Wolf Parade

Montreal's Wolf Parade sure looks good on paper. The band's members have played with a who's who of Canadian indie rock bands, including the Arcade Fire, Destroyer and Frog Eyes, and they even secured Modest Mouse front man Issac Brock to produce their debut album. And while they've shamelessly stolen from all of these bands, Wolf Parade's debut, Apologies to the Queen Mary, mostly lives up to the hype such a pedigree creates. "Modern World" sounds like Beck singing an acoustic cover of a long-lost Depeche Mode b-side, while "Dear Sons and Daughter of Hungry Ghosts" conjures David Bowie on a bender. "We Built Another World" is a dance floor crasher with a kick-ass chorus, and just when you think they can't possibly deliver another anthem, singer/guitarist Dan Boeckner sings his throat out on "Same Ghost Every Night," a spacey soul ballad that culminates in a soaring crescendo of frantic, buzzing keyboards. With one singer sounding like Beck and the other sounding like a test tube hybrid of Brock and the Arcade Fire's Win Butler, it's hard not to hear another band's ideas lurking behind almost every track- but with songs this good you'll be too busy pumpin' your fist to care.