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Imaginary Cities

Imaginary Cities are Rusty Matyas and Marti Sarbit. It all started at The Cavern. Winnipeg is known as the “Heart of the Continent.” In this beating heart on the prairies, there is always new music being made: in its clubs and basements, and in between work and life. Imaginary Cities was born in a club called The Cavern, in between sets. Their debut album, Temporary Resident, has been nominated for the 2011 Polaris Prize Longlist, and they have been gaining fans around the world for their renowned live performances, including a stint opening for the Pixies across North America.

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Rufus Wainwright

Rufus McGarrigle Wainwright (born 22 July 1973) is a Canadian-American singer-songwriter. Wainwright was born in Rhinebeck, New York, USA, to folk singers Loudon Wainwright III and Kate McGarrigle (they divorced while he was a child). He began to play the piano at age six, and by age thirteen he was touring with his sister Martha Wainwright, mother Kate, and aunt Anna as the McGarrigle Sisters and Family.

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The Trews

The Trews are a Canadian rock group from Antigonish, Nova Scotia, consisting of vocalist Colin MacDonald, guitarist John-Angus MacDonald, bassist Jack Syperek, and drummer Sean Dalton. The band are currently based in Toronto, Ontario. The band started off with the name One I'd Trouser, before changing their name to Trouser and eventually The Trews. They released an EP as Trouser, and a second EP under the name "The Trews."

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Elliott Brood

Elliott Brood is a three-piece alternative country band from Toronto, Ontario, Canada, consisting of Mark Sasso on lead vocals, guitar, banjo, ukelele and harmonica, Casey Laforet on guitar, backing vocals, bass pedals, keys and ukelele and Stephen Pitkin on percussion, sampler and backing vocals. The band bills its own style as "death country". Members Mark Sasso and Casey Laforet grew up together in Windsor, and began playing as a band after moving to Toronto following high school.

Jason Collett

The best songs don’t just tell a story set to music – they capture a moment, encapsulate a feeling and draw in the listener, in a way that’s at once singularly personal and completely universal. When Toronto singer-songwriter Jason Collett was mulling over titles for his new album, the by-turns effervescent and elegiac Here’s To Being Here, he stumbled across a line in an anthology of poetry by his friend Emily Haines’ (Metric) late father Paul, a well-known avant-garde jazz poet.

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Sunshine State

The band, Sunshine State, is based in Toronto, Canada. They started out more like a therapy session between the band’s core members: James Bryan and Aleza Coldevin. James is already an established artist even before Sunshine State was formed. He is one of Canada's best-respected young guitarists, producers and songwriters, having penned over a dozen top 40 hits for various artists including Nelly Furtado, Fefe Dobson, and Divine Brown. He is also a member of multi platinum bands: The Philosopher Kings and Prozzak.

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Grimes

Grimes is the alias of Claire Boucher, a Montreal-based, Vancouver native, artist. Grimes fuses contemporary instrumentation with classical vocal practices from around the world. She recently released a cassette titled Geidi Primes on Arbutus. MySpace

Carmen Townsend

From her website http://www.houseofrock.ca/carmen/ "Growing up on Cape Breton Island, Carmen’s love affair with music began early. By age six she was locking herself in her dad’s Chevy and singing along to The Doors. Experimentation with piano and guitar soon led to formal lessons while the discovery at age fourteen of the talents of Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, Blind Melon and Nirvana unearthed an obsession with innovative vocal styles. Solo performances at variety shows eventually lead to a gig as lead vocalist/rhythm guitar player for indie pop quartet Q.

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Think About Life

Think About Life have been causing panic on Montreal dance floors since just a little before they were personally invited by Wolf Parade (Sub Pop) to be their support act during last year’s North American autumn tour. Montreal’s best-kept secret is now coming out… on record.

The New Pornographers

The New Pornographers are a Canadian indie rock group formed in 1997 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Their sound is influenced by that of such power pop bands as The Cars and Cheap Trick, but they use much more sophisticated rhythms and chord changes. Although it was widely reported that the New Pornographers got their name from a pamphlet put out by televangelist Jimmy Swaggart condemning rock ‘n’ roll as “the new pornography,” Carl Newman has stated that he came up with the name after watching a Japanese film called The Pornographers.