1
Various Artists
GasCD
RAM Recordings/Select

Toronto musician Chris Brown raided his Rolodex, dredging up some high-profile musical friends for this remarkably cohesive benefit album. Created to raise funds for protesters arrested at the Summit of the Americas in Quebec City last April, the disc ranges from spoken-word interludes by the likes of David Suzuki and Jello Biafra to the fierce political poetry of Michael Franti and Spearhead. GasCD is at once immensely educational and enjoyable.

2
The New Deal
The New Deal
Jive Electro

This Toronto “live breakbeat house” trio has garnered a rabid following over the past two years with its visceral live shows and a handful of releases on their own sound+light label. Their major-label debut this fall is an innovative blend of live and studio recordings which proved that they actually could translate their manic, improv-based live show to disc. Three guys playing DJ-style dance music on instruments? Some call it crazy—I call it the sound of the future.

3
Danny Michel
In the Belly of a Whale
Independent

Michel’s former band Starling never quite lived up to their immense promise. Last year, when the buzz started to fade and their record-deal turned sour, Michel had the smarts to strike out on his own. On …Belly, the singer-songwriter’s fourth solo release, he marries the power-pop smarts of Starling to his own penchant for intelligent songwriting with a sense of humour. His best work yet.

4
Chris Brown and Kate Fenner
O Witness
b-Music

Former Bourbon Tabernacle members Brown and Fenner turn down the volume but not the soul on their fourth release O Witness, a mature, thoughtful rumination on love, loss, and the human condition. Now based in New York, the duo remains an unheralded local treasure.

5
Feist
Feist with Tony Scherr—Live
Independent

Local singer-songwriter Leslie Feist hasn’t released anything new since her remarkable 1999 debut Monarch, with the exception of this low-key live EP recorded at the Rivoli last March…one that you can only buy at her gigs. If anything, the brief six-song set (which has the guitar heroine matching notes with acclaimed axeman Tony Scherr) proves that a new full-length is badly in order to flesh out her new spacey, countrified tunes (including a slow-burning take on Keith Richards’ “How Can I Stop?”). Fiercely unique and beautiful.

6
Emm Gryner
Girl Versions
Dead Daisy Records

Whereupon one of our best local indie grrls trumps the High Priestess of Piano herself by coming out with a vastly better cover album first. Gryner was doing songs by boys long before Tori took it the concept album route, and here she turns everything from Blur’s “Song 2” to The Clash’s “Straight to Hell” into one of her trademark piano ballads. But her nod to her ’80s hard rock roots, her sensual version of Def Leppard’s “Pour Some Sugar on Me” takes the cake.

7
Sarah Slean
Sarah Slean
Warner/Atlantic

Okay, so this is just a stop-gap compilation EP of previously released tunes and a couple of songs from her forthcoming album before her major-label debut drops early next year, but it’s still a nice teaser for new listeners and a minor career compendium for longtime fans. We’ve got somewhat of a history of songbirds named Sarah, so let’s hope that this local piano gal follows in their footsteps and gets the audience she deserves for her marvelous, genre-defying songs.

8
Manitoba
Start Breaking My Heart
Leaf

Who knew that Dundas, Ontario was such a hotbed for tasteful, minimalist electronica? Composer/producer Dan Snaith draws on everything from hip-hop to folk on this sublime collection of downbeat instrumentals that’s been praised by the likes of Jockey Slut and Mixmag. Largely unknown at home, Manitoba is currently enjoying airplay and adoration across the pond in the U.K. How sadly typical.

9
Broken Social Scene
Feel Good Lost
Noise Factory

The brainchild of local scenesters Brendan Canning and Kevin Drew, the resulting collaboration is the sound of two artists simply…creating. Low-key, lo-fi, and highly experimental, the beats-tinged soundscape that is Feel Good Lost is largely undefinable. And you get the sense that’s how its creators want it. Bonus points for best song title of the year: “I Slept With Bonhomme at the CBC.”

10
Spine
Collage
Independent

Now going by the Cy Scobie, this local electronic artist was still called Spine when he released this 12″ EP earlier this year. Living up to its title, the EP is a pastiche of divergent styles, with tracks covering the gamut from jazzy triphop to hard-edged hip-hop, signalling a fresh new voice still developing his own sound.”