Metric

Metric's 2003 debut, OLD WORLD UNDERGROUND, WHERE ARE YOU NOW?, was a statement of both resignation and resurrection: when the underground you once romanticized has given way to pre-fab Rebellion™, grab a shovel and start digging your own subterranean sanctuary. But spend enough time down and out of sight and you start feeling the need to come up for air. And when Metric did just that after a year of ceaseless, club-by-club conversions, they were confronted with a strangely beautiful sight: a crowd of people looking right back at them. The very fashionistas and consumerists they slyly satirized in songs like "Dead Disco," "Combat Baby" and "The List" were singing along with them. And it felt good.

That's the funny thing about the never-ending battle between pop and art - the goalposts keep changing. And for Metric's Emily Haines (vocals/synths), Jimmy Shaw (guitar), Josh Winstead (bass) and Joules Scott-Key (drums), the most exciting thing is being able to play for both sides. Over the course of 2004-05, Metric were everywhere, from MTV and commercial rock radio to French art-house cinemas (the band made a show-stopping cameo in Oliver Assayas' 2004 junkie drama CLEAN); depending on the night, you could find Emily playing sombre solo piano shows in churches, or diving off the stage at Toronto's Mod Club Theatre, where Metric played an unprecedented four sold-out nights in a row in January '05. This is a band comfortable making music for both the misfits as the masses. (continued on www.ilovemetric.com)