1. This song has been embedded in our brains for approximately two weeks. Montreal’s Think About Life, who come out on paper as a combination of TV on the Radio and Chromeo, is somewhat hit-and-miss, but when they hit, as on “Havin’ My Baby,” it’s a sugar rush you can’t ignore.
2. Land of Talk – a fellow Montreal band fronted by Elizabeth Powell who comes off as a guitar superhero live – mixes the low-key and the guitar-smashers deftly. The centerpiece of their new “Fun and Laughter” EP, “May You Never” mixes calm and chaos (and the gift of hazy atmosphere) into a tasty stew.
3. Disclosure: Plants and Animals will be in the mixtape two weeks in a row, because their 2008 album “Parc Avenue” is that good. “A L’Oree Des Bois” has this way of starting out loose and then expanding slowly.
4. There’s a few obvious picks that can go on this list: Arcade Fire, Broken Social Scene, Wolf Parade, and so on. Handsome Furs are sort of on the cusp of that, but we admittedly like Dan Boeckner’s non-Wolf Parade band a little more than the main act, especially on “All We Want, Baby, Is Everything,” which manages to come across as unpretentious dance-rock. At least it’s less pretentious than Toronto’s Crystal Castles.
5. The Lovely Feathers have a little of the Arcade Fire rising hugeness going on with “Lowiza,” but what’s really interesting is that the chorus sort of breaks into a group oy-style endeavor. It’s like they’re the Dropkick Murphys doing “Neighborhood #1.” (Well, kinda.) It’s pretty awesome to hear, actually.