With our City Council swallowing the distorted truth about our operating budget and currently dismantling our already dismal arts funding at this very moment at City Hall, it's easy to start thinking "Abandon ship!" when we start thinking about our once beloved cultural capital of Toronto. Back in May, Council approved the Creative Capital Gains report, which aimed to increase per-capita arts spending to $25 from its current standing at $18 — measly compared to Montreal $33 per head. Now, the 2012 budget sees the arts spend dropping to $17 per capita. What the EFF....?!

Now before you start looking at house prices in Hamilton, Wavelog is here to save the day and introduce "Seen," a weekly compendium of awesome things we've seen in Toronto in the last week, to remind you that despite the attacks we face from the cost-cutting ideologues, there is an incredible amount of culture happening here, and that these are the things that make life in the city worth living. So, to begin:

Thursday (Dec. 1) — Austra at the Phoenix

Sure, it's possibly the most unpleasant venue in town, when it's packed, that is. Hooray for Austra for selling out the 1200-person Phoenix, though boo for us, trapped like sardines and barely able to move - not that making it to the bar to wait in line forever made life any more bearable (first world problems, we know). Once the show finally got underway, all discomfort was forgotten, as the band's icy synth-pop was clearly road-tested at this epic homecoming show. Drummer Maya Postepski and bassist Dorian Wolf locked in perfectly with the sequenced rhythms and synth parts, as frontwoman Katie Stelmanis mesmerized the crowd with her melodramatic hand swoops and soaring, pitch-perfect vocals. And by mesmerized, I mean they seemed (trans)fixed in place, which sadly killed any dance party vibe. Back-up singers Romi and Sari of Tasseomancy added lovely harmonies, though their dance moves seemed a little random and could maybe benefit from the hand of a choreographer. But Austra's mix of insanely catchy melodies and dour resignation - with just a hint of hope - still won the day. They are definitely worthy of their recent #1 nod on NY Mag's Top Ten Albums of the Year list. (photo by Dylan Leeder, via BlogTO)

Friday (Dec. 2) — Weird Canada at the Port

In a nice piece of reverse brain drain, Toronto is very lucky to have two members of the braintrust of Weird Canada — the essential obscurantist music blog of the northern dominion — relocate to Toronto: Jesse Locke from Montreal, and Aaron Levin from Edmonton. Locke and Levin put their Weird heads together to present a night of Weird Canadiana on Friday night at the Port, a Portuguese bar that has clearly embraced the Anglo/hipster gentrification of the Dundas & Ossington strip by allowing a trio of noisy indie-rock bands to blow out the windows and walls. First up were Odonis Odonis, who like Austra, had just returned from a North American tour and were tight as shit(gaze). Their blend of "the two Jesuses" — Mary Chain and Lizard — was evident as they ripped up surf melodies with glorious noise and muscular math rhythms. Definitely pick up their new full-length Hollandaze when you have a chance — it's essential hungover brunch listening — and their championing of the New Toronto Noise makes them tops in Wavelength's books. Two visiting bands from Montreal completed the line-up: young spazz-pop trio Each Other had some cool moments of Deerhoof-y deconstruction, but their lack of a bass player made them lack that gut-punching heft, and overall their songs seemed a little undeveloped. Not so for Silver Dapple, a gnarly quartet of Pixies-enthused post-punks who harkened back to the fuzzy glory days of '93. Though their frontwoman's vocals were pretty much lost in the din of the Port's D.I.Y. acoustics, their pop sensibility shone through the noise-wall perfectly. They have a new 11-track vinyl album, English Girlfriend, available via their Bandcamp. (Photo of Odonis Odonis at Wavelength 526 at Academy of Lions, by Kaela Greenstien, also via BlogTO).

Coming Next in Seen: Punk Rock Opera at Tranzac + Punk Rock Wavelength at Soybomb!!