The long list for Canada’s foremost music prize, revealed today in Vancouver, adds more evidence to our claim that Toronto is the best music city around.
Remember that time we said Toronto was the best music city in the world? Well our case just got a little bit more convincing today, with the announcement of the Polaris Music Prize long list, revealed today at a ceremony in Vancouver.
Canada’s finest music critics (several of whom work in our office) voted an amazing total of 12 albums by Toronto artists onto the 40-album list. Naturally, Toronto’s haul is the most of any city in Canada.
The list contains the recent works by many of the city’s most visible stars, like Drake’s Take Care, Feist’s Metals, Fucked Up’s David Comes to Life and The Weeknd’s Echoes of Silence. Toronto’s long-listed artists also include: Great Lake Swimmers, Sandro Perri, Cold Specks, Bahamas, Azari & III, Yamantaka // Sonic Titan, The Slakadeliqs and Lindi Ortega. If all goes according to plan, the Polaris short list (which will be revealed here in town on July 17) could be comprised entirely of artists from the GTA. What are the odds of that?
Here’s the complete 2012 Polaris Music Prize long list:
A Tribe Called Red: A Tribe Called Red
Marie-Pierre Arthur: Aux alentours
Rich Aucoin: We’re All Dying To Live
Avec pas d’casque: Astronomie
Azari & III: Azari & III
Bahamas: Barchords
The Barr Brothers: The Barr Brothers
Blackie And The Rodeo Kings: Kings And Queens
Cadence Weapon: Hope In Dirt City
Kathryn Calder: Bright And Vivid
Cannon Bros: Firecracker / Cloudglow
Coeur de pirate: Blonde
Leonard Cohen: Old Ideas
Cold Specks: I Predict A Graceful Expulsion
Rose Cousins: We Have Made A Spark
Mark Davis: Eliminate The Toxins
Drake: Take Care
Kathleen Edwards: Voyageur
Feist: Metals
Fucked Up: David Comes To Life
Great Lake Swimmers: New Wild Everywhere
Grimes: Visions
Handsome Furs: Sound Kapital
Japandroids: Celebration Rock
Dan Mangan: Oh Fortune
Mares Of Thrace: The Pilgrimage
Ariane Moffatt: MA
Lindi Ortega: Little Red Boots
Parlovr: Kook Soul
Sandro Perri: Impossible Spaces
Joel Plaskett Emergency: Scrappy Happiness
PS I Love You: Death Dreams
John K. Samson: Provincial
Shooting Guns: Born To Deal In Magic: 1952-1976
The Slakadeliqs: The Other Side of Tomorrow
Patrick Watson: Adventures In Your Own Backyard
Bry Webb: Provider
The Weeknd: Echoes of Silence
Yamantaka // Sonic Titan: YT//ST
Yukon Blonde: Tiger Talk
