Happy New Year, folks! Like a lot of people, I was glad to give 2008 a kick in the rear as it slouched out the door, and I'm giddily optimistic about '09, feelin' fine. But in retrospect, the year wasn't all hardship and heartbreak. Over the next few days, your dedicated Wavelength organizers will run down our Top 8's of '08. Here's mine, listed in no order other than alphabetical:

$100 / Forest of Tears (CD, Bluefog/Sonic Unyon)
There is no greater, more irresistible Toronto success story of owe-eight than $100. In 2007, Jon-Rae & the River bassist Ian Russell was recovering from leukemia, and started writing songs on acoustic guitar with his friend, singer/lyricist Simone Schmidt. At the start of this year, the duo were playing house shows as a duo, but by the summer, they had drafted most of the River as their full-on backing band and were selling out the Horseshoe for the release of this, their impressive debut for Bluefog Recordings. Their near-overnight success is a welcome testament to local word-of-mouth over Internet hype, and their regular appearances at country/bluegrass central, the Dakota Tavern, may have something to do with it. As one who remembers the late ‘80s/early ‘90s, I have mixed feelings about the sudden resurgence of traditionalist “roots rock” in Toronto, but the quality of Russell’s tunecraft and Schmidt’s socially conscious, locally themed lyrics makes $100’s music makes it worth it.

Covers for Cans (Dec. 19, Sneaky Dee’s)
Wavelength has called Sneaky Dee’s home for the last six of our eight years of existence, at this point there are many regulars who weren’t around for our early days at Ted’s Wrecking Yard (R.I.P.). Still, it’s easy to take Sneaky’s for granted, and we should give props to its booker Shaun Bowring for his goin’ steady support. The second annual Covers for Cans was great night of WL and Sneaky’s regulars playing their favourite cover songs, and though “snowmaggedon” hurt the turnout, it was still a very fun exchange of musical love in support of the Daily Bread Food Bank. Cover band nights are increasingly popular, which begs the question: is there simply too much new music? And what's wrong with audience knowing the words for a change?

The Ex & Getatchew Mekuria (Aug. 20, Damrosch Park at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, New York City)
Our neighbours to the south experienced a reversal of fortune in 2008. Not only did they elect a President the rest of the world has a crush on, they all beat the odds of their own regressive visa system to host a U.S.-only tour with the world’s greatest rock band, Dutch art-punk collective The Ex and their wonderfully unlikely collaborator, the septuagenarian king of Ethiopian free-jazz sax, Getatchew Mekuria. I rarely travel to other cities for concerts, but the combination of a $1 return Greyhound bus ticket and a free outdoor concert in NYC was too good to pass up. Pioneering Jersey free-form radio station WFMU put this together, and this forward-thinking, cross-cultural Afro-rock bill also included Kenya/Washington, D.C. crew Extra Golden and legendary Ethiopian singer Mahmoud Ahmed backed by Boston’s Either/Orchestra. Rather than gushing any more about the brilliance of The Ex and Getachew’s performance, I’ll just direct you to my original Wavelog post.  Let’s hope 2009 treats Canada better: dump Harper, then have these culture warriors tour the True North Strong & Free.  

Feuermusik / No Contest (CD, Standard Form/Outside)
Possibly Toronto’s most unassuming musical export, Feuermusik is a duo that consists of two thoughtful, bespectacled near-thirty-ish dudes: Jeremy Strachan on woodwinds (mostly sax) and David “Gus” Weinkauf on percussion (mostly, um, buckets). Their second full-length CD, released in June on Standard Form (the printing/publishing concern founded by Alex Durlak of I Can Put My Arm Back On You Can’t) proved their 2006 debut was no fluke. “No Contest,” as a title, says it all — an ambivalent combination of confidence and resignation. As if they know that they flatten their “indie” peers in terms of musical sophistication, as well as the rest of “new music” or “avant-jazz” when it comes to accessibility, and heck, groove — check out the euphoric seven-minute, Ethiopiques-informed flow of “Nearness/Distance.” Also revealing their lack of desire to compete in either the commercial/hype/blogger/NXNE sphere or its publicly funded/CBC/Zoomer/summer festival counterpart. Then again, they’re also too damn good to just play Cinecycle or Extermination Nights forever…With Weinkauf away pursuing his PhD in Montreal and Strachan already playing out with his new quintet Canaille, FM live shows may be few and far between, so don’t hesitate to pick up this essential 2008 Toronto document.

HistoryJen (historyjen.blogspot.com)
“Welcome to my weekly roundup of inexpensive indie(ish) musical happenings in downtown Toronto, all for $10 or less. I try to list as many shows here as I know about, though this list is not comprehensive. If I'm missing something or you have any comments, let me know.” Now that’s the kind of positive vibration we need more of around here. Local music enthusiast Jennifer Polk’s blog page, Facebook group, Google group and weekly podcast of all things cheap, cheerful and Toronto-indie-ish made us all look like slackers, but also helped make T.O. feel a little less like the Screwface Capital all those rap dudes say it is.

King Kaboom (SunTV, Saturday nights at 11:00pm)
As people justifiably bemoan the decline of MuchMusic and the untimely demise of The NewMusic — the innovative music magazine show unceremoniously axed just before its 30th birthday — it’s too bad not enough people noticed that there is a place you can hear local indie music artists on mainstream cable and antenna television. SunTV’s King Kaboom — a cut-up, surrealist half-hour mix of music, comedy and other local performance-based art — features Wavelength’s own Kevin Parnell on staff.  Thanks to our man on the inside, teenagers all over Ontario have had their minds blown by the likes of Lullabye Arkestra, Timber Timbre, Laura Barrett, Spiral Beach and Born Ruffians, as well as our own slam poet laureate, Spencer Butt.

Poor Pilgrim Island Show (July 13, Toronto Island)
This was the good-vibe, Torontopian highlight of Summer ’08. With excellent curation of both performers and locations by Matt Cully of the band Bruce Peninsula (whose new CD A Mountain is a Mouth is already a top contender for ’09), the second annual Poor Pilgrim Island Show — which saw 15 local artists performing at 15 different locations on bucolic Toronto Island over the course of 9 hours, all free of charge — took a new summertime tradition and stepped it up a huge notch. As another layer of snow falls on the T-dot, 2009’s edition can’t come soon enough. Read my original Wavelog report here.

The Valerie Project (Part of the Images Festival, April 9, Royal Theatre)
This was a Wavelength co-presentation, which means that I am breaking all kinds of conflict-of-interest guidelines here, but I feel enough distance from the project to safely anoint our third annual Images Festival collaboration one of the year's best things. And honestly, this was one of the most enrapturing artistic experiences I had all year. Greg Weeks of the band Espers and his 10-piece ensemble from the Philly psych-rock scene performed a beautiful new live score for the 1970 Czech surrealist softcore horror film Valerie and Her Week of Wonders, which lushly incorporated elements of folk, classical and drone music. Maybe it was party those comfy swivel chairs at the Royal — which was completely sold out, adding to the gravitas of the evening — but I was truly pinned to my seat for the full two hours.

Honourable mentions to: Bruce Peninsula's 7" release show with Muskox (St. Andrew by the Lake Church, Toronto Island), Castlemusic's You Can't Take Anyone, Ryan Driver's Feeler of Pure Joy, Electric Eclectics Festival (Meaford, ON), Tusks' s/t EP, Woodhands' Heart Attack.