Polaris People For The Week Of May 17: Cadence Weapon 'Super Rap' and Shad Channels Big Daddy Kane
To all the Polaris jurors reading this column… you have less than two weeks to finalize your ballot. Use your time wisely (insert joke about masturbation + crying + dark room).
We know a really wise use of time for Albertan music fans — the first 2013 Polaris Salon is happening in Banff, Alberta on May 24. That’s right. Our regular argument parties are back and this year they’ll be going across the country and beyond.
Meanwhile, our favourite people, the Polaris People, continue to do interesting things. Here’s what some of them were up to recently:
It appears that Murray Lightburn of past Short and Long Listed act The Dears is putting out a solo album. We know this from two pieces of information:
1) A comic strip.
2) A weird Stetsonian foghorn sound.
Elsewhere, if Jace Lasek of twice-Short Listed act The Besnard Lakes were to pick anyone to play drums in a fantasy band of his creation, that drummer would be… Phil Collins.
Still in Montreal, twice-Short Listed, once-Long Listed group Malajube has spawned another side-project, Oothèque. It features drummer Francis Mineau.
K’naan, another two-time Short Lister, appears to be getting ready to conquer another artistic realm.
Excited & honoured that my writing/directing debut in film is selected by the #Sundance 2013 Directors and Screenwriters Labs @sundancelabs
— K’naan Warsame (@KNAAN) May 10, 2013
Meanwhile, yet another two-time Short Lister appears to be inching closer to a new album. A demo of Shad‘s song “Peace,” produced by Skratch Bastid, has surfaced. The man with a good name has also been explaining what you have to do when confronted with a Big Daddy Kane beat.
The Weeknd has given us a free new dangle. It’s 20 seconds of the song “John Carpenter.” (The term you’re looking for is “adjusting expectations.”)
Remember when Drake didn’t win at Polaris last year? He probably doesn’t — because he has 12 nominations for this year’s BET Awards. In other news, I just found out Dada is no longer cool. Excuse me while I go set fire to my closet.
Oh, and we have no idea what Cadence Weapon means when he talks about “super rap,” but we’re just going to go out on a limb and assume that every new line he spits transmogrifies into an awesome solid gold pelican.
Finally, let’s talk about a topic that’s near and dear to our hearts (and our stomachs) — food. It seems there is an emerging synergy between food and Polaris People and we can’t be more excited about it. Examples:
* The 10 must-try foods at Field Trip.
* Former Polaris champs Owen Pallett and Sarah Neufeld (Arcade Fire) will perform at the Arboretum Festival, an event featuring Ottawa chefs in a cook-off.
* The CBC is making musical beer.
* There’s a poutine, pizza and punk rock festival happening in Montreal RIGHT NOW.
* And awesome new website Rolling Spoon is promising to go deep, deep into the deep fryer of music ‘n’ food connections. Check out the site’s story with 2011 Long Listers Sloan.
