Winnipeg’s Grand Analog aren’t your typical hip hop outfit; mixing beatboxes and turntables with live musicians and incorporating elements from funk, reggae and rock with true sincerity, they’ve earned the distinction of being one of the few decidedly non-jazz acts to be invited to play the Toronto Jazz Festival.

“In this day and age, we’re comfortably an eclectic mix,” says front man Odario Williams from his new home in Toronto. “If you think about hip hop today, hip hop in 2008, in general, that definitely doesn’t fit in a jazz festival; it should be in a club somewhere… but I think we’re an exception to the rule. We’re very much into musicianship and melody and I think that’s what resonated with the jazz fest staff. Can’t speak for them, but that’s my assumption anyway.”

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Interviewing Toronto’s The I Spies was one of the more surreal experiences I’ve had leading up to North by Northeast. On a three-way call with singer/guitarist/keyboardist Johnny Kay (in his kitchen “cooking up a whole mess of farfalle pasta”) and lead guitarist/singer/keyboardist James Roberston (on his cell being chauffeured around town), I found myself in the middle of an arsenal of snappy one-liners and in-jokes that one might expect from a comedy troupe.

That’s not to say that their music is a joke by any stretch of the imagination. The I Spies deliver powerful guitar-fueled pop songs reminiscent of the early days of new wave (Television, not Culture Club). With energy to spare and hooks galore, their debut album, In the Night, stands as testament to a local act ready to take on the world.

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Transatlantic phone interviews are inherently problematic. You always run the risk of hearing static interference, having crossed wires that cause the audio from another dialog to obscure your conversation, or interviewing a soft-spoken subject with a thick Mancunian accent.

When I connect with Adam Gorman of Manchester’s The Travelling Band I hit the jackpot and get all three. Lucky me!

Bad connections be damned, this is rock and roll, and I’ve got a musician to interview.

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Brant Bjork is in no danger of becoming a huge pop sensation, and that suits him just fine. As a founding member of Kyuss who’s also served time in Fu Manchu and Queens of the Stone Age, Bjork has definitely earned his stripes in the riff rock world, and he’s quite happy doing his thing his way.

His new album, Punk Rock Guilt, is a purely analog document of stoner metal that’s truly been a “long time coming.” Over the phone from his home in California, Bjork tells me “it’s been on the shelf for about three years … I hadn’t been working on it. I just made it and then sat on it. It just kind of sat there and collected dust, and then we just realized now’s a good time to release it.”

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The idea behind Bellevue came about in September 2002 as Kingston resident Brent Hough packed up his guitar and his 4-track and moved to Toronto hell-bent to put together the band of his dreams. It turned out to be easier said than done, but after 5 years of hard work things are really starting to come together for Hough and company.

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To those familiar with Jim Ward’s history - guitarist for post-hardcore ensemble At the Drive-In, frontman for alt-metal combo Sparta - his new band, Sleepercar might come as a surprise. No longer surrounded by Marshall stacks, Ward is now armed with an acoustic guitar singing country-infused tunes accompanied by very un-rock instruments like lap steel. It’s almost as if the young man from West Texas has finally made his peace with where he comes from.

“I had been listening to the Old 97’s for a couple of years,” he tells me over the phone, “and I sort of started just finding my way into that world. And it took a long time (seven years) before it went any further.” He actually started writing tunes for this band while he was still touring with At the Drive-In.

“I wanted it to be honest,” says Ward. “That was my main thing. I didn’t want it sound like I was nicking somebody else’s sound.”

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A couple of years ago, in a land not too far away, four high school boys decided they’d form a band. Sure, it wasn’t the most original idea in the world, but these guys seemed to make it work. Rather than seeing the band as a get-laid-quick scheme, Tokyo Police Club concentrated on creating two-minute miracles of infectious post-punk power-pop that soon earned them massive critical acclaim and a legion of diehard fans.

Two years after their debut EP, the incredibly punchy A Lesson in Crime, TCP has hit the road in support of their latest release, Elephant Shell. After two years of relentless touring, the band sounds tighter and more self-assured. Gone is the endearing sloppiness that made their earlier work so charming, but in its place is a solid sense of songcraft that one wouldn’t expect from such a young ensemble. “[Guitarist] Josh [Hook] is 20 right now, turning 21 in May,” says drummer Greg Alsop. “[Vocalist/bassist] Dave [Monks] and [keyboardist] Graham [Wright] both just turned 21 and I’ve just turned 23.”

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David Ford is a British singer/songwriter who approaches his craft with a refreshingly honest and easy going nature that really comes through in his writing. His latest record, Songs for the Road, is finally available in North America after being out for several months in the UK. I recently had a nice, long conversation with Ford about his music and the trials and tribulations of constantly being on the road.

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Clothes Make the Man are one of those bands that somehow keeps everything well-balanced. They’re very tuneful and melodic, but their delivery has a nice gritty edge to it, and while their sound definitely packs a punch, they have enough restraint to not turn it up to eleven all the time.

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Describing Charlie Hunter’s music to the uninitiated used to be like pulling teeth. People used to look at me like I was from Neptune when I tried to tell them about his 8-string bass/guitar hybrid that he uses to play bass, melody and chords all at the same time. Fortunately, technology has caught up in the meantime, and I can just point people to YouTube so they can see for themselves what he’s all about.

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