Gordon Lightfoot Book, Music and More!

After his excellent solo album, La De Da, Halifax hero Plaskett is back with his Emergency band. The group’s latest, produced by Gordie Johnson (Big Sugar, Grady), is a mostly raw rock-and-roll record. The blistering “Drunk Teenagers” details getting plastered, suburban-style, while “Fashionable People” mixes riff rock and synth-pop elements to hilarious effect. But then Plaskett pulls out “Chinatown/For the Record,” a gorgeous ballad with acoustic guitar and orchestral strings. A prolific renaissance man. Apr. 17   

Of all the Appalachia acts, Winnipeg’s Nathan is something quite unique. The group, fronted by Keri Latimer, mixes bluegrass, waltzes and mariachi horns with dark tales from the domestic frontlines. A bit like O Brother Where Art Thou? meets Diary of a Mad Housewife. “Let Them Look” tells of housecoats and flying kitchen dishes, while “You Win,” a bouncy swing number, tallies up “10 points for cursing like a raving madman, 25 to successfully make me cry.” Not quite home sweet home on the range. Apr. 10

What is it with dance-punk bands and exclamation points? There’s Detroit’s Thunderbirds Are Now!, Vancouver’s Fake Shark-Real Zombie! and, best of all, Brooklyn’s !!! These dance-crazed punks from Abbotsford, B.C. have more going for them than just perky punctuation. The band, fronted by singer Becky Ninkovic, mixes catchy B-52s-style beats with Clash-influenced politics on tracks like “Downtown Mayors Goodnight, Alley Kids Rule!” Oops, there’s another pesky exclamation point. Apr. 10