Yukon Blonde's new album, Tiger Talk, is totally banging. Case in point: lead single "Stairway," which rocks hard and contains some ridiculously catchy falsetto harmonies.
A while back, I wrote an Exclaim! list about the most anticipated upcoming Canadian releases of 2012, and this one made the cut. Obviously.

 

Pretty much all of I've heard from the No Gold dudes since the release of last year's self-titled LP is their clubby DJ sets around town. For the newly-released "Good and Bad," however, they don't stray too far from the freewheeling experimental pop that made last year's album such a winner. Sure, there are more electronics than before, but the summery spirit is the same. Nice one, guys.
This comes courtesy of The Fader.

 

From Halifax comes Long Weekends with the new single "Don't Reach Out." This gritty tune is part mope, part grimy garage bounce, and it might sound like a hummable retro pop tune were it not for the hiccupy vocals, which push it into slightly stranger territory.
This is coming out on 7" through the Noyes Records subscription series.

 

I was at Said the Whale's very first show almost five years ago, so it has been pretty exciting to follow the band's rise. Its latest single is a Tyler Bancroft-sung number that's one of the band's most straight-up rockers to date.
Die-hards may remember that this is actually a rewritten version of a prior non-LP track, although this version is a little heavier on the guitars and lighter on the synth.
This comes from the band's excellent forthcoming LP Little Mountain.

 

Lower Dens put out one of my favourite albums of 2010, so I'm excited about the prospect of a new album from the dream pop outfit. Go to Exclaim! to read my story about the forthcoming release of Nootropics.
Below is "Brains," which is a little slow getting going but turns into a lovely, expansive tune.

 

For the current issue of the Georgia Straight (up until tomorrow, that is), I wrote an article about the Weeknd, who is undoubtedly one of the most intriguing newcomers to arrive on the pop landscape in some time.
Below is the steamy R&B noir number "Montreal," which comes from his recent Echoes of Silence mixtape and is currently making my girlfriend do one of the funniest dances I've ever seen. It ends a bit abruptly since it's meant to lead directly into the next track, "XO/The Host."

 

In addition to being the best thing TV on the Radio has ever done, Young Liars is also the name of dance rock band from Vancouver. I reviewed the outfit's Homesick Future EP for the Georgia Straight.
Below you can hear the catchy single "Colours," which brings to mind Cut Copy, Phoenix, and the Killers before they got insufferably lame.

 

Do I really need to hear another Guided by Voices album? I mean, Bee Thousand is a masterpiece, but reunion records have a nasty habit of sucking the big one.
Then again, "The Unsinkable Fats Domino" suggests that maybe I should give Let's Go Eat the Factory a listen after all. This is a hard-hitting pop rock tune with the same kind of slapdash, tossed-off charm that the band made its signature back in the day. Maybe I'll get around to this album after all.

 

It was quite a surprise to learn that Mac DeMarco has now signed to Captured Tracks for a solo EP. What happened to Makeout Videotape?
In any case, I'm pretty excited for March 20, when his Rock and Roll Night Club comes out. The sexy, breathy single "Babys Wearin Blue Jeans" is below, courtesy of Pitchfork. This isn't my favourite work of his, but it's still pretty damn good (although that title could really use some apostrophes).

 

In less than two years, the Fraser Valley's Teen Daze has explored chillwave, cosmic electronica, and guitar-laden beach pop. Now, he's released a straight-up, nightclub-oriented banger in the form of "Let's Groove."
If you've seen him live, you may have heard him play clubby tracks like this before. He was playing this material when I reviewed his show last year for the Georgia Straight.