Side Project? Causing a much larger buzz with his solo project, Alexisonfire guitarist and vocalist Dallas Green is teaming up with Vagrant Records to try and make an impact stateside with his solo, folk rock side project, City and Colour. The lead single, and catchiest song from Green to date, “Sleeping Sickness” could make quite the splash at Triple A radio in January when he will also be embarking on a U.S. headlining tour. Check out the video here

Success via Trailer: M.I.A. saw a great deal of success in 2008 mostly due to a widely publicized trailer for summer blockbuster, “Pineapple Express” which features a good amount of the song, however it was not on the soundtrack. Swedish singer Lisa Miskovsky has started to generate some buzz with a piece of her song, “Still Alive” which is featured in a video game trailer for a popular game called “Mirror’s Edge”. The soundtrack features only this song and remixes of it. Could strong video game sales possibly help push the song to radio?

Back to Canada: A new band making its way onto radio with their blend of indie rock is Arkells recognizable, raspy and raw vocals help drive songs like lead single, “Oh, The Boss is Coming!” and the first track on their new album, “Deadlines”. Bluesy, with hard-hitting vocals, it sounds like they may have something going on here.

Changing gears to something more mainstream friendly is a band that you may instantly relate to power pop, emo rockers Motion City Soundtrack, and that is D.C. band You, Me, and Everyone We Know who sound like they belong on next year’s Warped Tour with catchier songs than the ones most concert-going tweens have been high on. They just released their 2nd free EP this year that can be downloaded here, which is even more pop friendly than their first it features some sweet, 3 minute tracks like “Colorful Language” & “Sometimes We Have Too Much Fun”.

Quick Picks:

Tupelo Honey – “Morphine”- Strong rock band that still needs to get signed.

The Parlor Mob – “Carnival of Crows” - Zeppelin-esque, Roadrunner Records band

Cajun Dance Party – “Amylase”- London indie rockers who have probably never tried Gumbo.

Sam Roberts – “Detroit ‘67” – Another popular Canadian, new album out in the U.S, on February 17, 2009.

Soundcheck is written by Dallas Osborn who currently attends San Francisco State University and works on the Live 105 (KITS) Action Team.