Toronto is smack in the middle of Canadian Music Week, and as part of it, the aforementioned label put on a showcase at a little bar in Kensington Market to display some recently-signed talent (as well as their venerable, at least in rock & roll years, owners). Murder is expanding again to include bands other than Sloan, which can only mean good things. And, in almost every case, it did.

I missed the first two bands at the actual showcase, but I’ve had the great pleasure of seeing the first, Will Currie & the Country French, before. As many would attest, they are an excellent match for the label. They’re incredibly young, but have great musicianship; their music is full of breezy pop melodies and tight hooks, and the piano work is really well done. I have the demo they sold at that show for the remarkable price of $1, and it’s tighter and better produced than some recent full-length albums. Their EP will be out on murderecords sometime this year, and rest assured, there will be a review here!

The second band, Pony Da Look, is one I’ve yet to experience live; from what I understand, though, “experience” is a fairly appropriate word. Their music is very 80s influenced and awash in synthesizer and strange vocals. I’ll reserve full judgment, but I’ll say here that missing their set was not the disappointment of a lifetime.

I arrived in time to catch the slimmed-down Meligrove Band, now playing as a three-piece after the departure of guitarist/synth player Andrew Scott (yes, he’s heard the Sloan jokes!) of The Bicycles. The last time I saw them was coming off of Planets Conspire, so it’s been a while, and there was a fair amount of material in their short set that I hadn’t heard before. They did add some Planets favourites, including the explosive single “Our Love Will Make the World Go Round”; the arrangements are remarkably different live, and especially without Andrew, but they are an excellent trio of musicians and put on a great show. And they even added a Local Rabbits cover as a tribute to murderecords. Nice work, lads.

Finally came Sloan. There had been some talk that they were going to pull out some “old favourites,” but we hadn’t realised to what extent; boy, were we surprised. Right off the top, their first two songs were both sides of a 7″ from the One Chord to Another era (“Stood Up” and “Same Old Flame”), and the third, “Take Good Care of the Poor Boy” – one of Jay Ferguson’s best! – from Between the Bridges. Truthfully, they could have ended there and I’d have been happy.

They didn’t, of course, and other surprises showed up as well (namely “Before I Do,” somewhat shortened from its album version and sounding great). Each of the four did one of their new songs, as well, from their upcoming record tentatively titled Parallel Play. Unfortunately, bassist Chris Murphy – now finding himself in a comfortable and secure familial situation – seems to have lost the ability to write playful, meaningful lyrics like he used to (see “Autobiography,” “The Marquee and the Moon”); new song “I’m Not a Kid Anymore”, while musically solid, featured lyrics far too much like “Will I Belong?” or similar to be completely great.

However, newly bearded guitarist Patrick Pentland and drummer Andrew Scott – the other one – pulled off a couple of solid ones (“Believe in Me” and “911″, respectively), both rocking rather admirably, and the former conjuring shades of a more driving and uptempo sequel to “I Understand”. Guitarist Ferguson regaled us with a curious number titled “Witch’s Wand,” written in a surprisingly low vocal range, and complete with expected catchy chorus. Certainly all four were a welcome glimpse into the content of what will be their ninth (!) studio album, likely a fair bit shorter than their last effort – Never Hear the End of It was thirty tracks long, plus two bonus!

When all is said and done, Sloan definitely still knows how to put on a tight show, most of the time – and judging by the new murderecords lineup, they know how to find other bands who can do the same. If this is the new face of the label, I’ll be driving the bandwagon.