All three bands have albums on the 2013 Polaris Music Prize long list! Rah Rah released The Poet’s Dead last October to copious amounts of acclaim (you can read Prairie Dog’s feature here), and followed that up with a tour and some faboo Regina shows–including a September 29 gig at Connaught school and a head-turning performance during Junofest that was so good it almost redeemed our ridiculous plaza.
“We are really honored and very excited to be included on this year’s list,” says Rah Rah’s Marshall Burns. “Special thanks to our managers Parkside and Paul, our producers Gus and Werner and, of course, all the good folks in Regina who have been so supportive of Rah Rah since we started out!”
Every year, the Polaris Prize and a cheque for $30,000 goes to a Canadian album of high artistic merit regardless of genre and how many copies/downloads it sold. The prize is determined by a mewling horde of music reporters and critics from across the country including freelance pundits, writers from national papers and alternative newsweeklies, and media superstars like Jian Ghomeshi. Planet S and sometimes Prairie Dog writers Chris Morin and Craig Silliphant are both jury members.
The 40-album Polaris long list was announced this morning in Montreal. A 10-album shortlist will be released on Tuesday, July 16. The prize will be determined by a grand jury and awarded in Toronto on September 23.
Past winners of the Polaris Prize include Arcade Fire, Feist and Fucked Up. The prize debuted in 2006, going to to violinist Owen Pallet for his Dungeons & Dragons-inspired record He Poos Clouds (which I highly recommend).
The full long list is here. You can also read it after the jump.
A Tribe Called Red – Nation II Nation
Alaclair Ensemble – Les maigres blancs d’Amérique du Noir
ANCIIENTS – Heart of Oak
The Besnard Lakes – Until In Excess, Imperceptible UFO
Louis-Jean Cormier – Le Treizième Étage
Daphni – JIAOLONG
Mac DeMarco – 2
Evening Hymns – Spectral Dusk
Hannah Georgas – Hannah Georgas
Godspeed You! Black Emperor – ‘Allelujah! Don’t Bend! Ascend!
Chilly Gonzales – Solo Piano II
Jim Guthrie – Takes Time
Hayden – Us Alone
Zaki Ibrahim – Every Opposite
KEN mode – Entrench
Kid Koala – 12 bit Blues
Kobo Town – Jumbie in the Jukebox
Pierre Lapointe – Punkt
Lee Harvey Osmond – The Folk Sinner
Les soeurs Boulay – Le poids des confettis
Corb Lund – Cabin Fever
The Luyas – Animator
Majical Cloudz – Impersonator
Metric – Synthetica
METZ – METZ
Danny Michel with the Garifuna Collective – Black Birds Are Dancing Over Me
AC Newman – Shut Down The Streets
Old Man Luedecke – Tender is The Night
Lindi Ortega – Cigarettes & Truckstops
Peter Peter – Une version améliorée de la tristesse
Purity Ring – Shrines
Rah Rah – The Poet’s Dead
Rhye – Woman
Daniel Romano – Come Cry With Me
Colin Stetson – New History Warfare Vol. 3: To See More Light
Suuns – Images du futur
Tegan and Sara – Heartthrob
Al Tuck – Stranger at the Wake
Whitehorse – The Fate of the World Depends On This Kiss
Young Galaxy – Ultramarine
