Does the Toronto Indie Scene = Broken Social Scene?

Sometime last year there was a rumour going around that a NYT writer was in town fishing for interviews for a piece on Toronto's indie scene. Well that piece is here and the ever resourceful kids at Stillepost have somehow got their hands on the piece before it was put up on the NYT's site (NYT subscribers get a sneak peek at Sunday's issue, the piece will most likely appear in this Sunday's NYT magazine).

The piece centers around Broken Social Scene, with the group occupying the lionshare of the piece. It's raised a few eyebrows over on the indie-rock bulletin board but writer Alissa Quart has written such a thorough analysis of the massive mega band that criticism seems to be fairly muted so far by Stillepost's sometimes voluble standards (witness the brou ha ha over 20hz). But the piece does try to figure out what makes Toronto's scene different, citing examples like Blocks Recording Clubs, Wavelength and more. Paved.ca's Marck Weisblott also throws in his two cents.

So read the piece, make up your mind but Torontoist wants you to consider BSS co-founder Kevin Drew for mayor in '06.

One cold evening as we made our way down Queen Street, [Kevin] Drew seemed to delight in his role as the unofficial mayor of Toronto. He said hello to the hostess and several of the patrons at a local Italian restaurant. He clutched arms with the bartender of his favorite local bar, the Communist's Daughter. A young woman, whom Drew had met once in passing, stopped him and asked him to call her cousin, a victim of a random shooting, who had just come out of a coma. He called the cousin. In between encounters, he rang up a few musician friends to tell them how great their show was and to offer other words of alt-mayoral succor.