Hailing from Nova Scotia, Matt Mays & El Torpedo play the kind of music that simply sounds "Canadian", for all the positive and negative connotations that may come with the tag. We're talking big, rootsy rock in the grand tradition of Neil Young & Crazy Horse - thundering guitars, raw vocals, a healthy dose of twang - nothing groundbreaking, but when it's done right it's a marvelous thing. And Matt Mays does it pretty damn well.

Branching away from the more singer-songwriter feel of his first self-titled record, his second album (still self-titled but crediting his band El Torpedo), which is in stores today, comes out favouring the rock but settles into a well-balanced set of barn-burners and gentler numbers, with enough ragged glory to appeal to both classic rockers and alt.country types and still garner radio and video play. He fits quite well with what seems to be shaping up as a new generation of artists playing what you might call Canadiana (see also Kathleen Edwards, who provides guest vocals on "The Plan").

Mays was in town this past Sunday opening for The Soundtrack Of Our Lives at the Guvernment and will be playing a free CD release show at the Horseshoe tonight before heading out on cross-country tour with Blue Rodeo through April and May.