Party: SLED ISLAND

Party: SLED ISLAND

THE COATHANGERS

Atlantans Minnie, Crook Kid and Rusty Coathanger (actually Meredith, Julia and Stephanie), make the kind of punk you can dance to—indie rock with grit to go with the gooey. Picked up by Seattle tastemakers Suicide Squeeze, they have rightly earned their reputation as a must-see live act.

DUOTANG

Unofficially apart since 2001, Duotang lovingly deconstructed every hipster stereotype you could imagine through their ‘60s music-worshipping, jangly, call-and-response mod rock with the occasional bombastic horn section recorded on eight-track cassette decks. With a sound that emulates Modern Lovers in its half-bored manner, their “reunion” in 2014 means that Canada’s answer to idiosyncratic post-punk is reanimated.

MEATWAVE

Named after a headline culled from satirical newspaper The Onion, Meat Wave has been inducing tremulous, chaotic dance parties with their correspondingly spirited music. Whatever label you throw on it, Meat Wave will quickly and snottily shake it off. Alternating between ferocious, whip fast, grungy post-punk and garage-rock, they’re volatile and intense.

NIGHT COMMITTEE

When Andrew Wedderburn sings, his whole face cracks open like an earthquake opening a new hole to the centre of the planet. The band has a sound to match—every time they take the stage, they play like it's their last night on earth. Genre means nothing to them, volume means everything.