Power-pop trio The Hundreds and Thousands might be new to you, but the Ottawa band formerly known as Starling have been around for more than a hot minute.

This fact becomes quite clear in their well-honed, high-energy concerts. So here's a live performance video for their fantastic single "Rat Race."

And If you dig it, then download this free MP3 of "Rat Race"

Shove it. That was the message emblazoned on Nickelback singer Chad Kroeger's t-shirt and one can't help but assume it was directed at his band's critics.

After all, the hometown mook-rockers did kick off the show with their dumbest-ever anthem "Something In Your Mouth"-even the edgy host Russell Peters joked "Ay oh, my mom's watching!"-and upon picking up their best album award, a grinning Kroeger quipped "The press are going to have a field day with this one."

Having abandoned the idea of seeing British dance-rockers The Ting Tings--another buzz band made famous by an iPod ad--I instead returned to what has become my Canadian Music Week/Fest ground zero The Horseshoe where the Ottawa band formerly known as Starling has reinvented itself as The Hundreds and Thousands.

The power-pop chops are as honed as ever and though the criminally early 8:30pm set is only sparsely attended, the people that are here are almost entirely young women, which means the men will be sure to follow in short order. Their music is beefy and guitar heroic enough for an indie crowd and head-catchy enough to soundtrack Gossip Girl, which I expect the single "Rat Race" to do any day now.

City-wide music festivals like Canadian Music Fest are structured like an endless bar crawl, which can make one feel the urge to bolt to a new joint after every 40 minute showcase. But often a few bars wind up with line-ups so solid that one is forced to lay down roots and rock out in one place.

And so it went with Friday night at the Horseshoe Tavern, a ChartAttack.com-curated bill that was arguably the most anticipated of the weekend, thanks almost entirely to the midnight slot when the Handsome Furs would debut their new songs from just-released album of the year contender (yes, already) <i>Face Control</i>.

In mid-January, 1992, a cultural watershed took place on the pop charts when Nirvana's Nevermind, which had been released several months earlier to little notice, finally became the number one album, knocking out Michael Jackson's Dangerous.

This was not seen simply as a sales victory, but the overthrow of the King of Pop (and all that his '80s glory represented) and the ushering in of the alternative revolution. It was, to say the least, a big deal. The subsequent popular alt-uprising, marked by Lollapalooza, Pearl Jam, manic panic hair, plaid flannel, Nine Inch Nails, and Green Day, sure smelled of teen spirit.

But if such a thing happened today, could it spark a similar sea-change? The simple answer: nuh-uh. And the simple reason is the rise of digi-singles and fall of the LP.

Montreal's latest world-beaters Land of Talk, led by singer/songwriter/guitarist Elizabeth Powell, are about to follow-up their acclaimed EP Applause Cheer Boo Hiss with the recently reformatted indie-rock trio's first full-length Some Are Lakes, due out October 7 on Secret City here in Canada and on Saddle Creek down south.

Artist: Land of Talk
Songs: 'Corner Phone'
Album: 'Some Are Lakes'
Sounds Like: Sonic Youth, Blonde Redhead

Download: 'Corner Phone'(MP3)

Land of Talk tour dates after the jump...

Toronto electro overlords MSTRKRFT may be best known as DJs (and in-demand remixers), but the omnipresent party-rockers are prepping the launch of their second full length next month, humbly titled Fist of God.

Here's a taste with their first single, "Bounce."

Artist: MSTRKRFT
Songs: 'Bounce' Ft. Nore (Felix Cartal Remix)
Album: 'Fist of God'
Sounds Like: Simian Mobile Disco, Tom Neville

Download: 'Bounce' Ft. Nore (Felix Cartal Remix)(MP3)

Upcoming tour dates after the jump...

Vice may be a love-it-or-hate-it magazine, but its record label wing is rarely less than awesome--thanks in no small part to Canadian-born label head Adam Shore. Vice's latest signing is the hotly-tipped Costa Mesa, Cali quartet Japanese Motors who combine garage and surf sounds into a sunny blast of rough-hewn rock'n'roll.

Deeply rooted in the surf community, they've hooked up with surfer/filmmaker Emmett Malloy for their new video 'Single Fins & Safety Pins.' (Behind-the-scenes footage after the jump)

"Most of our friends are artists of various sorts in the sense that they don't want to have real jobs; we figured one of these artists would do it," vocalist Alex Knost told our cohorts at Spinner. "After asking Emmett, a true pro in the art of moviemaking, he said he would love to. Some people call it the hands of fate."

I dunno who the heck decided to book indie-pop stars Metric as headliners for the debauched "extreme sports" Wakestock fest on Toronto Island, but thank goodness the wasted mookish masses had mostly departed by the time Emily Haines and the boys took the stage, leaving behind mud pits, empty beer gardens and shoulder-perched girls punching the air rather than doffing their tops.

Even the whipping wind and rain, which began falling almost to the second that Jimmy Shaw kicked into "Dead Disco's" indelible guitar line, merely added an epic booster shot to their typically epic sound. How these cats aren't a massive stadium band is beyond me, but hopefully their long-awaited (and reportedly finished) upcoming album will do the trick.

The set was mostly filled with supersized versions of old hits like "Combat Baby," "Monster Hospital" "Calculation Theme," "Rock Me Now," "Poster of a Girl" and, in my opinion the best song yet produced by Canada's post-millennial indie surge, "Hustle Rose."

A few more new tunes would have been appreciated, but rocky new track "Satellite Mind," with its "I'm not suicidal/I just can't get out of bed" refrain, was a nice addition to the fan-fave setlist. Then Emily and Jimmy emerged by themselves to encore with a powerfully intimate, slow-clap-inducing version of "Live It Out."

Then with a promise to "put out our record soon," Metric left the stage and the small-but-enthusiastic crowd headed over to the ferry terminal to put another wonderful, albeit wet, weekend to bed.

Feist sure isn't the first pop singer to pay a visit to Sesame Street's muppet ghetto. The Canadian crooner's appearance, airing next month, is following in the footsteps of Stevie Wonder and Johnny Cash. But few have arrived with a song as perfect a fit as her smash "1234."

Who wants to bet Count von Count invited her?



More 'Sesame Street' music videos, including REM "Furry happy Monsters" after the jump...

Could Montreal's favourite retro-electro funk hipsters Chromeo--aka Dave-1 and P-Thugg--be on the friendship rocks a la Lauren and Heidi from The Hills? Watch this clip from their new reality show and find out!

(note: this isn't really a reality show...though that would so rule!)

More Chromeo videos after the jump...

Ladytron has been known as the other Liverpudlian quartet (even though frontwomen Helen Marnie and Mira Aroyo hail from Scotland and Bulgaria, respectively) since dropping their still-brilliant debut 604 way back in 2001 on the late, lamented Emperor Norton label.

First the group (which also includes Daniel Hunt and Reuban Wu) were roped in with the 80s revival due to their vintage synth-based sound. Then when electroclash blew up they became unwitting poster-children for that movement, too.

But these cats were always too cool for school, eschewing "scenes" in favour of following their own muse. To wit, they've continued pumping out dark, icy and uber-stylish electro-pop that nonetheless pulses with life, even nailing one of the decade's best tracks with their blissful epic "Destroy Everything You Touch."

They recently played a free show in Toronto as part of Harbourfront's Beats, Breaks and Culture festival in support of their brand-new album Velocifero. Though still relatively static onstage, their live show has improved by leaps and bounds since their last tour for 2005's Witching Hour. The brilliant light show helped, to be sure, but they've also become better live musicians. The set was dark-hued and very intense, with analog synths blaring like guitars at a rock show as the singers cooed in English and Bulgarian and the beats pummeled the crowd. Not surprisingly, within a few songs the older folks that showed up for the free show were hightailing it the hell out of there. Their loss--by the time Ladytron had revved up into full-on rave mode to blast out inevitable closer "Destroy," the electro-pop outfit could lay claim to one of the summer's most impressive performances.

AOL blogger Chromewaves agrees...read his review here.

Though we didn't record the T.O. gig, we do have some fantastic live songs from Ladytron's concert at 12 Galaxies in San Francisco . Plus, their music video for ace new single "Ghosts."

After the jump, of course...

After months of online bickering--er, debates--and two rounds of voting, 178 music critics, broadcasters and bloggers (including myself) have compiled a shortlist of the "best" Canadian albums of the past year which will now compete to win the third annual Polaris Prize's bragging rights and $20,000.

Modeled after Britain's Mercury Music Prize (and, to a lesser degree, America's Shortlist prize), the goal is to spotlight Canadian albums which, despite the still-surging indie scene, were being ignored in major Juno categories because of the industry awards' sales requirements.

Arguably, Polaris has overshot in the opposite direction--last year Feist lost to little-known Montreal band Patrick Watson, but later won the Shortlist Prize and an armload of Junos--however this year's list is a respectable cross-section of the Canadian indie scene, ranging from Vancouver retro-rockers Black Mountain, Winnipeg folk-punks The Weakerthans, Ottawa alt-country crooner Kathleen Edwards, Montreal indie-pop vets Stars, London rapper Shad, Toronto electro-rockers Holy F**K and Charlottetown power-pop newcomers Two Hours Traffic.

Interviews and more after the jump...

It was a dark and stormy night. No, seriously, it was dark and stormy. Throughout the day the clouds repeatedly unleashed their loads and the hordes of kids who set up shop along Queen Street west to see their the musicians and celebs were repeatedly and mercilessly doused.

MuchMusic's award show itself fared little better. The usual stars were in short supply-instead of Paris Hilton, we got Perez; instead of Spencer and Heidi, we got Whitney and Brody; instead of Billy Talent's tank, we got illScarlet's ice cream truck and Kardinal Offishall's TTC bus; and instead of actual kid Avril we got the aged New Kids on the Block.

But let's take it from the top...

It's North-by-Northeast music festival week and like recyclables during a municipal strike, Toronto streets (parking lots, rooftops, public squares and even Pearson airport and Union Station) are once again piled high with musicians off all stripes, shapes and colours. And while there is admittedly some stinkery amongst the 500-odd bands playing 50 venues about town, these sorts of music fests are always, first and foremost, about new discoveries.

So after enjoying what these fests are about secondmost (free beer and BBQ) at the annual EMI Publishing rooftop kickoff party, I headed to the Horseshoe Tavern to check out The Wet Secrets, a band I chose based entirely on the scientific principle that, well, their name sounds kinda dirty.

More after the jump...