Last week venerable Canadian blog, Hero Hill, began an amibitous and commendable undertaking by way of the Canadian Mixtape Project. The goal here is to give exposure to great Canadian artists by providing collections of tracks organized by their province of origin. I’m not sure if each province/territory will be featured, but, if the first installment is any indication, it’s going to be a great way to discover some excellent Canadian music that you otherwise might not have had the opportunity to check out.

Beginning with Nova Scotia, the first mixtape is an excellent collection of East Coast indie music that highlights the diverse array of talent to be found among the ospreys (the national bird of NS). Not only does it include some established heavy-hitters like Wintersleep (my 2007 band of the year) and Joel Plaskett, but it also features lesser known (at least in these parts) bands the likes of Fall Horsie (whose debut, From the Seam of Doors, a Cone of Light, is a great listen, by the way) and Daniel Ledwell (the voice of In-Flight Safety—also included in the mix—whose upcoming solo release, Two Over Seven, is showing some definite promise). Of course, one of my favourite parts of this diverse collection is definitely the stuff I haven’t heard of before, like the smooth rhymes of Ghettosocks or the eccentric sounds of Ghost Bees.

Let me tell you, if I hadn’t already been tempted to pack up and take off to Halifax (as I said in my Sleepless Nights review), then you better believe I’m practically packing my bags now!

Ontario looks to be up next in the mixtape series and my mind is pouring over who I’d want to see included. In fact, I’ve actually been asked to contribute the names of a few bands that I think ought to be mentioned. I’ll probably post my choices here at some point, but in the meantime feel free to suggest a few.

—

As for Nova Scotia, there’s only one band I can think of that I’d like to have seen on the list that wasn’t: Mardeen. So consider the excellent songs below (taken from Mardeen’s 2007 debut full length, Read Less Minds, which was previously featured as one of my top unsung albums of last year) my meager contribution to the excellent first installment of the Canadian Mixtape Project:

Mardeen - Kids

Mardeen - Telephones

Grab a digital copy of this album here.