aeolianblues

wanna make an ottawa/rest of Canada playlist. The Ottawa indie scene is so weird

Fuck it, Ontario/Quebec scene

Ottawa has a pretty fucking weird scene. For example. The music did nothing to prepare me for the first voice on this song

We do lofi/summer/bedroom indie really well for some reason though

This is still Ottawa, btw

Still Ottawa. The following (still Ottawa), is a tune

Poppier stuff, still Ottawa:

Quebec now:

(They're playing Focus Wales this year, so if you're UK based and following me and thinking you've gotta see this, go to Wrexham in 2 months)

If you like things a bit more like Cranberries, may I suggest

This. This! This! I love this. They've split up and are in other bands unfortunately, the members of the Seams.

But similarly, one of my current favourites, from Toronto:

This doesn't even touch on the Toronto scene, which is massive. So many brilliant bands I could name my god. Makes me miss doing Canada-specific radio shows </3

Anyway, since it's really late and I can barely see what I'm typing anymore, here's a few more for tonight. I'll add more tomorrow.

Here's more Toronto indie,

They really should be bigger, Goodbye Honolulu. They've been around since like 2009 making bangers.

Then there's Young Guv. Splendid. Brilliant. It might surprise you a bit, but he's originally from punk and post-hardcore bands, Canadian punk legends Fucked Up, and No Warning, which he fronted. I find it so funny that he's now one of my favourite summer indie pop writers, there's an old story about him playing a gig in Brampton a long time ago with "fuck Brampton" written on his bare chest, for which he got his teeth kicked in, but here he is now, on his Beatlesque side project. It's just a Canada thing. It's like you've gotta have an indie songwriting bone in you.

From Toronto there's also Garbagio, I have no idea what happened of them.

I melt every time I hear this song. They're local to our city, as an added bonus. Their debut album shouldn't be missed either, it's helpfully called My Dealer Is The Internet, and I love them.

Leaving the Ontario-Quebec region briefly, here's Travis Bretzer. This is music from Edmonton, Alberta. Out there, just like the music.

Tired of conventional white boy indie? No problem, here's one of my favourite albums from last year:

Lido Pimienta, Toronto based musician blending Toronto indie with smooth Columbian rhythms from her hometown.

You seeing my point? Canada is oddly good at the chill indie niche. But that's obviously not all we do...

Punk? Toronto's got it. Toronto has a great punk scene. Anti-Queens? Blew my mind the first time I heard them.

There's Joncro, giving punk their reggae twist. Daniel from Joncro also runs a POC punk music festival in Toronto every year which is cool as heck

Because this seems to be turning into a general post with me naming all the Canadian bands I love, here's some heavier ones, which completely contradicts the original point of this post. Yet still, they're good bands!

From British Columbia way out west where you can't just put up a binocular set and shout,

All the way from over in Calgary, possibly my favourite Canadian band after Phono Pony themselves (who, in their own words, "are not the White Stripes"), are Scratch Buffalo, and this is only partly because I have a distinct memory of them sending us their EP on a fruity pink vinyl, and us accidentally playing it on the LP player (so at higher speed) and going, man, they're energetic! They sound like they're on helium! (They were, we had them on much faster than they should've been)

I'd never worked with vinyl before, so the difference between 33 rpm and 45 rpm never occurred to me but others caught it and we slowed it down mid-song. The song did not drop in energy.

Unrelatedly, they've done a great acoustic session in the CJSW studios (UAlberta? UCalgary? I forget, but they do some of the best artist in sessions across the campus radio circuit. Hands down much better than us. Oh well)

Then there's legends like the Beaches, a lot more local indie bands and I could go on all night oh man... I can't wait for live music to come back. Goodnight. Can I be your guide to Canadian indie music because I can do it. Easily.

Today's a brand new day so I have more music!

Does anyone

want to, like

start a band?

I'm not too bad I promise

I'm basically luring you with good music at this point

who's here

Hehehehee there are new releases this month so the thread continues

More Ottawa music: Paragon Cause, with a new post punk release

And here's a brand new Toronto jangly indie release, sorta similar to Kiwi Jr. (best album of late 2019/early 2020, Football Money). They're Motorists, and they have a new album out too

An upcoming release (next month) from post punk/synthpop band from Vancouver, Actors:

Bonus: if you've heard people say that Canadian music tends to sound like/remind them of the summer, it's probably because half our bands sound like this

Hand Drawn Dracula are a label I follow quite keenly, they've got some good bands on their roster (including The Seams, the lemonade indie band above, and apparently members of Orville Peck's band, who is also a cool Canadian cowboy, btw (also apparently he's American? What)). Anywho, Canadian band Tallies are also on this label, and this is their 2019 indie album. Sounds of the summer!

Got some more music, I just bumped into this post again and realised I have more music.

Some slower, dreamier indie rock from Winnipeg in Manitoba are the three-piece Virgo Rising. This is from their 2021 album, and I like the song Sleep In Yr Jeans

Then since we're doing Winnipeg, I figured I'd throw in this band Toil and Trouble, also from Winnipeg, a 'psychiedelic muppet rock art band'. It is not a phrase I ever thought I'd hear. Neither did I think I'd hear the term Henson-core. But here we are, in Winnipeg, with a brand new album from this week, The Pond Album. It is actually quite nice, ranges from more sparkly psychedelic guitars, to funkier stuff featuring the chorus, "ribbit, ribbit, ribbit ribbit, ribbit, ribbit". Only in Canada.

Some more summer indie pop to keep you cool this month, coincidentally also from Winnipeg. I don't know. Another new EP released in July, from Winnipeg band Meadows.

Here's another artist from Winnipeg who's just put out an album of really chill electronic and synth indie. Instrumental stuff from Chris Doerksen's May album Ultra Parallax. Yeah, I guess this is a Winnipeg post now!

So in keeping with the theme, I've picked out another new album from a Winnipeg artist called A.M. Overcast. Lots of new releases out of Winnipeg this month, this one's more on the math-rock side.

Another hazy indie album from Winnipeg. It's Living Hour, and their album Someday Is Today comes out 2 September, but the title track is out right now

And lastly, a band recommended by Living Hour, who I really ended up liking, called iansucks. A slightly older record in comparison, it's from 2016.

Edit: I need to update the post because just in the time it took me to post this I found my new favourite record of this post holy shit. Why didn't I go into the Bandcamp Manitoba tag before because this is amazing. This is Manitoba musician Jay Wood, making initially what were meant to be "sad jangle pop songs" but burst into full life and colour in the psych funk vein. This is the album from 2019 I first hit upon on Bandcamp, Time

But his latest album released last week, Slingshot, is great too! I've got too much good new stuff to try and squeeze onto radio!

Some more stuff from Ottawa. Also while we're on Ottawa, I want to point out that Chemical Club are from Ottawa and not Montreal, and were not in fact playing Focus Wales either, the formatting on Tumblr messed up so that text box went before rather than after the song!

I really like this, kinda weirder indie rock from an artist called Mr. Power. This is from a 2021 EP called Romance

Also like this, kinda gloomier grunge rock. This is from the 4-piece's 2018 release Castle Temp.

Downtempo garage rock band Deliverables, who say they're a dance music band from Ottawa. I like that outlook because I wouldn't have thought to label them dance, but the whole point of music is that you can dance to absolutely anything you like!

I’ve got some more! Vivek Shraya is a trans pop musician from Toronto, and also a playwright. She’s filming some of her work for the CBC, but also she’s just put this banger of an indie pop tune! It’s a bit more of smoother pop than her last releases, and she promises there’s more to where that came from—I can’t wait! Album’s out in May.

Updating this post again because I’ve got some more stuff since - an indie rock, shoegaze four piece from Vancouver called Kamikaze Nurse. Many fans feel the singer has a Dolores O’Riordan quality to her voice. They’re on Mint Records, so Mint continues to find and sign up really cool bands!

(Iirc Kiwi Jr. released their first album Football Money on Mint. That album was janglepop gold, and they’re really fun to see live — they’re the only indie rock band I can think of who have a steadier 50’s soda shop dance floor vibe with people couple dancing than a moshpit. Incredible scenes seeing them, every time! They’re on Sub Pop now!)

Another cool artist is Montreal’s Lady Charles! Their latest album is wonderfully lush, alt rock, spacey synths, and the lyrics are delightfully defiant (Indie Wakeup adores this album already). They’re also right here on Tumblr! So if this embeds-heavy post hasn’t crashed your browser and you’re still reading this, go check them out they’re @ladycharles

Some more music from Montreal! I’ve posted about Magi Merlin’s genre-blending alt rock-hip hop-jumped up pop sound before, but somehow haven’t mentioned her in this post so I’m fixing that. I’m a big fan of her album from last May, Gone Girl. She’s just released a new song with Montreal hip hop group Busty and The Bass

Then, can’t believe I haven’t already mentioned them, but a bit heavier/more industrial stuff I like is Backxwash’s music! Industrial hip hop, is that a genre? Ah, who cares about labels anymore. This album is so cathartic. This is what Nine Inch Nails would’ve been going for in the 90s! And the lyrics! (Vibanda is one of my favourite songs on this record)

Oh, and they’re also on Tumblr! -> @backxwash

In a heavier vein but now from Toronto, there’s the band Crown Lands. They’ve released an album before, their latest, called Fearless just came out this week (I’m a bit late to the party! I only found out about them this week)

If 70s classic rock is your thing you’ll love them. They came together over a shared love of Rush, and you can hear touches of Led Zepp in there. I don’t see their latest album up on Bandcamp yet so I’m linking the last one, from 2017.

This post started like 2 years ago and was not really serious at all, just a place to list out Canadian bands I like, but it’s long enough now so why not: I’ll throw in a cool band that just sent me their music this week. They’re from Toronto, they’re a trans-Atlantic project, half members Torontonian, half in London in the UK.

They’re called Flowers of Hell, their stuff is a bit more droning with guitars, quite nice! Their latest work is a covers album, and I think it’s been in the works for a while: back in 2012, Lou Reed gave their cover of Run Run Run his seal of approval back when he used to do a show on BBC 6Music.

I’m also really enjoying this new song released by Portuguese-Canadian musician Nico Paulo, making smooth indie pop out of St. John’s, NL. What a voice, what subtle production, what a lovely song. It’s called Time, it came out yesterday.

Toronto band PONY also have an album coming out soon, I’m jamming out to the singles so far.

I'm adding a new single by Montreal's Half Moon Run, they've been around for a bit now so they aren't exactly new artists, but anyone who's been talking to me this week knows that I've listened to this song and practically nothing else, I love it so much.

Once again I realise that this post is being updated on Bandcamp Friday, so try and support music independently if you can! I won’t go into it on this post, I’ve talked lots about it in separate posts, but it’s a lot more useful to artists than Spotify stream payouts are.

Back again because it's been a while and I have a few more cool bands from Montreal! (Also I am currently Dealing with the heartbreak known as 'Half Moon Run tickets for my city have sold out' and I need to think about other bands)

Here's Montreal's ever-stylish Lumière!

Right from the cover that looks like a glossy magazine, GLAM knows exactly what it wants to be! It's fun, smooth, slightly sleazy French rock n roll made for those black-ceilinged clubs and theatres. Throw in some slide guitar, some stacked harmonies, some glam rock synths, some screams, and then change it up completely on other songs on the album with pianos and acoustic guitars heralding in occasional rock ballads, and I know this is an album I want to see performed live! This is their second album, following up from 2021's debut A.M.I.E.S.A.M.O.U.R.

Then, a proper power-rock trio from Montreal, Les Shirley! (Read that in French; /lay shir-lay/)

They're just the coolest: they met years ago, initially as a 'lesbian electro-pop duo', who eventually morphed by 2018 into being a cool rock girl trio. They also recently were picked to open for Foo Fighters at an intimate show at Montreal's Verdun Auditorium to 4000 people (I was there :D, it was excellent). Was 4000 a big crowd? Maybe. But to Les Shirley? Days before, they had played at Festival d'Été de Quebec, to 80,000 people. They rock!

Another cool new Montreal rock band are the brand-new band Taxi Girls. They've only just released their first EP Coming Up Roses a month or so ago, but it's punk fizzing with energy and I love it.

Some smooth Montreal synthpop, from pop musician Mint Simon, who I think was the frontperson of cult indie/synth band Caveboy (what happened of Caveboy, are they still going? I last saw posters of their shows in 2019, but I haven't heard anything since). Mint Simon is their cool new solo project. I'm embedding an older single from 2021, Tongue Tied, that they say is an unabashed build-up-tension-and-release, sexual queerpop song. I agree, and it's a banger!

Their latest release is a cool synthpop cover of New Radicals' You Get What You Give, which also has a heart-tugging music video, turning the song's meaning in the direction of found family.

Then some stuff from outside Montreal too, here's an impressive new track from an album by a Brampton punk/rock band called Perfect Strangers. I can't remember at this hour how I found them, but I like the bits of vocal theatre you can hear in their singer Ryan Sparks' voice on this song, it's reminiscent of the Pistols!

I also like this album Desiring by the Toronto band Ace of Wands. It ranges from pretty indie soundscapes to noisier riffs and shoegaze rock. As a whole, it doesn't sound a lot like other stuff out there. The song I'm embedding isn't even really representative of the whole album, just something I liked more. But give it a listen if it sounds cool to you.

I also recently found Ottawa's Akeem Oh, making cool and ambitious-sounding pop rock. Reminds me a little of Billy Idol almost! This is an older song from 2018, Winter Crush. He has new work called Fear Of Missing Out coming out soon and is going on tour, but I don't know much more about the upcoming release right now.

Then I've got a couple of cool bands from Kingston (if you don't know where that is, it's close to the US border with Syracuse unless I'm remembering wrong, which at this hour is possible).

Drawing from classic rock influences, but also alternative music, and backed by what I hear is a pretty tight live show, is the band Kings Of Queens. Their name has less to do with a deck of cards and more to do with the fact that they're five engineering students at Queen's University in Kingston! This is their latest single, quite laid back and psychedelic, it's called By Yourself.

Off the top of my head, I know they've got two big shows coming up—big for a band that's been around for less than a year!: they're playing the Horseshoe Tavern and then Lee's Palace the week after or so, in Toronto.

Another band from the same 'Queen's engineering' scene, if you may call two bands (to the extent of my knowledge) a 'scene', are a band called girldad, who recently released their debut EP called wide eyed kids. Someone tell them to set up a bandcamp page! It's lovely jangly lush indie pop, a four-song EP, but you'll have to find them on streaming. Maybe I'll get hold of them sometime and tell them, boys! You need to have a Bandcamp page! (Tip to any new bands: always have someplace where people can find you without logging in, whether that's a Bandcamp, a Soundcloud, a website, whatever. Don't only rely on the Instagrams and Spotifys. Also people can buy your music on Bandcamp, and phew, the people that trawl Bandcamp really love their music. Give them a chance to find you!)

But going back to a band that has been around for a few more years, I'm adding some music by the effervescent Kingston scrappy twee punk icons The Meringues. They're a punk four-piece (I believe the singer and the guitarist, Amanda and Ted respectively, are the only consistent/founding members, while the bassist and drummer are musicians who play in other Kingston bands), their live brand is built on a will-they-won't-they of 'Are they in love? Will they kill each other?' and from their latest posts, it appears Amanda now has a bright white LED strip that she's fashioned into a noose. They keep you on your toes, the Meringues!

Bandcamp is just great because just now, I was looking for a specific Vancouver band I'd been meaning to add to this post. In trying to do that, I went into the Bandcamp 'Vancouver' tag and found another really cool band called Meltt (not to be confused with Mellt, the cool new Welsh rock band whose name means 'lightning' in Welsh, releasing their second album very soon).

They have an album coming out in September, and it's lush, it's funky, it's shoegazy, it's its own experience. The band have called it 'mind-bending', and if the time of day wasn't already bending my mind, I'd probably agree too! I'll listen properly to it tomorrow, but bless Bandcamp for existing, such a good tool to find and support artists!

The band that I was looking for were a Vancouver band called Dumb, but I'll add them in a separate post tomorrow because I can only embed 10 urls...

As promised, I'm going to update this post. Vancouver band Dumb! They're just in that corner of slightly more left-field indie rock, remind me of Pavement in the vocals. I like the song Foot Control! Truth be told, I like the whole album, Pray 4 Tomorrow. It came out in November 2022.

Then some stuff I posted on the wrong reblog, so I'm adding to the big post. For Jane are a danc-y indie rock band from Toronto, and they released their album Married With Dogs in 2018. Check out this smooth track Hook from the album:

They have now got an offshoot project called Dilettante, which leans more heavily into their dance influences to come up with synthpop bangers. This is from their 2022 self-titled album. Another song from this album to definitely check out is Connie.

Then something for the indie rock soul: this is a 2019 single from The Velveteins, from Edmonton, Alberta. The band played at the SXSW 2022 showcase festival.

Here's an album by Zoon, a lush musical project of Anishinaabe musician Daniel Monkman, who I think is from Manitoba but is now based in Toronto. This is their second album Bekka Ma'iingan from April 2023. Beautiful, sometimes bright, often lush, generally immersive and an expansive listening experience that deals with more personal themes to Zoon, it was longlisted for the 2023 Polaris Prize (for followers more familiar with the UK system, that's Canada's equivalent of the Mercuries; for followers familiar with US systems, think of it as a smaller, less commercial little cousin to the Grammys).

They say, “Bekka Ma'iingan translates directly from Ojibway to 'slow down' and 'wolf'. Zoon has steadfastly woven their Indigenous experience and activism into every fabric of their work. They tackle the intricate issues of the fear of loss of their Ojibway language, and acknowledging their '2-Spirit' identity. The choice to more openly share that side of themselves now, is partly in hope of supporting others who may not feel or be in a safe space to show or be themselves yet.”

"This album is about acknowledging a part of me that I felt was there the whole time."

Their debut album Bleached Wavves (2020) was shortlisted for the 2021 Polaris. They also have a side project with members of STATUS/NONSTATUS called OMBIIGIZI.

An artist Zoon collaborated with on their 2022 EP Big Pharma is the alternative hip hop artist from Edmonton, Cadence Weapon. Cool Cadence Weapon fact: Edmonton named him the city's Poet Laureate in 2009! This album, 2021's Parallel World won the 2021 Polaris Prize. This song Ghost features Backxwash, who if you scroll way up, you'll find on this post too :)

Here's another pick from Vancouver, by a post punk indie band called Lovely Company. They have that touch of modern UK post punk, a wry smile and spoken word lyrics. Interesting single as well, it came out on 6 Oct and features two songs, Hostilities and Ceasefire... a band couldn't get more unlucky with timing.

I'm also really digging this harder rock release from Vancouver band Slightest Clue, which is a great band name though I'll never remember it. That's why it goes on the list I suppose.

Dec 2023, I'm back with more bands for you! Here's some punk rock: a band from Winnipeg called The Tensors, and the album cover for this looks like a classic punk scene. Bandaged up boys, black-and-white, wearing an I <3 Quebec tee (they're a Manitoba band). It's almost something you'd read about in Perfect Youth (the book on the first wave of Canadian punk, 1977). But it's a brand-new album, barely a week old: 15 December 2023. And the sound is also tight and very classic Canadian punk rock: reminds me of the Diodes. I recommend. the song Eye Gouge.

That they recorded this album into 8 track is nuts to me. Well, I could well be wrong and this might turn out to be restored recordings from a 70s Winnipeg band, I don't know. But in the meanwhile, you simply must read this review giving the "backstory" of the recording of this album.

Also, check out this band and album also from Winnipeg. Guys Wide Open by Yellow Choklit. Demo-like lofi recordings, digga dang-dang, it's just blues/country rock chaos from start to finish. Worth a listen, super entertaining.

Also, shoutout to this one Ottawa band, they really get it.

OC Transpo literally does not show up when it chooses. So much so that this is not the only song by an Ottawa band to complain about how bad OC Transpo is

Back to update this post because I have a new favourite band. Kingston funky 7-piece Nice On have it all: funky basslines, that 70s groove, saxophones!, cool keys, a singer with an insanely good voice on those higher ranges and boy does she use them, and lastly, the most insanely fun vibe ever. Their name literally comes from Wii Sports Golf, where if you made a good swing, the commentator would either say, "Nice swing!" or "Nice on!". I adore their vibe, this is their latest song, Pay Off Baby. Listen for those vocals, holy wow.

In other fun updates since the last two reblog additions to this post, Girldad now have a Bandcamp! They also have a punky new song out called For Fun.

...which is not yet on Bandcamp, nevermind. But here is my favourite song from their debut EP, wide eyed kids.

wanna make an ottawa/rest of Canada playlist. The Ottawa indie scene is so weird

Fuck it, Ontario/Quebec scene

Ottawa has a pretty fucking weird scene. For example. The music did nothing to prepare me for the first voice on this song

We do lofi/summer/bedroom indie really well for some reason though

This is still Ottawa, btw

Still Ottawa. The following (still Ottawa), is a tune

Poppier stuff, still Ottawa:

Quebec now:

(They're playing Focus Wales this year, so if you're UK based and following me and thinking you've gotta see this, go to Wrexham in 2 months)

If you like things a bit more like Cranberries, may I suggest

This. This! This! I love this. They've split up and are in other bands unfortunately, the members of the Seams.

But similarly, one of my current favourites, from Toronto:

This doesn't even touch on the Toronto scene, which is massive. So many brilliant bands I could name my god. Makes me miss doing Canada-specific radio shows </3

Anyway, since it's really late and I can barely see what I'm typing anymore, here's a few more for tonight. I'll add more tomorrow.

Here's more Toronto indie,

They really should be bigger, Goodbye Honolulu. They've been around since like 2009 making bangers.

Then there's Young Guv. Splendid. Brilliant. It might surprise you a bit, but he's originally from punk and post-hardcore bands, Canadian punk legends Fucked Up, and No Warning, which he fronted. I find it so funny that he's now one of my favourite summer indie pop writers, there's an old story about him playing a gig in Brampton a long time ago with "fuck Brampton" written on his bare chest, for which he got his teeth kicked in, but here he is now, on his Beatlesque side project. It's just a Canada thing. It's like you've gotta have an indie songwriting bone in you.

From Toronto there's also Garbagio, I have no idea what happened of them.

I melt every time I hear this song. They're local to our city, as an added bonus. Their debut album shouldn't be missed either, it's helpfully called My Dealer Is The Internet, and I love them.

Leaving the Ontario-Quebec region briefly, here's Travis Bretzer. This is music from Edmonton, Alberta. Out there, just like the music.

Tired of conventional white boy indie? No problem, here's one of my favourite albums from last year:

Lido Pimienta, Toronto based musician blending Toronto indie with smooth Columbian rhythms from her hometown.

You seeing my point? Canada is oddly good at the chill indie niche. But that's obviously not all we do...

Punk? Toronto's got it. Toronto has a great punk scene. Anti-Queens? Blew my mind the first time I heard them.

There's Joncro, giving punk their reggae twist. Daniel from Joncro also runs a POC punk music festival in Toronto every year which is cool as heck

Because this seems to be turning into a general post with me naming all the Canadian bands I love, here's some heavier ones, which completely contradicts the original point of this post. Yet still, they're good bands!

From British Columbia way out west where you can't just put up a binocular set and shout,

All the way from over in Calgary, possibly my favourite Canadian band after Phono Pony themselves (who, in their own words, "are not the White Stripes"), are Scratch Buffalo, and this is only partly because I have a distinct memory of them sending us their EP on a fruity pink vinyl, and us accidentally playing it on the LP player (so at higher speed) and going, man, they're energetic! They sound like they're on helium! (They were, we had them on much faster than they should've been)

I'd never worked with vinyl before, so the difference between 33 rpm and 45 rpm never occurred to me but others caught it and we slowed it down mid-song. The song did not drop in energy.

Unrelatedly, they've done a great acoustic session in the CJSW studios (UAlberta? UCalgary? I forget, but they do some of the best artist in sessions across the campus radio circuit. Hands down much better than us. Oh well)

Then there's legends like the Beaches, a lot more local indie bands and I could go on all night oh man... I can't wait for live music to come back. Goodnight. Can I be your guide to Canadian indie music because I can do it. Easily.

Today's a brand new day so I have more music!

Does anyone

want to, like

start a band?

I'm not too bad I promise

I'm basically luring you with good music at this point

who's here

Hehehehee there are new releases this month so the thread continues

More Ottawa music: Paragon Cause, with a new post punk release

And here's a brand new Toronto jangly indie release, sorta similar to Kiwi Jr. (best album of late 2019/early 2020, Football Money). They're Motorists, and they have a new album out too

An upcoming release (next month) from post punk/synthpop band from Vancouver, Actors:

Bonus: if you've heard people say that Canadian music tends to sound like/remind them of the summer, it's probably because half our bands sound like this

Hand Drawn Dracula are a label I follow quite keenly, they've got some good bands on their roster (including The Seams, the lemonade indie band above, and apparently members of Orville Peck's band, who is also a cool Canadian cowboy, btw (also apparently he's American? What)). Anywho, Canadian band Tallies are also on this label, and this is their 2019 indie album. Sounds of the summer!

Got some more music, I just bumped into this post again and realised I have more music.

Some slower, dreamier indie rock from Winnipeg in Manitoba are the three-piece Virgo Rising. This is from their 2021 album, and I like the song Sleep In Yr Jeans

Then since we're doing Winnipeg, I figured I'd throw in this band Toil and Trouble, also from Winnipeg, a 'psychiedelic muppet rock art band'. It is not a phrase I ever thought I'd hear. Neither did I think I'd hear the term Henson-core. But here we are, in Winnipeg, with a brand new album from this week, The Pond Album. It is actually quite nice, ranges from more sparkly psychedelic guitars, to funkier stuff featuring the chorus, "ribbit, ribbit, ribbit ribbit, ribbit, ribbit". Only in Canada.

Some more summer indie pop to keep you cool this month, coincidentally also from Winnipeg. I don't know. Another new EP released in July, from Winnipeg band Meadows.

Here's another artist from Winnipeg who's just put out an album of really chill electronic and synth indie. Instrumental stuff from Chris Doerksen's May album Ultra Parallax. Yeah, I guess this is a Winnipeg post now!

So in keeping with the theme, I've picked out another new album from a Winnipeg artist called A.M. Overcast. Lots of new releases out of Winnipeg this month, this one's more on the math-rock side.

Another hazy indie album from Winnipeg. It's Living Hour, and their album Someday Is Today comes out 2 September, but the title track is out right now

And lastly, a band recommended by Living Hour, who I really ended up liking, called iansucks. A slightly older record in comparison, it's from 2016.

Edit: I need to update the post because just in the time it took me to post this I found my new favourite record of this post holy shit. Why didn't I go into the Bandcamp Manitoba tag before because this is amazing. This is Manitoba musician Jay Wood, making initially what were meant to be "sad jangle pop songs" but burst into full life and colour in the psych funk vein. This is the album from 2019 I first hit upon on Bandcamp, Time

But his latest album released last week, Slingshot, is great too! I've got too much good new stuff to try and squeeze onto radio!

Some more stuff from Ottawa. Also while we're on Ottawa, I want to point out that Chemical Club are from Ottawa and not Montreal, and were not in fact playing Focus Wales either, the formatting on Tumblr messed up so that text box went before rather than after the song!

I really like this, kinda weirder indie rock from an artist called Mr. Power. This is from a 2021 EP called Romance

Also like this, kinda gloomier grunge rock. This is from the 4-piece's 2018 release Castle Temp.

Downtempo garage rock band Deliverables, who say they're a dance music band from Ottawa. I like that outlook because I wouldn't have thought to label them dance, but the whole point of music is that you can dance to absolutely anything you like!

I’ve got some more! Vivek Shraya is a trans pop musician from Toronto, and also a playwright. She’s filming some of her work for the CBC, but also she’s just put this banger of an indie pop tune! It’s a bit more of smoother pop than her last releases, and she promises there’s more to where that came from—I can’t wait! Album’s out in May.

Updating this post again because I’ve got some more stuff since - an indie rock, shoegaze four piece from Vancouver called Kamikaze Nurse. Many fans feel the singer has a Dolores O’Riordan quality to her voice. They’re on Mint Records, so Mint continues to find and sign up really cool bands!

(Iirc Kiwi Jr. released their first album Football Money on Mint. That album was janglepop gold, and they’re really fun to see live — they’re the only indie rock band I can think of who have a steadier 50’s soda shop dance floor vibe with people couple dancing than a moshpit. Incredible scenes seeing them, every time! They’re on Sub Pop now!)

Another cool artist is Montreal’s Lady Charles! Their latest album is wonderfully lush, alt rock, spacey synths, and the lyrics are delightfully defiant (Indie Wakeup adores this album already). They’re also right here on Tumblr! So if this embeds-heavy post hasn’t crashed your browser and you’re still reading this, go check them out they’re @ladycharles

Some more music from Montreal! I’ve posted about Magi Merlin’s genre-blending alt rock-hip hop-jumped up pop sound before, but somehow haven’t mentioned her in this post so I’m fixing that. I’m a big fan of her album from last May, Gone Girl. She’s just released a new song with Montreal hip hop group Busty and The Bass

Then, can’t believe I haven’t already mentioned them, but a bit heavier/more industrial stuff I like is Backxwash’s music! Industrial hip hop, is that a genre? Ah, who cares about labels anymore. This album is so cathartic. This is what Nine Inch Nails would’ve been going for in the 90s! And the lyrics! (Vibanda is one of my favourite songs on this record)

Oh, and they’re also on Tumblr! -> @backxwash

In a heavier vein but now from Toronto, there’s the band Crown Lands. They’ve released an album before, their latest, called Fearless just came out this week (I’m a bit late to the party! I only found out about them this week)

If 70s classic rock is your thing you’ll love them. They came together over a shared love of Rush, and you can hear touches of Led Zepp in there. I don’t see their latest album up on Bandcamp yet so I’m linking the last one, from 2017.

This post started like 2 years ago and was not really serious at all, just a place to list out Canadian bands I like, but it’s long enough now so why not: I’ll throw in a cool band that just sent me their music this week. They’re from Toronto, they’re a trans-Atlantic project, half members Torontonian, half in London in the UK.

They’re called Flowers of Hell, their stuff is a bit more droning with guitars, quite nice! Their latest work is a covers album, and I think it’s been in the works for a while: back in 2012, Lou Reed gave their cover of Run Run Run his seal of approval back when he used to do a show on BBC 6Music.

I’m also really enjoying this new song released by Portuguese-Canadian musician Nico Paulo, making smooth indie pop out of St. John’s, NL. What a voice, what subtle production, what a lovely song. It’s called Time, it came out yesterday.

Toronto band PONY also have an album coming out soon, I’m jamming out to the singles so far.

I'm adding a new single by Montreal's Half Moon Run, they've been around for a bit now so they aren't exactly new artists, but anyone who's been talking to me this week knows that I've listened to this song and practically nothing else, I love it so much.

Once again I realise that this post is being updated on Bandcamp Friday, so try and support music independently if you can! I won’t go into it on this post, I’ve talked lots about it in separate posts, but it’s a lot more useful to artists than Spotify stream payouts are.

Back again because it's been a while and I have a few more cool bands from Montreal! (Also I am currently Dealing with the heartbreak known as 'Half Moon Run tickets for my city have sold out' and I need to think about other bands)

Here's Montreal's ever-stylish Lumière!

Right from the cover that looks like a glossy magazine, GLAM knows exactly what it wants to be! It's fun, smooth, slightly sleazy French rock n roll made for those black-ceilinged clubs and theatres. Throw in some slide guitar, some stacked harmonies, some glam rock synths, some screams, and then change it up completely on other songs on the album with pianos and acoustic guitars heralding in occasional rock ballads, and I know this is an album I want to see performed live! This is their second album, following up from 2021's debut A.M.I.E.S.A.M.O.U.R.

Then, a proper power-rock trio from Montreal, Les Shirley! (Read that in French; /lay shir-lay/)

They're just the coolest: they met years ago, initially as a 'lesbian electro-pop duo', who eventually morphed by 2018 into being a cool rock girl trio. They also recently were picked to open for Foo Fighters at an intimate show at Montreal's Verdun Auditorium to 4000 people (I was there :D, it was excellent). Was 4000 a big crowd? Maybe. But to Les Shirley? Days before, they had played at Festival d'Été de Quebec, to 80,000 people. They rock!

Another cool new Montreal rock band are the brand-new band Taxi Girls. They've only just released their first EP Coming Up Roses a month or so ago, but it's punk fizzing with energy and I love it.

Some smooth Montreal synthpop, from pop musician Mint Simon, who I think was the frontperson of cult indie/synth band Caveboy (what happened of Caveboy, are they still going? I last saw posters of their shows in 2019, but I haven't heard anything since). Mint Simon is their cool new solo project. I'm embedding an older single from 2021, Tongue Tied, that they say is an unabashed build-up-tension-and-release, sexual queerpop song. I agree, and it's a banger!

Their latest release is a cool synthpop cover of New Radicals' You Get What You Give, which also has a heart-tugging music video, turning the song's meaning in the direction of found family.

Then some stuff from outside Montreal too, here's an impressive new track from an album by a Brampton punk/rock band called Perfect Strangers. I can't remember at this hour how I found them, but I like the bits of vocal theatre you can hear in their singer Ryan Sparks' voice on this song, it's reminiscent of the Pistols!

I also like this album Desiring by the Toronto band Ace of Wands. It ranges from pretty indie soundscapes to noisier riffs and shoegaze rock. As a whole, it doesn't sound a lot like other stuff out there. The song I'm embedding isn't even really representative of the whole album, just something I liked more. But give it a listen if it sounds cool to you.

I also recently found Ottawa's Akeem Oh, making cool and ambitious-sounding pop rock. Reminds me a little of Billy Idol almost! This is an older song from 2018, Winter Crush. He has new work called Fear Of Missing Out coming out soon and is going on tour, but I don't know much more about the upcoming release right now.

Then I've got a couple of cool bands from Kingston (if you don't know where that is, it's close to the US border with Syracuse unless I'm remembering wrong, which at this hour is possible).

Drawing from classic rock influences, but also alternative music, and backed by what I hear is a pretty tight live show, is the band Kings Of Queens. Their name has less to do with a deck of cards and more to do with the fact that they're five engineering students at Queen's University in Kingston! This is their latest single, quite laid back and psychedelic, it's called By Yourself.

Off the top of my head, I know they've got two big shows coming up—big for a band that's been around for less than a year!: they're playing the Horseshoe Tavern and then Lee's Palace the week after or so, in Toronto.

Another band from the same 'Queen's engineering' scene, if you may call two bands (to the extent of my knowledge) a 'scene', are a band called girldad, who recently released their debut EP called wide eyed kids. Someone tell them to set up a bandcamp page! It's lovely jangly lush indie pop, a four-song EP, but you'll have to find them on streaming. Maybe I'll get hold of them sometime and tell them, boys! You need to have a Bandcamp page! (Tip to any new bands: always have someplace where people can find you without logging in, whether that's a Bandcamp, a Soundcloud, a website, whatever. Don't only rely on the Instagrams and Spotifys. Also people can buy your music on Bandcamp, and phew, the people that trawl Bandcamp really love their music. Give them a chance to find you!)

But going back to a band that has been around for a few more years, I'm adding some music by the effervescent Kingston scrappy twee punk icons The Meringues. They're a punk four-piece (I believe the singer and the guitarist, Amanda and Ted respectively, are the only consistent/founding members, while the bassist and drummer are musicians who play in other Kingston bands), their live brand is built on a will-they-won't-they of 'Are they in love? Will they kill each other?' and from their latest posts, it appears Amanda now has a bright white LED strip that she's fashioned into a noose. They keep you on your toes, the Meringues!

Bandcamp is just great because just now, I was looking for a specific Vancouver band I'd been meaning to add to this post. In trying to do that, I went into the Bandcamp 'Vancouver' tag and found another really cool band called Meltt (not to be confused with Mellt, the cool new Welsh rock band whose name means 'lightning' in Welsh, releasing their second album very soon).

They have an album coming out in September, and it's lush, it's funky, it's shoegazy, it's its own experience. The band have called it 'mind-bending', and if the time of day wasn't already bending my mind, I'd probably agree too! I'll listen properly to it tomorrow, but bless Bandcamp for existing, such a good tool to find and support artists!

The band that I was looking for were a Vancouver band called Dumb, but I'll add them in a separate post tomorrow because I can only embed 10 urls...

As promised, I'm going to update this post. Vancouver band Dumb! They're just in that corner of slightly more left-field indie rock, remind me of Pavement in the vocals. I like the song Foot Control! Truth be told, I like the whole album, Pray 4 Tomorrow. It came out in November 2022.

Then some stuff I posted on the wrong reblog, so I'm adding to the big post. For Jane are a danc-y indie rock band from Toronto, and they released their album Married With Dogs in 2018. Check out this smooth track Hook from the album:

They have now got an offshoot project called Dilettante, which leans more heavily into their dance influences to come up with synthpop bangers. This is from their 2022 self-titled album. Another song from this album to definitely check out is Connie.

Then something for the indie rock soul: this is a 2019 single from The Velveteins, from Edmonton, Alberta. The band played at the SXSW 2022 showcase festival.

Here's an album by Zoon, a lush musical project of Anishinaabe musician Daniel Monkman, who I think is from Manitoba but is now based in Toronto. This is their second album Bekka Ma'iingan from April 2023. Beautiful, sometimes bright, often lush, generally immersive and an expansive listening experience that deals with more personal themes to Zoon, it was longlisted for the 2023 Polaris Prize (for followers more familiar with the UK system, that's Canada's equivalent of the Mercuries; for followers familiar with US systems, think of it as a smaller, less commercial little cousin to the Grammys).

They say, “Bekka Ma'iingan translates directly from Ojibway to 'slow down' and 'wolf'. Zoon has steadfastly woven their Indigenous experience and activism into every fabric of their work. They tackle the intricate issues of the fear of loss of their Ojibway language, and acknowledging their '2-Spirit' identity. The choice to more openly share that side of themselves now, is partly in hope of supporting others who may not feel or be in a safe space to show or be themselves yet.”

"This album is about acknowledging a part of me that I felt was there the whole time."

Their debut album Bleached Wavves (2020) was shortlisted for the 2021 Polaris. They also have a side project with members of STATUS/NONSTATUS called OMBIIGIZI.

An artist Zoon collaborated with on their 2022 EP Big Pharma is the alternative hip hop artist from Edmonton, Cadence Weapon. Cool Cadence Weapon fact: Edmonton named him the city's Poet Laureate in 2009! This album, 2021's Parallel World won the 2021 Polaris Prize. This song Ghost features Backxwash, who if you scroll way up, you'll find on this post too :)

Here's another pick from Vancouver, by a post punk indie band called Lovely Company. They have that touch of modern UK post punk, a wry smile and spoken word lyrics. Interesting single as well, it came out on 6 Oct and features two songs, Hostilities and Ceasefire... a band couldn't get more unlucky with timing.

I'm also really digging this harder rock release from Vancouver band Slightest Clue, which is a great band name though I'll never remember it. That's why it goes on the list I suppose.

Dec 2023, I'm back with more bands for you! Here's some punk rock: a band from Winnipeg called The Tensors, and the album cover for this looks like a classic punk scene. Bandaged up boys, black-and-white, wearing an I <3 Quebec tee (they're a Manitoba band). It's almost something you'd read about in Perfect Youth (the book on the first wave of Canadian punk, 1977). But it's a brand-new album, barely a week old: 15 December 2023. And the sound is also tight and very classic Canadian punk rock: reminds me of the Diodes. I recommend. the song Eye Gouge.

That they recorded this album into 8 track is nuts to me. Well, I could well be wrong and this might turn out to be restored recordings from a 70s Winnipeg band, I don't know. But in the meanwhile, you simply must read this review giving the "backstory" of the recording of this album.

Also, check out this band and album also from Winnipeg. Guys Wide Open by Yellow Choklit. Demo-like lofi recordings, digga dang-dang, it's just blues/country rock chaos from start to finish. Worth a listen, super entertaining.

wanna make an ottawa/rest of Canada playlist. The Ottawa indie scene is so weird

Fuck it, Ontario/Quebec scene

Ottawa has a pretty fucking weird scene. For example. The music did nothing to prepare me for the first voice on this song

We do lofi/summer/bedroom indie really well for some reason though

This is still Ottawa, btw

Still Ottawa. The following (still Ottawa), is a tune

Poppier stuff, still Ottawa:

Quebec now:

(They're playing Focus Wales this year, so if you're UK based and following me and thinking you've gotta see this, go to Wrexham in 2 months)

If you like things a bit more like Cranberries, may I suggest

This. This! This! I love this. They've split up and are in other bands unfortunately, the members of the Seams.

But similarly, one of my current favourites, from Toronto:

This doesn't even touch on the Toronto scene, which is massive. So many brilliant bands I could name my god. Makes me miss doing Canada-specific radio shows </3

Anyway, since it's really late and I can barely see what I'm typing anymore, here's a few more for tonight. I'll add more tomorrow.

Here's more Toronto indie,

They really should be bigger, Goodbye Honolulu. They've been around since like 2009 making bangers.

Then there's Young Guv. Splendid. Brilliant. It might surprise you a bit, but he's originally from punk and post-hardcore bands, Canadian punk legends Fucked Up, and No Warning, which he fronted. I find it so funny that he's now one of my favourite summer indie pop writers, there's an old story about him playing a gig in Brampton a long time ago with "fuck Brampton" written on his bare chest, for which he got his teeth kicked in, but here he is now, on his Beatlesque side project. It's just a Canada thing. It's like you've gotta have an indie songwriting bone in you.

From Toronto there's also Garbagio, I have no idea what happened of them.

I melt every time I hear this song. They're local to our city, as an added bonus. Their debut album shouldn't be missed either, it's helpfully called My Dealer Is The Internet, and I love them.

Leaving the Ontario-Quebec region briefly, here's Travis Bretzer. This is music from Edmonton, Alberta. Out there, just like the music.

Tired of conventional white boy indie? No problem, here's one of my favourite albums from last year:

Lido Pimienta, Toronto based musician blending Toronto indie with smooth Columbian rhythms from her hometown.

You seeing my point? Canada is oddly good at the chill indie niche. But that's obviously not all we do...

Punk? Toronto's got it. Toronto has a great punk scene. Anti-Queens? Blew my mind the first time I heard them.

There's Joncro, giving punk their reggae twist. Daniel from Joncro also runs a POC punk music festival in Toronto every year which is cool as heck

Because this seems to be turning into a general post with me naming all the Canadian bands I love, here's some heavier ones, which completely contradicts the original point of this post. Yet still, they're good bands!

From British Columbia way out west where you can't just put up a binocular set and shout,

All the way from over in Calgary, possibly my favourite Canadian band after Phono Pony themselves (who, in their own words, "are not the White Stripes"), are Scratch Buffalo, and this is only partly because I have a distinct memory of them sending us their EP on a fruity pink vinyl, and us accidentally playing it on the LP player (so at higher speed) and going, man, they're energetic! They sound like they're on helium! (They were, we had them on much faster than they should've been)

I'd never worked with vinyl before, so the difference between 33 rpm and 45 rpm never occurred to me but others caught it and we slowed it down mid-song. The song did not drop in energy.

Unrelatedly, they've done a great acoustic session in the CJSW studios (UAlberta? UCalgary? I forget, but they do some of the best artist in sessions across the campus radio circuit. Hands down much better than us. Oh well)

Then there's legends like the Beaches, a lot more local indie bands and I could go on all night oh man... I can't wait for live music to come back. Goodnight. Can I be your guide to Canadian indie music because I can do it. Easily.

Today's a brand new day so I have more music!

Does anyone

want to, like

start a band?

I'm not too bad I promise

I'm basically luring you with good music at this point

who's here

Hehehehee there are new releases this month so the thread continues

More Ottawa music: Paragon Cause, with a new post punk release

And here's a brand new Toronto jangly indie release, sorta similar to Kiwi Jr. (best album of late 2019/early 2020, Football Money). They're Motorists, and they have a new album out too

An upcoming release (next month) from post punk/synthpop band from Vancouver, Actors:

Bonus: if you've heard people say that Canadian music tends to sound like/remind them of the summer, it's probably because half our bands sound like this

Hand Drawn Dracula are a label I follow quite keenly, they've got some good bands on their roster (including The Seams, the lemonade indie band above, and apparently members of Orville Peck's band, who is also a cool Canadian cowboy, btw (also apparently he's American? What)). Anywho, Canadian band Tallies are also on this label, and this is their 2019 indie album. Sounds of the summer!

Got some more music, I just bumped into this post again and realised I have more music.

Some slower, dreamier indie rock from Winnipeg in Manitoba are the three-piece Virgo Rising. This is from their 2021 album, and I like the song Sleep In Yr Jeans

Then since we're doing Winnipeg, I figured I'd throw in this band Toil and Trouble, also from Winnipeg, a 'psychiedelic muppet rock art band'. It is not a phrase I ever thought I'd hear. Neither did I think I'd hear the term Henson-core. But here we are, in Winnipeg, with a brand new album from this week, The Pond Album. It is actually quite nice, ranges from more sparkly psychedelic guitars, to funkier stuff featuring the chorus, "ribbit, ribbit, ribbit ribbit, ribbit, ribbit". Only in Canada.

Some more summer indie pop to keep you cool this month, coincidentally also from Winnipeg. I don't know. Another new EP released in July, from Winnipeg band Meadows.

Here's another artist from Winnipeg who's just put out an album of really chill electronic and synth indie. Instrumental stuff from Chris Doerksen's May album Ultra Parallax. Yeah, I guess this is a Winnipeg post now!

So in keeping with the theme, I've picked out another new album from a Winnipeg artist called A.M. Overcast. Lots of new releases out of Winnipeg this month, this one's more on the math-rock side.

Another hazy indie album from Winnipeg. It's Living Hour, and their album Someday Is Today comes out 2 September, but the title track is out right now

And lastly, a band recommended by Living Hour, who I really ended up liking, called iansucks. A slightly older record in comparison, it's from 2016.

Edit: I need to update the post because just in the time it took me to post this I found my new favourite record of this post holy shit. Why didn't I go into the Bandcamp Manitoba tag before because this is amazing. This is Manitoba musician Jay Wood, making initially what were meant to be "sad jangle pop songs" but burst into full life and colour in the psych funk vein. This is the album from 2019 I first hit upon on Bandcamp, Time

But his latest album released last week, Slingshot, is great too! I've got too much good new stuff to try and squeeze onto radio!

Some more stuff from Ottawa. Also while we're on Ottawa, I want to point out that Chemical Club are from Ottawa and not Montreal, and were not in fact playing Focus Wales either, the formatting on Tumblr messed up so that text box went before rather than after the song!

I really like this, kinda weirder indie rock from an artist called Mr. Power. This is from a 2021 EP called Romance

Also like this, kinda gloomier grunge rock. This is from the 4-piece's 2018 release Castle Temp.

Downtempo garage rock band Deliverables, who say they're a dance music band from Ottawa. I like that outlook because I wouldn't have thought to label them dance, but the whole point of music is that you can dance to absolutely anything you like!

I’ve got some more! Vivek Shraya is a trans pop musician from Toronto, and also a playwright. She’s filming some of her work for the CBC, but also she’s just put this banger of an indie pop tune! It’s a bit more of smoother pop than her last releases, and she promises there’s more to where that came from—I can’t wait! Album’s out in May.

Updating this post again because I’ve got some more stuff since - an indie rock, shoegaze four piece from Vancouver called Kamikaze Nurse. Many fans feel the singer has a Dolores O’Riordan quality to her voice. They’re on Mint Records, so Mint continues to find and sign up really cool bands!

(Iirc Kiwi Jr. released their first album Football Money on Mint. That album was janglepop gold, and they’re really fun to see live — they’re the only indie rock band I can think of who have a steadier 50’s soda shop dance floor vibe with people couple dancing than a moshpit. Incredible scenes seeing them, every time! They’re on Sub Pop now!)

Another cool artist is Montreal’s Lady Charles! Their latest album is wonderfully lush, alt rock, spacey synths, and the lyrics are delightfully defiant (Indie Wakeup adores this album already). They’re also right here on Tumblr! So if this embeds-heavy post hasn’t crashed your browser and you’re still reading this, go check them out they’re @ladycharles

Some more music from Montreal! I’ve posted about Magi Merlin’s genre-blending alt rock-hip hop-jumped up pop sound before, but somehow haven’t mentioned her in this post so I’m fixing that. I’m a big fan of her album from last May, Gone Girl. She’s just released a new song with Montreal hip hop group Busty and The Bass

Then, can’t believe I haven’t already mentioned them, but a bit heavier/more industrial stuff I like is Backxwash’s music! Industrial hip hop, is that a genre? Ah, who cares about labels anymore. This album is so cathartic. This is what Nine Inch Nails would’ve been going for in the 90s! And the lyrics! (Vibanda is one of my favourite songs on this record)

Oh, and they’re also on Tumblr! -> @backxwash

In a heavier vein but now from Toronto, there’s the band Crown Lands. They’ve released an album before, their latest, called Fearless just came out this week (I’m a bit late to the party! I only found out about them this week)

If 70s classic rock is your thing you’ll love them. They came together over a shared love of Rush, and you can hear touches of Led Zepp in there. I don’t see their latest album up on Bandcamp yet so I’m linking the last one, from 2017.

This post started like 2 years ago and was not really serious at all, just a place to list out Canadian bands I like, but it’s long enough now so why not: I’ll throw in a cool band that just sent me their music this week. They’re from Toronto, they’re a trans-Atlantic project, half members Torontonian, half in London in the UK.

They’re called Flowers of Hell, their stuff is a bit more droning with guitars, quite nice! Their latest work is a covers album, and I think it’s been in the works for a while: back in 2012, Lou Reed gave their cover of Run Run Run his seal of approval back when he used to do a show on BBC 6Music.

I’m also really enjoying this new song released by Portuguese-Canadian musician Nico Paulo, making smooth indie pop out of St. John’s, NL. What a voice, what subtle production, what a lovely song. It’s called Time, it came out yesterday.

Toronto band PONY also have an album coming out soon, I’m jamming out to the singles so far.

I'm adding a new single by Montreal's Half Moon Run, they've been around for a bit now so they aren't exactly new artists, but anyone who's been talking to me this week knows that I've listened to this song and practically nothing else, I love it so much.

Once again I realise that this post is being updated on Bandcamp Friday, so try and support music independently if you can! I won’t go into it on this post, I’ve talked lots about it in separate posts, but it’s a lot more useful to artists than Spotify stream payouts are.

Back again because it's been a while and I have a few more cool bands from Montreal! (Also I am currently Dealing with the heartbreak known as 'Half Moon Run tickets for my city have sold out' and I need to think about other bands)

Here's Montreal's ever-stylish Lumière!

Right from the cover that looks like a glossy magazine, GLAM knows exactly what it wants to be! It's fun, smooth, slightly sleazy French rock n roll made for those black-ceilinged clubs and theatres. Throw in some slide guitar, some stacked harmonies, some glam rock synths, some screams, and then change it up completely on other songs on the album with pianos and acoustic guitars heralding in occasional rock ballads, and I know this is an album I want to see performed live! This is their second album, following up from 2021's debut A.M.I.E.S.A.M.O.U.R.

Then, a proper power-rock trio from Montreal, Les Shirley! (Read that in French; /lay shir-lay/)

They're just the coolest: they met years ago, initially as a 'lesbian electro-pop duo', who eventually morphed by 2018 into being a cool rock girl trio. They also recently were picked to open for Foo Fighters at an intimate show at Montreal's Verdun Auditorium to 4000 people (I was there :D, it was excellent). Was 4000 a big crowd? Maybe. But to Les Shirley? Days before, they had played at Festival d'Été de Quebec, to 80,000 people. They rock!

Another cool new Montreal rock band are the brand-new band Taxi Girls. They've only just released their first EP Coming Up Roses a month or so ago, but it's punk fizzing with energy and I love it.

Some smooth Montreal synthpop, from pop musician Mint Simon, who I think was the frontperson of cult indie/synth band Caveboy (what happened of Caveboy, are they still going? I last saw posters of their shows in 2019, but I haven't heard anything since). Mint Simon is their cool new solo project. I'm embedding an older single from 2021, Tongue Tied, that they say is an unabashed build-up-tension-and-release, sexual queerpop song. I agree, and it's a banger!

Their latest release is a cool synthpop cover of New Radicals' You Get What You Give, which also has a heart-tugging music video, turning the song's meaning in the direction of found family.

Then some stuff from outside Montreal too, here's an impressive new track from an album by a Brampton punk/rock band called Perfect Strangers. I can't remember at this hour how I found them, but I like the bits of vocal theatre you can hear in their singer Ryan Sparks' voice on this song, it's reminiscent of the Pistols!

I also like this album Desiring by the Toronto band Ace of Wands. It ranges from pretty indie soundscapes to noisier riffs and shoegaze rock. As a whole, it doesn't sound a lot like other stuff out there. The song I'm embedding isn't even really representative of the whole album, just something I liked more. But give it a listen if it sounds cool to you.

I also recently found Ottawa's Akeem Oh, making cool and ambitious-sounding pop rock. Reminds me a little of Billy Idol almost! This is an older song from 2018, Winter Crush. He has new work called Fear Of Missing Out coming out soon and is going on tour, but I don't know much more about the upcoming release right now.

Then I've got a couple of cool bands from Kingston (if you don't know where that is, it's close to the US border with Syracuse unless I'm remembering wrong, which at this hour is possible).

Drawing from classic rock influences, but also alternative music, and backed by what I hear is a pretty tight live show, is the band Kings Of Queens. Their name has less to do with a deck of cards and more to do with the fact that they're five engineering students at Queen's University in Kingston! This is their latest single, quite laid back and psychedelic, it's called By Yourself.

Off the top of my head, I know they've got two big shows coming up—big for a band that's been around for less than a year!: they're playing the Horseshoe Tavern and then Lee's Palace the week after or so, in Toronto.

Another band from the same 'Queen's engineering' scene, if you may call two bands (to the extent of my knowledge) a 'scene', are a band called girldad, who recently released their debut EP called wide eyed kids. Someone tell them to set up a bandcamp page! It's lovely jangly lush indie pop, a four-song EP, but you'll have to find them on streaming. Maybe I'll get hold of them sometime and tell them, boys! You need to have a Bandcamp page! (Tip to any new bands: always have someplace where people can find you without logging in, whether that's a Bandcamp, a Soundcloud, a website, whatever. Don't only rely on the Instagrams and Spotifys. Also people can buy your music on Bandcamp, and phew, the people that trawl Bandcamp really love their music. Give them a chance to find you!)

But going back to a band that has been around for a few more years, I'm adding some music by the effervescent Kingston scrappy twee punk icons The Meringues. They're a punk four-piece (I believe the singer and the guitarist, Amanda and Ted respectively, are the only consistent/founding members, while the bassist and drummer are musicians who play in other Kingston bands), their live brand is built on a will-they-won't-they of 'Are they in love? Will they kill each other?' and from their latest posts, it appears Amanda now has a bright white LED strip that she's fashioned into a noose. They keep you on your toes, the Meringues!

Bandcamp is just great because just now, I was looking for a specific Vancouver band I'd been meaning to add to this post. In trying to do that, I went into the Bandcamp 'Vancouver' tag and found another really cool band called Meltt (not to be confused with Mellt, the cool new Welsh rock band whose name means 'lightning' in Welsh, releasing their second album very soon).

They have an album coming out in September, and it's lush, it's funky, it's shoegazy, it's its own experience. The band have called it 'mind-bending', and if the time of day wasn't already bending my mind, I'd probably agree too! I'll listen properly to it tomorrow, but bless Bandcamp for existing, such a good tool to find and support artists!

The band that I was looking for were a Vancouver band called Dumb, but I'll add them in a separate post tomorrow because I can only embed 10 urls...