Polaris Prize Shortlist Out

Music - Ten Canadian acts are one step closer to the $20,000 Polaris Prize and becoming the official sweetheart of musical critics countrywide.

The award -- partly inspired by Britain's prestigious Mercury Prize -- is voted on by Canadian critics and aims to honour "the albums of the highest artistic integrity, without regard to musical genre, professional history or sales history."

As for this year's list of tastemakers, they are, in alphabetical order:

- Black Mountain, In the Future;

- Basia Bulat, Oh, My Darling;

- Caribou, Andorra;

- Kathleen Edwards, Asking for Flowers;

- Holy Fuck, LP;

- Plants and Animals, Parc Avenue;

- Shad, The Old Prince;

- Stars, In Our Bedroom After the War;

- Two Hours Traffic, Little Jabs;

- The Weakerthans, Reunion Tour.

Final Fantasy took the inaugural award in 2006, and last year the honour went to Montreal's Patrick Watson.

This was the longlist, a pretty good testament to the quality of Canadian music as of late

* The Acorn, Glory Hope Mountain
* Attack in Black, Marriage
* Black Mountain, In the Future
* Born Ruffians, Red, Yellow and Blue
* Buck 65, Situation
* Basia Bulat, Oh, My Darling
* Cadence Weapon, Afterparty Babies
* Cancer Bats, Hail Destroyer
* Caribou, Andorra
* City and Colour, Bring Me Your Love
* Constantines, Kensington Heights
* Crystal Castles, Crystal Castles
* Destroyer, Trouble in Dreams
* Fred Eaglesmith, Tinderbox
* Kathleen Edwards, Asking for Flowers
* Christine Fellows, Nevertheless
* Gatineau, Gatineau
* Hayden, In Field & Town
* Veda Hille, This Riot Life
* Hilotrons, Happymatic
* Holy Fuck, LP
* Islands, Arm's Way
* Karkwa, Le volume du vent
* Corb Lund, Horse Soldier! Horse Soldier!
* The New Pornographers, Challengers
* Pas Chic Chic, Au Contraire
* Sandro Perri, Tiny Mirrors
* Plants and Animals, Parc Avenue
* Ghislain Poirier, No Ground Under
* Protest the Hero, Fortress
* Justin Rutledge, Man Descending
* The Sadies, New Seasons
* Shad, The Old Prince
* Socalled, Ghetto Blaster
* Stars, In Our Bedroom After the War
* Tegan and Sara, The Con
* Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra and Tra-La-La Band, 13 Blues for Thirteen Moons
* Two Hours Traffic, Little Jabs
* The Weakerthans, Reunion Tour
* Wintersleep, Welcome to the Night Sky



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2007 Shortlist
* Patrick Watson – Close to Paradise
* Arcade Fire – Neon Bible
* The Besnard Lakes – The Besnard Lakes Are the Dark Horse
* The Dears – Gang of Losers
* Julie Doiron – Woke Myself Up
* Feist – The Reminder
* Junior Boys – So This Is Goodbye
* Miracle Fortress – Five Roses
* Joel Plaskett Emergency – Ashtray Rock
* Chad VanGaalen – Skelliconnection


2006 Shortlist
* Final Fantasy – He Poos Clouds
* Broken Social Scene – Broken Social Scene
* Cadence Weapon – Breaking Kayfabe
* The Deadly Snakes – Porcella
* Sarah Harmer – I'm a Mountain
* K'naan – The Dusty Foot Philosopher
* Malajube – Trompe-l'oeil
* Metric – Live It Out
* The New Pornographers – Twin Cinema
* Wolf Parade – Apologies to the Queen Mary

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Any thoughts on this? Tough to predict the winner, given the variety of genres, though I wouldn't be surprised to see Caribou take it.

Caribou needs to take this. Or The Weakerthans, but I bet Snaith could use the money more.

Agreed. Caribou / Manitoba / whatever he goes by these days should take it.

I gotta hear this. I love his voice on the cinematic orchestra cd.

Four of the five on my ballot made the shortlist. The only one that didn't was The Acorn.

Early predictions? I'm going with Shad or Two Hours Traffic. Serious buzz around those two.

stormy, stormy high.

black mountain, baby.

Still haven't heard the Black Mountain album. I just got it from the library and look forward to giving it a spin.

I really love the Caribou album... a lot (more than his first under that name), but I would vote for Stars. What a fucking amazing album...

EDIT: Just realized those are the only two albums on this list I've heard... guess that doesn't exactly make me an expert!

i have never heard of any of those bands

Shad is great, The Old Prince is pretty brilliant.





You're missing out, put down the oasis and get on some of this indie. You've certainly heard some of this stuff unintentionally, do some research and expand your mind. I could find some links for you...
Shad - The Old Prince

these guys are going to win.


i love that Acorn record... thanks for turning me onto it, Sask.

Yeah, I'm really enjoying that album.

Plants and Animals is pretty cool, too.

[though Black Mountain remains my fave of the lot]

Why is the shortlist announced in the middle of the year? Is the prize not for 'best' album of the year?

It's the best album from mid-2007 to mid-2008.

HOLY FUCK

"Volcano" by Hot Springs should, at the very least, be on the long list.

hope Black Mountain win the award, but the Cadence Weapon record on the shortlist is probably the best of all.

Ever since the Deadly Snakes were snubbed in 2006 I haven't paid any mind to this. Buncha assholes.

It's a very safe and predictable short list.

That Weakerthans album, while catchy, is my least favorite of theirs.

Notice Crystal Castles didn't make the final list, no that i'm a big fan but that does seem to be considered, here at least, a cool record.

Here's hoping the people who vote for this are smart enough to award the prize to Holy Fuck, if only as a political statement given the Canadian government's recent trashing of the band and arts funding.

I'm hoping for two in a row for Secret City Records, meaning Plants and Animals. The album is amazing and oh so catchy.

... then again it would kinda be a crime if Holy Fuck didn't win.

Seeing Holy Fuck, Black Mountain, or Caribou win would please me immensely.

And the 2008 winner is...

Caribou - Andorra

Outstanding, well deserved!

really happy for him. this is probably the first time i like the winner of this. well deserved indeed

i'm kind of surprised by that... good for him.

so what does he win?

$20,000.

cool.

Definitely stoked that Snaith took it... wasn't a fan of the Watson choice last year, but I was pleased in '06 with He Poos Clouds.

I bet that next album will have some nice bells and whistles.

The 2009 long list has been announced:

Arkells - Jackson Square
Jill Barber - Chances
Beast - Beast
Bell Orchestre - As Seen Through Windows
Bison B.C. - Quiet Earth
Bruce Peninsula - A Mountain Is A Mouth
Coeur De Pirate - Coeur De Pirate
Leonard Cohen - Live In London
D-Sisive - Let The Children Die
Elephant Stone - The Seven Seas
Elliott Brood - Mountain Meadows
Fucked Up - The Chemistry Of Common Life
Great Lake Swimmers - Lost Channels
Handsome Furs - Face Control
Tim Hecker - An Imaginary Country
Hey Rosetta! - Into Your Lungs
Japandroids - Post-Nothing
Junior Boys - Begone Dull Care
K'NAAN - Troubadour
K-OS - YES!
La patère rose - La patère rose
Land Of Talk - Some Are Lakes
Lhasa - Lhasa
Malajube - Labyrinthes
Metric - Fantasies
One Hundred Dollars - Forest Of Tears
Pink Mountaintops - Outside Love
Joel Plaskett - Three
Snailhouse - Lies On The Prize
Charles Spearin - The Happiness Project
Rae Spoon - superioryouareinferior
The Stills - Oceans Will Rise
Think About Life - Family
Timber Timbre - Timber Timbre
Chad VanGaalen - Soft Airplane
Martha Wainwright - I Know You're Married But I've Got Feelings Too
Patrick Watson - Wooden Arms
Wolf Parade - At Mount Zoomer
Women - Women
Woodpigeon - Treasury Library Canada C/W Houndstooth Europa

Pretty sure Metric will win this tbh.

Odds-on fave right now is K'naan, in my opinion. Jurors will back off Metric because of their mainstream appeal, like Arcade Fire and Stars.

I'm pulling (and voting) for Fucked Up, but don't think they'll win it all. Can't underestimate the singer-songwriters, the jurors love them, so I'd think van Gaalen will be a bit-time contender. Junior Boys are due for a short list nom. The very likeable Coeur de Pirate will be the token French band, and could be a real sleeper when all's said and done: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8vNxjwt2AqY&feature=fvsr

Oh, and I'm amazed AC Newman missed the cut.

as long as japandroids doesn't win, i'm happy

edit: anyone got a link for coeur de pirate???

The short list was announced, and aside from Fucked Up, Metric, and K'NAAN, it's horribly bland, predictably heavy on the singer-songwriters.

Elliott BROOD - Mountain Meadows
(Toronto, ON)

Fucked Up - The Chemistry Of Common Life
(Toronto, ON)

Great Lake Swimmers - Lost Channels
(Toronto, ON)

Hey Rosetta! - Into Your Lungs (and around in your heart and on through your blood)
(St. John's, NF)

K'NAAN - Troubadour
(Toronto, ON)

Malajube - Labyrinthes
(Montréal, QC)

Metric - Fantasies
(Toronto, ON)

Joel Plaskett - Three
(Halifax, NS)

Chad VanGaalen - Soft Airplane
(Calgary, AB)

Patrick Watson - Wooden Arms
(Montréal, QC)

***

Patrick Watson, Joel Plaskett, Great Lake Swimmers are all boring albums. Malajube beating out Coeur de Pirate and La Patere Rose is wrong, wrong, wrong. Junior Boys get snubbed again. Handsome Furs and Japandriods ignored. Ugh.

Go Fucked Up!

shortlist for latvia's version of the polaris prize to be announced next tuesday

I count one good record on that list.

Fucked Up's The Chemistry of Common Life takes the Polaris Prize...so awesome!