National Network for Equitable Library Service

The Juno award-winning Wooden Stars both epitomized and transcended the sound of mid-90s indie rock. One of Canada’s greatest bands, they helped build a scene whose members would go on to be associated with some of the country’s most revered acts including Julie Doiron, Islands and Arcade Fire. With Wooden Stars: Innocent Gears, Malcolm Fraser tracks the highs and lows of this totally unique and influential band.

Jim Guthrie: Who needs what tells the story of a musician whose twenty-year career has been spent either at the forefront of Canada's indie rock renaissance or in the backfround of some of the most popular inde games, films, and ad campaigns of the past decade. Through interviews with Jim, his collaboratiors, and fans, this book explores how a self-describes "Seabiscuit" earned a cult following and become a major infleunce to musicians at home and abroad - all without really having to leave his basement.

The Deadly Snakes: Real Rock and Roll Tonight charts the rise and gentle fall of Canada's greatest band. Unwilling to bow to industry demands, the Deadly Snakes instead made records they were proud of and played music by their own rules. From their chaotic teenage beginnings to the band's exquisite final act, the story of the Deadly Snakes is both the story of angry young men growing up and a microcosm of Canadian independent music.

Over a decade after the release of their first album, The Dears have weathered the indie fringes, the collapse of the music industry as we knew it and the near implosion of the band itself, with their creative vision and gang dynamic intact. The Dears: Lost in the Plot looks at how The Dears survived the fallout, and helped launch the acclaimed mid-aughts music scene in their hometown of Montréal.

The first book to tell the story of Toronto's massive influence on popular music. Part civic history and part memoir from this veteran scene-builder and founder of the acclaimed Wavelength concert series, From the Top charts the evolution of Toronto's diverse independent music scene in the latter half of the 20th century.

When singer, musician, and broadcast journalist Malka Marom had the opportunity to interview Joni Mitchell in 1973, she was eager to reconnect with the performer she'd first met late one night in 1966 at a Yorkville coffeehouse. More conversations followed over the next four decades of friendship, and it was only after Joni and Malka completed their last recorded interview, in 2012, that Malka discovered the heart of their discussions: the creative process.

Invisible Publishing's Bibliophonic Series returns, this time focusing on unsung Canadian punk rock heroes NoMeansNo. NoMeansNo: Going Nowhere, will look at a band whose career has spanned three decades, 14 albums and produced an alter ego that's become as much a part of the Canadian consciousness as SCTV. Through interviews with band members, bit players and fans, the book will explore how one punk band from Victoria, B.C. influenced musicians across the world and continue to be force in punk rock.

After thirty-five years as an 'on-again, off-again, uncoached closet pianist,' poet and writer Robyn Sarah picked up the phone one day and called her old piano teacher, whom she had last seen in her early twenties. Music, Late and Soon is the story of her return to studying piano with the mentor of her youth. In tandem, she reflects on a previously unexamined musical past: a decade spent at Quebec's Conservatoire de Musique, studying clarinet--ostensibly headed for a career as an orchestral musician, but already a writer at heart.

Over the last two decades a new type of song has emerged. Today's hits bristle with "hooks," musical burrs designed to snag your ear every seven seconds. Painstakingly crafted to tweak the brain's delight in melody, rhythm, and repetition, these songs are industrial-strength products made for malls, casinos, the gym, and the Super Bowl halftime show. The tracks are so catchy, and so potent, that you can't not listen to them.

The scandal over modern music has not died down. While modern paintings by Picasso and Pollock sell for a hundred million or more, shocking musical works from Stravinsky's Rite of spring onward still send ripples of unease through audiences. Yet the influence of modern sound can be felt everywhere. Alex Ross, the brilliant music critic for the New Yorker, shines a bright light on this secret world and shows how it has pervaded every corner of twentieth century life.