Launch the Polaris

The Polaris Music Prize is an annual award given to the best full-length Canadian album based on merit. It was inspired by the Mercury Prize awarded annually to the best British or Irish album. The Polaris' 178 jurors come from the ranks of Canadian music journalists, bloggers and broadcasters, each submitting their top five choices from the year's releases to compile the long list, then submitting their top five picks from the long list to compile the short list. A "Grand Jury" of 11 (I assume to break ties) picks the winner from the short list.

On July 6th, the Polaris Music Prize short list was announced (the long list had been announced earlier on June 17th).

THE BESNARD LAKES,
The Besnard Lakes Are The Roaring Night
(Montréal, QC)

OWEN PALLETT,
Heartland
(Toronto, ON)

BROKEN SOCIAL SCENE,
Forgiveness Rock Record
(Toronto, ON)

RADIO RADIO,
Belmundo Regal
(Grosse Coque, NS, Moncton, NB, Pointe-à-l’église, NS)

CARIBOU,
Swim
(Dundas, ON)

THE SADIES,
Darker Circles
(Toronto, ON)

KARKWA,
Les Chemins De Verre
(Montréal, QC)

SHAD,
TSOL
(London, ON)

DAN MANGAN,
Nice, Nice, Very Nice
(Vancouver, BC)

TEGAN AND SARA,
Sainthood
(Vancouver, BC & Montréal, QC)

The winner will be announced at the awards gala on September 20th. I'm not familiar enough with all the nominees yet, but I'll tentatively throw my support behind local boy Caribou. Good luck to all the nominees!