Phedre
Haberdash (DAPS Records)
This trio, which claims to be from Monte Carlo but is actually from Canada’s most hated city (Google it), makes space-age garagetronica that sounds like what those freaks from Yo Gabba Gabba! play when they’re really baked.

The Offspring
Cruising California (Bumpin’ in My Trunk) (Columbia)
Cheesy synths, Auto-Tune, and middle-aged-white-guy rapping? Yup, this one sends the cringe meter into the red, but we will indeed be bumpin’ it up and down Robson all summer, mostly because everyone else hates it.

DIIV
(Druun) (Captured Tracks)
In an alternate universe, New Order never happened. Instead, Joy Division carried on sans Ian Curtis as an instrumental post punk/dream-pop band that made swirly numbers like this one.

Erika Spring
Hidden (Cascine)
Erika Forster of Au Revoir Simone goes solo, and the result is synth-pop tune that is all feather-light and airy in the melody department, but anchored by a big, thumping beat.

Kontravoid
Silent Visions
Cam Findlay of Parallels (and formerly Crystal Castles) has cooked up some chilled-to-the-bone electro-goth darkwave that suggests he has a few well-worn Skinny Puppy and Alien Sex Fiend 12-inches in his collection.

New Pornographers
Think About Me (Concord Music Group)
Do the New Pornographers still count as VanCon (we just made that up)? Who cares. This is an ace cover of a middling Fleetwood Mac song, and it’s from Tusk, because that’s the one the cool kids pretend to prefer.

Get People
Grove
A little dubby (but definitely not dubstep) and a whole lot ambient, "Grove" sounds like a sunstroke-induced auditory hallucination. We probably won’t have to worry about those in Vancouver this summer.

Friends
I’m His Girl (Fat Possum)
He should be more than thrilled to call you his other half, and not just because of the way you’ve updated Luscious Jackson for a generation that thinks Grand Royal is what Quarter Pounders are called in France.

Walk the Moon
Quesadilla (RCA)
Think Vampire Weekend, but more of the breezy Afro-pop vibe, and less of the obnoxious obsession with boat shoes, collegiate pastel sweaters, and the kind of hair that suggests a major Martha’s Vineyard fixation.

Dominique Fricot
Strange Lady (Independent)
Got a thing for that neighbour in the building across the way? Dominique Fricot’s lovely guitar rocker "Strange Lady" will make you feel marginally less creepy about that, but only for three minutes and 57 seconds or so.

Cat Power
Ruin (Matador)
Wow—gone are the days when Chan Marshall played the piano like a tin-eared five-year-old. She’s come a long way, baby, as evidenced by the delicate keys that kick off a self-assured return to action. Cat Power’s back, and it’s beautiful.