I wonder what it is about Canadian artists that continue to exude massive appeal to my ears. Among my favorites of the past decade, I count names like Julie Doiron, Joel Plaskett, Leslie Feist, A-Trak, Chromeo, and too many more to name off the top of my head.

In a group of names like that, I might have forgotten about Chad VanGaalen except for he doesn’t let me. Thanks to an opportunity to catch him at the Sub Pop showcase at CMJ a couple of years back, I became an instant fan. His newest release, Soft Airplane continues his love affair with experimental noise pop and tender love songs, a pattern developed over the course of two other fine albums (2004’s Infiniheart and 2006’s Skelliconnection). The resonant difference is the maturity of the material & the confidence evident in the performance and songwriting. MORE »