It’s the start of a new year, which means it’s time for another Out of this Spark anniversary party. I must give credit to OOTS mastermind Stuart Duncan for switching things up this year, moving everything from the cavernous confines of The Garrison (home to last year’s celebrations, written up here) to the much cozier interior of The Tranzac’s Southern Cross Lounge.

The night’s billing was also noticeably different from past anniversaries — instead of having the entire OOTS roster perform, this year’s anniversary brought a few satellite bands in to the fold. In fact, the only band to perform currently on OOTS was Evening Hymns; the rest of the night was devoted to alumni (Jenny Omnichord) and contributors to the Friends in Bellwoods 2 compilation (Kite Hill, The Phonemes, Richard Laviolette, The Pale Mornings aka. Sylvie Smith).

Under most circumstances, a seven band bill would have me running for the hills, but Stuart did a great job of picking acts that I really wanted to see. Several bands were even testing out new material — always a bonus at shows. I spoke with Ryan Carley of Kite Hill and he said the band’s debut is done being recorded, so hopefully we’ll get to hear it very soon since I really enjoyed their set. Evening Hymns’ set was almost all new songs, and they made sure to tell the crowd that they’ll be appearing on a new album soon, tentatively titled Spectral Dusk.

The Pale Mornings and Richard Laviolette & The Oil Spills filled the country quota of the night — the former through covers of timeless tunes (some Patsy Cline, some Waylon Jennings) and the latter with some of his own modern classics. If you haven’t picked up Richard’s latest album “All Your Raw Materials,” it just got re-issued on You’ve Changed Records. Everyone’s gotta have it!

The show was sold out completely and it surely could have been held in a bigger room but besides some sad faces on those who couldn’t get in, the night was a success from my point of view. The Tranzac’s front room is one of my favourite places in Toronto to see a show and even though it was at capacity, the crowd was quiet and respectful the whole night.

Of course it wouldn’t be an OOTS-versary without a set from the “Family Band.” This time around they went the all-covers route, with Evening Hymns’ Jonas Bonnetta taking lead on Tom Petty’s “Won’t Back Down,” Sylvie Smith doing George Harrison’s “I’ve Got My Mind Set on You,” Daniela Gesundheit from OOTS latest signing Snowblink covering Berlin’s “Take My Breath Away,” and Kat Burns of Forest City Lovers and John O’Regan of The D’Urbervilles trading verses on Stevie Nicks’ “Edge of Seventeen” into Destiny’s Child’s “Bootylicious.”

I want to thank Joe Strutt and his amazing website Mechanical Forest Sound for letting me use his captured audio from the night alongside my own. If you haven’t been to his site yet, please take the time to check it out. He goes to more concerts than anyone else in Toronto and he reviews and posts live recordings from all of them. As for me, I posted a whole bunch more videos from the show on YouTube and photos on Flickr.

Let me tell you a little bit about Jenny Omnichord in case you aren’t familiar with all that she’s done. Her old band, The Barmitzvah Brothers, released five albums between 2000 and 2007. Their last album together, 2007’s Let’s Express Our Motives: An Album of Under-Appreciated Job Songs, is one of the best albums of the last ten years if you ask me. It’s pretty much perfect. Each song tackles a different occupation, from library page to janitor to rodeo clown, using a wide range of styles to capture the essence of each job. Since then, Jenny has released two more full-lengths and a few EPs, her most recent being Charlotte or Otis: Duets for Children, Their Parents and Other People Too, which featured collaborations with Jim Guthrie, Tony Dekker, Shad and many more.

Based off of Jenny’s almost annual output, we should be due for another album this year, and I for one can’t wait! As for Out of this Spark, it looks like it will be a pretty busy year, with new albums from Forest City Lovers and The D’Urbervilles anticipated for the fall.

I didn’t get off work until midnight last night, meaning I missed Taylor’s big gig, but I still made it to the Tranzac afterwards for the latest OOTS presentation. Luckily that seemed to be where most people ended up after the Timber Timbre show so I was still able to see some friends, which is key. I missed the first few acts (Chris Yang and Gavin Gardiner) but got there just in time to see Guelph’s Richard Laviolette, whose quiet masterpiece A Little Less Like a Rock, a Little More Like a Home was a favourite of mine a few years back, and who I last saw at SappyFest about a year ago. However, in stark contrast to that show, yesterday Richard was backed up by his new-ish band (well, it was the first time I’ve seen them) the Hollow Hooves, who brought some welcome muscle to his fragile sounding songs. It was a very different performance than I’m used to him putting on, but I liked it all the same.

I ducked out after a few tunes to catch up with some friends outside, but hopefully it’s not another year before I see Richard again.