My Picks for the 2011 Polaris Music Prize Long List: An Explanation

The names of the nominees for the Polaris Music Prize long-list were announced last Thursday so this post is kind of moot at this point, but I thought it might be worth sharing my voting insights as a new member of the jury pool, such as they are, for those who wonder what the thought process is behind how these lists get determined. With that in mind here goes:

Here is your final Long List vote:
#1 = Art of Fresh – When The Night Comes In
#2 = Slakah the Beatchild – Something Forever
#3 = Emay – Mind Altering Dynamics
#4 = The Weeknd – House of Balloons
#5 = Eternia & Moss – At Last

Art of Fresh – When The Night Comes In

No joke, this was my favorite album of last year, period and, while I was up on Art Of Fresh before When The Night Comes In dropped, I discovered their most recent album in wholly nontraditional way (for hip-hop, at least): by seeing them perform much of it live in a short, ramshackle but incredible set at the album release event at the Czehoski bar in Toronto.

Now honestly, saying this was the best hip-hop album of 2010 is probably not the most hop-hop thing I could cop to admitting because, while producer and co-member Slakah and D.O.‘s credentials are without question, nonpareil (D.O. used to hold the Guinness World record for the longest freestyle and Slakah is signed as a solo artist to the highly-respected London record label, BBE), this album is not a pure hip-hop record by any measures that apply in 2011.

As a matter of fact, the analogy I would used to describe it’s amalgam sound of rare groove, house, electronic, pop and rock is that this is the album The Black Eyed Peas would make if they were UK soul boys reared in weekender culture and not crass, hit-seeking whores. All that being said, I play this album repeatedly and never tire of it and I can’t really say that for very many new albums nowadays.

I tried to rally people on the Polaris jury to support this record but ultimately I think it had a few too many beats aimed solely at the dance-floor for me convince the critic types on the Polaris to take it seriously. Albums with their phasers set on ‘Fun’ (not that the entire album actually is lightweight, throwaway fare in this case though) rarely get taken seriously as works of art (Michael Jackson‘s Off The Wall and Thriller being two very notable exceptions, maybe?) and that’s a damn shame. Shouldn’t having fun and celebrating the joy in life be an essential part of making art too??

Slakah the Beatchild – Something Forever

I knew I was probably shooting myself in the foot nominating two albums by essentially the same artist but Slakah the Beatchild has got to be one of my, if not the favorite producer of mine over the past 12 months. For those in the know, Toronto has long been known as a connoisseur’s market for rare groove and progressive urban music arguably second only to London and maybe Japan and Slakah’s super-soulful, organic production sound as heard on Something Forever, first released as an EP but later as Special Edition full-length release with four bonus tracks, are in many ways the embodiment of that aesthetic.

If you’ve ever nodded your head or tapped your toes to beats produced by Dilla, the Soulquarians (The Roots, Common, Erykah Badu etc.), the Ummah or Pete Rock, you owe it to yourself to check out this album. It features some rapped, some sung and some instrumental tracks but in no way sounds schizophrenic like some ‘producer-artist’ projects trying to straddle the hip-hop and R&B divide often do. This is a real album: cohesive-sounding and a true body of work. Even the vocal-less tracks will speak to you and fit with the whole. Something Forever is an absolute favorite of mine and while there seemed to be some other strong champions for it on the jury, I was gutted it didn’t make the long list of nominees in the end. Truly deserving of at least long list attention in my mind.

Listen to a sampler of Something Forever:

Now hit the jump to see my thoughts on my last three picks including Emay, Eternia and MoSS and the much-hyped, Drake-cosigned left-field R&B act, The Weeknd.

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[MP3] Arcade Fire – Suburbs (Alejandro Chal Remix) feat. Drake

From the homies at GFC-NY an interesting mash-up (?) of two of the biggest music industry success stories out of Canada in the past couple years:

“Here’s another remix courtesy of Alejandro Chal, which you may formally know as Precize. The song involves a blend of Arcade Fire‘s Suburbs and some verses from Drizzy. Not quite as breezy as the original version, but certainly a more lively version. Check it out and let us know what you think. FACELIFT VOL. 1 Coming Soon.”

MP3 Download: Suburbs (Alejandro Chal Remix) by Alejandro Chal

I digs a lot. What about y’all??

[Video] An Obama Impersonator Entertains a GOP ‘Leadership’ Gathering

Besides a lot of really lame jokes, does this dude even really look like Obama?? Maybe if he went on an all-ice cream diet for a month and started wearing make-up! But is this racist like Think Progress claims?

[via The Root]

[Music Video] Shaun Boothe presents part 7 of 12: the Unauthorized Biography of Oprah Winfrey

Been a while since Kitchen fave, Shaun Boothe has done one of these Unauthorized Biographies. What y’all think of this one on the Queen of all Media?

Bonus:

Also, check out Shaun’s new single:

MP3 Download: Do It For You feat. Kim Davis by Shaun Boothe | Alt. download link: sendspace

[DJ mix] Chris Read – Classic Material Edition 8

“Edition #8 of our monthly Classic Material series pays tribute to the hip hop of 1994, a year which for many is best remembered for giving us two of hip hop’s most revered debut albums, Nas‘ Illmatic and Notorious B.I.G‘s Ready to Die. It was also a golden year for radio and mixtape DJs with tapes from the likes of Funkmaster Flex, Stretch Armstrong, Doo Wop, Ron G and others being a key outlet for the new breed of underground acts as well as established names. Despite tempos generally drifting downward in comparison with previous years and the general sound of the year’s output being laidback and largely jazz infused, ’94 had its fair share of anthems, Craig Mack‘s ‘Flava In Your Ear’, Gang Starr‘s ‘Mass Appeal’ and Channel Live‘s ‘Mad Izm’ being notable examples.

As with previous editions, our mix places classic cuts alongside the lesser heard. The CD version, available next week from the Classic Material online store includes a megamix of 30 classic cuts from 1994 and a Chris Read Remix of a classic 1994 cut.”

How come labels can’t offer package for sale like this?? Dude’s even doing a release event for this edition – get details HERE.

BUY Chris Read – Classic Material Edition #8

Related: speaking of classic 90’s hip-hop, check out the t-shirt my Dad was wearing this morning!