The 18 hottest bands in Ottawa

Bands named who didn't get enough votes to make the list: The Architects, Auto Racing, Bangkok, The Black and White Cats, Boycrusher, The Bridegroom, Buried Inside, Double Pumpers, Eastborough, For The Mathematics, The John Henrys, Kepler, Lure, The Perjoratives, Pianosaurus Rex, The Sweet Janes, Weights and Measures

20. Million Dollar Marxists

19. The Love Machine

18. The Empiricals

There are a few bands that stake their territory so far out in left field that they conveniently bypass the entire authenticity debate. The Empiricals play Chinese surf-rock, so they can certainly be counted among such acts. What’s more surprising than the odd choice of genre is how melodic and instantly accessible their music is. Part po-mo playfulness, part stunning technicality, The Empiricals aren’t quite like anything you’ve heard before but what your next band will try to sound like. (Conrad, CMG)

Download "Golden Beat" from Coke Machine Glow

17. Weapons of Mass Seduction

Howling blues punks who beat the Black Keys at their own game. (Andrew, NatCapRock)

Stream songs at New Music Canada

16. Department of Foreign Affairs

DOFA pull off a gritty sound but with remarkably clean execution. Plus, they've got some incredible harmonizing skills...and great harmonies are to dial613 what Barry White records are to wooing women. Minus the inevitable lovemaking afterwards. (Dial613)

Download "Take A Picture"

15. Acres

With only three shows to its name, Acres makes my list due to sheer potential. The band plays a tight set that melds post-rock, math-rock, and indie rock into an awesome package. That’s a whole lot of rock. The raw energy contained in a song like “As it Were” is like a nuclear explosion of awesomeness in its purest natural form. Acres will soon record an EP and it will be a thing to marvel and cherish. Most importantly of all, I won’t look like a journalistic hack for over hyping the band to impossible heights. (Jonathan, Mocking Music)

Download Acres live at Mavericks

14. The Fortunate Sons

Like Christmas, The Fortunate Sons generally come round but once a year. And like Christmas, they feature excess drinking and fucked up, hi-octane Memphis-Detroit rock’n’roll. (Andrew, NatCapRock)

13. Black Boot Trio

Countrypunk veterans are still tops of the genre in a town with a number of hot country acts. Apart from Steve Fai’s great skill as a storyteller, they also have Stef Bennett’s superb drumming. (Andrew, NatCapRock)

Stream the band on Myspace

12. Andrew Vincent and the Pirates

One of dial613's favourite Ottawa bands, because, well, they make no bones about being an Ottawa band. Clever lyrics + irresistable hooks + references to streets/radio stations/dry cleaners that an Ottawan comes across every day = a winning formula. Though the steroids probably help, too. (Side note: This is kind of cheating...they are pretty much finished as a band and Andrew Vincent is moving to Toronto this week.) (Dial613)

Download songs from Kelp Records

11. Golden Famile

Take back porch folk music and stick a pencil through the speaker cone. (Andrew, NatCapRock)

Download "Into The Night"

10. The Flaps

Surf rock in Ottawa seems strange, given that if you actually try to surf in Ottawa you may come away with an E. Coli infection. But listening to The Flaps is good clean fun: it's like going to an Ottawa beach party, but without the threat of disease! (Dial613)

Soundtrack instro rock from some of Ottawa’s hottest musicians. (Andrew, NatCapRock)

Download songs from Kelp Records

9. Poorfolk

I'm still trying to get over the fact that Jon Pearce willingly moved from Montreal to Ottawa to play music. But Quebec's loss is our gain, because he's responsible for some of this city's finest music as a result. (Matthew, iheartmusic)

Download "Predigested Pablum For The Masses


8. Sarah Hallman

I once fell upon Sarah Hallman, whose forthcoming album features contributions from Arcade Fire drummer Jeremy Gara and a bevy of Ottawa veterans (including some whose songs appear elsewhere in this list). Hallman writes music that may as well have been discovered written out on yellowed paper, music with nooks and cracks - a veritable attic of old sounds. Gorgeous and natural, “Shovel” walks with the swagger of experience. (Conrad, CMG)

Voice of an angel and the artisitc soul oozes creativily. (Dean, Coqi Records)

Download "Shovel" from Coke Machine Glow


7. As The Poets Affirm

The band took its name from a line in Dante’s Inferno and their music lives up to those epic origins. The Poets' second album, The Jaws that Bite the Claws that Catch, was a beautiful sonic mosaic that melded classical structures with pop sensibilities. To date, I’ve seen the band six times and each show was better than the last. Their upcoming album, Awake, should be more focused than their previous efforts and will be stronger for it. As they continue to carve out a sound of their own out of the jumbled slate that is post-rock, it’s hard not to get excited. (Jonathan, Mocking Music)

It’s exciting to hear a band get better and better. As the Poets Affirm have played the same kind of Constellation Records music for a while now, but as their lineup has grown to include horns and other multi-instrumentalists, so did the band’s scope. As the Poets Affirm play the kind of towering music that always sounds bigger than just a collection of people on stage. (Conrad, CokeMachineGlow)

Download "Awake Chaos" from Coke Machine Glow


6. Crush Buildings

Take Xiu Xiu, Ninja High School and The Books, put them in a blender and set it to "liquefy". Let the new concoction settle in your fridge for about an hour until it’s ready to serve. What you’ll have is Ottawa’s own experimental, indie, rap, and deliciously weird group: Crush Buildings. Unique is the key word here. Crush Buildings are like no other band in the capital. Hell, they’re like no other band in the country. For that, they deserve a spot on this list. (Jonathan, Mocking Music)

Crush Buildings have been working on the follow up to their promising Small Room Sessions EP for about a hundred years, and every time a new track leaks it completely justifies the wait. Dense and detailed, surrealist imagery is only the beginning of why this duo is so hard to categorize. What can be said with some certainty is that this is a group that has just recently crossed the line between friends making music and having what it takes, and I’ll admit it: I want in on the ground floor. (Conrad, CokeMachineGlow)

Download "Ghoul Pounds" from Coke Machine Glow


5. Relief Maps

I worked with Relief Maps guitarist Dusty Dewan at a CD retailing company, and I can say without illusion that the guy's honesty and careful ear for music lacking pretension translates well to Relief Maps, really the only band to which I can imagine Dusty affixing his good name. Their debut EP is ragged with personality and uncalculated authenticity. (Conrad, CokeMachineGlow)

Relief Maps still have a ways to go before they could be considered a really great band, but their EP and their increasingly-impressive live show gives every reason to believe that greatness is something that they're not that far from achieving. (Matthew, iheartmusic)

Download their EP on their Myspace


4. The Soft Disaster

Like The Acorn, Soft Disaster make beautiful, often minimalist music. Roughs/Stalls, the band's stellar album released earlier this year, works as an example of lyrical storytelling in the greatest sense. "Nothing Returns" is easily the most touching local song of the year. It tells a bittersweet tale of one’s coming to terms with personal loss. No other local band has been able to express the gamut of human emotions in quite the same way as Soft Disaster. (Jonathan, Mocking Music)

The Soft Disaster have experienced numerous manifestations, from drum-heavy indie rock archetypes to pseudo-alt-country, from Ottawa away and then back. If there's one constant, however, it's that each manifestation seems that one step closer to distinction. They’ve always had the chops, and if the patience and resolve of their latest release testifies to anything, it's that they're now at the top of their songwriting game. (Conrad, CokeMachineGlow)

Roughs/Stalls is the album you'd point people to if you wanted a specific example of how Ottawa's music scene sounds. (Matthew, iheartmusic)

This is a band that makes dial613 want to buy some snappy new sneakers, because there's a good chance that there'll be plenty of shoegazing in response to the wonderful and lulling subtlety of the Soft Disaster's sound. Given, of course, that eyes can be pried away from their oh-so-pretty faces... (Dial613)

Download "All Winter"


3. The Acorn

I'd be surprised if The Acorn did not top this poll. More than any other Ottawa band, The Acorn has garnered almost unanimous praise and respect. That respect has been well-earned and well-deserved. The Acorn are Ottawa. It's impossible to disconnect their music from this city's heart and soul. If the Rideau Canal's skateway and the Gatineau Hills had their own soundtrack, The Acorn would have written it. When I listen to The Acorn, I feel as though I should have a hot chocolate and a beaver tail while Rolf Klausener’s words take me home. (Jonathan, Mocking Music)

I reviewed Blankets! for CMG's No Big Hair section a while back, in which I said that this track has made it onto mix tapes all over the city with little heart quotation marks around its title. The love-in has yet to cave in, it seems, as the band continues to play to packed clubs and find themselves with the lead-off track on mixes showcasing local indie talent. Heartfelt, gushing, acoustic strings strung across their Olympic hearts, The Acorn make the kind of music by guys you can trust to drive your drunken sister home without making a move. (Conrad, CokeMachineGlow)

It's hard to imagine a band any more deserving of their place at the heart of a city's music scene. And besides, even if The Acorn never recorded another note after "Blankets", they'd still have made one of the most perfect songs ever. (Matthew, iheartmusic)

Download "Blankets from CokeMachineGlow


2. My Dad Vs. Yours

My Dad Vs. Yours are pure musical bliss. The band transcends its genre, post-rock, and reinvents its rules. Their delicious pop hooks offset the droning guitars and epic crescendos that have defined that musical style. My Dad Vs. Yours can do the whole grand and epic thing too but they’d rather make you smile. Their latest album, After Winter Must Come Spring, is among the best an Ottawa band has ever produced. That these guys aren’t more popular is a crime against good music. (Jonathan, Mocking Music)

The band's subtle elegance and polish are not the kind of thing that can be communicated easily. It supplants itself somewhere between listening and thought. It's not a gradual thing; one day you just find yourself handing a copy of their record to someone and saying "trust me". (Conrad, CokeMachineGlow)

Besides having one of the greatest band names in Canada, MDVY make dazzling instrumental music that soars, swoops, and glides. And it sometimes crashes, but it's okay, there's always survivors, because how else could the music continue? Think about it. (Dial613)

Download "Habla Paisano"


1. Hilotrons

Mike Dubue may be Ottawa's most charismatic front man. His illegitimate musical lovechild, The Hilotrons, may be the capital region’s most fun live band. Make no mistake; to fully appreciate The Hilotrons one must see them in concert. Dubue sacrifices his own safety, and that of his band mates for a good show. His great stage presence is only surpassed by the outfit’s eclectic mix of '80s synth pop, new wave and indie rock. If you're just standing still at a Hilotrons show, check your pulse. (Jonathan, Mocking Music)

I'd be stupid not to list them, and Mike Dubue would fart in my face if I didn't. (Dean, Coqi Records)

These Ottawa-scene veterans populate their fictional cities of New Wave faithful with monkeys in space, samurai robots, secret cameras and the universality of the break-up. If you don’t have the patience for "wacky", then it’ll be the band’s supreme hooks and spot-on production that will make you catch yourself singing on the bus, embarrassed, commuters all around you ringing for the next stop. Ottawa is notorious for its non-dancers, and I've seen the Hilotrons get audiences at street fairs, the squarest of the square venues, making fools of themselves. (Conrad, CokeMachineGlow)

Who else in Canada, let alone Ottawa, has the ability to make dancing so mandatory? It's fantastically contagious electronic pop; it sneezes on its own hand and then immediately reaches out to shake yours, and you wouldn't want it any other way. (Dial613)

Download "Bella Simone from CokeMachineGlow