Polaris Prize Long List Revealed

I received a pretty exciting email today. It turns out that the glorious folks in charge of the Polaris Music Prize (awarded to the top Canadian album of the year, based solely on artistic merit and not record sales) have released the long list of this year’s candidates. The list is pretty amazing, I would hate to have to be the one to choose the winner. This list of 40 will soon be narrowed down to a shorter list of 10, which will be announced on July 7th (My birthday by the way ). And then the winner will be announced on September 21st. So check back with me on those dates to see the results! Or you can go to the official Polaris Music Prize website by clicking here.

2009 Polaris Music Prize Long List:

• 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
• Cœur De Pirate – Cœur 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

What a list eh? (<—-yes I am Canadian and say eh a lot). I have heard many of these albums and know that there are a lot of goodies on this list (Metric, Timber Timbre, La Patere Rose, Great Lake Swimmers etc). There are a bunch that I haven’t even heard yet so I guess I have some work to do. And you probably do to, so get to it!

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Raindrop Melody Maker

This is kind of adorable and fun at the same time so I thought I would share it with you. Lullatone has created for us a way to make up our very own lullaby. Simply click the raindrops in any order you wish and at any pace and create your very own song. And if you haven’t heard of Lullatone until now, I strongly suggest you check them out. Lovely music they make.

Click here to create your own song about raindrops!

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The Dears Design Shirt for Charity

If I had an ‘Adorable’ category this would be in it. So The Dears decided to design a T-shirt for my favourite local charity, The Yellow Bird Project. But listen to this! Instead of designing the shirt themselves they enlisted the help of a very talented artist…their 3 year old daughter Neptune. Amazing! Look at that shirt. I must have one. Completely adorable.

Buy Here

Here’s a closer look at the design:

awww

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White Blank Page

Hello friends,

While there has been so much lovely music to grace my ears these past few days, I would like to turn my attention to this very special blog that I think you will love. It also just happens to be my girlfriend’s blog, so be nice and head over there and spend a little time perusing her various pictures and videos and such and be sure to drop some comments if you see something that interests you!

White Blank Page

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A Colin Meloy Call to Arms

This is quite funny if you ask me. I have yet to hear the Decemberists’ new album, The Hazards of Love. All I know if that I am very excited to hear it, even though Pitchfork gave it a measly rating of 5.7 on 10. Obviously Colin Meloy got wind of this poor rating because if you have been following him on Twitter, you will have seen his latest post:

“colinmeloy A call to arms! A Pitchfork Critical Mass e-Mooning! Send pics of your derriere (clothed or un-) to http://tinyurl.com/da9fup“

Clicking that link will open an e-mail box with Pitchfork Reviewer Marc Hogan’s e-mail address already in the “To” box. People are really getting creative with showing their displeasure over Pitchfork’s ratings. This is much better than your every day Myspace Blog Rant. Happy e-mooning people!

Colin Meloy on Twitter

Me on Twitter

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Do you Baeble?

If you don’t know about this site yet you are in for a treat! It’s called Baeble Music and what they do is record entire concerts of amazing bands like Dr. Dog, My Brightest Diamond and the New Pornographers and show them for free on their site. You can also buy DVD copies of any show, should you wish to do so. Oh and did I mention that I have been working for them for the past month writing album reviews, show reviews, blogging and interviewing people. It has been a blast so far. Just two days ago I got to interview Los Campesinos! Pretty insane if you ask me. Anyways, if you love the music I often talk about here you should head over to Baeble to check out some awesome concerts.

Take a look at just a few of the many awesome concert videos they have streaming:

Awesome I know.

So stop by some time. And when you do be sure to check the blog section. That’s where I hang. Drop some comments while your at it.

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Lykke Li Covers Kings of Leon

I’m not sure if this is old news but Lykke Li covering Kings of Leon is pretty big news to me. And what’s even better is that she covers one of KOL’s songs that isn’t on the new album. Not to say the new album isn’t great, it’s just not for me. Here’s Lykke Li performing “Knocked Up” live:

Ok the Kings of Leon version is better, but still a nice cover. Thanks Lykke!

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cute.

“hiiiii Perez!”

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Rufus Wainwright on Gay Marriage

You gotta love Rufus. He makes some of the most amazing music out there and isn’t afraid to speak his mind. Recently, Rufus made some interesting and kind of funny comments about Propositions 8 and whether homosexuals should be allowed to marry. Take a look:

(from NME)

Rufus Wainwright has revealed he is not a supporter of gay marriage, and says that amendments to the constitution relating to sex and love should be banned.

The singer, who is currently gearing up for the annual ‘McGarrigle Christmas Hour featuring Rufus and Martha Wainwright’ at Carnegie Hall in New York, was responding to a question about the ban on gay marriage in California that went through last month.

“Oddly enough, I’m actually not a huge gay marriage supporter” Wainwright told the NY Press. “I personally don’t want to get married but I think that any law or amendment to the constitution that deals with sex and love should just be banned in general. I don’t think any government should encroach on what goes on in the bedroom at all. Frankly, if you want to marry a dog, why don’t you go ahead and marry a dog, I don’t care. I’m a complete libertarian and so I really disagree with it.”

Wainwright revealed that he will premiere a new song entitled ‘Christmas Is For Kids’ at the show, which takes place December 10. Lou Reed is also scheduled to perform on the night.

Ooooh Rufus…

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Which Version is Better?

Tiptoe Through the Tulips (Original Version):

or

Tiptoe Through the Tulips (Tiny Tim Version):

Yikes…

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