CAT POWER - Jukebox

So here's how much y'all love Cat Power--The Greatest, an album she released in January of 2006 was the number 17 seller here for 2007. All of which suggests there's some excitement about Chan Marshall's latest, Jukebox. This is her second album of covers and if that sounds like a bit of a cop out, well, you don't know Cat Power. Marshall is a gifted interpreter, for not only her smoky, wounded pipes, but also her knack for manipulating structure to reveal the purest essence of a song's emotion. Which is why I guess we kinda love Cat Power just a little too...

BLACK MOUNTAIN - In The Future

The 2005 self-titled debut by this Vancouver act crammed thunderous guitar riffing, shimmying art rock, stoned psych-folk, and prog shape-shifting into one of the year's great surprises. In The Future carries the weight of anticipation on considerably broader shoulders. Everything about this album is bigger and more ambitious. If Future suffers a bit from the lack of an immediate tune like "Don't Run Our Hearts Around" or "No Satisfaction", the sheer scope of "Tyrants" and the 16-minute "Bright Lights" alone provide no shortage of treasures to plunder. And these folks have never sounded as hazily sexy as on the stellar "Wucan".

THE MAGNETIC FIELDS - Distortion

Nonesuch, Warner Music's home for the most refined of niche music artistes such as Wilco and Brad Mehldau, seems like a good fit for The Magnetic Fields' songwriter Stephen Merritt. Since his landmark 69 Love Songs, his albums have steadily continued to compliment his witty, woeful love chronicles with a heady cocktail of showtunes, orchestral pop, and noir crooning. So consider us broadsided by his noisiest, least fussy album in years, the wickedly cool Distortion. Merritt embraces guitar fuzz with all the zeal of an adult finding old toys in his parent's closet on a holiday visit. Fun!

LIAM FINN - I'll Be Lightning

As the son of one of pop's most reliable songwriters--Neil Finn of Crowded House fame--young Liam Finn has the pedigree of a young foal sired by a Triple Crown winner. His debut doesn't break with his father's primary tenet, that being the clause "melody comes first". I'll Be Lightning is full of memorable tune after memorable tune, with his voice echoing Neil's often in the more tender moments. But more than mere throwback, his music is also a clear product of listening to later Beck and Elliott Smith albums. Not quite a Rufus Wainwright-style revelation, but a very solid pop album indeed.

DRIVE-BY TRUCKERS - Brighter Than Creation's Dark

The music of the Drive-By Truckers remains largely the same after the departure of Jason Isbell--a proudly working-class amalgam of rock and country as inclined toward tender pedal steel elegies as rip-roaring triple guitar stomps. The musicianship and music is solid, but one can't help feeling that a lyric-writing clinic would help. When subjects get heavy, as on "Daddy Needs A Drink" or the Iraq vet ode "That Man I Shot", their words get stuck in cliche and awkward phrasing. Maybe the solution is a 40-minute album instead of an 80-minute one? There's a soild 10-song album lurking here. 

VARIOUS ARTISTS - Wayfaring Strangers: Guitar Soli

OK, let's make this clear. The Numero Group is simply not capable of putting out anything less than the most magnificent lost music around. And while many of their albums have focused on unheralded soul treasures (their Eccentric Soul titles), this second Wayfaring Strangers compilation acknowledges a whole other side to this label. Guitar Soli is a top-notch disc of solo guitar instrumentals that act as a superb accompaniment to the influential music of Robbie Basho and John Fahey. Complete with eloquent, lengthy liner notes, you just can't go wrong here. Exceptional stuff.

HAYDEN - In Field And Town

Let's talk comfort food. This writer is a firm believer in the art of these humble, tried-and-true meals. Roast chicken. Pot roast. Fish and chips. The problem here is not that these meals are boring, per se, but rather that people misinterpret their everyday-ness as a reason to write them off as unworthy of creativity or care. Hayden's latest is like that rare treat when your hosts make their mac and cheese with roasted garlic and top it with fresh basil. It's still mac and cheese, only more glorious, more mature, more caring. Hey, did you put rosemary and red wine in this meatloaf? Fantastic...

NATHAN LAWR AND THE MINOTAURS - A Sea Of Tiny Lights

Any time you read about Nathan Lawr, the phrase "singing-drummer" is sure to not be far behind (see?). But it's with good reason, as for a time Lawr was one of the best and most versatile drummers in the Guelph/Toronto indie community. But his transformation into a singer-songwriter, so unexpected eight years ago, is what has made him truly special. Even better, A Sea Of Tiny Lights subtly integrates his significant rhythmic knowledge in a way that previous solo efforts had not. After waiting for what felt like an eternity (Sea was released in October '07), we've finally got this fine album on hand.

OST - Juno

Much as in the films of Wes Anderson, pop music plays a key acting role in the success of Juno, a lovingly quirky tale of generational clashes brought on by a pregnant teen and the yuppie couple who wish to adopt her baby. The songs on this soundtrack are a split between classics by the Kinks, Mott The Hoople and the Velvet Underground, and solo tunes by Kimya Dawson, ex- of the twee NYC band Moldy Peaches. Dawson's tunes prize off-key sincerity and winking wit over fidelity, but while her songs pale a little next to two by Belle and Sebastian, they represent Ellen Page's character with an innocent accuracy.

MARAH - Angels of Destruction!

This Philadelphia band finds itself tagged as 'roots rock' a lot. Often enough for it to become a bit of a kiss of death. Thankfully, their music is able to show up neatly for any one curious enough to see what lies beneath the cliched genre tag. Solid rock n' roll for the No Depression set, Marah have a decade's worth of credentials behind them, but the arrival of a new member, Christine Smith, has provided welcome respite from ten years of familiarities. As such, Angels of Destruction! is not a reinvention so much as a revitalization--a confident restating of the original manifesto of gutsy homages to Springsteen and Dylan.

LUKE DOUCET AND THE WHITE FALCON - Blood's Too Rich

A roots songwriter blessed with hiccuping, switch-blade guitar chops, Doucet is not concerned with innovation. His craft is a refinement of the pop/country/folk canon populated by Gram Parsons, Townes Van Zandt, Neil Young, and, perhaps most crucially, local heroes Blue Rodeo. And much like, say, Josh Rouse, his unfailing tunefulness and precision can sometimes obscure what good songwriter he is. And he is very good. Aside from a surprising cover of The Cure's "The Lovecats"--which nudges the tune gently into rockabilly territory--Blood's Too Rich stays his solid course.

KATIE STELMANIS - Join Us

This debut offering on Blocks from Stelmanis is a defiant mixture of hot and cold, harsh and velvet textures. You're just as likely to be twirled by waltzing synths as you are to be pummelled by moments of pure noise. The album's two constants--rhythmic piano and an exceptional voice--are the rooted fulcrum upon which this tug-of-war balances. Stelmanis is a singer of considerable power and talent, but it's not so much any series of acrobatics that impresses. It is more how well suited her rich alto is to this fascinating collection of macabre art-pop. Another solid release from T.O.'s most eccentric label.

JONNY GREENWOOD - There Will Be Blood OST

From the moment Jonny Greenwood's sublime string arrangements for Kid A's "How To Disappear Completely" hit your ears, you got the sense he was made for this type of work. And he couldn't have chosen a better film for his string work than the latest by auteur Paul Thomas Anderson. Anderson's evocative, epic way with a camera, equally tender and bombastic, is a perfect fit. Well, mission accomplished. There Will Be Blood is a superb collection of mostly piano and string arrangements that sit just as comfortably next to Gorecki and Golijov compositions as they do Kid A.

SIA - Some People Have Real Problems

Sia holds a dubious distinction that plagues a lot of artists: she's "on-the-verge". Possessing a voice of stellar quality, this Aussie has been tapped as can't-miss ever since her appearances on Zero 7 recordings made her arrival seem inevitable. Although a key song on the final episode of Six Feet Under kept her possibilities in orbit, she arrives in 2008 with an album that has significantly less buzz about it. And that's exactly what Sia needs. Featuring Beck among others, the album is slick but highly spirited, allowing her to sing her dizzy tales of human foibles and frailty without any real problems at all.

RADIOHEAD - In Rainbows

Considering that this was one of the most written about albums of the last quarter of 2007, you'd think that there was nothing new for us to say about In Rainbows. And you'd kind of be right. But there's nothing wrong with having your say about a really great album, which is exactly what Radiohead's seventh is. More than any album previous in their catalogue, it is the most unburdened by the weight of grand artistic objectives. Immediate, tuneful, and yet full of mystery and even romance. It's just ten great songs. And from these guys, that's something pretty special.

DAFT PUNK - Alive 2007

After hearing this, anyone who skipped this French duo's Toronto show last summer is gonna know they messed up bad (but at least it explains that gig's hefty $58.50 ticket price). Essentially a monstrous greatest-hits disc recorded live, Alive 2007 is a testament to Daft Punk's considerable powers--it's as overblown, ridiculous and deafening as it is seductive, brilliant and exhilarating. In other words, a really good time that's equally smart and stupid--like all really good times. Between these gents, LCD Soundsystem and Justice, 2007 was certainly a year when dance music rekindled its potency.

BARONESS - The Red Album

Every year, there's at least one, if not several, albums that if I'd only heard/fully absorbed them a scant few weeks earlier, they would be proudly displayed in my top 15 of the year. In 2006, it was Converge's No Heroes and Grizzly Bear's Yellow House. This year, it's Baroness' exceptional Red Album. A potent mixture of metal, Southern rock, ambient interludes, and prog dalliance, this record is as invigorating and consistently surprising a metal album as you'll hear. Their willingness to inject their music with moments of disarming calm and beauty pay huge dividends. Cannot stop listening to this.

NORDIC NOMADIC - Nordic Nomadic

Even when he was a member of the Deadly Snakes, Chad Ross had been forging his own musical path. First known as Ghoststory, Ross has now pressed the moniker of Nordic Nomadic into service. Tellingly, both names serve as a pretty decent description of this self-titled album: a skeletal mixture of haunted folk and barren, windswept songcraft. The only remaining traces of his garage rock past can be found in his love of warm, authentic tones. An autumnal beauty and slight sense of foreboding bathes these songs in an unassuming but poignant light. A sweet treat to cap a great year for Toronto tunes.

RIVERS CUOMO - Alone: The Home Recordings of Rivers Cuomo

After the dull and flat Make Believe, Weezer appeared to have descended into full self-parody; an unfortunate retreading of gimmicky power-pop ideas that had become so slick, they had lost any sense of spontaneity. But with news of a sixth Weezer album on the horizon, this collection of demos from songwriter Rivers Cuomo reminds us of what made Weezer so engaging in the first place: geeky, catchy, and awkwardly honest. Sure, not everything here hits the mark, but listening to Cuomo shooting first and asking questions later suggests that it's big studios--not Cuomo--that is killing Weezer. Here's hoping.

DEEP DARK UNITED - Look At/Look Out

Local hero Alex Lukashevsky has long been an artist fave, but his experimental combo Deep Dark United has never really caught on. For starters, he's not exactly big on self-promotion. Heck, we can't even find a picture of his new album on the web! But more likely, it's because for all of their solid albums, the only way to really experience DDU is live. Recorded at Tranzac earlier this year, this 13-song set may be the best case yet for Lukashevsky's work, as his marvelously idiosyncratic songs meet their match in his unhinged performances. Egged on by the gypsy/jazz clamour of his crack band, the man sings like he's in the midst of a fevered dream. Dive in!