The short list for this year's Polaris Music Prize was announced and the nominess are as follows: 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). Personally, I can't speak for any of them since I haven't heard any of these albums although I've heard a few songs here and there from some of these albums. (If I had to choose, I'd hope Great Lake Swimmers take the prize. )The jury seems to be a broad enough cross-section of journalists, broadcasters, bloggers and programmers across Toronto although perhaps there is a bit of a Central Canada bias and the jury selection's music tastes I'd guess tend towards indie than say hip hop and other more specific genres. Ultimately, I'm not surprised with the short list - I'm assuming that the final nominees were purely based on their popular vote and given that, the final short list was bound to skewer towards the more recognizable indie artists. Much criticism's been expressed about this year's batch and with much vitriol it seems, as if this year's choices aren't worthy for some reason. I think that's indie elitism creeping into the arguement. As much as we'd want our $100 or whoever to have made the short list, the final list is hardly a travesty...just thinking of the Junos and the Grammys makes me shudder. Metric are perhaps the biggest rock stars of the bunch but overall I don't think any of the artists are so financially well off that the $20,000 prize wouldn't be a blessing or or a nice bonus.
It's a strong possibility it seems that Nine Inch Nail could headline this year's Virgin Festival Ontario according to a post by Trent at NIN's website. That wouldn't totally suck actually. I'd saw NIN at the Sasquatch Festival a few years back and as big spectacular rock shows go, it was good.
In concert news, Andre Ethier is set to open for Destroyer(solo) at the Horseshoe on October 3.
Norweigan pop crooner Sondre Lerche rolls into the Mod Club on September 16 in support of his new album "Heartbeat Radio" out on September 8. Stream the new album over at Stereogum.
Brandi Carlile will be promoting her forthcoming studio album "Give Up The Ghost" on the road, stopping in for a show at The Mod Club on September 29. The release date of her new album will be announced in the coming weeks according to a post at her MySpace.
UK's Placebo will be playing Sound Academy on October 6 in support of their new album "Battle For The Sun" out now.
Ms. Hope Sandoval and her band The Warm Inventions return with a new album "Through The Devil Softly" on September 15 and plans to tour North America this fall with tour date in the UK and Europe to follow that. An mp3 from the new album is available for download:
MP3: Hope Sandoval and The Warm Inventions - "Blanchard"
MySpace: Hope Sandoval and The Warm Inventions
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