VA - Friends In Bellwoods 2

Friends In Bellwoods 2 is a two-disc compilation of new or unreleased songs by mostly Toronto-based musicians, and is a follow-up to the first edition, which was released in January 2007. All proceeds from the albums (which total over $11,000 so far) go to the Daily Bread Food Bank. If you look at the 40 artists featured on FIB 2, you're sure to recognize plenty of them. The folks who put the album together (Ohbijou's Casey Mecija and James Bunton, with Out Of This Spark head honcho Stuart Duncan) have done a formidable job of filling the ranks with acts such as Final Fantasy and Great Lake Swimmers, rising stars like The Rural Alberta Advantage and Katie Stelmanis, and newcomers like Hooded Fang and Sylvie Smith.

Even if you're already familiar with everyone on these discs, you're sure to find some surprises (The D'Urbervilles' exciting take on Timber Timbre's "Magic Arrow" definitely caught all of us offguard). Other highlights include Sandro Perri and Ryan Driver's contribution (billed here as Double Suicide), as well as Canadian Wildlife, Jenny Mecija of Ohbijou's delicate first step as a solo artist. For an album attempting to document a time and place, it is surprisingly cohesive (the fact that most of the songs here are quiet acoustic or piano numbers certainly helps the flow). Years from now when I'm looking back at this time in my life, it will be these bands providing the soundtrack to my memories, so it's nice to have them all in one place.