Shove it. That was the message emblazoned on Nickelback singer Chad Kroeger's t-shirt and one can't help but assume it was directed at his band's critics.

After all, the hometown mook-rockers did kick off the show with their dumbest-ever anthem "Something In Your Mouth"-even the edgy host Russell Peters joked "Ay oh, my mom's watching!"-and upon picking up their best album award, a grinning Kroeger quipped "The press are going to have a field day with this one."

Electro-pop is always looking for a new princess and next in line of succession is the little lady known as Little Boots.

Born Victoria Hesketh and formerly the lead singer/keyboardist for British band Dead Disco, Little Boots has been working with Hot Chip's Joe Goddard, who produced the MP3 below. She's currently in the US working on the final tracks for her debut album, due later this year.

Artist: Little Boots
Songs: 'Meddle'
Album: 'Arecibo'
Sounds Like: Goldfrapp, CSS

Download: 'Meddle' (MP3)


After the jump, watch Little Boot's bedroom cover of Hot Chip's "Ready for the Floor."

Toronto electro overlords MSTRKRFT may be best known as DJs (and in-demand remixers), but the omnipresent party-rockers are prepping the launch of their second full length next month, humbly titled Fist of God.

Here's a taste with their first single, "Bounce."

Artist: MSTRKRFT
Songs: 'Bounce' Ft. Nore (Felix Cartal Remix)
Album: 'Fist of God'
Sounds Like: Simian Mobile Disco, Tom Neville

Download: 'Bounce' Ft. Nore (Felix Cartal Remix)(MP3)

Upcoming tour dates after the jump...

Could Montreal's favourite retro-electro funk hipsters Chromeo--aka Dave-1 and P-Thugg--be on the friendship rocks a la Lauren and Heidi from The Hills? Watch this clip from their new reality show and find out!

(note: this isn't really a reality show...though that would so rule!)

More Chromeo videos after the jump...

Ladytron has been known as the other Liverpudlian quartet (even though frontwomen Helen Marnie and Mira Aroyo hail from Scotland and Bulgaria, respectively) since dropping their still-brilliant debut 604 way back in 2001 on the late, lamented Emperor Norton label.

First the group (which also includes Daniel Hunt and Reuban Wu) were roped in with the 80s revival due to their vintage synth-based sound. Then when electroclash blew up they became unwitting poster-children for that movement, too.

But these cats were always too cool for school, eschewing "scenes" in favour of following their own muse. To wit, they've continued pumping out dark, icy and uber-stylish electro-pop that nonetheless pulses with life, even nailing one of the decade's best tracks with their blissful epic "Destroy Everything You Touch."

They recently played a free show in Toronto as part of Harbourfront's Beats, Breaks and Culture festival in support of their brand-new album Velocifero. Though still relatively static onstage, their live show has improved by leaps and bounds since their last tour for 2005's Witching Hour. The brilliant light show helped, to be sure, but they've also become better live musicians. The set was dark-hued and very intense, with analog synths blaring like guitars at a rock show as the singers cooed in English and Bulgarian and the beats pummeled the crowd. Not surprisingly, within a few songs the older folks that showed up for the free show were hightailing it the hell out of there. Their loss--by the time Ladytron had revved up into full-on rave mode to blast out inevitable closer "Destroy," the electro-pop outfit could lay claim to one of the summer's most impressive performances.

AOL blogger Chromewaves agrees...read his review here.

Though we didn't record the T.O. gig, we do have some fantastic live songs from Ladytron's concert at 12 Galaxies in San Francisco . Plus, their music video for ace new single "Ghosts."

After the jump, of course...

After months of online bickering--er, debates--and two rounds of voting, 178 music critics, broadcasters and bloggers (including myself) have compiled a shortlist of the "best" Canadian albums of the past year which will now compete to win the third annual Polaris Prize's bragging rights and $20,000.

Modeled after Britain's Mercury Music Prize (and, to a lesser degree, America's Shortlist prize), the goal is to spotlight Canadian albums which, despite the still-surging indie scene, were being ignored in major Juno categories because of the industry awards' sales requirements.

Arguably, Polaris has overshot in the opposite direction--last year Feist lost to little-known Montreal band Patrick Watson, but later won the Shortlist Prize and an armload of Junos--however this year's list is a respectable cross-section of the Canadian indie scene, ranging from Vancouver retro-rockers Black Mountain, Winnipeg folk-punks The Weakerthans, Ottawa alt-country crooner Kathleen Edwards, Montreal indie-pop vets Stars, London rapper Shad, Toronto electro-rockers Holy F**K and Charlottetown power-pop newcomers Two Hours Traffic.

Interviews and more after the jump...

For the third year in a row, Canada's music critic nation--journalists, broadcasters and bloggers alike--have pooled opinions to determine who deserves to slap "Polaris Prize-winner" on their resume and deposit $20K in their bank account.

Modeled after Britain's Mercury Music Prize, the goal was to shine a little northern light on some excellent records unfairly ignored by industry awards like the Junos. The first year went to deserving avant-pop violinist Final Fantasy. Round two was handed to Patrick Watson, a quasi-controversial consensus pick which I, not having personally been inside the mysterious room of award awarding, assume was chosen based on certain jurors feeling Feist needed neither the spotlight nor the cash, excellence be damned.

This year's prize is still in process, with the Top 40 long list released this morning based on every voter's first round picks. Three of my top five picks made the long list--including Holy F*ck, Shad and The Constantines, with almost all of my nearly-made-its showing up as well. I wasn't too surprised that Toronto ethno-soul outfit Lal failed to appear. Though their new album remains worthy of consideration, I'm more than happy to move Ghislain Poirier up the rankings.

But I was pretty shocked that surging electro-rock geeks Woodhands didn't even place.

The band's singer/synther/keytarist Dan Werb and off-the-chain drummer Paul Banwatt have been riding a wave of buzz for months, fuelled by Heart Attack, their recently-released album of dirty, poppy dance anthems, as well as their wonderfully unhinged live show.

Woodhands is exactly the kind of exciting young band that Polaris was purpose-built for. But while they're sadly out of the running for the award, with Heart Attack about to drop Stateside they still have a good shot at winning over the world.

The full "long list" and some footage of Woodhands in Beijiing after the jump...

Holy F*ck! Radiohead figured out how to make more money off their pay-what-you-will "In Rainbows" release. The ever-unconventional rockers have separated new single 'Nude' into five "stems"--b­ass, voice, guitar, strings/fx and drums--all of which are available on iTunes.

Then you can buy 'em all, remix the parts and upload them here.

Currently, leading the pack is the mix by Toronto's Juno-nominated, Lou Reed-approved indie electronic instrumentalists Holy F*ck. But hey, you stand a chance to as everyone's efforts get voted on by the masses. Voting ends on May 1 so get your remix on.

But...

After an interminable two hours of red carpet coverage--during which we learned that a) Billy Ray lets Miley Cyrus wear way too much eye makeup; b) Nelly Furtado looks creepy with dyed blond eyebrows and c) the Plain White Ts guy wrote "Hey There Delilah" for an actual Delilah who still won't date him--it's finally time for the 50th Grammy awards, and our adventures in live-blogging, to begin.

And we're off...wheee!