Canada’s newest and most refreshing sound, The Magnetic North, have officially broken the ice.

The Magnetic North features brothers Paul and Stephen van Kampen, as well as Dan Wilson and Stefan Smith. They’ve made waves with their minimalist self titled EP released in 2010, and now they've arrived in a place vastly different from where they started with a remarkable revolution of style.

Bigger, louder and better than ever, The Magnetic North have tapped into the complexities of ageless rock and roll, and infused it with sensible pop hooks, resulting in a raucous and emotionally charged new sound.

The group's carefully crafted songs and turbulent lyrics have been compared to Radiohead, Arcade Fire, Patrick Watson and Beck.

The musicians of The Magnetic North have performed alongside an impressive roster of talent including: The Acorn, The Barr Brothers, Elliott Brood, The Handsome Furs, Blue Rodeo, The Weakerthans, The Sadies and Ohbijou.

Although 2011 was a massive break through year for The Magnetic North, 2012 is going to bring them much further. They will be recording their next full length album in collaboration with SAvK (Stephen van Kampen's solo project), and are looking forward to several monumental concerts including; Headlining the East Village Street Fair and performing at the Calgary Folk Music Festival.

In 2011, standout concerts include their performance at The Lilac Festival and as a headlining act for the TransCanada Alberta Music Series.

Aside from creating some of Calgary's most exciting new music, The Magnetic North have also acted as a catalyst to promote Calgary's emerging bands through hosting a series of concerts called the ‘Collage’ series. They are also known for hosting charitable fundraisers, such as a relief concert geared towards the Horn of Africa and Somali relief that took place at the Cantos Music Foundation as part of the First Thursday’s series.

Upon release of their new album (expected to be complete in October / November) The Magnetic North are excited to spread their uniquely Calgarian brand of music all across Canada.

The Milk Carton Kids, a harmonizing, minimalist duo, use two guitars and two voices to create a new combination of back-porch Americana and classic folk. Relying on compelling narrative, the seamless interplay between their 1950’s acoustics, well-constructed harmony lines which play more like counterpoint melodies, and their natural stage chemistry, TMCK have drawn in and excited sold out crowds across North America since their formation in early 2011. The serendipitous meeting between the two (Kenneth Pattengale & Joey Ryan) led quickly to a shelving of the solo careers each had been pursuing. While neither had been compelled to such collaboration with any of his peers before, an effortless musical complement, fast personal fondness, and like-minded view toward how to present the collaboration to their fans influenced the duo’s formation and, almost immediately, began drawing praise from varied sources. While press has indeed been kind to the duo, their spirit of independence compelled them to release their first two albums on their own label directly to their fans for free.