Wolf Parade - Apologies to the Queen Mary

Genre rock Publisher Sub Pop External Links Official Website

With Wolf Parade there is finally a band from Canada I can get behind 100%. Yeah, Broken Social Scene and The Arcade Fire are both very good bands, but there is something about both acts that irks me as well. There's a cloying cuteness, an underlying goofiness at play that works on my nerves. It's like the nerd kids have finally been given the keys to the cool cabinet and they're running around in the fashions of those with far more Earthiness, imbibing from the rewards of the critical elite and showering in the adoration of the geeky masses.

Wolf Parade is far too distracted to fall for that shit. They're hunkered down trying to play the melody in their head before they completely forget it (which follows them on tour it would appear). The moment is king and the moment never lasts, so drink your beer and sing along or get the f off the bus because they ain't stopping for nobody.

Discard the thought that Spencer Krug's voice chirps and hiccups much like the man who signed them to Sub Pop and produced their excellent debut album Apologies To The Queen Mary (the band were thrown off of the Queen Mary for poor behavior and were told that even the Sex Pistols never got that bad when they partied there), Modest Mouse's Isaac Brock, forget that they're Canadian, too (after all, the less they are tied to their clownish countrymen the better their chances of breaking free of the association altogether are). Just listen to the glorious display of unbridled imagination, furious rhythms, unchained guitar wailing and soaring melody. Apologies To The Queen Mary is the stuff of legends.

Not only is Wolf Parade shaming the majority of indie-rock in the studio, but live (in their class) the band has no equal. These are five musicians that give every ounce of themselves onstage, until they are drained and dizzy from the outpouring of talent and emotion necessary to make a concert everything it can and should be. That's the distinction between a great band like Wolf Parade and most of today's indie-rock. Wolf Parade has debuted with one of the very best albums of 2005. Well done lads.