Donna Hopper Photography

I’m sure you’ve heard, but in case you haven’t, here’s this year’s Polaris Music Prize long list which was announced Thursday afternoon from Vancouver’s Waldorf Hotel:

A Tribe Called Red – A Tribe Called Red

Marie-Pierre Arthur – Aux alentours

Rich Aucoin – We’re All Dying To Live

Avec pas d’casque – Astronomie

Azari & III – Azari & III

Bahamas – Barchords

The Barr Brothers – The Barr Brothers

Blackie And The Rodeo Kings – Kings And Queens

Cadence Weapon – Hope In Dirt City

Kathryn Calder – Bright And Vivid

Cannon Bros – Firecracker / Cloudglow

Coeur de pirate – Blonde

Leonard Cohen – Old Ideas

Cold Specks – I Predict A Graceful Expulsion

Rose Cousins – We Have Made A Spark

Mark Davis – Eliminate The Toxins

Drake – Take Care

Kathleen Edwards – Voyageur

Feist – Metals

Fucked Up – David Comes To Life

Great Lake Swimmers – New Wild Everywhere

Grimes – Visions

Handsome Furs – Sound Kapital

Japandroids – Celebration Rock

Dan Mangan – Oh Fortune

Mares Of Thrace – The Pilgrimage

Ariane Moffatt – MA

Lindi Ortega – Little Red Boots

Parlovr – Kook Soul

Sandro Perri – Impossible Spaces

Joel Plaskett Emergency – Scrappy Happiness

PS I Love You – Death Dreams

John K. Samson – Provincial

Shooting Guns – Born To Deal In Magic: 1952-1976

The Slakadeliqs – The Other Side of Tomorrow

Patrick Watson – Adventures In Your Own Backyard

Bry Webb – Provider

The Weeknd – Echoes of Silence

Yamantaka // Sonic Titan – YT//ST

Yukon Blonde – Tiger Talk

A few thoughts

I’m pretty tickled that four of my five picks made the cut. If A Tribe Called Red doesn’t make the short list, I’ll cry. I will.

Some of my honorable mentions also made the cut – Bry Webb, Feist, Shooting Guns, Handsome Furs, Coeur de pirate – and the variety is pleasing indeed.

Funny thing (or maybe not), but there’s a couple records on that there list that I found to be grave disappointments. I’m not here to burst anyone’s post-Polaris long list bubble, so I won’t get into it right now. Let the short list come out, and then maybe we’ll see.

There’s one album that I’d hoped would make it but didn’t. No, I didn’t include it on my ballot even though I’ve pretty much played it five times a day, every day, since discovering it. It wasn’t included because I couldn’t, in good conscience, declare it as Canada’s best album of 2012. But GODDAMMIT, I frikken love it! It’s balls-out, straight-up, old school punk that could be the love child of Husker Du and The Gruesomes. It’s TEENANGER’s Frights.

Here’s a killer track from said album. Crank it and enjoy.