Polaris Prize announces long-list

17 June 2011, 18:18 | Written by The Line of Best Fit

(News)

In the heat of the midday sun, the Polaris prize longlist for 2011 was announced yesterday. The prize, now in it’s 6th year, is the Canadian equivalent to the Mercury Music Prize, seeking to celebrate the best in Canadian Music each year. The longlist was chosen by a 227 strong panel of Canadian music writers. Hosted by CBC Radio 3 presenter Grant Laurence, the longlisted artists were announced by a series of artists who were nominated last year, including Broken Social Scene’s Brendan Canning (above) , Justin Rutledge, and former Polaris Prize winner Dan Snaith of Caribou.

The following records were longlisted…

1. Arcade Fire, The Suburbs
2. Austra, Feel it Break
3. Braids, Native Speaker
4. Black Mountain, Wilderness Heart
5. Buck 65, 20 Odd Years
6. Louise Burns, Mellow Drama
7. D-Sisive, Jonestown 2: Jimmy Go Bye Bye
8. The Dears, Degeneration Street
9. Destroyer, Kaputt
10. Diamond Rings, Special Affections
11. Dirty Beaches, Badlands
12. Luke Doucet and The White Falcon, Steel City Trawler
13. Eternia & MoSS – At Last
14. Galaxie, Tigre et Diesel
15. Jenn Grant, Honeymoon Punch
16. Tim Hecker, Ravedeath, 1972
17. Hey Rosetta, Seeds
18. Hooded Fang, Album
19. Imaginary Cities, Temporary Resident
20. Land of Talk, Cloak and Cipher
21. Little Scream, The Golden Record
22. The Luyas, Too Beautiful to Work
23. Malajube, La Caverne
24. Miracle Fortress, Was I the Wave?
25. One Hundred Dollars, Songs of Man
26. Doug Paisley, Constant Companion
27. PS I Love You, Meet Me At Muster Station
28. Daniel Romano, Sleep Beneath the Willow
29. The Rural Alberta Advantage, Departing
30. Ron Sexsmith, Long Player Late Bloomer
31. Shotgun Jimmie, Transistor Sister
32. Sloan, The Double Cross
33. Frederick Squire, March 12
34. Stars, The Five Ghosts
35. Colin Stetson, New History Warfare Vol. 2: Judges
36. Timber Timbre, Creep On Creepin’ On
37. The Weeknd, House of Balloons
38. Women, Public Strain
39. Neil Young, Le Noise
40. Young Galaxy, Shapeshifting

The list puts forward a mixture of emerging talents (debuts from Austra, Braids and PS I Love You amongst others), long established acts (Destroyer, The Dears, Shotgun Jimmie, Sloan, Buck 65 and Ron Sexsmith) and a few household names (Arcade Fire and Neil Young). Two of those longlisted never saw a physical release at all (D-Sisive’s Jonestown 2: Jimmy go Bye Bye and The Weeknd’s House of Balloons). Colin Stetson gets the nod for appearing on the most longlisted records, due to his involvement with both The Arcade Fire and Timber Timbre, as well as picking up a nomination for his own record New History of Warfare Vol. 2: Judges.

While some may raise the issue of whether acts like Arcade Fire or Neil Young really ‘need’ the added exposure of a Polaris nomination, to release a list of the 40 best Canadian albums of the last year that didn’t include these albums would probably have caused an equal amount of consternation. At the very least it sparks debate. As it is, the range of artists included goes to show the breadth of great records coming out of Canada at the moment and for our part we are delighted to see so many artists that have featured on Oh Canada over the year have make the cut.