Artist development/management company, Audio Blood announces first ever Canadian Music Week showcase taking place this year at El Mocambo (464 Spadina Ave.) on Thursday, March 11th. Put-on in part with Canadian Music Fest and Exclaim.ca, the showcase will featureAudio Blood artists: Leif Vollebekk, The Darcys, Clothes Make the Man, Make Your Exit, Sandman Viper Command, and friends - We Are the City. The showcase is a great cross-section of the caliber of artists Audio Blood works with year round. From Montreal folk (Leif Vollebekk) to inner-city rock and roll (Clothes Make the Man) to west coast indie rock (We Are the City), the showcase has something for everyone.

*Tickets are on sale now at http://cmw.net. Cover is 10$ at the door. CMW wristbands and passes are accepted. Doors at 8:30pm. See below for more info about the performing artists.

LEIF VOLLEBEKK
 9pm

Hometown: Montreal, QC
For fans of: Dan Mangan, Bahamas, Bon Iver
With his organic folk songs and sensitive melodies scraping along minimalist guitar strums, Leif Vollebekk’s debut full length Inland (Nevado Records), somehow, stops time. Giving the city a moment to breathe and reflect, Vollebekk fills this hole with warm-hearted compositions. And, at the sound of his last strum, the city goes back to a booming rage. Wearing his heart on his sleeve, Vollebekk has played alongside Elephant Stone, Basia Bulat, Elliot Brood, Royal Wood. A Blacksheep Inn favourite, Vollebekk, with his captivating live sets, has made a name for himself in some of Canada’s most competitive music communities; Toronto, Montreal and Ottawa.(Photo: Caroline Desilets)
http://myspace.com/leifvollebekk

Hometown: Kelowna, BC
For fans of: Coldplay, Radiohead
We Are The City is a three piece progressive indie rock act from the Okanagan lakeside city of Kelowna, British Columbia. Originally forming under the name “Seraph” in the Spring of 2006, they changed their name to “The City” in January of 2007, and finally settling uponWe Are The City in May of 2008. We Are The City features three young composers: Cayne McKenzie on vocals and keys, David Menzel on guitar, and Andy Huculiak on the drums. Cayne’s symphonic piano arrangements flow into David’s guttural guitars and the grand heartbeat of Andy’s drums, as the vocals slink from soft melodies into gruff howls. Their songs paint out a sincere and beautiful interpretation of life; exploring evocative sounds and storytelling.They have already shared the stage with the likes of Bend Sinister, You Say Party! We Say Die!, Winter Gloves, Mother Mother, and Leeroy Stagger. We Are The City was recently invited to close the Best of BC Stage in Victoria, for BC’s 150 Festival, followed on the mainstage by Burton Cummings, Sarah McLachlan, and Feist. We Are the City will convince you with their good hearts and inspiring sounds to come and be a part of their city.
 http://myspace.com/thecitiesmusic

THE DARCYS
 11pm

Hometown: Toronto, ON
For fans of: The Constantines, Neil Young & Crazy Horse
The Darcys have always been unorthodox. In June 2007, they recorded their first full-length album,Endless Water - not in a studio or house, but in the airy heights of the Waterloo Regional Children’s Museum.  The resulting disc quickly garnered attention: Exclaim! called it “a stunning collection of songs,” while the Toronto Star’s Ben Rayner - reaching to describe the band’s inventive, luminous sound - dubbed them “Toronto’s next great guitar band - equal parts Neil Young, contemporary Brit-pop and shoegazer glaze,” before finally settling on “Thom-Yorke-Does-Crazy-Horse.” The description was an apt one. In the Spring of 2009, the band released a free download on their website: a cover of the Final Fantasy classic, “The CN Tower Belongs to the Dead.”  The track’s muscular, electric stance signaled a bold departure from Owen Pallett’s original string-based arrangement, earning The Darcys’ version of the song airplay on CBC Radio 3 and Toronto’s Edge 102.1FM. Riding the single, the band embarked on its third cross-Canada tour, turning in memorable showcases at Toronto’s NXNE festival, Calgary’s Sled Island, POP Montreal, and a sold-out show at Vancouver’s historic Richards on Richards. The Darcys spent the latter half of 2009 in Montreal recording with The Dears’ Murray Lightburn. The results will be released in 2010.
 http://myspace.com/itsthedarcys

Hometown: Toronto, ON
For Fans of: Foo Fighters, Sloan
Clothes Make the Man is like a group of the loud mouthed kids yelling into microphones alongside cranked up amplifiers and pounding drums… except with beards and deeper voices. The band manages to maintain the same level of wide eyed enthusiasm with every set they play. Rest assured, Clothes Make the Man are not a metal or hardcore band and lack the immature essence kids often bestow. CMTM are masterful songwriters, almost unbeknownst to themselves. In dark bars, parties, or bright festival stages CMTM transform into raucous punk rock and rollers, yelling about the economy and its endless digression, schizophrenia, alcohol and of course, girls. Fist pumping in the form of group sing-a-longs so huge and juicy it could make you sick. And yet, in the midst of all this aggression and rage, emerges some of the biggest hearted songs this culturally confused city of Toronto could bear to emit. In between the dripping sweat and guitar heavy choruses, the band opens their collective 8 arms and hugs the audience with their vicious wall of sound. And whether you like it or not, you’re getting a big wet one!
 http://myspace.com/clothesmaketheman

MAKE YOUR EXIT
 1am

Hometown: Toronto, ON
For fans of: Fleet Foxes, Wolf Parade
You could try to describe the sound of the five eclectic musical backgrounds melding together to become what is Make Your Exitwith fancy words and hyperbole… but the overbearing fact of their music is that it’s simply honest. And honest music isn’t always easy to come by. It’s stripped down, yet amped up, it’s noisy and abrasive, yet quiet and modest. It’s the sounds of five extremely talented twenty-somethings just letting it all out. Lucky for us, their post-rock release lands somewhere between familiar and completely unfamiliar. Four part vocal harmonies akin to Fleet Foxes, with the addition of jazzy saxophone parts, and just the right tasteful amount of Canadiana twang - Make Your Exit is unlike anything you’ve heard before, yet it won’t be hard to wrap your head around. Remind Me the Reason I Came, (released September ‘09) is the band’s second EP and showcases their unique unbridled songwriting energy in the best light. 2010 will see the band spending some time on the road and recording their next EP.
 http://myspace.com/makeyourexit

Hometown: Burlington, ON
For fans of: Grizzly Bear, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club
In the beginning, the four best friends who make up the ambitiously named outfit locked themselves up for days in their parents’ basements practicing and refining demos, only emerging when they had stumbled upon the most perfect blend of garage pop/guitar fuzz rock this side of the border has heard in a long time. It’s this obsessive compulsiveness in their music that pays off huge on their independently released debut, Everybody See This. In the same way the Strokes released sonically moving debut albums, it is apparent that this is much more than an average first run from a bunch of college dropouts. This is a band with a future. Everybody See This is ripe and bubbling with the type of youthful rage you can’t fake. It’s delicate and fragile in all the right places and thoroughly captivating from start to finish. In the same way they originally honed their sound, Sandman Viper Command isolated themselves for six months in a barn on the outskirts of Hamilton, Ontario with producer Dave King, recording intensely to make sure Everybody See This captured the raw, frenetic qualities of the band, and achieving that lofty childhood goal of creating a sound they can call their own.
http://myspace.com/sandmanvipercommand

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