Jets Overhead
No Nations

By Heather Parry

Albums like No Nations exemplify the easy-going, comfortable national identity of Canadians. The kind of stuff you'd listen to whilst driving through the small towns of northern Ontario on a summer's evening, there is no anger, no dissidence and no self-consciousness at all. Both the male and female vocals swim easily with the gentle tide of the music, and the album as a whole rises and lulls without a hint of a storm. Though this sounds painfully boring on paper the production and arrangements bring crystal fragility to some songs and a solid wall-of-sound tradition to others, neither of which are even slightly out of place. The band share with their home country the easy assimilation of a vast array of influences. "I Should Be Born" has all the hallmarks of '70s British psych rock, while "Heading For Nowhere" is certainly a product of the contemporary indie-centric music scene. All this stimulus is contained within the band's greater personality, so that no matter which genre they're leaning towards each song is undoubtedly Jets Overhead. This album is as Canadian as Stompin' Tom Connors, and I honestly mean that in a good way. (Microgroove/Warner)

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Arietta - Migration
Au Revoir Simone - Still Night, Still Light
Bachelorette - My Electric Family
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Ben Lee - The Rebirth of Venus
Bill Callahan - Sometimes I Wish We Were an Eagle
Black Moth Super Rainbow - Eating Us
Bricolage - Bricolage
Chester French - Love The Future
The Church - Untitled #23
City Center - City Center
Clues - Clues
Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band - Outer South
The Curious Mystery - Rotting Slowly
Deerhunter - Rainwater Cassette Exchange
Doll - Inside the Dollhouse
Eels - Hombre Lobo: 12 Songs of Desire
Ex Norwegian - Standby
Great Bloomers - Speak of Trouble
Great Northern - Remind Me Where The Light Is
Grizzly Bear - Veckatimest
Hanne Hukkelberg - Blood From a Stone
Heat From A DeadStar - Seven Rays Of The Sun
The High Strung - Ode to the Inverse of the Dude
Hopewell - Good Good Desperation
HotKid - Someday Somehow
The Hundreds and Thousands - The Hundreds and Thousands
Ida Maria - Fortress ’Round My Heart
The Intelligence - Fake Surfers
Jack-O & the Tennessee Tearjerkers - The Disco Outlaw
Jarvis Cocker - Further Complications
Jason Lytle - Yours Truly, The Commuter
Jeffrey Novak - After The Ball
Kid Congo and the Pink Monkey Birds - Dracula Boots
Lee Harvey Osmond - A Quiet Evil
The Lovely Feathers - Fantasy of the Lot
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The Lovely Sparrows - Bury the Cynics
Magik Markers - Balf Quarry
Marilyn Manson - The High End of Low
Matt Krefting - I Couldn’t Love You More
Maximo Park - Quicken the Heart
Most Serene Republic - …And the Ever Expanding Universe
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The Paint Movement - Our Eurythmy
Papa Roach - Metamorphosis
Paul “Snoflake” Taylor - Share It!
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Pilot Speed - Wooden Bones
Polly Scattergood - Polly Scattergood
Pony Up! - Stay Gold
Rubies - Explode From the Center
Screen Vinyl Image - Interceptors
The Skeletones Four - Aaaaahhh!!!
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Still Life Still - Pastel
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Thee Oh Sees - Help
Think About Life - Family
Tragically Hip - We Are the Same
Various Artists - Songs for Eric
Various Artists - Not Given Lightly: A Tribute to the Giant Golden Book of New Zealand’s Alternative Music Scene
Walk Off The Earth - My Rock
Wand - Hard Knox
The Warlocks - The Mirror Explodes
White Rabbits - It’s Frightening
The Wooden Birds - Magnolia
Wooden Shjips - Dos
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