More hook-heavy indie-pop up today, this time from the Vancouver-based quintet Parlour Steps.  The infectious As the World Turned Out can be found on the band’s latest LP “The Hidden Names”, released in October of 2009 by Nine Mile Records; while counts seem to differ across the annals of the Internet, it appears that The Hidden [...]

Gavin Gardiner of The Wooden Sky has piles of perfectly-formed melodies scattered around his home, I’m convinced of it.  Every song I hear from the Toronto indie/folk-rock ensemble finds a way to lodge itself into my brain and gently gnaw, relenting only after I perform it for friends from my couch.  The Late King Henry [...]

I’ve got a quick Christmas Eve post for everyone today, before the circus known as the Ukrainian Christmas Feast begins at my family’s place.  With all the recent hoopla surrounding a possible Arcade Fire release in 2010, now seems like a good time to post another tune from the band.  If you haven’t heard the aforementioned hoopla, [...]

Another great song up today, this time from the Montreal indie-rock singer/songwriter/band-of-the-same-name Patrick Watson.  The Great Escape can be found on Watson’s 2nd full-length album Close to Paradise, released in September of 2006.  The album would go on to be named the best Canadian independent album of 2007 by the Polaris Music Prize, edging out an [...]

Tonight’s tune comes from the Baltimore, Maryland musical ensemble Animal Collective, and their 8th studio album Merriweather Post Pavilion.  Released on January 6th of 2009, the album has won over music critics almost universally; Pitchfork Media awarded the album a 9.6/10, the highest score for a new release since Arcade Fire’s Funeral in 2004.  Unlike many other albums [...]

After learning that Arcade Fire’s Wake Up is being used in the trailer for the upcoming Where the Wild Things Are film, I felt I had to post the song.  Unfortunately/fortunately I have already posted it.  However, once I get into an Arcade Fire kind of mood there is no stopping it.  So I have decided to [...]

In an attempt to get into gear for the upcoming Juno awards (March 29th), I’ve decided to try and highlight some of my favorite nominees over the next 2 weeks.  Today’s winner is Montreal indie-rock band Plants and Animals, whose album Parc Avenue is nominated for Alternative Album of the Year.  Just so everyone is [...]

Tonight’s tune comes to us from the Denver, Colorado indie-rock band Crooked Fingers.  The band is led by front man Eric Bachmann from the now disbanded indie-rock group Archers of Loaf.  New Drink for the Old Drunk is the second track from the band’s self-titled debut album, released in January of 2000.  The band’s first [...]

I’ve got another tune today from the indie-rock darlings Silversun Pickups.  Little Lover’s So Polite comes from the band’s debut full-length album Carnavas, released in July of 2006.  In an Arcade Fire post from a couple weeks ago, I made the comment that their debut album Funeral had to be one of the greatest debut releases [...]

My iPod alarm clock woke me up at the ungodly hour of 6:30 today (note: Somehow I still managed to show up late for work).  Appropriately, the song was Wake Up from my reigning favorite Canadian indie band Arcade Fire.  For whatever reason I didn’t post this song until today, even though it was one of the [...]

I was digging around my desk today, searching for some notes I took during a meeting before the holidays.  About 3/4 of the way through the mess I found a piece of paper that had “Joel Plaskett Fashionable People” scribbled into the bottom corner.  Knowing that I only record the most important information on the [...]