Arts and Crafts | Label Spotlight
Toronto-based Arts & Crafts is not only one of Canada's most dynamic independent record labels, but also acts as an artist management firm, a design house, and a distribution and production company. This label also gets an award for being most requested among the few indie labels not yet available on Rhapsody. "When is Rhapsody going to have Broken Social Scene?" is a question often asked among my cohesive social scene. Well, you won't find BSS or A&C on any other subscription services, so have a listen to our latest label spotlight featuring Juno-winners Broken Social Scene, baroque pop-star Feist, and set yourself on fire with Stars and other lush rockers from the Arts & Crafts family.

And You Will Know Us By the Trail of Dead | So Divided
...Trail of Dead have a lot of hype to live down, from their incendiary live performances to the fact that they are one of the few, if not the only, "rocking" indie rock band on the landscape in 2006; the Austin kids are left holding the torch for a lot of people's expectations. With So Divided, they show they are not afraid of the challenge, admirably taking on Guided By Voices, wriggling around like the Birthday Party and keeping things as heavy as they are accessible throughout. Good stuff, especially the trio of songs that opens the album. - M.McG
One Track Recommendation: "Wasted State of Mind"

Pavement | Wowee Zowee:
Sordid Sentinels Edition
More than a decade since Pavement released this sprawling, unstoppably creative album, this remastered and 'luxe and deluxe' version arrives, and it has held up very well. The new super-expanded version has a whopping 50 tracks on it! It spotlights Malkmus & Co's once-ignored gift for writing catchy pop hooks ("drowning for your thirst!?" in "Rattled By The Rush") and their ragged appreciation of any (and every) musical style they ever stumbled across. This isn't about your memories of the times; it's about all the new dimensions these songs bring out when you listen to them again. Newly released tracks include all the B-sides from the singles (including the legendary Pacific Trim EP with the classic "Give It A Day" and "I Love Perth" & "Painted Soldiers" from the Steve Lamacq BBC evening session on 3.15.95. Whoo hoo hooo! I'm still dedicated to all my friends. - TK / ND

Muse | Black Holes And Revelations
Black Holes and Revelations sweeps you into the ever changing vortex of sound. a spooky feeling is created with shredding, freak out jams and dark, evil lyrics, which bursts into glam rock that makes you wanna dance. Muse takes you on board a futuristic brit-pop rock opera with their soaring vocals and swirling gutiars. Get into it! - Deb B. (*the original TSR*)

Backyard Tire Fire | Skin and Bones (EP)
The sophomore EP from Backyard Tire Fire has enough big guitars and hard-luck yowl from Easy Ed Anderson to demonstrate a love for heavy roots music and make a bid for the title of their generation's Crazy Horse. When "Tired of Being Tired" lumbers out of the speakers with an ominous gait, it has all the foreboding grit and guitar wail as "Down by the River." (Side note, do check out the new live version of "Down By The River" that Neil & Crazy Horse just released from Fillmore East.) The lone appearance of an acoustic guitar, on "Don't Know What to Do," is breezy and refreshing, but the band is at its best on boot stomping numbers like "Downtime" and "Blood on the Strings." Also of note is the live cover of Barry Cowsill (the Bonaduce of the real life Partridge Family) and his ode to scoring on the streets, "Crack Alley." - GK/TK