A Look at the Polaris Long List: 4. Avec pas d’casque – Astronomie

I can’t say I really can give the Francophone albums like this one a fair shake because of the language barrier, years of middle, high school and college French be damned. That being said music (and love) are truly the universal languages and you can still feel the emotion conveyed in a voice even if you don’t understand the language the lyrics are written in and that’s no less the case with Astonomie. Musically this is far more than just competent but as even more folky, country-tinged indie music, wasn’t sure this was superlative, unique-sounding or ground-breaking enough to be considered a serious contender to be either shortlisted or a Polaris winner. I did like the track “Deux Colleys” a lot though. Hit the Bandcamp above to see for yourself and drop a comment with your thoughts.

A Look at the Polaris Long List: 20. Fucked Up Album – David Comes to Life

This was a frustrating album to listen to for me. Prior Polaris Prize winner, Fucked Up‘s David Comes to Life is a period ‘rock opera’ set in a fictional English town called Byrdesdale Spa in the 1970s/80s. If that’s not already enough to make you say, ‘Huh?’ trying to follow along with the story by simply listening to the album will likely only lead to even more frustration for you. Lead singer, Damian Abraham‘s endless shout-yelling singing style on every track renders any nuance within the narrative or character exploration of this four act musical work kind of moot. I actually thought the album was pretty amazing from a purely musical point of view, possibly on par as a commercial proposition with Green Day‘s mega-hit concept American Idiot album, but the vocals kinda ruined it for me. Damn shame. With some ‘regular’ singing this coulda been a contender….

A Look at the Polaris Long List: 38. The Weeknd – Echoes of Silence

This is one of the few nominated albums I was already familiar with before the Polaris long list was announced last week. Not to toot my own horn but I was the person largely responsible for getting The Weeknd short-listed last year. But as you know if you read this blog regularly, neither The Weeknd‘s Thursday or Echoes Of Silence mixtapes made it onto my Long List ballot for this year.

I think Abel is an important artist, not just for ‘urban’ music in Canada but music in general but if I had to keep it one hunid, I’d say House of Balloons is still his best work to date. That being said, compared to a lot of the albums I’ve been listening to on the Long List this past week, Echoes of Silence might actually be competitive for Short List consideration after all. BTW: not sure what’s going on but the amazing cover of Michael Jackson‘s “Dirty Diana” he opened EOS with has been excised from this soundcloud embed for some reason so this is not technically the real, full album posted above.

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A Look at the Polaris Long List: 26. Mares Of Thrace – The Pilgrimage

Look at that picture up top, then hit play on this album. Not to be sexist but yes, those women created this music. Others are raving about this ‘noise-doom’ (read, ‘metal’) duo’s album, The Pilgrimage. Frankly, I found it tough to get through, and even harder to process from a crticial point of view. Did I like it? Was it good??! I wonder if this is how pure rock heads feel when playing hip-hop albums? There’s only been one ‘modern era’ metal album I really was into and I’m not even sure how that happened but that album was The Deftones‘ White Pony. This was not that album in terms of how I reacted to it. Maybe Mares Of Thrace‘s The Pilgrimage will be a surprise short list nominee but if it is, it won’t be with my vote.

A Look at the Polaris Long List: 40. Yukon Blonde – Tiger Talk

This was an interesting one. The songs were very down-the-middle and accessible in sound. Nothing really cool or cutting edge about it. Tiger Talk kicked off with some tracks that reminded me of all those knock-off ‘new wave’ songs that you’d hear in 80s era teen B-movies and then some tracks that reminded me of the post-new wave UK acts who followed that era like Big Country and Tears for Fears that became staples of early alternative radio stations like CFNY and K-ROCK. Speaking of radio stations it me or does the track, “Radio” sound like an unplugged variation on Devo‘s “Whip It”?

I will give Yukon Blonde credit though: the songs were catchy, upbeat & fun sounding, the production pretty immaculate and, as someone who grew up on those sounds, I enjoyed hearing a new group use them in a fresh way that didn’t feel like a total pastiche (no gratuitous and slavish use of 80s style synthesizers, for example). By the end, the feel of the songs had become more contemporary but it still held together as a single body of work and a cohesive-sounding album. That being said though, you’d be hard-pressed to convince me this album is really the pinnacle of musical creativity (or artistic integrity, however I’m supposed to gauge that??) in Canada. Fun listen? Yes. Award winner? Not to my ears.

[soundcloud player via Exclaim!]