by SHANE SINNOTT

The big news recently was the release of the debut album by Swan Lake, the combined efforts of Dan Bejar (Destroyer, New Pornographers), Spencer Krug (Wolf Parade, Sunset Rubdown) and Carey Mercer (Frog Eyes). The prospect is pretty boner-inducing for the Canadian indie fans among us, and you can hear some tracks at theyellowstereo.blogspot.com/2006/11/daily-graboid-112206.html. As you can imagine, it’s inconsistent at points, but when it’s good, it’s really good, as the track “All Fires” attests. If things keep going this way, we’re going to have to reevaluate Vancouver’s status as the one-trick (Mint Records) pony of Canadian indie music.

Also be sure to check out Montreal’s own Lovely Feathers—often, incorrectly, thought to include members of the above-mentioned Wolf Parade—who are playing tonight, Dec. 7 at Cabaret. The tracks are here: www.myspace.com/thelovelyfeathers. Go—you’ll like it.

Recently, I’ve been searching for mash-ups, which are more or less the combination of music from one song and a cappella lyrics from another, released online by various DJs. The widespread attention some mash-ups have gained (The Grey Album, Danger Mouse’s fusion of the Beatles’ White Album and Jay-Z’s Black Album, was written about in The New Yorker, of all places) has sent the major-label legal teams a-cease-and-desisting, so they can be hard to find. Here’s where Banned Music comes in (bannedmusic.org). A truly great idea, Banned Music makes an effort to collect all these albums you’ve heard about in one place, as soon as they are banned, making it easy for the masses to hear what all the fuss is about.

AGAIN! AGAIN! AGAIN! ssinnott@gmail.com

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