The CanCon Catalogue

Shad plays tonight at Lucky Bar. Here's him performing "I Don't Like To" live in L.A. for the Grammy weekend. Not only is his DJ the 2008 world champion, Shad himself plays the guitar. The whole concert can be found here.

Shad - "I Don't Like To" (live at the Canadian consulate in Los Angeles)

 OK, is this a great year for Canadian music, or what? We've already had A.C.
Newman and Malajube, we've got Joel Plaskett, the Great Lake Swimmers, Metric, the Tragically Hip, the Handsome Furs, MSTRKFT, K'naan, and more coming, and now we're definitely hearing from Swan Lake.

If you don't know who Swan Lake is, let's put it this way: you know how a lot of good bands like Wolf Parade, the New Pornographers, and Frog Eyes have that one crazy genius who completely ignores standard music sensibilities and yet still writes ridiculously great songs? Well, Swan Lake is three of those guys, from those exact bands, working together to write ridiculously great songs, only there's no A.C. Newman or Dan Boekner to reign them in.

At this point, I'm so high off of these songs that I can't even begin to describe them except in Haiku form. So here goes:

"Spanish Gold 2044" via Stereogum

Brian Wilson is broken
the jagged ocean crashes in the desert
prospectors rejoice, echo



"A Hand at Dusk" via Pitchfork

a concert hall?
Major Tom has found Stardust
it's a Day in the Life



Enemy Mine comes out March 24. More info about the disc can be found here.

"Pulling A Line"


"She Comes to Me In Dreams"


The Great Lake Swimmers have released their first single, called "Pulling a Line," from the March 31, 2009, release Lost Channels. As per normal, Tony Dekker throws out some great lyrics, evoking the nautical landscape from which the band takes its name. An upbeat track by GLS standards (though not nearly as snappy as "See You On the Moon"), it gives us a taste of the albums professed themes, namely, "telling tales of hidden histories, still "mining for light in the dark wells," still "tuned to an instrument of greater and unknown design."

They've also have another track, "She Comes to Me In Dreams," up on the MySpace. This one is a little more in the band's standard style, EXCEPT when the song hits 1:18 and we get some epic drum hits echoed by some Hawaiian-style guitar picking. It makes me excited for the promised addition of cello and vibraphone to the lineup for some of the songs. The Great Lake Swimmers are one of the few bands with a sound that can actually properly accommodate these sorts of additions.

You can buy "Pulling a Line" here.

Great Lake Swimmers: myspace, greatlakeswimmers.com

LIGHTS - "February Air"


At some point I almost completely lost touch with popular music. I don't know when. I think it has to do with getting an iPod, discovering CBC Radio 3, the Hype Machine, and various reliable music blogs, and deciding I really didn't have to deal with commercials and various incarnations of "Newlyweds with Nick and Jessica" (this dates me) in order to listen to new music, which for the most part wasn't even close to reflecting all the good stuff that was going on. For the most part this has been awesome-- not only is there a lot of great stuff that never goes mainstream, but mainstream stuff sounds better if it isn't overplayed-- allowing me to appreciate pop in small doses as opposed to being assaulted with it until it destroys my soul.

The one drawback is that outside of my own little ghetto, I really don't know what the rest of the world is listening to. The song I'm posting today is a case in point. I heard about LIGHTS through my cousin, who saw her perform some small show in Vancouver last year and said she was going to be the next big thing. I just got around to checking her out now, and figured I would post the track so you could hear it, but according to my research, you already have. See, my cousin was right(ish). Her music has been featured in a bunch of commercials for Old Navy, and she had two songs chart last year. This song, "February Air" was number three on MuchMusic. I didn't even know MuchMusic still played music, so there you are.

Anyways, even if you're sick of this song already, I'm not because it's new to me. The opening synths (done on Garageband?) are the perfect sound for the glossy sheen of pop music heartbreak, but her voice is organic enough to prevent it from getting all Europop. The closest comparison I can think of is the Postal Service
fronted by Robyn without the attitude, and that's exactly what you need for a song that conjures up images of the cold grey of February as the backdrop to a broken heart. This video here, using Toronto as a backdrop, captures this mood a lot better than the official one (which looks way too much like an Ikea commercial).

LIGHTS: official site, myspace

*Singles Going Steady



Good morning. If you were someone I was jealous of, then last night you would have watched Joel Plaskett open for Sarah McLachlan in for the Olympic countdown. If so, then stop reading. You've had enough Plaskett goodness for now. This is for the rest of us.

Alright, my friends. In his bid to make up not touring anywhere beyond Vancouver until April, the man who is taking a serious run at the best singer-songwriter in the country released the first single from his upcoming album Three yesterday. If you don't know, it's a three disc album, each with nine (3x3) songs, often with songs titles that repeat the same word three times, etc, etc, etc. If you want to see how far he's taking this thing, I suggest you take a look at this. The single, which is the second song on the first disc, is called "Through & Through & Through" and doesn't see Plaskett departing too far from his older work, just complementing it with some female vocalists and horns. At first I didn't like these additions, but having listened to the song three times, I think it's growing on me. You can hear it below, or on joelplaskett.com.

Also yesterday, the only band in the world who's more Canadian than Plaskett, the Tragically Hip released the first single from their forthcoming album, We Are the Same. I can't say I was expecting much this far into their career, but by the sounds of it this could be a good one, with the Hip, on this song at least, moving towards their understated roots side after the pop sheen of World Container. The song is called "Morning Moon," and you can read more about the April 7 release on their MySpace.

I should so be on Hype Machine.

Joel Plaskett - "Through & Through & Through"


The Tragically Hip - "Morning Moon"

If you like Canadian artists covering one-hit wonders from the 80s (and really, who doesn't?), then February is your month. First, A.C. Newman puts his acoustic spin on A-Ha's "Take On Me" for a Starbucks compilation, and now electro-pop-rockers Woodhands have come out with a digital release of "Electric Avenue" by Eddy Grant. Both are worthwhile takes, with Newman's version re-imagining his track as as a heartfelt and understated ballad, and Woodhands adding a lot more grit to theirs.


And the lines between indie cred, selling out, and ironicsm are obliterated once and for all.

A.C. Newman - "Take On Me" (A-Ha cover, from Starbuck's Sweetheart)


Woodhands - "Electric Avenue" (Eddy Grant cover, from Paper Bag Records Digital)

I don't know how you go about finding new music, but I mostly do it on the internet, either via blogs or web radio or some combination of the two. So when two of the blogs I respect most, i(heart)music and herohill.com post about the same band in the same week, it's something I'll check out.

That was the case with In-Flight Safety, a group I will openly admit I'd never heard of before (to be fair, I'm on the opposite end of the country). So I gave them a listen, and here's my verdict: the comparisons to Coldplay are fair. But they are also not a reason to dismiss the band. Because being from Halifax, this band does not take the all-out Britpop route. Instead, they find the ground between Two Hours Traffic and radio-friendly stadium rock. Yes, the vocals soar like Chris Martin. But the guitar jangles, the bass bounces and the drum kit is tight. I know you're a busy person, so here's the track I suggest as a starting point.



I also know you like free stuff, so you can stream the whole she-bang here, and if you like it, here's the Zunior way to buy it (if you don't know Zunior, check it out even if you don't want to buy the CD).