Don Cash

Toronto, ON musician Don Cash has been working extensively in Europe for the past few years, but with the re-release of 2009's Freshy Fresh on Canadian imprint Urbnet, he's hoping to boost his hometown appeal. Remastered and revamped to include new tracks, the deluxe edition of Freshy Fresh is a 12-track analogue ode to the melodious boogie music of days past. "Rock That" works as a glitzy, club land anthem and the jaunty, quasi-militaristic rigor of "In Berlin" hints of a possible Joy Division influence. The title track is unique here, as Cash grooves to soft lens-style retro funk and Motherland-sourced drums. Throughout Freshy Fresh, handclaps and mixed percussion lend the album a kind of quaint DIY veneer, but that aesthetic is ruined when you realize the vocal mastering just isn't on par with the instrumental production. It's these off-key moments that render the relatively ambitious, sometimes exquisitely layered music more confusing and incomplete than anything else.