2008 - The Canadian Musical Year

Critics are notorious list makers, and while I’d like to sum up the Canadian music landscape of 2008 in one fell swoop, there’s really a lot I’d be missing.

Though it was Broken Social Scene and their many spin offs that awed the international landscapes in 2007 (and continued to in 2008) if you dig a little bit deeper into Canadian independent music you just might find more than you bargained for.

For example, who would have guessed out of Regina, Saskatchewan comes the second calling of the Weakerthans in Rah Rah. Their debut album 'Going Steady', an instant classic, is only a glimpse at what’s to come in the future for them. Other than that, the prairies really didn’t have much to stand on with the west coast’s Ladyhawk sweeping through the country, stopping in Toronto a handful of times, leaving their drunken loud, half-brilliant, half-pathetic live shows on the walls of every dimly lit venue. It’s enough to make you feel young again… musically at least.

The western winds also brought us the adorable folk reggae pop of Hey Ocean’s tremendous sophomore release, 'It’s Easier to be Somebody Else'. They were quick to hop on the road with Polaris-nominated emcee, Shad K., making for one hell of a tour. A humble band, with a knack for writing Wilco-esque folk rock, recently changed their name from Alphababy to Yukon Blonde (thank goodness!) and are gearing up to blow the ears off everyone with their full-length in 2009.

And sure, Caribou won the Polaris Prize, but if you live on the east coast of Canada, you probably can’t listen to anything but Hey Rosetta’s 'Into Your Lungs', a masterful piece of piano-driven folk pop that will last much longer than this year. Out in Halifax they’re probably still tripping on this year’s Halifax Pop Explosion line up as well, where Holy Fuck likened themselves to robotic space reindeer and took the sonic party to a whole different solar system, or when Islands melted the shoreline on to the Citadel Hill in an attempt to melodically unify the city.

And oh the fathers of our nation still stand strong. The Constantines (pictured) failed to disappoint with their 2008 album, 'Kensington Heights'. With a label switch to Arts & Crafts one could have expected the worst, but instead received the best of Canadian rock and roll albums complete with the most honest lyrics a man can write, and lush warm epic movements. Collaborating with indie princess Feist proved to be a stand-up idea. Can Bryan Webb do no wrong?

But the country wasn’t without its mediocrity. Jason Collett’s 'Here’s to Being Here' was less than spectacular, and a pale gray compared to the genius work on his previous 'Idols of Exile'. Tokyo Police Club FINALLY brought forth their full length this year, 'Elephant Shell', with half as less energy as they drummed up for their deal-breaker EP 'A Lesson in Crime', although having the word “tessellate” stuck in my head for two weeks was an interesting experience.

Central Canada struck gold with Plants & Animals’ 'Parc Avenue', a melodic ode to both Wilco and Neil Young - of course in an utmost respectable fashion. 'Parc Avenue' included such honest songs, if you said you weren’t into them, I’d question if you had a soul. Barrie’s Fox Jaws retained their reputation for playing eye-watering sets, and unleashed a few new songs sure to start some forest fires in '09. Speaking of which, Toronto supergroup-of-sorts and guitar rock/pop amalgams, Oh No Forest Fires, declared war on math, and came out triumphant winners! 'The War On Geometry', their debut EP, is filled with dynamic and backwards songwriting, stuff that‘ll make you hit your head over the next year when they’re huge and you realis you could have been listening to them a lot sooner (like now). But hey! We can’t forget the eloquent progress Ontario’s female songstresses have made this year, with both Basia Bulat and Kathleen Edwards releasing stunning sets of songs, while topping radio charts.

Deep within the mess of a city I call home, Toronto, it is sometimes hard to listen with an untainted ear; to cut all the marketing and free drinks out of the picture, to truly cut the crap, and find some of the finest up and coming talent this city has to offer. So I waited long and hard, and searched every shady bar I could to find a band worthy of praise, and inevitably destined for greatness in 2009, and I came upon local New York rock meets post-rock pop songsmiths, Dinosaur Bones, who with their epic sing-alongs and dizzying live sets proved to be on the brink of something much bigger than us all. Expect big things.

And yet with all these glamorous noises saturating our city, it seems the community was only unified and paralyzed by one event. No not CMW or NXNE, but the weekend that Gene Simmons came to town. It’s as if the CN tower came crashing down and you finally realised you had something in common with everyone you hate: you all want to give Gene Simmons your demo. Whispering and guest-list-peeking, still didn’t really get anyone closer to the walking and breathing legend. Turns out he left Canada unsatisfied, (he did mention on Q107 and in Hello! Magazine to check out a band by the name of Final Thought), but with the talent this city, let alone this country, has to offer, he flew back to LA empty handed.

So maybe all of this means nothing, but I sure as hell know 2008 in Canada sounded good to me.