1. Arcade Fire
2. United Steel Workers of Montreal
3. Code Pie
4. Velvet Trench Vibes
5. Wolf Parade
6. Sam Roberts
7. Plants & Animals
8. Kalmunity
9. Stars
10. Chromeo

Honourable mentions: The Unsettlers, Turtleboy, Patrick Watson, Duchess Says, Creature

The fire still rages for Arcade Fire, again at the top of this list for the fourth year running. There is, however a proletarian uprising in roots rockers USWM coming in at #2 (they also aced the Country/Folk category). Hardworking ambient rockers Code Pie and hip hop crew Velvet Trench Vibes outdo high-visibility exports Wolf Parade and Sam Roberts (who on the other hand had fallen off the list entirely last year). Plants & Animals made a lot of noise with their recent debut Parc Avenue, enough to vault them ahead of the expansive Kalmunity collective and Montreal standbys Stars and Chromeo.

Freakiest local act

1. Tony Ezzy
2. Duchess Says
3. Death Boat
4. AIDS Wolf
5. Pad Class
6. Chronicles of Israfel
7. Mado Lamotte
8. The Unsettlers
9. Trigger Effect
10. Creature

The city of Montreal seems to be pretty fecund soil for quirky, oddball personalities, and so there’s no shortage of weird sounds, outrageous behaviour and utterly confounding outfits to be found paraded on local concert stages. Be it the left-handed loverboy grooves of Tony Ezzy or the bad-boy business of Trigger Effect, the electro-spasms of Duchess Says and noise attack of AIDS Wolf, the playschool pirate schtick of metal marauders Death Boat or the theatrical chic of Creature, acting out and acting up are par for the course.

1. Arcade Fire
2. Jonas
3. The Stills
4. Simple Plan
5. Amanda Mabro
6. The Dears
7. Peer Pressure
8. Omnikrom
9. Rufus Wainwright
10. Wolf Parade

Honourable mentions: A Silver Mount Zion, AIDS Wolf, Creature, Patrick Watson, Mission District, Celine Dion and (you guessed it) godspeed you! black emperor.

1. Priestess
2. Bionic
3. The Chronicles of Israfel
4. Death Boat
5. Trigger Effect
6. FAMN
7. AIDS Wolf
8. Arcade Fire
9. CPC Gangbangs
10. Dutch Oven

With Priestess and Bionic in the top two slots again this year, it’s clear that while Montrealers like their tunes cranked up to 11, they’re willing to trade off a little of the pure sonic thud for a good, hooky melody. The Chronicles of Israfel, a prog-metal offshoot of locals Pulse Ultra, who are inspired in part by violent Japanese cartoons, nail down a nice #3, followed by Death Boat, whose heaviness is likely due to all the plundered booty weighing down their pirate ship. Yo ho ho and a bottle of whatever’s on special at the SAQ!

1. Nomadic Massive
2. Velvet Trench Vibes
3. Annakin Slayd
4. Chase Stacks
5. FAMN
6. Mugz
7. Omnikrom
8. Skratch Bastid
9. Natural Born Artist
10. Kalmunity

Multifaceted, polyglot collective Nomadic Massive’s wanderings have brought them to the top of the category this year, up two spots from last year’s BOM. Annakin Slayd, meanwhile steps up by one, though Omnikrom have slipped down two. Some new names get fame here this year—Mugz, Haligonian transplant Skratch Bastid (who did the wicked production on Buck 65’s last record) and Chase Stacks, who manages to mix a stush, upscale vibe with a dose of downmarket dirt.

Best Club DJ

1. Truspin
2. Peer Pressure DJs
3. Keith Dean
4. Skratch Bastid
5. Team Canada
6. Torus
7. Diamond Cut
8. Stevie V
9. Peter Black
10. IBra

Honourable mentions: Sarcastic, Cherry Cola, Kwite Sane, Jordan Dare

True or false, whatever Truspin is spinning, it’s spun this resident of Wunderbar and Blue Dog right to the top, a gobsmacking leap from seventh place last year. He’s knocked Team Canada out of first place, perhaps a result of low visibility for globetrotters Grand Theft and D.R. One. Peer Pressure’s A-Rock & Hatchmatik make an amazing debut on this list, at #2 (no pressure…), and Saphir’s Peter Black sneaks in to offset the bling-bringers with a lil’ bit of batcave cool.

Best Country/folk Act

1. United Steel Workers of Montreal
2. No Barbers Required
3. Notre Dame de Grass
4. Lake of Stew
5. Ladies of the Canyon
6. Li’l Andy
7. Katie Moore
8. Rob Lutes
9. Lee Mellor
10. The Unsettlers

No tremendous changes at the top in this category. United Steel Workers maintain the steel-fisted grip on first place and No Barbers maintain their required #2, while the next four winners are only slightly rearranged from last year. Absent last year but ranking in ’08 are Rob Lutes (whose recent album launch boosted his profile), Lee Mellor and the delightfully unsettled Unsettlers.

1. Oscar Peterson
2. Turtleboy
3. Kalmunity
4. Oliver Jones
5. Amanda Mabro
6. Dave Turner
7. Jordan Officer
8. Nikki Yanofsky
9. Ranee Lee
10. Stina August

Peterson again takes the top slot, despite or perhaps because of his passing late last year—an iconic figure in jazz, this hometown hero with the giant paws will be missed. Second spot is an insurgent grab by newcomers of sorts Turtleboy (see interview). In fact, with the exception of guitarist Officer and ol’ standby Jones, this list is entirely names not present in the local-jazz top 10 last year.

BEST SINGER/SONGWRITER #3, BEST COUNTRY/FOLK ACT #9: Lee Mellor

1. Leonard Cohen
2. Rufus Wainwright
3. Lee Mellor
4. Patrick Watson
5. Sarah Pearson
6. Pierre-Alain Faucon
7. Celine Dion
8. Maia Davies
9. Pascale Picard
10. Amanda Mabro

Cohen’s our man, again—no surprise that his rare Jazz Fest appearance, coming up this summer, is possibly the most anticipated show of the year. Rufus knocks Sam Roberts out of second place and in fact off the list—Sam, get that new record out and get back in the game. Lee Mellor, a rootsy, rough-hewn raconteur type in the vein of Dylan and Steve Earle, rockets up to third place from ninth. Pat Watson sits pretty at fourth, no shift from a year ago, while Maia Davies drops two slots—shut down by none other than la Celine!

Best Busker

1. Spoonman
2. Spider-Man
3. Nose Flute Guy
4. Stilt Man
5. Hugger Busker
6. Drum Guy on Ste-Catherine
7. Peruvians in the metro
8. Bad News Brown
9. Hollywood
10. Michael Jackson Dancer

Honourable mentions: Sitar Dude, Accordion Guy, Blind Singing Family at Guy metro

With some slight up-and-down movement, the kingpins in this category remain the same, local icons that they are (Drum Guy was absent last year but he and his margarine buckets are back in force in ’08). Spoonman, as ever, takes the top ranking—clackity clack, tabarnac!

1. Indica
2. Ninja Tune
3. Turbo
4. Alien8
5. Good Friday
6. Secret City
7. Dare to Care
8. Youngstar United
9. Constellation
10. Stomp

Honourable mentions: Signed by Force, Urban Handed Works, Audiogram, Justin Time, Milagro