Apostle Of Hustle -- National Anthem Of Nowhere

The lineup of Canadian Post Punk collective Broken Social Scene changes more than George Steinbrenner's Yankees and has variously included nearly every musician in the Toronto scene. With that many creative cooks in the sonic soup, it's not surprising that BSS has taken a quick breather to allow the multitude of their gifted membership to express themselves with individual projects. Guitarist Andrew Whiteman is way ahead of the curve as his side gig, Apostle of Hustle, is already on their second ambitious and diverse Pop manifesto, National Anthem of Nowhere. Splashes of Whiteman's Latin influences resurface from AOH's debut, 2004's Folkloric Feel, but his broad range of influences are more fully integrated this time around as the band sounds slightly more unified and focused. Whiteman finds the essence of his noise Pop dissonance, ambient DIY ethic and melodic Indie Rock melancholy, resulting in an album that shimmers, swings, crackles and sighs like Daniel Lanois producing eels and Morrissey in Nick Drake's church basement. There are a few meandering moments on National Anthem of Nowhere but they are more an example of Whiteman's overwhelming need to incorporate the breadth of his musical passions into a single album -- sometimes a single song and his compositional talent makes it easy to ignore the occasional lapse. (BB) Grade: B