Show alerts: Canadian indie invades Detroit, Windsor, Sarnia and Toledo

Lovers of Canadian indie artists have a lot of opportunities this weekend to get their fix. Good luck choosing; we'd be at them all if we could.

Fri., Jun. 1
FM Lounge, Windsor
Sunparlour Players (Toronto) w/ The Unquiet Dead (Windsor)

Two bands we love.

Fri., Jun. 1
Garden Bowl (The Majestic Detroit) FREE SHOW
Rah Rah (Regina)
Our show review from Dec. 2010.

Fri., Jun. 1
Mickey Finn's Pub, Toledo
Buck 65
Only one of the greatest hip hop artists in Canada.

Sat., Jun. 2 and Sun., Jun. 3
Sarnia Artwalk
If you couldn't be at Rah Rah's show on Friday, you can catch them in Sarnia opening for the great Hawksley Workman (review of Hawksley at London's Home County Folk Festival last July) at a ticketed show Saturday night. And if you couldn't catch Sunparlour Players in Windsor, they play Artwalk on Sunday. The Canadian indie talent at Artwalk also includes The Lake Effect, Evening Hymns and more.






Sun., Jun. 3
Small's, Hamtramck
The Real McKenzies

Celtic punk comes to Poletown.

Show Review: Up a Creek With Royal Canoe

The progression of popular music, or the lack of, has been a topic hotly debated on the CBC Radio 3 blog, and at N2D central as well. We're of the opinion that either through nature or nurture, our brains expect and desire certain conventions in music (the resolution, the major and minor modes, the 4/4 time signature, for example), and as long as music is held hostage by these structures (and the listeners that demand it), it leaves few places for composers of popular music to go.















That's why, as predicted, Winnipeg's Royal Canoe did indeed blow our minds at their show on May 12 at the Majestic's Garden Bowl in Detroit, for their ability to beautifully straddle (or paddle, as the case may be), the line between adventurous music and music that is eminently satisfying to both the ear and the brain. Founder Matt Peters (vocals, keyboards, acoustic guitar) and the rest of the band-- Matt Schellenberg (vocals, keyboards), Bucky Driedger (vocals, electric guitar, percussion), Brendan Berg (vocals, bass, keyboards) and drummers Derek Allard and Michael Jordon (on both conventional and electronic drums)-- all came from other groups, but Royal Canoe "is our baby," says Driedger.












If you guessed that vocals play a significant role, you'd be right, from Schellenberg's angelic Vienna Boys Choir falsetto to Peters' tenor, but they're used more as additional instruments instead of the usual simple harmony. Songs on their (oddly unimaginatively-named) EP, Extended Play come with five beats to a measure, and even 15; it's a tribute to their talent (and their collective skill at hitting all the complicated rhythms) that such time signatures feel completely natural and never forced. That's the best part about Royal Canoe: they're writing and performing progressive music that appeals to our Pavlovian brains, like putting zucchini in brownies, or applesauce in chocolate cake. And the captivated crowd at the Garden Bowl ate it up, demanding an encore: the lovely "Dear June" from the first Royal Canoe incarnation, Co-Op Mode.   

Photos: Russ Gordon/N2D Images

Show Alert: Royal Canoe

Sat., May 12, 10:00 p.m.
The Garden Bowl (Majestic Theater Complex), Detroit
FREE SHOW!

"They will blow your mind."

That's been the universal response from everyone we've talked to at shows this week that's seen Royal Canoe, yet another of the great bands coming out of Winnipeg, MB. What more do you need to know?

Listen: "Hold On To The Metal" from their new EP, Extended Play.

Show Alert: Hurricanes, Plants and Animals, Royal Canoe, Country French

After a bit of a break following our Said the Whale/Chains of Love doubleheader last month, this week there are not one, not two, not three, but four great Canadian indie bands playing the Windsor/Detroit area, and we're hitting every one, beginning with...

My Son The Hurricane - Russ Gordon/N2D Images

Weds., May 9
My Son the Hurricane (w/ Theatre Crisp)
The Dugout, Windsor
If you see what looks like part of a marching band brassing their way through downtown Windsor, follow them. It's probably My Son the Hurricane (St. Catharines). We liked their unique fusion of brass band and hip hop so much when we saw them last year, they made our list of top shows for 2011.

 Thurs., May 10
Plants and Animals (w/ Wavvy Hands)
The Pike Room (The Crofoot), Pontiac
With songs like "The End of That"-- which features one of our favourite lyrics of the year so far, "With your bee sting lips and your pepper grinder hips"-- it's hard to believe Montreal's alt rock/progressive pop trio Plants and Animals started out as an instrumental group.

Sat., May 12
Royal Canoe
The Garden Bowl (Majestic Theater Complex), Detroit
A good reminder not to judge a band by one song, Winnipeg's Royal Canoe got a lot of love on CBC Radio 3 for their ode to Kasparov, but their progressive electronic pop is so much more than that. This is a FREE show, so you've got nothing to lose by coming down to check them out.








Sat., May 12
Will Currie and The Country French
w/ Dance Movie, Quiet Parade and Years of Ernest

Phog Lounge, Windsor
With four bands on the bill, we're hoping to have time to run over to Windsor after Royal Canoe to catch Will Currie and The Country French (Waterloo) and their unique brand of piano-driven, intelligent alt pop. Read our show review from the last time they were at Phog here.