Polaris Music Prize Shortlist - 2013

as a nation can we PLEASE start ignoring Metric

I like Metric, but didn't think this album deserved to be on the shortlist.

Anyway I liked the last Stinson better; I'm inclined towards Metz.

T&S

So far the only ones I've heard in full are Metric, Purity Ring, T&S and Young Galaxie. METZ definitely sound appealing, though.

I think GYBE will win mostly as a heritage award.

Shrines, please. Only 2 of my five shortlist ballot made it (Purity Ring and Young Galaxy), but there was no way that Jiaolong was going to make it...

GYBE in a walk

Are we polling what is most likely to win or what is the best album?

(Stetson better than GYBE imo but I've only heard those two.)

Pick yr fave.

My fave is the Young Galaxy, not my style of music but it's so well-done it melted my heart. GYBE will win and should win and I would bet the money on them

Young Galaxy would get my vote. I've tried and tried but I cannot get into that Tegan & Sara album despite on paper it being designed to hit my sweet spot.

Shrines is spectacular in it's own right, but I doubt they give it to a first album.

Best album is Shrines, but A Tribe Called Red will win.

Is it actually possible to predict who'll win this thing? They've had some pretty unexpected winners in the past.

Yeah, the ATCR prediction seems sound, but they're pretty good at picking as randomly as possible.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Ended up voting T&S.

gonna vote stetson on principle

Stetson is the only one I like from this list, but I respect Metz just for having a song entitled "Sad Pricks" and sounding a bit Jesus Lizardy.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

Godspeed won.

I'm happy with that; possibly/probably their best record.

A FEW WORDS REGARDING THIS POLARIS PRIZE THING

hello kanada.
hello kanadian music-writers.

thanks for the nomination thanks for the prize- it feels nice to be acknowledged by the Troubled Motherland when we so often feel orphaned here. and much respect for all y’all who write about local bands, who blow that horn loudly- because that trumpeting is crucial and necessary and important.

and much respect to the freelancers especially, because freelancing is a hard fucking gig, and almost all of us are freelancers now, right? falling and scrambling and hustling through these difficult times?

so yes, we are grateful, and yes we are humble and we are shy to complain when we’ve been acknowledged thusly- BUT HOLY SHIT AND HOLY COW- we’ve been plowing our field on the margins of weird culture for almost 20 years now, and “this scene is pretty cool but what it really fucking needs is an awards show” is not a thought that’s ever crossed our minds.

3 quick bullet-points that almost anybody could agree on maybe=

-holding a gala during a time of austerity and normalized decline is a weird thing to do.

-organizing a gala just so musicians can compete against each other for a novelty-sized cheque doesn’t serve the cause of righteous music at all.

-asking the toyota motor company to help cover the tab for that gala, during a summer where the melting northern ice caps are live-streaming on the internet, IS FUCKING INSANE, and comes across as tone-deaf to the current horrifying malaise.

these are hard times for everybody. and musicians’ blues are pretty low on the list of things in need of urgent correction BUT AND BUT if the point of this prize and party is acknowledging music-labor performed in the name of something other than quick money, well then maybe the next celebration should happen in a cruddier hall, without the corporate banners and culture overlords. and maybe a party thusly is long overdue- it would be truly nice to enjoy that hang, somewhere sometime where the point wasn’t just lazy money patting itself on the back.

give the money to the kids let ‘em put on their own goddamn parties, give the money to the olds and let them try to write opuses in spite of, but let the muchmusic videostars fight it out in the inconsequential middle, without gov’t. culture-money in their pockets.

us we’re gonna use the money to try to set up a program so that prisoners in quebec have musical instruments if they need them…

amen and amen.

apologies for being such bores,
we love you so much / our country is fucked,
xoxoxox
godspeed you! black emperor

If it were up to me, this would have been edited down to this:

hello kanada.
hello kanadian music-writers.

thanks for the nomination thanks for the prize

we’re gonna use the money to try to set up a program so that prisoners in quebec have musical instruments if they need them

we love you so much / our country is fucked,
xoxoxox
godspeed you! black emperor

But this is the most OTM bit:

organizing a gala just so musicians can compete against each other for a novelty-sized cheque doesn’t serve the cause of righteous music at all.

well, yeah, some people have been saying that since

I remain very suspect of 'righteous' music and music which has a cause.

Well, everyone who gets nominated has to submit in the first place. GYBE did not enter into this circus without consent. The headline sponsor, since 2006 (when it was Rogers), has been kept under wraps until after submissions, so the bands never know what product they'll be inadvertently shilling for. So I am kind of sympathetic, but also kind of not. Good on them for diverting the funds so righteously.

Michael White otm

I adore GYBE, am glad they won whatever this thing is, and like what they're doing with the money. But unless they're on bikes pedaling their set, gear and selves from city to city to open for NIN, they might tone it down on the polar ice caps talk, you know?

I used to think spending lots of money on award ceremonies was a cool idea back when there were no poor people. now, though? not so sure

Cars melt more than Gigs, yeah?

That statement letter is just typical GYBE marketing/makes me cringe.

Call me a hippie and send me to hell, but I thought this statement was pretty damn awesome. The hypocrisies that a couple of you have pointed out are right on; I just think it is good to have people around who occasionally do things like this.

(I obviously have no problem with the Polaris Music Prize--hell, I've been posting this poll the last couple of years and have been trying to get myself on the jury for a while now. And yeah, it'd be awesome if something like this could happen at something on the scale of the Grammys or the Oscars instead, but it ain't, so...)

http://www.stationcinema.com/articleimages/kids.jpg

http://www.blogcdn.com/www.urlesque.com/media/2010/05/havering.jpg

It's awesome they are using the money for that cause, I believe its a great idea. Yet, as someone who is struggling in the arts, I feel they could be a little more humble about receiving 30k.

Being pissed at them for their ingratitude makes sense to me; I remember similar convos happening back when Aimee Mann was on her one-woman crusade agains the record industry (though I still agreed with her). I just think that what they are saying about awards ceremonies (among which I'd assume, never having attended or watched, Polaris is among the far more humble) is a point worth making even if it will have zero effect on the larger culture of such things.

It's simple. Just ban parties till "current horrifying malaise" passes.

i didn't even know the current malaise was at horrifying levels! i should probably subscribe to GYBE's newsletter to stay better informed.

It seems hypocritical because people hold those who say things like what GY!BE wrote to an unrealistic standard.

The reality is that many who seek some type of balance handle their own ideologies in a similar fashion -- it's called finding a balance, where 'balance' is only a middleground between what you subjectively consider extreme viewpoints.

What I'm saying is the members of GY!BE do not need to ride their bicycles to gigs nor must they reduce their carbon footprint as much as they can. Unfortunately, you still need to participate in society, live your life in a way that is at least somewhat in accordance to social norms. Extremists or radicalists rarely survive in society.

An analogy, if I may: a hacker uses a smartphone even though its current form represents many things it is against. But s/he exploits it, using it to her/his advantage.

To further explain: at a hacker convention in the US (a couple of years ago, I believe), people spoke about privacy and smart phones. Smart phones are basically IDs. They are traceable and easily hackable. But hackers use them to interact with others. They know of their weaknesses. And they don't just text, but they use Facebook on it to plan events, meetups, and to further interact with each other. As a hacker, the smartphone probably represents a lot of stuff they are against ideologically. Yet this is the paradox of the hacker using a smart phone. Why?

It is the way society has been constructed and the way government pushes these things (at the time, Google+ was said to turn into a form of government identification). Society has been transformed so as to do away and marginalise radical or extreme thought. Yes, there is good reason for a lot of it, but there are things worth fighting for. Except you can't fight for it from the outside.

Don't have Facebook? You'll find yourself out of your circle of friends. Don't have a smart phone? See how many miss calls you get and how few people stop interacting with you. Lose this form of communication and see your influence on society dwindle. A mere pariah.

THE CONNECTION: Accepting and then expressing your disappointment with something as big as the Polaris Prize is needed as an avenue to reach a wider audience. I'm not sure this would've even been fathomable with something like the Juno Awards. It kind of sounds like the ends justify the means, and I think in this case, it wasn't such a bad move.

GY!BE have just used something they probably knew they did not agree with to send a message. Their ingratitude is cancelled out by the fact that they did not/are not taking the money and are instead giving it to a cause which they believe could have a positive impact on society.

(Sorry, I probably sound nutty, but I like to think that, all things considered, I'm a fairly grounded person :-))

tl;dr/HEADLINE: GY!BE use Polaris Prize as platform to spread their (socio)political ideas

There are probably worse companies than Toyota tf.

tbf

GY!BE are playing the Air Canada Centre next week. Are they okay? Or maybe they should be playing "in in a cruddier hall, without the corporate banners and culture overlords".

v. good post imo, c21m50nh3x460n

You're right, Sund4r.

But then, GY!BE drew this:

http://www.samplereality.com/wp-content/uploads/2004/01/yanqui_uxo_back.jpg

I'm not defending them against your point, but I would imagine they are against a lot of multinational corporations or how globalisation is put into practice.

cruddier hall, without the corporate banners and culture overlords

Upcoming Dates
Godspeed You Black Emperor
Fri 10/11/13 Boston, MA TD Garden
Sat 10/12/13 Uncasville, CT Mohegan Sun Arena
Mon 10/14/13 Brooklyn, NY Barclays Center
Tue 10/15/13 Newark, NJ Prudential Center
Fri 10/18/13 Washington, DC Verizon Center
Sat 10/19/13 University Park, PA Bryce Jordan Center
Mon 10/21/13 Raleigh, NC PNC Arena
Tue 10/22/13 Nashville, TN Bridgestone Arena
Thu 10/24/13 Atlanta, GA Philips Arena

hahahahahahahahaha

obv these are NIN support dates but still good point

if the point of this prize and party is acknowledging music-labor performed in the name of something other than quick money, well then maybe the next celebration should happen in a cruddier hall, without the corporate banners and culture overlords.

You realise this statement isn't saying "we never play in corporate venues" or "we're too lefty to play in anything other than barns", right?

I don't think they are being hypocritical. It is just that the GYBE brand is heavily associated with activism, the Polaris Music Prize gave them an open mic and they used it to reinforce that specific brand. I just wish the target was something a little more consequential than the Polaris prize.

do you mean it didn't reinforce activism enough at the expense of the brand? or that it reinforced activism too much?

Yeah, I feel real activism is little more precise than 'melting northern ice'.

guys i feel yr use of the word brand is having a negative impact on yr personal brands