It’s somehow telling that there’s only one derogatory name for Canadians, and even that one’s pretty friendly sounding. I mean, who could get mad about being called a Canuck? I’ve been marveling for a while at the explosion of indie bands over the past several years, whether from the American scene, the Balkans, Japan, Iceland, or even in the form of surprisingly un-incongruous German Reggae. It’s almost impossible to keep up! And thanks to our kind & sensible friends north of the border, now I have even more to catch up with. I hadn’t noticed until recently how many bands creeping onto my playlist were Canadian: Arcade Fire, The New Pornographers, A.C. Newman, Feist, Great Lake Swimmers, Mother Mother… I think there are more, but my version of Winamp doesn’t seem to have a “sort by country” tab. But wait! There’s more! Okay, a generic list of over 200 bands isn’t very useful. Here’s a Wikipedia entry that describes the scenes a little bit, and here’s a list of 33 favorites picked by Canadian music bloggers. Guess I have some listening to do. If any of the stuff I haven’t listened to yet is half as brilliant as the The New Pornographers’ Myriad Harbour video featured here, I’ll be one ecstatic listener. Know of any Canadian indie bands worth checking out? Feel free to share.

Here’s a playlist of Canadian stuff I’ve been listening to. If you buy through Amazon, not only does the band sell a unit, but I make some chump change too:

Mother Mother’s “O My Heart” is pretty cool too…