POLARIS MUSIC PRIZE UNVEILS 2018 LONGLIST
ALVVAYS, GORD DOWNIE, ARCADE FIRE, DANIEL CAESAR, PROPAGANDHI, TERRA LIGHTFOOT, AND SLOAN AMONG LIST OF 40 NOMINEES
The Polaris Music Prize, presented by CBC Music, announced the nominees of the 2018 Long List. Presented by Canada Council for the Arts, the announcement of the 40 titles that comprise the Long List took place today at The Drake Underground in Toronto, was hosted by CBC Radio’s Raina Douris, and was live streamed on the Polaris Facebook page. Special local guests were on hand to help unveil the list, including 2015 Polaris Music Prize winner Buffy Sainte-Marie, 2016 Long List nominee Safia Nolin, Alanna Stuart of 2018 Long-Listers, Bonjay, and Toronto City Councillor Josh Colle. The event also featured a surprise performance by long list nominee Clairmont the Second.
The Polaris Music Prize will reveal the ten album Short List on July 17, and the winner of the 2018 Polaris Music Prize will be revealed at the Polaris Music Prize Gala on Monday, September 17 at the Carlu in Toronto, which will also be live streamed at cbcmusic.ca/polaris.
The Polaris Music Prize awards $50,000 to the artist who creates the Canadian Album of the Year, judged solely on artistic merit, without consideration for genre or record sales. Additionally, the nine other nominated acts whose albums make the 2018 Short List will receive $3,000 each courtesy of Slaight Music.
Albums eligible for 2018 Polaris Music Prize consideration must be released between June 1, 2017 and May 31, 2018. An independent jury of music journalists, broadcasters and bloggers from across Canada determine the Long List and Short List. Eleven people from the larger jury pool are then chosen to serve on the Grand Jury. This Grand Jury convene on the night of the Gala to select the Polaris Music Prize winner. This year’s 203 member jury considered a total of 225 albums for Long List selection.
Past winners have included Lido Pimienta (2017), Kaytranada (2016), Buffy Sainte-Marie (2015), Tanya Tagaq (2014), Godspeed You! Black Emperor (2013), Feist (2012), Arcade Fire (2011), Karkwa (2010), Fucked Up (2009), Caribou (2008), Patrick Watson (2007) and Final Fantasy / Owen Pallett (2006).
Spill Magazine would like to congratulate the 40 artists whose albums have been nominated to this year’s Polaris Music Prize Long List:
Bonjay – Lush Life
Cadence Weapon – Cadence Weapon
Charlotte Day Wilson – Stone Woman
Clairmont The Second – Lil Mont from The Ave
Daniel Caesar – Freudian
Donovan Woods – Both Ways
FRIGS – Basic Behaviour
Gord Downie – Introduce Yerself
Hubert Lenoir – Darlène
Iskwé – The Fight Within
Jean-Michel Blais – Dans ma main
Jeremy Dutcher – Wolastoqiyik Lintuwakonawa
Kacy & Clayton – The Siren’s Song
Loud – Une année record
Lydia Képinski – Premier Juin
Mélissa Laveaux – Radyo Siwèl
Partner – In Search Of Lost Time
Philippe Brach – Le silence des troupeaux
Pierre Kwenders – MAKANDA at the End of Space, the Beginning of Time
Pierre Lapointe – La science du coeur
Propagandhi – Victory Lap
Snotty Nose Rez Kids – The Average Savage
Terra Lightfoot – New Mistakes
The Barr Brothers – Queens of the Breakers
The Weather Station – The Weather Station
U.S. Girls – In A Poem Unlimited
Weaves – Wide Open
YAMANTAKA // SONIC TITAN – Dirt
Zaki Ibrahim – The Secret Life of Planets
Polaris Music Prize Dates
Short List Reveal – July 17, 2018
Long List Reveal – September 17, 2018 (Carlu, Toronto)
Polaris Music Prize Links
