by Demian Carynnyk

Listen, the snow is falling. As the new year comes and goes, and we retreat to our apartments, it's natural that we reflect and make plans for the future. As I was looking back on maybe my strangest year ever, I found myself looking at an even bigger picture.

We're also halfway through the strangest decade ever, which started in 2001. It's now been a full four years since September 11, 2001, and already we seem to be entering a new phase. Social unrest in Paris, urban tension and renewal in Toronto, and an enduring activist culture suggest a return to a sort of No Logo-era social awareness.

In our mass culture, we don't seem to have gotten much smarter. Instead we have been finding clever new ways to be stupid. Obsessing over celebrities and gadgets, at the expense of our neighbours and family, while consumerism and war cause people to die. DOES NOT COMPUTE! If I was a robot, my head would explode and I'd be done with it.

In the indie music scene, things seem much healthier. Amazing Canadian bands include Arcade Fire, Broken Social Scene, Wolf Parade, and Death From Above 1979. Around the world there's Animal Collective, Postal Service, Bright Eyes, Bloc Party, The Rapture, White Stripes, Franz Ferdinand, and many others. Ladytron, The Gossip and Yeah Yeah Yeahs giving us great leading ladies; Outkast and Missy giving Top 40 its wonderful what-the-fuck moments. Electro and hip-hop mutations around the world, and music and technology moving forward together. We have access to music history like never before, and a strong desire to destroy it all and drop something new. Awesome, No Dynamics, Kids on TV, Ninja High School, and others are already working on the next wave. Don't let anyone tell you that this decade sucks.

All these artists are off to a great start, and all could help create something substantial. And the emphasis on community and D.I.Y. is empowering and healthy. People are dancing, talking, sharing and transforming spaces. Arcade Fire are giving us community anthems, and Broken Social Scene are setting a great example and sending a message to the majors. But for the moment, they are mostly empowering their circle of friends. What will they do to help other musicians? Artists in general? Social activists? Ordinary people? It's time to give substance to all the talk about community, and take all the promise to task.

Indie/mass culture boundaries are more blurred than ever, which is both great and problematic. Hipsters are buying into pop's most short-sighted and shallow values, and acting on the lie that we're all lost and jaded. Irresponsible consumer-culture habits are becoming ever more accepted and even Le Tigre licensed two songs to cell phone companies. I respect their desire to spread their music and pay some bills, but I thought we were trying to build a '˜sustained alternative', and that means making do without the man.

Instead of integrating scenes, we move between them, and we turn away from a trend rather than follow through to its fulfillment. The urban punk funk of recent years has already given way to psychedelic noise and strange folk. Artistically and spiritually liberating, but a political disengagement. Already Interpol and Radio 4 have had their potential compromised, and it would be pretty sad if the same thing happened to Sufjan Stevens or Devendra Banhart.

If there's inspiration in the neo-psych scene, it's the idea of getting out of our city heads, letting our dreams surface, and trying to manifest a more beautiful world. Also, I think it makes complete sense to act 'œcrazy'? these days. Standing on a street corner and shouting at strangers is a perfectly appropriate response to the absurd world that we are living in. Better yet, get some friends and some instruments and plug in. Skill is not essential, although it may help you articulate that craziness.

If we really want that sustained alternative we have to fire on all levels. We need substance and style, signal and noise, Chuck D and Flavor Flav. Shit-disturbers and clowns, community-builders and diplomats. We need singers, players, artists, designers, tech people, and pay-what-you-can patrons. Wavelength is always looking for contributors; help these good people build their labour of love. And if you're an artist, musician, or web designer, drop by dcompress.net. I've got some space and I'm happy to share. Thanks, Wavelength, for doing the same.

Team work makes this dream work, assholes!