Ridley Bent 
Who: Ridley Bent
What: the good, the bad and the ugly
Where: Vancouver, BC
To Contact: MapleMusic, 30 St. Clair Ave. W., #103, Toronto, ON M4V 3A1 (416) 961-4332.

You can't not listen to this guy. He's an extraordinary storyteller, a vivid, character-driven wordsmith, who also plays guitar. Produced by ex Bass Is Base's Chin Injeti at Vancouver's Hipposonic, the album, Blam!, is a mix of country, folk, hip-hop and rock, played by an assortment of helping hands. But the music is really just garnish to Ridley Bent's voice and words. A cappella, he'd still be that good. Told in a cool ravaged country and western talk-twang, his fiction covers all the juicy topics - drugs, guns, murder, love and the wrong side of the law. On "David Harley's Son", a funky acoustic folk-rap, he tells of pa, a good man but bad pop (who is also a cop). You gotta hear it to believe it; it's a mini movie script. His cool cowboy style makes you believe he's gonna mosey on up to your front door, gun drawn. The funky finger-snapping story of "The Devil & Coltrane Henry" rocks, while "Rattlesnake Moonshine" is a loving ballad about his dead ma and insane pa. Fiction, people, fiction. That's what Ridley Bent creates, outlaw odes.

Elliott Brood 
Who: Elliott Brood
What: goldrush riff
Where: Toronto, ON
To Contact: 380 A Bloor Street W., Apt.2, Toronto, ON M5S 1X2 www.elliottbrood.ca.

The band handmade the package for its debut EP, Tin Type, a mini CD in a mini black cardboard book affixed with two old black and white photographs, and wrapped in a brown paper bag. Mark Sasso (banjo, guitar, words) and Casey Laforet (guitar, companion/keys, words) want to maintain mystique of what they're doing, this tribute to a bygone era, where banjo was king, hence a main promo shot of people surely long deceased. The pair both attended the same high school in Windsor, ON and separately relocated to Toronto, forming Elliott Brood in 2001. After meeting Steve Pitkin, he offered to co-produce the retro folkies with a penchant for bluegrass. The EP was recorded over two days in November, 2002, in the Orange Room. "Only At Home" is a riff-heavy banjo 'n' guitar scorcher and "Cadillac Dust" (for which a video has been made and can viewed on the band's Web site) a melancholy melodic stomp. Both stand out in this six-song collection. Pitkin has since joined the band, as the suitcase player. Seriously. Who needs a real drum kit?

Hundred Mile House 
Who: Hundred Mile House
What: soul to the devil
Where: Kitchener-Waterloo, ON
To Contact: Christine A. Liebig of Higher Ground Entertainment, , (519) 589-5923, www.hundredmilehouse.com

With three of the five songs co-produced by The Tea Party's Jeff Martin at Metalworks, the other two by Peter Boshart and Hundred Mile House bassist/vocalist Larsen Liebig at Sonicadisturbia, this self-titled EP is heavy, menacing and dark. Frontman Pete Thompson has the perfect threatening rock voice for such music, and Liebig, drummer Anthony Nuic and guitarist Ritch Meiszinger are a tight unit. It's surprising the Kitchener-Waterloo, ON band has been together for almost a decade, and that these five songs are the first to get national distribution (through MapleNationWide). It probably helps that the band is endorsed by Martin. In addition to producing, he also plays lead guitar on the first single, "Face to Face", piano on "Genevieve" and joins Liebig on backing vocals for "River's Edge". HMH has also opened for The Tea Party on many occasions. While Thompson has a predilection for the word "soul" in the lyrics of all five songs, musically the EP ranges from the pummeling lead track, "Face To Face" to the groovier "Rivers Edge" and creepier industrial-grind of "Genevieve". A full album is reportedly due in the New Year.

Credit: Toronto-based music journalist Karen Bliss is the Canadian news correspondent for Rollingstone.com, and operates a Canadian music industry news column, Lowdown, at http://jam.canoe.ca/JamColumnBliss/home.html. She also edits Gasoline, and contributes to Elle Canada, Audience, Tribute, Words & Music and others.

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