Fresh from DJing shows at last week’s Festival Mode and Design, The Tanuki Project has launched its trippin’ debut album.

During live shows, the Montreal-based electro-rock band creates an intense audio-visual experience with a video director projecting visual images set to the hypnotic live music. Now we can recreate the experience at home with Playground for Everyone that includes 52 minutes of downloadable visual material.

The rhythmic drumming and trip-hop beats had us strutting around the house like it was our very own catwalk.

$7.99 on iTunes.

Rufus might be staging operas and playing Carnegie Hall, but our favorite Wainwright sibling has always been Martha.

We adore her even more with the release of Sans Fusils, ni souliers, à Paris, a live interpretation of Edith Piaf’s lesser-known songs. The tunes are both romantic and tortured (just like Piaf) with Martha’s folksy voice wobbling in all the right places.

Is it unfair to play favourites in families? Je ne regrette rien.

$9.99 on iTunes

Martha Wainwright in concert, 7:30 p.m., June 24, Salle Andre-Mathieu, 475 Boulevard de l'Avenir, Laval, 450-667-2327, tickets here ($28.25), www.admission.com

Remember when you could convince them that Coldplay was "kids music?"

Now that you're stuck with Bingo and Itsy Bitsy Spider, might as well jazz it up.

Toronto-based Songs Just for Me inserts your children's names into traditional kids songs to surprising effect.

You may need earplugs after the tenth playing, but we can guarantee your 4-year-old will be an instant groupie.

Order your custom CD ($19.99) at www.justforme.com

It takes a certain kind of chutzpah to sing country music on Saint Laurent Boulevard.

Plateau hipsters can’t get enough of singer-songwriter Li’l Andy and now the cowboy crooner has added a new layer to his sound by blending country-noir with traditional gospel. His third album  All Who Thirst Come to the Waters is a selection of rich and reflective tunes recorded among the pews of 19th century St. Jean Baptiste Cathedral. 

Yeeha and amen to that.

Li'l Andy’s All Who Thirst Come to the Waters CD launch 9 p.m., tickets $8, tonight at Sala Rossa, 4848 St-Laurent Blvd., Montreal, 514-284-0122, www.casadelpopolo.com

Fancy some jazz?

From 1920s bebop to the invention of '60s freestyle, Miles Davis was no one-note wonder. The legendary trumpeter is celebrated at the new exhibit We Want Miles, a multi-media show that features listening booths and free jazz concerts highlighting the man’s musical genius. 

Besides making iconic records, he inspired creations by Jean-Michel Basquiat (three of his paintings are on display here) and photographers like Irving Penn and Anton Corbijn.  

Trust us cats, you’ll blow your top.

Tickets $15, April 30-August 29, Jean-Noël Desmarais Pavilion, 1380 Sherbrooke St. W., Montreal, 514-285-2000, www.mmfa.qc.ca

We’ve giggled our way through the Shopaholics and devoured the works of of Plum Sykes and Candace Bushnell.

Just in time for poolside lounging, Montreal author Catherine McKenzie makes her chick lit debut with Spin, this decade’s answer to Bridget Jones with a smidge of Gossip Girl drama. To land her dream job, aspiring music writer Kate Sandford is forced into rehab to become a celebrity stalker.

This frothy little novel is best served with a fruity umbrella drink.

$14.43 at Amazon.ca

Meg and Jack ooze cool, so when they toured our every province and territory, we felt hip by association.

Shot on 16mm in the summer of 2007, White Stripes Under Great White Northern Lights follows the non-siblings from coast to coast on a series of planned and impromptu concerts. They jam with elders in Iqaluit, sing with commuters on a Winnipeg city bus and perform at a bowling alley in Saskatoon.

We’re red, white and cool.

Tickets from $8, 9 p.m. on March 11 at Cinéma du Parc, 3575 Parc Avenue, Montreal, 514-281-1900, www.cinemaduparc.com
Limited Edition Box Set ($259.99) available March 16 at www.whitestripes.com

When little Saxon unearths his Dad’s old turntables (and Metallica collection) and Vivienne becomes a backstage baby, make sure they don’t become the next It’s All Gone Pete Tong by protecting their hearing with these cool muffs.

Called Peltor Hearing Protectors (let’s keep that between us), the adjustable hot pink and bright blue earphones shield little ears from harmful noises while letting in ambient sound at hockey games, concerts, and parades.

Rock on, mom.

Age 1 and up. $39.95 at www.dandelionkids.ca

Had we known we could bring snacks, we’d have got into live classical music years ago.

There’s no need for cultural apathy with Les Mélodînes lunch-hour concerts at Place des Arts. Each Thursday until April, the Studio-théâtre opens its doors to brown baggers and top-notch musicians like pianist Daniel Moran and classical guitarist Daniel Bolshoy. And, if you’re looking for something pretty to catch the eye of that handsome oboist, carry your lunch in this.

But please leave the crunchy carrots at home.

Tickets $8, Les Mélodînes, 12:10 – 12:50 pm, February 18 to April 8, Studio-théâtre, Place des Arts, 175 Ste-Catherine Street W., Montreal, 514-842-2112, www.laplacedesarts.com

Those days of waiting until 4 a.m. to catch the latest hot DJ set have lost their appeal.

Thankfully our favorite Montreal turntablist Misstress Barbara has come out from behind her mixers with I’m No Human. This debut album blends her signature synth sounds with drums, bass and actual (gasp) lyrics. We love the catchy "I’m Running" single with Sam Roberts, the electro version of Leonard Cohen’s "Dance Me to the End of Love" and the newly released remix of "Four on the Floor," sung in English, French and Italian.

She performs with her band Girls On A Ducati tomorrow night at the very civilized hour of 9 p.m.

February 4, 9 p.m. Club Soda, 1225 St-Laurent Blvd., Montreal, tickets from $20, 514-908-9090, www.geg.ca

I’m No Human, $7.99 on iTunes.