Polaris Music Prize Nominees Announced

The Polaris Music Prize is an annual award given to the best Canadian album of the year, as determined by a carefully selected jury. It mirrors the set up pf the Mercury Music Prize in the U.K., which operates on a similarly shady premise, where the actual details of how and why the winning album was chosen remains a mystery.

The nominees for the 2010 incarnation of the prize were announced yesterday at a press conference in Toronto. Damien Abraham from Fucked Up was present at the announcement—his band won last year—although the lineup for the 2010 prize is likely to produce a more conservative victor.

The 10 albums vying for the prize are:

The Besnard Lakes: The Besnard Lakes Are The Roaring Night

Broken Social Scene: Forgiveness Rock Record

Caribou: Swim

Karkwa: Les Chemins De Verre

Dan Mangan: Nice, Nice, Very Nice

Owen Pallet: Heartland

Radio Radio: Belmundo Regal

The Sadies: Darker Circles

Shad: TSOL

Tegan And Sara: Sainthood