Tuesday 07 July 2009



2009 Polaris Prize Short List

Just like the title to the post says, friends, here’s the final list of 10 albums vying to be declared Canada’s national music treasure for 2-oh-oh-9.  Comments?  Criticisms?  Cathartic confessions?  Just throw them into a comment below the post.  As with past years, I’ll do my darndest to take a close look at each album in a post prior to the September 21 Gala awards ceremony at Toronto’s Drake Hotel.  And now, here’s your short list:

Elliott Brood
Mountain Meadows
Fucked Up
 The Chemistry of Common Life
Great Lake Swimmers
Lost Channels
Hey Rosetta!
 Into Your Lungs (and around in your heart and on through your blood)
K’Naan
Troubadour
Malajube
Labyrinthes
Metric
 Fantasies
Joel Plaskett
Three
Chad VanGaalen
 Soft Airplane
Patrick Watson
Wooden Arms

by J. Di Gioia | 5 Comments »

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 7th, 2009 at 11:30 am and is filed under MP3. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.

5 Responses to “2009 Polaris Prize Short List”

Alicia July 7th, 2009 at 12:49 pm

This list seems so boring to me. I guessed 5 of the artists on this list based solely on who they’ve picked before – not on actual talent and innovation. That predictability is kind of sad.

However, I’m quite surprised by the appearance of GLS, Elliott Brood and Patrick Watson. I didn’t think they’d nominate Patrick Watson since he won two years ago.

They really missed the boat by not nominating Timber Timbre or Coeur de Pirate. I’ve been really loving Rae Spoon’s superioryouareinferior, too, and it would’ve been great to see it get recognition.

Overall, not impressed. I already had a strong feeling CVG was gonna win – now I’m sure of it. I do really like Soft Airplane, but still. A little sad.

Patrick July 7th, 2009 at 1:29 pm

A bit sad they missed off Rae Spoon – that’s such a great album.

Despite its apparent ‘safety’ I don’t have a problem with the inclusion of Metric’s record. Enjoying it more with every listen.

Jim July 7th, 2009 at 4:59 pm

I’m really sad they missed Rae, too. That was the one album I was holding out hope for. If nothing else on my list was to make it (and nothing did) that was the one I thought would get the most support.

Jim July 7th, 2009 at 6:35 pm

I’ve been humming and hawing all day about whether to write an official post about my reactions to the short list, and have decided that in lieu of that, I’ll simply make a comment on this post myself, in hopes that maybe it will get a few of you to comment here, too. My initial reaction was, that the list was a pretty representative cross section of the long listers, and I was okay with the fact that none of my five final choices made the short list. Then, when thought about it a bit, I decided that it actually pissed me off that artists who I feel better met the criteria set out for Polaris–as loos as it is–were shunned by artists who, admittedly, released great albums this year, but didn’t live up to the artistic standard I think the award was meant to honour. I guess that’s teh stuff part about this–I think the list is okay, but I don’t think it’s the best it could be. I really think that Rae Spoon should be here, and not just because I’m a fan, but because he deserves it. My two cents (as of right now–who knows what I’ll be thinking later on).

herohill July 8th, 2009 at 6:56 am

When they announced the list, I felt like a kid at Christmas… when you open your big gift and it’s not anything you want.

So many other more adventurous records could have moved up into the top 10 – Timber Timbre was the one I was pulling for – but any casual “hip” music fan could have pikced 60% of this list without hearing a note. Watson, Plaskett (who I voted for), CVG, Metric, one intelligent hip-hop release.

It also wouldn’t have hurt to have a female artist make the grade. Obviously, Couer de Pirate was high on the list, but so many other terrific female fronted acts other than Metric.

hmmm…