Polaris Blog (410)

Polaris People August 3: Kathleen Edwards, Grimes, The Dears, Drake And More

Y'know what's awesome? Free records. Especially cool secret limited edition ones like the Scion Surprise 7" series that we just <a href = 'http://polarismusicprize.ca/article/448/scion-split-7-series-is-here/'>announced</a>.

Even better than records, though, are the artists who make them.

Like the Polaris People — y'know, all the folks nominated for the Polaris Music Prize, past and present — who've been hustling and doing interesting things.

We tracked down what a bunch of said Polaris People got up to this week:

Scion Split 7" Series Is Here!

<strong>Get Free Vinyl And A Chance To Go To The Polaris Gala</strong>

The Polaris Music Prize is pleased to announce the return of the surprise split 7†series, sponsored by <a href = 'http://www.scion.ca/scion/en'>Scion</a>. Purchase any one of the ten 2012 Polaris Music Prize Short List artists' albums (cd or vinyl) at any of the participating retailers (listed below) and you will be given a surprise split 7â€. The instantly collectible unmarked limited edition 7†will feature one Short List artist on each side.

Polaris People July 27: Short List Fantasy Drafts, Pallett Comics, Drake News

The Summer Olympics may be about to kick off in London, England, but the real competition is over here in Polarisland.

After all, the Olympics has things like the One Person Dinghy race and we’ve got the potential for a cosmic showdown between <strong>Fucked Up</strong> and <strong>Drake</strong>. So unless there are random shark attacks in the dinghy races, we know which one’s more interesting.

Don’t believe me? How about the Grammys? They <a href = 'http://www.grammy.com/blogs/drake-feist-make-polaris-short-list'>think </a>we’re important. Or the guys that have done, to the best of our knowledge, the first ever Polaris Music Prize<a href = 'http://winniecooper.net/2012/07/the-only-annual-polaris-prize-short-list-fantasy-draft/'> fantasy draft </a>(<strong>Feist</strong> was selected first overall).

And then there are the actual special people, the Polaris People. Let’s see what they were up to this week.

Polaris People July 20: Fucked Up

You've all heard about the <a href = 'http://polarismusicprize.ca/article/435/the-2012-polaris-music-prize-short-list-is-here/'>recently announced</a> 2012 Short List right? OK, good.

This sexy new Short List has made for mighty busy times here in Polaris People Land. So busy, in fact, that we don't even have the time or space to tell you cool stuff like the fact that<strong> Arcade Fire</strong> have a<a href = 'http://www.nme.com/news/arcade-fire/64914'> new album</a> coming, <strong>Dan Mangan</strong> just <a href = 'http://blogs.vancouversun.com/2012/07/18/dan-mangan-announces-north-american-tour-vancouver-concert-in-november/'>announced</a> a new tour, <strong>Brendan Canning</strong> is <a href = 'http://exclaim.ca/News/broken_social_scenes_brendan_canning_scores_lindsay_lohan_film'>scoring </a>a Lindsay Lohan film, or <strong>Shad</strong> just put out a <a href = 'http://www.aux.tv/2012/07/shad-samples-milli-vanilli-the-breeders-pm-dawn-and-more-on-new-free-ep/'>kickin'</a> retro mixtape.

I seriously wish we could let you know about stuff like that. But no, right now we need to concentrate on 2012 Short List aftermath.

2012 Short List Fast Facts

Much in the same way that we had a bit of fun hunting down some 2012 Polaris Music Prize Long List <a href = 'http://polarismusicprize.ca/article/418/2012-polaris-long-list-fast-facts/'>fast facts</a>, we also decided to do a bit of nerding out about the <a href = 'http://polarismusicprize.ca/article/435/the-2012-polaris-music-prize-short-list-is-here/'>recently-announced</a> Short List.

So we've compiled some fast facts about the Polaris Music Prize 2012 Short List:

The 2012 Short List Is Here

The 2012 Polaris Short List was announced today (July 17) at The Drake Hotel in Toronto, ON.

Polaris Founder and Executive Director Steve Jordan was pretty excited about the List.

"Our jury is showing an ever growing passion and dedication to reviewing, discussing and advocating their selections. This has resulted in a Short List of records that are musically focused, intense and in some cases highly personal. The process of selecting a winner should prove to be an invigorating challenge for our Grand Jury."

A Polaris Music Prize Oral History By AUX TV

The folks at <a href = 'http://www.aux.tv/'>AUX </a>rounded up former Polaris Music Prize champions, jurors, hosts, directors and folks we'll just call "miscellaneous" and asked them to talk about their Polaris experiences.

As it turns out, there've been some strange adventures along the way.

Polaris People For The Week Of July 13 ““ One Quick Last Look At The 2012 Long List

When we <a href = 'http://polarismusicprize.ca/article/416/the-2012-polaris-music-prize-long-list-is-here/'>announced</a> the 40 albums that made the 2012 Polaris Music Prize Long List back on June 14 we had no idea of the deep emotional attachment we’d develop for them.

It actually hurts us in our hearts a little bit to know that in four days time on July 17 the 2012 Short List will be announced in Toronto and 30 of these records will never be talked about or loved by anyone else ever again. Ever.

OK, maybe not ever. In fact, we suspect a lot of people will still love them.

Just not as much as the 10 records that make the Short List.

So let’s all take a deep breath and fixate on some small something-or-other that made each of these albums special:

Introducing… Polaris Profiles, Featuring Kathryn Calder On July 16, 2012 in Vancouver

The Polaris universe is experiencing a slight rebranding in part because of our affection for alliteration.

Kicking off officially on July 16 in Vancouver, we're proud to announce the introduction of <strong>Polaris Profiles</strong>. Think of them as Polaris Salons minus much of the “salon†part and a bit more music from a specific artist.

Presented by RDIO, the first of these Polaris Profiles will feature 2012 Polaris Music Prize Long Listed artist <strong>Kathryn Calder</strong> performing songs from her nominated album “Bright And Vivid†and discussing the album's chances of winning the ‘12 Prize with this evening's host, Mike Devlin of the <a href = 'http://www.timescolonist.com/index.html'>Victoria Times Colonist</a>.

Polaris People For The Week Of July 6 ““ Shooting Guns vs. Leonard Cohen, Mark Davis Gardens, Slakadeliqs Enjoy Air Conditioning

We've added a new thing to the Polaris Universe called “Polaris Profiles.â€

Basically, Polaris Profiles are like Polaris Salons all hopped up on Mountain Dew. They're going to specifically apply to events we host that will feature an artist performance component on top of a Salon-like interview with a Polaris juror.

The first one we're doing is <a href = 'http://polarismusicprize.ca/article/430/introducing-polaris-profiles-featuring-kathryn-calder-on-july-16-2012-in-vancouver/'>happening</a> July 16 in Vancouver with <strong>Kathryn Calder</strong>. Which also happens to be one day before the big Polaris Music Prize Short List announcement in Toronto.

We have absolutely know idea who amongst this year's 40 <a href = ' http://polarismusicprize.ca/article/416/the-2012-polaris-music-prize-long-list-is-here/'>Long List</a> artists will move on, but in the same way a mom's supposed to love all her children equally, we'll be sad for those who don't move on.

Meanwhile, our favourite people, the Polaris People, continued to do interesting things this week. Here's what some of them were up to: