The Noises I Hold Dear

These guys put out a new e.p recently called The Year. It's two-piece math pop at its finest, and human beings at their nicest. Check'm out.

Hitting the Coast

Canada's East coast gets a ton of exposure. Bands like Dog Day, Wintersleep and Land of Talk tour and have enough press behind them that Nova Scotia is treated like the best kept geographical secret of this fine country. The West coast definitely has its own musical treasures, too, but Halifax seems to have a lot more familial based bands, while bands in the West play their cowboy roles wholeheartedly- acting as lone rangers who pop up when you least expect them to.


Ladyhawk, for example, I'd never heard of until I saw them play a friend's loft in Montreal. These fellows play fist pumping anthems for the hard-party crowd, and the crowd did indulge- people were riding on each others' shoulders half-naked while the band wailed through a fantastical and sweat-drenched jangly set. Their self-titled release, and most recent album Shots is a pretty damn accurate representation of their shows, only not as loud.

On the even crazier side, two-piecers Run Chico Run have scared the fuck out of me on more than one occasion. It's not their song content or style that freaks me out- these guys range from the sensible rockiness to the post-punkability- it's the ridiculous, ridiculous, ridiculous amount of talent these two possess. There are millions of talentless hacks out there- and these guys hog all that talent for themselves. Have you ever seen a drummer play keyboard and sing at the same time? How about a drummer and a guitar player who can do all of that. Both of them. Ridiculous. Here's on of their equally fantastic music videos:





Kids These Days were also great. I say 'were' because they haven't really released anything in the past four years since their side project Octoberman became more of a full-time dealie. Their full length, All These Interruptions is like a summer adaptation of a musical written by old Radiohead.

Then of course, there's the Thrush Hermit song, The Day We Hit The Coast- which is technically by an East Coast band, but its about how much they love the West Coast...so...I guess it ends up somewhere in the prairies? I don't know.

Hooks in Heads

Humid and smelly, sporadically rainy. Summer in the city. This kind of weather is best punctuated by pop songs and pink lemonade- those songs that sum up summer nights best spent dancing under patio lighting with your shoes off.


The Nerves put out a four song EP in 1976 that was just introduced to me a few weeks ago, and though it clocks in at just under eight minutes, every song is so damn catchy that you can't help but sing along after the second or third listen. Wicked vocal harmonies and classic broken heart lyrics.

Cain and Abel (?-2008, Acton Ontario) were a bunch of hardcore kids who decided to worry less about hair flips and worry more about having a damn fun time on stage (so I guess not worry at all?). They released two EPs, Mosey On, and Keep On Keepin' On simultaneously, sharing songs on both albums, but taking an acoustic approach on Mosey, and a full band approach on Keepin'. Singer/Guitarist Peter van Helvoort's voice falls somewhere between John Fogerty and Robert Plant, conjuring memories of those hot summers in the seventies when I wasn't born yet. Their video Sing It, With Some Soul (directed by Mitch Fillion of Hamilton band Kilhuminzu):



Summer wouldn't be complete without a healthy does of fist-pumping pop-punk, and Burlington's St. Alvia Cartel make sure every tambourine, gang vocal, and organ chord is drenched in sunshine and sticky heat. Though their self-titled release is a year old now, it seems fresh off the press and onto my aural barbeque. These guys are label-mates with fantastic ska-punks The Planet Smashers, and the much shittier ska-punks, The Johnstones- but they manage to hold their own aggressive pop style steadfast.

Yew ain't frum 'round here, are ye?

I will be the first person in line to kick country music in the face (were it a person). There is only so much twang that the human ear can process without being up to ones earlobes in moonshine and support our troops patriotism. Accessible country music is a rare commodity, but it is out there- and it can start up hootenannies at the first pluck of a banjo.



O'Death (New York) blur the line between punk and country without a single drop of grain alcohol. Quick-ass brushed drums, banjo and Tom Waits-y growls mixed with gang yelps and fiddles shooting off all over the place...shit, I don't know if I should be moshing or not. These guys have a wicked full-length called Head Home that is really worth a listen. You can buy it here. They'll be recording with Alex Newport some time soon, and he is responsible for some of At the Drive-In(!) and The Locusts'(!!) stuff, so you just know that ho-downs are shoe-ins.



Locally (somewhat) The Deadly Snakes (1996-2006) poured out wicked born-again country rock tunes album after album, though their 2003 release of Ode to Joy is still their catchiest, stomping-alongest (Grammar! yeah!) record as of yet, their whole discography is pretty shit-kickin'. Check out 'Oh My Bride' on their myspace for an example of these folks at their best.

Guephically, Richard Laviolette makes crowds swoon with his whiskey rock anthems of preachers, pirates, protesters and pumkin heads. His split album with math-folker Chris Yang Hands and Feats is up for grabs here. Richard's first solo disc A Little Less Like A Rock, A Little More Like Home can be bought from the man himself at one of his shows, which you should go see. He recently stopped by my apartment and treated me (and you) to a quiet little folk song:

A Band Apart

Regina doesn't exactly pump out music as consistently as bigger cities in Canada, but the quality of their exports dwarfs the quantity of bands coming out the likes of Montréal and Toronto. Regina seems to be on par with Halifax, building a concentrated community of musicians who all seem to have played in other bands with everyone else. Inbred is such an ugly word.


Despistado are at the root of all music I've heard that comes out of Saskatchewan. I first had a chance to see them when their EP, Emergency Response came out- it was (and still is) one of the most bitingly catchy records I've heard. Tribally structured drums fills and a twisty-turny bassline that jangles between two high-strung guitars that dance on a tightrope. Post-punk loveliness. Shortly after signing to Jade Tree Records in 2005, the band decided to call it quits. Their only full length record, The People and Their Verses is for sale on Jade
Tree's website.

First to rise from the ashes of Despistado was Sylvie, featuring Joel Passmore (Despistado's bass player/ supporting singer) on guitar. Sylvie focuses on a frantic approach to progressive rock- walls of guitar effects and a corset-tight rhythm section. Their video for the song 'Rise and Fall' from their album An Electric Trace is pretty durn wonderful:





Then Geronimo started touring- bringing the guitars of Dagan and Leif to a wound-up climax, harvesting the aggressiveness of Dagan's lyrical politics as an added barb in an already razor-sharp band. Their EP Enlightenment in a Small Town is full of twang, breakneck dance breakdowns and a million notes of fury from the prairies.

Anatta were the last to announce their inception- drawing a large amount of fantasticness from the drum acrobatics of Brenan Schwartz, Anatta build a background of strings and keys for both sets of male and female vocals to wax poetics amidst the frantic percussion, painting pictures of raised fists and unrest.


I fucking loved Despistado, but their parts apart are still pretty damn good. Reunion shows, though? Maybe?Maybe.