Predicting Polaris
June 16, 2011
During the last few years I was a juror for the Polaris Music Prize, but a decision to return to school understandably resulted in my removal from the jury. As a fun little experiment, I’m going to predict the 40 albums that will appear on the long list of nominations.
Update: 29 correct nominee selections (full/official list here) with a number of others less sure guesses appearing below.
Arcade Fire – The Suburbs
Austra – Feel It Break
Braids – Native Speaker
Buck 65 – 20 Odd Years
Chad Vangaalen – Diaper Island
Colin Stetson – New History Warfare Volume 2: Judges
Cowboy Junkies – Demons
D-Sisive – Jonestown 2
Destroyer – Kaputt
Diamond Rings – Special Affections
Dirty Beaches – Badlands
Drake – Thank Me Later
Fond Of Tigers – Continent and Western
Grimes – Halifaxa
Hey Rosetta – Seeds
Imaginary Cities – Temporary Resident
Jenn Grant – Honeymoon Punch
Jill Barber – Mischievous Moon
Jim Bryson and The Weakerthans – The Falcon Lake Incident
Land Of Talk – Cloak And Cipher
Les Jupes – Modern Myths
Little Scream – The Golden Record
Luke Doucet – Steel City Trawler
The Luyas – Too Beautiful to Work
Malajube – La Caverne
Minotaurs – The Thing
Miracle Fortress – Was I The Wave
More Or Les – Brunch WIth A Vengeance
Neil Young – Le Noise
One Hundred Dollars – Songs Of Man
PS I Love You – Muster Station
Ron Sexmith – Long Player Late Bloomer
The Rural Alberta Advantage – Departing
Sarah Harmer – Oh Little Fire
Sloan – The Double Cross
Tim Hecker – Ravedeath 1972
Timber Timbre – Creep On Creepin’ On
The Weeknd – House Of Balloons
Women – Public Strain
Young Galaxy – Shapeshifting
Alternatively, I won’t be surprised if any of the following artists appear on the long list:
Black Mountain, Christine Fellows, Comeback Kid, The Creepshow, Daniel Romano, The Dears, The Golden Dogs, Gonzales, Hooded Fang, Kathryn Calder, KEN Mode, kd lang, The Meligrove Band, Memphis, No Joy, Peter Elkas, Rae Spoon, Rah Rah, Selina Martin, Shapes And Sizes, Shotgun Jimmie, Slow Down Molasses, Socalled, Stars, Tomboyfriend, Tokyo Police Club, The Warped 45s, and Wolf Parade.
A few more great artists with seemingly less chance of making the list:
DJ Cosm, Del Barber, Doug Paisley, Elaquent, Eric Chenaux, Eternia and MoSS, Forest City Lovers, Frederick Squire, Geoff Berner, Hrdvsion, Ketch Harbour Wolves, Laura Peek, Leeroy Stagger, Mark Berube, Michael Rault, New Country Rehab, Olenka And The Autumn Lovers, Slakah The Beatchild, The Telepathic Butterflues, and Timbuktu.
