Polaris long list
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.
