We can all stop wondering who will win this year’s Polaris Music Prize, awarded to the top Canadian album of the year. It has been announced today that Dundas, Ontario native, Dan Snaith, known to most as Caribou, has won the 2008 Polaris Music Prize, and the 20,000 big ones that go along with it. Readers of newspapers all over Canada will now know the name of Caribou, and hopefully most will go out and buy his excellent, now award-winning album, Andorra. I have been a fan of Caribou for awhile, falling firstly in love with his The Milk of Human Kindness album, and then falling in love with the rest of his music, including his work under his first moniker, Manitoba. I was lucky enough to see him in concert a few years back, opening for the Super Furry Animals in Montreal, and was blown away by his performance. It comes as a little bit of surprise to me that he won, not because his album isn’t great, but because of how many good artists he was up against. Personally, I thought the award would go to Plants & Animals, whose debut album, Parc Avenue, has been on repeat for me for some time now. Deep down I wanted the award to go to Oh, My Darling Basia Bulat, who I saw in concert last week in NYC, or Stars, who I also saw play in NYC last week. Both shows were amazing, and both of their albums were deserving of this Prize. But as we know, not everybody can win, and Andorra is a beautiful album, definately deserving of this prize. I hope this will bring Caribou all the fame he deserves. If you don’t already listen to Caribou, you should probably get on that.

Here’s what they’ve been saying:

Pitchfork

The Globe and Mail

The Montreal Gazette

Exclaim!

The Toronto Star

The National Post

The Guardian UK

And in case you don’t know…this is what Caribou sounds like:

“Melody Day” (from Andorra)

And here’s an oldie but a goodie:

Caribou – Yeti (from The Milk of Human Kindness)

Until next week…

-The Middle Distance Runner

Hello Friends,

I have finally returned from my week in London. I would like to first and foremost apologize for my lack of bloggage last week. Internet in London was mucho expensive and to be honest I was quite busy seeing the sights. The good news is, the music did not stop! (does it ever?). Don’t worry I didn’t just listen to the Sex Pistols the whole week. The first thing that I found cool was on my hotel TV. On the second night in London on this random channel, there was this show that caught my attention because I heard them talking about Annie. And then to my surprise and delight there was a performance by my fellow Canadian Crystal Castles. So right away I was thinking, “London rocks!”. This was only the beginning.

One of my biggest musical highlights of the week was my trip to Rough Trade Records East. This store kinda blew my mind. I have never been to a record store with like 95% good music. Usually there’s a fair amount of shit music in every music store, but at Rough Trade this wasn’t the case. I made a list of bands that I discovered at the store to check out when I got home and I am in the process of doing so. Out of the bands I have checked out so far, Bodies of Water are really impressing me. I’m a little upset right now because I just saw on their myspace page that they played at Divan Orange in Montreal 3 hours ago. Oh well, I guess I’ll have to catch them the next time around.

As for shows in London, my luck wasn’t so great. I went to see Noah and the Whale play at Rough Trade, but we only got there for the last song! In London, when they say a show starts at 8:00, they mean it starts at 8:00! By 8:25, when we got there, they were just wrapping up. It’s too bad because I have been hearing some good things about this band.

The next show I went to see was Holly Throsby playing at this pub called The Slaughtered Lamb (or something like that). This time we were told she was playing at 10:00, but by the time we got there she only had 4 songs left, so obviously there were some communication problems there. I nevertheless got a good taste of Holly live, and I am glad for the 4 songs I did get to hear. Her voice is so soft and lovely on her albums, but live it’s just a whole new level of amazingness. I really can’t wait until I get a chance to see her play live again. Here is a pretty terrible quality video of Holly performing “The Shoulders and Bends”, a song from her album, Under the Town. The sound quality is pretty decent however. Check it out:

And finally I had a musical revelation in that I fell in love with Radiohead’s In Rainbows.

So what did I learn on this trip? Firstly, to listen to lots of Radiohead, always. Secondly, to go to shows EARLY (as if I have more important things to do). And finally, to return to London as often as possible, because it is a really great city.

In other news…

Have you seen what Torquil Campbell of Stars (not THE stars) had to say about his band’s nomination for the the 2008 Polaris Music Prize? Not only is he ultra talented…he’s funny too!

Well, that’s all for now…I must now get back to studying for my 2 final exams on the 15th and 16th. Wish me luck!

And stay tuned next week for a YBP exclusive interview with one of my favourite new artists, Birdie Busch! It will be a blog to remember!

Until next week…

-The Middle Distance Runner

Good Day Yellow Birds,

The Polaris Music Prize list of nominees has been rounded down to 10 finalists! I don’t know why I get so excited about this Prize but I really love it. I guess it’s like the Oscars, but for Canadian music. In case you didn’t know, the Polaris Music Prize is awarded annually to the best Canadian album, based purely on artistic merit, and not taking into account album sales or radio play. The winner is awarded 20,000 Canadian dollars. This is the third year of the award. The first one went to Final Fantasy’s He Poos Clouds and last year’s prize went to Patrick Watson’s (or as i call him, P-Wat) Close to Paradise. Two great albums if you ask me. This year, the long list, which contained the likes of Tegan & Sara, Born Ruffians, Islands, the New Pornographers, Hayden and the Acorn, has been rounded down to a list of just 10. There is now only one yellow bird artist remaining in the running!

The nominees for outstanding performance in the land of snow and ice are:

Black Mountain – In The Future (Vancouver, BC)
http://www.myspace.com/blackmountain

Basia Bulat – Oh, My Darling (London, ON)
http://www.myspace.com/basiamyspace

Caribou – Andorra (Dundas, ON)
http://www.myspace.com/cariboumanitoba

Kathleen Edwards – Asking For Flowers (Ottawa, ON)
http://www.myspace.com/kathleenedwards

Holy Fuck – LP (Toronto, ON)
http://www.myspace.com/holyfuck

Plants and Animals – Parc Avenue (Montreal, QC)
http://www.myspace.com/plantsandanimals

Stars – In Our Bedroom After The War (Montreal, QC)
http://www.myspace.com/stars

Shad – The Old Prince (London, ON)
http://www.myspace.com/shad

Two Hours Traffic – Little Jabs (Charlottetown, PE)
http://www.myspace.com/twohourstraffic

The Weakerthans – Reunion Tour (Winnipeg, MB)
http://www.myspace.com/theweakerthans

I’m rooting for Basia, Plants & Animals, Caribou or Stars. Who do you think is gonna take it?

On a side note…

Have you seen what Devendra Banhart and Natalie Portman (or as I call them Natavendra) have been up to?

Wild!

Untill next week…

-The Middle Distance Runner