No Ordinary Fool

A $20,000 prize for a full-length Canadian album, judged solely on artistic merit, without regard to genre or album sales.

This is how the independent Polaris Music Prize is described on its own website. Despite only being in its third year, the award has already gained a reputation for unexpected winners. In 2006, the inaugural prize went to the (admittedly) excellent He Poos Clouds by Final Fantasy. In doing so, though, it held off a 600-pound gorilla in Broken Social Scene’s eponymous album, not to mention Wolf Parade with Apologies to Queen Mary and The New Pornographers‘ Twin Cinema. Last year, the judges went one (or three) further with the highly surprising choice of Patrick Watson and their album Close To Paradise.

Patrick who? Exactly.

A quiet year perhaps?

Well… Fellow short-listers included Arcade Fire (Neon Bible), Feist (The Reminder), and Miracle Fortress (Five Roses). Okay, so the first two hardly needed the extra dosh or publicity, but how anyone could rank Five Roses behind Close to Paradise is more than my cranium’s contents can figure out. While there is nothing particularly awful about the latter (think of a less evocative Jeff Buckley with some Pink Floyd vibes), Graham Van Pelt’s debut offering simply puts you inside of Paradise from the get-go.

So to 2008. The short list was announced last week. It is as follows:

* Basia Bulat – Oh, My Darling

* Black Mountain – In The Future

* Caribou – Andorra

* Holy Fuck – LP

* Kathleen Edwards – Asking For Flowers

* Plants and Animals – Parc Avenue

* Shad – The Old Prince

* Stars – In Our Bedroom After The War

* Two Hours Traffic – Little Jabs

* The Weakerthans – Reunion Tour

First question, as always, is who did not make the short list so, having been on the 40-album strong long list? I would pick up on these absentees as being particularly notable - The Acorn, Born Ruffians, Cadence Weapon, Constantines, Hilotrons, Islands, Sandra Perri, Tegan And Sara, Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra & Tra-La-La Band, and Wintersleep.

Second question, then, is what to make of this list? What stands out for me is how little any album stands out for me compared to previous years. I am familiar with and like nine of the ten albums listed, yet I would not have put any on a personal list of the ten best Canadian contemporary albums for the twelve month period ending 31 May 2008!

Worse still, it would be tempting to conclude from this list that Canadian music is in a bit of a slump right now, having enjoyed some truly amazing years. However, I consider such a view to be utter rubbish. Apart from some of the worthy and innovative bands referred to above, here are ten more high quality albums - all made in Canada, all eligible for the prize (if my understanding of the rules are correct), and all omitted from even the long-list!

* Amos the Transparent - Everything I’ve Forgotten to Forget

* Broken Social Scene Presents Kevin Drew - Spirit if…

* Duchess Says - Anthologie des 3 Perchoirs

* Hinterland - Pan Pan Medico

* The Luyas - Faker Death

* Most Serene Republic - Population

* Proof of Ghosts - Proof of Ghosts

* Sunset Rubdown - Random Spirit Lover

* The Violet Archers - Sunshine At Night

* Yellow Jacket Avenger - Double Nature

To put my own cards on the table, I would declare The Luyas‘ Faker Death to be the best album that I heard in the period, although I love the punky sassiness of Duchess Says too! I have written recently about the latter here, but I will write up something on The Luyas shortly.

So what does this all mean? I think that I can sum it up as follows - forget about awards committees, stick to blogs!

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The winner of the 2008 Polaris Music Prize will be announced following an exclusive gala concert event in Toronto on September 29.