News

Polaris Prize Long List Announced

11:00 a.m. · June 17, 2011 · by Andrew Winistorfer

The long list of Polaris Prize nominees, the award that goes to the best Canadian album released between June 1 and May 31, was announced last night. The winner gets $30,000 Canadian, and the honor of being the best Canadian band in a 12-month span. Last year, French-Canadian band Karkwa won, and this year, Weeknd could totally win. Seriously. House of Balloons is on this long list, along with albums by the likes of Austra, Arcade Fire, PS I Love You, Stars, Braids, Destroyer, Dirty Beaches and Buck 65. The short list gets announced in July. Here's the list, via Billboard.  

Arcade Fire – “The Suburbs”
Austra – “Feel It Break”
Black Mountain – “Wilderness Heart”
Braids – “Native Speaker”
Buck 65 – “20 Odd Years”
Louise Burns – “Mellow Drama”
D-Sisive – “Jonestown 2: Jimmy Go Bye Bye”
The Dears – “Degeneration Street”
Destroyer – “Kaputt”
Diamond Rings – “Special Affections”
Dirty Beaches – “Badlands”
Luke Doucet and The White Falcon – “Steel City Trawler”
Eternia & MoSS – “At Last”
Galaxie – “Tigre et Diesel”
Jenn Grant – “Honeymoon Punch”
Tim Hecker – “Ravedeath, 1972″
Hey Rosetta! – “Seeds”
Hooded Fang – “Album”
Imaginary Cities – “Temporary Resident”
Land Of Talk – “Cloak and Cipher”
Little Scream – “The Golden Record”
The Luyas – “Too Beautiful to Work”
Malajube – “La Caverne”
Miracle Fortress – “Was I The Wave?”
One Hundred Dollars – “Songs of Man”
Doug Paisley – “Constant Companion”
PS I Love You – “Meet Me at the Muster Station”
Daniel Romano – “Sleep Beneath the Willow”
The Rural Alberta Advantage – “Departing”
Ron Sexsmith – “Long Player Late Bloomer”
Shotgun Jimmie – “Transistor Sister”
Sloan – “The Double Cross”
Frederick Squire – “March 12″
Stars – “The Five Ghosts”
Colin Stetson – “New History Warfare Vol. 2: Judges”
Timber Timbre – “Creep On Creepin’ On”
The Weeknd – “House of Balloons”
Women – “Public Strain”
Neil Young – “Le Noise”
Young Galaxy – “Shapeshifting”