We wanted to use this week’s column to acknowledge the passing of DB Hawkes at age 76. A long-time radio show host for CIUT, Hawkes was also a devoted audio archivist who recorded innumerable live concerts from the Toronto reggae scene. Much respect to the recordists and writers and people who are out there making […]
It’s still a bit quiet on the new album release front with only two new records: * Ouri (2022 Short List) has released the Crusts (Original Soundtrack). * PETER PETER (3x Long List) has released the Heated Rivalry (Original Series Soundtrack) via Sony Canada. However, a number of champion-level #PolarisPeople are starting to make their […]
It’s still pretty cold for new music releases around here right now, so it’s a good thing that it’s getting really hot on the ice. Specifically, the Heated Rivalry ice. It has not gone unnoticed by the Polaris staff that the hottest gay hockey romance show in western world television also happens to have music […]
It’s one of our favourite times of the year — Best Album List season. If you’re stuck for new music to listen to we always recommend checking out the 40 albums on the #Polaris2025 Long List, but if that’s not enough for you we suggest mining the double-plus good Album Of The Year aggregator website […]
Happy conflicted capitalism day to those of you scoring Black Friday deals, those of you finding some rare slices for Record Store Day Canada Day, and for those of you smugly sitting it all out. For our part, Polaris is gonna be putting the “give” into Giving Tuesday next week so stay tuned for us […]
Happy grand opening (re-opening?) day to Hamilton’s TD Coliseum, formerly known as Copps Coliseum. We will be hiding out from socials tonight due to the strong FOMO from Super Furry Animals celery chewer, back-up vocalist on Eddie Murphy’s “Love’s Alright,” Wings/Beatles member Paul McCartney playing tonight’s grand opening. Speaking of The Beatles, their Anthology 4 […]
I watched David Cronenberg’s Dead Ringers the same day I learned that Dan Snaith, the former Polaris winner also known as Caribou, also known as Daphni, had released a new song by Daphni called “Waiting So Long”… featuring CARIBOU. Now I don’t know what to think. Are there two Dan Snaiths? Is one of them […]
Our friends at Massey Hall are currently running a promotion for $30 concert tickets to a bunch of shows right now. The promotion ends November 10 so get in there ASAP. Maybe you’ll score a seat to that hot Chris de Burgh show and end up sitting near one Polaris staffer who’ll be patiently sitting […]
Happy Halloween/Blue Jays Anticipated Victory Day. On this most sacred of days for those of us who wear black and walk the line between good and evil, former Polaris jury foreperson Liisa Ladouceur’s recent column “There is no goth revival – the spooky subculture never died” for The Globe And Mail feels timely. That said, […]
We’re gonna start this week’s new release column by talking about one of the most important Canadian songs ever created — “OK Blue Jays.” Let’s get the tenuous Polaris connections out of the way — a) Barry Keane, the drummer for late Heritage Prize winner Gordon Lightfoot, played on this song, and b) past nominees […]
