by SHANE SINNOTT

If you’re a hippie, you’re going to want to check out swimdrinkfishmusic.com, a project set up by folks at the Canadian Waterkeeper (waterkeeper.ca) movement—dedicated to preserving, as you might have guessed, swimmable, drinkable and fishable waterways. Canadian artists have been donating exclusive and unreleased songs for the cause, and if you’re a fan of Stars, Gord Downie, Great Lake Swimmers, Broken Social Scene and the like, you can purchase a one-time $10 membership to gain access to a bunch of downloadable music and radio programs. Your 10 bucks, of course, goes to the Waterkeeper folks. I must be getting old, ’cause one of the tunes I like is the Sadies with Gord Downie, covering Randy Newman’s “Louisiana, 1927” (bit.ly/aXNiPf). If you want the real deal, in terms of 1927 Mississippi Flood songs, listen to Charley Patton’s two-part “High Water Everywhere” at bit.ly/d66Cwz.

Two of Montreal’s up and coming groups, Wolf Parade and Arcade Fire, have albums coming out this summer. Let’s hope these records are breakouts, and can finally put this city on the musical map. Wolf Parade’s “Expo 86” is out on June 29, and two tracks have been officially “leaked” in that they are streaming everywhere. “What Did My Lover Say? (It Always Had to Go This Way)” and “Ghost Pressure” can be listened to at bit.ly/cNF5f5. If you’re less scrupulous, finding a leak of the entire album is a relatively straightforward process, and goes like this: type “wolf parade expo 86 rapidshare” into Google, and it’s likely something will come up.

Arcade Fire, meanwhile, are in fact releasing a new record called The Suburbs, which a lot of folks guessed after a banner on their website referring to “The Suburbs” appeared briefly a couple of weeks ago. Out Aug. 3, chasing and speculating a leak of the album will no doubt drive half the Internet into a frenzy. For now, two songs from the album have been released on a 12-inch (“The Suburbs” and “Month of May”) and you can hear them at bit.ly/bgV9Dt.