NXNE has grown like Galactus over the years, and might soon be ready to eat a small planet or two. And in our so-far short lifetime, Backstage Rider has been all about bringing you the rock (and punk and alt-folk and dance and stuff). Here we combine bands we’ve covered, with bands that are playing this week at NXNE. See what we did there? Clever, no?

HEY YOU! You could WIN A COPY OF SMILE SMILE’S LATEST CD “TRUTH ON TAPE”. Also: read on about this Texas twosome and find out why The Swell Season aren’t the only folkies who can date and break up and still make good music. Make with the click-through action.

MUSIC IS POWER! And we’ve got a nice little Bonnaroo playlist to help you get through the fact that this weekend you’re probably doing laundry. We’ve got music from Kings of Leon, Phoenix, Temper Trap, The Dead Weather, Crystal Method, Nas and Damian Marley, and, as they say, “more.”

Heard of Turin Brakes? No? If you were living in the UK in the early aughties, you’d not be able to escape their brand of edgy folk-rock. But 10 years on, Olly Knights and Gale Paridjanian find themselves having to reintroduce the band and their new album Outbursts… but are all the more relaxed for it. Read on in this exclusive Backstage Rider interview.

UK folksters Turin Brakes hit the West Coast for their first North Uhmerican gigs in 5 years in Vancouver. Check out the extensive gallery from the May 9 Venue show.

Yeasayer’s Vancouver visit was prepped and primed and ready to go off. And it did. Just not at the levels of nuclear awesomeness that many of us expecting. Find out why, and peruse the exhaustive – well, okay, there’s 12 photos – gallery.

Moody ambient music begins! Shadows spread across a white curtain! The shroud drops! Snazzy lights and dry ice! Gritty soul voices and new wave electronic beats! Welcome to world of London’s The XX live. Click through for pics from the show and a wee roundup of their April 13 show.

Wild animations, soaring vocals and a stunning musical performance: Sigur Ros’ Jónsi launched his visual and aurally stunning live show in Vancouver on April 6 in support of his brand new solo album, Go. All hail Iceland and its incredible and bonkers musical exports.

An ode to Lou Rhodes, the flaming redhead singer-songwriter of loveliness, and her brand new new album One Good Thing. Oh, and there’s an interview, too.