17 is Prime - Oh, Canada!

What you are about to hear are 17 ear-splitting tracks by Canadian artists. Most of the artists are "indie" but some have gained a fair bit of notoriety in the last few years. Matthew Good's new album, "Hospital Music" (while it isn't great) was featured on the front page of iTunes for its release this summer. The Tragically Hip have been selling out arenas in Canada (meaning, hockey arenas) since the early 90s. I gotta say that Sloan is the biggest thing to come out of The Maritimes (where I'm from, Atlantic Canada) since Donald (Keifer's dad) Sutherland.

In researching bands for this post, I came across The Weakerthans. If "Pamphleteer" isn't one of your favorite tracks on this comp., something is wrong with you. I paid more attention to Tokyo Police Club when I discovered they were Canadian, and I quickly became a fan. There are so many bands that I either hadn't heard or didn't know were Canadian before I went to Wikipedia with this idea.

However, there does seem to be a fair bit of bastardization in the Canadian indie rock scene. This goes with the territory for indie rock...but listen. Feist plays with Broken Social Scene - Stars is made up of BSS members - Jason Tait of The Weakerthans has recorded and toured with BSS. Unrelated, A.C. Newman is the front man of The New Pornographers which includes member Neko Case (hate her alt-country solo stuff, try though I might) and Dan Bejar who also belongs to Swan Lake with Spencer Krug who is a member of Wolf Parade with Dan Boeckner who also heads up the side project Handsome Furs.

Did I lose you? Good! That's Canada baby!


Here's the tracklist: (DL Link In Comments)
1. Canada vs. America - Broken Social Scene "EP To Be You And Me"
2. Who Taught You to Live Like That - Sloan "Never Hear The End Of It"
3. Blood On Our Hands - Death From Above 1979 "You're A Woman, I'm A Machine"
4. You Are a Runner and I am My Father's Son - Wolf Parade "Apologies To The Queen Mary"
5. Homemade Bombs in the Afternoon - A.C. Newman "Homemade Bombs In The Afternoon EP"
6. Fire Eye'd Boy - Broken Social Scene "Broken Social Scene"
7. Ahead By A Century - The Tragically Hip "Live Between Us"
8. Mushaboom - Feist "Let It Die"
9. Allisson Krausse - The Stills "Logic Will Break Your Heart"
10. Cannot Get, Started - Handsome Furs "Plague Park"
11. Your English Is Good - Tokyo Police Club "Your English Is Good"
12. Intervention - Arcade Fire "Neon Bible"
13. Hotline Operator - Constantines "Tournament of Hearts"
14. Pamphleteer - The Weakerthans "Left and Leaving"
15. Black Helicopter - Matthew Good "Hospital Music"
16. Ageless Beauty - Stars "Set Yourself On Fire"
17. All the Things that Go to Make Heaven and Earth - The New Pornographers "Challengers"