Polaris Prize 2009

[Kalle]

• 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

• Cœur De Pirate - Cœur 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

 

Pick what will be in the Top 10!

[lizish]

One Hundred Dollars x10

 

 

 

 

That or the BROOD disc are my favourites. Find it funny that the fucking ArkellsConstantinescoverband are on there and Julie Doiron and the Deep Dark Woods are not.

[HappyHourHero]

Chad VanGaalen or Brood would be my picks. Everyone and their dog seems to love the Plaskett album, so it wouldn't surprise me if he won. The Deep Dark Woods exclusions is definitely surprising.

[lizish]

Going through what was nominated and y'know what's a real shame, the Jon-Rae Fletcher disc being left off.

 

Certainly the whole Canadian military-industrial Music over-group seems to have totally missed a great album.

[Kalle]

The 10 nominees are, in alphabetical order:

 

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)

 

 

 

The two exclusions I am actually upset with are Bruce Peninsula and One Hundred Dollars, far better records and more deserving than something like Metric.

[bleedorange]

The two exclusions I am actually upset with are Bruce Peninsula and One Hundred Dollars, far better records and more deserving than something like Metric.

 

That Metric album is great. Or is the Polaris Prize supposed to award albums without great hooks and melodies?

[brianjeremy]

I don't own a single album on the short list. Anything worth my time to check out?

[blindgonzo]

i definitely am happy that chad vangaalen is still up there, and I think he should take the prize. Soft Airplane is awesome!

[bweil]

I don't own a single album on the short list. Anything worth my time to check out?

 

 

My personal favorites off the list are Elliott Brood, Great Lake Swimmers, and Hey Rosetta - those would be my recommendations...

[Kalle]

That Metric album is great. Or is the Polaris Prize supposed to award albums without great hooks and melodies?

 

I believe that $20,000 should go to a band that will use it to their benefit, Metric does not need any more money compared to Chad VanGaalen or Elliot Brood etc.

 

My pick for the prize is Great Lake Swimmers with Chad VanGaalen coming close.

[bleedorange]

I believe that $20,000 should go to a band that will use it to their benefit, Metric does not need any more money compared to Chad VanGaalen or Elliot Brood etc.

 

My pick for the prize is Great Lake Swimmers with Chad VanGaalen coming close.

 

Oh. I just figured it was a prize for best Canadian album or something like that. I didn't know it was a need-based award.

[Kalle]

There's no need to be a dick about it. Yes I do realize it goes to the "best Canadian album" but the consequences of calling it that are taking into consideration, especially what the $20K would do for the band that won. Winning the Polaris would really do very little for Metric but for a guy like Chad VanGaalen he's now able to keep making maybe a few more records because of this.

 

Maybe what it comes down to is that I don't like the Metric album, I think they're an overrated band that owes a lot to their lead singer (just my opinion thanks), and I believe you can find equally good "hooks and melodies" on virtually all the records nominated here. I think it's been blatantly shown that even if the big bands on the shortlist have better records (see Arcade Fire, Feist etc. etc.), and this time I don't think they do by any means, the prize does not end up going to them, it ends up going to a younger more modest stature of a band and they are able to keep their career afloat because of winning the prize. This might sound like a flawed contest (but in the end it's a music contest which is ridiculous enough as it is) but it's the reality that we've seen over 3 years.

[lizish]

That Metric album is great. Or is the Polaris Prize supposed to award albums without great hooks and melodies?

 

Backing up the Kalle for a second, this is probably the only Metric album that can even be called good. Previously, their rock star attitude and enlarged sense of how popular they were was not backed up by any kind of quality. That 'Pretend we're Rock Stars, when when we have not sold dick and produce really boring music' was a complete turn off.

 

that said, the new album is ok. not good enough for the top ten, but pretty good.

[bleedorange]

There's no need to be a dick about it. Yes I do realize it goes to the "best Canadian album" but the consequences of calling it that are taking into consideration, especially what the $20K would do for the band that won. Winning the Polaris would really do very little for Metric but for a guy like Chad VanGaalen he's now able to keep making maybe a few more records because of this.

 

Maybe what it comes down to is that I don't like the Metric album, I think they're an overrated band that owes a lot to their lead singer (just my opinion thanks), and I believe you can find equally good "hooks and melodies" on virtually all the records nominated here. I think it's been blatantly shown that even if the big bands on the shortlist have better records (see Arcade Fire, Feist etc. etc.), and this time I don't think they do by any means, the prize does not end up going to them, it ends up going to a younger more modest stature of a band and they are able to keep their career afloat because of winning the prize. This might sound like a flawed contest (but in the end it's a music contest which is ridiculous enough as it is) but it's the reality that we've seen over 3 years.

 

Actually, I wasn't being a dick about anything. Based on your response, I figured "need" was part of the criteria, since my knowledge of the Polaris Prize didn't extend beyond it being Canadian. Plus, I agree that artists who could use the prize money more definitely deserve the recognition.

 

As far as Metric is concerned, I really like their album and I'm not sure why their lead singer should be held against them. I've heard seven of the short list, and none of them come close to the Metric album for me. But I'm anxious to get my hands on Chad VanGaalen and Hey Rosetta. Based largely on the recommendations in this thread.

 

Again, I know sarcasm is usually the order of the day around here, but this time that wasn't the case for me. Sorry.

[HappyHourHero]

Very safe and predictable short list. One intelligent hip hop release? Check. One francophone release? Check. One female fronted band? Check. Some adult alternative? Check.

[lizish]

Very safe and predictable short list. One intelligent hip hop release? Check. One francophone release? Check. One female fronted band? Check. Some adult alternative? Check.

 

So I take it Fucked Up is safe and predictable?

 

[HappyHourHero]

haha, fair enough, 1/10.

[lizish]

And Fucked Up take the crown:

 

Pic from last night.

[lizish]

Coolest thing:

 

http://everythingispop.blogspot.com/2009/11/yes-virginia-there-is-santa-claus.html

 

Yes Virginia, There Is a Santa Claus

He Just Likes to Sing in His underwear

 

All things considered, the $20000 prize money that comes with the Polaris Prize might be considered apaltry sum. But can it make a difference? If you’re Patrick Watson you pay for that tour van you demolished on that winter trek through the American Midwest... If you’re Damian Abraham from 2009 Polaris Prize winners Fucked Up you produce a charity cover of ”Do They Know It’s Christmas?” with some of your favourite people. Calling in favours from David Cross, members of Vampire Weekend, TV on the Radio, Broken Social Scene, the GZA, Bob Mould, No Age, and Yo La Tengo this might just be a musical hit for the ages. (Feist, Jarvis Cocker, and M.I.A. have yet to confirm their appearance.)

 

Where it gets really great though is just where the money will be going from this worthy seasonal enterprise.

 

Front man Damian Abraham explains in New York Magazine:

 

We’re doing itfor a few different organizations, like Justice for the Missing, thatare affiliated with the 500 missing and murdered aboriginal women inCanada. That number is an old official statistic that the governmentuses, but the number is probably closer to 3,000. It’s not like canceror AIDS. Those are worthy causes but they have big fund-raisingmachines. This is an undocumented, underreported crime that’s beengoing on for years. And while this is for Canadian organizations, thesame sort of thing is going on at the U.S.-Mexico border, with Mexicanwomen going missing, and in Australia, with aboriginal women there.