Polaris People For The Week Of April 27 ““ Dan Mangan Connections, K'naan, Dusted And More
Guys, we’re getting close. The Polaris Music Prize jury pool is actually kinda, sorta getting a little bit near to submitting their Long List ballots. (Reminder: The Long List will get unveiled in Vancouver on June 14.)
What that means is behind-the-scenes there’ve been all sorts of raging debates and withering insults being hurled around about the relative merits of various records. One juror has been calling the new Gonzales album “nothing more than a modern Poppy Family rehash,” another said the Fuck The Facts record “sounds like ‘The Mummer’s Dance'” and someone else compared the emotional intensity of the new Cancer Bats album to vintage Gowan.
I may or may not be lying about this.
What isn’t a lie, however, is that various Polaris People were doing interesting and exciting things again this week. Here’s what those things were:
While everyone was getting Record Store Day giddy about the Feistodon release, let’s not forget the ZimmerK’naan release either. The two-time Polaris Short Lister was also on CNN.
And here you thought 2011 Short Listers Austra were all about eye of newt and rose oil potions. It turns out they’re about Perrier.
Brian Borcherdt, the shepherd behind 2008 Short Listers Holy Fuck, has a new thing called Dusted.
Dan Mangan, in addition to being a past Short Lister, is also a New York Post crime beat reporter (you find that out when you search “Dan Mangan” a lot). Music-Mangan is also the topic of B.C. brain drain conversation and can apparently lay down some sly bird-watching references.
The Weeknd is collaborating with Wiz Khalifa. The song will apparently address the listless, despondent feelings of the Pittsburgh Steelers players after they lost their wild card playoff game to the Denver Broncos last year. In a nightclub.
2008 Short Lister Kathleen Edwards misses her snuggle companion Justin Vernon of Bon Iver. He apparently misses her, too.
Past Polaris champ Patrick Watson has released a new video for the song “Into Giants.” Hipster trend watch: There is tap dancing. Of a sort.
Plants And Animals, who hit the Short List in 2008 for “Parc Avenue,” performed a fitting tribute to Levon Helm recently, as captured by The Globe And Mail.
There are hardcore rap rhymers, then there are square nursery rhymers. Which one is Joel Plaskett? Find out around the 4:30 mark of this video. Also, Nazareth reference. Shanghai’d in Shanghai, baby.
And finally, it’s not like we’re saying that if a music festival doesn’t have any Polaris People on the bill then it’s no good, what we’re saying is if there are Polaris People announced to perform at things like Sudbury’s Northern Lights Festival, Quebec City’s Festival D’Ete De Quebec, the Montreal Jazz Festival and Ottawa Bluesfest, then we can say with confidence there’ll be at least some really good there.
