Polaris Music Prize: Shortlist Announced

7 July 2009, Allan @ 6:09 pm And here’s the list:

Elliott BROOD – Mountain Meadows
(Toronto, ON)

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

Great Lake Swimmers – Lost Channels
(Toronto, ON)

Polaris Music Prize: Shortlist Announced

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)

I don’t have much to say right now. If looking at the list, for sure one would say the black sheep would be Hey! Rosetta. However, they are from a smaller city and do have a smaller fanbase – so let’s not play critic bully yet. Now I’m going to check out the record personally. At least the band should be signed by now.

Another criticism, regional bias will always be part of these discussions. This time Toronto dominates the list with 5 out of 10 nominees. I wasn’t happy with all the Montreal bands on the shortlist and this time, there are just too many Toronto bands. Being from Toronto, we’re not that great and if anything the place I live in Jane-and-Finch (or “University Heights”) lacks a ton of musical diversity (esp. if York University wasn’t nearby). That’s another post for another day.

In the lead?
For sure it’s Chad VanGaalen’s Soft Airplane. In a way with a seemingly weak shortlist – I really believe it’s down to Fucked Up and CVG.

I don’t really have any “clear” problems with the shortlist. Is it as strong as I’d like it to be? Absolutely not. Should be fun regardless. I guess I’ll throw it out there: another conspiracy theory is that the Gala would have the likes of Metric to spice up the event. I was on the fence on whether it belonged on the longlist so yeah. All I’ll say is: Canada has a vast amount of music and winning isn’t everything. Being nominated isn’t everything (even if it increases album sales – that’s a superficial way of receiving new fans). Tons of great albums that fall through the cracks and the winner’s album may not even be the year’s best when people look back in time.

AWmusic