It’s about damn time I got around to looking back on 2008. What can I say, December’s a busy month. That said, I’ve spent the last few weeks pouring over the music that passed my way this year and am finally ready to divulge my favourites.

There’s nothing like diving in head first, so here are my 30 top Canadian tunes of the last 12 months. For ease of posting I’ve divided this list into 2 parts—essentially two mix-tapes, each subjectively arranged in a way that I thought would make a nice listen all the way through. Here’s the first half (grab it in a zip file here):

Chad VanGaalen - Willow Tree (Soft Airplane, Flemish Eye)

The Rural Alberta Advantage - Don’t Haunt This Place (Hometowns, Independent)

Sleepless Nights - Got Caught (Turn Into Vapour, Forward Music Group)

Tricot Machine - L’ours (Tricot Machine, Grosse Boite)

Bells Clanging - The Law of Averages (The Law of Averages, Independent)

Plants & Animals - Feedback in the Field (Parc Avenue, Secret City)

HILOTRONS - Lovesuit (Happymatic, Kelp Records)

The Bicycles - Once Was Not Enough (Oh No, It’s Love, Fuzzy Logic Recordings)

Construction and Destruction - Ring Around the Moon (The Volume Wars, Independent)

Final Fantasy - The Butcher (Spectrum, 14th Century, Blocks Recording Club)

Old Man Luedecke - Proof of Love (Proof of Love, Black Hen Music)

Entire Cities - Dancing with my Brother (Deep River, Independent)

The Human Soundtrack - Babies Are the New Pursedogs (Organs for Sale, Independent)

Born Ruffians - I Need a Life (Red Yellow & Blue, Warp)

The Rest - Apples & Allergies (Apples & Allergies Single, Auteur Recordings)

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Enjoy part 1 (once again, here’s a zip of the whole thing). Check back tomorrow for pt.2 and keep an eye out later in the week for my favourite Canadian albums, EPs and international albums of 2008.

I should also mention that I was to lazy to bother with the whole “Best Songs” list until I saw the one posted by cvilleMUSE and that got my motor running—thanks for inspiring me to get off my ass, Shaun!