Diamond Joel Plaskett unleashed his most ambitious work to-date last year with his 3-disc, 27-song, epic Three.  With the help of Ana Egge and Rose Cousins on accompanying vocals, Plaskett found himself  with another album shortlisted as the best full-length Canadian release of the year; the other album was Ashtray Rock from Plaskett’s full-band project [...]

I haven’t listened to Metric in months.  I didn’t really fall in love in love with their last album.  After waking up to this song this morning, I’ve decided it may be time to re-evaluate certain life-decisions I’ve made.  Sick Muse was the 3rd single released in support of  Metric’s fourth full-length effort Fantasies, which hit [...]

May 4th, 2010 is without a doubt the most highly anticipated Tuesday in Canadian indie-rock history.  With one rolling-over of the clock, two of Canada’s most revered indie-rock collectives will release their latest albums.  Toronto-based Broken Social Scene will serve notice with their 4th full-length release “Forgiveness Rock Record”, and Vancouver-based The New Pornographers will [...]

The Dears‘ fourth full-length studio release Missiles hit shelves on October 20th of 2008, though it had been completed almost 6 months earlier.  During this delay, the band found themselves in the unenviable position of being forced to shop their record, as relationships with previous labels had “run their course” and a self-release was not financially [...]

Canada’s most enigmatic indie-rock collective, Broken Social Scene, have announced that their long-awaited fourth studio album will be available on May 4th of 2010.  The first leaked song in support of the album, titled “Forgiveness Rock Record”, was released today via the band’s website (listed below) as a free download.  The album will follow up [...]

Montreal’s all-female four-piece Pony Up returned to studios in the Spring of 2008 to begin work on their sophomore full-length release.  Working with producer Murray Lightburn (who also serves as front-man for the Montreal act The Dears), the group recorded the 2009-released LP “Stay Gold” from the world-renowned Hotel2Tango recording studio.  At the time of [...]

The self-described (and by no means out of line) “sonic tour-de-force” Broad Way Sleep released their self-titled debut LP on February 9th; Too Late is the first single supporting the album, and was released in the first half of November last year.  The Toronto song-writing collective is made up of Ralph Joseph, Alexander The (Styrofoam [...]

Basia Bulat broke into Canada’s national indie spotlight in 2007 with the success of her debut LP Oh, My Darling.  Released through Hayden’s Hardwood Records, Oh, My Darling would go on to share space on the shortlist for Canadian album of the year with the likes of The Weakerthans, Stars, and Holy Fuck.  Bulat’s long-awaited sophomore [...]

Two years ago, Wintersleep front-man Paul Murphy lost his grandparents; his mother lost her parents.  With the help of his brother Michael, some free time in Nova Scotia, and the wonder that is scotch, Postdata was born as a gift for Mom.  12 ideas for an album were laid down using the most modest of setups [...]

Chicago-based indie-label Drag City leaked the 3rd pre-release track from Joanna Newsom’s forthcoming album this week, raising questions as to why the first 2 have no been posted here yet.  Today’s track, titled ‘81, was the first song to be leaked back in late January from Newsom’s 3rd full-length effort Have One On Me.  Confirmed [...]

Patrick Watson’s third full-length album Wooden Arms did what any good album should do, and divided music critics last year.  While some praised it’s audacity to experiment with nods for album of the year, others denounced its sound as too organic and went as far as describing the sound as “a group of classically-trained buskers”; [...]

Bedouin Soundclash front-man Jay Malinowski is slated to make his debut as a solo artist with a 13-song LP next Tuesday.  ”Bright Lights and Bruises” will be Malinowski’s first musical endeavor sans Soundclash bassist, and writing partner, Eon Sinclair since the two met in University eight years ago.  While Malinowski’s vocals will remind of the Juno-winning [...]

Canadian alt-country balladeers NQ Arbuckle teamed up with singer-songwriter Carolyn Mark this past year for a collaborative release.  The result was the full-length “Let’s Just Stay Here”, released through Vancouver’s Mint Records mid-October.  The album marks the first release from NQ Arbuckle since their 2008 Juno-nominated released XOK, and the first from Carolyn Mark since [...]

It’s likely a fair presumption to say that most casual Woodhands‘ fans know of the band through I wasn’t Made For Fighting, Dancer, or to a lesser extent their newest single CP24.  All three of these songs feature what makes Woodhands so alluring: a hard synth beat, a raucous drum performance from Paul Banwatt, and [...]

Dirty, grungy, distorted, overexposed, and even skanky, are all words that feel right when describing Makeout Videotape’s turn on the Harry Nilsson classic I Guess The Lord Must Be In New York. The cassette-sounding rendition can be found on the Vancouver lo-fi/garage-rock duo’s limited-release EP “Heat Wave!”, which appears to be the only release-proper from the band [...]

Polaris Prize winner/mathematician/artist formerly known as Manitoba/Canadian indie-electronic act Caribou is back with a new album for 2010.  Slated for an April 20th North American release and an April 19th UK release, Swim will mark Caribou’s first full-length effort since the critically acclaimed 2007 album Andorra; Andorra beat out albums from Canadian indie heavyweights such [...]

Vancouver indie-rock/pop ensemble The Zolas are back with another deceptively infectous track from their 2009 debut album “Tic Toc Tic”.  Produced by Howard Redekopp (notable for producing albums from Tegan and Sara, The New Pornographers, and Mother Mother), Tic Toc Tic does well in delivering a three-piece band wrapped in a full-stage sound; The Great [...]

The title-track from Noah and the Whale’s 2009 LP The First Days of Spring opens with the line “It’s the first day of spring and my life is starting over again”, and immediately sets the melancholic tone for the remainder of the album.  The release, which is the band’s sophomore full-length effort, narrates lead singer [...]