By Alex HudsonThe Polaris Music Prize is back for its sixth instalment, and the stakes are higher than ever. The award, which hands out a cash prize to the Canadian album of the year, recently announced that this year's winner would receive a whopping $30,000 -- that's $10,000 more than in past years. This means that anticipation is higher than ever to see which albums will be nominated for the prestigious award.
As in past years, the nominees are chosen by a jury of journalists, broadcasters and bloggers from across the country. They have been voting on their favourite albums from the past 12 months, and today (June 16), their picks were narrowed down to a long list of the top 40. The albums nominated for this year's Polaris Music Prize are, in alphabetical order:
Arcade Fire - The Suburbs Austra - Feel It Break Braids - Native Speaker Black Mountain - Wilderness Heart Buck 65 - 20 Odd Years Louise Burns - Mellow Drama D-Sisive - Jonestown 2: Jimmy Go Bye Bye The Dears - Degeneration Street Destroyer - Kaputt Diamond Rings - Special Affections Dirty Beaches - Badlands Luke Doucet and the White Falcon - Steel City Trawler Eternia & MoSS - At Last Galaxie - Tigre Et Diesel Jenn Grant - Honeymoon Punch Tim Hecker - Ravedeath, 1972 Hey Rosetta - Seeds Hooded Fang - Album Imaginary Cities - Temporary Resident Land of Talk - Cloak and Cipher Little Scream - The Golden Record The Luyas - Too Beautiful to Work Malajube - La Caverne Miracle Fortress - Was I the Wave? One Hundred Dollars - Songs of Man Doug Paisley - Constant Companion PS I Love You - Meet Me at the Muster Station Daniel Romano - Sleep Beneath the Willow The Rural Alberta Advantage - Departing Ron Sexsmith - Long Player Late Bloomer Shotgun Jimmie - Transistor Sister Sloan - The Double Cross Frederick Squire - March 12 Stars - The Five Ghosts Colin Stetson - New History Warfare Vol. 2: Judges Timber Timbre - Creep On Creepin' On The Weeknd - House of Balloons Women - Public Strain Neil Young - Le Noise Young Galaxy - Shapeshifting
The jury now will cast their votes on these 40 albums, and narrow the list down to a top ten, which will be announced on July 6. This year, any artist that makes this short list will get a $2,000 prize.
The winner will then be decalred during a live broadcast on September 19. The gala will take place at CTV's Concert Hall studios at Toronto's Masonic Temple, and typically involves live performances from the shortlist nominees.
Past Polaris winners are: Final Fantasy for He Poos Clouds (2006), Patrick Watson for Close to Paradise (2007) Caribou for Andorra (2008), Fucked Up for The Chemistry of Common Life (2009) and Karkwa for Les Chemins De Verre (2010).
Posted by Nameless Poseur On 2011-06-16 13:53:44seriosuly, The Sheepdogs didnt make it? Im a fan of many of these other bands but Learn and Burn has no weak spots on the entire album
Posted by Nameless Poseur On 2011-06-16 14:03:21bullshit
Posted by Nameless Poseur On 2011-06-16 16:10:21Seriously, The Sleepdogs play like they've only ever heard classic rock radio. But if you're looking for zero innovation, ambition, challenge, artistry and just want the musical equivalent of plain cooked comfort food from the past, Sheep it up.
Posted by Nameless Poseur On 2011-06-16 16:21:40Sheepdogs ... they were on Jimmy Fallon last night, right?
Posted by Nameless Poseur On 2011-06-17 00:52:01I see that Drake's already been forgotten about.
Posted by Nameless Poseur On 2011-06-17 04:52:18Ha! True on both accounts. But seriously...Zeus should get an honorary Polaris.
Posted by Nameless Poseur On 2011-06-17 10:13:24Learn & Burn tops a large chunk of albums on the list.
Say Us deserves a lifetime achievement award.
Posted by Nameless Poseur On 2011-06-17 11:15:25Zeus is good, but wow do you posters seem to have extremely limited listening habits.
Posted by Nameless Poseur On 2011-06-17 11:36:36The Stormalongs should have been considered ;-) www.thestormalongs.com
Posted by Nameless Poseur On 2011-06-18 07:35:43Where is 'David Comes to Life'? What, win once and that's it?
Posted by Nameless Poseur On 2011-06-18 23:44:31'David Comes to Life' is a 2011 release. this list is for records released in 2010.
Posted by Nameless Poseur On 2011-06-18 23:50:32I agree with the second commenter, they're going to exclude 'the musical equivalent of plain cooked comfort food from the past' then in all fairness, SLOAN should not be on the list, haha
The Weekend is totally disposable, gimmicky, blog fodder and it's one of a few inclusions that only seem to be on here to keep up appearances of being 'current.' Nobody will care about that record in a few months.
Posted by Ranta On 2011-06-20 12:49:15There's a ton of great stuff on this list. Sure, if you want to focus on the fact albums by Chad Vangaalen, Zeus, Drake didn't make it, you'll have plenty to whine about, but if you actually listen to all of these albums, I'm sure you'd find a lot to like as well. Pissed off about Drake? Give Buck 65, D-Sisive, and Eternia & MoSS a shot. Annoyed about Zeus? Stars and Young Galaxy are pretty much the same band. Sad about Chad? There's always Women and Dirty Beaches. The glass is half full here, if you choose to see it that way.
And, yes, the new F*cked Up album is not eligible for this year. The 2011 Polaris is a jury selected list of the best Canadian records released between June 1, 2010 and May 31, 2011; music of any genre, of any sales level, and of any affiliation. I don't think The Sheepdogs' "Learn & Burn" was eligible either, since the album was independently released earlier in 2010, and re-released in March of 2011 (re-releases are not eligible for the Polaris).
Posted by Nameless Poseur On 2011-06-20 12:54:24Zeus was on the 2010 Long List.
Posted by Nameless Poseur On 2011-06-20 13:05:48Anyone who doesn't like SLOAN can go fuck themselves
Posted by Nameless Poseur On 2011-06-20 15:26:53i understand people liking sloan, it's comfy, inoffensive pop-rock. fair enough if you dig that but, i thought this list was about creativity and abut making a 'great' album. sloan have pretty much been making the same, safe, predictable record for about 12 years plus... zero ambition, no greatness, just another yet album of MOR soft rock, (which itself is just rehashing 70's pop). cool if you like listening to it, but how on earth is that award-worthy?
CONCERT: Buck 65 - Venue, Vancouver BC May 18
Jun 16 2011
SHARE IT! 
Posted by Nameless Poseur On 2011-06-16 13:53:44seriosuly, The Sheepdogs didnt make it? Im a fan of many of these other bands but Learn and Burn has no weak spots on the entire album
Posted by Ranta On 2011-06-20 12:49:15There's a ton of great stuff on this list. Sure, if you want to focus on the fact albums by Chad Vangaalen, Zeus, Drake didn't make it, you'll have plenty to whine about, but if you actually listen to all of these albums, I'm sure you'd find a lot to like as well. Pissed off about Drake? Give Buck 65, D-Sisive, and Eternia & MoSS a shot. Annoyed about Zeus? Stars and Young Galaxy are pretty much the same band. Sad about Chad? There's always Women and Dirty Beaches. The glass is half full here, if you choose to see it that way.
