It’s Christmas Eve and the festive-booze is about to start flowing. The next few days are likely to be packed, so I thought I’d better get the second part of my favourite Canadian songs of 2008 done before the holiday fun starts.

If you missed part 1, here it is. Otherwise, on to the second half. Once again, these songs are arranged in a mixtape order that I found pleasing (download the whole thing in a zip file here):

Human Highway - The Sound (Moody Motorcycle, Secret City)

The Paper Cranes - I’ll Love You Until My Veins Explode (Halcyon Days, Unfamiliar)

Forest City Lovers - Don’t Go (Haunting Moon Sinking, Out of This Spark)

The Magic - No Sound (The Magic EP, Independent)

Shad - The Old Prince Still Lives at Home (The Old Prince, Black Box)

The Great Outdoors - Sping Flower (Spring, DDG)

The Wet Secrets - Get Your Own Apartment (Rock Fantasy, Independent)

Peter Project - Fair and Square (Peter Project, Fuzzy Logic)

Valery Gore - Shoes of Glass (Avalanche to Wandering Bear, Do Right)

Paul LInklater - Hard Time of Year (Smooth Sailing and How, Jibcut)

Hey Rosetta! - There’s an Arc (Into Your Lungs, Sonic)

Snailhouse - Dollar Signs (Lies on the Prize, Unfamiliar)

The Violet Archers - Sunshine At Night (Sunshine At Night, Zunior)

Culture Reject - Inside the Cinema (Culture Reject, White Whale)

Elliott Brood - Miss You Now (Mountain Meadows, Six Shooter)

—

Seriously, I took time putting these things in order, so download all of part 2 in a zip here and go back for part 1 here.

I’ll try to be back with more of my favourites from 2008 shortly, but for now it’s time to kick the Christmas shindigs into high gear. Happy holidays!

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)

—

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!