Tonight’s show at the Croc is something of a showcase for Canadian electro-pop, with Montreal-based solo artist Grimes set to open for Austra. The Toronto band’s icy synth worth garners a fair amount of comparisons to The Knife, something that Erin Thompson touched on in this week’s Short List:[Austra vocalist Katie] Stelamanis’ scintillating voice and the band’s gothic dance sound often gets them likened to the sharp Swedish techno duo The Knife–particularly Stelmanis to Knife/Fever Ray vocalist Karin Dreijer Andersson–and it’s an apt comparison. Stelmanis is leagues less creepy than Andersson, but Austra’s debut album, last May’s Feel It Break (which was shortlisted for Canada’s prestigious Polaris Prize this year, although it eventually lost out to, natch, The Arcade Fire’s The Suburbs), contains insistently propulsive tracks like “Beat and the Pulse” and “Lose It” that recall the cool, minimal sheen of The Knife’s classic Silent Shout. It’s music as hard and glittering as a disco ball.Tickets for the 8 p.m. show are $12.

01 BEAT AND THE PULSE by AUSTRA