We are in the middle of Polaris Music Prize season and I am anxiously waiting to hear who makes it on to the Long List. The jurors votes are in and the official long list will be announced on June 20 from Winnipeg. While we wait we can listen to some tracks off of albums that I am hoping to see land on the list. This is in no way a prediction but only my personal long list. The tracks on my playlist represent the 40 albums that I am cheering for.

The Polaris Music Prize is a not-for-profit organization that annually honours and rewards artists who produce Canadian music albums of distinction. A select panel of music critics judge and award the Prize without regard to musical genre or commercial popularity. All genres of music are considered for the Polaris Music Prize and no entry fee is required. Artists or their representatives do not submit to Polaris. A Long List of 40 nominated Albums of the Year will be selected by an independent jury made up of music journalists, broadcasters and music filterers from across Canada. This same jury will vote for a Short List of 10 titles that will be announced to the media in July. A second panel of 11 members of that jury will convene at the Polaris Music Prize Gala to select the winner of the Polaris Music Prize.

Polaris Music Prize nominees and winners will be selected solely on artistic merit without regard to genre, sales history or professional affiliation. An album is defined as one release of at least 20 minutes of music, or at least 5 songs. To qualify, albums must have been released in full between June 1, 2018 and May 31, 2019. Albums released between May 1, and May 31, 2018 that did not make the 2018 Long List will also be considered. (from Polaris Music Prize website.)

DarBar’s Polaris Long List 2019 (In no particular order. )

Royal Canoe – Waver
Trampoline – Happy Crimes
Belle Plaine – Malice, Mercy, Grief & Wrath
Colter Wall – Songs of the Plains
Ponteix – Bastion
Foxwarren – Sunset Canyon
The Cosmic Range – The Gratitude Principle
Moonface – This One’s for the Dancer & This One’s for the Dancer’s Bouquet
Shad – A Short Story About A War
Rich Aucoin – Release
PUP – Morbid Stuff
Black Mountain – Destroyer
Fucked Up – Dose Your Dreams
DILLY DALLY – Heaven
The Dirty Nil – Master Volume
nêhiyawak – starlight
Operators – Radian Dawn
We Are The City – AT NIGHT
FOXTROTT – Meditations I-II-III
Klaus – Klaus
Jesse Mac Cormack – Now
Tim Baker – Forever Overhead
Dan Mangan – More Or Less
Great Lake Swimmers – The Waves, The Wake
Justin Wright – Music for Staying Warm
Kid Koala – Music To Draw To: lo
Jacques Greene – Fever Focus
Alexandra Streliski – INSCAPE
Joseph Shabason – Anne
Doomsquad – Let Yourself Be Seen
Marie Davidson – Working Class Woman
Jessie Reyez – Being Human In Public
Loud – Tout ça pour ça
Snotty Nose Rez Kids – TRAPLINE
Kimmortal – X Marks the Swirl
LAL – Dark Beings
Siskiyou – Not Somewhere
Dizzy – Baby Teeth
Blessed – Salt
Les Louanges – La nuit est une panthère

I am really pulling for some of our prairie artists to make it through. With artists like Royal Canoe, Belle Plaine, Colter Wall, Ponteix, Foxwarren and my favourite new discovery Trampoline, how could we not have some prairie representation. There are quite a few other old favourite artists such as Moonface, Shad, Rich Aucoin, PUP, Fucked Up, Black Mountain, Operators, We Are The City, Tim Baker, Dan Mangan, Great Lake Swimmers etc. The Cosmic Range is a band from Toronto that I love as well. So many great albums from so many great artists! I can’t wait! Who are you cheering for?

And because it is Father’s Day on Sunday, we get a bonus playlist. Happy Father’s Day!