By Darlene Barss
We have two playlists for you this week about the Polaris Music Prize Long List. One has a song representing each of the 40 albums that are on the official Long List. The other playlist is our unoffical OurBasement Long List from the survey I asked people to take and from informal gathering of info. I gave them points but I will admit they were weighted to albums that were on my long list. Which one do you like you better?
The reveal for the Polaris Music Prize Long List came out on Tuesday, June 13 and however you feel about the list, there is no denying there is a lot of great talent in Canada. At first I thought it was a pretty safe list and I still mostly think that, but there is a couple surprises in there such as the metal band Anciients and some good representation from the rap/hip hop artists like Alaclair Ensemble and Clairmont The Second. All of which I enjoyed listening to but I would personally have liked more experimental/electronic/instrumental showing up on the list. I have not made it through all 40 albums front to back yet but I am certainly enjoying the new discoveries. One of my favourite new discoveries at this point is Antoine Corriveau. Wow what a beautiful album and I only wish I knew what he was saying to get the full effect. Garfield made a spread sheet of the artists and where they are from and what language the album is in. I am thinking we should add genre on there for comparison as well.
Only 2 out of the 5 albums I voted for made it to the Long List, Leif Vollebekk and Weaves. Sadly Royal Canoe, Do Make Say Think and Saltland didn’t make it so I have 3 slots to fill as I am keeping Leif and Weaves on there. I am pretty sure A Tribe Called Red will be on there but there are many albums that are vying for those remaining slots. I have about 20 more days to listen and re-listen to the 40 albums before I need to make my final decision by July 6. It will then be out of my hands and on July 13 the Short List of 10 albums will be revealed. It will then be a long couple of months before the winner is chosen by an 11 person grand jury at the gala on Sept 18.
Which albums from the official Polaris Music Prize Long List would you like to see make it to the Short List?
Which albums from OurBasement Long List are you most upset didn’t make it to the Polaris Long List?
Did you find any new discoveries on either list that you really enjoyed and wanted to hear more from? That has always been my favourite part of Polaris Music Prize, the discovery of music that I didn’t know about. I hope you found a new artist in the process to love and support. I know I have.
Hello
Where are all the riff raff?
Vancouver?
Good morning!
Really, they are? Well if so then they have a show to get to in Toronto tonight. And when I say ‘riff raff’ I can only mean one person – > Grant Lawrence.
Yoo hoo! Anybody home?
I was just guessing, hence the ?
Hello hello!
Before I yoohoo’d up there, there wasn’t a comment showing; strange, seeing as some had been put down.
I get to see the riff raff tomorrow night.
@BfO, I have noticed that the auto refresh doesn’t kick in until there is at lease one comment on the list be that by the user commenting or just refreshing until one appears
Garf, yeah, that sounds like it.
That’s one of the reasons I try to comment hello (if I remember), even when most of Canada is still in bed
Hi guys.
Hi DBS
How’s things? Looking forward to Canada Day?
Next week’s playlist I plan to celebrate National Aboriginal Day and then Canada Day after that. I will give everyone a break from the Polaris talk until mid July. ;-p
Yeah, I should get on booking a taxi to get me to Durham in time for the 5am train I booked myself on (because I am an idiot)
I looking forward to the Poutine, Timbits and, Nanaimo bars that are meant to be for dale there.
That’s awesome! It should be a good time.
I will try to take photos
Thanks for the playlists Darbar! I have to say, I’m a little bummed that Royal Canoe didn’t make the long list
Thanks for listening Janet. I am very bummed Royal Canoe didn’t make it. I guess I didn’t make a big enough case for them amongst the jurors.
Good morning everyone!
Hi Justin
Hello Justin!
Hi Justin!
Today was my third day riding my bike to work. It is only a 15-20 minute ride but it is a good workout for this old out of shape lady. I am hoping my bike doesn’t get stolen this year and I can work on making bike riding a habit.
@Darbar… did you get a good lock setup for your bike?
@justin – I am working on it but I definitely have it locked up. I have a few plans and insurance to look into. My dad just gave me the idea of taking the wheels off. I am not sure why I hadn’t thought of that one yet. hehe
A new Cold Specks track to check out. Lovin it!
http://smarturl.it/CSWildCard
And check out the Darcys track while you are at it.
http://smarturl.it/DarcysAZHWY
rif raf reporting for duty!
I just rode my bike for grocery shopping; two very loaded panniers of groceries and one heck of a deluge. I turned my electric assist down as the roads were that soapy, slick mess that happens after a dry spell and then rain.
Very happy to be home and changed into dry clothes and listening to the first play list while I prepare food for having some lady friends over tonight. I will be playing The Long lists tonight for sure so thanks for helping with the party prep @darbar:)
Hello morgana! You are welcome and enjoy. Have a great time tonight as well!
I am not sure I will be that dedicated a bike rider but I will try.
Trying to figure out how to transition from the playlist to “best album”. I guess I decide which single strikes my fancy and then check out the album. Putting an album together is such a different beast than a single … or so I have been made to believe.
Garfielduk, I think you are going to have more fun on July 1st than most Canadians!
It seems to be true. I enjoy listening to the whole album. That is always what I hope will happen is that people will find a song they like on the playlist and click on that artist to find out more.
It must be tricky to pick a song for a playlist that indicates the style of the whole album.
I hear ‘Fever” and want to skip to the next song on the playlist but so many people really dig Carly so then I think I should take the time to listen to her album … basically my problem is that I don’t have as much time as I would like to dedicate to listening to full albums.
Morgana, I hear you! When I listen to the list, I need to not pay attention to the singers, because I would be tempted to skip over the Carly Rae Jepsen and Drake songs because I don’t care for the artists.
Janet, impeccable timing! I just skipped the Drake song;)
If only we had a curated audio stream dedicated to Canadian Indie Music hosted by music journalists and musicians broadcasting to the world.
If only we had a time machine
I don’t spend a lot of time picking the single to use. I would like to but I don’t have time. Sometimes it is tracks I know I have liked, often it is just the most played track on Spotify or the current popular one.
Carly Rae Jepsen’s album is more mature than I have heard previously from her but still more pop than I enjoy. Drake’s album surprised me. I enjoyed it more than I thought I would but it was much longer than I needed.
The nice thing about playlists is you can skip what you don’t want to hear. 🙂
I am still hoping we can do a stream of some sort for this site. I am not giving up the dream!
I listened to The Weeknd’s Starboy once, I am not sure I will be able to do it again.
I would settle for a decent monthly music podcast
I watched a video making fun of Starboy once, and even that was plenty. The Weeknd is not my thing at all.
My weekend is just about over. This is my Sunday. I don’t know about Weeknd. Or are they leaning towards weakened?
Me too Garf! I would love to work on podcasts.
The other note about tracks picked for the playlists. I tried to mix up the tracks I picked from artists that have been on multiple playlists I have done. Give a different track to check out kind of thing.
I didn’t realize I picked a 10 minute track for Do Make Say Think for the OurBasement Long List playlist until now. I try to avoid the super long songs usually. :p
It’s DMST, no worries.
Well I knew you would be fine with it Russ! Ha!
g’night folks
Night Garf. Have a great weekend!
So late to this conversation, but I have to say if OurBasement made a podcast I would listen the crap out of that! Enjoy the 24 hours of LeMans Garf!
My son has a home recording studio set up now, so he could help me with any recording part I do. It would be great to have different people doing it all the time. I think it would be a fun project for us to work on.
Picking an album to play … not because I am done with the playlists but because I am SO DONE with the adverts!!
I do believe that my Birthday gift to myself will be a subscription to Spotify. They have ground me into submission.
Have a wonderful weekend friends.
Sorry about the ads morgana. 🙁
Have a great weekend!