Broken Social Scene: BROKEN SOCIAL SCENE

The last of my Metric-related releases, Broken Social Scene are a collective of Canadian musicians, which includes Metric's lead singer, Emily Haines. It's a great idea (friends getting together to make music for the fun of it); unfortunately, a great idea doesn't equal an awesome album. The problem is that the type of songs are all over the place -- too disparate. There's indie-fuzz rock, folky stuff, and a few electronic numbers. Out of 21 tracks, only three are keepers: the indie-rock "Swimmers", the quirky "Tremoloa Debut", and the acoustic "All My Friends". Oh, Canada, why must you break my music-loving heart so?

Rating: 1 outta 5 stars

Metric: GROW UP AND BLOW AWAY

This is a collection of songs from Metric before their current lineup as a quartet. Grow Up and Blow Away only features singer Emily Haines and guitarist Jimmy Shaw. The sound is remarkably different from their three recent albums, which are rockin' New Wave; Blow is electronic-pop. It's painfully evident that Haines and Shaw wanted to be famous; making music for the times. The songs here -- from the late nineties and early noughties -- hardly feature any guitar and sounds as if Pink and Moby collaborated on a throwaway side project (that is if Pink was a mezzo-soprano). Nonetheless, a few tracks could find a home on your iPod, like the lead and last tracks, "Grow Up" and "Soft Rock Stars". The third song, "Rock Me Now", is good too, though, with its male co-lead vocal, sounds as if Haines and Shaw were listening too much to Duran Duran's "Breath After Breath". Overall, not atrocious, but now awesome either. Save it for the rabid Metric fans.

2 outta 5 stars

Sebastien Grainger: SEBASTIEN GRAINGER AND THE MOUNTAINS

I caught this cat a few weeks ago opening for Metric. It just may be the first time I got an album by an opening act (kudos, Metric, for bookng a warm-upper whose sound is similar to your own!). Unfortunately, Sebastien Grainger And The Mountains isn't as great his live show -- maybe it had something to do with his backing band, especially the bassist who specialized in background vocals. On the plus side, Mr. Grainger is one talented mofo. He doesn't sound like anything else out there, past or present. Basically, it's rock'n'roll with a slight New Wave edge. You can't hate that, right?

Rating: 4 outta 5 stars

American Names

Metric: FANTASIES

This album was well worth the wait -- four years after the lovely Live It Out. Fantasies features 10 solid songs with no filler. What's cool about Metric is they do slightly different versions of their songs live, which I found out when I saw them here in Philly at the Trocadero on June 19. Anyway, Fantasies kicks off with a perfect pop song, "Help I'm Alive"; I love how singer Emily Haines reaches near the top of her vocal range for the refrain. The superb songwriting continues with "Sick Muse". Other soon-to-be classics include "Twilight Galaxy", "Gimme Shelter", "Blindness" and "Stadium Love". Such a great, upbeat album. See, kids, you can be New Wave without being too retro. It just takes a tight rhythm section (thanks Joules Scott-Key and and Josh Winstead!) and properly placed modern-rock guitar, courtesy of Jimmie Shaw. All right, I'm off to Toronto to get this quartet inducted in the Canadian Hall of Fame.

Rating: 5 outta 5 stars

"Help I'm Alive"