WOLF PARADE, JASON FORREST It’s been a banner year for the Canadian rock scene. After the Arcade Fire’s Grammy nomination and a slew of hot albums from quirky, dramatic pop ensembles like the Dears and the Constantines, many more American indie kids can now correctly identify what side of the country Montreal is on. But no list of the year’s highlights would be complete without Wolf Parade’s debut for Sub Pop, Apologies to the Queen Mary, a prelim “best of” consisting of rerecordings of songs from the group’s self-released EPs. A quartet with two vocalists–one with a squirrelly, trembly, barely-in-control voice and one who sounds like Paul Westerberg gone goth–they’re prone to dark new-wave bash ‘n’ pop, urgent and full, with keyboards tooting it up all over the place. They could make an easy living off that, to be sure, but it’s the other side of Wolf Parade–the bedraggled and romantic mope–that truly sates. Their relationship eulogies, full of desperation and hope, go slowly off the tracks, with notes ringing long and riffs drifting. –Jessica Hopper
