The 2013 Polaris Prize long list was announced today, June 13, in Montreal, revealing the forty Canadian albums that made it through the first round of the $30,000 critic-voted best Canadian album award.
“This year's Long List is all over the map, but in the best possible way,” said Polaris Music Prize founder Steve Jordan in a press release. “A lot of our jury expressed that this was the most difficult Polaris ballot they’ve ever submitted. The results of this careful and passionate deliberation will make for some truly engaging listening for music."
Indeed the music prize long list is incredibly eclectic, a testament to the diversity of Canadian music, and ranges from the popular electro-rock of Metric and noise-rock of Metz to electric powwow crew A Tribe Called Red and turntablist Kid Koala to the art-pop of The Luyas and the pop-pop of Tegan and Sara. While not entirely unexpected, the well received Carly Rae Jepsen album "Kiss" was not on the list.
The top ten Short List will be announced on July 16 and the final Polaris gala, in which the winner will be decided in a backroom vote during the actual event, is September 23 at the Carlu in Toronto.
A jury of over 200 music critics, broadcasters and bloggers pick the long and short lists, while eleven of them are named to the grand jury to select the $30,000 Album of the Year winner. Past Polaris Prize winners included Feist in 2012), Arcade Fire in 2011, Caribou in 2008 and Final Fantasy (Owen Pallett) in 2006.
2013 Polaris Music Prize Long List:
A Tribe Called Red – Nation II Nation
Alaclair Ensemble – Les maigres blancs d’Amérique du Noir
ANCIIENTS – Heart of Oak
The Besnard Lakes – Until In Excess, Imperceptible UFO
Louis-Jean Cormier – Le Treizième Étage
Daphni – JIAOLONG
Mac DeMarco – 2
Evening Hymns – Spectral Dusk
Hannah Georgas – Hannah Georgas
Godspeed You! Black Emperor – ‘Allelujah! Don’t Bend! Ascend!
Chilly Gonzales – Solo Piano II
Jim Guthrie – Takes Time
Hayden – Us Alone
Zaki Ibrahim – Every Opposite
KEN mode – Entrench
Kid Koala – 12 bit Blues
Kobo Town – Jumbie in the Jukebox
Pierre Lapointe – Punkt
Lee Harvey Osmond – The Folk Sinner
Les soeurs Boulay – Le poids des confettis
Corb Lund – Cabin Fever
The Luyas – Animator
Majical Cloudz – Impersonator
Metric – Synthetica
METZ – METZ
Danny Michel with the Garifuna Collective – Black Birds Are Dancing Over Me
AC Newman – Shut Down The Streets
Old Man Luedecke – Tender is The Night
Lindi Ortega – Cigarettes & Truckstops
Peter Peter – Une version améliorée de la tristesse
Purity Ring – Shrines
Rah Rah – The Poet’s Dead
Rhye – Woman
Daniel Romano – Come Cry With Me
Colin Stetson – New History Warfare Vol. 3: To See More Light
Suuns – Images du futur
Tegan and Sara – Heartthrob
Al Tuck – Stranger at the Wake
Whitehorse – The Fate of the World Depends On This Kiss
Young Galaxy – Ultramarine