Music

The Hibs are a young band in Vancouver’s ever growing music scene but you wouldn’t quite know that after a listen to their debut self-titled EP. The five-song effort throws back to a time of twangy rock anthems, the Westerburg inspired lead single “Get Old” to the J Mascis-esque vocal melodies and pathos that populate “Harder Than Heaven” and acoustic closer “LSA”.

Vancouver’s Little Destroyer are a singular entity. A young band with a firm grasp on exactly who they are, a pop band with bite that has style AND substance. In advance of their upcoming EP, Strange Fruit, they’ve released the video for the single “Rattlesnakes” and it showcases a band that has something to say and know perfectly how to say it.

We’ve all been there. You’re a 56-year-old punk pioneer harbouring fears of losing his edge. Your upcoming album, Skull Ring, boasts an admittedly bad ass title, yet something isn’t quite right. Although in 2003 the name Iggy Pop might still resonate with those eggheads down at Amoeba Records, the real question is whether the kids are coming along for the ride. Later, while shopping with your son at a Hot Topic in Ann Arbor, Michigan’s Briarwood Mall, the answer suddenly hits you.

Since last September, Dirty Projectors have been teasing new material and a new album for 2017, and today Dave Longstreth and company delivered the new song and video for “Little Bubble”. There is no other info known as of yet about the forthcoming LP, but if this track is any indication it’s going to be a wonderful personal affair. The past few years have seen the band slowly breaking out of their damaged, tropical-tinged art pop and quietly embracing a more mature and weary R&B side.

It’s been just over four years since we’ve been lucky enough to hear some new material from Sweden’s best pop troubadour, Jens Lekman, but today that long cold streak comes to an end. In advance of his forthcoming album, Life Will See You Now out 2/17 via Secretly Canadian, Lekman has issued his new single, “What’s That Perfume You Wear?’

ACTORS are such a solid band on every level that I assume this is how life works for them..."Here's the pitch: we are going to get all of our outrageously attractive and effortlessly cool friends and we are going to get them to dress like they are in a gang that could easily trounce The Sharks and The Jets and also solve a problem like Maria. Okay, we've got that? Perfect.

If that episode of Rick and Morty where that giant, yellow head comes down to earth and says "SHOW ME WHAT YOU GOT" and Earth has to have a band play for the lives of all humanity happened IRL, I'd probably nominate the Courtneys as our representative. Seriously, I don't know how the Courtneys learned to write songs, whether they were born with it, or took lessons or something, but someone let me know so I can bottle it and make a fortune.

Artists like to make a statement. For better or worse this can be dictated by the state of the world at that moment and for the most part these statements tend to fall on the grandiose side of things and often come with big moral and social implications. In the world of popular music it’s refreshing when an artist realizes not everything they put out needs to carry the world's weight. A pop song can just be a pop song. When it’s done right it can lift that weight and make it feel like the sun is shining brighter than it had been before you hit play.

How many metalheads does it take to change a lightbulb? That depends. Alternating or direct current, bro? Actually, let’s just sit in the dark. After all, it means we’re boycotting that scab Thomas Edison, who stole Nikola Tesla’s ideas and was basically an all-around dick. What could be more metal than that? Well, how about a long-winded song about electricity’s greatest rivalry from a band whose name immediately confirms their own bias? Tight, bro. Tight.