Local Band Could Win $20,000 Prize

Posted by Steve
Filed in Music
July 9, 2008

Holy Fuck could take home the Polaris Music Prize
The other day, the short list for the Polaris Music Prize was announced, and even though there's been some heated controversy over who got snubbed when the long list was announced (Sunset Rubdown, for instance), it's nice to see that one Toronto band made the cut. Holy Fuck go on to the next round of judging, where the 178 member jury will pick one deserving artist to win the grand prize: $20,000 to put towards recording another album.

The local electronic outfit's album, LP, will be competing against Vancouver's Black Mountain's In The Future, Montréal's Plants and Animals' Parc Avenue and Stars' In Our Bedroom After The War, London's Basia Bulat's Oh, My Darling and Shad's The Old Prince, Dundas' Caribou's Andorra, Ottawa's Kathleen Edwards' Asking For Flowers, Charlottetown's Two Hours Traffic's Little Jabs and Winnipeg's The Weakerthans' Reunion Tour.

According to the prize's website, the judging for the prize will be based soley on artistic merit without any consideration for genre or record sales. No date for the final prize has been announced yet.

Notable artists who didn't make the first cut include Attack in Black, Buck 65, City and Colour, Constantines, Islands, The New Pornographers, Sandro Perri, Tegan and Sara and Wintersleep, to name but a few.

Previous winners include Final Fantasy and Patrick Watson.

So, who's your pick for best of the short list? Or would you prefer the prize goes to someone who didn't make the short list? Or, would you rather it went to someone who got outright snubbed? Tell us what you think.

Photo of Holy Fuck by James Mejia

binlazer on July 9, 2008 at 2:45 PM

Black Mountain all the way. Although Holy Fuck's live show is always usually impressive, there's never enough there musically to keep me interested. I love Krautrock, but CAN want their songs back from those dudes. And I agree with the Sunset Rubdown snub - those guys are musical wankery at its finest. Spencer Krug is better when he's with Wolf Parade.

Andrew on July 9, 2008 at 2:49 PM

Shad, Stars and Two Hours Traffic are amazing. I'm surprised that City and Colour as well as Tegan and Sara didn't make the cut.

Mark on July 9, 2008 at 3:10 PM

Strongly endorse the Plants & Animals disc. Give it a listen. You won't regret it.

Arieh Singer on July 9, 2008 at 3:28 PM

Gotta give a thumbs up to my friend Basia!

Arieh Singer on July 9, 2008 at 3:34 PM

Gotta give a thumbs up to my friend Basia!

stv on July 9, 2008 at 3:37 PM

I guess that's two thumbs up, then.

Jerrold on July 9, 2008 at 3:54 PM

I really dig HF. Hope they win!

Mark on July 9, 2008 at 4:46 PM

My vote WOULD have gone to Buck, but I'll take The Weakerthans.

Steph on July 10, 2008 at 9:21 AM

BLACK MOUNTAIN ftw.
But yes, as Mark said, listen to Plants & Animals - amazing stuff right there.

hungrybum on July 10, 2008 at 11:55 AM

Battle of the bands are sooo humiliating.

Nico on July 10, 2008 at 2:33 PM

Black Mountain are fantastic. Best of luck to them!

Add a Comment

Name: Email: URL:
Comment: