Richmond LamCanadian music is quite often equated with rootsier stylings – which to be fair we do a lot of and well – but we can also get downright trippy when the mood strikes and a couple of the country’s finest exemplars of this are back with new records this Spring.

Montreal’s Besnard Lakes have completed the follow-up to 2010′s The Besnard Lakes Are The Roaring Night and if the title – Until In Excess, Imperceptible UFO – is any indication, this album will be out there, maaaaan. And if you need something a little more substantial than that to get on board, they’ve made the first single from the record available to stream. That should do it. The album is out April 2 and details on the release can be had over at Exclaim.

Stream: The Besnard Lakes – “People Of The Sticks”

Also out of Montreal – Mount Royal must be a good spot for keeping an eye out for extra-terrestrial landings – come Young Galaxy with the follow-up to their 2011 breakout album Shapeshifting. Whereas that record only brought in Swedish super-producer Dan Lissvik to mix and still got game-changing results from his influence, Ultramarine was recorded in his Gothenburg studio with Lissvik assuming full production duties. No preview yet aside from the obligatory teaser trailer, but even the beats showcased there are enough to engender a tingle of anticipation. Expect more such teases before the album hits on April 23. More details on the release over at Pitchfork.

Trailer: Young Galaxy / Ultramarine

It’s probably not accurate to call Suuns – also from Montreal, what – spacey, but their arty post-punk/new wave is definitely trippy. Their second album Images Du Futur is out March 5, and they’ve just released the first video from it as well as a pile of tour dates that confirm a Toronto appearance during Canadian Musicfest at Lee’s Palace on March 23.

MP3: Suuns – “Edie’s Dream”
Video: Suuns – “Edie’s Dream”

Yamantaka//Sonic Titan – who lay equal claim to Montreal and Toronto as hometowns – talk to Spinner about their video game and rock opera aspirations. They play The Garrison tomorrow night, January 18.

Cult Montreal has an interview with Purity Ring – guess where they’re based – who are in town at The Phoenix on February 1.

Cœur de pirate has released a new video from 2011′s Blonde.

Video: Coeur de Pirate – “Place de la République”

Rachel Zeffira doesn’t hail from Montreal – she doesn’t even live in Canada anymore, being now based in the UK – but she’s originally from the Kootenays in British Columbia and if Canada didn’t rush to claim her as a native daughter from her work in Cat’s Eyes with Faris Badwan of The Horrors, then we surely will when her solo debut The Deserters – a heady blend of opera, classical, and dreampop released late last year in Europe – gets a North American release on March 12. Nylon recently premiered a new video from the album with some words from Zeffira on its making, and do yourself a favour and check out her My Bloody Valentine cover which also appears on the record.

Stream: Rachel Zeffira – “To Here Knows When”
Video: Rachel Zeffira – “Here On In”
Video: Rachel Zeffira – “The Deserters”

Pitchfork talks to Kevin Drew of Broken Social Scene, who reveals that he’s got two albums coming out in 2013 – one solo record and one collaboration with Archies songwriter Andy Kim. This in addition to the June 8 BSS one-off (yeah right) reunion show at Fort York to mark Arts & Crafts’ 10th anniversary.

Ion has premiered a stream of a new song from the next Woodpigeon album Thumbtacks & Glue, coming February 26.

Stream: Woodpigeon – “Edinburgh”

You Say Party have released their first new music since reforming last Fall, a tribute to their late drummer Devon Clifford. More new material will follow later this Spring.

Stream: You Say Party – “Friend”

PopMatters chats with A.C. Newman.

NPR has a video session with Rose Cousins.

CBC Music has compiled a list of release dates for Canadian release big and small this year. Mark your calendars!

Norman WongOkay, since I am posting this from the north of Quebec – okay, not really that north, but considerably further north than Bloor St. in Rouyn-Noranda for this year’s Festival de musique émergente – I figure this is as good a time as any to run a pretty sweet giveaway for – wait for it – The North. As in the new record from Stars, out this coming Tuesday.

Thanks to the folks at Universal Music Canada, I have numerous copies of The North to give away in both analog and digital formats – the the former, a pair of LPs on blue vinyl, and to the latter, five silver CDs. To enter, leave a comment below with your email (it will be hidden from prying eyes), album format in order of preference, and tell me the furthest north point in Canada you’ve ever been. If you want to be precise, Google will tell you the latitude of anywhere if you ask nicely. Interestingly, Rouyn-Noranda is one degree further south than Vancouver, making that my northernmost sojourn in our fine country. Anyways, the contest is open to residents of Canada only and winners will be chosen on September 15.

The North was made available to preview via NPR stream at the start of this week, but The National Post has made their hosted stream worth checking out by adding track-by-track commentary from Torq Campbell. Consequence Of Sound also talks to Campbell about the new record.

Stars open up for Metric at The Air Canada Centre on November 24.

MP3: Stars – “Hold On When You Get Love And Let Go When You Give It”
MP3: Stars – “The Theory Of Relativity”
Stream: Stars / The North

The Wilderness Of Manitoba’s second album Island Of Echoes will be coming out on September 18 and they’ve booked a hometown record release show at Trinity-St. Paul’s for October 26. Fancy!

MP3: The Wilderness Of Manitoba – “Morning Sun”

The Wooden Sky have been touring their latest Every Child A Daughter, Every Moon A Sun over hill and through the dale since its release back in February, and they’re bringing it back home for a show at The Phoenix on December 1, tickets $17.50.

MP3: The Wooden Sky – “Child Of The Valley”

Andrew Scott of Sloan lists his five favourite records of the past two decades for CBC Music. Their super-deluxe Twice Removed reissue arrives September 4.

Exclaim has some details on the next album/project/thing from Yamantaka/Sonic Titan. The 33 // 渦 rock opera will debut at Pop Montreal on September 21; no details on encore performances more local to here or a recording release, but we can hope. Their YT//ST gets a re-release on September 11.

Pitchfork talks to Grimes about the making of her latest video for “Genesis”. She plays two nights at Lee’s Palace, September 21 and 22.

How excited is Woodpigeon to be opening for Patrick Wolf on his upcoming North American tour, including September 25 at the Music Gallery? So excited that there’ll be a new, tour-only album entitled Diamonds for sale throughout the journey and they’re giving away a cover of Michael Jackson and Paul McCartney’s “Say Say Say”. That’s pretty excited.

MP3: Woodpigeon – “Say Say Say”

Talk Rock To Me chats with Paul Saulnier of PS I Love You. They play the Friday night of the Paper Bag Records 10th anniversary shows at The Great Hall, September 28.

Toronto Life has an extensive feature piece on Diamond Rings, and Macleans solicits some scholastic advice from John O for those just starting school. The new album Free Dimensional will be out on October 23 and to support that release, he will be on Letterman on October 26. That is bananas. B-a-n-a-n-a-s.

Modern Superstitions’ self-titled debut album finally has a release date – it’ll be out and about on October 23.

Shad has released a video from his recent Melancholy & The Infinite Shadness mixtape.

Video: Shad – “A Milli Vanilli”

MTV lists off some things you may not have known about Coeur de Pirate.

Moonface have a new video from With Siinai: Heartbreaking Bravery.

Video: Moonface – “I’m Not The Phoenix Yet”

They Shoot Music has a video session with Memoryhouse.

Maoya BassiouniHaving made up my mind about the whole wave of garage-bred, white-noise, guitar-drum duos that seemed to saturate the scene a few years ago before even hearing Japandroids – three guesses what I decided about said wave, first two don’t count – they didn’t stand much chance of winning me over. And while I won’t deny their debut Post-Nothing had a certain charm within all the fuzz, it wasn’t enough to make a lasting impression. Which is why on first hearing their new one Celebration Rock, out today, I needed to ask someone – anyone – if they’d always sounded like this.

And by “this”, I mean like Hüsker Dü covering The Hold Steady. It’s a reductive description, sure, but the more I listen to Celebration Rock the more accurate I feel it is. To the former reference point, it’s a compact, intense, and driving nine songs over 35 minutes that’s intent on shredding drum skins, guitar strings, and vocal cords in a manner that the legendary hardcore trio would surely approve. To the latter, they may still rehearse in a garage but with the fist pump-friendly choruses, odes to partying, and singalong “oh oh oh oh” lyrics, they’re aiming to bring the roof down at the local bar. Or arena. The duo may hail from Vancouver but their hearts belong to the Twin Cities.

Celebration Rock is big, unapologetic rock that manages to feel both vitally youthful and nostalgic at the same time while more than succeeding at its titular mission statement of making the kids freak out. It’s hard to say exactly what kind of shelf life it will have – records that rely on full-on intensity from start to finish have a tendency to exhaust after a while – but the only way to find out is to keep it turned up loud and set to repeat. No problem there.

Japandroids play Lee’s Palace on June 23. DIY, Spinner, and Pitchfork have interviews with the band and NPR is streaming the album in whole right now – the US release is next week, it was only released today in Canada to make it Polaris Prize-eligible. It may prove to be a wise move.

MP3: Japandroids – “The House That Heaven Built”
Stream: Japandroids / Celebration Rock

The Line Of Best Fit has a video session with PS I Love You, who’ve released a new video from Death Dreams.

Video: PS I Love You – “Princess Towers”

Coeur de Pirate warms up for hsr show at The Opera House on June 1 with an in-store at Sonic Boom the night before, that’s May 31, at 7PM. The Georgia Straight also has an interview with Beatrice Martin.

Video: Coeur de Pirate – “Golden Baby”

With her June 2 date at The Music Hall supporting Great Lake Swimmers just about here, Cold Specks has announced her own headlining date on August 8 at The Great Hall with Snowblink supporting; tickets are $15 in advance. The National Post and Shaw Connect have interviews with Al Spx while CBC Radio 3 talks to her about her songwriting process.

Neil Young & Crazy Horse have another two videos out for Americana, out next week but streaming in whole at Rolling Stone right now. Meanwhile, Exclaim has details on some forthcoming retrospective releases that aren’t music – the Jonathan Demme-directed documentary Neil Young Journeys will get a theatrical release on June 29 and Neil’s memoirs Waging Heavy Peace will be released on October 2.

Video: Neil Young & Crazy Horse – “God Save The Queen”
Video: Neil Young & Crazy Horse – “Clementine”
Stream: Neil Young & Crazy Horse / Americana

A new song from Metric’s forthcoming Synthetica has been made available to stream. The album is out June 12.

Stream: Metric – “Speed The Collapse”

Like The Wooden Sky but hate their songs? Well you may be a freak, but your ship has come in – the band are playing an all-covers show at The Burroghes Building on June 15 as part of a benefit for Dream.Love.Cure; tickets are $10 in advance, details at Facebook. And Paste has premiered the final installment of their “Grace On A Hill” video series – forewarned, they’re playing their own songs.

Dan Snaith talks to Under The Radar about how things are progressing on the next Caribou record. They open for Radiohead at Downsview Park on June 16.

No Joy will release a new EP entitled Negaverse on June 19, from which you can stream a track right now. They’ve also been announced as support for Lower Dens’ July 17 date at Lee’s Palace.

Stream: No Joy – “Junior”

Daytrotter has a session with The Darcys, whose next hometown show is July 12 at Downsview Park as part of Edgefest.

The Quietus interviews Grimes, rolling into town (on a train) at Fort York on July 13.

Frank YangWho: Cœur de Pirate
What: Montreal’s Béatrice Martin, already a star in Francophone parts of the world thanks to her piano-based Gallic pop, has finally set her sights on conquering English Canada.
Why: Following a triumphantly sold-out show at The Mod Club last November in support of her second album Blonde, she’s touring right up until the doctor tells her to stop – on account of her first baby being due in early Fall. So see her while you can!
When: Friday, June 1, 2012
Where: The Opera House in Toronto
Who else: Victoria’s Kandle opens things up.
How: Tickets for the show are $22.50 in advance but courtesy of Livenation and Grosse Boite, I’ve got a prize pack consisting of a pair of passes and a deluxe CD edition of Blonde to give away for the show. To enter, email me at contests AT chromewaves.net with “I want to see Coeur de Pirate” in the subject line and your full name in the body, and have that in to me before midnight, May 27.
What else: Martin was recently listed as one of Macleans‘ Canadians under 25 to watch – which, if you think about it, is exactly what I’m facilitating here.

Video: Cœur de Pirate – “Golden Baby”
Video: Cœur de Pirate – “Adieu”

Shervin IainezRose Cousins is not a new artist. The Charlottetown by way of Halifax artist has been releasing music for the better part of a decade and I’ve technically heard her before as she’s guested on any number of Maritime-born records including Joel Plaskett’s, but I’d not heard any of her own material until her third full-length album We Have Made A Spark, released at the end of February. And clearly that’s been my loss.

It’s not a record that stops you in your tracks – describe it as singer-songwriter that’d be comfortable at an adult contemporary party and lists towards the rootsy end of things and you wouldn’t be wrong – but that wouldn’t give credit to the emotional richness that Cousins infuses her work with. Her voice has that special blend of wistfulness and resignation that’s put to good use throughout Spark and ably supported by the lean and tasteful arrangements. But the sense of something ineffably special about this record really emerges on the record’s back half, with “For The Best” and “This Light” acting as a particularly powerful one-two punch and the cover of Springsteen’s “If I Should Fall Behind” finishing the listener off. Predominantly slow and sad, yet still standing tall, Spark articulates the sorts of feelings and experiences that everyone has either known or will know soon enough.

Uptown and The Edmonton Journal have feature pieces on Cousins and Southern Souls recently posted a video session with her. She plays The Rivoli on May 3.

MP3: Rose Cousins – “The Darkness”

The Elwins are helping celebrate Record Store Day with an in-store at Soundscapes on the evening of April 21 at 7PM; details over at Facebook. They’ve also been added to the support bill for Zeus at The Phoenix on June 9.

MP3: The Elwins – “Stuck In The Middle”

Sonic Boom is also once again celebrating Record Store Day with their own in-store mini-festival; this year they’ll have Army Girls, The Darcys, Born Ruffians, Plants & Animals, Bloodshot Bill, Fresh Snow, Lioness, Eight And A Half, and Diemonds. Now that’s a lineup and the schedule for the day looks like this.

MP3: Plants & Animals – “Song For Love”
MP3: The Darcys – “Shaking Down The Old Bones”
Video: Diemonds – “Take On The Night”
Video: Eight And A Half – “Scissors”
Video: Lioness – “You’re My Heart”

Though she figures to be around six months pregnant by that time, Coeur de Pirate has made a date at The Opera House for June 1, tickets $22.50 in advance. Rock!

Video: Coeur de Pirate – “Golden Baby”

The 2012 LuminaTO arts festival schedule is out, and from the music end of things, it’s got quite a bit to offer, mostly for free. Highlights include a Rufus Wainwright show on June 10, a Dan Mangan/Kathleen Edwards double-bill on the afternoon of June 16 (hopefully Ms. Edwards’ voice will be back) and an Ohbijou show on the afternoon of June 17; all of these are at David Pecault Square and are free. And yes, that second weekend is the same time as NXNE. So much culture you’re going to choke. The Line Of Best Fit has a video session and interview and Black Cab Sessions do their thing with Wainwright and NPR has a Tiny Desk Concert and Beatroute and The Calgary Herald have feature stories on Kathleen Edwards.

MP3: Kathleen Edwards – “Change The Sheets”
MP3: Dan Mangan – “Oh Fortune”
MP3: Ohbijou – “Anser”
Video: Rufus Wainwright – “Out Of The Game”

The Great Hall gets dark and synthy on July 13 when it hosts a show featuring Toronto’s Trust and New York’s Light Asylum; tickets for that are $12.50 in advance.

MP3: Light Asylum – “A Certain Person”
Video: Trust – “Bulbform”

I don’t remember the last time Little Scream played her own headlining show hereabouts – has she ever? – but she has great luck with opening gigs, having been added as warm-up for Beirut at The Sound Academy on July 19.

MP3: Little Scream – “Cannons”

Kind of an mish-mash of a bill, both in terms of genre and geography, but you’ve got The Sam Roberts Band, Bombay Bicycle Club, and The Jezabels at Echo Beach on July 26 – tickets $39.50 for general admission and $55.00 for VIP.

MP3: The Jezabels – “Try Colour”
Video: Sam Roberts – “I Feel You”
Video: Bombay Bicycle Club – “Shuffle”

Beatroute, The Georgia Straight, and here profile Chains Of Love, who’re in town at The Great Hall opening up for Said The Whale on April 14.

With the release of the new Moonface record With Sinai: Heartbreaking Bravery nigh – it’s out April 17 – it’s time for some premieres; a new video over at Spin and a stream of the whole record at The AV Club.

MP3: Moonface – “Teary Eyes And Bloody Lips”
Video: Moonface – “Teary Eyes And Bloody Lips”
Stream: Moonface / With Siinai: Heartbreaking Bravery

The fourth part of The Wooden Sky’s Grace On A Hill video series has premiered at IFC. They’re at The Opera House on April 20.

Still no specifics on the “why”, if there are any, surrounding the Fucked Up show at The Power Plant on May 1, but the band have announced that it’ll be free. So the “why” now matters that much less than “when do we line up”, yes?

CBC Music has got a video session with PS I Love You wherein they preview material from Death Dreams ahead of its May 8 release. They’re at The Garrison on May 15.

JAM, The Victoria Times-Colonist, Banff Cragg & Canyon, and Beatroute talk to Joel Plaskett. He’s at The Queen Elizabeth Theatre on May 18 and 19.

Spinner and The Globe & Mail chat with Tony Dekker of Great Lake Swimmers, who’ve made a track from New Wild Everywhere available to download and also released a new video. There’s also clips from their performance at the Glenn Gould Studio last month at CBC Music. They play The Music Hall on June 2.

MP3: Great Lake Swimmers – “The Great Exhale”
Video: Great Lake Swimmers – “New Wild Everywhere”

Guelph disco-pop ensemble The Magic are streaming the first single from their debut Ragged Gold, due out June 25.

Stream: The Magic – “Mr. Hollywood”

Feist has released a new video from Metals.

Video: Feist – “Bittersweet Melodies”

NPR serves up a World Cafe session and Planet S an interview with John K Samson.

Daytrotter has posted a new session with Timber Timbre.