Essential tracks: Tegan and Sara, and more songs you should hear

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Closer

Tegan and Sara, from the forthcoming Heartthrob (Warner); lyric video streaming at teganandsara.com.

This new tune from the Calgary-bred look-alike twins is a darling, dance-y departure from the twosome's twee-rock of the past. In fact, the past is what the shimmering, uptempo anthem is all about. "I was writing about my youth – a time when we got closer by linking arms and walking down our school hallway, or talked all night on the telephone about every thought or experience we'd ever had," Tegan Quin told Rolling Stone. "It wasn't necessarily even about hooking up or admitting your feelings back then."

While Quin allows that the song would be an "okay song to make out to," it is hardly the silk-sheet stuff of Barry White or the sultry he-she fare of Britain's XX. It swirls and bleeps electronically before hitting the adorable rush of the chorus – "I won't treat you like you're typical."

Explains Quin: "All I intended was to write something sweet that reminded the listener of a time before sex, complicated relationships, drama and heartbreak."

Those things, like pimples, would come soon enough.

Rock

Ziggy Stardust, from The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and The Spiders From Mars (covers album, Paper Bag); free download here.

Ziggy played … banjo? Backwoods rockers Elliott Brood, as part of a special giveaway collection celebrating Toronto indie label Paper Bag's 10th anniversary, go glam and galactic, but not without their trademark pluck.

Folk

Years

Amelia Curran, from Spectators (Six Shooter); streaming at http://www.ameliacurran.com

"It's nowhere near sunset, and baby, we've got years yet." Set to organ and acoustic guitar, the East Coast songstress sings wistfully and in reflection about life choices and generational fears. Strong Joni Mitchell influence here, sounds like.

Rock

Boozophilia

Low Cut Connie, from Call Me Sylvia (independent); free download at http://www.lowcutconnie.com/index.html

A bouncy piano riff recalls the Captain and Tennille's Love Will Keep us Together, but the loosey-goosey tune is not about smooth sailing. It rocks, rolls and boozes on the darkest sides of towns.

Video: Rock

Yet Again

Grizzly Bear; streaming at youtube.com

It all seems dreamy: After a figure skater breaks through the ice, she finds herself first at a neon-lit carnival and then manages a ride home from a campfire hobo. Back in her suburban bedroom, though, she totally loses her grip, freaking out as if an East German judge has just given her the lowest score ever. Directed by Emily Kai Bock.