Polaris Music Prize

The 2016 Polaris Music Prize Gala – S12E01

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2016-polaris-gala-main

It’s become a tradition to start the new season in Toronto for the Polaris Music Prize Gala at The Carlu. Congratulations goes out to Kaytranada for winning the 2016 edition of the music prize for the album, 99.9%. It beat out the likes of 9 artists and bands from Black Mountain, Basia Bulat, Grimes, Carly Rae Jepsen, Jessy Lanza, Pup, Andy Shauf, U.S. Girls and White Lung.

At the gala, there were live performances from Black Mountain, Jessy Lanza, Basia Bulat, Andy Shauf, White Lung, Carly Rae Jepsen and U.S. Girls. All of the performances were. The Toronto Symphony Orchestra assisted in Bulat’s and Jepsen’s performances. The gala were hosted by Amanda Parris of The Exhibitionist on CBC and Tom Power, new host of CBC Radio q.

To my own delight, there were food served at the Gala. There were perogies, sliders and five spices pork.

Got to hand to Steve Jordan and the Polaris Music Prize staff for the great work as usual.

Don’t forget to check out the photos here.
Enjoy!
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Summer Happenings

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It’s a summer entry as I won’t be posting regularly and it’s considered the off-season.

The biggest craze to hit parts of the world is Pokémon Go. Canadians have been waiting for the release, which came out on July 17th and made the game’s server crash. I haven’t played like crazy with the worry of the phone’s battery life. I’ve noticed seeing people play around my neighbourhood as there’s several Pokéstops located and a competitive gym to clash with.

On Tuesday afternoon, there was a Pokémon Go event in Ottawa called the Confederation Park Lure Party. There were lots of people convening at the park and catch whatever Pokémon are available.

Even the Mayor of Ottawa, Jim Watson came out and joined in the fun to trying out Pokémon Go.
You can check the photos from below.

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The 2016 Polaris Music Prize Long List – S11E28

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© Polaris Music Prize

© Polaris Music Prize

This year’s unveiling of the Polaris Music Prize 2016 Long List had glitches as it was live streaming through their Facebook. You can’t blame the organizers for the technical difficulties. The long list is quite intriguing with surprises and as usual, excellent Canadian albums. There’s several unknowns to check out from the list.

This year’s long list announcement was held in Yellowknife, NWT and unfortunately didn’t watch of the all live streaming from earlier today.

The Polaris Music 2016 Long List; Continue reading →

Friday at NXNE – S10E29

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Friday was the start of the weekend and there were a lot of events happening during NXNE. The first event I went wasn’t part of NXNE but it was an important for myself because it was the Polaris Music Prize Long List panel at ACTRA RACS. Steve Jordan, the founder of Polaris was moderating and the panelists were Slava Pastuk (Noisey Canada), Nicole Villeneuve (AUX), Tabassum Siddiqui (Freelance) and Lana Gay (CBC Music).

The panel talked about the criteria of the music prize and who they voted for in the current list as well as mentioning past lists. Jordan brought up about having the longest list since there’s always debate and discussion on which albums got snubbed or left off from the ballot. It was a great event and always a treat to see the people behind Polaris.

CBCMusic.ca Showcase at NXNE Hub
As Friday was a jam packed event at NXNE in Toronto, the first event was the CBCMusic.ca presents: Music at the NXNE Hub. It was a free show at NXNE Hub. The hosts for the event were Grant Lawrence, Tom Power (of CBC Radio 2 Morning) and Jonny Harris (Murdoch Mysteries).
The performers consisted of the 2015 Searchlight winner, Orange O’Clock. Other performers on the list were Jane’s Party, Ben Caplan, Iceage (from Copenhagen, Denmark) and Toronto’s catl.
I was able to check out Orange O’Clock and Jane’s Party as I decided to head off to other venues. I did return for catl, which they played an awesome set.

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The Polaris Music Prize 2015 Long List – S10E26

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Image - Courtesy of Polaris Music Prize

Image – Courtesy of Polaris Music Prize

It’s that time of month where Canadian music fans anticipate the Polaris Music Prize long list. There’s always complaints about certain artists or bands not making it to the list and then when it get whittled down to the top 10, there’s more madness and fury. It’s all in the fun and excitement to finding out who made it and which obscure album got on the list.
Don’t forget that it’s compiled and determined by a jury of broadcasters, journalists, bloggers and programmers who choose their albums based on artistic merit. The winning album this year gets the $50,000.

Here’s the list of the 40 nominated albums for the 2015 edition of Polaris Music Prize;

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The Impossible Polaris Polaroid – S10E05

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Impossible Polaris Polaroid

Back from Ottawa and this will be a wrap-up to the 2014 Polaris Music Prize coverage. This is more on the photos, instant photos, to be precise.
From the previous entry, I mentioned that half of the photos were on Flickr, it’s now updated and you can go to the link by clicking HERE.

I also brought along the trusty Polaroid SX-70 camera and several packs of The Impossible Project films to Toronto for the Polaris Music Prize Gala. Worse part was having to carry multiple equipment with a small carry bag. At least, I was able to bring the fun to shooting instant film photos. You will see the colourful frames and wonderful black & white photos taken from the pre and post Polaris Gala as it’s posted below.
I got a chance to try out Impossible’s B&W Film for 600 Hard Color Frames Edition. The colour frames looked great with the black & white instant photos. It’s definitely fun to look at.
You will see some of the familiar faces with the Impossible instant photos.
There’s a few instant that didn’t out well and that’s being posted up.

Short Basia Bulat Interview
It’s been awhile I have done audio interviews and had the opportunity to do a quick chat with Basia Bulat. You can listen to the interview from below. It’s just great to see her at the Gala.

For fashion, I rarely dress up nicely and shoot selfies. It was quite dapper of me to wear the bow tie from Hudson’s Bay.

Other Things
Going off on a different topic or going backwards. Prior to attending the Polaris Music Prize Gala, as I arrived to Toronto, I went straight to CBC Toronto, the Canadian Broadcast Centre for an informal tour of the building. I’m surprised that the CBC social media/digital team have been wanting to meet up for awhile but scheduling and lack of travel, it wasn’t worked. Luckily, with the Polaris Music Prize, I was able to make a schedule to come by to the building. It’s great seeing the radio side again but never got to see the main studios (#40, 41 and 42) from the tenth floor. The last time I went on a tour, it was with CBC Radio 3. I posted several photos on my Instagram if you can look for the CBC related photos.

Lastly, a final shoutout goes out to Be SixFifty Hotel. It’s a boutique hotel located on Bay St. Their decoration is stylish and more like a fashion-chic setting. Checking into my room, it was a small, which was fine as I stayed for one day. I was provided with a bottled water and some nice treats. They were the yummy macarons and candied nuts. The staff were friendly and decided to give one of the staff an instant photo. The price is under $200 if you’re going solo and it’s convenient in the downtown core of Toronto.

That’s the fun adventure I had and time for some rest and relaxation from the sweat and muscle pain. Also quite unusual to post two entries in one day.
Enjoy!
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The 2014 Polaris Music Prize Gala – S10E04

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2014 Polaris Music Prize Gala Main-1

It was an awesome night to be at The Carlu as I experienced my first Polaris Music Prize Gala. The Polaris Grand Jury awarded Tanya Tagaq for her album, Animism on September 22nd. She gets to take home the $30,000 for best album of 2014 and based on artistic merit.

Quite fitting for Tagaq to winning the Prize as she was last to perform and delivered a bone-chilling but terrific performance. She was joined by the Element Choir and throughout the performance, the names of the murdered Aboriginal women were display as her way of dedicating them. Tagaq earned a standing ovation from her strong performance.

Other short list nominated artists performed at the Gala were Owen Pallett, Mac Demarco, Basia Bulat, Jessy Lanza and Shad (with Lights as a surprise guest for the song, Remember to Remember). Out of the favourites from the performance were Bulat, Lanza and Shad.
The gala was hosted by actor, Jay Baruchel who kept the show going with his witty jokes.
Congratulations goes out to Tanya Tagaq for winning and the nine short list nominees for the excellent albums.
Lastly, kudos goes out to Steve Jordan, Executive Director of Polaris Music Prize and to the hard working staff for bringing an awesome Canadian music event.

Being the first time to attend, it was great to meet some of the usual people and meeting new people. It was a fun and sweaty time at the event. I didn’t mind sitting up on the balcony of the Carlu and on the floor level taking photos.
You can check out some of the photos from the Polaris Music Prize Gala over on Flickr. Click HERE.

For the next entry, I will be post the Impossible photos which were taken at the gala.
Time to leave Toronto and return back to Ottawa.

The Polaris Short List Salon: Ottawa – S10E02

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Polaris 2014 Salon SIgn

 

On Tuesday night, The National Arts Centre played host to the Polaris Music Prize Salon as the Polaris jury members discussed the 2014 Polaris Short List and who would win it. For the Ottawa edition, Steve Jordan, the founder and Executive Director of Polaris Music Prize moderated while the panelists consisted of Ryan Bresee (CKCU), Roch Parisen (Rochon Communications),and John Sekerka (CHUO).

The panelists and Jordan discussed the ten albums and what were their best and worst from the 2014 edition of the Short List. One of the topics raised at the Salon was the criticism of this year’s Short List having seven of the ten albums being repeat and returning nominees. The Ottawa jury didn’t have an issue with it whereas Canadian music fans in general have complained about it. Jordan also mentioned about the future of the album as a whole with what people buy and listen to.

The albums that were garnered a lot of discussions were Drake, Mac Delmarco, Tanya Tagaq and Timber Timbre because it brought in the positives and negatives in terms of artistic merit coming from the Ottawa jury. Mac Delmarco was contentious as Bresee said that it was not his favourite from the short list and the same went for Drake as Parisen and Sekerka weren’t fans of his album.
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From Nuit Blanche to Polaris Music Prize – S09E03

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WildWorks Sept 23 Vinyl

It’s been an eventful last week in Ottawa. I was away in Toronto when the tragic news of the OC Transpo being hit by a VIA Rail train. It’s sad to hear the lives lost. Condolence goes out the lost ones affected by it.
Aside from that, what a weekend when I checked out Nuit Blanche Ottawa-Gatineau. It’s the second year that the artistic and wonderful event has been held. It started at 6:20pm to 4:20am. It’s a basically a long night to experience the unique fun.
I missed out on the first edition as I was in Montreal for Pop Montreal. Even though it was raining throughout Saturday, it didn’t help deter people checking out unique arts and crafts located at various places in Ottawa. I was able to check out the downtown and Gatineau for Nuit Blanche.
One unique thing I got was a firefly. As the website explained that it’s hackable (open software) and when interacting with other fireflies, it create a unique light pattern. You’ll see a photo below as I tweeted to someone that I got the lumipendant.
Overall, it was a fun event and hope the 2014 edition doesn’t have rain in the forecast. I posted some photos below. Check it out.

Monday’s Radio Show
On this week’s radio show, it’s the Polaris Music Prize edition as it’s day of the gala. Ten nominees are vying for the $30,000 prize to claim the best album of the year. As mentioned everytime, the Polaris Music Prize is based on artistic merit and judged by over 200 jury members from radio, tv, print and Internet.
I had the opportunity to chat with Ryan of CKCU’s Whatever’s Cool With Me as he’s jury member and in Toronto for the gala. He also explained on the show that this year’s shortlist is the strongest for artistic merit and had a difficult time choosing the albums. It was a fun chat as I don’t usually interact with a lot of CKCU hosts.
Who will win the prize? We’ll find out in due time

You can check the playlist over at this link. You can listen to the audio below.
Have a great week and I will be going to Montreal this weekend.
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From Cookies to The Polaris Music Prize Short List – S08E02

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Photo by Erica V.

This week’s edition of the radio show consisted of 100% Cancon (Canadian music content). The theme was on the 2012 Polaris Music Prize short list as the Gala is happening on September 24th. Myself and Lauren can’t predict who would win because this year’s short list nominees are considered good. The short list nominees this year are Cadence Weapon, Cold Specks, Drake, Kathleen Edwards, Feist, F’ed Up, Grimes, Handsome Furs, Japandroids and Yamantaka // Sonic Titan.

Also on the show were cookies as Erica returned to drop by on the show and got us Tim Horton’s smiley cookies. You see from the photo above with the cookies.
A nice surprise on Wednesday’s show was the tweeting. Getting a tweet back from Maestro Fresh Wes came out of nowhere as I had a chance to check his performance out at House of Paint this past weekend. It was a privilege to see Masia One and Shad perform at the Dunbar Bridge near Carleton University on Sunday. The photos are posted on my Facebook page at this link. Another surprise tweet was from Damian Abraham of F’ed Up as I played The Other Shoe from the 2012 Polaris Music Prize short list nominated album, David Comes To Life. He thanked me and said they have a long shot in winning.
This week’s top 10 has a new number one song. It’s Diamond Rings with I’m Just Me. Click here to read the top 10.
Off to Pop Montreal this weekend as I will be enjoying some of the live music and see some of the bands and musicians there.

Audio/Radio Show
The September 19th playlist is at this link.
Press play to listen.