Vancouver's Bleating Hearts have been gigging regularly in Vancouver for the past year or so, and now they're ready to release their self-titled debut LP. It's due out March 6. You can download the hooky lead single "Walls Come Tumbling Down" for free below to get a sample of the band's horn-heavy, indie-leaning folk rock sound.

 

Cloud Nothings' self-titled album was one of my favourites of 2011, but the recent Attack on Memory? I'm still not quite sure. It sounds huge, and there are still a few catchy moments that make it worth the price of admission, but, as I wrote about for The Tyee, I'm not quite sure I buy songwriter Dylan Baldi as a mopey grunger.
Below is the video for "No Future/No Past." Bummer, man.

 

Today was by far the sunniest, warmest day of the year so far, and I spent it listening to Frankie Rose's new album, Interstellar. As much as I like the fuzzed out stylings of her past work, the electronic textures of cuts like the title track are mighty impressive too. Listen to the sweeping, climactic "Interstellar" below, and watch out for this album when it arrives on February 21 through Slumberland.
Go to Exclaim! to read my previous story about the album.

 

Yukon Blonde's new album, Tiger Talk, is totally banging. Case in point: lead single "Stairway," which rocks hard and contains some ridiculously catchy falsetto harmonies.
A while back, I wrote an Exclaim! list about the most anticipated upcoming Canadian releases of 2012, and this one made the cut. Obviously.

 

Pretty much all of I've heard from the No Gold dudes since the release of last year's self-titled LP is their clubby DJ sets around town. For the newly-released "Good and Bad," however, they don't stray too far from the freewheeling experimental pop that made last year's album such a winner. Sure, there are more electronics than before, but the summery spirit is the same. Nice one, guys.
This comes courtesy of The Fader.

 

From Halifax comes Long Weekends with the new single "Don't Reach Out." This gritty tune is part mope, part grimy garage bounce, and it might sound like a hummable retro pop tune were it not for the hiccupy vocals, which push it into slightly stranger territory.
This is coming out on 7" through the Noyes Records subscription series.

 

I was at Said the Whale's very first show almost five years ago, so it has been pretty exciting to follow the band's rise. Its latest single is a Tyler Bancroft-sung number that's one of the band's most straight-up rockers to date.
Die-hards may remember that this is actually a rewritten version of a prior non-LP track, although this version is a little heavier on the guitars and lighter on the synth.
This comes from the band's excellent forthcoming LP Little Mountain.

 

Lana Del Rey just might end up having one of the shortest career arcs in recent memory. Everyone loved her just a few months ago, but then she bombed on Saturday Night Live and everyone seems to hate Born to Die (the title of which seems to sum up Lana's career). All good things must pass. I just didn't know it would pass quite so quickly.
Below is the title track from "Born to Die," which really is a pretty awesome song. Let's remember Lana like this! With hooky choruses, dead-eyed melancholy and fucking tigers sitting next to her fucking throne.
I've written a few Exclaim! stories about Lana in the past few months.

 

Lower Dens put out one of my favourite albums of 2010, so I'm excited about the prospect of a new album from the dream pop outfit. Go to Exclaim! to read my story about the forthcoming release of Nootropics.
Below is "Brains," which is a little slow getting going but turns into a lovely, expansive tune.

 

These days, there seems to be a trend of indie pop musicians toning down the reverb and girl group influences in favour a slightly cleaner, more straightforward sound.
La Sera's "Please Be My Third Eye" (from her forthcoming Sees the Light LP, due March 27 through Hardly Art) reflects that shift. It's an upbeat stomper that is hardly clean, but there's not the same level of swampy reverb as we used to hear from Vivian Girls-related projects. Nicely played, Kickball Katy.