Broken Social Scene

If you think California indie rock bands are overflowing and incestuous in their lineups, take a trip up to the Great White North. Canada's Broken Social Scene is an amalgam of Toronto indie musicians initially comprised of Kevin Drew of K.C. Accidental and By Divine Right's Brendan Canning. They added Charles Spearing from Do Make Say Think, Evan Cranley from Stars and Emily Haines and James Shaw from Metric to round out the sound. Leslie Feist (who now makes beautiful music under the Feist moniker) also joined, along with Toronto local luminaries Andrew Whiteman, Justin Peroff and Jason Collett. That's right, Broken Social Scene was an 11-person ensemble before they recorded and unveiled You Forgot It In People, which worked because of the singular-yet-eccentric vision of all the people involved, creating a work of sheer beauty with their tight pop structures and lush sonic textures. In between their second and third albums, the band cranked out a less inspired sounding compilation of B-sides entitled Bee Hives before releasing their self-titled and heavily orchestrated 2005 album with contributions from members of the Dears and Raising the Fawn.