Blood Meridian is a sleeping giant of an alt-country band centred around the passionate fear that instills Matthew Camirand (ex-Black Halos/Okara, Black Mountain) to write somber, uplifting songs of life, love and death.

Named after Cormac McCarthy's novel of unforgiving violence in the Old West ("That book knocked me on my ass like nothing had like watching Apocalypse Now for the first time"), Blood Meridian began as a hotel-room project when Camirand was on the road with his past group, The Black Halos. Some songs are solely works of fiction, springing from the imagination of a writer who loves authors like Flannery O'Connor and John Fante.

Blood Meridian is the proverbial indie-supergroup being buoyed by the talents of Jeff Lee (Black Rice), Shira Blustein (Chupacabra), Kevin Grant (Bughouse 5), and Josh Wells (Jerk With a Bomb, Pink Mountaintops, Black Mountain).

These songs exist in glowering murk, a glum and rancorous twilight ****
- Allan Jones (UNCUT)

"Tony Dekker takes acoustics very seriously. His haunting, somber ballads emit an otherworldly quality, due in no small part to the natural environment in which they're captured... Natural reverb and folkie arrangements complement Dekker's soft voice perfectly" - Rob Bolton, Exclaim!

Great Lake Swimmers have toured extensively in Canada, the United States, Europe and Australia since 2004, and has shared the stage with musical acts as diverse as Feist, Andrew Bird, Vashti Bunyan, Final Fantasy, Akron/Family, Jon-Rae Fletcher, Album Leaf, Crooked Fingers, Jason Collett, Amy Millan, and Joel Plaskett Emergency. The songs of Great Lake Swimmers have appeared on numerous compilations alongside such artists as Sufjan Stevens, Hot Chip, Broken Social Scene, Junior Boys, Mark Kozelek, Hayden, Beulah, Joss Stone, Hawksley Workman, Montag, Rheostatics, Tobin Sprout, Richard Buckner, and The Shins.

Great Lake Swimmers have been compared to Nick Drake, Iron and Wine, Red House Painters, and "After the Gold Rush"-era Neil Young. They were awarded the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's Galaxie Rising Star Award in March 2005 and were voted Favourite Folk/Roots Artist at the 2004 Canadian Independent Music Awards.

Elevator or Elevator to Hell was originally an album recorded by Rick White in 1994 while his band ERIC'S TRIP (1990-96) was still touring and recording with SUBPOP. The label released the album on a limited 12 inch pressing in 1995 as Rick put a band together to perform some shows. With Tara, Mark from Eric's Trip, and Ron Bates on keyboard they also recorded the "forward to snow" 7 inch before Erics Trip's final album and touring dominated the remainder of 95 and early 96. Once Eric's trip broke up in May, Elevator to hell without Ron began touring right away and recorded two more 7 inches and the EERIECONSILIATION album. By 1999 the band pretty much refused to play shows in the USA, and shortly after the release of their Jack Endino recorded VAGUE PREMONITION album they parted ways with subpop.

The whole next winter was filled with a hermitted, obsession in making their defining masterwork. A TASTE OF COMPLETE PERSPECTIVE was compiled from hundreds of takes of ever evolving songs and pieces. " I wanted it to be liquid, the songs and any ideas need to move into each other without math, it needed to seem alive. I wanted to capture the LSD experience in all the aspects, not only in the production but in the way we played. It breathes. It needed to be profound and lost. The key just out of reach, the TASTE of complete perspective". Canadian label Teenage USA released the album in autumn 2000.

Eric's Trip formed in 1990 when musicians Rick White and Chris Thompson of The Forest joined Julie Doiron and Ed Vaughan (who was later replaced by Mark Gaudet of Purple Knight). They took their name from a Sonic Youth song and emulated the distorted guitar of Dinosaur Jr., the folk leanings of Neil Young, and the lo-fi aesthetic of Sebadoh. Rick White described their sound as "sappy melodic pop music on top of thick distortion."

Eric's Trip were the first Canadian band to be signed to Seattle's Sub Pop record label in the early 1990s. Another two Atlantic Canadian bands, Jale and The Hardship Post, were signed to Sub Pop in subsequent years.

The band broke up in 1996, but reunited in 2001 and August of 2006 to play at the Sappy Records Festival in Sackville, New Brunswick. They reunited again for a series of shows in 2007 [1], including a show at the 2007 Halifax Pop Explosion. The band has announced tour dates for the summer of 2008.

Bassist Julie Doiron currently has a successful solo career and plays with Shotgun & Jaybird. Rick White and Mark Gaudet play in Elevator, and Chris Thompson enjoyed some fame as Moon Socket. Thompson currently plays in The Memories Attack with Ron Bates of Moncton band Orange Glass. White produced Doiron's 2007 solo album Woke Myself Up, which features three tracks on which the entire Eric's Trip lineup worked together..

Toronto's Mean Red Spiders have been performing spacious, psychedelic, avant-pop since 1995 and have played numerous shows across Canada and the United States. Mean Red Spiders has opened for such notable international headliners as, Super Furry Animals, Blonde Redhead, Bardo Pond, Mojave 3 & Brian Jonestown Massacre.

In 1998 their debut full-length release, "Places You Call Home", garnered them praise from local and international press, perpetuating a strong following across North America. Their sophomore release in 2000, "Starsandsons", cemented their reputation as a premiere dream pop band, charting in CMJ's Core Top 50 and sending them on their first tour of the eastern United States. Mean Red Spiders were profiled #50 in Alternative Press's March cover story, "100 New Bands You Need To Know in 2001", and their song "Compromise" was featured on Fox TV's hit series "24".

The Mean Red Spiders' third album, entitled "Still Life Fast Moving", is the band's most engaging and mature work to date. With a clarity of arrangement, these songs are imbued with a melancholic, baroque-pop sensibility. Accordions, glockenspiels and moogs wash and soar over signature guitars, melodic bass and expressive percussion. The group's sound has evolved into a unique distillation of their diverse and ranging influences; The Velvet Underground, Stereolab, 13th Floor Elevators, Love, Can, Brian Eno, Sonic Youth, Spacemen 3 and Beach Boys.

"FORGET THE BEATLES - STINKMITT IS THE GREATEST BAND EVER" -George Stroumboulopoulos (MuchMusic, CBC)

StinkMitt are legends in their own time. Their debut LP Scratch n Sniff on Teenage USA Recordings was hailed as "an instant classic" and "a groundbreaking genre-fuck" (Hour, Montreal) while their live shows - which put the flashdance back in freestyling - are as infamous as they are massively entertaining.

StinkMitt's totally original synth-pop/hip-hop hybrid sound is infused with the hilarious and brilliant commentary of MCs Jenni Craige & Betti Forde and backed by the triple threat of producer/rapper/vocalist Bigstuff & the multi-talented Stunt Man. Shortly after forming in 2002, StinkMitt was headlining the biggest clubs in Canada such as Lee's Palace and Sonar, opening for the Gossip and Har-Mar Superstar, and touring with Nashville Pussy and more recently, Peaches.

StinkMitt's growing popularity has placed them onstage in front of an audience of 100,000 at San Francisco's 2007 Pride Celebration, they've licensed many tracks to film and TV including the hit series The L-world, they've been invited by artists such as Peaches and Larry Tee to collaborate on tracks, and they've even been name-dropped by Kate Pierson (B-52's) in Rolling Stone. Their signature 80s trash look and potty-mouthed rapping has been copied many times over by female artists achieving far more fame on far less talent but because StinkMitt is totally ahead of their time, it will likely take a few more years for the world to catch on. In the meantime, StinkMitt are here to save your life. Are you ready?

The Two-Minute Miracles have been creating ragged alt-country and mesmerizing harmonic pop music since the beginning of singer/guitarist Andrew Magoffin's tape-recording and songwriting exploits in London, Ontario in 1995. Pianist Michael Christoff and drummer Aaron Curtis have been taking part from the start. Long-time bass companion Clay Corneil departed late in 2005. Most recently, the band has been joined by bassist Greg Smith (Weakerthans, Fembots) and Toronto guitarist/producer and noise-seeker Justin Nace.

The Two-Minute Miracles have released 3 albums with teenage USA recordings with such evocative titles as "Volume I", Volume II: Thirteen Songs from the House of Miracles" and "Volume III: The Silence Of Animals".

Their low, distorted acoustic style has been called "inventive", "heartfelt", "fucking GENIUS, mate", and "Post-Pavement". They have crossed Canada several times since the late 90s. Mike Bullard once secretly sabotaged Clay's bass right before their appearance on "Open Mike". They learned how to drive a standard-transmission car at Schipol Airport in Amsterdam in order to tour Europe in style. They have performed at music festivals such as NXNE, New Music West, CMJ and Canadian Music Week. A video for "Rayon Queen in a Nylon Dream" was ridiculously overplayed by MuchMusic, considering how stunted the concept was.

Working from his "House of Miracles" studio in London, Andy Magoffin has produced critically lauded albums by The Constantines, Royal City, The Hidden Cameras, Great Lake Swimmers, The Barmitzvah Brothers, Cuff the Duke, The Old Soul and Jim Guthrie, to name a few.

From humble beginnings in the summer of 1995 when two young girls from London, Canada, Andrea Wasse (vox/guitar) and Lorien Jones (vox/bass) found kindred spirit Lincoln Cushman (keyboards) wandering the streets, The Weekend's reason for existence has been to rock the tired masses. The Weekend's self-titled debut full-length record, produced by Andy Magoffin at the House of Miracles, contained ten sensational gems that did just that. The Weekend's fresh-faced approach, infectious vocal harmonies, sweet keyboards, crunchy guitar and heartstring tugging lyrics have become a beacon of rock hope in this era of bland music saturation.

The Weekend spent 16 weeks in the Top Ten radio charts for Campus Radio nationwide which led them to opening for such notable acts as Green Day, Matthew Good Band, Big Sugar, 54:40 and Default. Their music has been featured on television in episodes of "Family Law," Mary-Kate & Ashley Olson's "So Little Time", and the CBC series "Our Hero." The Weekend's pop rock candy floss flavored sound has made them one of the most popular independent bands in the country, being featured on CBC Radio's "Just Concerts" along with radio and websites around the world.

The Weekend know a thing or two about sharp pop hooks and have created an album, Beatbox My Heartbeat, that sucks you in and doesn't let go. They create pop music so viciously sweet, so completely wet with strawberry lipgloss, its like mainlining pepsi through a gummibear syringe. It is this combination of turbo-pop sounds and sincere emotion that has endeared The Weekend to fans around the world. From Sydney to Tokyo, The Middle East, Indonesia, and all points in between the Weekend virus has spread like some rare strain of influenza. The Weekend appeals to those who understand that love is not a game, that perhaps in our cynical world there is still a place for romance.