It’s a big day for folks who remember the #Polaris2006 Gala from 20 years ago as year-one Short List nominees Cadence Weapon and Metric both have new albums coming out. That first class has ended up faring pretty well in Polarisland over the years, with Owen Pallett scoring four nominations and a win, New Pornographers […]
It may look like there’s only one new release from a past Polaris nominee putting out an album today (3x nominees Arkells who’ve released Between Us), but that’s a false flag. That’s because tomorrow, Saturday, April 18 is Record Store Day and there are a number of #PolarisPeople who will have collectible slices available. These […]
It’s Coachella weekend and the great news is that you’ll be able to watch most of the sets from the comfort of your own couch where you can shout, “Who the crap is this?!” over and over again. Past Polaris nominees performing at the fest include… Justin Bieber. Here are the #PolarisPeople who’ve released new […]
Forget an EGOT, if a) we’re giving Patrick Watson’s score some of the credit for The Girl Who Cried Pearls getting the 2026 Oscar for best short film, and b) he wins a Juno Award next week in the adult-alternative category for his album Uh Oh, Watson will accomplish the so-rare-it’s-never-been-done-before POJIA. Which is… x […]
We feel like Canadian music scenes are having a real cultural flashpoint moment right now with the continued success of the NTBTSTM movie and the upcoming Mile End Kicks film (by former Polaris juror Chandler Levack). These are classic Toronto vs. Montreal culture war entities, though. If we really want to do this romanticizing-Canadian-music-culture soft […]
The 2026 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Nominees list came out recently and features a traditionally great cross-section of some of the biggest acts in the world (Iron Maiden, Sade, Joy Division/New Order, Phil Collins, Wu-Tang Clan, etc). They’re all great in their way, but for the more a flag-waving hall of fame experience […]
To catch you up on some important developments this week: – Sask Music’s Metal Summit is this weekend in Saskatoon. – MusicPEI Week starts on Saturday. – The Women In Music Global Summit happens next week in Toronto. – Osheaga has announced their lineup. – Ottawa Blues Fest has announced their lineup. – Somafest in […]
We usually calibrate the Release Roundup to highlight the newest albums, but we have the SOCAN Polaris Song Prize now and we need to talk about “Generation,” the first single from the late Gord Downie’s forthcoming live collab album with The Sadies. “Generation” is both a Fucked Up cover and might be the single most […]
Who else has got that Olympic fever right now? Like, whoa, that Poseidon can really swim, Ares has the wrestling competition locked and don’t get me started about Apollo’s archery game, and oh… right, go Canada go. Perhaps because they’re pursuing their own gold, or perhaps because it’s a Bandcamp Friday we have a juicy […]
It’s still pretty cold for new music releases around here right now, so it’s a good thing that it’s getting really hot on the ice. Specifically, the Heated Rivalry ice. It has not gone unnoticed by the Polaris staff that the hottest gay hockey romance show in western world television also happens to have music […]
