Sleep For The Nightlife - Silver Dollar

An impressive display of searing musicianship, adventurous post-rock, atmospheric winding instrumentals that draws on that spirit of free-jazz and prog. Triumphant, spaced-out, a cerebral journey that ebbs and flows with each head-spinning moment.

Basement Arms - Rancho Relaxo

Like walking into a classic saloon, renegade characters with stories to tell, evoking imagery of The Bands self-titled. The music is loping vintage blues-rock at a meandering pace, hoarse vocals, poignant vocals, and electrifying dizzying musicianship, the type of boundless chemistry found in jazz bands. Music that paints a picture of well-travelled journeys. The dusty crossroads rediscovered.

Motely Crue - The Molson Amphitheatre

Get out the mullet-heads and spandex, or as Tommy Lee summoned, your boobies. The Motely Crue machine rolled into The Amphitheatre belting-out fan favourites Looks That Kill, Shout At The Devil, Dr Feelgood, Kickstart My Heart and ending-off with Home Sweet Home. High-voltage glam-metal, a pyrotechnic stage-show, delivered by these 80's rock and roll warriors. Considering the well-documented excess and debauchery (and infamous in fighting) great to see the loyal faithful, 11,000 of them, out in full force to see these legendary headbangers still kickin' it after 25 years.

Alphabot - The Drake

Let's get loopy! A catchy, twinkling electro-collage, hypnotic and fun, led by a giddy yet endearing maestro that hammers-out the cool cosmos on the dancefloor.

Pavlov's Dog Orchestra - Sneaky Dee's

Remember Fiddler On The Roof? Tradition! This is a high-stepping march, indie-rock infused with a catchy Russian folkbeat. These songs are performed and delivered an air of confidence, reeling you into a comfortzone where you feel like dancing yourself. Knee-slapping feel-good vibes making your heart pound with excitement.

Vilipend - The Kathedral

Brutally powerful, an onslaught of guitar fury, unleashing a beast that's supercharged. Furious chills and high-octane energy set to auto-destruct. A reckless, grinding well-oiled machine that made the ground quake.

The Trews - CNE Bandshell

Heavy-hitting 70's inspired sound, melodic rock-outs that combine riff-driven elements of Led Zeppelin, Aerosmith, and The Black Crowes. Colin, wailing like Sammy Hagar, fronts this high-energy whiskey-soaked package, almost like unearthing a treasure-trove of the past. Combined with a darting pixel-display like the ship from Close Encounters, the end result is the timeless heart of rock and roll soul. Free with admission.

Metal Kites - Rancho Relaxo

An ambitious palate of breezy rock, with twinges of folk and jazz. Tielli's emotive vocals, seasoned presence, with a cast of singer-songwriter master-craftsman employing the right thread of musical vibrance. Sort of capturing that acoustic-outlaw spirit with a Brian Wilson-like passion to experiment.

Laszlo - The Rivoli

As if Bruce Springsteen and Johnny Depp merged, guitarist/frontman Laszlo is a throwback to the traditional rock-star, leather-clad, shades, and street-wise. Guitar-virtuosity, fluid basslines, high-energy drumming, this trio plays 70's inspired classic-rock that's riff-driven, supercharged, and catchy.

La Casa Muerte - The Drake

This is a rock on interstellar overdrive. Part Broken Social Scene's collective approach, part Brian Jonestown Massacre's tamba-shaking psych-goodness, part The B-52s wacky head-spinning party-chants, part Spiral Beach's youthful adrenaline-pumping euphoria. La Casa Muerte is a manic-explosion, fun-ass booty jams for those who take their music with lots of fun.

Megan Hamilton & The Volunteer Canola - The Boat

Country-folk atmospherics evoking summer evenings on a sunlit grassy-plain, perhaps hiking in the mountains. Enjoying life. The music is a slow, deep, rustic-excursion glossed-over by earthy-rawness. Sweeping, bold hymns from the depths of despair to extreme joy.

Feuermusik - Don Valley Parkway & Queen

Extermination Night usually hosts these word-of-mouth shows in abandoned industrial buildings. The location tonight. A bridge beneath the DVP. Feuermusik combines frenzied sax-outbursts (just think John Coltrane on speed) with plastic-bucket pounding. An experimental jazz-duo that's sexy, raw, and primal, spawning some hell-raising alchemy underneath the steel girders.

Bellevue - Rancho Relaxo

Lavish, high-energy indie-rock that infuses swirls of guitar-driven hooks, with traces of Pavement, Weezer, yet blossoming as a sound uniquely their own. A rhythmically pounding trio for those who like their heavy-rock doses high in melody.

Hank & Lily - Sneaky Dee's

A slice of theatrical-pop, a heartfelt ray of showtune-flamboyance and spunk. So sweet is this lovely duo, leading you through a jaunty adventure of countryfied stylings and saccharine vocals. The curtain rises. The stage is set. Let the vaudevillian Hank & Lily take you on a entertaining ride of wit, warmth and storytelling.

Heaven & Hell (Black Sabbath w Dio) - Molson Amphitheatre

Dungeons, wizards, and dragons. Although these metal legends weren't led by Ozzy, rather by the elfin Ronnie James Dio, it was still like witnessing a piece of music history. Dio-period Sabbath is classic. Gargantuan riffs/soloing by Tony Iommi, headstrong vocals by Dio, with a set starting with Mob Rules and ending with Neon Knights. Being graced by these legendary forefathers of metal was a humbling experience. Just ask the headbanging masses.

Diemonds - The Velvet Underground

This band is all about one thing, pure rock and roll debauchery and sexiness. Priya is an exotic Joan Jett, a tough-as-nails femme fetale, and C.C. is the riff-master, capturing the spirit of some of 80's glam-metal axe-wielders. TO needs this over-the-top seduction right now, cigarettes, alcohol, and partying your ass off. This is what rock and roll is all about.

Boxes & Bags - The Drake

Deep within the subterranean depths comes this interstellar motley crew, the firestarters of throbbing noise-jams, new wave-meets-punk, inspired trumpet-blasts, trippin' the light fantastic. This folks, is what Torontopia is all about. Boxes & Bags is a call to arms--multiple orgasms that blast you off to a different galaxy.

Spookey Ruben - Rancho Relaxo

Music thrives on romanticism, the daring to create, Spookey Ruben musically paints with aural splashes of colour, psych-tinged pop all in the spirit of a childrens workshop, sonic invention, avant-garde bliss, to capture a moment in time.

The Golden Hands Before God - Silver Dollar

A band that seamlessly blends 60's psych-garage-rock with the spirit of a foot-stomping gospel revival. A crescendo of energy, infectious gypsy-folk rhythms, spacey Velvet Underground-type electric-jams, with a soul-stirring epiphany of a chant-and-call celebration. Dodging the BJM-type comparisons, The Golden Hands have cultivated a sound all their own, which is worthy of national attention.

Fifth Projekt - El Mocambo

An atmospheric journey leaving you drifting above the earth, intricate and haunting guitarlines, slow-burn melodrama that gives a nod to UK ambient-rock, early Verve and Suede's Dog Man Star. Vocalist Tara is an elegant chanteuse, romantic swoons straddling Amy Lee and Joni Mitchell. A magnificent gem that casts a spell.

The Vestaloynes - Silver Dollar

A modern-day fairytale of rock and roll warriors, that burning desire to unleash swaggering riffs, powerful rhythms, in an entertaining and fun way. The Vestaloynes have chops. They'll burn you to a crisp. And make you smile.

Nadja - The Boat

Washes of sonic swirls of noise, seamlessly fusing the shoegaze template with the industrial-dissonance of Merzbow and The Swans. Almost like being overwhelmed by vaporous tides of energy, that's beautiful as opposed to threatening.

Sarah Shafey - The Supermarket

A vibrant, eclectic combination of vocal-jazz, orchestral-folk, and showtunes. Shafey's evocative RnB vocals, heavenly soul, the centrepiece to lush strings, fluid keys, vivacious rhythms, each song unfolding before your ears, infusing the spirit of another era and combining it with contemporary pop. A delicious slice of life, essence of beauty, beaming rays of musical sunshine in this rather dreary world.

Clouds That Look Like Things - Rancho Relaxo

Inspired indie-rock, space-bound gems that's both high-powered and hypnotic at the sametime. Darcy is a captivating frontman, and the music is an outpouring of exhuberant energy that truly defines young, upstart bands rising in the TO scene.

The Blankket & Band - Sneaky Dee's

A potent stew of The Boredoms, Spacemen 3, and Can. Hypnotic cascades of noise, disarming blissed-out rhythms, erupting in a sonic crescendo of mass destruction. A primal trance-inducing ritual, fuzzed-out and euphoric, in all it's glory.

Organic Funk - The Mansion

A trio that combines talent and enthusiasm, raw rhythmic jazz/funk/rock fusion, topped-off by a bustling stage presence. Adventurous and high-energy, booty-shaking grooves celebrating music. A full-on blast of sweet mojo proving it don't mean a thing, if it ain't got that swing.

Toronto Independent Music Awards - The Phoenix

Got to hand it to founder/executive producer Daniela Oliva who has been putting on the TIMA's for four years. With various TO awards shows annually, it's hard to encompass every band (winners included Dame, Shobha, Jadea Kelly, Lori Nuic, Pavlov's Dogs Orchestra) It's no Polaris Music Prize, but recognizing home-grown talent, putting on an ambitious glitzy-event and honouring local artists, can only foster a genuine and thriving music scene. Plus the winners are bestowed with a plaque resembling a Gold Record Award. Now that's cool.

Dead Sexy Sheila - The Silver Dollar

A trio that unleashes a blitzkrieg of garage-punk-glam, the type of pounding energy of The MC5. This is a raw, snarling, hard-edged guitar sound that embodies that Kick Out The Jams spirit. This is the guts of rock 'n roll rebellion, the authenticity found in The Stooges and the New York Dolls. Passionate, carefree, and loud.