One Hundred Dollars

Steeped in the heart of country music like few others, Toronto, ON's One Hundred Dollars foster provocative thought in socially conscious songs, striking the perfect balance between meaningful lyrics and musical purity. My Father's House is the second volume in their ambitious regional seven-inch series, in which they write songs pertaining to different cities across Canada and have labels from said cities release them as singles. Blocks in Toronto came first and My Father's House arrives on Vancouver's Deranged Records, with a song inspired by that city's impoverished citizenship. Eschewing the obvious anti-Olympics stance (though it's still tangible), Simone Schmidt and Ian Russell conjure a harrowing tale of Aboriginal-Settler relations while touching upon the devastating fatality rate of female sex workers in British Columbia. On "The Digger," Paul Mortimer and Schmidt take on the working-class travails of quarry men and miners while also decrying their environmental impact. It's heady, wondrous stuff by one of the best young bands anywhere.