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Baby Bifs, the four teenage girls in LiveonRelease are indebted to their den mother, Vancouver punk queen Bif Naked. At 10, Brittin Karroll co-wrote a track on Naked’s I Bificus album touring with her (Karroll’s dad manages the punk veteran). Then, after Brittin formed LiveonRelease, it seemed natural for Naked to put out the group’s debut album—including the hit single “I’m Afraid of Britney Spears—on her own label. The group’s followup features tough rockers like “Jaded” and “Paranoid.” But it’s worth asking: are they now afraid of Avril Lavigne?

Remember the Battle of Britpop, when Blur and Oasis slugged it out for chart supremacy? Well, apart from the ubiquity of “Song 2” (the “woo-hoo” anthem), not much has been heard from Blur, as the band’s Damon Albarn boogied off to solo success with Gorillaz. There’s apparently more than a few nods to Gorillaz’ electronic dub here, especially on tracks like “Ambulance.” But there’s also Parklife-style balladry on such songs as “Out of Time,” the first single. Could “Crazy Beat,” produced by Norman “Fatboy Slim” Cook, be the next big “woo-hoo”?

His debut album, 1996’s One Mississippi, was hailed by Esquire magazine as among “the greatest overlooked pop masterpieces of the decade.” So why have most of us never heard of Brendan Benson? Blame it on an indifferent record company and a contractual struggle that handcuffed the Detroit-born singer-songwriter. Now signed to a new label, Benson is clearly happy: joy is the predominant emotion filling this jangly, melodic gem of an album. Check out infectious songs like “Tiny Spark” and the anthemic “Folk Singer” for pure power-pop pleasure.  

With shades of The Eagles and Crosby, Stills & Nash, the Thorns brings together three talented singer-songwriters—Matthew Sweet, Pete Droge and Shawn Mullins—in gorgeous harmony. Sweet was already thinking of putting together a Mamas & the Papas-style vocal harmony group when serendipity led to this supergroup trio. Produced by Brendan O’Brien, the debut album is so loaded with potential singles, from “Runaway Feeling” and “I Can’t Remember” to “I Set the World on Fire” and “Among the Living,” that success seems a foregone conclusion.

The quintessential Italian stallion, Gino Vannelli was Canada’s hairy-chested prince of disco and synth-rock during the 1970s. After a religious awakening in the ’80s, Vannelli over the next decade dabbled in Sinatra-style, jazz-tinged balladry on albums like Yonder Tree. Now the Canadian icon fancies himself Placido Domingo, venturing into pop-opera with orchestral grandiosity. Despite a still-commanding voice, Vannelli’s vapid English-Italian songs like “The Last Dance” and the title track wind up sounding either highly overwrought or simply pompous.

Like Canada’s Bruce Cockburn, England’s Richard Thompson is a fretboard genius and a gifted songwriter who enjoys more acclaim than fame. Thompson’s latest recording won’t make him rich either. But it’s an admirable album that bridges old-world sounds with contemporary subject matter on songs like the tortured “Jealous Words” and the jaunty “One Door Opens.” Similarly, the wrenching “A Love You Can’t Survive” could easily have been written during the Middle Ages—until it becomes clear that the bitter ballad concerns cocaine smuggling.

Montreal’s Sam Roberts is already a Canrock success story: his six-song EP, The Inhuman Condition, spawned three hit singles with “Brother Down,” “Don’t Walk Away Eileen” and “Where Have All the Good People Gone.” Now Roberts is going global with his album debut, which includes those three memorable pop tunes and a dozen others. Best new songs: the chugging “Hard Road,” the chiming “Climb Over Me” and “Canadian Dream,” a wry dig at socialism in the Great White North. “Everything moves real slow,” sings Roberts, “when it’s 40 below.”

Like a hip scientist, Roy Hargrove mixes jazz and funk with soul and hip hop on this experimental, 14-track collection. The trumpeter, who won a Grammy in 1997 for his Habana album, brings cutting-edge jazzbos into his laboratory, including pianist Marc Cary and bassist Meshell Ndegeocello. The alchemy works best on “Common Free Style,” featuring rapper Common, the sensuous “I’ll Stay,” with singer D’Angelo, and the laid-back “Poetry,” featuring singer Erykah Badu and rapper Q-Tip. But all of it cooks, making Hard Groove a highly combustible fusion.

Vancouver’s Shocore are hard-core party animals. With scary vocals, screaming guitars and thundering percussion, Shocore earned a reputation as a Limp Bizkit-style band with a sense of humor, touring on the strength of arena-rockers like “Bonecracker” from the group’s debut album Devil Rock Disco. The band’s followup features more horror-rock tunes like the crunching title track and the apocalyptic “Road to Destruction.” Guests include Holly McNarland and the Headstones’ Hugh Dillon on the hilarious cowboy-rocker “Fist Fight at Dawn.”

Quizzical looks greeted Steely Dan’s win over Eminem and Radiohead for Album of the Year at the 2001 Grammys. After all, it had been 20 years since Walter Becker and Donald Fagan’s last studio recording. But Steely Dan, named for a dildo in William Burroughs’ Naked Lunch, has never followed trends or timetables. Trumping Two Against Nature’s success is this latest slice of Becker and Fagan’s sassy jazz-pop, full of sardonic lyrics and impeccable playing. An artful addition to a subversive oeuvre.