Polaris Music Prize

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Better Know A Jury Member #10: Joshua Ostroff July 24 2009

Joshua Ostroff (Toronto)
Music Editor, Spinner.ca
Jury Member Since: 2006

Please share the Top 5 Canadian records you put on your final ballot.

Handsome Furs Face Control
Metric Fantasies
Jill Barber Chances
Coeur De Pirate Coeur De Pirate
Fucked Up The Chemistry of Common Life

Tell us about your top ranked choice. Why #1?

Music critics get more records than we could conceivably listen to. Even when something stands out, there are always more and more records that deserve a spin. But certain ones, like Handsome Furs' Face Control, manage to break through that logjam. So I picked Face Control because it deftly split the difference between electronic music and indie rock, because the Eastern Bloc inspiration gave the songwriting such intense specificity, because it transcended the group's side-project origins and because husband-and-wife duo Dan Boekner and Alexei Perry somehow made an album both cold like Siberia and hot like grudge-sex. But mostly Face Control was my number one because I listened to it more than any other album in ages--and it has yet to leave rotation.

Reaction to the Short List: Your most pleasant surprise? Shocked by
any omissions?

Well, I was obvs none too happy about the criminal Handsome Furs omission, especially given so many repeat nominees. I was, however, pleasantly surprised that Metric was one of those repeats, given the epic synth-pop on Fantasies and stupid backlash over the band's hard-fought success. Oh, and I was hoping for more old-school sounds courtesy of Jill Barber's retro-jazz and Coeur de Pirate's French chansons. Quel dommage!

Describe the state of Canadian music in five words:

Making music for the masses.

Imagine the tables are turned and you are the nominee: What would you do with the $20,000 prize money?

I'd buy a decent tour van so we could win fans the old-fashioned way. Then I'd buy my wife something to real nice before I hit the road so that she'd still be there when I got back. Also, a GPS and bags of sour candies.

Related Link: Spinner.ca

RT @teganandsara: Home Recordings the bonus album from our vinyl box set is streaming at http://bit.ly/9mrMUN.
Jul 30 2010, 4:26pm from TweetDeck

@nicooooole in @torontoist on @TheSadies awesome summer .
Jul 30 2010, 4:25pm from TweetDeck

Cool. RT @CiTRradio: CRTC policy decision gives Community Radio Fund of Canada $775,000 in funding to support community and campus stations.
Jul 30 2010, 4:01pm from TweetDeck