Two thousand thirteen. What a glorious chunk o' months it's been. For many things — and for Canadian music. It's bubbling up in all places across our vast geography, poking out like soft green growth from fertile soil. The vines are climbing, the blossoms blooming. Genres dissolving, DNA combining to create curious, warped beauty speckled recklessly across the spectrum of dark sludge to light love. This list is not definitive, it is representative, and only then to a certain degree. These tree-freckled lands stretch infinite and so do the imaginations of its bipedal oddballs. Each tiny congregation of dwellings has within it a nucleus of vibrant creativity waiting to be unearthed. Dig deep, music lovers. Canada is rich in precious gems. — Adam Bradley

100 Essential Canadian Songs from 2013:

Still Boys - "Put Your Hands On Your Lap"
https://soundcloud.com/still-boys/put-your-hands-on-your-lap

Zoo Owl - "Twin Mirror"
http://zooowl.bandcamp.com/


White Poppy - "Green & Growing"
http://whitepoppy.bandcamp.com/track/green-growing

HSY - "Milk Chug"
http://hussywhore.bandcamp.com/track/milk-chug

Roberta Bondar - "Night Danger"
http://roberta-bondar.bandcamp.com/track/night-danger

Diana - "Born Again"
https://soundcloud.com/dianasound/born-again

Dirty Inputs - "Oberon/Overture"
http://dirtyinputs.bandcamp.com/track/oberon-overture


Moon - "Card, Crane, Ha" (band pictured, above)
http://muun.bandcamp.com/track/card-crane-ha

Petra Glynt - "Sour Paradise"
http://petraglynt.bandcamp.com/track/sour-paradise-5

Ollie North - "Bringer"
http://ollienorthmusic.bandcamp.com/track/bringer

Seance Centre - "Zapotek"
https://soundcloud.com/seance-centre/zatopek


Ostrich Tuning - "It Goes Right Through"
http://ostrichtuning.bandcamp.com/track/it-goes-right-through

MATROX - "Escape Plan Alpha"
https://soundcloud.com/matrox-4/escape-plan-alpha-demo

Tired - "Tired"
http://weirdcanada.com/index.php?s=tired


Fan Fiction - "Dust 2 Dust"
http://megabonus.bandcamp.com/track/fan-fiction-dust-2-dust

Odonis Odonis - "Better"
http://odonisodonis.bandcamp.com/track/better

Hooded Fang - "Graves"
http://dapsrecords.bandcamp.com/album/gravez

Mexican Slang - "Double Trouble"
http://mexicanslang.bandcamp.com/track/double-trouble

Dilly Dally - "Candy Mountain"
http://dillydally.bandcamp.com/track/candy-mountain


Cvntpvnt - "Rot"
http://cvntpvnt.bandcamp.com/track/rot

Bad Channels - "Death Toll"
https://soundcloud.com/badchannels/death-toll

Ylang Ylang - "Temporary Opalescent Death"
http://vimeo.com/76987519

Sean Nicholas Savage - "Other Life"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4rJiy3iuwho
Programm - "Waiting"
http://programmusic.bandcamp.com/track/waiting


Sandro Perri - "Spaced Out"
https://soundcloud.com/constellation-records/sandro-perri-love-light-larry

Doom Squad - "Riders On The Storm"
http://doomsquad.bandcamp.com/track/riders-on-the-storm

Dean Jones Armada - "High as a Cat"
https://soundcloud.com/deanjonesarmada/highasacat

Weaves - "Motorcycle"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iBTNxZiMpxk

Ell V Gore - "Lobotomy"
https://soundcloud.com/ellvgore

Jay Arner - "Out To Lunch"
http://jayarner.bandcamp.com/track/out-to-lunch-2


Bile Sister - "Reptile Tenaka"
http://bilesister.bandcamp.com/track/reptile-tenaka

Tenderness - "Orphans Howling in the Wild (Bucked & Blended Mix)"
http://weirdcanada.com/binary/Weird_Canada-Fruits-Tenderness-Orphans_Howling_in_the_Wild_bucked_and_blended_mix.mp3

Phèdre - "Haberdash"
http://dapsrecords.bandcamp.com/track/haberdash-2

We Were Heads - "King Rat King"
http://wewereheads.bandcamp.com/track/king-rat-king

Cellphone - "Dirt Angels"
http://cellphone100.bandcamp.com/track/dirt-angels


Zacht Automaat - "Ancaster Heights"
http://calicocorp.bandcamp.com/track/ancaster-heights

Wolfcow - "Go Say That To Somebody"
http://vimeo.com/60388235

Ramzi - "Somali Beatz"
http://ramzi1.bandcamp.com/track/somali-beatz

Digits - "Love Is Only Affection"
http://store.digitsmusic.com/track/love-is-only-affection


Jay Holy - "Skeletons"
http://jayholy.bandcamp.com/track/skeletons

Soupcans - "2 Much"
http://thesoupcans.bandcamp.com/track/2-much-2

Twist - "Too Much Trouble"
https://soundcloud.com/twistband/too-much-trouble

Miss Elizabeth - "Richmond Girls"
http://misselizabeth.bandcamp.com/track/richmond-girls

Broken Deer - "The Saddest Song in Outerspace"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xpdfUBCXDZ4#t=82

Thomas - "Kissing"
http://isthisthomas.bandcamp.com/track/kissing

Toronto Homicide Squad - "It Takes a Lot To Kill a Man"
http://torontohomicidesquad.bandcamp.com/track/it-takes-a-lot-to-kill-a-man-2

Prince Nifty - "Body Irony"
http://princenifty.bandcamp.com/track/body-irony

Das Rad - "Black Widow"
http://dasrad.bandcamp.com/track/black-widow


Anamai - "Altar Coals"
http://buzzrecordsto.bandcamp.com/track/altar-coals

B-17 - "Wishing Won't Make It So"
http://b-17.bandcamp.com/track/wishing-wont-make-it-so-2

Fresh Snow - "Your Thirst For Magic Has Been Quenched By Death!"
https://soundcloud.com/freshsnowalbum/your-thirst-for-magic-has-been

Blue Hawaii - "Try To Be"
http://bluehawaii.bandcamp.com/track/try-to-be-2

Astral Gunk - "Side A"
http://astralgunk.bandcamp.com/album/str8-up-james-dean

Moonwood - "You Too Can Be a Kosmonaut"
http://moonwood.bandcamp.com/track/you-too-can-be-a-kosmonaut

Citadel - "Handfasting"
http://truefaith.bandcamp.com/track/handfasting-2

Monsterbator - "Through A Straw"
http://monsterbator.com/track/through-a-straw

Mimico - "Doses"
http://mimico.bandcamp.com/track/doses-3


Milk Lines - "Pellucidar"
http://milklines.bandcamp.com/track/pellucidar

Black Walls - "Communion"
https://soundcloud.com/pleasence-records/communion

Holgans - "Betcha Sunrise"
http://holgans.bandcamp.com/track/betcha-sunrise

Taiwan - "In my House"
http://taiwan.bandcamp.com/track/in-my-house

Hoover Party - "1"
http://hooverparty.bandcamp.com/track/1-2

Akua - "One's Company"
http://akua.bandcamp.com/track/ones-company

Secret Pyramid - "Distance II"
https://secretpyramid.bandcamp.com/track/distance-ii

F Hood - "Introit"
http://fhood.bandcamp.com/track/introit-2


Pat Jordache - "O.M.O"
http://patjordache.bandcamp.com

Jics - "Lippy"
https://soundcloud.com/jicsjicsjics/lippy

Femminielli Noir - "Me Gusta El Dolor"
https://soundcloud.com/femminielli/femminielli-noir-me-gusta-el

Maylee Todd - "Pinball Number Count"
http://music.mayleetodd.com/track/pinball-number-count

Mozart's Sister - "Mozart's Sister"
https://soundcloud.com/merokrecords/mozarts-sister-mozarts-sister

Jef Barbara - "Song For The Loveshy"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cltf0XNHeIY#t=88

The Courtneys - "90210"
https://soundcloud.com/burgerrecords/the-courtneys-90210

Yacht Club - "Brave Intelligence"
https://soundcloud.com/bigloverecords/yacht-club-brave-intelligence#t=0:00

Doldrums - "Dive Deep Pt 1"
https://soundcloud.com/doldrumss/dive-deep-pt-1

Boy Bitch - "You and I"
http://boybitch.bandcamp.com/track/you-and-i


Michael Jacket - "Garbaging"
http://notunlike.bandcamp.com/track/garbaging

Tess Parks - "Somedays"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TXICXbzDOZk

Boha - "Soft Square"
http://jellyfishrecordings.bandcamp.com/track/soft-square

Colin Stetson - "High Above a Grey Green Sea"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1-rXGtQFww8

Os Tropies - "Ciclo"
http://ostropies.bandcamp.com/track/ciclo

Valerie Dour - "Dispel"
https://soundcloud.com/bad-panda-records/valerie-dour-dispel

The Beverleys - "This is Not a Union"
http://thebeverleys.bandcamp.com


Delta Will - "It All Glows"
http://deltawill.bandcamp.com/track/it-all-glows

Surinam - "Pass The Balcofen"
http://surinamband.bandcamp.com/track/pass-the-balcofen-demo

The Riderless - "Hymn Interii"
http://theriderless.bandcamp.com/track/hymn-interii

A Sacred Cloud - "Be Good Or Be Dead!"
http://arachnidiscs.bandcamp.com/track/a3-be-good-or-be-dead

Moonbahn - "Heart Centaur"
http://moonbahn.bandcamp.com/track/heart-centaur

Princess Century - "Crummy Bones"
https://soundcloud.com/princesscentury/b-4-crummy-bones?in=princesscentury/sets/lossless-1

Mi Casa Tu Casa - "Micasa"
http://micasatucasa.bandcamp.com/track/micasa


Hush Pup - "Darlene"
http://hushpup.bandcamp.com/track/darlene

The Weather Station (ft. Daniel Romano) - "Can You See Her In My Eyes"
http://youvechangedrecords.bandcamp.com/track/can-you-see-her-in-my-eyes

Absolutely Free - "Milk It"
https://soundcloud.com/handdrawndracula/08-absolutely-free-milk-it

Cold Warps - "Worry Worms"
http://coldwarps.bandcamp.com/track/worry-worms


Not The Wind, Not The Flag - "Reveal"
http://healingpowertoronto.bandcamp.com/track/reveal

Nanimal - "Karma Kamikaze"
http://nanimal.bandcamp.com/track/karma-kamikaze

Tonitix - "No More Place To Hide"
http://tonitix.bandcamp.com/track/no-more-place-to-hide

Mold Boy - "Memory Resolve"
https://moldboy.bandcamp.com/track/memory-resolve

Arcade Fire - "Normal Person"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wEcu3-fxZSE

The New Values - "Axe On Your Doorstep"
http://thenewvalues.bandcamp.com/track/axe-on-your-doorstep-2

Tom Huhtala - "Mixtape III"
https://soundcloud.com/thomas-huhtala/mixtape-iii