Polaris People For The Week Of June 15 ““ Japandroids In-Depth, Long List Headlines, Broken Socionics Scene

My goodness. The 2012 Polaris Long List is finally <a href = 'http://polarismusicprize.ca/article/416/the-2012-polaris-music-prize-long-list-is-here/'>here</a>. It’s so good it’s giving us the vapors. But what do you think? Don’t be shy telling us how you really feel. Everyone else is.

In the meantime, though, feel free to check out our recently assembled 2012 Long List <a href = 'http://polarismusicprize.ca/article/418/2012-polaris-long-list-fast-facts/'>fast facts</a> for a quick history primer.

It’s a particularly exciting time in Polaris People tabulation land because we have 40 new records (and people) to talk about. So let’s get started shall we?

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The 2012 Polaris Music Prize Long List Is Here

The 2012 Polaris Long List was announced today (June 14) at The Waldorf Hotel in Vancouver, BC.

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

"The year's list deliciously illustrates the burgeoning sense of community in our jury," he said. "Almost half of the selections on this list were the direct result of passionate recommendations made by individual members to their peers. We hope the ultimate result of this dialogue will likewise inform the taste of adventurous music lovers from Canada and the world."

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2012 Polaris Long List Fast Facts

It's not just the music journalists who are having a field day with the <a href = 'http://polarismusicprize.ca/article/416/the-2012-polaris-music-prize-long-list-is-here/'>just announced</a> 2012 Polaris Music Prize Long List, it's the musical statisticians as well.

Click through for some fast facts about the Polaris Music Prize 2012 Long List and begin your journey into High Fidelity-plus nerddom.

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Polaris People For The Week Of June 8 ““ Dan Bejar Speaks, Julie Doiron Day Happens, Toads Get Licked, And More

One week. Actually less than that. Six days. June 14.

That's when the 2012 Polaris Music Prize Long List gets officially announced in Vancouver, BC with the <a href = 'http://polarismusicprize.ca/article/409/dan-mangan-hannah-georgas-veda-hille-to-be-at-polaris-music-prize-long-list-reveal-in-vancouver-on-june-14/'>help</a> of Dan Mangan, Hannah Georgas and Veda Hille. That night will also feature the official launch to arguing about said list with a <a href = 'http://polarismusicprize.ca/article/410/vancouver-long-list-review-happening-june-14-2012/'>Vancouver Polaris Salon</a>. And after that? Dance party.

Meanwhile, those artists who've already proven their worth by hitting past Polaris Lists, the Polaris People, continued to do interesting things this week.

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Dan Mangan, Hannah Georgas, Veda Hille To Be At Polaris Music Prize Long List Reveal In Vancouver On June 14

The Polaris Music Prize Long List announcement happening in Vancouver, BC on June 14 is going to have some star power behind it.

Past nominees <strong>Dan Mangan</strong> (2010 Short List for "Nice, Nice, Very Nice") <strong>Hannah Georgas</strong> (2010 Long List for "This is Good") and <strong>Veda Hille </strong>(2008 Long List for "This Riot Life") will be on-hand to help out when Steve Jordan, Founder and Executive Director of the Polaris Music Prize, unveils the 2012 Polaris Long List at Vancouver's <a href = 'http://www.waldorfhotel.com/'>Waldorf Hotel</a>.

This year's Long List announcement, which can be heard on <a href = 'http://www.siriusxm.ca/'>SiriusXM Channel 152</a> and <a href = 'http://music.cbc.ca/#/radio3/'>CBC Radio3</a>, beginning at 11 a.m. PT / 2 p.m. ET, is particularly exciting because it marks the first time any major announcement related to the Prize hasn't happened in Toronto, Ontario.

Click through to read more.

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Polaris People For The Week Of June 1 ““ Patrick Watson Has A Show, The Weeknd's Being Courted, Metric Have Influence And More

That quiet you hear? That’s the Polaris Music Prize jury in deep contemplation about what albums each and every member will be putting on their Long List ballot.

Yes, as of today, the eligibility window for records to being considered for the 2012 Polaris Prize has closed and now it’s time to start voting and begin the slow march to determine which album will become the 2012 winner.

If you’re looking for intrigues, three former Polaris winners — <strong>Karkwa</strong>, <strong>Fucked Up</strong> and <strong>Patrick Watson </strong>— have albums that are eligible for consideration in 2012 and the opportunity to do something that’s never been done before in Polaris history: win twice.

Meanwhile, our favourite people, the Polaris People, continue to do interesting things this week:

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Polaris People For The Week Of May 25 ““ Sarah Harmer Rides A Bike, Cadence Weapon Gets Angry And More

In the history of the Polaris Music Prize their have been six winners and debate about whether or not each of them was deserving still rages to this day.

Next level arguers have even been known to go so far as to tackle which of the winners is the best winner.

This is dangerous territory. So we’ve decided to provide our own answer about who’s the winnerest of the winners. Our method? Scrabble tile valuation.

Behold…

<strong>Final Fantasy</strong> “He Poos Cloudsâ€
Scrabble tile total point value: 41

<strong>Patrick Watson</strong> “Close To Paradiseâ€
Scrabble tile total point value: 44

<strong>Caribou</strong> “Andorraâ€
Scrabble tile total point value: 19

<strong>Fucked Up</strong> “The Chemistry Of Common Lifeâ€
Scrabble tile total point value: 68

<strong>Karkwa </strong>“Les Chemins De Verreâ€
Scrabble tile total point value: 44

<strong>Arcade Fire</strong> “The Suburbsâ€
Scrabble tile total point value: 33

So there you go. Fucked Up is totally the best.

Meanwhile, our favourite people, the Polaris People, were up to all sorts of interesting stuff again this week.

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Polaris People For The Week Of May 18 ““ Feist's Busy, America Discovers Plants And Animals And More

As of publishing this edition of Polaris People we are only 26 days away from the unveiling of the 2012 Polaris Music Prize Long List.

It's a time of great change. Soon we will have a pile of exciting new artists to follow just as doggedly as the select club members that we talk about each week. Who these new acts will be, we don't yet know, but we're looking forward to finding out.

It's also a time of great reflection. Many of our Polaris jurors are in deep thought, trying to find the inner peace that will only come when they achieve clarity on the five perfect records they intend to include on their Long List ballot. Some have even gone so far as to <a href = 'http://www.popmatters.com/pm/post/158569-polaris/'>ask the public</a> to help them on their vision quests.

While all this goes on, our Polaris People continue to soldier on in the name of all that is right and awesome.

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Polaris People For The Week Of May 11 ““ Arcade-Ish Fire Sets, Tegan And Carnivale, Weeknd Update And More

It's a poorly kept secret that there's a special club that all the Polaris Music Prize jurors hang out in to hurl insults at each other, share fart jokes and contemplate <em>The Hunger Games</em> fan fiction.

They also talk about music. Passionately. As in, someone says “X album is awesome,†so Y person goes, “No, it's poo,†then Z person is like, “No, <em>you're</em> poo. It's double-awesome.†That kind of stuff.

Now we're going to start bringing some of this conversation to you, the public. We'll be skipping the poo-face talk, but the stuff about the records… yeah, there'll be lots of that.

Stay tuned. Polaris Picks will be debuting soon.

In the meantime, our favourite Polaris People have been up to many interesting things again this week.

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Polaris People For The Week Of May 4 ““ Besnard Lakes In Bushes, Weeknd's Dead Audience And More

This week's Polaris People column barely got written.

That's because we've been very distracted. And it's all <strong>Bon Iver</strong>'s fault.

That's because <a href = 'http://boniverotica.tumblr.com/'>Bon Iver took a break from making me a mosaic out of seaglass to kiss each one of my toes</a>.

Yes, Bon Iver literotica. <em>This</em> is what the internet is for. Even <em><a href = 'http://newsfeed.time.com/2012/05/01/bon-iver-erotic-stories-making-farmers-markets-sexy-since-last-thursday/?iid=nf-main-mostpop1'>Time</a></em> agrees. We will not be fully sated, however, until we discover some hot-blooded prose about Lawrence Gowan.

In the meantime, we'll at least have the Polaris People to keep our imaginations a-flutter.

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