My Polaris Prize Ballot - 2019 Round Two

Round two of the Polaris Prize voting (i.e. whittling down from the Long List to the Short List) closed last night at midnight CT and now I wait until the announcement event on July 16th to see if I did any better with this round than the 2/5 I went on Round One.

Honestly the best I've ever done was 3/5 and it wasn't until last year with Jeremy Dutcher claiming the prize that my unequivocal #1 actually took home the prize so I'm disappointed but not surprised to go 2/5 and see no Winnipeg / Manitoba entries make the Long List.

As I have always done, I move up the votes that make the cut to the top spots, and then fill in the rest of my ballot from among the overlap between my personal Long List and the official Polaris one.

I'd like to shout out Alexandra Streliski and TOBi as I did agonize over including both their records in my 5-spot.

Here's what I ended up submitting last night:

My Polaris Prize Ballot - 2018 Round Two

So last night at midnight was the deadline for submitting my second-round ballot for the 2018 Polaris Prize. I previously shared my vote for round one and only 2 out of the 5 I voted for made the official Long List from which I then had to submit a new five.

My #1 overall, Jeremy Dutcher, made the cut so it stayed exactly where I put it, while Zaki Ibrahim moved up from #3 to #2 leaving me open slots for #3, 4 and 5.

My own longlist (which I shared in the last post) had sixteen records in common with the official list:  
Allie - Nightshade 
Alvvays - Antisocialites 
Bernice - Puff LP: in the air without a shape 
Bonjay - Lush Life 
Daniel Caesar - Freudian  
Jeremy Dutcher - Wolastoqiyik Lintuwakonawa 
Faith Healer - Try  
Zaki Ibrahim - The Secret Life Of Planets 
Iskwe - The Fight Within 
Pierre Kwenders - MAKANDA at the End of Space, the Beginning of Time 
Partner - In Search of Lost Time 
Snotty Nose Rez Kids - The Average Savage 
U.S. Girls - In A Poem Unlimited 
The Weather Station - The Weather Station 
Weaves - Wide Open 
Charlotte Day Wilson - Stone Woman EP

Subtracting Dutcher and Ibrahim, that meant I had 14 records to consider for the final three slots and after due consideration and a fair amount of 'hemming and hawing' this is what I ended up submitting:

Fingers-crossed I do a bit better on Round Two, but best of luck to all of the artists listed above, and most especially to "my five."

My Polaris Prize Ballot - 2017 Round Two

So if you missed the post about my first round ballot for the 2017 Polaris Music Prize, just a refresher that I voted for the following 5:

01 A Tribe Called Red - We Are The Halluci Nation [Radicalized Records]
02 BADBADNOTGOOD - IV [Arts & Crafts]
03 Klo Pelgag - L'Etoile Thoracique [Coyote Records]
04 BEYRIES - Landing [Bonsound]
05 Alejandra Ribera - This Island [Pheromone]

My #4 and 5 sadly did not make the cut of the longlist, meaning I had to look at my own personal longlist to fill those spots on the second ballot.

All told, of 25 albums I had under consideration, 9 from my list made the actual Longlist so I had to pick two from the six albums that weren't in my initial ballot.

This is the final ballot I submitted:

 01 A Tribe Called Red - We Are The Halluci Nation [Radicalized Records]
02 BADBADNOTGOOD - IV [Arts & Crafts]
03 Klo Pelgag - L'Etoile Thoracique [Coyote Records]
04 Louise Burns - Young Mopes [Light Organ Records]
05 Figure Walking - The Big Other [Disintegration Records]

We'll see how I fared tomorrow morning as the Shortlist will be announced at 11am ET / 8am PT on the CBC Music Facebook page. (just click the hyper-link)

My Polaris Prize Ballot - 2017 Round One

It's that time of the year again. The first ballot for the Polaris Prize is due tomorrow and from the initial 5 selections submitted by each juror, we'll get the 40 entry Longlist (which will be announced June 13th in Ottawa).

From hundreds of possibilities that were released during the eligibility period (including stuff that crossed my plate at UMFM, as well as all the suggestions made by my fellow jurors), I whittled things down to a personal longlist of 25 entries.

They are (alphabetically):

 A Tribe Called Red - We Are The Halluci Nation [Radicalized Records]
 Austra - Future Politics [Domino]
 BADBADNOTGOOD - IV [Arts & Crafts]
 BEYRIES - Landing [Bonsound]
 Black Atlass - Haunted Paradise [Fool's Gold]
 Louise Burns - Young Mopes [Light Organ Records]
 Castle If - Plant Material [Independent]
 Chocolat - Recontrer Looloo [Dare To Care Records]
 The Cosmic Range - New Latitudes [Idee Fixe]
 The Courtneys - II [Flying Nun]
 Mac DeMarco - This Old Dog [Captured Tracks/Royal Mountain Records]
 DJ Shub - Pow Wow Step [Independent]
 Duotang - New Occupation [Stomp]
 Figure Walking - The Big Other [Disintegration Records]
 Fleece - Voyager [Independent]
 Homeshake - Fresh Air [Royal Mountain Records]
 Japandroids - Near To The Wild Heart Of Life [Arts & Crafts]
 Carly Rae Jepsen - Emotion: Side B [Interscope]
 Aleem Khan - Urbana Champagne [Independent]
 Klo Pelgag - L'Etoile Thoracique [Coyote Records]
 Northern Cree - It's A Cree Thing [Canyon Records]
 Lou Phelps - 001: Experiments [Independent]
 Alejandra Ribera - This Island [Pheromone]
 The Shiverettes - Dead Men Can't Cat Call [Transistor 66]
 Tasha The Amazon - Die Every Day [The Truth Music Group]

One thing I strive for in coming up with my Polaris ballot is consistency with my Year-End lists so it shouldn't be surprising to reveal that not only was We Are The Halluci Nation my #1 album of 2016, it's also the top spot on my Polaris 2017 ballot.

Here's my 5 in order:
01 A Tribe Called Red - We Are The Halluci Nation [Radicalized Records]
02 BADBADNOTGOOD - IV [Arts & Crafts]
03 Klo Pelgag - L'Etoile Thoracique [Coyote Records]
04 BEYRIES - Landing [Bonsound]
05 Alejandra Ribera - This Island [Pheromone]

P.S. I want to give a special shout out to some albums I quite enjoyed that the jury brought to my attention:
Alain Lefevre - Sas Agapo
Booji Boys - Booji Boys
Le Couleur - P.O.P.
Leanne Simpson - f(l)ight
Hooded Fang - Dynasty House
Sarah Davach- All My Circles Run

and finally, the self-titled record from She-Devils that came my way mid-May and I really didn't get enough time with to make the cut.

My Polaris Ballots 2016

So last night at midnight ET was the deadline for jurors to cast their ballots for the Polaris Prize Shortlist. I had meant to make a post about my initial ballot for the Longlist around the time the top 40 were announced, but I was away on holiday and pretty much avoiding the internet for a week. I actually tied my record for # of selections that made the Longlist with three out of five.



That's my Longlist ballot above, and only Heartbeat City and Aidan Knight were shut out. Kinda surprised by the Knight one, and much as I championed Thunder Amongst Us, I had little hope for it. I had a personal Longlist of 30 entries that I chose from in selecting my initial ballot and several of the albums I considered but didn't vote for the first go-round ended up on the Polaris Longlist so there was a clutch of albums to consider for my final two spots on the Shortlist ballot.

Here's the alphabetical list of what I considered:
01 Atlantis Jazz Ensemble - Oceanic Suite
02 Allison Au Quartet - Forest Grove
03 Bateau Noir - Bateau Noir
04 Beliefs - Leaper
05 Black Mountain - IV
06 Bob Moses - Days Gone By
07 Basia Bulat - Good Advice
08 Daniel Caesar - Pilrgim's Paradise
09 Tanika Charles - Soul Run
10 Sarah Davachi - Dominions
11 Dilly Dally - Sore
12 Dralms - Shook
13 Emilie & Ogden - 10,000
14 Grimes - Art Angels
15 Heartbeat City - Thunder Amongst Us
16 Carly Rae Jepsen - E.MO.TION
17 Kaytranada - 99.9
18 Aidan Knight - Each Other
19 LAL - Find Safety
20 Jessy Lanza - Oh No
21 Mas Ysa - Seraph
22 Tami Neilson - Dynamite
23 Safia Nolin - Limoilou
24 Laura Sauvage - Extraordinormal
25 Sorrey - Thick As Thieves
26 U.S. Girls - Half Free
27 Un Blonde - Good Will Come To You
28 Venetian Snares - Traditional Synthesizer Music
29 Vulgaire - Heureuse
30 White Lung - Paradise

*selections in italics made the Longlist, bolded entries were my votes that made the cut. 

After due consideration, the ballot below is what I officially entered.