Discoveries of the Day! Calm, Cool and Collected!

Memory Screen (Calgary, AB) Memory Screen make soft dense songs that sound like a warm fog or a beautiful screen saver. Filled with dank vibes, shimmering guitars that weave in and out of reverb-drenched vocals.  www.myspace.com/memoryscreen 

Wild Nothing (Blacksburg, VA) What if we had indie rock fantasy teams? I would start with the classic Cure rhythm section (Simon Gallup on bass and Lol Tolhurst on drums), get Johnny Marr to shred on guitar and Stuart Murdoch to write the lyrics (intelligent but sinister). This is the stuff that I think about when I listen to Wild Nothing. One of the “Can’t Miss” bands at Sled Island 2011. www.myspace.com/wildnothing

Minus the Bear (Seattle, WA) Minus the Bear is a five-person band of indie prog-pop-alt-(insert trendy word here) rockers. With four albums and four EPs to their name, Minus the Bear have well proven all the “Minus the Talent” critics wrong. The band’s most recent album, Omni, is their first release on Dangerbird Records and was named after the newest addition to the band, a vintage Omnichord synthesizer. This instrument, along with band member Alex Rose, is responsible for the strange synthesized riffs that give Minus the Bear a quirky pop sound.  Fellow music makers and Seattle natives, Jake Snider (guitar/vocals), Dave Knudsen (guitar), Cory Murchy (bass) and Erin Tate (drums), round out the band.  The radio-friendly tune, “My Time,” may be what this group is most well-known for due to its high level of catchiness and colourful music video that has acquired more than half a million hits on YouTube.

Minus the Bear’s unexpected time changes, propulsive rhythms and often sexually provocative lyrics lust towards electro-pop, while their harmonious guitar work and straightforward melodies lean more towards classic/prog rock. However you choose to classify Minus the Bear with whatever adjective you may find suitable, you can be confident they are rockers through and through. minusthebear.com