2009 Polaris Prize short list

It’s here!

Chad VanGaalenSoft Airplane
Elliott BroodMountain Meadows
Fucked UpChemistry of Common Life
Great Lake SwimmersLost Channels
Hey Rosetta!Into Your Lungs
Joel PlaskettThree
K’NaanTroubador
MalajubeLabyrinths
MetricFantasies
Patrick WatsonWooden Arms

I’m so excited about Elliott Brood. So excited. I don’t think Patrick Watson will take it, just because he’s already won and the Prize is so new; it’s pretty exciting to see Chad VanGaalen and Joel Plaskett on that list, though. The winner will be announced September 21!

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2009 Polaris Prize long list

It is here, folks. It is here.

Arkells, Jackson Square
Jill Barber, Chances
Beast, Beast
Bell Orchestre, As Seen Through Windows
Bison BC, Quiet Earth
Bruce Peninsula, A Mountain Is A Mouth
Coeur de Pirate, Coeur 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
Japandroid, 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
$100, 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

Talk amongst yourselves.

The Polaris Music Prize shortlist will be announced on July 7 in Toronto, and the CBC Radio 3 source post can be found right here.

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Matt Good hates the Junos

Are you surprised? Matt Good hates everything.

The Canadian Press reports that Vancouver-based artist Matthew Good “has no desire to be a part of the Junos”. He and Howie Beck go on to say that the award show is based too much on sales and that the major nominees are irrelevant.

Heard this before?

“When it’s actually a television broadcast that celebrates actual Canadian music, rather than who’s doing well internationally and has been in car commercials and iPod commercials … I’ll go,” says Good. Amen. I don’t usually agree with him anymore, but I can’t deny that statement.

Also, Elvis Costello is presenting an award. Why? He’s married to Diana Krall. Oh, how I love Costello, but oh, how many things are wrong with this show. Remember how it was supposed to be about Canadian artists? Yeah.

The Juno Awards will be broadcast on CTV this Sunday, March 28, from Vancouver.

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Oscar notes

All right, I don’t need to give you the whole Oscar story — by now everybody’s heard everything and we all know what happened. I’d like to weigh in, though …

AWESOME!

Host Hugh Jackman’s opening number. The right amount of cheese, charm, and ridiculous set pieces, the beautiful Anne Hathaway goofily playing Richard Nixon, and “The Reader, I haven’t seen The Reader” — ha ha!

Heath Ledger’s Oscar for Best Supporting Actor in The Dark Knight. I got a little emotional. I really hope he’s watching from somewhere.

Sean Penn (Best Actor) and Dustin Lance Black (Best Original Screenplay) winning big for Milk and then making rousing, heartfelt, and ass-kicking acceptance speeches.

Ben Stiller making fun of Joaquin Phoenix during his presentation with Natalie Portman. Hi-larious. “I just want to retire from being the funny guy,” he said — to which Portman replied, “You look like you work at a Hasidic meth lab.”

Kunio Kato’s acceptance speech after winning the award for Animated Feature (La Maison en petits cubes): he ended with “Domo arigato, Mr Roboto”. Way to perpetuate stereotypes, I guess … but it was mightily funny.

Viola Davis. She was absolutely gorgeous.

Hugh Jackman, again: classic tuxedo, charming host, damn is he handsome.

NOT AWESOME!

Sophia Loren looking rather unfortunate and making an incredibly awkward presentation speech to Best Supporting Actress nominee Meryl Streep. Yikes. That makeup … a little too zombie for my tastes.

The man-sized bow spilling off of Jessica Biel’s dress. Honestly, I don’t understand high fashion at the best of times, but I can’t figure out why that would ever be a good idea.

Beyoncé lip-synching during her performance with Jackman during the musical medley. What’s up, Miss Knowles? That was disappointing, especially since Hugh was singing superbly well while doing his rather strenuous dance moves.

Speaking of which, that whole musical medley was just not good. Thanks, Baz Luhrmann — you managed to make that thing interminable and full of really awkward “transitions”, which were really just abrupt cuts between songs. That could’ve been better.

Jennifer Aniston’s really awkward presentation speech … made even more awkward for us, the TV-watching audience, when the camera cut to Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt in the middle of it.

The technical flubs: the voice of the stage director hissing “open the curtain!” at one point when the video started playing behind it, or the crew starting the Best Director clip too early and surprising presenter Reese Witherspoon. I guess it can’t be a live broadcast without a few muck-ups here and there.

—-

How long until next year’s?

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The trouble with the Junos

I’d like to get some things off my chest here.

The nominees for the 2009 Juno Awards were announced the other day, and with every year, CARAS adds another nail to its own coffin. It’s hard to see why the Junos are still such a big deal in Canada — their relevance seems to slip away more and more every year, and we are left honouring artists who write lyrics like this:

Dirty little lady with the pretty pink thong
Every sugar daddy hitting on her all night long
Doesn’t care about the money, she could be with anybody
Ain’t it funny how the honey wanted you all along!

[...] You’re so much cooler when you never pull it out
‘Cause you look so much cuter with something in your mouth

That’s right. Nickelback, the ones responsible for that atrocity, led the nominations parade with five (single, album, artist and producer of the year, as well as the fan choice award). Somehow, CARAS seem to think that this motley crew is the best thing this country has to offer musically. If this is the case, I’d like to change my citizenship.

I’ll come back to that, but first, there’s another problem we need to pay attention to: the “International Album of the Year” category, this year a contest between AC/DC, Coldplay, Guns ‘N Roses, Jack Johnson, and Metallica. First of all: none of these people give a rat’s behind whether they’re nominated for a Juno Award (an award ostensibly for Canadian content, I might add). Second, why do we even need this category? Obviously, Chris Martin or Axl Rose are not going to show up to the ceremony, so it isn’t even a ploy to boost ratings. This category has been a head-scratcher for me ever since I started watching the Junos and I still haven’t been able to justify it.

If the Juno Awards really do need a category like this, they need to make it relevant to Canada. Albums that sell more than any Canadian record are not a good enough connection. We’ve got categories for best producer and recording engineer, many of whom work on albums by non-Canadian artists; this is the kind of thing that should be getting more attention, not a gratuitous presentation to an artist who will probably forget they got the award at all.

I could get into a lot more (why is there only one Francophone category? How in the hell does a throat singer get nominated for instrumental album of the year?), but I’d like to go back to the Nickelback problem for a moment.

Here it is, plain and simple: Nickelback shouldn’t be on this pedestal. Most of Canada has no idea what’s going on in most of music, and assume that when you turn on the top 40 station, that’s all there is. The only two categories that really honour Canada’s incredible artistic scene are also terribly named, almost cursory ones: Alternative and Adult Alternative albums of the year.

What is “adult alternative”? When I hear that, I think Muzak. According to the Juno nominees sheet, though, it means Hawksley Workman, Serena Ryder, Kathleen Edwards, Ron Sexsmith and Sarah Slean — all incredibly talented musicians, and ones who would probably belong in a category titled “Songwriter of the Year”. Alternative, by contrast, contains Black Mountain, Chad VanGaalen, Fucked Up, Plants and Animals, and The Stills.

I’m sure most of you are thinking the same thing: why are Nickelback, Simple Plan, Hedley, and Celine Dion all over the nominations list, and why are our most talented artists getting the boot?

The answer is, of course, record sales. Nickelback sell more albums than any of these artists, and I suppose they deserve to be rewarded for that. That really doesn’t mean they also wrote the best single that came out this year, nor that they’re the best artist Canada saw in 2008; it does mean, though, that the Juno Awards are clearly not focused enough on artistic merit. Nickelback have a lot of fans, but I find it difficult to believe that Dark Horse would hold up with every judge on the Juno Award panel when put against last year’s records by Sam Roberts, Hawksley, Sloan, Chad VanGaalen … you get my drift.

Many of the artists nominated do deserve it, and I’m glad that they’re getting the recognition. However, I think that the Juno Awards need to take a leaf from the Polaris Music Prize’s book and reward actual artistic merit, not just record sales. The best things coming out of Canada aren’t the ones you’re going to hear on Top 40 radio or the ones necessarily selling the best — because no one is bold enough to play them. Once this country realises how narrow the field they’re working with is, maybe these awards will be relevant again. Until then, we’re stuck with Chad Kroeger: an embarrassment to this country.

Juno Awards home
Complete list of nominees (PDF)
Sloan vs. Nickelback — The Battle of the Bands!

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Freddie Hubbard dies at 70

Jazz trumpeter Freddie Hubbard dies at 70

Freddie Hubbard, the Grammy-winning jazz musician whose blazing virtuosity influenced a generation of trumpet players and who collaborated with such greats as Ornette Coleman, John Coltrane and Sonny Rollins, died Monday, a month after suffering a heart attack.

I highly recommend the album Face to Face, a collaboration between Hubbard and Canadian pianist Oscar Peterson; the opening track is a rollicking 13-minute version of Miles Davis’ standard “All Blues,” featuring some serious trumpet theatrics. Freddie, you will be sorely missed. Rest in peace.

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The envelope, please!

Ladies and gentlemen, the winner of 2008’s Polaris Music Prize:

Caribou

Congrats to Dan Snaith and company! Check out Caribou’s official website or their page on New Music Canada.

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Polaris Prize short list + SLOAN

Sorry about my continued absences. I am currently knee-deep in the 2008 Calgary Stampede, where I work as a guest services supervisor; it leaves little time for such frivolities as music blogging. But here I am on a bit of downtime ready to give you exciting things to read again. I know how excited you are, trust me.

The Polaris Music Prize shortlist was announced today! The final ten vying for the prize are:

Black Mountain, In the Future
Basia Bulat, Oh, My Darling
Caribou, Andorra
Holy Fuck, LP
Kathleen Edwards, Asking for Flowers
Plants and Animals, Parc Avenue
Stars, In Our Bedroom After the War
Shad, The Old Prince
Two Hours Traffic, Little Jabs
The Weakerthans, Reunion Tour

Place your bets now!

Yesterday I also had the opportunity to see Sloan. Again. This time they played in Calgary at the Tequila Nightclub, not a place I would ever go to of my own accord. It used to be The Republik (which has since been resurrected a few blocks down the road), where Sloan played back in the day, interestingly enough.

I only got to see the last half of the show, which contained exactly one song from Parallel Play (lead-off track and single “Believe in Me,” which was a terrific live rocker). Old favourites in the set included “People of the Sky,” “Who Taught You To Live Like That?” and “Money City Maniacs.” The crowd was a beer-drinking Stampede party group but seemed to be really into the show, which was nice.

Many thanks go to Mike from the Sloan ‘entourage’ who helped me make it to the show after work in the first place. Working til 12.30 is not usually a situation conducive to going to see shows, but you know how it is … things always work out in the end.

By the way, some of you may remember me mentioning how Yep Roc had failed to send me my copy of Parallel Play at the time I wrote my review. Well, it finally came – on July 2. Three weeks and a day late! I will tell this story in full so you can experience the good times with me (ha, ha).

Have a good week, everybody!

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Polaris Prize long list announced

The long list for the third annual Polaris Music Prize has been announced. As the website informs us, the long list consists of the top 40 full-length Canadian records released from June 1, 2007 to May 31, 2008, selected by the 185 members of the Polaris Music Prize jury. Thirty of these albums will be eliminated to produce the 10-album shortlist, to be revealed on July 7.

The Polaris Prize is judged solely on artistic merit, without any regard for record sales; the idea is to reward outstanding Canadian artists who may or may not be enjoying proportionally outstanding sales. The winner of the prize will receive $20,000 and some pretty hefty press. The past two years’ winners were Patrick Watson (2007) and Final Fantasy (2006).

This year’s long (long, long, long) list of Polaris Prize nominees are:

The Acorn, Glory Hope Mountain
Attack In Black, Marriage
Basia Bulat, Oh, My Darling
Black Mountain, In The Future
Born Ruffians, Red, Yellow and Blue
Buck 65, Situation
Cadence Weapon, Afterparty Babies
Cancer Bats, Hail Destroyer
Caribou, Andorra
Christine Fellows, Nevertheless
City And Colour, Bring Me Your Love
Constantines, Kensington Heights
Corb Lund, Horse Solider! Horse Soldier!
Crystal Castles, Crystal Castles
Destroyer, Trouble In Dreams
Fred Eaglesmith, Tinderbox
Gatineau, Gatineau
Ghislain Poirier, No Ground Under
Hayden, In Field And Town
Hilotrons, Happymatic
Holy Fuck, LP
Islands, Arm’s Way
Justin Rutledge, Man Descending
Karkwa, Le volume du vent
Kathleen Edwards, Asking For Flowers
The New Pornographers, Challengers
Pas Chic Chic, Au Contraire
Plants And Animals, Parc Avenue
Protest The Hero, Fortress
The Sadies, New Seasons
Sandro Perri, Tiny Mirrors
Shad, The Old Prince
Socalled, Ghetto Blaster
Stars, In Our Bedroom After The War
Tegan And Sara, The Con
Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra and Tra-La-La Band, 13 Blues for Thirteen Moons
Two Hours Traffic, Little Jabs
Veda Hille, This Riot Life
The Weakerthans, Reunion Tour
Wintersleep, Welcome To The Night Sky

Note to bloggers: think before you decide to type links for a 40-strong list of artists. Wow.

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Sunlight on the lino: SQUEEZE

According to Uncut Magazine, duo Chris Difford and Glenn Tilbrook from the good ol’ pop/new-wave band Squeeze took home the “Outstanding Contribution to British Music” at the Ivor Novello songwriting awards. The ceremony was held in London on Tuesday; other winners included Radiohead, Amy Winehouse, Mika, Phil Collins, and a Lifetime Achievement Award for David Gilmour (Pink Floyd).

More exciting, though, is the magazine’s report that “[the] band plan to start work on their first album in ten years in 2009.” Squeeze’s last album, Domino, was released in 1998 to less-than-stellar reviews. Their best works, however, including back-to-back Argybargy (1980) and East Side Story (1981), are excellently crafted pop masterpieces; lyricist Difford and composer Tilbrook are oft-compared to Lennon & McCartney, more in terms of sheer songwriting prowess than actual stylistic similarities. Whether or not the comparison is a good one, there is no denying that Squeeze – who have an impressive 22 releases to their name, including a 6-disc remastered box set, Live at the Royal Albert Hall, and some singles and greatest hits collections – are certainly top contenders in the songwriting department, and a new record is an exciting prospect.

The band has announced quite a few tour dates for the summer, which you can browse here. Currently, their only Canadian date is — wait for it — Toronto; they’ll be hitting the Kool Haus on August 28th, supported by Aimee Mann. I have had my ticket for about three weeks already and will probably be first in line. Pack a lunch and come keep me company.

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