In honour of the long-awaited return of the sun, we’re featuring spring thaw by Ottawa-based The Acorn. It really seems like the band had fun putting this song together — something that comes through in the recording. The lyrics might be a bit cheesy, but it’s a good time of year for solid indie rock with a positive vibe.

Listen for a drummer who is barely contained by the structure of the song (in a good way). Listen for the minute-long jam at the end. Listen for the sound of your own foot tapping along.

The Acorn - spring thaw

Not too long ago, I was employed at the CMRRA - the Canadian Musical Reproduction Rights Agency. It was a nice gig - cozy, comfy, not too demanding, and you get to listen to a lot of music from their vast library.

During my time there, I would daily license quite a few CDs, and once in a while I’d listen to an album that I’ve never heard of. On one sunny morning, I find in my inbox a few albums from True North Records. Little did I know that I would discover my newest favorite band ‘The Golden Dogs‘. I had two of their albums to license - “Big Eye Little Eye” and “Everything In 3 Parts”. The cover art for both albums grabbed my attention, one a giant button, and the other a few colored concentric circles, so I plopped Big Eye Little Eye into my CD player. I was instantly blown away by a song called “Dynamo”. Never have I been so hooked so soon by a song - what an amazing job at capturing the energy of their performance.
Song after song, I was drawn into their Golden soul, being instantly converted to a Golden Dogs fanatic.

Over and over I played their music, I couldn’t get enough. Fortunately, they played a few shows around Toronto - I had to check one out. Again, I was blown away. They brought such energy to the stage that I haven’t seen in a while.

This is the type of music I’ve been waiting to hear for years - damn killer rock songs that make your head bang, your fists pound, your feet stomp. Why can’t more music be like this?!? They’ve got catchy lyrics, ear-tingling harmonies, and rocking guitar licks.
I suggest anyone and everyone who likes high-energy indie-rock to check out the Golden dogs, you won’t be disappointed.

Check out in your eyes by Utopia Complex, a Toronto indie outfit. I found this track while digging through some of the music I have on file. The band isn’t currently active, but have focused efforts on producing some podcast mixes representing other local acts.

The energy in the song is carried well by lead singer Christina Miter and the production is raw, but well balanced. So hit play and get on with it.

Utopia Complex - in your eyes

I had the great pleasure this year of visiting Canada’s premier Music Awards Show, The Juno’s, held in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.

Being from Toronto, it wasn’t the easiest trek out there… or the cheapest.
What made me consider traveling out there? Well, fortunately my girlfriend scored some free tickets to the show from a scholarship. Yes the concert tickets free…the plane tickets… not so much.

Now, a good thing about the concert being in Saskatoon, was that there aren’t too many flights going in and out - so the chances of bumping into a famous Canadian Musician or Personality are incredibly high. Ron Sexsmith sat behind me on the plane and Colin James was a few rows back as well. We even lucked out by having to share a cab with MuchMusic VJ Leah Miller - did anyone else know she was dating Dallas Green?

The first night we arrived we attended a welcoming party - full of free spirits - both free-spirited people and free booze. I did have a lot to drink that night - Western Beer is Dee-lish! The local traditional Elk meat was also quite tasty.

Another notable event was the Songwriter’s Circle, where notable Canadian song-writer’s played their own songs and discussed where their inspiration comes from. The song-writer’s were Jim Cuddy, Colin James, Carolyn Dawn Johnson, Ron Sexsmith, Kellylee Evans, Tomi Swick, Susan Aglukark, and Barney Bentall.

Now to the Main event - the awards show.
It really was quite the show. They had to cram many acts into 2 hours while handing out awards and having time for acceptance speeches. The performances were entertaining, because each group was performing their best song and each set had a unique design. The sound was also far better in the arena, the Credit Union Centre, than it was broadcast on TV.

Notable Performances include Billy Talent, Alexisonfire, K-OS, Patrick Watson, The Tragically Hip (f. Bob Rock) and a killer ending with DJ Champion performing “No Heaven”.

Now has anyone heard of Gregory Charles?!? He also performed and is apparently doing very well in Quebec - let’s just say - this ain’t my kind of music. All the power to him, though, for hypnotizing the Quebec Market.

It was unfortunate that Nelly Furtado not only hosted the show, but also won a majority of the awards. I mean she’s talented and all - but that was a little much.

Notable downsides to the weekend:
Travel from the awards shows back to the hotel - there was a mass rush of people without adequate transportation. No place to eat after the awards show - they didn’t have the staff to accommodate the volume (good thing I always carry granola bars with me). Line-ups for events - everyone was given passes to go to any show, which meant if you didn’t arrive early - you weren’t getting in.

Overall it was an exciting weekend. I may even consider making the trek out to Calgary next year to attend the Junos, as long as they make the flights cheap and keep the beer free.

Two singles coming at you from US heartlander Tanner Walle’s latest album, The Future of Tape. These two songs each have a very different feel, but both are a good listen in their own way.

In the first song, hello goodbye, Tanner merges a pop sound with electronic influences. The layered, fractured samples in this track are heavily produced, but don’t confuse that with the acoustic fluff added to fill out some radio pop anthems (Wheatus - teenage dirtbag and Natasha Bedingfield - these words come to mind). He closes things off with a repeating vocal riff that reminds me of the harmonized nonsense syllables used in Frou Frou’s breathe in and hear me out.

But then is a bit of acoustic pop with a more organic approach. The lazy slide guitar is a great complement to the fingerpicked rhythms and subtle keyboards. Tanner’s melody choices and clear vocals also make this a very accessible track. Give them both a listen below and stop by his myspace on your way out.

Tanner Walle - hello goodbye

Tanner Walle - but then

Thanks to Beat Lawrence for sending us the mp3s.

Here’s a video of Arcade Fire filmed at an overseas concert last summer. It’s a great performance of No Cars Go, from their latest album. Their frantic energy comes through in every note on this one… it feels like they should all collapse at the end.

Keeping it simple, I’ve summarized the three acts that hit the stage last Saturday night.

Ghetto Pony
They had a really interesting sound and instrumentation that was mixed up throughout their set (DJ, upright bass, electric/bass guitars). That said, the vocal delivery was a little awkward and forced at times — like a college-bar Weezer cover. Track them down on myspace.

Jade McNelis
She is obviously very talented, with a nice voice and a surprisingly full sound for a solo keyboard act. In one of the strangest moments of the night, she offered to give away her drink tickets for the best break dancing. Not a unusual request, except that her songs wouldn’t sound out of place on the new Norah Jones album. Is this the start of a new trend — breaking to ‘adult contempo’? Her myspace tracks come highly recommended.

Apostle of Hustle
If you weren’t already aware, this group formed as a side project of Broken Social Scene’s lead-guitarist, Andrew Whiteman. They certainly played a great set Saturday night. I absolutely loved their use of two drum kits, although you had to feel bad for one of the drummers, who was relegated to triangle duty for a few songs. That had to be a little emasculating. In another strange moment, a girl sitting on the floor in front of the stage trained a video camera on Whiteman and didn’t move it for the entire 80 minute set. I also got a good laugh when a group of 4 or 5 girls looking to ‘meet’ the band realized they were about 10 years older than they thought they’d be. The collective look on their faces was priceless.

The verdict? Pick up tickets if their current tour stops near you.

Photo credit: Joshb

While its parent album has been out since last September, Essex-based Get Cape Wear Cape Fly has released their latest single, i-spy. Here we go bending that ‘no emo’ rule, but at least you won’t find any broken hearts in this track. Trawling through YouTube, I found this live performance of the single, recorded at a reasonable quality level.

I could do without the vocal droops at the end of his phrasing, but I like what the kid is doing. His sound is reminiscent of Dashboard Confessional (I’m sure he’s sick of that comparison), but with a hint of accent and more keyboard samples. He also seems to realize that not every song needs to be written in the second person. To a girl. About relationships. Worth tracking this one down.

Yesterday, solo indie act Bright Eyes released six songs on an EP entitled Four Winds, though it was already “leaked” online earlier this year. The title track will be appearing on their forthcoming album, Cassadaga. For the first minute of four winds you might be worried that we’ve slipped in a country song, but the arrival of Conor’s vocals should calm you down. His sound achieves that ‘vulnerable angst’ so popular with indie singers these days. The single is bouncy with a hint of Hammond organ and a prominent fiddle part that actually suits the song well.

The rest of the EP is made up of earlier b-side material, which often sounds like b-side material. I liked reinvent the wheel, but songs like smoke without fire and tourist trap would have to be enjoyed in the lazy, mellow mood in which they were probably written. While some scene kids might say their indie credibility dropped a few notches after a reference in a Saturday Night Live skit, I’m looking forward to the full album.

Bright Eyes - four winds