Last night at the Annex Wreckroom the mighty Coalesce, Harvey Milk, Atlas Sound and our own home grown wonder kids Burning Love put on a heck of a show.

So I should start out honestly -- I'm not 100% behind CMW, or CMF, or whatever it's actually called. It's easy to criticize a Canadian-themed festival that consists largely of American bands, and features a headliner that is almost completely out of touch with current music (Our Lady Peace). But when it becomes hard to find nuggets of fun, it makes it somewhat more worthwhile, I think. This show at Annex Wreckroom was one such nugget.

The Duchess and The Duke. They're called that for a reason. These two unassuming old school indie kinds from Seattle are powerful and insistent with their simple delivery. Seated on two antique bar stools (did they bring those along themselves?), with a table of various liquors between them, Jesse and Kimberly sweetly elucidated the finer points of how undeniably vicious a breakup can be. This is music by and for the heart-worn.

Tropics and Sun Ra Ra can eat up your sanity and replace it with the desire to dance. Last night at the Silver Dollar was like a lunatic asylum talent show. That's not a bad thing, though. Who doesn't like a good old freak-out now and then?

Also playing the show was the ever lovely introspective Gates Gates Gates (with ex-Cuff the Duke and ex-Postage Stamps members), Tonka & Puma (who were awesome!), and Racoon Wedding (Brampton natives and loud rock enthusiasts).

I'm at a bit of a loss for words trying to describe the The D'Urbervilles and Great Bloomers at the Drake Underground's What's In The Box show last night. Both bands are intense forces, and both played phenomenal, lengthy sets.

2009 was a very prosperous year for the local music scene with already established acts gaining further national and international exposure and the formation of a wealth of new buzz bands, side projects, and collaborations.

As we eagerly await the surprises in store for us in 2010, I've narrowed down my picks for the best local bands in 2009 to a mere ten choices.

Well, what can I say? The boys from Telephone Explosion, arguably one of the city's best indie music labels, really know how to throw a birthday party. The label just turned two years old in a music scene where breaking even is a pretty profound feat. To help them celebrate, they had Peterborough's Sun Ra Ra (who I unfortunately missed due to being at the Garrison for the Whale Tooth and Anagram show), Toronto's own Actual Water, Ottawa's Holy Cobra's and Montreal's finest, Demon's Claws.