IT HAPPENED IN 2004...
A WAVELENGTH YEAR IN REVIEW

JANUARY
* It-band-to-be Arcade Fire play their first sold-out show in Toronto at Sneaky Dee's.
* I Can Put My Arm Back On You Can't release their brilliantly packaged self-titled debut with a fiery show at Cinecycle.

FEBRUARY
* Wavelength celebrates our fourth anniversary with four days of amazing.
* Toronto is Great!!! The Compilation by Blocks Recording Club is released. The all-day show on Feb. 29 at Cinecycle is Toronto at its most Torontopic.
* The Drake Hotel opens and it is immediately clear that, like family Christmas parties, it's grown-ups upstairs and kids downstairs. Many get their first taste of the Underground music venue at the debut of Carl Wilson's Tin Tin Tin genre mash-up night.

MARCH
* Magneta Lane play their "infamous" second gig ever at The Silver Dollar.
* Dan Burke surprises fans with an impromptu rap with The Bar Mitzvah Brothers at the weewerk CMW showcase.

APRIL
* Dan Burke, once again in the news, gets into a fight with visiting U.S. garage-rock band The Hospitals at the Silver Dollar. Classic for those who saw it, another urban myth for those who didn't.
* Suck My Disc release their third compilation CD ...And Then There Were 3.
* Les Mouches release their full-length, You're Worth More To Me Than 1,000 Christians, with a show at The Music Gallery, where attendees wearing all-white attire get half-price admission. Those still recovering from their Dance Cave days are relieved that The Music Gallery doesn't own a black light.
* Braving "how does it feel to know you're not the centre of the universe anymore?" jokes aplenty, Toronto music geeks flee to Winnipeg to catch the Pixies.
* Doc Pickles settles in at the Drake, bringing to tears his raving, MC-craving fans every Sunday.

MAY
* Ninja High School play an amazing late-night guerrilla show at the CNE Bandshell. Audience keeps warm by playing soccer. Wolfgang keeps cool by stripping to his skivvies.
* Les Mouches' Owen Pallett blows everyone away with the debut of his solo project Final Fantasy at Wavelength.
* Three Gut Records celebrates their fourth anniversary with two packed parties at the Horseshoe.

JUNE
* Shameless Magazine, a Sassy for a new generation, is finally launched.
* The Track and Field festival outside of Guelph challenges Toronto to a duel in the backroads; Guelph wins (Toronto was wearing high heels).
* Wolf Parade, who still haven't played many shows outside Montreal, get signed to Sub Pop.
* Leslie Feist makes a surprise solo appearance at Wavelength, playing tracks from her big-in-France Let It Die disc (on Arts & Crafts) to an adoring crowd.
* Wavelength Zine Fundraiser II with Ninja High School, Cuff the Duke, Lullabye Arkestra and Ultra Magnus at the Dovercourt House. Matt Collins later found dead in men's washroom.
* Cocklength, a satirical play featuring... everyone, plays at the Drake and gets Rave Reviews (uh, from us).
* NXNE sucks again. Ten years in a row!

JULY
* Nick Flanagan, Comic Legend, starts L'afterparty and continues it as a monthly event - and if he gets his shit together, this will hopefully carry over into 2005. L'afterparty mixes DJ's, Comics, Dancing and over-promising of "special guests."
* The Hidden Cameras release Mississauga Goddam with a big dancin' party at Trinity St. Paul's Church. The sophomore disc for Rough Trade gets great reviews at home, yet an oddly mixed reaction abroad. Damn foreigners!

AUGUST
* Escape Goat Records has a little festival called With Friends Like This: A Celebration of Community.
* 20hz.ca: The Party - was there a reason there wasn't another party? Probably.
* Femme Generation surprise everyone with their tight little awesome EP that gets lots of praise from the press and the listeners (well, except for that one review we ran).
* 90 Minute Party started up. A fun way to kill afternoons on Sundays in Kensington before Wavelength. This should be starting up again next year when it gets nice out.
* Hard working ex-Oshawa band The Mark Inside scores a deal with MapleMusic.

SEPTEMBER
* The Creeping Nobodies release their long-awaited disc, Stop Movement Stop Loss.
* Good Grooming For Girls, the compilation fundraiser CD for Shameless comes out with a two-day roofraiser at Rancho.

OCTOBER
* Ladyfest Toronto displays its fine lady-crafted talent, primarily rocking the Gladstone.
* Doc Pickles leaves the Drake.
* Five minutes later: Doc takes back that statement.
* Four-fifths of the Constantines unveil Horsey Craze, a Neil Young cover band.
* A peaceful fundraiser for Jon Rae Fletcher & the River at Planet Kensington turns into friends singing hymns, and that turns into a screaming fit from the bartender, and that puts an abrupt halt to the show. But not the cracked-out lady heckling Flanagan - that continued.
* The 20hz.ca server crashes for two days. Toronto indie rockers play acoustic guitars by romantic candlelight and see stars shine in the city for the first time ever.

NOVEMBER
* Wavelength Pay What We Need Fundraiser at Sneaky Dee's, featuring Fox The Boomboom, Jon Rae Fletcher & the River, ICPMABOYC and Femme Generation gets us enough cash to keep printing this dirty entertainment rag.
* David Bowie says Arcade Fire's Funeral, best of 2004!

DECEMBER... AND BEYOND!
OH GREAT, IT'S XMAS TIME
This month, do your holiday shopping in a less revolting environment - on Dec. 4, the Pedal To The Metal 2 Craft/Music Fair features a bunch of crafties (over 40 of 'em) selling their crafts while you listen to the sweet melodies of The Silt, Vitamins For You, The Pauls, Aidan Baker and The Guest Bedroom. Noon to 5pm at the Rivoli - PWYC or a foodbank donation. http://www.churchofcraft.org.
DANCE AWAY THE RELATIVES
Santa Cruz comes back with a "very special" night on Dec. 10th. Welcome home, Tyler!

IS EVERYONE GETTING MARRIED OR WHAT?This January 8 at the Tranzac, it's Rock'n'Roll Wedding 2: The Anniversary, with Polmo Polpo, Lenin I Shumov, The Great Lake Swimmers, The Quiet Revolution, Rock Plaza Central, and a pretty good chance of Final Fantasy and some solo stuff from Charles Spearin. All money goes to buy beer for the musicians (jerks). Bring anonymous love notes for your crushy crushes and they'll hand 'em out!