Volumes can be said about the current state of world affairs when a record called War Profiteering Is Killing Us All is more cogent and reality-based than the ridiculously-naive ideology that has led to the current clusterfuck in Iraq. Indeed, there’s never been a more appropriate time for a punk rock record fueled by pure outrage, and The Suicide Machines deliver a brutal evisceration of the neo-conservative takeover of the White House with one barn-burning hardcore song after another.

After meandering through five schizophrenic albums, the Machines have finally found their niche: blistering, politically-conscious hardcore interspersed with their newfound dub influences and the catchy ska-punk of their early years Sure, some of it may be Operation Ivy redux, but you’ll be hard-pressed to find anything more memorable in the dubious heap of tepid, apolitical mall-punk that’s passing for teenage rebellion these days.

VAILHALEN
Pop Violence
(Saved By Radio)
****

One of the most audaciously innovative takes on pop in recent memory, Vailhalen’s first full-length is an intense, explosive inversion of many of the genre’s conventions. Gone is the sweetness, the innocence, the breeziness. Instead, the Calgary collective of wickedly-talented musicians who loosely orbit band architect Chris Vail lather up razor-sharp melodies and relentlessly punishing rhythms with aggression, fierce knowingness, and a tense sonic claustrophobia. Take that, pop. Suffer like the bitch you are. Yeah, you love it.

There’s so much informing the sound on this record it’s challenging to find a peg to hang descriptors on. There’s certainly some new wave chilliness warmed with the breath of Detroit soul, mixed with a bit of prog worship and ’70s glam. The aural heft is somewhat attributable to the density of the instruments; layers upon layers of orchestration. Recorded in a high school band room, Vailhalen and guests (including Agnostic Mountain Gospel Choir’s Bob Keelaghan and The Dudes’ Dan Vacon) employed everything within reach that emitted sound, from the timpani to the girls’ rugby team. Above the mayhem, Vail’s near-falsetto wail smokes his oddball lyrics directly into your cerebral cortex.

"The General" and "Girls Fight!" are the feel-good standout tracks, savagely catchy incendiary bombs that command attention like a dominatrix at an afternoon tea party.

PAT METHENY AND ORNETTE COLEMAN
Song X
(Nonesuch)
**

Twenty years ago, five jazz musicians locked themselves away in a recording studio to produce one of the first jazz Compact Discs–and maybe they should have stayed there. At the time, Metheny had to cut a lot of work to fill the disc, but with the ever-creeping advance of technology, he’s been able to release Song X with a six new tracks and new mixing and mastering of the old tracks. That doesn’t mean the songs are any less convoluted, or confusing; "Endangered Species," for just one example, sounds like Ornette Coleman and bassist Charlie Haden spent 20 minutes randomly going up and down scales before they decided they’d had enough and put the resulting noise into a track. The only redeeming quality to this album is the new material, which is slightly less of an LSD trip than the original material.

LES BREASTFEEDERS
Déjeuner Sur L’Herbe
(Blow The Fuse)
****

Montréal’s Les Breastfeeders come across as the bastard child of Serge Gainsbourg and The Detroit Cobras. Their go-go filled garage rocker Déjeuner Sur L’Herbe is a dancey concoction that goes down smooth and easy even though it’s a spicy shot. Blending ’60s French pop tones with fuzzy guitars, vintage keyboards, and some downright-sexy vocal harmonies ("Laisse Autant Le Vent Tout Emporter," "Amoureux Solitaires," and the sing-song "L’Existence Précède Le Diésel"), the group creates a pure gem of pop brilliance in the way they balance the infectious frolic of the rockier songs with the more laid-back moments. Make no mistake: this ain’t no art-pop record, it’s a full-fledged rock ’n’ roll party complete with a pretty sweet sendoff of Nancy Sinatra’s "Bang Bang" and a couple instrumentals that could easily rival the Atomic 7’s. You can bet this one isn’t leaving my play list for a while.

MARIA TAYLOR
11:11
(Saddle Creek)
*1/2

ORENDA FINK
Invisible Ones
(Saddle Creek)
*1/2

Two pieces of crap from a whole bunch of people who really ought to know better. Together, Maria Taylor and Orenda Fink make up Azure Ray, purveyors of downbeat, achingly beautiful chamber pop. Separately, the ladies seem to be at the mercy of some desperation to differentiate these albums, released within weeks of each other, from their Azure Ray work.

Taylor’s voice is heavenly, but her songwriting is banal, despite self-consciously precious turns of lyrical phrase and the occasional pretty-yet-dull tune. Plagued by strange experimentations, the album sees misteps like "Song Beneath the Song," where Taylor sounds like she is warbling along to a warped Flock of Seagulls cassette, or "One for the Shareholder," which disconcertingly blends flamenco and disco.

And what’s the sound of privileged white guilt? With all the earnestness of an avid Peace Corps volunteer with a Tori Amos fetish, Fink’s world music-laced album employs Haitian choirs, African rhythms, Tibetan meditation bowls, and other global gobbledygook overtop her usual Southern gothic string and piano swells and angelic vocals. Invisible Ones was inspired by Fink’s "finding myself" treks across the planet, and may have worked with a subtler approach. Instead, it comes off like the rich girl in high school taking it upon herself to promote an awareness of third world oppression–an exercise in self-congratulatory do-gooding that ultimately accomplishes nothing.

MADNESS
The Dangermen Sessions: Volume One
(V2)
***1/2

"The greatest ska band ever! The greatest ska record ever!" That’s the boastful promo sticker for The Dangermen Sessions, the first new Madness record in six years. Hyperbole? Without a doubt. But damnit, they’re still standing and, more importantly, they haven’t been reduced to a hollow parody of themselves–which is more than can be said of their 2Tone classmates The Specials and The Beat. Granted, this is a covers record and not exactly a sign of overwhelming creative potency, but one fact cannot be ignored: Madness still sounds hot 26 years after "One Step Beyond."

The Dangermen Sessions is a treat to listen to. The band still sounds impeccable, Suggs’ voice is remarkably well-preserved, and they’ve never played ska and reggae this well before. Madness nails Prince Buster, Max Romeo, Diana Ross, Desmond Dekker, The Kinks, et cetera, with more skill than they could have mustered in 1979. Maybe that sticker wasn’t so far off the mark after all.