10 Best Canadian Rock Bands Of All Time
1. The New Pornographers
If you’re unfamiliar, don’t let the name put you off - New Pornographers are one of the most jubilant, triumphant, entirely un-seedy bands around today. A supergroup including A.C Newman, Neko Case, and Dan Bejar (better known as Destroyer), New Pornographers are the rare example of a collection of established stars producing something greater than the sum of their parts.
Their greatest gift is their immediacy. From the opening synth notes of the title track on debut album Mass Romantic, you’ll be hooked. The first couple of records are all razor sharp power pop, anthems like “From Blown Speakers” and more progressive stuff like “Testament to Youth in Verse”.
Things go up a gear on third album Twin Cinema. The self titled opener has an exceptional buzzsaw riff lurching throughout. “Sing Me Spanish Techno” is great chiming nonsense and “The Bleeding Heart Show” remains arguably their greatest anthem, a rousing singalong ending for the ages.
They’ve kept up the pace amazingly. 2014’s Brill Bruisers and 2017’s Whiteout Conditions are late career peaks, lean, hook packed albums that are unabashedly fun. They can get serious, too - “We End Up Together”, with its cellos and mantra-like coda, is as poignant a song as you could hope to hear.