My updates have been a little more sporadic lately due to technical difficulties. My hard drive crashed on Tuesday and my internet is constantly in a state of malfunction. I think I need a new computer, and maybe a new modem also. Oh well, money is overrated, probably.
Petroleum By-Product knows what I'm talking about. This plastic-obsessed Vancouver trio recently released a song called "(Ain't Got) Money." It's a trashy post-punk rave-up with glitzy synths and dance beats aplenty. Complaining about her poverty, frontwoman Sally Dige Jørgensen sings in a brash sneer that's halfway between Johnny Rotten and Fred Schneider of the B-52s.
The song appears on the recently released album Superficial Artificial, which is full of more of the same bedazzled new wave awesomeness.
mp3: "(Ain't Got) Money)"
 

Summer nostalgia is the overriding aesthetic of lo-fi music these days, as artists like Wavves and Best Coast evoke the July long weekend with blasts of sunburnt fuzz and warm beach pop harmonies.
Despite a name that suggests otherwise, Eternal Summers don't have much in common with this crowd. Sure, they favour lo-fi recordings with buried vocals and plenty of reverb. And yes, they have a video that looks like this. But songs like "Able To" eschew gauzy pop in favour of crisp guitar chords and a straight-forward alt. rock groove. Meanwhile, frontwoman Nicole Yun sings in a breathy voice that recalls Ottawa folkie Kathleen Edwards (although I'm not sure if anyone outside of Canada has ever heard of Edwards, so that's probably just a coincidence).
Perhaps it's best that Eternal Summers distance themselves from the beach pop crowd—they are from Virginia after all.
mp3: "Able To"
 

It's been almost a year since Japandroidsmania, meaning that Canada is currently on the lookout for for the Next Big Thing. Apparently many critics are nominating Zeus, seeing as the band is currently on the cover of both Exclaim! and NOW.
The Toronto pop rock outfit certainly has all of the right friends, performing as Jason Collett's backing band and getting signed to Broken Social Scene's Arts & Crafts label.
The band also has some catchy songs, including "Marching Through Your Head," which is the lead single off the recently released LP Say Us. Its got a steady piano bounce and a chirpy melody that sounds like it was pulled directly out of the Paul McCartney songbook (post-Beatles, mind you). It's a nice tune, but the squeaky-clean production means it comes out a little sterile—not quite the fire you'd hope for out of the Next Big Thing.
mp3: "Marching Through Your Head"
 

Zola Jesus songwriter Nika Roza Danilova is only 20 years old, but she's already put out an EP and and LP, and she has another EP on the way this Tuesday (March 9). Geez Nika, way to make us look bad.
The new EP is called Stridulum, and it begins with the dark, dramatic "Night." With its wash of synth strings and austere, clattering electro beats, it's a creepy tune that's perfect for late night listening. Danilova's deep and dramatic voice sounds distinctly similar to Becky Ninkovic (of You Say Party! We Say Die!), but Kate Bush and Bat for Lashes are probably the most obvious reference points. In other words, yes, this is another new wave girl. And a good one.
Just try not to be put off by Stridulum's gross album cover. Is that chocolate? Please let it be chocolate. (Tubgirl? I'm so sorry.)
mp3: "Night"
 

If online music journalism were like high school, then Pitchfork would be the prom queen: kind of a bitch, but we'd all sleep with her in an instant if given the chance. Pitchfork would be played by Jennifer Love Hewitt and the movie would go into slow-motion every time she walked into the room.
Yesterday, my Exclaim! news piece about Belle & Sebastian got cited by Pitchfork. OMG the prom queen talked to me! Should I confess my true love in a letter and then deliver it to her at a grad party after she breaks up with that jerk Mike Dexter?
On a related note, Belle & Sebastian is my favorite band. Here's the song "Come Monday Night" from frontman Stuart Murdoch's God Help the Girl project from last year. It's sung by titular Girl Catherine Ireton, and is one of the album's two songs that lives to the glory of Murdoch's previous work. (The other is the title track.)
mp3: "Come Monday Night"
 

As far as syntactically awkward album titles go, they don't get much worse than Toro Y Moi's Causers of This. Still, this passive-voiced title is oddly perfect for chillwaver Chazwick Bundick; judging by the sound of his relaxed electro tunes, if he were any more passive, he'd still be lying on the couch in his parents basement, watching TV while covered in Cheeto dust.
"Blessa" begins wish a wash of synths and an invitation to "Come home in the summer." This is something of a mission statement, since the song is bound to invoke memories of lazing on the beach in mid-July. Of course, Causers of This came out in January, so it's hardly seasonally appropriate. Then again, Bundick hails from South Carolina, which is far enough south that it's hot for pretty much the entire year.
The sound on track occasionally warps and lurches, sounding as if it's being played on an aging cassette. You know what that means: it's nostalgia time.
mp3: "Blessa"
 

If you're familiar with some of the artists on Woodsist's roster, chances are you've already got a fairly good idea what White Fence sounds like—that is, dreamy, lo-fi pop. The solo project of Darker My Love singer Tim Presley, Woodsist will release White Fence's self-titled debut on April 27. It's already been released via Make a Mess.
The first single is "The Love Between," and it's a prickly recording based around a repetitive keyboard riff, out-of-tune guitar leads and some hypnotically muffled vocals. It's simplistic, but does a good job of setting an eerie mood. The outro is sure to please Velvet Underground fans, as Prelsey's jagged guitar solo is a spot-on impression of Lou Reed circa The Velvet Underground & Nico. It ends abruptly just 2:15 in, which I'm assuming is intended, and not an error in the track.
To hear more of Presley, be sure to check out Darker My Love, whose 2008 album 2 was an enjoyable collection of shoegazing fuzz rock.
mp3: "The Love Between"
 

It's probably a good thing that Apollo Ghosts aren't more famous, or else they would make all the other bands feel bad about themselves. They consistently put on some of the best live shows I've ever seen, which they achieve with a simple three-piece lineup and a no-frills approach that relies on nothing other than high energy and good songs.
Last year, they released an album plus and EP, and are currently gearing up for their second LP, Mount Benson, due out April 10. In the meantime, they have a released a split 7" with fellow Vancouver outfit Role Mach.
Apollo Ghosts' contribution to the single is "Library Card Amulet," a shimmering rocker that's equal parts fuzz and jangle. Bassist Jay Oliver eschews his usual instrument in favour of a guitar, something that gives the song a more textured sound that the band usually attempts. Wrapping up in a countrified breakdown, it's one of the highlights in the band's already-impressive studio output, and bodes well for next month's Mount Benson.
I recently caught up with frontman Adrian Teacher, who shed some light on how "Library Card Amulet" came together.
CH: Where was the song recorded? AT: This song was recorded at JC/DC studios in Vancouver with Dave Carswell. I can't remember if John was there or not, although I remember him commenting on the final mix. We recorded it in a couple of hours before our Shonen Knife show on October 25th. Instruments recorded live off the floor to tape, vocals overdubbed right after that.
CH: Why did you decide to go bass-less on this song? AT: In the initial demo, I didn't have bass on the song, I had two guitar parts. Jay and I used to play a lot of guitar together, so we thought it would be a fun change. We might do more of that in the future.
CH: Will this song appear on your upcoming Mount Benson LP? AT: No, it was a special 7" project for Geographing so it won't appear on the Mount Benson LP, which will come out in April. Rather than talk about our upcoming record, I'd like to share a quote about the actual mountain (located in Nanaimo, BC), written by Frank W. Teague for Victoria's Daily Colonist Sunday Magazine in 1913:
An Expedition up Mt. Benson. 
By Frank W. Teague.
The traveller when approaching a town or city, the surroundings of which are familiar to him, is almost invariably able to tell his whereabouts long before he reaches the place by some distinguishing landmark that comes to view as he proceeds on his way, for every community more or less the world over, has its well known crag or peak or glacier, its shaggy forest or rocky headland, its shining lake or ever rolling river.
mp3: "Library Card Amulet"
 

I never used to consider myself Canadian. I mean, I was Canadian—I was born in Canada and have lived here all my life—but I never considered it a fundamental part of who I was. I was incidentally Canadian. Or so I thought.
Then, in fall 2008, I spent several weeks living in England. I had planned to stay there for six months, but the economic downturn meant that I couldn't find a job. After sleeping on my cousin's couch for a few weeks and spending most of my time wandering around London, I checked into a hostel for a few days before traveling in Scotland and then heading home.
When I walked into my six-person dorm on the first day, all of my roommates were out. On the bunk below mine, however, there was a Tim Hortons coffee mug. My heart shot into my throat and my jaw dropped, and when the owner of the mug walked into the room a few minutes later, we immediately fell into fast and easy conversation. About dumb shit: the Tragically Hip, hockey, Toronto vs. Vancouver, etc. It was a superficial conversation, but one that nobody other than two Canadians could have.
Since then, I have remained cautiously skeptical about the ideology of patriotism, but never again will I be ignorant enough to deny that Canada is an essential part of who I am.
Will a non-Canadian really be able to appreciate Old Man Luedecke? A Nova Scotian songwriter, he recorded his latest disc, My Hands Are on Fire and Other Love Songs, in Vancouver, making it a true coast-to-coast album. And even though he's playing banjo-driven bluegrass—a genre of music usually associated with the American South—there's something so intrinsically Canadian about the song "The Rear Guard" that it feels as if were written into my DNA.
This blog post is beginning to sound a bit like it was written for an essay competition about what makes me a Canadian. Perhaps I'm being unnecessarily rhapsodical about this—it's just folk music after all. Maybe it's because Canada is currently playing the USA in the Olympic gold medal hockey game. Or maybe I'm just tired because the dudes who live upstairs woke me up at the crack ass of dawn blasting "We Will Rock You" and "Hells Bells."
mp3: "The Rear Guard"
 

My first-ever interview was with Mother Mother for an article in the Skinny (the piece is no longer online). I spoke with singer Ryan Guldemond for 45 minutes for a concert preview that was maybe 400 words. Sorry for wasting your time, dude.
More recently (this week), I wrote an article about the band for the Tyee. It's not an interview, but check it out if you'd like to witness me fellate the band with words. Because seriously, Mother Mother is fucking great.
"Body of Years" is one of the more straightforward songs in the group's catalogue, with a Pixies-style bass groove and a hummable, uplifting melody. It ends in a pretty sweet guitar jam, but you should also seek out some of the group's more boundary-pushing songs like "Hayloft" and "Verbatim."
mp3: "Body of Years"