Brendan Canning
Brendan Canning is one of the members of Broken Social Scene. His solo stuff is, in my opinion, sometimes even better than that of the whole group. Dark melodies are played with modern and classy production. His vocals are quite laconic and weak, but that only seems to fit well with this kind of post-rocky guitar sound.
Broken Social Scene
The band, Broken Social Scene, is somewhat of a super band, since many of its members have also starred in their solo careers and other bands. This band mixes post-rock styles with more straightforward indie rock. The rhythms and sounds are probably in a more central role than the melodies in their music.
Kevin Drew
Yet another member of the aforementioned Broken Social Scene. Kevin Drew uses quite a lot of electronic sounds and effects in his music setting it apart from pure guitar-based indie. He is also a great singer, even if the vocals are sung in a strange repressed indie kind of way.
Alvvays
Alvvays is an indie rock band of the modern age. They know their music history and there are some clear retro elements in the echoey surf guitars, while at the same time there's something very modern in the style. Echoey female vocals and shoegaze aesthetics together with great melodies work really well!
Fake Palms
Fake Palms plays noisy post-punk with a modern and lighter twist. There are clear elements from indie disco and shoe gazing, but the overall sound is messy and dark. It may be a bit intense as background music, but I'm sure this would work brilliantly live.
The Rural Alberta Advantage
Despite of its name, this band comes from Ontario. Their music could be described as indie rock disco, because of the disco drumming and high-pitched vocals and synths. Then again, there's an industrial feel to their guitars and vocals that remind me of 80's new wave and post-punk tradition.
Barenaked Ladies
Barenaked Ladies is one of the most well-known Ontario bands. Their melodic alternative pop-rock is very pleasant to listen to. Their influences stay on the comfort zone of Western pop tradition, but they still like to experiment with instrumentations and production.
Kathleen Edwards
Kathleen Edwards plays folk-influenced indie pop with airy and cool sounds. the melodies are quite simple, but at the same time interesting and catchy. Special mention goes out to the bass-lines, which are innovative and interesting.
Great Lake Swimmers
Great Lake Swimmers play light and folk-influenced indie rock. They use some string arrangements on the background together with normal band instruments. There's a huge similarity in their melodies to those of Teenage Fanclub.
Ron Sexmith
Ron Sexmith makes beautiful and relaxed folk-indie. His vocals are laconic, yet emotional. I think there are similarities in the tone to Wilco, except there's not experimentation. The melodies are well constructed and catchy.
Bahamas
Bahamas plays folk-influenced indie rock with relaxed and sunny Sunday feel. The electric guitars sound like electric guitars and you can hear all the separate instruments well. This music is at the same time timeless and very modern.
Basia Bulat
Basia Bulat plays beautiful singer-songwriter songs with exceptionally beautiful voice. Piano, Rhodes stage piano and bass form the basis for her music with drums staying quite subtle and electric guitars only strumming long and quiet strums in the background.
City and Colour
Despite of the band-like name, this is a singer-songwriter. His vocals are really impressive and hist acoustic guitar playing top-notch. The melodies are often melancholic and he uses a lot of echo in his vocals. This gives his music nice etheric quality.
The Hidden Cameras
The Hidden Cameras sounds almost like a joke version of indie-pop scene of the late 00's. They are very melodic and they like to make catchy melodies that make you sing along, but the endearing style makes me sometimes wonder if they mean to make fun of some other bands.
Timber Timbre
Timber Timbre makes beautiful and strange folk music with interesting rhythm changes and experimental sound world. It's the kind of music that you need to listen for a while to truly appreciate. The vocals are very pleasant, yet not that trained.
Walk of the Earth
This band is all about brilliant use of acoustic guitar. Many of their songs are actually cover versions of well known songs, but they have just been made completely differently when it comes to production. Interesting stuff for those who really enjoy inventive use of acoustic guitars.
LIGHTS
This folk artist plays beautiful and quite traditional Americana folk. Her clear voice is immensely beautiful. The whole sound is further enhanced by subtle string arrangements on the background. This is the kind of music I would like to hear in an intimate cellar bar while sipping my beer.
Metric
Metric plays melodic indie-pop with some folk influences. The female lead vocals drip honey with the raspy, yet highly trained quality. The melodies are beautiful and emotional, The lyrics are also interesting giving homage to past masters of popular music.
Craig Cardiff
This singer-songwriter belongs in that group of emotional men, whose trembling voice makes indie-folk fans weep. His guitar-picking is very good indeed and he knows how to grow songs from quiet to big ambitious choruses.
The Violet Archers
This band plays folk-influenced indie pop with catchy and melancholic melodies. It sounds a lot like Travis or Girls in Hawaii. It gets bonus points from me for their subtle use of banjos and their beautiful vocal harmonies.
The Wilderness of Manitoba
Again, the name of the band would suggest that this band comes from a different province, but nope. The Wilderness of Manitoba plays quite traditional Americana folk with acoustic guitars, banjos and airy singing. There are some more experimental elements to the instrumentation that make it very interesting though.
Sunparlour Players
Sun parlour Players play very traditional kind of country folk stuff. The vocals are nasal and untrained. The glockenspiel in the background gives this band an immediate feel of indie even though the general sound is quite traditional.
Jon-Rae Fletcher
This musician plays very traditional kind of country-folk. His voice is very American, while the guitars and piano search for a bit more international and experimental directions. They also use some brass instruments in the background.
Thrifty Kids
Thrifty Kids is a pure example of modern indie rock sound. They use echoey sounds of surf rock, while the vocals are honey drippingly indie-pop. The rhythms keep your head nodding while the funky bass plays its own game on top of it all.
Owen Pallett
Owen Pallett is one of the most original artists of today. His music combines electronic instruments and beats with his virtuoso style violin playing and clear and airy vocals. His music is also very melodic, which sets it apart from many others in his genre. Owen Pallett is one of the coolest people in music today.
TMPL
I don't know why all the modern electro artists use only caps in their names and take out letters from words. Apparently that's what kids think cool now. Well, anyway. TMPL is a very cool and modern electro band that makes airy and massive beats and samples keeping the melodies going.
West Nile
This electro duo has definitely listened their fair share of 80's synth pop. At least their sound is directly modernised from that era. The raspy female vocals are quite seductive, while the dream pop melodies sound a bit plastic with electro beats and echoey digital sounds.
Crystal Castles
This band has a lot of songs I really don't like, but then again, when they do succeed, I think they succeed massively. This electro-indie duo likes to experiment with electronic sounds and even the vocals are usually sung through filters that make lyrics quite incomprehensible. It's all very exciting for the nintendo age kids.
Caribou
Caribou is one of the greatest danceable electro bands I know. To be fair, I don't usually really like this genre, so that's why me liking Caribou makes this band extra special. I think it has to do with the fact that despite the importance of beats and sounds, this band also knows how to make melodies.
Holy Fuck
It's very difficult to categories this psychedelic electro post-rock band. The common denominator for their songs is that they find innovative ways to make sounds and noises. It's pretty much all instrumental. Some of the songs are outright annoying, whereas some of the songs are brilliant.
Do Make Say think
This post-rock band is quite unique. In addition to the normal 00's post rock, they have clear influences from 70's progressive rock and Kraut rock. Long instrumental songs have multiple parts that are different from each other, but they still manage to keep hold of the holistic sound.
Final Fantasy
This Owen Pallett's project is a lot less electronic than his solo career with his own name. There's same kind of experimental songwriting, but the sound world is mainly created by pianos and Pallett's trademark violin.
Chilly Gonzales
This is completely unique music. It's like post-rock played purely with classical instruments. The songs have pop-music structures and catchy melodies, but the instrumentation is closer to symphony orchestra. If you like Detektivbyrån, this is like that, but only with different instruments.
Badnotgood
This speakeasy type jazz band is very modern while at the same time the instruments are similar to 1950's jazz bands. They clearly appreciate that coolest decade of jazz, but the production and songwriting also have something that makes it apt for today.
Jeff Healey
Jeff Healey plays skilful bluesy jazz with a guitar. The other instruments take a back seat keeping up the tempo, while his guitar plays beautiful jazz tunes. This music works brilliantly as background music, but it's not just that. It's also very interesting if you're into skilful guitar playing.
The Band
The Band is one of the legendary bands of the 1960's. Their song 'The Weight' is one of the most well-known songs of the hippy era. Their sound is very American, so you might expect them to be from somewhere in the Southern states, but you'd be wrong in assuming that.
Gordon Lightfoot
Gordon Lightfoot's music is helplessly old in its sounds, but it's pleasant and interesting for someone who appreciates good old Americana country sounds. There's some skilful use of guitar in the songs, while the vocals are clear and you can easily pick all the lyrics from clear pronunciation.
Alanis Morissette
This singer-songwriter was one of the biggest names in 90's music. Her songs played over and over again on radio and on MTV. That's probably why a lot of people are annoyed her music, because it was overplayed at the time. Now, however, I think her music sounds quite fresh to be from the 90's.
Blue Rodeo
Blue Rodeo makes classy mainstream pop-rock with hints of Americana. This is quite radio-friendly and commercial, but there's something in their well-constructed and catchy melodies that appeals to me.
Bryan Adams
Bryan Adams is often mocked because of his cheesy ballads and his overly-raspy style of singing. Some of his hits are quite good though and they have definitely been important parts of people's of certain age lives.
Rush
Rush's music is quite cheesy and it's often considered a bit hicky as well. There's still something quite interesting in a retro kind of way in their 80's progressive rock. The basslines are quite amazing. I'll let you decide what you think of them.
Tokyo Police Club
Tokyo Police Club plays industrial sounding indie rock, where the electric guitars are shreddingly sharp. There are clear similarities to some 00's UK bands and their indie disco sounds even if in UK the Yorkshire accent would have been a seminal part of the experience.
Death From Above 1979
This garage rock band plays heavy guitar riffs and raspy rock vocals. It's sometimes a bit too unmelodic for my taste, but when they succeed, they're quite good in what they do. They also know how to use interesting organ sounds in their music still avoiding sounding plastic.
Our Lady Peace
This band sounds like the long-lost Seattle band of the 90's. Their guitars growl like the best of the grunge bands and the lead vocalist has strong singing skills. If you are a fan of bands like Pearl Jam and Stone Temple Pilots, I suggest you check this band out.
Metz
Metz plays noisy and fuzzy garage rock with fast rhythms and aggressively sharp electric guitars. It's quite noisy and played in loops. If you're looking for beautiful music, don't look this way, but if you just want to let off some steam with aggressive jumping up and down, this is for you.
Fucked Up
Last but most definitely not least, Fucked Up is an excellent modern punk band. Their vocals are more yelling than singing, but their electric guitars have beautiful melodic riffing and the songs are well constructed. This is excellent music for anyone, who's not afraid of some rough sounds.
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