Unless covering the indie-music circuit is your full-time job or your full-time obsession, there's no way you're looking at the schedule for this weekend's North by Northeast festival and immediately figuring out what to hit and miss.

Having been surpassed by Pop Montreal as Canada's answer to South by Southwest in Austin, Tex., Toronto's NXNE boasts only a handful of high-profile buzz acts. So to do it properly requires an awful lot of homework.

I'm not going to claim to be an A-student. But pretending we could beam ourselves from venue to venue, here's one estimate of the best way to spend every available hour:

TONIGHT

7 p.m. Martha Wainwright (The Mod Club). This one's a gimme, possibly the easiest pick of the weekend - and not just because it's the only gig that starts this early. Wainwright's NXNE connection is a little tenuous, but since 50 wristband owners will make it through the doors, we'll throw her in. She's brought her band this time, but this is still as intimate a gig as this rising star is likely to play in Toronto for a while.

8 p.m. Nathan Coles Outfit (The Gladstone). It's slim pickings until the action picks up next hour. Of what's available, these Guelph-based, Neil Young-aping folksters seem the best bet.

9 p.m. Elliott Brood (The Horseshoe). Some country-blues fare to set the mood. They call it "death country," and if you have any idea what that means, you're a step ahead of me. But these local boys do have a nice little edge to them, and a follow-up to last year's promising EP is due soon.

10 p.m. The Novaks (Lee's Palace). Since it'll be a few months before the Stones turn up for their requisite pre-tour club gig, a few borrowed chords served up by these upstart Newfoundlanders will have to sate classic-rock appetites.

11 p.m. The Most Serene Republic (Reverb). Tough call here, since it means missing Matthew Barber (El Mocambo) and finding out whether Montreal girl-group Pony Up! (Club 279) are endearingly quirky or supremely irritating. But this Milton-based Arts & Crafts signing, drawing heavy Broken Social Scene comparisons, is shaping up as the weekend's hottest buzz act.

12 a.m. Marah (El Mocambo). The best bet among the handful of U.S. bands to make the trek, these vaguely Springsteenesque Philadelphians are a favourite of Nick Hornby - though it's an open question whether indie snobs will take that as a ringing endorsement.

1 a.m. The Old Soul (Reverb). A little Flaming Lips/Brian Wilson vibe seems a good way to end off the evening on an upbeat note.

FRIDAY

7 p.m. The Dears (Phoenix Concert Theatre). This is the same deal as Wainwright - not quite a full-fledged NXNE gig, but open to the first 350 wristbanders who show up. The biggest show of the weekend, at least in terms of numbers. Also, it'll go at least two hours, so it lets us cheat a bit.

9 p.m. Clothes Make the Man (Rancho Relaxo). Local power-pop with a hard-nosed edge, mostly courtesy of some gritty, raspy, impassioned vocals. A few critics have already taken to loudly championing them; we'll see if they can pick up the common folk this early in the evening.

10 p.m. Two Hours Traffic (The Horseshoe). Best proof that the Maritime music scene has been revived: A Charlottetown (!) band is on the bill. To beef up those East Coast credentials, Joel Plaskett was enlisted to produce their full-length debut - a sophisticated outing for a bunch of 19-year-olds.

11 p.m. Fembots (The Gladstone). Not the cute girl-group the name would suggest, these Torontonians might serve up NXNE's most soulful set. Hopefully, their brand of atmospheric, gospel-infused country-pop will prove as hard to resist as it is to describe.

12 a.m. Magneta Lane (Gladstone Hotel). These girls seem to be playing buzz shows every second week, to somewhat mixed reviews. But they've got a great single (The Constant Lover), a decent EP, and rumour has it they're still learning on the job, so it might be time to check in - even if it means missing out on other worthy choices in the weekend's most competitive slot.

1 a.m. The Deadly Snakes (Gladstone Hotel). Capping off Paper Bag Records Night, these local veterans run the gamut from punk to more classic rock, promising to end the evening with either an exclamation mark or a headache.

SATURDAY

8 p.m. Jason Bajada (Holy Joe's). OK, this one's a total guess. But since this ultra-sensitive crooner (the title of his debut solo album translates to "Little Boy Sadness") drew some decent reviews at Pop Montreal, he stands out among the limited options.

9 p.m. The Lovely Feathers (The Gladstone). Somehow, we've managed to go the whole weekend without a single Montreal buzz band. Enough of that. Still coming into their own, their debut album's quirky indie-pop has deservedly turned heads on both sides of the border.

10 p.m. Another Blue Door (Rancho Relaxo). Unquestionably the best band ever to name its debut album (Haulers) after a Bowmanville truck stop. Also, they get compared to Dinosaur Jr. a lot, which is currently a popular thing to be compared to.

11 p.m. Malajube (Cameron House). Are we sufficiently down with Montreal to handle our indie-rock delivered in French? Time to find out.

12 a.m. The Hot Springs (Cameron House). Spunky frontwomen are totally in right now, and we've mostly missed the boat this weekend. Spunky frontwoman Giselle Webster will help fix that.

1 a.m. The Golden Dogs (Lee's Palace). These local purveyors of alt-country, pop-rock and everything in between turned in one of NXNE 04's most lauded sets. After a weekend of flying by the seat of our pants, what could be better than ending with a sure thing?