It's the End of the Year as we Know it
Year-end music lists are staple of the muzo journo diet in December. Most of our jury members have posted their versions by now (see the handy links down on the right, but beware that exploring all their recommendations might chew up what’s left of your holiday time). And, most excitingly, Polaris Short Listers have also shown up on Best of the Year lists well beyond our borders. With puffed up chests, here are some of our faves:
The Besnard Lakes made a few friends in Chicago this year. The Sun-Times’ Thomas Connor named The Besnard Lakes Are The Roaring Night the year’s best earbud record” on his Top 10 while Greg Kot at the Tribune ranked it #2 on his Top 10.
Caribou’s Swim ranked #6 on the Guardian’s top 40 Albums list..
Prefix mag’s Andrew Martin named “Rose Garden”, from Shad’s TSOL album one of the year’s Best Rap Verses.
Owen Pallett’s Heartlandwas praised by Jim Fusilli at The Wall Street Journal, while CNET’s audiophile Steve Guttenberg called it one of the best sounding records of 2010 and Crawdaddy singled out the track Lewis Takes His Shirt Off” as an “orchestral chamber pop gem.”
As for our winner, Karkwa’s life post-Polaris Gala included a Felix Award for Best Alternative Album, a Bucky Award for “Best Reason to Learn French”, recognition by the National Assembly of Quebec, and high praise from year-end lists in Quebec and across the country: #1 album of the year for Les chemins du verreby Philippe Renaud in La Presse, #1 Canadian song on iTunes for “Marie tu pleures,” and Group of the Year on ShowBizz.net.
