Local Band Could Win $20,000 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