There Can Be Only One

At 10pm last night, I was at my desk with sweat rolling off my brow (and arms and hands). It could have been because it was plus 30 here and muggy. I thought the thunder and lightning earlier in the evening would break the humidity, but they were too brief to provide real relief. Even the storm seemed scared away by the heat.

On the other hand, the perspiration could also have been because I had two hours left to submit my final Polaris prize ballot. At Midnight last night (Jun. 25), Polaris headquarters began compiling the votes one more time. The only difference this time is that the ballots could only include artists from the long list. The 10 artists that get the most votes are officially on the short list, which will be announced on July 7th.

After my fifth place pick from the first ballot didn't make it (Years - S/T), I re-evaluated who should get the last spot. Rather than just slide in my number 6 choice, I re-listened to all 40 discs as much as I could in the last 3 weeks.

And I'm glad I did. Some albums I had dismissed grew on me, others reminded me why I hadn't included them on my first ballot.

La Patère Rose was probably the biggest gainer, moving up several spots on my list with a genre-bending collection of tunes that might just rival Think About Life's Family for the album of the summer.

I also got re-acquainted with Tim Hecker's gorgeous soundscape, An Imaginary Country. It's an album unlike any other on the long list, a wash of synthesized feedback that's incredibly serene, once you let it soak in. But underneath the noise, the melodies in songs like "Borderlands" or "Currents of Electrostasy" are as pretty as anything you'd find on more traditional albums (i.e. ones with lyrics, voices, choruses etc.)

As time was running out though, three albums were fighting it out in my itunes. Rae Spoon's Superioryouareinferior
a tough and gritty set of songs that puts an alternative spin on growing up in the prairies, D-Sisive's moody hip hop smackdown Let The Children Die (if you didn't get enough ruminations on death from Chad Van Gaalen, this is the album for you), and Belle Orchestre's As Seen Through Windows.

When the clock struck, Belle Orchestre got the final nod. The album stomps in like an elephant with the lumbering "Stripes" (which is followed by the aptly named "Elephants"), and the range of moods it creates over the following fifty some minutes is remarkable. At times triumphant, at times haunting, Belle Orchestre even manages to pull off both at once (listen to creepy strings and happy horns intermingle at 4:18 of Elephants). Regardless of what mood they're playing with, they live up to their name.

So there you have it. My first Polaris adventure comes to a close. Now I can stop worrying about ranking and just get back to enjoying the music.

Coda: The storms continued throughout the night. It seemed fitting considering the sad news earlier in the evening that Michael Jackson, the king of pop and sheer weirdness, had passed. As one of my fellow midnight poutiners joked: "This is God crying for MJ".

Going Coastal: Coming Home

I just got back from a whirlwind few days in Halifax. Early mornings at the conference and late nights at the extra-curricular activities (which included a metal show, a living room folk gig, a pop rock show at a church benefit and a local punk show) made for a very tired me.

It was well worth the exhaustion though. The panels were excellent and the group is filled with friendly and bright scholars from all over the place. For anyone interested in the nerdy details, there are a few summary posts on the conference blog.

Now it's back to work on the dissertation, and trying to figure out how to cram in a new idea brought up by a question during my presentation. Paul Aitken asked me what it means when metadata, especially in cases where it lives outside of the product (like the CD Database), can act on music. Traditionally, the metadata for an album was fixed (in liner notes, album art etc.). In computers, that data is potentially in always in flux (users are continually adding new information, some of which it's not always correct). Paul wondered whether there's an implication for the digital music file if it's information sort of has a life of its own.

It's a good insight, and one I wanted to start thinking about this morning. Unfortunately, I got distracted by the announcement of the Polaris Long list. Not surprisingly, my dark horse pick didn't make it. But there's 40 great Canadian albums that did, one of which will get the $20,000 prize (and the rumoured "polaris effect" bump in sales that goes along with it.

I have until early July to finalize another ballot, this time only with artists from the long list. That means there's a lot more listening to do and a lot more tough decisions to make.

Polarity

It's Midnight and the 175+ jurors for the Polaris Music Prize have just submitted their first ballot. The Polaris prize is Canada's version of the U.K.'s Mercury Prize; it's an award given to the Canadian artist that has released the best album of the year, regardless of silly criteria that govern other awards (like sales, genre, label etc.). Like the Mercury prize, the Polaris has been helpful in shining a spotlight on some of Canada's great but somewhat hidden talents, (though like it's U.K. cousin, it's also tended to focus primarily on indie rock, vaguely defined). Check the winners and nominees for 2006, 2007, and 2008 to see what I mean.

Thanks to my involvement with Midnight Poutine, I got to be part of this year's jury. It's been a great experience, musicologically and sociologically. Each panel member gets to pick their 5 top albums (anything released by a Canadian artist between June 1 2008, and May 31, 2009) and in the process they are exposed to 100+ jury-suggested albums (not to mention other albums they come across). Most of the music is instantly likable, some of it is completely forgettable.

Besides the musical benefits (I've personally found dozens of new bands that I'm now hooked on), being on the panel of pickers is also a wonderful little sociological experiment in taste (and therefore class) and list-ology. The science behind lists is always fuzzy. And it gets even more interesting when you throw the choice out to a group of journalists and bloggers whose job it is to write about their tastes on a regular basis. I felt a bit like a fish out of water, or rather, a fish in water that was a lot deeper than expected.

Ultimately it was a fun and difficult process. My top 4 picks were pretty easy; I'd fallen in love with these albums as soon as I laid my ears on them and they only got better with subsequent listens. But that #5 spot was really difficult to fill.

After everyone submits their ballots tonight, the good people at Polaris headquarters start compiling the votes. Next week they'll release a long list of 40 albums. On July 7th, the list gets culled down to a Top Ten (a.k.a the Polaris shortlist).

In the meantime, here's my top 5 ballot, and 8 more great albums that I wanted to include but couldn't. Enjoy them as much as I have.

1. Bruce Peninsula - A Mountain is a Mouth
Along with pick #2, this is one of the most unique sounding albums I've heard all year. I haven't gone to church in years, but I would reconsider if the services sounded like this. I don't want to call this gospel-folk, but it definitely takes its cues from choirs and hymns. Give it a chance: A Mountain is a Mouth will eat its way into your soul. Key Track - Shutters

2. Timber Timbre - Timber Timbre
I've read about 15 reviews of this album and I'm still not sure anyone has accurately captured what makes Timber Timbre's self-titled disc so unbearably listenable. Taylor Kirk gets described as minimalist, psychedelic, ghostly, bluesy, and folky and these are all true. But there's something special - I think it's in the tone of his voice - that has kept this album on constant repeat on my stereo. It's both soothing and gut-wrenching at the same time, if that's possible. Key Track - Until the Night is Over

3. Chad Van Gaalen - Soft Airplane
Readers of this blog (or friends who've been subjected to my mix cds) will hardly be surprised to see Chad Van Gaalen on this list. They might be surprised to see that the Calgary folkie/twisted songwriter only made it to number 3, but that's probably just because I'm less obsessed about his music now (on his 3rd album) than I was a few years ago. Still, this is Van Gaalen's most consistent and cohesive album to date. It's also probably his eeriest and most disturbing, which says a lot of you know his work. He's writing and singing about death, but that doesn't stop him from delivering catchy melodies and ear-pleasing harmonies (seriously, how does Willow Tree make me smile while singing about burning bodies?). He definitely deserves another shot at the prize (his last album almost won the Polaris in 2008). Key Track - City of Electric Light

4. Land of Talk - Some are Lakes
There was a slew of great Montreal acts to choose from this year but no CD saw more spins for me than Land of Talk. Lead singer Liz Powell's voice is heartbreaking. The crunchy guitar and bass riffs can be mean and edgy when needed (Corner Phone still scares me for the first 15 seconds), and they can slow it down to perfection (It's Okay plods along only to reveal one of the most well-written choruses I've heard in years). Key Track - Some Are Lakes

5. Years - Years
Three instrumental albums were vying for the fifth spot: Torngat's La Petite Nicole, Belle Orchestre's As Seen Through Windows, and Years. My darkhorse pick won't likely make it to the long list, and that's a shame. Years is Ohad Benchetrict's solo debut (he's also in Do Make Say Think and a contributor to Broken Social Scene and other A&C acts) and I'm hoping people will enjoy it more as they sit with it longer (it only came out a month ago). I described it on the polaris discussion board as a wonderful mess. It shifts styles/moods pretty frequently but it never veers too far from sounds that DMST or BSS explore. There's stripped down acoustic guitar loops and full on cinematic explosions. Either way, it's a pretty arresting piece of post rock. Key Track - Don't Let the Blind Go Deaf

Consolation Prizes
Clues - Clues
Montreal had an embarrassingly solid amount of discs in the selection pool this year. Clues, Parlovr, Belle Orchestre, Think About Life, Malajube, La Patere Rose and on and on. Pick one...they're all great.

Coeur de Pirate - Coeur de Pirate
I was looking for a francophone album as solid as Karkwa's or Bonjour Brumaire's releases last year and I couldn't find one. This album came close and it just missed my top 5. I have no doubt it will make it to the longlist.

Andrew Vincent - Rotten Pear
A songwriter's songwriter, Andrew Vincent is honest, witty, and touching on Rotten Pear.

Metric - Fantasies
This album reminds me of what I loved about Metric's breakthrough Old World Underground. It's straight up infectious rock.

Hey Rosetta - Into Your Lungs (and in through your heart and into your blood)
There was something too overly dramatic about this disc to get it a spot in my top 5, but I keep catching myself humming the melodies.

D-Sisive - Let the Children Die
I was looking for a hip hop album as good as Shad's Old Prince. D-Sisive's menacing hip hop came close.

Rae Spoon - Superior You Are Inferior
I can't say enough good things about this album. Rae Spoon's an amazing writer and has an ear for melody.

Rock Plaza Central - ...at the Moment of our Most Needing or If Only They Could Turn Around, They Would Know They Weren't Alone
Pretentious album title aside, these guys make wonderfully eclectic folk tunes. This album doesn't have the novelty of Are We Not Horses, but it's got some deeper musical moments on it.