Arts & Crafts Productions  Canada’s Arts & Crafts label embraces an eclectic array of music, in much the same way as co-founder Kevin Drew’s band, Broken Social Scene does, too.  This approach defies that the label be pigeonholed, but implores fans of a broad musical spectrum to check out their roster. Their whole approach is typified by their recent trio of releases from Timber Timbre, Still Life Still and The Most Serene Republic.   Timber Timbre – S/T  Timber Timbre (aka Taylor Kirk) hangs a backdrop of the natural world, which he accompanies with aged guitar tones, and haunts with spectral reverberations, B-Movie organ and tempered percussion (as well as some touches of autoharp, piano, violin and field-recordings). The traditional singer-songwriter structured tunes surround themselves with masses of space, which is invariably invaded by lo-fi, creepy subtleties. Entering into the realm of comparisons, there’s the echoed vocal of Suicide’s Alan Vega, minimalist Link Wray tremolo guitar (“Magic Arrow”), chilling rock ‘n’ roll balladry and stylistic nods to Nick Cave or Johnny Cash. Add freaked out pastoral folk, akin to the early work of Devendra Banhart – but Kirk’s own description of his music, as “gothic rockabilly blues”, is spot on. Timber Timbre is an outsider artist that evokes magnificent images of isolation and ghost riders in the woods.     Still Life Still - Girls Come Too  Girls Come Too’s title leave no secret as to the lust hungry teenage / early adult content but it’s the graphic lyricism, such as “T-Shirt”’s lauded, “If you don’t mind my c** on your t***, then I don’t mind your blood on my d***” which could be deemed a little too controversy seeking.  However housed amidst its other polished 10 tracks of dance inspiring, guitar pop the album as a whole has a tendency to attract rather than repel. The tunes coil themselves around a tight rhythmic core and much attention has been taken to immerse them in layered, textured effect and experimentation (much to Kevin Drew’s production credit).  Although the incessant percussion, may add a little taste of Animal Collective, and the melodies and effected guitars, may colour the proceedings with dabs of Dinosaur Jr, Arcade Fire and Vampire Weekend, it’s the tools used that wring these resemblances and not unoriginality.  Being a band of early twenty-somethings there’s plenty of time for Still Life Still to reach their musical maturity – watch this (my)space.   The Most Serene Republic - …And the Ever Expanding Universe  Reveling in past generation’s record collections, but looking to the future, The Most Serene Republic have created an album of progressive indie pop which embrace ideologies and temperaments, without paraphrasing, their idols and influences.  Their sound is one of those that can only be generated by bands comprising many members, which in this case is seven, where individuals have time and dedication to adding their individual mark on the proceedings, whether they be the bombast of drums or the delicacies of glockenspiel or sample. There’s a mixture of the upbeat and calmed down tones and time signatures, which are sometimes sprawling baroque and orchestral (“Bubble Reputation”), sometimes raucous and cacophonous and at others delightful and sunshine laced. The hasty electro-pop of “Don’t Hold back, Feel a Little Longer” could be described as somewhere near St.Etienne fronting Sparks! www.arts-crafts.ca Willsk Next