the way he does today. mdash;EDEN MUNRO / eden@vueweekly.com Joanna Newsom, Ys (Drag City) She came first, but the best way to understand Joanna Newsom is as a negative image of Canada rsquo;s Final Fantasy: she rsquo;s American, she rsquo;s a harp virtuoso, she rsquo;s prone to starkly beautiful, ridiculously anti-intuitive vocal theatrics and she writes wildly imaginative yet powerfully personal songs.

Ys follows 2004 rsquo;s Milk-Eyed Mender with postmodern pop symphonies informed by album guests Van Dyke Parks, Jim O rsquo;Rourke and Steve Albini. It rsquo;s also been called one of the most essential albums of the last five years, with critics falling over one another trying to give it the best-written review. It deserves all the attention it rsquo;s getting.

Swan Lake, Beast Moans (Jagjaguwar) With Wolf Parade rsquo;s Spencer Krug, Destroyer rsquo;s Dan Bejar and Frog Eyes rsquo; Carey Mercer, this is like some kind of mind-blowing songwriting orgasm for Canadian indie music fans. The result is hopelessly literary, as close to a novel rsquo;s level of description and allusion as an album is likely to get, all drenched with no-note-left-clean reverb and swirling, otherworldy music weaving between all of it.
Rock Plaza Central, Are We Not Horses?

(Rock Plaza Central) It meets the out-of-left-field requirement: the latest disc from Toronto-based Rock Plaza Central is about mechanical horses who think they are real horses, fighting an epic war between good and evil. Fuck yeah. It also exists in a musical space somewhere in the neighbourhood of Neutral Milk Hotel, with big, cathedral backing and lead singer Chris Eaton singing like he can rsquo;t but still making it beautiful anyway.

They have the potential to be the next gigantic super group from Canada, all the more reason to get in on the second floor.
The Rapture, Pieces of the People We Love (Universal) The Rapture follow up their legendary, freaked-out, genre-inventing Echoes by getting hit across the head by the Happy Mondays and putting out one of the most freakishly retarded, ungodly dancey albums possible from white guys. Anyone that spun the former down to binary code deserves to own this one too, if for no other reason than to have the original that rsquo;s going to get copied and imitated and done much worse for the next two years.

Or at the very least, so they rsquo;ll stop doing nothing but crossing their arms, drinking, moaning and pissing at dance shows. mdash;DAVID BERRY / david@vueweekly.com For the party boy who will likely appreciate the smooth, flat, easy-to-chop-upon cases these CDs come in as much as the music itself
Test Icicles, Dig Your Own Grave EP (Domino) This British scream-disco-punk trio rsquo;s 2005 debut album For Screening Purposes Only never caught on here in the New World the way it did on the other side of the pond.

Maybe this EP mdash;which features killer dance remixes of the best cuts from Screening mdash;will do the trick. Everyone knows adding handclaps can make any song better (for proof, see the next entry on this list).
MSTRKRFT, The Looks (Last Gang) Former Death From Above bassist (and universally acclaimed Biggest Asshole in Canadian Music) Jesse Keeler and buddy Al-P do much better when remixing the work of other artists (notably Bloc Party, Metric and Wolfmother, to name just a few) than on this debut full-length of original material, but once you rsquo;re eight hours (and about the same number of uppers) into the party, The Looks sounds pretty killer.

Kavinsky, Teddy Boy EP (Record Makers) After fatally crashing his Ferrari Testarossa in 1986 (man, I love creative backstories), techno-zombie Kavinsky is back from the dead to put out an EP full of thumping, synth-heavy songs guaranteed to make you drive at least 30 clicks over the limit. Just don rsquo;t get pulled over mdash;you DO NOT want to have to swallow that entire baggy before the cop gets to your window.
Justic, Waters of Nazareth (Ed Banger) The mainstream is beginning to take notice of Justice thanks to the French duo rsquo;s 2004 remix of Simian rsquo;s ldquo;Never Be Alone rdquo; (which was re-released in 2006 in the UK as ldquo;We are Your Friends, rdquo; winning an MTV Europe award this year), so hopefully this wicked EP helps them attain even a fraction of the success enjoyed by that, ahem, other French techno duo.

mdash;FRAN C OIS ZOLAN / francois@vueweekly.com Emily Haines, Knives Don rsquo;t Have Your Back (Last Gang) The darling girl of Canada rsquo;s indie scene, Emily Haines takes her trademark dark lyrics away from the hyper electropop of Metric and transposes them onto a soft, mellow sound that is just as haunting. This may not be the best gift for the recovering manic-depressive in your life, but it is as beautiful as it is bleak.

Rosie Thomas, If Songs Could Be Held (SubPop) There rsquo;s no politically correct way to put this: Rosie Thomas has what I like to call ovarian resonance. The sweet-voiced singer has this spooky yet endearing way of making her songs latch onto a woman rsquo;s extra X chromosome. Being of the wrong gender to fully appreciate this phenomenon, I can only pass on my observations, but I am alarmed at her magical ability to lodge her lyrics in the back of a woman rsquo;s brain.

Men, let us hope that she uses this super power for good, not evil.
Cat Power, The Greatest (Matador) Living in the frozen tundra we call the City of Champions (yes, we still call it that), it rsquo;s nice to get a warm breeze every once in a while to remind us that summer days might make it back to our latitude, someday. Cat Power rsquo;s blend of smoky, Memphis country soul with her ephemeral voice evokes hazy Sunday afternoons in August on Gallagher Hill at Folk Fest.

Close your eyes and you rsquo;ll almost be able to forget the fact that your toes are numb with frostbite.
Regina Spektor, Begin To Hope (Sire) Guys, if you buy one CD this year for the woman in your life, this is it. It will help cement your reputation as ldquo;the boyfriend with the really great taste in music.

rdquo; Unfortunately, it won rsquo;t help your reputation as ldquo;the boyfriend with the really hairy back rdquo; or ldquo;Mr Halitosis, rdquo; but hey, it rsquo;s a start. Spektor rsquo;s quirky, intelligent lyrics are wrapped into infectious hooks in a way that just might convince your better half to help you wax that puppy. mdash;JOEL KELLY / joel@vueweekly.

com For old guys, or editors of this paper who seem pretty young if you just look at them, but then if you hear them talk about music you think you rsquo;re talking to your dad
Neil Young, Living with War (Warner) When this album first came out I wondered to myself, ldquo;What is Neil Young doing still writing about war after all these years? rdquo; but then I realized that no contemporary artists were taking a stand and so who better than the man who basically started it? And besides, this is probably Young rsquo;s best album in years, no doubt because he rsquo;s so passionate about the material.

When you hear his old falsetto cut through the opening lines of ldquo;Let rsquo;s Impeach the President rdquo; it brings a nostalgic tear to your eye while it makes your hand curl up into a state-smashing fist.
Beatles, Love (EMI/Apple) Ok. It rsquo;s not that this album is particularly special or anything mdash;it is after all just remixes and different renditions of songs we rsquo;ve all heard a million times or more mdash;but for the Beatles fan or obsessive-compulsive completist on your list, this is the one to buy.

Tom Waits, Orphans: Brawlers, Bawlers and Bastards (ANTI-) Tom Waits is one of those artists where if he releases an album near Christmas time, you might as well pick up a few copies of it to give to people who show up unexpectedly throughout the season. There are millions of Tom Waits fans out there, and if someone you know isn rsquo;t already a fan, you could turn them on with this album. Waits doesn rsquo;t inspire the kind of blogosphere praise that some other artists do, but his fans are loyal and committed nonetheless and are just waiting for you to recognize their interests and surprise them with something like this under the tree.

Corb Lund, Hair in My Eyes Like a Highland Steer (Stony Plain) The winner of countless music awards, high praise from critics and, if you ask my girlfriend, the cutest guy making music right now (even though last night I totally played her a sweet rendition of ldquo;Everybody Wants Something rdquo; by The Zit Remedy on my guitar), Corb Lund rsquo;s newest has gone gold and would make a perfect gift for lovers of outlaw country whether they rsquo;re 16 or 65. You can help make it go platinum! Ol rsquo; Corby will be close by in Olds, Alberta on Dec 15 if you want to take someone out for an early Christmas present, and pick up the album at the same time.

I won rsquo;t be there though; I can rsquo;t take any chances. mdash;BRYAN BIRTLES / bryan@vueweekly.com Various Artists, Stranger than Fiction (Sony) The mathematical mind of Britt Daniels, front man of Spoon, is all over this compilation, including instrumentals alongside new and classic Spoon songs.

If you haven rsquo;t seen the movie yet, I won rsquo;t spoil it, but you rsquo;ll find all of the songs that figure heavily in the plot here.
Various Artists, Half Nelson (Lakeshore) Have you ever said that your favourite album would make a fantastic soundtrack to a movie? Apparently, Ryan Fleck, director of Half Nelson, was listening.

Centred around Broken Social Scene rsquo;s You Forgot It In People, this soundtrack blends the cinematic best of indie hip hop and rock, including Billy Bragg and Saigon.
Various Artists, Music From The OC 6 (Warner Brothers) Say what you want about the onscreen antics of Seth, Summer and Sandy, there rsquo;s no denying that the minds behind The OC have infuriatingly good taste in music. There rsquo;s nothing like the feeling of discovering a super cool new band, only to realize that a million screaming teenaged girls have heard it first.

This current incarnation features covers of artists including Spoon and Modest Mouse by the likes of Band of Horses, Lady Sovereign and Rock Kills Kid.
Tenacious D, The Pick of Destiny (Sony) Jack Black and Kyle Gass, this year rsquo;s poor man rsquo;s Borat, may not have had that much success on the silver screen. Luckily, they haven rsquo;t lost their mindlessly hilarious musical abilities.

Obviously, you either love this sort of stuff or you hate it; if the prospect of Jack Black rhyming as many words as he can with ldquo;fuck rdquo; doesn rsquo;t get you giggling, then it rsquo;s probably best to avoid this one. mdash;JOEL KELLY / joel@vueweekly.com Camera Obscura, Let rsquo;s Get Out Of This Country (Merge) Witty, bittersweet, Sarah Records-meets-Phil Spector pop from a gaggle Glaswegians who do it sweeter, better and with much more heart than any of their citymates.

Songwriter/frontwoman Traceyanne Campbell is the Poster Lady for moodiness, chronicling bad feelings that just won rsquo;t stay the hell down, awkward encounters with ambiguous meanings and occasional irrational bursts of frighteningly shiny optimism.
Lisa Germano, In the Maybe World (Young God) Far too wise to be hopeful, Germano is like the exotic and mysterious aunt you half-remember from childhood, the one who rsquo;d occasionally parachute into family holiday gatherings to make everyone uncomfortable, picking at the turkey and drowning in the Baby Duck, holding no truck for small talk and suburban pleasantries. This collection of disturbed and beguiling nocturnes is what Aunt Something would smoke to later in her apartment, gazing out the window at the falling snow.

The Mountain Goats, Get Lonely (4AD) Moody Ladies have two kinds of crushes: those that focus on dudes who are gregarious and straightforward, and therefore must have some secret reservoirs of untapped pain that a lot of hard work on her part will eventually uncover (or create), or those that focus on John Darnielle. The Mountain Goats rsquo;s songwriter has crafted his most beautiful album yet, a veritable castle of breakup anguish, with poor John pacing the tower, periodically hurling whiskey glasses into the fire. It doesn rsquo;t help that he is perhaps the most poetic songwriter who ever penned a line: ldquo;I look down at my hands, like they were mirrors.

rdquo;
Great Aunt Ida, How They Fly (Northern Electric) Vancouver Girl Genius Ida Nilsen rsquo;s debut album was a quiet gem, a piano-based masterpiece of slow, hushed bewilderment. This follow-up has more breadth, beauty, and complexity, but still sounds like the kind of insomnia that is rimmed with a cozy self-evaluation that won rsquo;t lead to any sort of real epiphany, because we rsquo;re all consigned to being exactly who we are. Ida rsquo;s exceptional talent lies in capturing the incidental and framing it in the universal, illuminated by deliberate piano, delicately plucked bass and a small soundscape of bleats and moans, over which roams her voice, wide-eyed and lovely.

mdash;MARY CHRISTA O rsquo;KEEFE / marychrista@vueweekly.com Squarepusher, Hello Everything (Warp) Virtuoso bassist and programmer Tom Jenkinson releases one of the best albums of this or any year. It is ldquo;just-in-time rdquo; production for the weary electronic music listener; like Japanese car manufacturers, he includes more than is needed.

He plays bass like everything is an ode to Om and programs dizzying drum flourishes with all the sensibility of Evel Knieval. Jenkinson also received top honours from High Times magazine as the best soundtrack for a petit-mal freakout!
Kerrier District, Kerrier District 2 (Rephlex) There was a time when Luke Vibert was just like the rest of the disco-hating world.

But one day, riding towards Cornwall on his trusted steed Buccinator, he was blinded by a light. Turns out it was super powerful highbeams of a Monza driven by someone totally into the Love Orchestra. At any rate, Luke decided to make disco music ala electronique, make it appealing and make it just as insanely catchy as it was back in the day.

He adds just the right amount of humour to keep it from being totally stupid.
Mouse on Mars, Varcharz (Ipecac) Weird imagery to be sure: alien mice with mad data retrieval skills puking their cutesy guts out. What do you want?

It rsquo;s experimental stuff; it even sounds odd for Mouse on Mars. But if after-school specials and Mike Patton teach us anything, it rsquo;s that weirdness counts for something and making new music sound cool is easy when you know what you rsquo;re doing. This time around the music is harsher (way buzzier), but it retains a melodic quality that rsquo;ll keep you humming and sayin rsquo;, ldquo;yah, das is gute.

rdquo;
Fujiya and Miyagi, Transparent Things (Tirk) Did you ever hear that song ldquo;I rsquo;m a little bit Krautrock; I rsquo;m a little bit Neu Wave Electronic rdquo;? Really? It was on the radio for, like, a bazillion weeks.

Anyway, that weird crossover hit describes the music very nicely. These guys are lighting up the broadband LEDs with a kick-A myspace presence, and it rsquo;s only a matter of time before they rsquo;re storming the beaches on this side of the pond with their sound. This album is a must for fans of Lali Puna, Stereolab and Can.

mdash;ALEX KONYE / alex@vueweekly.com Black Label Society, Shot to Hell (Roadrunner) There just aren rsquo;t enough superlatives for how radically Zakk Wylde Rocks! The man rsquo;s a triple threat: actor (aqua teen hunger force), guitar maniac and spokesperson for the society for the preservation of metal.

The guy went to hell, made a deal with Beelzebub to be the unquestioned master of the axe and only skinned a knee. Geez, that rsquo;s toughness personified. Definitely for the Wylde at heart mdash;pun intended.

The new album will implode your soul and grip your very cockles.
Nebula, Apollo (Liquor and Poker) Any band whose big finale includes lighting a gong on fire has got to be badass. True, it may be more stoner rock than metal, but the spirit of Ozzy lives in the hearts of every one of their slow-nodding fans.

One of the most peculiar scenes you rsquo;ll ever witness is a club full of people mdash;all with a minimum of 14 years of hair growth mdash;bobbing their heads up and down to the music of Nebula. Seen from above, it looks like a shark thrashing around in slurry.
Melvins, (A) Senile Animal (Ipecac) The Melvins have seen a heap of craziness and have lived more than most people could ever dream.

Yeah, and so what if they rsquo;re descending into senility? They do it with more fuzz per second than any band from here to Fuzztonia near Alpha Centauri. Twin drummers give hope to marine biologists that octopuses could be harnessed from trap kit duty.

Mot o rhead, Kiss of Death (Sanctuary Records) ldquo;LEMMY! rdquo; You kinda spike the word in the end zone of your mind, grit your teeth and brace for the decibels. Every song sounds the same, and all of them sound good.

This also applies to every Mot o rhead track from the last 20 years, so you rsquo;re really buying into a lifestyle. And there rsquo;s a simple rule to living free in the Mot o rhead mode: for every question in life, shoot someone the sign of the devil and spit through your teeth. mdash;ALEX KONYE / alex@vueweekly.

com Misery Signals, Mirrors (Sony) This band is still described in most media as an Edmonton-Milwaukee based band, but with the departure of vocalist Jesse Zaraska, there rsquo;s only one member left who lives or lived in Edmonton. It doesn rsquo;t really matter, however, as this is one of the best hardcore releases this year. Some critics have said new vocalist Karl Schubach is better than Zaraska, while others decry his very existence.

Perhaps you can purchase the band rsquo;s debut as well as this one and let your younger sibling decide.
AFI, Decemberunderground (Universal) AFI released this album on 06/06/06, so what could be more evil than that? Nothing, fool!

AFI has transformed itself from straight up punk to the soaring emotionally charged band you see before you now. I was at a show of theirs a number of years back where someone tried to crowd surf by jumping from the back of the pit, landing on my head and nearly breaking my neck. No matter how many emails I sent them, AFI never apologized, so I rsquo;ve got a bit of a grudge against them.

Nonetheless, it rsquo;s obvious that tons of kids from Edmonton love these guys, so it rsquo;s probably a safe bet for the young music fan on your list.
Alexisonfire, Crisis (Universal) Look, I rsquo;m not gonna sit here and tell you that I think this is the best album of the year. That would be a lie, and I rsquo;m not a liar.

I will tell you that this album debuted at #1 in Canada thanks to the vast purchasing power of sad kids everywhere who have a desire to hear their pain boiled down to some screaming, some crunchy as fuck guitars and some pounding (and parental headache inducing) drumbeats. Chances are, your whiny younger sibling already has this album mdash;hell, they may even be in their own sad, screamy band mdash;but if they still need it, you may as well be the one to get it for them.
E-Town Beatdown, Win the War (Method) For something more local you can rsquo;t go wrong with E-Town Beatdown.

Like most EPs, it rsquo;s too short and leaves you wanting for more, but that rsquo;s sort of a positive. Guitarist John Fucking Kennedy told me that E-Town Beatdown is planning a follow-up in 2007, so watch out for that, but in the meantime, this will keep the true hardcore fan on your list happy until the glorious day we can hear a full length opus from these gentlemen. mdash;BRYAN BIRTLES / bryan@vueweekly.

com Natasha Bedingfield, Live in New York City (Epic) This pop singer sure doesn rsquo;t sit comfortably at Britney rsquo;s side, with a live show that rsquo;s fused with legitimate spontaneity. Sure, she rsquo;s got some fancy lighting going, but she doesn rsquo;t confine herself to a bunch of by-the-numbers dance steps. It helps that this show was filmed in a theatre; the intimate setting feeds Bedingfield and the show is better for it.

And if the naturalness of the performance isn rsquo;t enough to differentiate Bedingfield from the other pop princesses out there, she throws in the requisite digs in her lyrics: ldquo;I rsquo;m not buying a Chihuahua! rdquo;
Neko Case, Live From Austin TX (New West) Concert DVDs are proliferating like the plague of late. While most are substandard releases, this one is nice because it shows another side of Neko Case.

Where her live album of a couple of years ago had her out in full force with the Sadies at her side, this 2003 performance from Austin City Limits shows her interpreting her songs with a quieter, minimalist crew.
Black Label Society, The European Invasion: Doom Troopin rsquo; (Eagle Vision) Ozzy-sideman/Black Label-main man Zakk Wylde is, well, a little bit scary. Seriously.

Check out the bonus video for ldquo;In This River rdquo; on disc 2, where Wylde is playing his grand piano in the middle of the river, stands up and hacks the thing into oblivion with a freakin rsquo; double-headed battle axe, before tossing a torch on the wreckage and burning it up. Lucky for him he was carrying that guitar on his back or he couldn rsquo;t have finished the song. The main live show on disc 1 is just as brutal, with the bearded muscleman shredding riffs lsquo;til they sound like a monkey caught in the jaws of war.

The Who, Live at the Isle of Wight Festival 1970 D: Murray Lerner (Eagle Vision) In this 1970 performance, the Who bashes out a bunch of early songs, followed by a whole whack of others drawn from Tommy. The music aside, though, this is worth seeing just for the band rsquo;s fashion sense: Roger Daltrey works a fringed rock lsquo;n rsquo; roll jacket, John Entwistle works a full-body skeleton outfit, Pete Townshend works a too-short white jumpsuit and Keith Moon just works his drums over in a white t-shirt like the madman that he was. mdash;EDEN MUNRO / eden@vueweekly.

com Sarah Harmer, Escarpment Blues D: Andy Keen (Cold Snap) Sarah Harmer and her band set out on a walking tour, playing community halls along the way and raising awareness of the dangers facing Ontario rsquo;s Niagara Escarpment from ldquo;Big Business. rdquo; The film is a little short to be able to really delve deeply into the issues raised, but Harmer does an admirable job of giving an overview, and there are some fine performances as well.
Classic Albums, Bob Marley and the Wailers: Catch a Fire (Eagle Vision) This show traces the making of Bob Marley and the Wailers rsquo;s Catch a Fire from the initial recording sessions in Jamaica all the way to London where a bunch of American session musicians overdubbed additional parts onto the original tapes.

It rsquo;s both illuminating and entertaining to see the players involved looking back now and demonstrating just how they came up with parts that added to the music without obscuring the essence of the Wailers rsquo;s originals.
Be Here to Love Me D: Margaret Brown (Palm Pictures) The late Townes Van Zandt was always a songwriter rsquo;s songwriter, flying under the public rsquo;s radar throughout his life and career. This film pulls no punches and never shies away from contrasting the dual personalities of a man who could be both likable and despicable to those who loved him.

There are plenty of those people on hand, from Steve Earle and Guy Clark to ex-wives and his sons and daughter, all adding up to a biting, sad portrait of the man.
Waylon Jennings, Nashville Rebel (Legacy) This collection of performances and videos spans 14 years, starting with Jennings as a cleanshaven young man proclaiming that he rsquo;s the ldquo;only daddy that rsquo;ll walk the line, rdquo; moving on to the longhaired, bearded outlaw singing ldquo;Lonesome, On rsquo;ry and Mean rdquo; and finishing up with the ill-advised schlock of the video for1984 rsquo;s ldquo;America. rdquo; Still, most of these clips are solid examples of just how cool those outlaw country guys could be.

mdash;EDEN MUNRO / eden@vueweekly.com
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