Maple Music

Junkhouse was a considerable force in the 1980s-1990s Canadian alternative rock scene, but disbanded in 1998, but have been sporadically active throughout the last few decades. Wikipedia has them listed as currently active, although there has not been any new songs since 1998.

A good portion of the band has passed away. In a most Canadian fashion, the second guitarist Dan Aachen actually passed away from a heart attack while playing hockey.

See Spot Run is from Montreal, Quebec. Their music features both French and English lyrics/titles, from all throughout their over 3 decades of music making -- since 1993.

The band is seemingly still active, but their last new music release was 9 years ago, in 2016.

So it was while listening to this artist, at a show/birthday party at a bar in Ottawa, ON a little less than two months ago, that I learned I'm an old, unhip person. Don't get me wrong - what I saw and heard left me intrigued, I just had a very limited frame of reference for what I was hearing.

This track's pretty approachable, the one that gave me pause was KERPLUNK - I just liked the live version much more than the recorded track.

From Ottawa, rapper, producer, vocalist and DJ - HUG MOSH!

In an effort to bring balance to the universe given my other post just now, here is the cleanest version of the North Atlantic Squadron anyone has ever sang.

Just a catchy song about kids on drugs from Sleepless Nights of Halifax, NS (then Toronto, ON)

My favourite song by the legendary Lennie Gallant of Rustico, PEI. I can't do this guy's bio justice, so here's his from his website. But if you've lived in Canada long enough, I'd find it hard to imagine you haven't heard one of his songs at some point.

This is a series of short films by Seb & Ben McKinnon.

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PMaRjpcbjro&list=RDPMaRjpcbjro&start_radio=1&pp=ygUKS2luIGZhYmxlc6AHAdIHCQnNCQGHKiGM7w%3D%3D
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHfekAMmBI8&list=RDSHfekAMmBI8&start_radio=1&pp=ygUKS2luIGZhYmxlc6AHAQ%3D%3D
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hn-J0Lw2fJI&list=RDHn-J0Lw2fJI&start_radio=1&pp=ygUKS2luIGZhYmxlc6AHAQ%3D%3D

The soundtrack is released under the name CLANN & https://album.link/ca/i/1642705444

Seb McKinnon is probably most known for his Magic the Gathering art although I don't play the game I absolutely love his art style and with these films I love the music they made to go along with it. Ben who was the cinematographer and died quite a few years ago now at 24, which is just awful considering I think these films are cinematic masterpieces.

I have no idea if there is a large fan base for Matthew Good but, love him or hate him, I love a musician that is willing to make a political statement, big or small. Any drop in the bucket counts. His late 90s songs were quite excellent but I haven’t followed him much from there.

A fun band out of Halifax, NS. Met one of the band members at a show for another group once, and I was in the habit of gathering band/track recommendations from strangers at the time. Told me he played with these guys, and they've been in my circulation ever since. Nice dude :)

<< Indie Rock >> francais de Montréal, QC! Incroyable!

[This is all I've got - the Western Canada standard french education curriculum failed me. It's good stuff though!]

A dreamy twangy tune from Saskatoon, SK!

High energy, good time rock 'n roll out of Cornwall, ON!

If I've had a shit week, this is a good band to see on a Friday/Saturday show poster.

Some of the good stuff smuggled out of Peterborough, ON ;)

So I'm an Anglophone, but there's a handful of Francophone Canadian tracks I've found and dug hard. This is one of them, from Keith Kouna hailing from Saint-Augustin-de-Desmaures, QC.

Any of our Quebequois friends want to tell us more about this guy? The only thing I know is I heard this on a French radio station once, and it immediately went on the 'skateboarding down stuff very fast' playlist.

More west coast (of Canada) hip hop! Another wiki blurb:

Swollen Members is a four-time JUNO Award-winning Canadian hip hop group from Vancouver, British Columbia, consisting mainly of Madchild and Prevail. Frequent collaborators include vocalist Moka Only (who actually helped form the group in the mid-1990s, left, and then joined again from 2002 to 2005) along with the other former members Easy Roc & Zodak who were only in the group for a few years and producer Rob the Viking, an official group member since 2002. Swollen Members has released nine studio albums, one greatest hits album and 2 compilations, as well as numerous other singles. From 1996 to 2016, Swollen Members were the second best-selling Canadian hip hop artist in Canada (behind Drake) and were the best-selling Canadian hip hop group in Canada.

Hip hop straight out of Kitimaat Village, BC. Wiki blurb:

Snotty Nose Rez Kids, sometimes referred to as SNRK, are a First Nations hip hop duo composed of Haisla rappers Darren "Young D" Metz and Quinton "Yung Trybez" Nyce. They are originally from Kitamaat Village, British Columbia. Their 2017 album The Average Savage was shortlisted for the 2018 Polaris Music Prize, and for the Juno Award for Indigenous Music Album of the Year at the Juno Awards of 2019. In 2018, the duo received nominations for Best Hip Hop Album at the Indigenous Music Awards, and for Indigenous Artist of the Year at the Western Canadian Music Awards. Ever since their second release, The Average Savage, all of their albums have been long- or shortlisted for the Polaris Music Prize.

So I told my kid I was love bombing this place ('it's like reddit but doesn't suck, don't think too hard about it'), and asked if there were any Canadian artists they felt I should share. The whole time, I thought to myself please, please don't say bbno$.

There was a palpable silence. Then they said, "Well, bbno$ is Canadian, and he's pretty good".

The painful thing is, they aren't wrong. Hailing from Vancouver, BC, a Tik Tok sound clip source heard 'round the world, I gotta admit - some of it's pretty catchy. And it's wrong to gatekeep, so here's a song.

From Ottawa, ON, music for hackin' darts and breakin' hearts :)

I was struggling with choosing one Apollo Suns song, as they have a lot of variety, but this one catches a lot of the funk-jazz-psych aspects, and the video is cute AF.

A very talented group of artists coming based out of Winnipeg, MB. They are sooooo high on my live music wishlist.

Face melting goodness from Vancouver, BC!

(Swear I'm not trying to spam - just enthusiastic, I've heard a lot of great bands/musicians passing through Ottawa over the years and have few venues to share them :) )

Another group from Montreal, getting a lot of attention from the stoner/desert rock world over the past couple of years.

Often tongue in cheek country western band out of Ottawa, ON, headed by local legend and former House of Targ zine advice columnist Slo' Tom.

Good 'I'm hungover, sad, and walking to get a breakfast sandwich somewhere on Bank St' song, lol.

Yet another group from Montreal!

Surfy rockabilly trio out of Toronto, ON! They were an opener for the 5.6.7.8's when they played at House of Targ in Ottawa a couple years back, and a fantastic choice for that.