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Whoawhoawhoa, whoa. Whoa. Where you going so fast, slugger? Stop and smell the music! Wait, that didn’t come out right. THE POLARIS MUSIC PRIZE LONG LIST is out, champ! This is worth holding up your skee-ball game.

So pretty much what’s happening is for the last few years, these Polaris guys (like 180 jurors who are pro music people from across Canada) have gotten together for tea and cookies (not entirely true). Then they choose the BEST Canadian album released in the past year, and their decision is completely based on how awesome the album is artistically, NOT on how many critics liked it, or how many copies it sold. That stuff is for loserly dudes in suits and ties.

Just about any Canadian album, regardless of genre, is eligible to be nominated, and the prize is a sick $20,000 that the band gets to use however they want. Like, back in 2006, the winner of the very first Polaris Prize was Final Fantasy, and word is he used part of the prize money to help his boyfriend pay off his student loan, and last year’s winner Caribou gave his money to CHARITY. That’s James Bond Classy.

So without further ado for you impatient types, here’s the long list of this year’s 40 nominees, which’ll be whittled down to 10 by July 7th (the short list), and the winner will be crowned, or something, on September 21st. (And if you want links to all the bands and a glimpse of album artwork, check out the Polaris page)

Arkells - Jackson Square
Jill Barber - Chances
Beast - Beast
Bell Orchestre - As Seen Through Windows
Bison B.C. - Quiet Earth
Bruce Peninsula - A Mountain is a Mouth
Coeur de Pirate - Coeur de Pirate
Leonard Cohen - Live in London
D-Sisive - Let the Children Die
Elephant Stone - The Seven Seas
Elliot Brood - Mountain Meadows
Fucked Up - The Chemistry of Common Life
Great Lake Swimmers - Lost Channels
Handsome Furs - Face Control
Tim Hecker - An Imaginary Country
Hey Rosetta - Into Your Lungs
Japandroids - Post-Nothing
Junior Boys - Begone Dull Care
K-os - YES!
K’NAAN - Troubadour
La Patère Rose - La Patère Rose
Land of Talk - Some Are Lakes
Lhasa - Lhasa
Malajube - Labyrinthes
Metric - Fantasies
One Hundred Dollars - Forest of Tears
Pink Mountaintops - Outside Love
Joel Plaskett - Three
Snailhouse - Lies on the Prize
Charles Spearin - The Happiness Project
Rae Spoon - superioryouareinferior
The Stills - Oceans Will Rise
Think About Life - Family
Timber Timber - Timber Timber
Chad VanGaalen - Soft Airplane
Martha Wainwright - I Know You’re Married But I’ve Got Feelings Too
Patrick Watson - Wooden Arms
Wolf Parade - At Mount Zoomer
Women - Women
Woodpigeon - Treasury Library Canada C/W Houndstooth Europa ]

Sadly, I haven’t yet heard most of these albums all the way through. That said, I hope Elliot Brood makes the short list, but I’m pretty sure Malajube definitely will. Who would you bet money (up to $10) on making the short list?

Tags: polaris music prize 2009

Posted on Monday, June 15th, 2009 at 12:31 pm by Jessica M and is filed under Blog.

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