Twin River's bio notes that the Vancouver-based band is "comprised of members of Red Cedar, Sun Wizard, Capitol 6, White Ash Falls, Chains of Love, Mode Moderne, Pleasure Cruise and more." Twin River has strains of those bands, but its stripped-down sound is more rustic and folksy than any of its associated acts.
Below is the twangy, faintly surf-tinged "Can't Keep This Alive," which comes from the recent Rough Gold EP. Get it from Bandcamp.

 

It's pretty predicable that I like DIIV, seeing as how it's a buzzed about Beach Fossils spin-off that the blogs are eating up right now. Oh well. "Doused" is a pretty incredible slice of threatening, echo-laden jangle pop. Why fight it? The full-length Oshin comes out June 26 on Captured Tracks.


 

Lately, my life has had a whole lot of Apollo Ghosts in it. I wrote a cover story about them for BeatRoute, and last night I went to their LP release show. That excellent new album is called Landmark and it's officially out on May 15 through You've Changed Records. The short but sweet opening track is called "What Are Your Influences?" and it's below. "Wo-ho-hoo!"

 

Prioritizing sucks, and sometimes I must forgo writing thoughtful blogs about deserving music in favour of doing work that actually pays the bills. So I'll let this song by Vancouver's Capitol 6 (led by Sun Wizard's Malcolm Jack) speak for itself. "Cold Ride" appears on the album Pretty Lost, due out June 12 on Light Organ Records.

 

Dan Mangan's "About as Helpful as You Can Be Without Being Any Help at All" is a masterwork in juxtaposition. It begins with a menacing, noise-soaked piano drone before giving way to a glorious, almost comically cheery orchestral waltz. From there, the husky-voiced Vancouverite sings about self-immolation and man-eating sharks before rounding things out with an acoustic verse.
It doesn't have a world-conquering hook like "Robots," but it's the best song he's ever released.

 

Twin Shadow's previous album, Forget, was a slow-burner that I like even more now than I did when it came out in 2010. I'm pretty excited, then, about his forthcoming Confess, due out July 10 via 4AD.
Listen to the beat-heavy single "Five Seconds," which will take about that long to win you over.

 

I've been away in Ontario for the past week. I did the following:
-Watched the Toronto Blue Jays beat the Seattle Mariners 7-0.
-Ate nachos in the University of Western Ontario Community Centre and talked loudly about how stressed I was about exams.
-Danced to "Return of the Mack" in a hotel bar patronized almost exclusively by people 45 and older.
-Published an article about Jack White's new album, Blunderbuss, in The Tyee. Watch the video for his single "Love Interruption" below.

 

"The Reason" is probably my favourite song from Said the Whale's recent album, Little Mountain. It's a piano-led number that's one of the catchiest tunes in the band's oeuvre, and it showcases the full power of Ben Worcester's voice. Watch a video for the song below.

 

Polaris season is almost upon us, and one album that will have a spot on my ballot is PS I Love You's excellent Death Dreams, which comes out on May 8 through Paper Bag Records (although I'm thrilled to already have my vinyl copy).
Below, listen to the mammoth-sized (although only 2:22 long) stomper "Princess Towers." This sounds huge on wax, but still pretty big on laptop speakers.

 

After spending much of 2011 in Berlin, City of Glass is back in Vancouver. Below, watch the incendiary video for the danceable post-punk number "Sticks and Stones" from last year's The Diving Bell EP.
The band will celebrate its Canadian return with a show at the Anza Club on May 19. Look for a full-length album to come out sometime before long.