Blue Rodeo's Jim Cuddy and Greg Keelor on having fun making music

Singer-songwriter Greg Keelor's farmhouse was the birthplace of Blue Rodeo's most acclaimed album, Five Days in July, so the band felt it fitting to return there to record new work during their 25th anniversary year.

The familiar setting set a comfortable, relaxed tone for what became the country-tinged Canadian rock band's new album, In Our Nature, according to Keelor and co-frontman Jim Cuddy.

"It's OK to have fun making music. It's OK. You don't have to, you know, torture yourself for your art. It's actually good to be relaxed. Keep your senses keen, but be relaxed," Cuddy told CBC News.

In the attached video,Cuddy and Keelor, who have been performing together since their school days, talk to CBC's Zulekha Nathoo about recording at the farm, modifying their live shows to adjust for Keelor's tinnitus and continuing to make music together.

The band celebrated its silver anniversary with a tour earlier this year. In Our Nature debuts on Tuesday.

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Arcade Fire posts Reflektor online after album leak

After months of teasing the release of its anticipated new album, Montreal band Arcade Fire has released Reflektor five days early — streaming it from the group's website and via YouTube — to combat an online leak.

The Grammy-winning rock troupe directed fans to its website arcadefire.com on Thursday evening after a low-quality version of the album turned up on the internet. The album had been set for release on Tuesday.

On the band's site and on YouTube, Reflektor's 14 songs play as a backdrop to a Brazilian film titled Black Orpheus.

Montreal-based Arcade Fire won the top Grammy, album of the year, for its last release, 2011's The Suburbs. The rock troupe released its latest album, Reflektor, five days earlier than its Tuesday target.

The leak appeared alongside social media claims that a few music stores began selling the album early, reportedly Rollercoaster Records in Kilkenny, Ireland, and a Czech Republic retailer.

The rock collective has engaged in a lengthy promotional campaign for the new album, including playing shows under fake names, hiring graffiti artists to blitz neighbourhoods with the album's logo (in chalk) and high-profile performances on Saturday Night Live and The Colbert Report.

On Monday evening, Arcade Fire will perform a special concert from Capitol Studios in Los Angeles.

CBC Music and NPR will livestream the hour-long performance of songs from Reflektor, beginning at 10 p.m. ET.

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