Sunset Rubdown, Nelly Furtado and Houdini Lead This Week's Calendar of New Canadian Albums

The official end of summer brings an impressive crop of new Canadian album releases.

Among the most anticipated is Hou I'm Meant To Be, the long-awaited posthumous album from Toronto rapper Houdini. Listen to it here. This week also brings the release of 7, the comeback album from Nelly Furtado, which sees her embracing a global pop sound.

Also this week: Montreal prog-rock auteur Alex Henry Foster, acclaimed roots singer-songwriters Kim Beggs, Layla Zoe and Howard Gladstone, Toronto's Ron Korb, free-wheeling Hamilton rock outfit Golden Feather, Quebec hyperpop artist Virginie B, Juno-winning rock singer JJ Wilde and post-punk combo The Meringues.

Find a full calendar under this week's album of the week.

Album of the Week: Sunset Rubdown, Always Happy To Explode

When Canadian indie rock worthies Sunset Rubdown called it quits in 2009 after releasing three acclaimed albums, chances of a reunion looked bleak. Reportedly inspired by a vivid dream, main-man Spencer Krug (Wolf Parade, Frog Eyes, Moonface, Swan Lake) decided a couple of years ago to put the band back together, albeit with some personnel changes. The result, one made public today (Sept. 20) with a new album, Always Happy To Explode, justifies that decision.

The record features a few shifts in sound, notably the absence of electric guitar. Krug plays crisp acoustic guitar and adds keyboards on some songs, complementing the work of Camilla Wynne also on keyboards and Q~chord, and, for the first time, vocal harmonies from all four members are featured on one track. These changes accentuate the baroque chamber pop aspects of the Sunset Rundowwn sound to compelling effect, as on the six-minute epic "Cliche Town," while Krug's intense and expressive vocals remain in fine shape.

The new material was arranged and rehearsed at Krug’s house on Vancouver Island, then recorded at a Gabriola Island studio, The Noise Floor, with producer/engineer Jordan Koop (Krug’s now frequent collaborator). Of note: Always Happy To Explode is released on Pronounced Kroog, the self-made label on which Krug now releases new music under his own name, as well as reissues from past projects. Sunset Rubdown are back with a bang, and happily so.

Check the full calendar of new and upcoming album releases here.

September

9: ASKO, S/T (Dine Alone)

13: Colin Stetson, The love it took to leave you (Envision Records)

13: The Dears, No Cities Left: The Definitive Anniversary Edition (Outside Music)

13: Dear Rouge, Lonesome High (Pheromone Recordings/Cadence Music Group)

13: Sarah Davachi, The Head As Form’d In The Crier’s Choir ( Late Music)

13: Nemahsis, Verbatim

13: Joel Plaskett, One Real Reveal

13: Snotty Nose Rez Kids, Red Future

13: Chastity - Chastity

16: The Meringues, Pavlova's Dog

18: Emmett Jerome, Rocky Mountain Son ( 604/Light Organ Records)

18: The Free Label, Songs for Sienna (Westwood Recordings

18: daysormay, MODERATION ( AWAL)

19: Layla Zoe, Into The Blue - Live In Concert

20: Golden Feather, Release

20: Sunset Rubdown, Always Happy to Explode

20: Alex Henry Foster, A Measure of Shape and Sounds (Hopeful Tragedy)

20: Kim Beggs, Beneath Your Skin

20: Ontarians, More How It Is

20: Molly Annelle, Junebug (604 Records)

20: Kate Trajan, Ancient Fires (Pastiche Records)

20: Houdini, Hou I'm Meant To Be

20: Virginie B, Astral 2000

20: Spitty, Motherland

20: JJ Wilde - Vices

20: Ron Korb, Global Canvas

20: Craig Robertson, Running The Other Way

20: Jesse Waldman & Marc L'Esperance, The Shimmering Divide

20: Howard Gladstone, Crazy Talk

20: Nelly Furtado, 7

27: Leif Vollebekk, Revelation (Secret City Records)

27: Goldie Boutilier, The Actress ( ONErpm)

27: Sharon, Lois & Bram, Elephant Show Stoppers! (Elephant Records Inc./Red Brick Songs)

27: Julian Taylor, Pathways (Howling Turtle, Inc.)

27: Bryn Roberts, Aloft (Elastic Recordings)

27: Tea Fannie, It's All Love

27: Andy Colonico, Daytime Broker

27: Mustafa, Dunya (Arts & Crafts)

27: Contrived, Addicted to Sadness (LHM Records)

27: Hua Li 化力, ripe fruit falls but not in your mouth -remix (Next Door Records)

27: Bryn Roberts ft Matt Penman and Quincy Davis, ALOFT (Elastic Recordings)

27: André Ethier, Cold Spaghetti

27: Tia Wood, Pretty Red Bird

27: Eddy Ruyter, Waves (Heart Dance Records)

27: Blue Moon Marquee, New Orleans Sessions

27: Michael Bernard Fitzgerald, Horizon Lines

October

3: Cadence Weapon, ROLLERCOASTER (Deluxe)(MNRK Music)

4: Mia Kelly, To Be Clear

4: Devarrow, Heart Shaped Rock (Paper Bag Records)

4: Christo Graham, Music For Horses (We Are Busy Bodies)

4: The Low Sixes, The Oshawa Tree ( Forge Again Records)

4: Mosaic, S/T (Cornerstone Records)

4: Ada Lea, notes EP (Next Door Records)

4: Pressure Pin, Polyurethane (Mothland)

4: Emblematics, Removal

4: Caribou, Honey (City Slang)

4: Charlie A'Court, San Palarino

4: Chris Gostling, Forest City Town Country

11: Klô Pelgag, Abracadabra (Secret City Records)

11: Secondhand Dreamcar, Answer The Call

11: The August Arrival, Hillsides

11: Jadea Kelly, Weather Girl

16: Jane's Party, The Best of Wild in the Woods Vol. 2

18: Twin Flames, Hugging the Cactus

18: The Free Label, Songs for Sienna (Westwood Recordings)

18: Nicky Lawrence, Ugly Black Woman (Gypsy Soul Records)

18: YASSiN & Sean Terrio, Just Try (Believe Digital)

18: Wolf Castle, Waiting For The Dawn (Forward Music)

18: Sean Davis Newton, Bird Brain

18: Nap Eyes, The Neon Gate (Paper Bag Records)

18: Shawn Mendes, Shawn

18: Wild Rivers, Better Now (Nettwerk Music Group)

22: Léolo, Mainland

25: Simbo, SOUNDSORCERER VOL.2

25: Victime, En conversation avec (Mothland)

25: Ron Sexsmith, Cobblestone Runway & Retriever (limited edition vinyl & Cd reissues)

25: Ollee Owens, Nowhere To Hide

25: Maddee Ritter, Songs about Love & Death (Best Breakfast/Majesticsilk)

25: LEAHY, Live In Concert

25: T. Thomason, Tenderness (Six Shooter Records)

25: Diana Panton, soft winds and roses

25: Lia Kuri, Motherland

November

1: Jeremie Albino, Our Time in the Sun ( Good People Record Co./Easy Eye Sound)

1: Sarah Neufeld / Richard Reed Parry / Rebecca Foon, First Sounds (One Little Independent/Envision Records)

1: Jennifer Castle, Camelot (Solstice Radio)

1: No Codes - Usual Suspects

1: OMBIIGIZI, Shame (Arts & Crafts)

1: SHEBAD, Music is the Answer

1: The Henrys, Secular Hymns and Border Songs (Bandcamp)

1: Skye Wallace, The Act of Living ( Tiny Kingdom)

1: The Matinee, End of Scene - B-Sides EP

8: Les Dales Hawerchuk, Attaque à cinq (Bravo)

8: Les Breastfeeders , La ville engloutie (Bonsound)

8: ROSIER, elle veille encore l

8: The Tragically Hip, Up To Here (box set)

8: Louie Sanchez, S/T (Next Door Records)

8: We Are Wolves, title TBA

8: Yoo Doo Right, From the Heights of Our Pastureland (Mothland)

8: Les Dales Hawerchuk, Attaque à cinq ( Bravo)

15: Alvvays, S/T -10th anniversary vinyl only reissue

15: Marcus Trummer, From The Start (Gypsy Soul Records)

15: His His, EP, Good Gold Cassette (Victory Pool Records

15: Tim Baker, Full Rainbow of Light

20: MOONRIIVR, Tascam Series EPs (Victory Pool Records)

December

5: Carmen Braden, A Hard Light

6: Lubalin, haha, no worries (Cult Nation)

13: Menno Versteeg, Why We Run ( Royal Mountain Records)

January

17: Marlaena Moore, Because You Love Everything (Session/Bonsound)

31: Gus Engelhorn, The Hornbook (Secret City)