The Neighbourhood Mixtape is a collection of newly-released songs by Toronto musicians. The mixtape is meant to celebrate Toronto's music culture and provide a forum to listen to and discover new local music.

Every Sunday, I post a five-track mixtape that you can download or stream as a soundtrack for the week. The theme for our eleventh installment and our first for 2011, inspired by traveling, is close quarters.

Track #1: Owen Pallett, "Export 5 (Tryst with Mephistopheles)"

Our collection opens this week with "Export 5 (Tryst with Mephistopheles)" from Owen Pallett's recently released Export EP. With the absence of the original's vocal narrative, Pallett changes the song's scenery with a full-on adventurous instrumental - a voyage song.

Track #2: Heartbeat Hotel, "Anything Else"

Heartbeat Hotel's "Anything Else" is an airport song, one you could fall asleep to while you wait for your boarding call to arrive. It's late at night and you look out against the big airport windows. Your friend's head rests on your shoulder, and you imagine the sound of the soft guitar riffs to be like the shimmering city lights.

Track #3: Pursuits, "Shaking You"

Pursuits' "Shaking You" consists of squabbles - Jeff Tweedy-like vocals, short-wave radio buzzes, wistful guitar chords - that ease together to form a song that sounds serene on headphones, reminding you of the familiar bed that waits for you back home.

Track #4: Shawn Clarke, "I'll Miss You When You're Gone"

"I'll Miss You When You're Gone" is a final boarding call. Shawn Clarke's earnest track gently bruises with sharp guitar strum breezes, fleeting hums and peaks with violin that wrings the heart.

Track #5: Young Empires, "The Earth Plates Are Shifting (Demo)"

"The Earth Plates Are Shifting" floats you up in the air with a happy pollution of riffs, synths and disco percussions and bass. It's the perfect track to have on as you fasten your seatbelt, loosen your tie, unbutton your cuffs and sit back for the ride back home.