Canada

FEIST
The past year has been a whirlwind for Canadian songstress Leslie Feist. The video for her sweet, catchy song "1234" was seen by millions on a flashy iPod commercial, driving sales of her third full-length, The Reminder, through the roof. The album garnered her four Grammy noms. Feist's musical aspirations ignited in high school when her punk band won a battle of the bands contest and earned a slot opening for The Ramones. She didn't develop her signature folky style until much later when she moved to Toronto and took up the guitar to get her through a vocal cord injury. After some home-recordings developed into her debut record, Monarch (Lay Down Your Jeweled Head), Feist joined the Toronto music mob Broken Social Scene for their second album. The Broken Social Scene record, You Forgot it in People, earned a Juno Prize, and Feist continued to tour with the band while recording her sophomore solo effort for Canadian label Arts & Crafts. Although it was the Apple commercial that helped drive Feist to the top, it is her distinctive and gentle vocal style and beguiling melodies that continue to earn her accolades. In February, she became the first Canadian artist to earn the coveted Shortlist Music Prize. —LW

NELLY FURTADO
Musicians are constantly subjected to a game of survival of the fittest. With her incredible ability to adapt and reinvent herself, Nelly Furtado has bridged myriad genres, reaching a diverse and evolving fan base. The Canadian born singer/songwriter's sound traverses cultures, with contagious melodies and colorful instrumentation, incorporating the ethnic influence of her Portuguese heritage into her work. Her refreshing debut album, Whoa, Nelly!, with breakthrough singles "I'm Like a Bird" and "Turn Off the Light", earned four Grammy nominations in 2000, and Furtado took home Song of the Year for "I'm Like a Bird." After her 2003 release Folklore, she cut loose, literally, with her third album Loose in 2006, primarily produced by Timbaland. The album introduced a revitalizing sound for Furtado, brandishing infectious hip/hop tracks combined with her clever musicality. Since releasing Loose, which reigned as number one on the Billboard chart, she has tallied three number one singles with "Promiscuous," "Say It Right," and "Give It to Me" featuring Timbaland and Justin Timberlake. Furtado recently earned two Grammy nominations (for "Say It Right" and "Give It To Me"), and released her first live DVD, Loose: The Concert. —AM

SIMPLE PLAN
The story of Montreal-based band Simple Plan actually begins with another band, Reset. After various lineup changes and difficulty gaining popularity, Reset dissolved, and essentially became a new act. Simple Plan's first release under their new moniker, 2003's No Pads, No Helmets… Just Balls (Lava), took flight in the pop-punk whirlwind that was sweeping across America at the time. The band's music fit perfectly alongside such acts as Good Charlotte, Blink-182 and Sum 41. They released their second album, Still Not Getting Any, produced by Bob Rock, in 2004, scoring hits with "Crazy" and "Welcome to My Life." Their new album was released in February. —ET

TOKYO POLICE CLUB
Amazingly, Canadian foursome Tokyo Police Club played at Edgefest and the Osheaga Festival in 2006, and at Coachella, Lollapalooza, Bumbershoot, and Glastonbury in 2007, all without having released a single full-length album. A buzzed-about collaboration took place onstage when, due to TPC's drummer succumbing to illness, the band was forced to perform an acoustic-style set, that is until headlining acts Cold War Kids and Delta Spirit joined them in finishing their set in a wildly improvised fashion. Tokyo Police Club will release their first full-length album, Elephant Shell, this year on Saddle Creek Records. —ET

MIDWAY STATE
Where is the Midway State? According to singer-songwriter Nathan Ferraro, his hometown is a "a little ski town two hours north of Toronto." If that is the emotional center of his band's music, then it is a place removed from any scene or trend. The result, as heard in his band's music, is a sound that, like the region in which it originated, is cool. In piano-driven songs full of youthful drama and mature melodies, the Midway State create music that is both foreign and powerfully familiar. —EP

BORN RUFFIANS
Toronto three-piece Born Ruffians – Luke Lalonde, Mitche De Rosier and Steve Hamelin – have blazed throughout the U.S. and Canada twice in their white five-seater minivan, spreading their unique brand of contemporary pop (drums, bass and electric guitar with harmonium, piano and plenty of hootin' and hollerin'). After touring this continent with Caribou and traveling overseas to the UK with the likes of Hot Chip and Hidden Cameras, the Ruffians are set for the release of their new album, Red, Yellow and Blue (WARP Records), produced by Rusty Santos (Animal Collective's Sung Tongs and Panda Bear's Person Pitch). —EP