It’s a Canada Thing
A Look at the Polaris Long List: 35. Colin Stetson – New History Warfare Vol. 2: Judges
Colin Stetson‘s New History Warfare Vol. 2: Judges is exactly the kind of album the Polaris Music Prize was created for. Music that pushes creative and artistic boundaries without any regard for commercial concerns
For those not knowing (which, admittedly, included myself prior to joining the Polaris jury), Steson is a respected saxophonist known for recording and performing with Arcade Fire, Bon Iver and other luminaries in the new indie rock scene. For his own album, he decided to another route than the stadium indie anthems of his colleagues’ Grammy awarding winning album, The Suburbs. There is nary a conventional song on the album, much less anything that would pass for a hit record. If I had to reference it against other music, well that’s kind of f-cking difficult frankly but, mix Miles Davis‘ Bitches Brew, Radiohead‘s Kid A and some ole’ Phillip Glass sh-t together and maybe you’d be partway to approximating what Stetson has come up with here.
For those whose conception of what music is is shaped by radio and music videos, New History Warfare Vol. 2 is probably a difficult verging on impossible listen, microwave LCD blog rap this is most certainly not. But stick with it, the rewards are worth it, kind of like the All for Nothing book I’m reading right now by Rachel K. Ward. Not to digress and get all kinds of sexist here but speaking of that book, who knew such a fox could be so brain meltingly smart and cool at the same time??!
A Look at the Polaris Long List: 34. Stars – The Five Ghosts
This was unquestionably one of the better albums on the Long List but if anything, it was almost too pop! Great songs, perfectly produced, the execution all around was pretty top notch but for me at least, I was looking for music that was more creatively on the edge and challenging. Artists like this making big records with commercial appeal don’t need the cosign of Polaris in my mind, or at least not as much as others who choose to take a more artistically challenging route to indulging their creative muse. Agree with me or not?
Download Stars Dead Hearts [MP3]
Download Stars The Passenger [MP3]
Hit the jump for a bonus Light Over LA remix of ‘Dead Heart.’
A Look at the Polaris Long List: 33. Frederick Squire – March 12
Country-folk (?) artist, Frederick Squire has a fantastic voice. Deep and rich like if Tom Waits took elocution lessons, to my ears at least. Of all the country-inspired albums I had to listen to for the Polaris, this was definitely one of the better ones.
A Look at the Polaris Long List: 32. Sloan – The Double Cross
I didn’t hold the fact that the lead singer of this group was a d-ck to me when we crossed paths at The Horseshoe about a decade ago against the group when I hit play on their Polaris-nominated album. Just as well since these veteran Canadian rockers seem to still be firing on all cylinders releasing vital music goodness knows how many years into their career at this point. All the more amazing for the fact that the album jumps from style to style including some very 60’s throwback sounding influenced songs, which is normally kiss of death in my book. In this case though, the album still manages to feel like single body of work.
I know this is not in their mandate but I always felt like the Polaris should be primarily recognizing new and emerging talent with their award but when OG acts are still making good music, you can’t help but think that they got it right when they stated their mission is to “honour, celebrate and reward creativity and diversity in Canadian recorded music [and] recognize and market albums of the highest artistic integrity, without regard to musical genre, professional affiliation, or sales history” after all.
A Look at the Polaris Long List: 31. Shotgun Jimmie – Transistor Sister
This might have been the worst album I listened to on the entire Polaris Long List. I hate to spread negativity but there was a small but vocal contingent on the jury pool who were waving the flag hard for this album. So I was by no means expecting the terrible 90’s MTV crossover alt. rock throwback that assaulted my ear when I hit play on this one. It was just bad. So much so that I’ve gotta really look sideways at anyone who seriously was digging this and thought it worthy of wining any kind of creative award. I’m sorry but, in case I’m not being clear enough, I just didn’t like this one. Horrible….
MP3 Download: Shotgun Jimmie – Late Last Year by chippedhip
MP3 stream (no download): Shotgun Jimmie – Transistor Sister by stereomacko