Artist: Karkwa
Album: Les Chemins De Verre
From: Montréal, QC
Links: Website | MySpace | Facebook

Everything I cherish in music I’ve found in Karkwa’s Les Chemins De Verre. Killer melodies, intelligent lyrics, and the impression of a group in total communion. This is especially apparent during the hymn Marie Tu Pleures, recorded in one take in a old French manor house. Singer Lous-Jean Cormier usually pushes his gritty voice into the low octaves, but here he dares incursions into the higher range to great emotional effect. Think about Fleet Foxes, Bon Iver, The Beach Boys; even good old Quebec prog music from Harmonium. Karkwa have let some air in. Karkwa are more and more Karkwa.

Philippe Papineau, Le Devoir, Montréal

   

Artist: Fucked Up
Album: The Chemistry Of Common Life
From: Toronto
Links: Website | MySpace

So people say Canadian songwriting is ironic and distanced? Fucked Up has as direct a line to pissed-offness as any Brit or U.S. punk. Yet they rewrite the laws of fast-hard-loud with eight-minute songs, melodious backup vocals, even flutes. The Chemistry of Common Life confirms Canadians can wear their brains on their sleeves even without a shirt - the sound of a year when everything depended on getting mad without getting stupid.

Carl Wilson, Globe And Mail, Toronto