Exclaim Best of Lists Show that Genres are Dying

Exclaim Magazine has released it's multiple best of lists for the year in a variety of Categories, or genres. The lists if you'd care to have a look at them include:

Wood Wires & Wiskey - winner Great Lake Swimmers

Pop Rocks - winner Animal Collective

Groove - winner Georgia Anne Muldrow

Aggressive Tendencies - winner Converge

No Future - winner Propagandhi

Beats & Rhymes - winner Raekwon

Destination Out winner - none, see the article for explanation.

Frequencies - winner Junior Boys

I may not agree with all of their picks (ok I don't) and I see some glaring omissions but I'm coming from an entirely different place than the folks at Exclaim. In facilitating NxEW I do my best to keep track of hundreds of Canadian bands (large, small, even smaller and 'haven't released anything or done a real tour yet'). In doing so I sacrifice most of the time I might have for international artists. There are only so many hours in the day and with 20 thousand plus Canadian acts out there I've become a bit of a specialist, for better or worse.

But more back to the point that the headline advertises. Exclaims need to come up with special categories other than traditional genres and the fact that, for example, Japandroids, Flaming Lips, Wax Mannequin, Young Galaxy, Wilco, Handsome Furs, Yeah Yeah Yeahs and Dirty Projectors are all included in the single "Pop Rocks" category are further evidence that genre is losing all meaning and that, as it always should have been, each band and it's sound must be judged on their own merits and not within the confines of genre.

Genres, after all, were only ever a way to organize record stores and never really served another purpose (unless you're in marketing.)

NxEW.ca Needs some Feedback, Especially from Musicians

I have an idea for NxEW.ca's year end awards but I need some feedback and if you're a musician yourself I'll need your help to make this work.

At NxEW.ca we've had our Shadow Polaris poll and voting is still open for a bit on our Canadian Album Hall of Fame but we haven't been able to figure out how to mark the best of 2009. The discussion has started a few times but it has never gotten very far. We don't want to replicate the Radio 3 Bucky Awards or I (Heart) Music's Top 10 list.

Today I came up with an idea, and I think it's a good one but it will require the participation of a bunch of Canadian musicians. It goes something like this:

Canadian musicians would vote for the best of 2009 on a weighted ballot. A weighted ballot means that each voter would give us their top 5 in each category but the #1 vote would be worth 5 points and the #5 would be worth 1 point.

The categories (roughly) would be something like this (1-7 are for Canadian artists):

1) Best Artist (all around - including recorded, live, etc)
2) Best Album
3) Best Song
4) Best Newcomer (first full length album in 2009)
5) Best Live Act
6) Best Video 
7) Best Live Venue
8) Best International Artist (Not Canadian - just for fun)

So those are the basics, now I need to know what's wrong with the idea, what needs to be different and most especially whether musicians would be willing to vote. Please weigh in in the comments section, contact me through Facebook or email [email protected].

Bucky Award Nominess Announced!

The short list nominees have been announced for this year's CBC Radio 3 Bucky Awards and I have to say you have good taste. This year the nominees were thrown open to fans to do the nominating and list trimming and (in my personal opinion) it's far better than last year's list. Obviously there are a few that I'd like to slide in that didn't make the cut - but that's the problem with democracy, you don't get everything you want. Last year there were several categories where there was no one I wanted to vote for. This year I have hard choices to make all the way down the list.

As usual in these things I'm not going to push for anyone to vote for anyone in particular. I don't even want to say who I'm voting for - with one exception. I'm not fond of the Sexiest Musician category as it has nothing at all to do with music. I had nominated and urged votes for Damian Abraham - just to throw a wrench into the traditional definition of sexy but with Damian not making the cut - I'd urge you not to vote in this category at all. If, after all, the Juno's handed out an award for Sexiest musician - most people who really like music would have a fit. So Radio 3 shouldn't get away with it either.

Anyway, this year's Bucky Award short list goes:

Best Song:
Dan Mangan – Robots
Said the Whale – Camilo (The Magician)
The Joel Plaskett Emergency – Through & Through & Through
Metric – Gimme Sympathy
Great Lake Swimmers – Pulling on a Line
 
Most Canadian Song:
Maybe Smith – You Would Never Survive the Winters in this Province
      Said The Whale – Emerald Lake, AB
      Andrew Vincent – Canadian Dream
Will Currie and the Country French – Ontario
Classified – Oh…Canada
 
Best New Artist:
Hannah Georgas
Racoons
Zeus
Timber Timbre
The Mountains and the Trees
 
Best Vocals:
Dan Mangan
Hannah Georgas
Emily Haines
Gavin Gardiner
Ohbijou
 
Best Lyric:
Joel Plaskett/Through & Through & Through
Sunset Rubdown/Idiot Heart
The Burning Hell/Dancer Romancer
Gentleman Reg/To Some It Comes Easy
Metric/Gimme Sympathy
 
Best Live Act:
Hey Rosetta!
Elliott Brood
Joel Plaskett
Library Voices
Mother Mother
 
Best Video:
Jenn Grant – “You’ll Go Far”
Final Fantasy – “You Shut Up”
Jill Barber – “Oh My My”
Thunderheist – “Jerk It” (fan video)
Hey Rosetta! – “Red Song”
 
Best Reason to Learn French:
Coeur de Pirate
Malajube
La Patere Rose
Numbero #
We Are Wolves
 
Best New Band Name:
Timbre Timber
Coeur de Pirate
Gregory Pepper and His Problems
Brasstronaut
Ruby Jean & The Thoughtful Bees
 
Sexiest Musician:
Dan Mangan
Coeur de Pirate
Becky Ninkovic (You Say Party! We Say Die!)
Tim Baker (Hey Rosetta!)
Molly Guldemond (Mother Mother)

GO HERE TO VOTE

Joel Plaskett - Ireland, US show dates, Radio 2 SongQuest, Music Nova Scotia Awards

From email newsletter:

Joel in Ireland and the United States
November is the month for international Joel Plaskett Fans!  Joel will be hitting Massachusetts, New York and Ireland this month!  These are select shows and we recommend marking these dates down and getting out early.  They are not to be missed!!!! 

Thu, Nov. 12th The Middle East Cambridge, Massachusetts 

Fri, Nov. 13th Union Hall Performance, Bell House/Union Hall Brooklyn, New York 

Thu, Nov. 26th Whelan's Showcase Show-Joel Plaskett , Whelan's (Upstairs Venue) - Dublin

Fri, Nov. 27th The Set Theatre - Kilkenny -Joel Plaskett , The Set Theatre - Kilkenny Ireland

Sat, Nov. 28th The Opera House, Cork, Ireland-Joel Plaskett , The Opera House - Cork, Ireland

Sun, Nov. 29th The Roundy - Cork , Ireland-Joel Plaskett , The Roundy, Cork, Ireland

Congrats to Joel on the Great Canadian SongQuest!
We are delighted to announce that Joel Plaskett has been chosen as the Nova Scotia winner for CBC Radio 2s Great Canadian SongQuest. Joel will be writing about the beautiful Cabot Trail and on November 23rd you can tune in to CBC Radio 2 for the final result!  Congrats Joel!

Joel Plaskett wins Music Nova Scotia Awards!
Congratulations to Joel Plaskett who took home four Music Nova Scotia Awards over the weekend at the Molson Canadian Nova Scotia Music Week.  Joel’s hit album “Three” won Pop/Rock Artist/Group Recording, Album of the Year, Male Artist Recording and SOCAN Songwriter of the Year. Congrats Joel!

Joel Plaskett Emergency online:

http://www.joelplaskett.com

http://joelplaskett.fanbridge.com

http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=joel+plaskett&m=text

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=joel+plaskett&search_type=

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Joel-Plaskett/8374317147
http://www.myspace.com/joelplaskett1

http://www.jpemergencyblog.blogspot.com/ 

Final Round Voting Open for the Canadian Album Hall of Fame class of 2009

Last round for this year. You nominated and you voted and these are the top 50 albums according to you. Ok, there are actually 52 due to a three way tie for the last spot, NxEW is flexible. Out of these 47 will automatically be nominated next year (and 2005 albums will be eligible) and 5 will be the inaugural class in our Canadian Album Hall of Fame.

Vote as often as you like for as many as you like! - Voting will be open until 11:59 p.m. on November 30!

It's Bucky Time! Radio 3 Long List Announced!

CBC Radio 3 has announced the long list candidates for this year's Bucky Awards! Voting for the first round is only open until November 8 and you can vote once a day so VOTE EARLY AND OFTEN.

I stole this list of nominees from Chartattack! because it's way easier to cut and paste from their site than it is from Radio 3. The nomiees are:

Best Song:
Apostle Of Hustle — "Eazy Speaks"
Classified featuring Joel Plaskett — "One Track Mind"
Coeur De Pirate — "Comme Des Enfants"
Destroyer — "Bay Of Pigs"
Grand Analog — "I Play My Kazoo"
Great Lake Swimmers — "Pulling On A Line"
Handsome Furs — "I'm Confused"
The Hidden Cameras — "Walk On"
Islands — "No You Don't"
K'Naan — "Dreamer"
K-OS — "I Wish I Knew Natalie Portman"
Lightning Dust — "Antonia Jane"
Malajube — "Porte Disparu"
Dan Mangan — "Robots"
Metric — "Gimme Sympathy"
Amy Millan — "Bruised Ghosts"
A.C. Newman — "There Are Maybe Ten Or Twelve"
Ohbijou — "Black Ice"
Pink Mountaintops — "Vampire"
Joel Plaskett — "Through & Through & Through"
Said The Whale — "Camilo (The Magician)"
Thunderheist — "Jerk It"
Tiga — "Beep Beep Beep"
Patrick Watson — "Tracy's Waters"
You Say Party! We Say Die! — "Laura Palmer's Prom"

Most Canadian Song:
Bahamas — "Hockey Teeth"
The CFL Sessions — "Song Written Upon Getting Cut By The Argos"
Classified — "Oh...Canada"
Corb Lund — "Long Gone To Saskatchewan"
Amelia Curran — "Bye Bye Montreal"
Carolyn Mark — "Saskatoon Tonight"
Maybe Smith — "You Would Never Survive The Winters In This Province"
Portico — "The Battle Of Duck Lake"
Record Of The Week Club — "Keewatin Arctic"
The Rural Alberta Advantage — "The Dethbridge In Lethbridge"
Said The Whale — "Emerald Lake, AB"
Sunparlour Players — "Battle Of 77"
Andrew Vincent — "Canadian Dream"
Will Currie & The Country French — "Ontario"
Graham Wright — "Medicine Hat"

Best Band Name:
Bent By Elephants
Brasstronaut
Coeur De Pirate
The Coward And The Pelican
Dog Is Blue
Elephant Stone
Extra Happy Ghost
The Fast Romantics
Gobble Gobble
Gregory Pepper And His Problems
Innes Wilson And His Opposition
Lee Harvey Osmond
Little Girls
Ookkpikk
Ruby Jean And The Thoughtful Bees
The Shagbots
Think About Life
Timber Timbre
Ubiquitous Synergy Seeker
Whale Tooth

Best Reason To Learn French:
Avec Pas D'Casque — "L'Eclaircie De Pauline"
Paul Cargnello — "La Morte D'Annie Christmas"
Coeur De Pirate — "Comme Des Enfants"
Malajube — "333"
Monogrenade — "Axis Mundi"
Le Nombre — "DB Cooper"
Numero# — "Tonton Klaxonne"
Omnikrom — "Les Tronches"
La Patere Rose — "La Marelle"
We Are Wolves — "Wire"

Best Live Act:
Black Mountain
Bruce Peninsula
DD/MM/YYYY
Elliott Brood
Hank Pine & Lily Fawn
Hey Ocean!
Hey Rosetta!
Holy Fuck
Japandroids
King Khan And The Shrines
Library Voices
Dan Mangan
Metric
Mother Mother
Joel Plaskett
Ruby Jean And The Thoughtful Bees
Said The Whale
Spiral Beach
You Say Party! We Say Die!
Zeus

Best Lyrics:
The Burning Hell — "Dancer Romancer" ("We're all in line dancing in a furnace of sex and misfortune/The fires are scorchin' but if we keep dancing we will survive")
Carbon Dating Service — "Terraform Mars" ("The sun only shines on the finish line")
The CFL Sessions — "Life Is Like Canadian Football" ("Life is like Canadian football/You don't get very many chances, and there's a lot of room to move around")
D-Sisive — "Nobody With A Notepad" ("At Usain Bolt speeds, pen bleeds to the rhythm")
Gentleman Reg — "To Some It Comes Easy" ("In time, I'm gonna drink myself into a nursery rhyme")
Great Lake Swimmers — "Still" ("I'm still tuned to an instrument of greater and unknown design/I'm still looking for direction, some kind of sign")
Immaculate Machine — "Only Love You For Your Car" ("It's a shame the way things are/But I only love you for your car")
Japandroids — "Young Hearts Spark Fire" ("We used to dream, now we just worry about dying/I don't wanna worry about dying, I just wanna worry about sunshine girls")
Keys To The City — "There's A Fire" ("There's a vampire in the bedroom, there's a mummy in the hall/There's a door ajar between them. There's a fire, there's a fire")
Dan Mangan — "Sold" ("So I gave up all my wretched thoughts/And left them out for the less fortunate")
Carolyn Mark — "Officer Down" ("Officer down. Juliette Echo November. And the room falls apart but we'll pick it up and put it back together")
Metric — "Gimme Sympathy" ("After all this is done/Who would you rather be: The Beatles or The Rolling Stones?")
Amy Millan — "Low Sail" ("You, you with nothin' left to lose/And you, you who can see right into me")
The Mountains & The Trees — "Up & Down" ("Some days you're happy/Other days I'm sad/I try not to think about what we could have had/Live for the moment, never the past")
Joel Plaskett — "Through & Through & Through" ("I'm the Berlin Wall, I'm a communist/You're a wrecking ball in a summer dress")
Portico — "The Battle Of Duck Lake" ("You covet a land that won't have you")
The Rest — "Sheep In Wolves' Clothing" ("I'll chisel your bones/To take you home/Just to stare at your eyes/I'll fashion an umbrella/From your placenta/And sail on to the sky")
Said The Whale — "Camilo (The Magician)" ("Camilo, I need to see where you made that card go/'Cause I've got some questions 'bout the world I know/And about the difference between real and show")
Sunset Rubdown — "Idiot Heart" ("I hope that you die in a decent pair of shoes/You got a lot of walkin' to do")
Woodpigeon — "7th Fret Over Andres" ("Silly dreams just don't fit the plan/Of a border town run by guards/Between two countries and between two hearts")

Best Vocals:
Bruce Peninsula — "Steamroller"
Classified featuring Joel Plaskett — "One Track Mind"
Constantines — "Young Lions"
Julie Fader — "Maps"
Gentleman Reg — "How We Exit"
Hannah Georgas — "The Beat Stuff"
Handsome Furs — "I'm Confused"
Islands — "No, You Don't"
Land Of Talk — "May You Never"
Lightning Dust —"Antonia Jane"
Dan Mangan — "Robots"
Amy Millan — "Bruised Ghosts"
A.C. Newman — "All Of My Days And All Of My Days Off"
Ohbijou — "Black Ice"
Said The Whale — "Holly, Ontario"
Sunset Rubdown — "Idiot Heart"
Timber Timbre — "Lay Down In The Tall Grass"
You Say Party! We Say Die! — "Laura Palmer's Prom"

Sexiest Musician:
Bahamas' Afie Jurvanen
Beast's Betti Bonifassi
Buck 65
DJ Champion
Coeur De Pirate's Beatrice Martin
Peter Elkas
Forest City Lovers' Kat Burns
Fucked Up's Damian "Pink Eyes" Abraham
Sebastien Grainger
Handsome Furs' Alexei Perry
Hey Rosetta!'s Tim Baker
Rebekah Higgs
Dan Mangan
Matt Mays
Melissa McClelland
Metric's Emily Haines
Amy Millan
Mother Mother's Molly Guldemond
The Weakerthans' John K. Samson
You Say Party! We Say Die!'s Becky Ninkovic

Best New Artist:
Bruce Peninsula — "Steamroller"
Char2d2 — "Take And Send"
Clues — "Cave Mouth"
Coeur De Pirate — "Comme Des Enfants"
Diamond Rings — "All Yr Songs"
Elephant Stone — "How Long"
Extra Happy Ghost — "Mash-Up: Neither Being Nor Nothingness"
Julie Fader — "Maps"
Hannah Georgas — "The Beat Stuff"
Little Girls — "Last Call"
The Mountains & The Trees — "Up & Down"
La Patere Rose — "La Marelle"
Pick A Piper — "Yellowknife"
Ruby Jean And The Thoughtful Bees — "Danse Danse Resolution"
The Slew — "100%"
Think About Life — "Johanna"
Timber Timbre — "Until The Night Is Over"
Zeroes — "PVC"
Zeus — "How Does It Feel"

I (Heart) Music's Hottest Bands in Canada (2009 Edition)

Over at I (Heart) Music Matthew has a list of the 'Hottest' bands in Canada as voted by the people Matthew asked. It's a good list of folks. I wonder though if I perhaps didn't understand how to rate hotness - it appears that at least some people simply chose the bands they liked the most at the moment - which is cool. I struggled with how to even define hotness. Some of the bands who scored well are indeed very good bands but if how widely known the bands are enters into it (it did with me) I have to wonder at some of the choices. I can't, for example, consider Fucked Up hot. Polaris win or not hardcore appeals primarily to a subset of the the people who are into punk. I don't think the audience for hard core will ever be big enough for a hard core band to be 'one of the hottest in the country'. Rural Alberta Advantage is certainly a great band but I don't think that a ton of people know that yet. The RAA is really just getting going.

The full list that I submitted (Matthew asked for 10 - I sent him 100) is below.

---

This has been a painful process for me. These things always are. There are 500+ Canadian bands that I like on some level and new ones are being added to the list constantly so being asked to Choose between them, or rate them is always difficult. If that wasn't challenging enough I was asked for the '10 Hottest Bands in Canada' based on whatever criteria I decided to use. How do you define hot? Critical acclaim x commercial success / je ne sais qua + stage presence?

Ultimately I decided a couple of things that would help get me started. First that there are some bands that I simply cannot think of in terms of Hot and Cold. Broken Social Scene, Stars, the Arcade Fire, the Hidden Cameras, Feist, the Weakerthans, Sarah Harmer, Ron Sexsmith, Kathleen Edwards, Patrick Watson, Tegan and Sara, and the Dears have graduated from hot and cold (in my mind anyway), they have enough of a following to sell albums and fill venues for many years to come - even if they didn't do anything spectacular in the future. Also, if people didn't graduate this list would be largely the same every year.

The second thing I decided was top 10 was just too small. So, I'll provide Matthew his top 10. But I'll also include an 11-25 (without notes) and three more lists who I won't rate. Since I haven't been asked for a 'top 10' there is no point in pitting them against one another:

Not Quite Yet but Could Have a Breakout in 2010

: This is pretty self explanatory. These are bands that are doing really, really well but aren't quite hottest in Canada yet. They are bands on the cusp.

Red Hot But Not Enough People Have Heard About Them Yet

- Amazing bands, generating good buzz and reviews but the word isn't out enough yet, once enough people find out about these folks watch out.

Hot But in a Less Visible Way

- Two roads diverged in a wood... These are great people, great musicians, but they don't seem particularly interested in being 'buzz bands' they do things their own way - touring, playing on other people's albums and growing their audience a little bit at a time. People who know Canadian music will know them and respect them but the chances of them being showcased on MTV are slim.

I don't know if Matthew will publish all of it, but if he doesn't I'll post it on NxEW.ca.

So, without any further ado...

Hottest Bands

1) Joel Plaskett - Joel surely belongs on the "graduated" list above and I seriously contemplated putting him there but 2009 has been, I think, the biggest year of his career to date. He has taken it to a whole other level. He has been nominated for the Polaris Music Prize (again), as well as just about every award for which he qualifies. He also played nearly every festival, large and small, anywhere in Canada oh ... and there was the triple album. It would be silly to do this list and not include him because he was very well known before.

2) Metric - It's possible that some of the haters bumped them up some on my list. Fantasies isn't my favorite Metric album (I'm more partial to Old World Underground ... but that takes nothing away from them. People have short memories and narrow world views. If you are really into Canadian Indie Music you knew who metric was a year ago - but that doesn't necessarily equal financial success. Metric worked hard for 10+ years and with (self-released) Fantasies they have broken out in a way that goes beyond the Canadian indie audience. They have had huge tours of Canada (and many other parts of the world) and I have nothing but respect for them for it. If I'm asked to make another one of these lists next year they'll be in the graduated category - and they've earned it.

3) Dan Mangan it's hard to believe that "Nice, Nice, Very Nice" just came out in August and that it's only Mangan's second full length. His first "Postcards and Daydreaming" was a full four years ago (it was re-released in 2007). Already Dan has taken the XM Verge Artist of the Year and has had a hugely successful tour (minus a few days on his back with the flu.) But those of us who heard things like this on Postcards and Daydreaming knew that Dan was pure talent and that he was destined for great things.

4) Chad Van Gaalen - How it is possible for someone to be that prolific and consistently produce quality I have no idea. In 2008 there was Soft Airplane, then the Soft Airplane EP, then an electronic album under the moniker Black Mold then the (free) Soft Airplane B-Sides - brining the total to 5 full length albums and 3 EPs since 2004 and he's reportedly hard at work on the follow up to Soft Airplane. And we haven't even touched on his visual art or video work.

5) Elliott Brood are frequently nominated for things but rarely seem to win. That said, nearly everyone agrees that their album is brilliant and if I were booking a venue - an Elliott Brood show would be like Christmas. First of all you get the country, alt. country, roots and indie rock audiences all at once for a show that everyone agrees is amazing and that encourages drinking, dancing and banging on kitchen utensils that have outlived their usefulness in the kitchen and are enjoying a second life as percussion instruments. The Brood has arrived and will be with us for a long, long time.

6) Julie Doiron and isn't it about time. When NxEW.ca ran our Shadow Polaris this year and asked people what should win (in a free vote open to everyone) - Julie took it home for "I Can Wonder What You Did With Your Day" an album that didn't even make the Polaris Long List. Julie has been quietly building her reputation among critics and fans for almost two decades now and just seems to get better with age. I also can't think of another artist who generates more praise from other artists.

7) Hey Rosetta! - Gets love from all over. At the Polaris Music Prize gala Emily Haines felt compelled to interrupt an interview between Radio 3 and Hey Rosetta just to express her newfound love for the band. Everyone would have already heard alot more about Hey Rosetta! if they had been from Toronto or Montreal, but the band is good enough to overcome even that. In 2007 they were were taking MusicNL and East Coast Music Awards, and a Galaxie Rising Star award, In 2008 they took the XM Verge Album of the Year and in 2009 were shortlisted for Polaris. Just wait until 2010 and 11!

8) Great Lake Swimmers are another band that has done the slow climb rather than the big splash. Now with a Polaris Short List nod under their belt the national media is paying a bit more attention to Tony Dekker's band which is good for the media. Your grandchildren will be listening to people play Great Lake Swimmers covers in bars many years from now.

9) Justin Rutledge - CBC Radio's Amanda Putz has referred to Justin as our new Leonard Cohen, in the City Sonic video about Justin and the Cameron House, Blue Rodeo bassist Bazil Donavan refers to him as the new Ron Sexsmith. I personally just think of him as the current Justin Rutledge and again (as I said when discussing Elliott Brood) if I was booking a venue - he is rapidly gaining popularity amoung both country and 'indie' audiences and at 31 there is alot more to come.

10) Timber Timbre - he's hot enough that Arts & Crafts made a distribution deal with Out of This Spark to add him to the A & C roster. I also heard more complaints about the Timber Timbre not being on the Polaris list than any other artist. He may not be a household name yet but the whispering campaign is pretty deafening at this point.

11-25 in no particular order because rating one artist against another is painful for me: the Arkells, Two Hours Traffic, Holy Fuck, the Constantines, Gentleman Reg, Said the Whale, Amy Millan, the Most Serene Republic, Handsome Furs, Jill Barber, Cour de Pirate, Hannah Georgas, Ohbijou, Matthew Barber, Jenn Grant.

Not quite there but could have a breakout in 2010 These are people who could easily make this list next year. There are immensely talented people who are becoming more and more well known who are on the verge of national success - again I won't rate them, but will include a few notes:

Bruce Peninsula - Another band that generated alot of grumbling when they were omitted from the Polaris Short List. Everyone who sees them live is converted.

Forest City Lovers - Now that Out of This Spark is working with Arts & Crafts this band will get bigger fast. They have a new album coming in 2010 and are so talented it's stupid. If you like Ohbijou you'll like Forest City Lovers.

Will Currie and the Country French - I've been following this band for a few years now on the strength of a handful of songs. If they're full length debut shows even a fraction of the talent they have they'll get huge, fast.

Grand Analog - I'm hardly an expert on hip hop but of what I've heard I love Grant Analog the most, the blend of hip hop, funk, soul, jazz and ska has got to get some serious attention sooner or later.

Hot Panda Full disclosure, I do Hot Panda's web site so I may be biased but their debut full length 'Volcano, Bloody Volcano' and their live shows got extremely positive reviews and if their follow up is as good as I'm hearing it will be they may finally get the attention they deserve. This is another band I think you would have heard more about already if they were from Toronto, Montreal or even Vancouver rather than Edmonton.

Hooded Fang might be the best unsigned band in Toronto. It's dancey pop but with complex interesting lyrics and horns and who can forget their tribute to Stephen Harper's Arts Cuts? The full length is coming!

Kate Maki - The Sudbury school teacher has already been tapped to tour with John Doe and the Great Lake Swimmers. She has a 4th full length on the way and I think that she'll be in Sarah Harmer/Kathleen Edwards territory sooner rather than later.

Library Voices - How Library Voices aren't bigger than they are already I have no idea. They get nothing but good reviews for what they've recorded, for their live performances and as people - saying something negative about their hair styles would lose you friends (at least among the people I talk to.) There is a new album that should be done any minute now - maybe this will be the one to put them over the top.

Evening Hymns - A I've really heard are the songs on his Myspace but those are amazing. Evening Hymns first full length is coming out on Out of This Spark shortly and it's safe to say that he'll be the Timber Timbre of 2010, there is a kids on Christmas morning level of excitement about this one from some very musically knowledgeable people.

the Beauties - Built up a loyal following as the Sunday Night house band at the Dakota Tavern before signing to ("life is too short to listen to shitty music") Six Shooter - The live show is pretty amazing. I think this bunch is going to rise very quickly.

Also:
Bahamas, Volcanoless in Canada, Green Go, Great Bloomers, Bell Orchestre, Basia Bulat (sophomore album is coming, 'nuff said), Rural Alberta Advantage, Wintersleep, Schomberg Fair, Rah Rah, the Wooden Sky, Bend Sinister, One Hundred Dollars, Zeus, Woodpigeon.

Hot But In a Less Visible Way - Conventional wisdom says that if you're going to be successful in music now you have to think long term, diversify your income sources and build your fan base one person at a time. This list is for the people who do that and do it well, some of them have been doing it since before there was a Myspace, some of them since before Napster. They may not get magazine covers, top bills at festivals etc., but they are true artists (the kind of folks I originally thought Polaris was for) They are also (or are on the path to being) professional, career musicians. Again - no ranking, but a few comments.

Final Fantasy (a.k.a. Owen Pallett) - I should start with the exception to the rule. FF does occasionally grab magazine covers, headline festivals and took the first Polaris Music Prize (which helped cause my initial confusion). I still think of his fan base as a cult following though and Owen definitely does his own thing in his own way. This year his stock went up pretty sharply when he refused to leave a stage at Hillside during an electrical storm - I almost put Final Fantasy in the "top 10 hottest" list but decided he fit better over here even if the cult is becoming a religion.

Danny Michel - I know that Danny is tired of being "Canada's best kept secret" and "the most underrated musician in Canada." He's been both for a long time and put out one brilliant album after another but he's still going and still brilliant and that's what counts - the number of people who don't know is shrinking by the day.

Bob Wiseman - Ex-Blue Rodeo, Ex-Hidden Camera, First recipient of CBC Radio 3's Lifetime Achievement Award (then called 'Old But Awesome'), Bob also has the distinction of having his first (big label) solo album destroyed for political reasons. Bob currently makes video/multimedia presentations to go with his songs, plays on other people's albums, does music for theatre, spends as much time with comedians as musicians, tried to adopt the name Prince when Prince became the artist formerly known as... and generally serves as the poster boy for marching to the beat of your own drummer.

Jim Bryson When Kathleen Edwards, the Weakerthans or the Tragically Hip tour they call on Jim Bryson. His solo work is equally impressive (that's what gets him the gigs with the others).

Do Make Say Think - should be bigger than they are. I guess gorgeous, orchestral ten minute instrumentals aren't for everyone but the audience grows every year. Aficionados of prog rock and indie rock agree a Do Make Say Think show is pretty hard to beat.

Laura Barrett - If I could have given this year's Polaris Award to anyone it would have gone to Laura for Victory Garden. She also playes with the Hidden Cameras, Henri Faberge and the Adorable and does frequent guest spots on other albums. Rebekah Higgs said of Laura that she'd never met anyone who was so "completely herself all the time" - That's laura, and why she is in this category - Oh..she was also voted Canada's Sexiest Musician at last year's CBC R3 Bucky Award!

Rock Plaza Central - Write complex music with intense, thoughtful lyrics (front man Chris Eaton also writes books). It seems to take years for each new album to be fully appreciated but they are always, eventually, determined to be masterpieces and even added to school curriculums. Genius isn't always rewarded immediately.

Henry Svec doesn't just make albums, he invents personas, back-stories and concepts and bundles it all into a project. Whether it's Peter Mansbridge and the CBCs, the Boy from ET, the CFL Sessions or whatever he's up to next. I don't know if changing personalities and band names annually is a good route to long term success but it will be fun to watch and see.

the Pack A.D. - They have been compared to the White Stripes but I don't see it really. They are an old school blues band and being old school they tour all the time. I haven't counted but I'm guessing they played 150 + shows in 2009 (maybe 200). If you play in front of people just about every day you'll find enough of a fan base to keep you in business.

the Acorn - If it weren't for Danny Michel the Acorn would probably be the most underrated musician in Canada (although he's starting to get some attention in the UK and if he keeps touring with Ohbijou people are bound to notice how amazing the music is sooner or later, right?


Also: Andy Swan, Ruth Minnikin and Her Bandwagon, Kyrie Kristmanson, Shotgun Jimmie, Kids on TV, Peter Elkas, Charles Spearin, Great Aunt Ida, Andre Ethier, BA Johnston, the Hylozoists, Hank Pine and Lily Fawn, Jenny Omnichord, Nathan Lawr, Carolyn Mark.


Red Hot But People Haven't Heard Enough About Them

the Burning Hell - might be Canada's best live band. Go see them, seriously! Sadly the effect of a Burning Hell live show has yet to be captured in a recorded medium. The Burning Hell will be big, but not until enough people have seen the live show.

Sunparlour Players - like the Burning Hell, Sunparlour Players have to be seen live to be fully appreciated. Only after that can you get the full effect of the albums. Amazing amounts of talent but the full measure of their success will take some time.

Olenka and the Autumn Lovers - It's only a matter of time. They've been peppered with good reviews, they've had tours, made friends and have made strong showings at North by North East, Pop Montreal and the Halifax Pop Explosion. It's only a matter of time.

Pick A Piper seems to be everyone's new favorite band this year. The buzz about them after the Pitter Patter festival was deafening and they won more people over at North by North East. Think of them as a more acoustic and more percussive version of Holy Fuck and/or a really tight drum circle that eveolved into a band.

Rebekah Higgs / Ruby Jean and the Thoughtful Bees - Her solo work is haunting and angelic, her dance band oozes energy and, if she was serious when she was doing her Sobama Radio Show she's working on other bands with different sounds. She is definitely going down the path of diversity. Is it possible to be successful with multiple projects? Of course it is, ask Brian Borcherdt - but it may take a little longer.

Julie Fader is amazing, she is pure talent. Her audience isn't huge yet but it's a good and influential audience and includes people like Sarah Harmer, Ron Sexsmith, Chad VanGaalen, Holy Fuck, the Great Lake Swimmers, Matthew and Jill Barber, Justin Rutledge, and others. Julie is going to do very well, but her album came out in late summer (after most of the big summer fests were over) and she hasn't gotten the attention she deserves (yet).

Kara Keith - People who like Metric should love Kara Keith. She is an amazing performer, with smart lyrics, danceable music and a sense of drama to her music that makes you think at times that she's plucked the songs from a musical. The move from Calgary to Montreal should help but, last I heard, she's still unsigned, has no distribution and her latest album is available on digital only.

the Magic - a whole lot of people fell in love with the Magic this year on the strength of an EP and a handful of dates. If they are serious, if the Magic is going to be an ongoing thing they're off to a blazing start. If it's a one off, side project, just for fun thing - then it's nearly over. Wait and see I guess.

Laura Smith - Laura used to be the keyboard player for Said the Whale, she's now the touring keyboard player for Dan Mangan - she has an impressive solo repertoire given all of her talent and the talent of the people she surrounds herself with it seems impossible that Laura isn't going places, it just takes time.

Wilderness of Manitoba - are amazing. At this point not alot of people have noticed the amazingness but the people who have (that I've talked to) are people who have great taste and they are getting good press from places like BlogTO, the Line of Best Fit, Now and Herohill. This is a band you are going to hear alot more about, starting very soon.

Also: Cam Malcolm, Black Hat Brigade, Construction & Destruction, Jason Bajada, Whale Tooth, the Olympic Symphonium, Dog is Blue, the Mountains & the Trees, Mark Berube, Share, Christa Couture, Slow Down, Molasses, the Gertrudes, Acres and Acres, the Racoon Wedding.

I would once again like to point out that this was very difficult for me. I could easily have gone on to 200, 300, 400 artists but I've already streched 10 into 100 - we'll see if I get away with that.

CBC Radio 3 Bucky Award Nominations Open

The voting opened today in the CBC Radio 3 Bucky Awards - go to the Radio 3 website and nominate your favorites in the categories mentioned below before Oct. 30 (that's Friday).

Sexiest Musician: - Last year this went to Laura Barrett - so far this year a bunch of pretty people have been mentioned - Becky Ninkovic, Kathryn Calder, Jill Barber, Basia Bulat, Rebekah Higgs, Felicity Harmer ... even new NxEW contributor Mike Douguay is in the running.

In most categories vote for who you like, there are alot of really talented people in the mix and the award will go to someone who is really good at what they do regardless. But, since sexiest musician really has nothing to do with music, I'm going to campaign a bit in this one. Last year Laura Barrett (who is awesome) won - a woman who doesn't do makeup and wears glasses. So this year I'm actively pushing for a bald man with a beard and a beer belly - Vote Damian Abraham (pictured below) for sexiest musician and give him a second chance to kiss Grant Lawrence.



Best Song: Amoung the very many nominees for this always contentious category are

Elliott Brood - Write it all down for you
Julie Fader - Goodbye Before Hello
Dan Mangan - Robots
Joel Plaskett - Through & Through & Through
Mother Mother - Hayloft
Rah Rah - Duet For Emmylou And The Grievous Angel
Ohbijou - Black Ice
... there are alot

Most Canadian Song:Nominees so far include Said the Whale - Holly Ontario, Portico - Laura Secord, Andrew Vincent - Canadian Dream, Amelia Curran - Bye Bye Montreal, Elliott Brood - Oh, Alberta, Rah Rah - Duet for Emmylou and the Grevious Angel (there are more).

Best Live Act: Shout Out Out Out Out, Spiral Beach, Jenn Grant, Said the Whale, Clues, Joel Plaskett, Ruby Jean and the Thoughtful Bees, the Burning Hell, Library Voices and many others have been mentioned so far.

Best New Artist: Zeus, the Wilderness of Manitoba, the Mountains and the Trees, Adaline, Pick a Piper, Hannah Georgas, the Rural Alberta Advantage, Analog Bell Service, the Racoons, Wooen Sky, NxEW's own Roziland McPhail and others are being discussed.

Best Vocals: Dan Mangan, Casey Mecija, Jenn Grant, Julie Faer, Amber Webber, Emily Haines, Neil Haverty, Rebekah Higgs and lots more so far.

Best Lyric: Lyrics by Dan Mangan, Metric, Amy Millan, Joel Plaskett, the Great Lake Swimmers, the Mountains and the Trees, Chad Van Gaalen, Meatdraw, the Burning Hell and a whole bunch more in the mix.

Best Reason to Learn French: Coeur de Pirate, Les Dales Hawerchuk and Malajube have all been nominated but based on the sentiment I think Coeur de Pirate walks away with this one (she's been nominated about 20 times.)

Best Band Name: Nominations so far for, amoung others, Gregory Pepper and His Problems, Rural Alberta Advantage, Agnostic Mountain Gospel Choir, Fucked Up, Topless Gay Love Tekno Pary!, Japandroids and You Say Party! We Say Die!

Lifetime Achivement Award: Nominees so far include Joel Plaskett, Brendan Canning, Dave Bidini, Veda Hille, the Constantines, Rick White, Julie Doiron and others.

CBC Radio 3 Bucky Nominations Open Monday

This year CBC Radio 3 is crowdsourcing the nominations for the CBC Radio 3 Bucky Awards. In previous years the Radio 3 staff has chosen the nominees and let the audience vote on the winners. This year it's all up to you. Starting Monday, October 26, Radio 3 listeners will get the chance to nominate artists in the following categories:

Best Song

Most Canadian Song

Best Live Act

Best New Artist

Best Vocals

Best Lyric

Sexiest Musician

Best Reason To Learn French

Best Band Name

Lifetime Achievement

Nominations will be open until October 30. After that voting will commence. From November 2-6 fans will be able to vote on the long list and once the nominees are whittled down a bit fans will be able to vote for the winners based on the Short list from November 16 - 29. The winners will be announced on Wednesday, December 9.

R3TV Episode #74: "The 2008 Bucky Awards"

Kyrie Kristmanson wins Colleen Peterson Award

Via Kyrie Kristmanson: The Ontario Arts Council has awarded Kyrie's Song X the Colleen Peterson Award beating out nearly 200 other songwriters and 300 other songs. For more info read this.

Kyrie Kristmanson - Song X


You can catch Kyrie Live at:

3 Nov 2009 NAC Fourth Stage - Bluebird North Songwriter’s Circle Ottawa, Ontario
2 Dec 2009 L’Olympic avec Emily Loizeau Nantes, France
4 Dec 2009 Le Quai avec Emily Loizeau Angers, France
12 Dec 2009 Toronto Symphony Orchestra reception Toronto
17 Dec 2009 CIUT FM Back to the Sugar Camp Toronto, Ontario
16 Mar 2010 Salon Musical de Saint-Eustache Paris

Joel Plaskett Nominated for Four Canadian Folk Music Awards

The Canadian Folk Music Awards 2009 Nominees have been announced and Joel Plaskett is at the head of the class. Joel has been nominated for Contemporary Album of the Year, Solo Artist of the Year, Producer of the Year and Pushing the Boundaries. The winners will be announced and the awards handed out at the Awards Night Gala in Gatineau, Quebec on November 21, 2009. For more info see canadianfolkmusicawards.ca. The full list of nominees goes:

TRADITIONAL ALBUM OF THE YEAR
• Colette Cheverie – Hours Before Dawn (Charlottetown, PE)
• Dave Gossage and the Celtic Mindwarp – Dave Gossage and the Celtic Mindwarp (Montréal)
• James Hill & Anne Davison – True Love Don’t Weep (Langley, BC)
• Réveillons – Malbrough n’est pas mort (Montréal)
• The Haints Old Time Stringband – Shout Monah (Cobble Hill, BC / Victoria BC)
CONTEMPORARY ALBUM OF THE YEAR
• Great Lake Swimmers – Lost Channels (Toronto)
• Jim Byrnes – My Walking Stick (Vancouver)
• Joel Plaskett – Three (Halifax)
• Ndidi Onukwulu – The Contradictor (Vancouver)
• Romi Mayes – Achin in Yer Bones (Winnipeg)
CHILDREN’S ALBUM OF THE YEAR
• Chris McKhool – FiddleFire! (Toronto)
• Kathy Reid-Naiman – Zoom Zoom Cuddle and Croon (Aurora, ON)
• Maggie G. – Around The House With Maggie G. (Thornhill, originally from Ottawa)
• Tasha Platt – Big Bad Bantam Rooster (Calgary)
• The Kerplunks – Walk On (Gabriola Island, BC)
TRADITIONAL SINGER OF THE YEAR
• Colette Cheverie – Hours Before Dawn (Charlottetown, PE)
• Dave MacDonald – Lazy Jacks – East Coast Live (Charlottetown, PE)
• Ian Bell – My Pious Friends & Drunken Companions (Paris, ON)
• Monique Jutras – Le Chant de la Mariniere (Longueuil, QC)
• Peter Wynne – Lazy Jacks – East Coast Live (Charlottetown, PE)
CONTEMPORARY SINGER OF THE YEAR
• Jessica Rhaye – Good Things (St. John, NB)
• Jim Byrnes – My Walking Stick (Vancouver)
• Marianne Girard – Pirate Days (Toronto)
• Melissa McClelland – Victoria Day (Hamilton)
• Suzie Vinnick – Happy Here (Toronto)
INSTRUMENTAL SOLO ARTIST OF THE YEAR
• Guy Donis – Paroles d’arbre (Montréal)
• Don Alder – Not A Planet (Vancouver)
• Joel Fafard – Three Hens Escape Oblivion (Madeira Park BC, originally from Regina)
• Karrnnel – Karrnnel (Saskatoon)
• Tony McManus – The Maker’s Mark (Elora ON)
INSTRUMENTAL GROUP OF THE YEAR
• De Lònga – À l’abri du temps (Montréal)
• La Nef – Deserts (Montréal)
• OktoEcho – OktoEcho (Montréal)
• The Rakish Angles – The Rakish Angles (Gibsons BC)
• Sultans of String – Yalla Yalla! (Toronto)
ENGLISH SONGWRITER OF THE YEAR
• Jon Brooks – Moth Nor Rust (Toronto)
• Rob Heath – One More Day Above Ground (Edmonton)
• Rob Lutes – Truth & Fiction (Montreal)
• Susan Crowe – Greytown (Halifax)
• William Hawkins – Various Artists – Dancing Alone: Songs by William Hawkins (Ottawa)
FRENCH SONGWRITER OF THE YEAR
• Guillaume Monette, Guillaume Meloche-Charlebois & Nicola Morel – 3 Gars su’l sofa – Cerf-Volant (Montréal)
• Caracol – L’Abre aux Parfums (Montréal)
• Catherine Durand – Coeurs Migratoires (Montréal)
• Maryse Letarte – Des Pas Dans la Neige (Montréal)
• Paul Cargnello – Bras Coupé (Montréal)
ABORIGINAL SONGWRITER OF THE YEAR
• Buffy Sainte-Marie – Running for the Drum (Qu’Appelle Valley, SK)
• Don Amero – Deepening (Winnipeg)
• Vince Fontaine, Jay Bodner & Chris Burke-Gaffney – Eagle & Hawk – Sirensong (Winnipeg)
• Tagaq for Auk – Blood (Cambridge Bay, NT)
• Violet Naytowhow – Wind of the North (Prince Albert, SK)
VOCAL GROUP OF THE YEAR
• Cantarra – Beautiful Air (Ottawa)
• Dala – Everyone is Someone (Toronto)
• Madison Violet – No Fool For Trying (Toronto)
• Serre L’Ecoute – Buveurs Philosophes (Québec, QC)
• The Breakmen – When You Leave Town (Vancouver)
ENSEMBLE OF THE YEAR
• Annie Lou – Annie Lou (Whitehorse YT)
• OktoEcho – OktoEcho (Montréal)
• Sultans of String – Yalla Yalla! (Toronto)
• The Deep Dark Woods – Winter Hours (Saskatoon)
• The Haints Old Time Stringband – Shout Monah (Cobble Hill BC, Victoria BC)
SOLO ARTIST OF THE YEAR
• Catherine MacLellan – Water in the Ground (Charlottetown, PE)
• Ian Tyson – Yellowhead to Yellowstone and Other Love Stories (Longview, AB)
• Joel Plaskett – Three (Halifax)
• Maria Dunn – The Peddler (Edmonton, AB)
• Suzie Vinnick – Happy Here (Toronto)
WORLD SOLO ARTIST OF THE YEAR
• Florent Vollant – Eku Mamu (Montreal)
• George Koufogiannakis – Generations – Greek Oud Jazz (Edmonton)
• Karim Saada – La Danse de l’Exilé (L’Assomption, QC)
• Lorraine Klaasen – Africa Calling (Montréal)
• Wesli – Kouraj (Montreal)
WORLD GROUP OF THE YEAR
• Ensemble Montreal Tango – Enamorada (Montréal)
• Jayme Stone & Mansa Sissoko – Africa to Appalachia (Toronto / Québec, QC)
• La Nef – Deserts (Montréal)
• OktoEcho – OktoEcho (Montréal)
• The Huppa Project – Under the Canopy (Toronto)
NEW/EMERGING ARTIST OF THE YEAR
• David Baxter – Day & Age (Toronto)
• The Good Lovelies – Good Lovelies (Toronto)
• Kate Reid – I’m Just Warming Up (Vancouver)
• Lynne Hanson – Eleven Months (Ottawa)
• The Breakmen – When You Leave Town (Vancouver)
PRODUCER OF THE YEAR
• Jocelyn Tellier & Catherine Durand for Catherine Durand – Coeurs Migratoires (Montréal)
• Mike Roth / Dala – Everyone is Someone (Toronto)
• David Travers-Smith / Jayme Stone & Mansa Sissoko – Africa to Appalachia (Toronto)
• Jonathan Goldsmith / Jenn Grant – Echos (Toronto area)
• Joel Plaskett / Joel Plaskett – Three (Halifax)
PUSHING THE BOUNDARIES
• Doug Cox and Salil Bhatt – Slide to Freedom 2 – Make a Better World (Cumberland, BC)
• Joel Plaskett – Three (Halifax)
• Steve Dawson – Telescope (Vancouver)
• Sultans of String – Yalla Yalla! (Toronto)
• Wendy McNeill – A Dreamer’s Guide to Hardcore Living (Edmonton)
YOUNG PERFORMER OF THE YEAR
• Ariana Gillis – Ariana Gillis (Vineland, ON)
• Chrissy Crowley – The Departure (Margaree, NS)
• Fish and Bird – Left Brain Blues (Victoria, BC)
• Sierra Noble – Possibilities (Winnipeg)
• Taylor Mitchell – For Your Consideration (Toronto)

Joel Plaskett - Through & Through & Through

Patrick Watson Cleans Up at GAMIQ Awards

Patrick Watson has cleaned up at the GAMIQ Awards, Quebecs Awards for Independent Music. Watson won five awards in all including Artist of the Year, Songwriter of the Year, Show of the Year and International Career of the Year. Also taking awards were Coeur de pirate for Breakthrough Artist of the Year, Beast for Electro Artist of the year, Bell Orchestre for Experimental Album of the Year, and Malajube for Indie Rock Album of the Year. The full list goes:

Artist of the Year presented by Artisti

Patrick Watson
(The award comes with a $1,000 grant)

Songwriter of the Year presented by the SOCAN

Patrick Watson

(The award comes with a $1,000 grant)

International Career of the Year presented by the MIMI

Patrick Watson

Show of the Year

Patrick Watson

Breakthrough Artist of the Year presented by enMusique.ca

Coeur de pirate

Singer-songwriter Album of the Year

Tu m’intimides – Mara Tremblay

Electro Album of the Year

Beast – Beast

Experimental Album of the Year

As Seen Through Windows – Bell Orchestre

Folk/Country Album of the Year

Dans la nature jusqu’au cou – Avec pas d’casque

Hip-Hop Album of the Year

Comme à la télévision – Omnikrom

Indie Pop Album of the Year

Wooden Arms – Patrick Watson

Indie Rock Album of the Year presented by CISM

Labyrinthes – Malajube

Metal/Hardcore Album of the Year

Musique barbare – Mononc’ Serge & Anonymus

Punk Album of the Year

The Brains – The Brains

Rock'n'Roll Album of the Year

Cassette II – Band de Garage

World Album of the Year

La mécanique – Kodiak

DVD of the Year

Presque sold out – Vulgaires Machins

Tribute Award

Jean-Robert Bisaillon

D-Sisive Wins Echo Songwriting Prize

D-Sisive (a.k.a. Derek Christoff) and Robert Baker's song "Nobody With a Notepad" has won the SOCAN's Fourth Annual Echo Songwriting Prize against some stiff competition.

An independent panel of 10 music industry 'tastemakers' chose the song from the list of five finalists that also included:

“Lay Down In the Tall Grass” written by Taylor Kirk, performed by Timber Timbre
“Love Can Be So Mean” written by Sebastien Grainger, performed by Sebastien Grainger and the Mountains
“Through and Through and Through” written and performed by Joel Plaskett
“Some Are Lakes” written by Elizabeth Powell, performed by Land of Talk

The Franophone version of the award 'Prix de la chanson ECHO' went to Bernard Adamus for his song "La question a 100 piasses."

D-Sisive - Nobody With A Notepad

2009 Music NL Nominees

Although there doesn't seem to be anything about it on the site for Music NL (The Music Industry Association of Newfoundland and Labrador), according to the Scope the nominees for this year's Music NL Awards (which take place from November 13th – 15th) are:

Steele Communications Album of the Year

Curtis Andrews – The Offering of Curtis Andrews

The Novaks – Things Fall Apart

The Once – The Once

Terry Penney – Town That Time Forgot

Shanneyganock – Vol. VII

Group of the Year

The Discounts

The Monday Nights

The Novaks

The Once

Shanneyganock

Male Artist of the Year

Curtis Andrews

Chris Kirby

Terry Penney

Allan Ricketts

Jerry Stamp

Female Artist of the Year

Sharona Clarke

Karla Pilgrim

Colleen Power

Amanda Squires

Maureen Volk

Entertainer of the Year

Chris Kirby

Shanneyganock

Dr. Zoo

Rising Star of the CBC New Artist/Group of the Year

Chris Kirby

The Monday Nights

The Once

Karla Pilgrim

Allan Ricketts

Molson Pop/Rock Artist/Group of the Year

Sharona Clarke

Baytown Connection

The Monday Nights

The Novaks

Jerry Stamp

Folk/Roots Artist/Group of the Year

Jody Hale

The Once

Terry Parsons

Allan Ricketts

Shanneyganock

Country Artist/Group of the Year

Karla Pilgrim

Terry Penney

Gospel Artist/Group of the Year

Gary French

Rod Jackson

Jimmy Lee Howard

Amanda Squires

Instrumental Artist/Group of the Year

Curtis Andrews

Ian Foster

Spanner

Maureen Volk

Alternative Artist/Group of the Year

The Awake

The Discounts

Colleen Power

Roundelay

Dr. Zoo

Coast 101.1 Jazz/Blues Group/Artist of the Year

Jeff Dyer/Bill Brennan

Scott Goudie

Smokin’ Joe Wiseman

Chris Kirby

Bill Rose

SOCAN Songwriter of the Year

Mick Davis/ Elliot Dicks/ Mark Neary – “There Goes The Night”

Kalem Mahoney – “Big City Lights”

Mike McDonald – “Whale Bones”

Terry Penney – “Town That Time Forgot”

Colleen Power – “New Townie Man”

Janet Cull’s Planet Rock! Music School Side Musician Award

Glen Collins

Andrew Dale

Sandy Morris

Brad Power

Media Person of the Year

Paddy Daly

Danette Dooley

Krissy Holmes

Kevin Kelly

Tom Power

Toni Marie Wiseman

Industry Professional of the Year

Robert Buck

Tony Murray

Mark Neary

Kirk Newhook

Music Educator of the Year

David Chafe

Janet Cull

Kirk Newhook

Angela O’Brien

Fergus O’Byrne

Outstanding Company of the Year

MMS Atlantic

Steele Communications

O’Brien’s Music

Fred’s Records

Volunteer of the Year

Wayne Cook

Tina Ricketts

Melanie Smith

Hylozoist Paul Aucoin Makes a Deal With the Devil and Wins Award

Paul Aucoin of the Hylozoists has taken a New York Television Festival award for the theme song he did with lyrics by Dennis Heaton for the Canadian web television series My Pal Satan. In addition to Best Theme Song the series also took the honors for Best Web Pilot.

My Pal Satan takes the term 'odd couple' to a whole new level. It's a sitcom, made with the help of the Canadian Film Centre, about a mortal 20something 'straight-arrow' sharing an apartment with the Prince of Darkness.

You can watch the entire series (and download it's varied theme songs) at mypalsatan.com.



Someday, someone will get around to giving an award to the Hylozoists just for being the Hylozoists.



If you visit the website for the sadly defunct CBC radio show Fuse you can still hear the session with Laura Barrett and the Hylozoists (along with several other classics.

Dan Mangan & Alexisonfire Take Home Verge Awards

Just a day after Fucked Up! Took home the Polaris Music Prize and the $20,000 cash award that goes with it, Dan Mangan and Alexisonfire have each taken $25,000 on the XM Verge Music Awards. Mangan took home Artist of the Year and Alexisonfire won album of the year for Old Crows/Young Cardinals.

The finalists for the XM Verge Awards were selected by a vote from the public and the winners chosen by the Verge Jury. The other candidates for Artist of the Year were Asexisonfire, Amos the Transparent, Joel Plaskett and Said the Whale. For album of the year the runners up were the Arkells - Jackson Square, Joel Plaskett - Three, Metric - Fantasies and Mother Mother - O My Heart.

Performances at the award show included last year's winners the Weakerthans (best artist) and Hey Rosetta! (best album) as well as Metric.

Dan Mangan told Chartattack that:

"...he would use the money to buy a tour van and pay off some debts.

"I just didn't really see [winning] as an option," Mangan said. "I just kind of thought it was a nice nod and it was just great to be included in the list at the very most. So I'm completely honoured and flattered and it's a very exciting day."

The Indie Queens Are Waiting - Dan Mangan

What Are the Best Canadian Albums Ever?

So, it's still Polaris Music Prize day and just a few hours ago I announced that Julie Doiron won our Shadow Polaris Prize for 2009. Now we're moving straight on to the next question:

What are the best Canadian albums ever?

We'd like your nominations for the Canadian albums you've liked the best but we're taking out any 'flavor of the month' possibilities. Here's how it's going to go. You can nominate any albums that you like in the comments section, Facebook, by emailing [email protected] or via Twitter @NxEW.

Nominated albums

1) Must be Canadian

2) Must be a full album (not an EP or a single)

3) Cannot be 'greatest hits' collections although live albums that revisit past material are eligible.

4) The album must be from 2004 or previous - so anything from the dawn of recording until 2004 is acceptable.

It doesn't matter how well the album sold, we're only looking for quality but in order to weed out any albums that are only momentarily popular we want to put a few years between the prize and the recording. So we're looking for the albums that, looking back five years or more, still resonate - the ones that you still listen to, that haven't been relegated to the back of the closet or sold at a used CD place.

Nominations will be open from now until October 10, 2009. After that the voting will begin and the nominees will be whittled down to 50 and then a second round of voting will begin (if your favorite didn't make the top 50 you get a second chance to pick a winner.) The short list, of 5 albums, will ALL be inducted into our album Hall of Fame.

So, let the nominations begin: Nominate your favorites in the comments section, via Facebook, by emailing [email protected] or via Twitter @NxEW.

Nominated albums to date (alot more to come)
please don't nominate these again, they can't be more nominated.

Alanis Morissette - 'Jagged Little Pill'
Alexander 'Skip' Spence - Oar
Apostle of Hustle - Folkloric Feel
Arcade Fire - Funeral
The Band - Self Titled
The Band - Music From Big Pink
Barenaked Ladies - Gordon
Barenaked Ladies - Maroon
Blue Rodeo - Five Days In July
Blue Rodeo - Nowhere To Here
Bran Van 3000 - Discosis
Broken Social Scene - You Forgot it in People
Bruce Cockburn - Stealing Fire
By Divine Right - Bless This Mess
Constantines - Constantines
Constantines - Shine a Light
Cuff the Duke - Life Stories for Minimum Wage
Dan-e-o - The Book of Daniel
Daniel Lanois - For The Beauty Of Wynona
Dears - No Cities Left
Death From Above 1979 - You're a Woman, I'm a Machine
Do Make Say Think - & Yet & Yet
Eric's Trip - Love Tara
Eric's Trip - Purple Blue
Esthero - Breath From Another
Feist: Let It Die
Godspeed You! Black Emporor - Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas to
Godspeed You! Black Emperor - F♯A♯∞
Hayden - The Closer I Get
Hayden - Everything I Long For
Hidden Cameras - Mississauga Goddam
The High Dials - A New Devotion
Inbreds - Kombinator
Ivana Santilli - Brown
Joel Plaskett - In Need of Medical Attention
Joel Plaskett Emergency - Truthfully, Truthfully
Joni Mitchell - Blue
Joni Mitchell - For The Roses
Joni Mitchell - Court and Spark
Junior Boys - Last Exit
Julie Doiron - Goodnight Nobody
Kardinal Offishall - Quest for Fire: Firestarter, vol. 1
K-Os - Exit
Leonard Cohen - Songs From A Room
Leonard Cohen - Various Positions
Limblifter - Self Titled
Matthew Good Band - Audio of Being
Mecca Normal - Mecca Normal
Metric - Old World Underground, Where Are You Now?
Moist - 'Silver'
Neil Young - Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere
Neil Young - Harvest
New Pornographers - Mass Romantic
New Pornographers - Electric Version
North of America - Brothers, Sisters
A Northern Chorus - Before We All Go to Pieces
Our Lady Peace - Naveed
Our Lady Peace - Clumsy
Our Lady Peace - Spiritual Machines
Pilate - Caught By The Window
Raising the Fawn - The North Sea
Rascalz- Cash Crop
Rheostatics - Whale Music
Royal City - Alone At The Microphone
A Silver Mt. Zion - He Has Left Us Alone but Shafts of Light Sometimes
Grace the Corner of Our Rooms…
Skinny Puppy - Bites
Sky - Piece of Paradise
Sloan - Smeared
Sloan - Twice Removed
Stars - Set Yourself on Fire
Stills - Logic Will Break Your Heart
The Super Friendz - Mock Up, Scale Down
Tegan and Sara - If It Was You
Tagan and Sara - So Jealous
Thrush Hermit - Clayton Park
Tragically Hip - Road Apples
Tragically Hip - Fully Completely
The Unicorns - Who Will Cut Our Hair When We're Gone?
Venetian Snares - Huge Chrome Cylinder Box Unfolding
The Weakerthans - Left & Leaving
The Weakerthans - 'Reconstruction Site'

XM Verge Finalists Announced

Chances are you've gotten a few announcements from various bands urging you to vote in the XM Verge awards for Artist of the Year and Album of the Year. The voting is now over and the finalists have been announced. On September 22, the 2nd annual Verge Music Awards will be announced and the winner in each category will receive 25 thousand dollars.

The finalists are
Artist of the Year:

Alexisonfire

Amos The Transparent

Dan Mangan

Joel Plasket

Said The Whale

Album of the Year

Alexisonfire - Old Crows/Old Cardinals

Arkells - Jackson Square

Joel Plasket - Three

Metric - Fantasies

Mother Mother - O My Heart

For more info check out thevergeonline.com/vma.

The 2009 Western Canadian Music Award Nominees

The Western Canadian Music Award nominees were announced yesterday and I'm just going to publish the full list because I wouldn't know where to start in listing all of the amazing artists nominated. I mean if I started listing - Hot Panda, Library Voices, the Waking Eyes, Shout Out Out Out Out, Hey Ocean, the Awkward Stage, Grand Analog, Dragon Fli Empire, Chad VanGaalen, the Pack AD, the Deep Dark Woods, Dan Mangan ... oops, um .. the awards will be handed out at the WCMA's in Brandon, Manitoba - September 17 - 20 the full list is below:

Weakerthans - Civil Twilight (Winner of the 2008 WCMA Video of the Year)



2009 WESTERN CANADIAN MUSIC AWARDS
 
List of Nominees
 
 
ARTISTIC AWARD NOMINEES
 
Aboriginal Recording of the Year
Eagle and Hawk – Sirensong (MB)
Inez – Singsoulgirl (BC)
Team Rezofficial - The World (And Everything In It) (AB)
Tanya Tagaq – Auk (NWT)
Billy Joe Green - First Law of the Land - "If Broken Return To Maker" (MB)
 
Blues Recording of the Year                                 
The Twisters - Come Out Swingin' (BC)
Big Dave McLean - Acoustic Blues-Got 'Em From the Bottom (MB)
John Lee Sanders - Bucket Full of Blues (BC)
Amos Garrett            - Get Way Back - A Tribute to Percy Mayfield (AB)
Agnostic Mountain Gospel Choir - Ten Thousand (AB)
 
Children's Recording of the Year                         
Bobs and Lolo - Action Packed (BC)
Will Stroet - My Backyard (BC)
Alphabet Soup - You're It! (MB)
LuLu et le Matou - Faites de la Musique! (MB)
LuLu and the TomCat - Fossil Rock (MB)
 
Christian Recording of the Year                           
Corey Doak - No Sudden Movements (BC)
Tripmeter - The End of Everything We Are (SK)
Sandon - Freedom's Last Lost Mile (SK)
Tuesday Bloom - Tuesday Bloom (MB)
Steve Bell - Devotion            (MB)
 
Classical Composition of the Year                                   
Sid Robinovitch –Rodas Recordada          (MB)
T. Patrick Carrabre - A Hammer For Your Thoughts (MB)
Alain Perron - Northern Highlights I: Soir d'hiver           (SK)
Gareth L. Cook - A Miner's Song (SK)
Piotr Grella-Mozejko           - The Secret Garden String Quartet No 2 (AB)
Jeffrey Ryan - String Quartet No. 3 "sonata distorta" (BC)
 
Classical Recording of the Year                            
Stephen Chatman - Due East (BC)
Alexander Tselyakov            - Sonata Album (MB)
Trio Accord - Goldberg Variations (BC)
Windrose Trio - Path Of Contact (AB)
Sarah Hagen - Glass House Dancing (BC)
Sid Robinovitch – Sefarad (MB)
 
Country Recording of the Year                            
Doc Walker - Beautiful Life (MB)
The Higgins - Real Thing (BC)
Aaron Pritchett – Thankful (BC)
The Road Hammers - The Road Hammers II (AB)
George Canyon - What I Do (BC+AB)
 
Francophone Recording of the Year                               
Daniel ROA - Le nombirl du monde (MB)
Saint-Pierre – 42 (BC)
Joel Lavoie - La récolte (AB)
Allez Ouest – Hybride (AB)
Francois Tremblay - Prophete de Malheur (SK)
 
Independent Album of the Year                           
The Waking Eyes - Holding On To Whatever It Is (MB)
Shout Out Out Out Out - Reintegration Time (AB)
Hot Panda  - Volcano… Bloody Volcano (AB)
Library Voices - Hunting Ghosts (and other collected shorts) (SK)
the Sheepdogs - The Sheepdogs' Big Stand            (SK)
 
Instrumental Recording of the Year                                 
The Marc Atkinson Trio - The Marc Atkinson Trio IV (BC)
Steve Dawson            - Telescope (BC)
Don Alder - Not A Planet (BC)
Joel Fafard - Three Hens Escape Oblivion (BC)
UCalgary String Quartet - Far Behind I Left My Country (AB)
 
Jazz Recording of the Year                       
Rubim de Toledo - The River (AB)
Jerrold Dubyk            - The Maverick (AB)
The October Trio - Looks Like It's Going To Snow (BC)
Mark Dejong - The Unknown (SK)
The Brenan Brothers - The Throw Down (AB)
The Peggy Lee Band - New Code (BC)
 
Pop Recording of the Year                        
Marianas Trench - Masterpiece Theatre (BC)
Hey Ocean - It's Easier to be Somebody Else (BC)
The Awkward Stage - Slimming Mirrors, Flattering Lights (BC)
JP Hoe -The Dear John Letters (MB)
Carly Rae Jepsen - Tug Of War (BC)
Record of the Week Club - Record of the Week Club (MB)
 
Rap and Hip Hop                            
Moka Only - Carrots and Eggs (BC)
Grand Analog - Touch Your Toes (MB)
Sweatshop Union - Water Street (BC)
Dragon Fli Empire – Redefine (AB)
The Mavericks Team - Election Year (AB)
 
Rock Recording of the Year                                  
The Waking Eyes - Holding On To Whatever It Is (MB)
Theory of a Deadman - Scars and Souvenirs (BC)
Chad VanGaalen - Soft Airplane (AB)
54-40 - Northern Soul (BC)
The Pack A.D.          - Funeral Mix Tape (BC)
 
Roots Duo/Group Recording of the Year                                 
Chic Gamine - Chic Gamine (MB)                       
The Deep Dark Woods - Winter Hours (SK)
The Duhks - Fast Paced world (MB)
Scott Nolan - Receiver/Reflector (MB)
Oh My Darling - Oh My Darling (MB)
 
Roots Solo Recording of the Year                                   
Steve Dawson            - Waiting For The Lights To Come Up (BC)
Dan Mangan – Roboteering (BC)
Romi Mayes - Achin In Yer Bones (MB)
Geoff Berner - Klezmer Mongrels (BC)
Ndidi Onukwulu - The Contradictor (BC)
 
Songwriter of the Year                               
Romi Mayes - Achin In Yer Bones (MB)
The Duhks - Fast Paced World (MB)
Scott Nolan - Receiver/Reflector (MB)
Chad VanGaalen  - Soft Airplane (AB)
JP Hoe - The Dear John Letters (MB)
 
Urban Recording of the Year                                
Krystle Dos Santos  - Krystle Dos Santos (AB)
Souls In Rhythm – Funklore (AB)
Skavenjah - One More Night With You (SK)                  
Ishq Bector - DAKKU DADDY (MB)
Paramedic - Love, Doubt and Soul (AB)
 
World Recording of the Year                                
Delhi 2 Dublin - Delhi 2 Dublin (BC)
Fito Garcia - Mi bajo Rumbero (BC)
eclecTrip - …a musical journey (AB)
Kalabai - Hopaks and Baniaks (AB)
Tanya Tagaq – Auk (NWT)
 
 
INDUSTRY AWARD NOMINEES                               
 
Agency of the Year                         
Magnum Opus Management                                 
Paquin Entertainment Group                                
PM Gigs Inc.                        
S.L. Feldman and Associates                                 
 
Best Album Design                         
Derek Bachman for "One More Night with You Live" by Skavenjah                           
Jared Robinson for "Freedom’s Last Lost Mile" by Sandon                              
Laura Prpich for "A Field Guide to…" by the Lazy MKs                                  
Mark Dutton for "Yellowhead to Yellowstone and Other Love Stories" by Ian Tyson
Michael Sanders for "Paperboy" by TRU-SERVA                                  
 
Engineer of the Year                                   
Barry Allen                            
Mike Petkau                         
Rob Smith                            
Shawn Pierce                        
Sheldon Zaharko                             
 
 
 
Independent Record Label of the Year                           
Arbor Records Ltd.                         
Black Hen Music                              
Chronograph Records Ltd.                        
Mint Records                                   
Stony Plain Records                        
 
Live Music Venue of The Year                              
Amigos Cantina                               
Casino Regina Show Lounge                                 
Horowitz Theatre                            
The Starlite Room                           
The Commodore Ballroom                        
 
Manager of the Year                                   
Bruce Allen                           
Gilles Paquin                        
Glen Willows                        
Jason Smith                          
Terry McBride                                  
 
Multi Media                          
Chad VanGaalen video: Molten Light                              
Fresh IE and Jayson Lapeyre video: Crystal PSA                                   
Jolene Higgins video: In the Middle of Nowhere                        
Mitch Barany video: City of Noise                        
Gilles Paquin DVD: A Multi-Media Life; Buffy Sainte-Marie                          
 
Producer of the Year                                  
Dave Genn and Neil Osborne                                
JJ Voss                                   
Shawn Pierce, Chris Gestrin, Coco Love Alcorn                        
Steve Dawson                                   
Vince Ditrich                                    
 
Talent Buyer of the Year                            
Nhaelan McMillan - The Union Ltd.                                
Brent Oliver - Foundation Concerts                          
Harvey Cohen - The Union Ltd.                           
Chris Frayer – The Winnipeg Folk Festival                                 
Terry Wickham – The Edmonton Folk Music Festival                          
 
Hall of Fame
Loreena McKennitt
 
Heritage Award
TBA
 
Industry Builder Award                             
Gilles Paquin – Paquin Entertainment Agency                            
 
International Achievement                        
TBA
 
 
__________________________________________________________________
 
ABOUT THE AWARDS:
 
The Western Canadian Music Awards will take place in Brandon September 17-20. A total of 146 nominees will compete for 31 artistic and industry awards. [Note: An International Achievement Award will be announced at a later date.]
 
The Industry Awards will be presented Saturday, September 19 at a WCMA Awards Brunch at the Brandon Canad Inns. One of Canada's premier recording artists, Loreena McKennitt, will be the keynote interview at the brunch. McKennitt is a Juno award winner, producer, and label owner.
 
Brandon’s Centennial Auditorium will play host to the gala Artistic Awards ceremony on Sunday evening, September 20 - the pinnacle of the four day festival.
 
The WCMA weekend kicks off Thursday, September 17 with the annual University of Brandon "Rock the Block" street party. On Friday and Saturday, 60 bands will perform at seven of Brandon's top venues. At the same time, 400 music industry professionals and artists will attend the WCMA conference at Brandon’s Canad Inns and Keystone Centre. 
 
The event is organized by the Western Canadian Music Alliance, made up of five Industry Associations: Alberta Music, Manitoba Music, Music BC, Music Yukon and SaskMusic.

Vote in our Shadow Polaris Poll: The Top 20

I am very happy with and proud of our top 20, these are all great albums. With that said the lack of hip hop and the lack of Francophone music is not lost on me. What it says is that we need more people who can write with passion and authority on these topics (I cannot). Unfortunately I have no direct control there - this is a volunteer run site and if people don't volunteer the music they love doesn't get covered. Enough of that for now though:

We will now begin the process, with your help, of narrowing 20 great albums down to 10 great albums. Voting will remain open from now until midnight on August 15 when this list will be trimmed to our Shadow Polaris Short List and then the final round of voting will begin.

You can vote as often as you like for as many albums as you like:

The NxEW "Long List" - (Our Top 40 - if we'd done that)

I said earlier that our answers to the best album(s) question would be much different than the Polaris Jury's. "The "Long" list - our long list was way longer than this, but if we had narrowed it down to a Top 40 - a Polaris Style "Long List" this is what ours would have looked like. Tomorrow morning I'll publish the top 20 and voting in the next round (to take us to a Top 10) will start.

AC Newman - Get Guilty
Andrew Vincent - Rotten Pear
the Arkells - Jackson Square
Bend Sinister - Stories of Brothers - Tales of Lovers
Black Hat Brigade - Fathers
Bruce Peninsula - AMIAM
the Burning Hell - Baby
the CFL Sessions
Chad Van Gaalen - Soft Airplane
Cour de Pirate - Self Titled
The Dears - Missiles
Deep Dark Woods - Winter Hours
Dog is Blue - Makes Ghost Noises
Elliot Brood - Mountain Meadows
Gentleman Reg - Jet Black
Great Bloomers - Speak of Trouble
Great Lake Swimmers - Lost Channels
Handsome Furs - Face Control
Hey Rosetta! - Into Your Lungs
Hot Panda - Volcano Bloody Volcano
Jenn Grant - Echoes
Jill Barber - Chances
Joel Plaskett - Three
Jon-Rae Fletcher - Oh Maria
Julie Doiron - I Can Wonder What You Did With Your Day
Kyrie Kristmanson
Laura Barrett -Victory Garden
Land Of Talk - Some Are Lakes
Mark Berube - What the Boat Gave the River
Metric - Fantasies
Mother Mother - O My
Olenka and the Autumn Lovers - self titled
Patrick Watson - Wooden Arms
Rah Rah - Going Steady
Rock Plaza Central - At The Moment Of Our Most Needing ...
Said The Whale - Howe Sounds/Taking Abalonia
Sunparlour Players - Wave North
Timbre Timbre - self titled
Women - Self Titled
Woodpigeon - Treasury Library Canada

Thoughts on the 2009 Polaris Short List

Art is art, it is neither science nor is it sports. It is entirely subjective, it can't be quantified or measured. The Juno Awards generally measure by record sales, though that is a measure of money, not art. Think of it like a Rorschach test (the one with the ink blots.)



What something looks like to me and what it looks like to you may be entirely different but that doesn't make either of us wrong (though it does mean that you're crazy). The Polaris Jury is made up of 'music journalists' - people from the national press, bloggers, radio hosts and others. They each get five votes for the long list, and five votes for the short list and then it goes to a 'Grand Jury' who spill chicken entrails on the floor and look for an answer in them.

You and I may not be happy with some of the results. I talked to a few Jurors today who weren't happy with the results. But it's hard to say it isn't 'fair.' Finding a 'fair' way to do it is nearly impossible when the subject is subjective.

It is true though that if you ask different people you get different answers. If you and I lay in a field and try to figure out what clouds look like we'll have different answers. Tomorrow we'll trim the long long long list that NxEW readers created down to 20 (I'll publish the top 40 just for point of comparison) and some people won't be happy with it but the answer will be different than Polaris' answer.

I do not know who all voted, but I have some idea who NxEW's readers are. They are, in some cases, music journalists. They are, in some cases, music bloggers. They are, in some cases, radio hosts. They are even, in some cases, polaris jurors. However they are also musicians, and promoters, sound technicians, and uber music fans - the people who go to shows on a regular basis, the people who buy CDs and t-shirts by the truckload. They are, in short all people who really love Canadian music (including people who aren't Canadian). So the votes of these others will change the dynamic, change the perspective and change the answer to the question. Granted we're small. We don't have 20 thousand dollars to give out but we will still acknowledge some great Canadian albums including albums completely overlooked by Polaris (I can guarantee at this point that some of our top 20 are not even on the Polaris long list.)

This does not mean though that Polaris is wrong. I sincerely congratulate everyone who made the list. That I would not have voted for some of them does not, in the least, diminish their achievement. They have all, whether you are a fan or not, worked very hard for many, many years and have achieved great things. They should all revel in it and everyone should show some respect to them - even if they have favorites not on this particular list.


the 2009 Polaris Short List

Elliott Brood - Mountain Meadows



Fucked Up - Chemistry of Common Life



Great Lake Swimmers - Lost Channels



Hey Rosetta! - Into Your Lungs (and around your heart and on through your blood)



K'Naan - Troubadour



Malajube - Labyrinthes



Metric - Fantasies



Joel Plaskett - Three



Chad VanGaalen - Soft Airplane



Patrick Watson - Wooden Arms

Vote Now: XM Verge Music Awards

With a list of artists and albums much, much too long to even get started on the XM Verge Music Awards for Artist and Album of the Year are now open for voting. You can cast your ballot at http://www.thevergeonline.com/vma/voting.php#

The Zunior Indie Hall of Fame (and another free sampler)

Back in April I told you about the Zunior Indie Music Hall of Fame, because I'm way behind lately I forgot to tell you that the winners were announced.

This year's jurors took a look at the Short List which went:

DOA
Eric's Trip
Joel Plaskett
NoMeansNo
Rheostatics
Stompin' Tom Connors
The Evaporators
The Lowest Of The Low
Weakerthans

and took a vote. They decided that the first two entries in the hall of fame should be (and now are)
Eric's Trip



AND

the Rheostatics



Excellent choices both! Kudos to the jury!!

You can also download the latest Zunior Sampler at http://www.zunior.com/product_info.php?products_id=2519 which contains tracks from (amoung many others) potential future Hall of Famers Royal City and Jim Bryson.

The Polaris Poll So Far: Expanding the Discussion

I want to point out, right at the start that the goal of this is not to disparage the Polaris Prize - their jurors are smart people, and they do an amazing job of narrowing hundreds of albums down to 40, then 10 and then 1. (Wait until the shadow Juno awards - that's when we'll be disparaging). However, if the purpose of the Polaris Music Prize is, as they say, to stimulate conversation about great Canadian albums from the past year then this is a worthwhile exercise both as part of that conversation and to expand that conversation to some albums that were not selected by the Polaris Jury.

Voting in our Shadow Polaris poll has only been open for two days and there are almost 20 days left for people to vote in round one. At this point in the process 10-20 votes for an artist could dramatically shift their fortunes but looking at the list this morning I couldn't help but be very, very proud of NxEW's readers for their exceptional taste. This is just a snapshot of the voting - things are changing by the hour, but the list below contains what would be the top 40 if the voting were to close right now and 27 of the 40 are albums that did not make the Polaris Long List and so the conversation is expanded.

Again, when Polaris releases their short list we'll start a second round of voting with just the Top 20 from our poll. The second round will narrow it down to 10 and the third round to 1 and we'll announce our winner on the same day that Polaris announces theirs. Our winner won't get 20 thousand dollars but they'll at least get some love.

Keep Voting


The Top 40 Right Now
(alphabetical order - an artists place on this list has nothing to do with their actual place in the poll. Names in bold indicate that the artist is also on the Polaris Long List.)

AC Newman - Get Guilty
Andrew Vincent - Rotten Pear
the Arkells - Jackson Square
Attack in Black - Years (By One Thousand Fingertips)
Bend Sinister - Stories of Brothers - Tales of Lovers
Black Hat Brigade - Fathers
Brian Borcherdt - Coyotes
Bruce Peninsula - AMIAM
the Burning Hell - Baby
the CFL Sessions
Chad Van Gaalen - Soft Airplane
Charles Spearin - the Happiness Project
Cour de Pirate - Self Titled
The Dears - Missiles
Deep Dark Woods - Winter Hours
Elliot Brood - Mountain Meadows
Gentleman Reg - Jet Black
the Grass Mountain Hobos - Self Titled
Great Lake Swimmers - Lost Channels
Handsome Furs - Face Control
Hey Rosetta! - Into Your Lungs
Hot Panda - Volcano Bloody Volcano
Jenn Grant - Echoes
Jill Barber - Chances
Joel Plaskett - Three
Jon-Rae Fletcher - Oh Maria
Julie Doiron - I Can Wonder What You Did With Your Day
Kyrie Kristmanson - Pagan Love
Laura Barrett -Victory Garden
Land Of Talk - Some Are Lakes
Metric - Fantasies
Mother Mother - O My
Olenka and the Autumn Lovers - self titled
One Hundred Dollars - Forest of Tears
Patrick Watson - Wooden Arms
Rock Plaza Central - At The Moment Of Our Most Needing ...
Said The Whale - Howe Sounds/Taking Abalonia
Sunparlour Players - Wave North
Timbre Timbre - self titled
Woodpigeon - Treasury Library Canada

Polaris Long List - the Real One:

Via CBC Radio 3 the Polaris Music Prize people have released their long list and it looks like this:

Arkells - Jackson Square
Jill Barber - Chances
Beast - Beast
Bell Orchestre - As Seen Through Windows
Bison B.C. - Quiet Earth
Bruce Peninsula - A Mountain Is A Mouth
Coeur De Pirate - Coeur De Pirate
Leonard Cohen - Live In London
D-Sisive - Let The Children Die
Elephant Stone - The Seven Seas
Elliott Brood - Mountain Meadows
Fucked Up - The Chemistry Of Common Life
Great Lake Swimmers - Lost Channels
Handsome Furs - Face Control
Tim Hecker - An Imaginary Country
Hey Rosetta! - Into Your Lungs
Japandroids - Post-Nothing
Junior Boys - Begone Dull Care
K'NAAN - Troubadour
K-OS - YES!
La patère rose - La patère rose
Land Of Talk - Some Are Lakes
Lhasa - Lhasa
Malajube - Labyrinthes
Metric - Fantasies
One Hundred Dollars - Forest Of Tears
Pink Mountaintops - Outside Love
Joel Plaskett - Three
Snailhouse - Lies On The Prize
Charles Spearin - The Happiness Project
Rae Spoon - superioryouareinferior
The Stills - Oceans Will Rise
Think About Life - Family
Timber Timbre - Timber Timbre
Chad VanGaalen - Soft Airplane
Martha Wainwright - I Know You're Married But I've Got Feelings Too
Patrick Watson - Wooden Arms
Wolf Parade - At Mount Zoomer
Women - Women
Woodpigeon - Treasury Library Canada C/W Houndstooth Europa

Lots of interesting inclusions and omissions. It does go to show though that who is on the jury has a profound effect on who makes the list. There were a few here that didn't make the NxEW list. Land of Talk and Jill Barber especially got a "Doh!" from me - as things that should have been on our list but weren't. But there were also alot of things on our list that should have been on theirs (IMO). So, the differences are:

Polaris Nominees Overlooked by NxEW:
Jill Barber - Chances
Beast - Beast
Leonard Cohen - Live In London
D-Sisive - Let The Children Die
Elephant Stone - The Seven Seas
Fucked Up - The Chemistry Of Common Life
Tim Hecker - An Imaginary Country
Japandroids - Post-Nothing
K-OS - YES!
La patère rose - La patère rose
Land Of Talk - Some Are Lakes
Lhasa - Lhasa
Malajube - Labyrinthes
Rae Spoon - superioryouareinferior
The Stills - Oceans Will Rise
Think About Life - Family
Martha Wainwright - I Know You're Married But I've Got Feelings Too
Wolf Parade - At Mount Zoomer
Women - Women

NxEW Nominees Overlooked By Polaris (Bearing in mind that our list is much longer and we allowed EP's to stand - because it's not the real thing so why not?)

AC Newman - Get Guilty
Adam & the Amethysts - Amethyst Amulet
Aidan Baker and Tim Hecker - Fantasma Parastasie
Andre Ethier - Born of Blue Fog
Andrew Vincent - Rotten Pear
Attack in Black - Years (By One Thousand Fingertips)
Azeda Booth - In Flesh Tones
Black Hat Brigade - Fathers
Blackout Beach - Skin of Evil
Brian Borcherdt - Coyotes
the Burning Hell - Baby
the CFL Sessions
Dance Yourself to Death - Ready for Love
Deep Dark Woods - Winter Hours
Dog Day - Concentration
Dog is Blue - Makes Ghost Noises
Doug Paisley - Self Titled
Final Fantasy - Spectrum, 14th Century
the Grass Mountain Hobos - Self Titled
the Great Bloomers - Speak of Trouble
Human Highway - Moody Motorcycle
Gentleman Reg - Jet Black
Jason Bajada - Loveshit
Jenn Grant - Echoes
Jon-Rae Fletcher - Oh Maria
Julie Doiron - I Can Wonder What You Did With Your Day
Ken Workman & the Union - self titled
Kyrie Kristmanson - Pagan Love
Laura Barrett -Victory Garden
Lovely Feathers - Fantasy of the Lot
Mark Berube - What the Boat Gave the River
Mantrakid - Palmflowerblack
Mother Mother - O My
NQ Arbuckle - XOK
Olenka and the Autumn Lovers - self titled
Pale Air Singers - self titled
Rah Rah - Going Steady
Rock Plaza Central - At The Moment Of Our Most Needing, Or If Only They Could Turn Around, They Would Know They Weren’t Alone
Said The Whale - Howe Sounds/Taking Abalonia
Sebastien Grainger and the Mountains - self titled
Shotgun Jimmie - Still Jimmie
Smothered in Hugs - the Healing Power of Injury
Sunparlour Players - Wave North
Swan Lake - Enemy Mine
Torngat - La Petite Nicole
Weather Station - the Line
Years - self titled

So, already doing a "Shadow Polaris" process has proven worthwhile. There were at least (in my view) 10 glaring omissions by the Polaris jury, and some inclusions that leave me scratching my head. At the very least if our whole ongoing polling project makes a few more people aware of a few more great albums that came out last year it will have been a worthwhile exercise so, vote early and often!

the NxEW Awards?

I've been thinking that maybe NxEW should do it's own awards, not now but nearly a year from now - with the winners being announced on the same day as the Junos. Now, operating on no budget (for the time being anyway) I don't know that we could do a 'ceremony' or even if we can hand out much of anything in terms of 'awards' but at the very least we can make a statement about who deserves recognition for 2009.

So for now I'm just kinda throwing it out there. What categories should there be, how should nominations be done? How should awards be decided? Comment here or on the Facebook Group!

the Juno Awards Have Become a National Embarrassment

Someone really has to do something about the Junos. It is horrifying to think that anyone, anywhere, even for a moment think that they represent the best Canada has to offer musically. They don't. The Junos are not really Canadian and they are more about marketing and distribution networks than they are about music.

Once a year the most industrial side of the American recording industry's representatives in Canada get together and give awards to the people their marketing departments did the best job of pushing on people who don't know much about music. Scrolling down the list of nominees you notice two things. First alot of corporate sponsors and second the name of an American record label next to each artist - Universal, EMI, and Warner primarily. It is no coincidence that these are companies with the largest international distribution networks and the companies that spend the largest slice of their budgets on marketing. It is not surprising then that the Junos, most of which are decided by sales, are awarded to these companies. It is the exact equivelant of having culinary awards and saying the "Meat Dish of the Year Award goes to McDonalds for their new Bacon Double Cheeseburger." (It was the dish that sold the most, so obviously it was the best.) Personally I think the musicians should stay home and they should just give the awards to the marketing departments behind them - that is who the awards are really for anyway.

Some awards, it is true, are not decided by sales. Awards that are based on a vote are voted on by members of Caras and a membership in Caras is $52. So if you have the money you and your family and your friends, all of your co-workers and your cat can be voting members of Caras.

I won't even get into who won what, all but a few of them are nauseating and there is no reason to bring them up again. I will, before closing, mention what must be the quote of the night from Tim Fletcher of the Stills who, despite three critically acclaimed albums going back 6 years won Best New Group of the Year Sponsored by Factor and Canada's Private Radio Broadcasters. Fletcher apparently told CBC Radio 3 "I'm going to put my Juno on top of the magazines beside my toilet." Personally I can't think of a much better use for a Juno than as a bathroom paperweight - unless you can find a way to turn it into a toilet paper dispenser.

Next year the Juno's will try to spread their illness to St. John's Newfoundland. Part of me hopes that Newfoundlanders will rise up in revolt and prevent the show, but someone must put a dent in them next year. I'm thinking of some kind of shadow awards that in some way reward people who deserve recognition and perhaps an organized boycott of those companies that choose to sponsor the Junos. Canada is the most musically talented country in the world and we need to stand up to the Junos and the impression they give - at home and abroad, that we are thin on talent and really care more about marketing campaigns anyway.

cross posted to publicbroadcasting.ca