Here at Fast Forward, we cast our nets wide to capture the best new music out there. Try as we might, though, it’s inevitable that some releases will avoid our grasp, and for one reason or another, won’t get the coverage they deserve. In the interest of clearing out our stockpile, here’s a grab bag of recent EPs, re-releases and other albums worth a second look.

In brief (EPs)

I SEE ROWBOATS — Hide & Seek Behind the Throne (Independent)

With their spacious arrangements and elaborate instrumentation (strings, glockenspiel and melodica dot most of the tracks), I See Rowboats have all the earmarks of another hip Toronto-Montreal collective. But these Haligonians replace the Broken Social Scene bombast with sombre song-craft, leading to a moodier – albeit less immediately grabbing – sound.

LOVE KILLS — Carry Me Home (Independent)

Just when you thought Toronto had revealed all its secrets, along comes Love Kills, a fantastic little band who have inexplicably failed to attract a buzz despite three promising EPs. Carry Me Home picks up where She’ll Break Your Heart and Teenage Girls left off, mixing heartachingly lovely harmonies with ultra-distorted Jesus and Mary Chain guitars.

PLANTS AND ANIMALS — With/Avec EP (Secret City)

It’s easy to forget just how effective a guitar, bass and drums combo can be. Plants and Animals don’t bury their songs in heavy distortion or complex polyrhythms (though the eight-minute “Guru/Sinnerman” does break out the Mars Volta/Santana Latin groove). Instead, they build songs the old-fashioned way — root the instruments in the Earth, pluck the vocals out of the air, and let nature do its thing. (Note: Plants and Animals open for Patrick Watson this Friday, November 30 at The Grand.)

DAVID VANDERVELDE — Nothin’ No (Secretly Canadian)

Vandervelde’s voice is a dead ringer for Marc Bolan, and his songs have more than a hint of T.Rex stomp, but there are far worse rock icons to imitate. The title track, co-written by ex-Wilcoer Jay Bennett, is the EP’s knockout, but all four songs are warmly produced, richly textured (backwards vocals and ambient noises abound) and extremely promising.

Old and Notable (Re-releases)

SEBADOH — The Freed Man (Domino)

This collection of lo-fi pioneers Lou Barlow and Eric Gaffney’s early recordings is more than just fodder for completists – the 52 tracks here (the longest of which is barely over two-and-a-half minutes) are an essential encapsulation of the appeal of bedroom recordings. It’s an emotionally honest, sparsely melodic, bitterly funny portrait of these indie-rock godfathers as young men.

SLY AND THE FAMILY STONE – Greatest Hits (Epic)

Originally released as a stopgap while Sly spent two years recording his funk-rock masterwork There’s a Riot Goin’ On, Greatest Hits features the Family Stone at their most ebullient. Few artists have made optimism as appealing as the genre-bending Sly, and tracks like equal-rights anthem “Everyday People” and the impossibly joyful “M’Lady” are every bit as entertaining today as four decades ago.

SUN RA AND HIS ASTRO-SOLAR INFINITY ARKESTRA – Strange Strings and The Night of the Purple Moon (Atavistic)

Ra said in 1966 (around the time of Strange Strings’ recording) that his music was his way of “painting pictures of another plane of existence.” One listen to “Worlds Approaching,” Strings’ lead track, and you might just believe him. Rumbling sheets of metal, cacophonous horns and even a 10-minute piece based around a squeaking door characterize Ra’s most wholeheartedly avant-garde release. Purple Moon, while a later recording, is also a far more accessible introduction to one of jazz music’s most bewildering figures, with its more conventional (but still unique) blues-based structures.

YOUNG MARBLE GIANTS – Colossal Youth (Domino)

While the band was popular among the NME crowd in its day, Young Marble Giants remain one of the post-punk movement’s under-sung heroes. Their sound — sharp, trebly guitars, melodic bass and a tinny drum machine supporting Alison Statton’s casual vocals — remains surprisingly modern, and Domino’s loving reissue (the triple-disc package features the entirety of YMG’s recorded output and extensive liners) will hopefully put them back in the ranks of Pere Ubu, The Fall and their other contemporaries.

Through the cracks (new releases)

FOG – Ditherer (Warp/EMI)

It’s a rare group that can evoke Fugazi one minute and The Band the next, but Minneapolis’s Fog do just that. With a little help from friends like Andrew Bird, Fog take a hodgepodge of influences, from math and psychedelic rock to country, and assemble them into a unique and eminently listenable whole.

GRAVY TRAIN!!!! – All the Sweet Stuff (Cochon Records)

Sexed up and dumbed down, Chunx, Funx, Hunx and Junx of Gravy Train!!!! constantly straddle the line between entertaining and annoying. With song titles like “Wutcha Wutcha Wutcha Wutcha Wutcha Wutcha Doin Tonite” and lyrics like “I don’t think we’ll need any sensual aides, like porn or your dad’s Viagra,” chances are you’ve already decided which side they’ll fall on for you.

JAMIE T – Panic Prevention (EMI)

“I think that’s the scrappiest version I’ve ever done of that in my life” says Jamie T at the end of “Brand New Bass Guitar,” and scrappy is probably the best term to describe his acoustic-bashing songwriting. Panic Prevention crackles with energy from start to finish, and while it’s not exactly innovative, it’s got more than enough raw hooks to carry it through. The American release features a guest spot by Lily Allen.

MONSTER BOBBY – Gaps (Hypnote)

Like The Magnetic Fields’ Steven Merritt, Monster Bobby gets a lot of mileage out of simple songs about love and heartbreak. Though the 17 tracks on Gaps run the gamut from twee ditties to glitch-pop, and more than half the songs clock in at under two minutes, there’s a sadness to them that gives the album a surprising weight.

THE WORLD/INFERNO FRIENDSHIP SOCIETY – Addicted to Bad Ideas: Peter Lorrie’s Twentieth Century (Chunksaah)

More albums should open with overtures. This concept album, based on the life of actor Peter Lorrie, lulls listeners into submission with its orchestral introduction before pounding them with melodic punk intensity and attention-grabbing lyrics (“I’m a fag, I’m a Jew, how do you do? That’s Mr. Anarchist to you”). The band, which can swell up to 30 members when the situation demands it, is on fire throughout. Proof that concepts and balls-out rock can co-exist happily.