The Polaris Prize Short List came out yesterday. Everyone on this list will receive $2,000 and the winner receives a grand prize of $30,000. Here it is.
Arcade Fire — The Suburbs
Austra — Feel It Break
Braids — Native Speaker
Destroyer — Kaputt
Galaxie — Tigre Et Diesel
Hey Rosetta — Seeds
Ron Sexsmith — Long Player Late Bloomer
Colin Steston — New History Warfare Vol. 2: Judges
Timber Timbre — Creep On Creepin’ On
The Weeknd — House Of Balloons
I was fortunate enough to be a juror this year – my first.Here’s my votes (from the Long List):
Frederick Squire – March 12
Neil Young – Le Noise
Braids – Native Speaker
The Rural Alberta Advantage – Departing
The Weeknd – House of Balloons
A few people have been yelling at me about my choices/lack of choices. I’ve been yelling at a few people about their choices. It’s fun arguing about music. And in a culture where bands and songs and albums slip through the public’s collective fingers like water, it’s been very interesting being taken (repeatedly) to task for the albums I’ve favored.
Like a lot of people, my views on this year’s shortlist are mixed, but I will not bore you with those thoughts here. There have been a number of very good write-ups about the jury process and the albums by people who have been doing this longer than I have, so I don’t think I should wax too much on that aspect of things. The Polaris Prize is a very subjective thing, for the jurists and the bands and Canadian music fans. So I will speak from my viewpoint.
When I joined the jury I had to plunge into a crash course of Notable Canadian Releases (suggested by jury members) over the past year. It was amazing (obviously) and really stressful at the same time. I started learning how to listen to entire albums again. Upon a first listen, there were a number of releases that I found really boring. Then some of them got better. I kept listening. My list changed about 40 times. I pulled out my hair, and asked my friends their opinions, In the end, my final list consists of 5 albums that I felt moved and excited by after multiple listens, from my shitty computer speakers to our shitty car speakers, in the kitchen, on vinyl.
Specifically, I was extremely wary of Braids and The Weeknd – the latter because I am a typical punk/rock listener who doesn’t hear much R & B, and the former because someone told me Braids sounded like the Animal Collective, who I dislike enormously. And goddamn if both of those albums didn’t start growing on me like a sexy fungus. I figured Neil Young was done writing good albums and then Le Noise blew my mind. (If “The Hitchiker” doesn’t give you at least a tiny shiver, I don’t know if you and I can be friends anymore.) And well, March 12 made me realize Fred Squire is a genius.
It was so amazing to be surprised. It was amazing to have these albums wriggle through the self-righteous bubble of awareness that clouded my vision. I’m such a dick sometimes, with all these pre-conceived notions of what I like and don’t like, and because of that, I’ve missed so much.
I did my best to ignore all the little voices telling me what I should do or ought to do, telling me I shouldn’t pick The Weeknd because it’s on Pitchfork, and I shouldn’t pick Neil Young because he’s a “living legend” – all those stupid, obnoxious little suggestions that actually have nothing to do with the Polaris mandate and merely serve as distractions from the music itself. It was sometimes extremely difficult to ignore those voices. I did my best.
And of course, now that everything is said and done, I have a few doubts. I think I should have picked Eternia and Moss’ At Last now that I’ve had more time to listen to it. Eternia is a great, great MC and the beats are ridiculous. Also, Shotgun Jimmie’s Transistor Sister got edged out at zero hour. Hindsight, hindsight. My favorite songs from both those albums are below.
In the end, I hope the final jury makes a well-reasoned decision and follows their hearts. It’s been a great experience for me, and I’ve come away from this with deepened feelings of love and understanding towards Canadian music.
Eternia and Moss – Day in the Life
Shotgun Jimmie – Swamp Magic
This article appears in Jul 7-13, 2011.
the answer is simple: DESTROYER!