The mind of the music critic is a cluttered place full of obscure facts, half-hearted to-do lists and the lyrics to horrible pop songs of yore. But brave Exclaim! readers ventured into those very minds to try and predict what the outcome of this week's Polaris Music Prize short list would be based on the 40 albums on the announced long list. (See the real short list here.)
The results are certainly revealing, but interpreting them is no easy task. After all, these are not the votes of the readers themselves - the task was not to pick a short list but to predict one. So these guesses are what readers thought critics were gonna pick, a veritable ouroboros of mental exercise.
Readers were quite sure of the jury pool's love for Leonard Cohen, the Stills, Jill Barber and K-OS, while critical love for the likes of Malajube and Elliott Brood came as a bit of a shock. And it turns out predicting the nominees wasn't that easy - the best guesser in the entire contest only predicted seven out of the ten eventual short list entrants.
Here are our readers' predictions, expressed as a percentage of the total votes; those in bold are on the actual short list. Of course, we're having a "pick the winner" contest, which you can enter here. The winner of the Polaris Music Prize will be announced on September 21.
Here is how our readers guessed:
1. Joel Plaskett Three 53.9 %
2. Metric Fantasies 47.3 %
3. Leonard Cohen Live In London 41 %
4. Great Lake Swimmers Lost Channels 38.6 %
5. The Stills Oceans Will Rise 38.4 %
6. K'naan Troubadour 35%
7. Jill Barber Chances 33.9%
8. K-OS Yes! 33.2%
9. Chad VanGaalen Soft Airplane 31.9 %
10. Hey Rosetta Into Your Lungs 31.3 %
11. Fucked Up The Chemistry of Common Life 30.8%
12. Martha Wainwright I Know You're Married But I've Got Feelings Too 26.9%
13 Patrick Watson Wooden Arms 25.2%
14. Wolf Parade At Mount Zoomer 23.7%
15. Handsome Furs Face Control 22.3%
15. Japandroids Post-Nothing 22.3%
17. Malajube Labyrinthes 21.3%
18. Arkells - Jackson Square 20.6%
19. Elliott Brood Mountain Meadows 20%
20. Coeur De Pirate Coeur De Pirate 16.9%
21. Beast Beast 16.3%
22. Pink Mountaintops Outside Love 16%
23. Bell Orchestra As Seen Through Windows 14.7%
23. Junior Boys Begone Dull Care 14.7%
23. Timber Timbre Timber Timbre 14.7%
26. Women Women 14.3%
27. Land of Talk Some Are Lakes 13.4%
28. Lhasa Lhasa 11.7%
29. Bruce Peninsula A Mountain Is A Mouth 11.3%
30. One Hundred Dollars Forest of Tears 10.2%
31. Woodpigeon Treasury Library Canada/Houndstooth Europa 9.1%
32. Elephant Stone The Seven Seas 8.9%
33. Bison B.C. Quiet Earth 8.2%
34. Snailhouse Lies on the Prize 8%
35. Rae Spoon Superioryouareinferior 7.6 %
36. Think About Life Family 7.6 %
37. Tim Hecker An Imaginary Country 6.3 %
38. Charles Spearin The Happiness Project 6%
39. D-sisive Let The Children Die 5.8%
40. La Patere Rose La Patere Rose 3%
The results are certainly revealing, but interpreting them is no easy task. After all, these are not the votes of the readers themselves - the task was not to pick a short list but to predict one. So these guesses are what readers thought critics were gonna pick, a veritable ouroboros of mental exercise.
Readers were quite sure of the jury pool's love for Leonard Cohen, the Stills, Jill Barber and K-OS, while critical love for the likes of Malajube and Elliott Brood came as a bit of a shock. And it turns out predicting the nominees wasn't that easy - the best guesser in the entire contest only predicted seven out of the ten eventual short list entrants.
Here are our readers' predictions, expressed as a percentage of the total votes; those in bold are on the actual short list. Of course, we're having a "pick the winner" contest, which you can enter here. The winner of the Polaris Music Prize will be announced on September 21.
Here is how our readers guessed:
1. Joel Plaskett Three 53.9 %
2. Metric Fantasies 47.3 %
3. Leonard Cohen Live In London 41 %
4. Great Lake Swimmers Lost Channels 38.6 %
5. The Stills Oceans Will Rise 38.4 %
6. K'naan Troubadour 35%
7. Jill Barber Chances 33.9%
8. K-OS Yes! 33.2%
9. Chad VanGaalen Soft Airplane 31.9 %
10. Hey Rosetta Into Your Lungs 31.3 %
11. Fucked Up The Chemistry of Common Life 30.8%
12. Martha Wainwright I Know You're Married But I've Got Feelings Too 26.9%
13 Patrick Watson Wooden Arms 25.2%
14. Wolf Parade At Mount Zoomer 23.7%
15. Handsome Furs Face Control 22.3%
15. Japandroids Post-Nothing 22.3%
17. Malajube Labyrinthes 21.3%
18. Arkells - Jackson Square 20.6%
19. Elliott Brood Mountain Meadows 20%
20. Coeur De Pirate Coeur De Pirate 16.9%
21. Beast Beast 16.3%
22. Pink Mountaintops Outside Love 16%
23. Bell Orchestra As Seen Through Windows 14.7%
23. Junior Boys Begone Dull Care 14.7%
23. Timber Timbre Timber Timbre 14.7%
26. Women Women 14.3%
27. Land of Talk Some Are Lakes 13.4%
28. Lhasa Lhasa 11.7%
29. Bruce Peninsula A Mountain Is A Mouth 11.3%
30. One Hundred Dollars Forest of Tears 10.2%
31. Woodpigeon Treasury Library Canada/Houndstooth Europa 9.1%
32. Elephant Stone The Seven Seas 8.9%
33. Bison B.C. Quiet Earth 8.2%
34. Snailhouse Lies on the Prize 8%
35. Rae Spoon Superioryouareinferior 7.6 %
36. Think About Life Family 7.6 %
37. Tim Hecker An Imaginary Country 6.3 %
38. Charles Spearin The Happiness Project 6%
39. D-sisive Let The Children Die 5.8%
40. La Patere Rose La Patere Rose 3%
