Polaris People For The Week Of January 18: Tegan And Sara Are Everywhere, Drake's In Binbrook
Has everybody seen this?
It’s a declaration that notoriously spendthrift Toronto mayor Rob Ford signed on “to increase funding to the broad spectrum of arts in Toronto.” Key to this agreement was “support for Toronto's music cluster.”
Congratulations city of Toronto, now all we can think about is chocolate and peanuts.
Let us refocus then on our favourite people, the Polaris People.
Here’s what some of them have been up to this week:
We shall start with past Short and Long List twins Tegan And Sara. In case you’ve consumed no music media in the last month, they have a new album Heartthrob coming out on January 29. They’ve been talking about it to people like…
For those keeping track of such things, twice-Short Listed act Broken Social Scene remained “on hiatus” for 17 months if your measure is announcement-to-announcement. Perhaps band leader Kevin Drew will channel some of this inspiration he’s experienced in Banff for the forthcoming one-off show.
It’s only appropriate that Ron Sexsmith would drop the most perfectly understated burn on Maroon 5 when speaking to The Guardian. After all, the Brits have perfected the dry slight.
Hot on the heels of Lance Armstrong’s confession twice-Short Listed singer Kathleen Edwards‘ has also fessed up as well. Also, Edwards is now officially an actress.
Here are 2012 Short Lister Grimes‘ best tweets of 2013 so far. And yes, someone is tracking such things.
Hands up if you’re in the middle of designing a video game to fulfill the vision for the rock opera you’ve created because the live-action theatrical attempts just haven’t quite cut it. And yes, we’re talking about you, YAMANTAKA//SONIC TITAN.
Radio Radio, Short Listers from 2010, will be on the forthcoming album El Gran Baile de las Identidades from Boogat. Also guesting on the record are Kid Koala and Poirier, among others.
If anyone has any good gossip about Drake tearing it up in the VIP lounges in Binbrook, Ontario please tweet at us @PolarisPrize. We heard it was mad-crazy next-level swagness. Or something.
Former champs Fucked Up appear to be attempting to recreate the 2009-10 Polaris Galas with their next Long Winter event, inviting Holy Fuck and The Sadies to perform with them. They’re also putting out a record with Mudhoney, so there’s that, too.
And finally, while we’re still on the topic of Polaris People gatherings, the 2013 East Coast Music Award nominations have been announced and there are a number of names that cross over into our universe.