Polaris People For The Week Of October 12: Edwards & Grant Cover Springsteen, Pop Montreal Gets Photographed
Now that we’ve all settled into Feist winning the 2012 Polaris Music Prize it’s time to start looking towards next year.
That’s right. Polaris is a long march and the ’13 season officially kicks off October 18 with our first-ever Polaris Salon in Halifax, Nova Scotia. It’s gonna be good to get the right side of the country in on the argument parties.
In the meantime, our favourite people, the Polaris People, continue to do interesting things. To things kick off we decided to check in with a number of acts with lineal connections to past nominees — which is mostly an excuse to talk about Godspeed You! Black Emperor in the roundup.
Here we go:
Dan Snaith, known around here as past Polaris champ Caribou, has a new dance project out as Daphni. He’s been using that to talk about barfsplosions in a couple different places.
A.C. Newman, a Polaris veteran with multiple past nominations in The New Pornographers, has a solo album called Shut Down The Streets. He says it’s auto-biographical.
Handsome Furs/Wolf Parade alumni Dan Boeckner’s Divine Fits album isn’t Polaris eligible because it’s more American- than Canadian-made, but that’s no reason not to read this feature on the band in The L Magazine.
Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra and Tra-La-La Band made the Polaris Long List in 2008. And that, my friends, is our plausible excuse for talking about Godspeed You! Black Emperor. The chatty Montrealers recently did a lengthy interview with The Guardian. It’s just about as “sprawling” and “epic” as one of their songs.
Moving from past Polaris nominees with related musical projects to past Polaris nominees with related musical jobs, Murray Lightburn from former Short & Long Listers The Dears was an official photographer at Pop Montreal 2012. The results of which, including technical spec discussions impenetrable to kids who’ve never been in a dark room, can be found starting HERE in reverse chronological order.
Sticking with the Montreal scene, 2012 Long Lister Grimes explained K-Pop to the readers of the NME… Gangnam Style. The Globe And Mail also has a fascinating feature with Emily Kai Bock, the mastermind behind the monster truck jock rock video for “Oblivion.”
Former Short & Long Listers Tegan And Sara will apparently be involved in the Christmas episode for 90210. We can only hope it’s as riveting as when Flaming Lips played The Peach Pit. The pair have also been answering questions about their forthcoming album, Heartthrob.
The Weeknd has released a teaser video to excite fans about his past Short & Long List nominated albums getting repackaged as the Trilogy. Here’s the top youtube comment right now: “And i tought the waiting for the iPhone 5 was exiting.. That shiit was overated compared to THIS!!!”
Also, 2011 champs Arcade Fire recently played a new song. And LCD Soundsystem’s
James Murphy isn’t producing their new album. But the door’s open for some other ill-defined something if you read between the lines optimistically.
To finish things on a high note, two-time Short Lister Kathleen Edwards recently teamed up with 2011 Long Lister Jenn Grant to compare hair redness levels and throw down a solid cover of Bruce Springsteen’s “Human Touch.”
