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Artist Feature
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The Stand Newspaper, Artist Feature >>
Karkwa & Beyond: Polaris Prize in 60 seconds
The Strand weighs in on the ten shortlisted albums for this year's prestigious award
By Natascha Malta
Issue date: 9/23/10 Section: Film & Music
As music fans across Canada watched with bated breath, the results came in from the Polaris Prize Gala this past Monday with Montreal's Karkwa taking the much-coveted prize. Whether you rooted for Karkwa, Caribou or someone else entirely, there's something on the shortlist for everyone. Here's what one Strand writer thought of all 10 albums.
Radio Radio Belmundo Regal
Genre: Acadian Hip Hop
Recommended for: College frat boys and pranksters
General Impression: Hi-fi low-brow
Radio Radio is the stage name for what must be the only hip-hop trio that French New Brunswick is exporting. The threesome are big jokers whose schtick seems to be based around the band's intriguing half-French, half-English Shiac accent. There are a few moments of hilarity on this album, and parts actually had me busting out in laughter. The threesome have lost a member and polished up their sound significantly since their last album. As a foursome on earlier album Cliche Hot, Radio Radio was funny and coy, but there's nothing close to the caliber of "Jacuzzi" or even any of Cliche's lesser singles on Belmundo Regal. All and all, like a punchline you already heard.
Owen Pallett Heartland
Genre: Experimental baroque pop
Recommended for: Those with a flair for the dramatic
General Impression: Poignant
Back in the running for the prize after winning in 2006 for He Poos Clouds, Owen Pallett's latest sees the Toronto native and fantastic one-man band retiring his stage name Final Fantasy for his birth name. On Heartland Pallett is wound as tight as one of his violin strings. Lyrics are sharp as a literary tack, and his musical layers are both ominous, and decadent- if not sometimes bizarre. Tour de force this stormcloud of an album may be, but also prone to melodrama.
Tegan and Sara Sainthood
Genre: Indie rock
Recommended for: The recently broken hearted
General Impression: Redundant
Is it just me or is this pretty much an entire album of break-up songs? The album gets off to a nice start with "Arrow", a catchy synth-driven rock song with cupid imagery about falling in love. This is followed up with "Don't Rush", "Hell", and "On Directing"- 3 songs about not rushing away from your lover out of fear, getting over a relationship that didn't work out, and the way that one lover will try to steer the actions of another. Then we get more catchy synth-driven rock songs about slipping back into cheating habits, followed by a song about trying to "Cure" someone with your love and failing. Then we get a song about having "Grounds for Divorce", a song about only having "Alligator" tears to cry over a cheating lover, a song about a girl that's got some issues to work out, a song telling a lover not to cry over a break-up, and so on. This is depressing. If even rockstars can't make their relationships work out how will we normal people ever manage?
Karkwa Les chemins de verre
Genre: Avant-garde folk-pop
Recommended for: FSL students looking for a less trying way to practice their french
General Impression: Haunting
One thing I've come to enjoy in following the Polaris Prize is their inclusion of French language albums. French language inclusions are still far and few between, but it's nice to be able to gain access to a scene that otherwise, you would have to listen to CBC for. Les Chemins de Verre literally means the paths of glass. Like the title, it's not an album that translates well into English- but those with a basic knowledge of French will find the lyrics pretty accessible and poetic. If you don't speak French, don't fret. Les Chemins de Verre is one of the best albums on this shortlist, and its been compared to early Radiohead. Piano melodies speak of the wide open spaces of human loneliness, but the lightness of touch on vocals and keys comes off more ephemereal than melancholic. Many of the shortlisted artists this year have used complex musical layering to varying degrees of success- but the textures on the latest from Karkwa just might be perfect.
Dan Mangan Nice, Nice, Very Nice
Genre: Singer-songwriter
Recommended for: Entry-level indie kids
General Impression: Generic
After years on the scene, the hard work is beginning to pay off for Vancouver-based artist Dan Mangan. On the album named after a line from Kurt Vonnegut's Cat's Cradle, this young singer-songerwriter admits being influenced by Canadian artists Chad VanGaaleen and Bon Iver. Earlier this year, this album of earnest folk songs won an XM Verge, beating out a list of artists that included Joel Plaskett. All and all, it has received much buzz. Unfortunately, his sudden rise to popularity may be a little premature. As a lyricist Mangan shows promise, but musically- he sounds like any other mediocre indie rock act. Maybe in time Mangan will live up to some of the artists that have inspired him, but on this album I'm afraid he blends into the crowd instead of standing out.
Caribou Swim
Genre: Electro psychedelic
Recommended for: Hipsters and hippies
General Impression: Love at first listen
Another one-man band with a Polaris Prize already under his belt. Some people ask if it's really fair for an artist to be in the running after winning a prize just 2 years ago- but you know better. You know that the Polaris Prize is not a $20,000 dollar charity, but in fact a prize- and after hearing this album, it would be hard to deny it favourite status. It's the way that Daniel Snaith uses bells as break beats or how he tucks acoustic guitar into an electro rhthym. It's finding things in places you wouldn't expect to find them- and perhaps the most surprising find of all is the warmth that radiates out of the music of Snaith. This album is just as good for a night home alone as it is a night at Wrongbar- and it doesn't have to rely on its lyrics, either. Caribou is making music in a genre often toted as being superficial and stupid, disposable and cold. I think its safe to say that he's proving electronica doesn't have to be any of those things.
The Sadies Darker Circles
Genre: Vintage country psychedelia
Recommended for: Anyone who thinks country can't edgy and badass
General Impression: Honourable mention
There are those people for whom the words "country music" rolls off the tip of their tongue like a cuss. It's understandable. A few decades of cheesy and over-produced new country has left a bad taste in all our mouths. Country music is one of the most popular genres of American music, and well, I hate to say it, but think about what popularity has done to your favourite musical genres. On this album The Sadies say to hell with it to all the Taylor Swifts of this world, focusing instead on more of a vintage sound that's more outlaw than auto-tune. Its true, its not a perfect album. And although it deals with loss, aging, and failed relationships, its not all that dark either. The Sadies aren't really an album band though, and one of the successes of this album is that its getting closer to capturing the thing at which The Sadies are very good at, which is playing live music. I wouldn't go so far to call it the best Canadian album this year, but slowly the band is pulling their studio recordings skills together. I can only see it getting better from here.
Broken Social Scene Forgiveness Rock Record
Genre: Collaborative indie rock
Recommended for: Toronto music scenesters
General Impression: Triumphant
If there was ever an uncertain time for BSS it was after the release of their self-titled album in 2005. Many of music collective's members were becoming famous in their own right, and it seemed like everyone from Charles Spearin to Feist was going down their own road. But the love of music has brought them together again, and this time around an amazing 31 musicians contributed to this album- including John McEntire of Tortoise who produced and mastered the record as well as lending his guitar to it. The results? Another very solid album from Broken Social Scene. Maybe not as good as You Forgot It In People, which is arguably one of the best Canadian indie rock albums of all time- but Forgiveness Rock Record can more than hold it own. Welcome back Broken Social Scene, you prodigal sons.
The Besnard Lakes Are The Roaring Night
Genre: Shoegaze
Recommended for: Stressed urbanites
General Impression: Groovy
This is not an album for those with ADD. If you want to listen to this album, you're going to have to get yourself into a zen headspace first. Are The Roaring Night wants to take you on a long walk through a vast and ever-changing landscape; through the ocean, living skies, and night. The part ambient, part alternative jam band uses resonance to create a feeling of spaces so large you can lose yourself in them. The lyrics on this album seem to blot out into oblivion as The Besnard Lakes take us on a Flaming Lips style trip. A good antidote for the rush of city life.
Shad TSOL
Genre: Hip-hop
Recommended for: Aspiring poets
General Impression: Contrived
I'm torn. On one hand, the rhymes of Shad are based in his positivity- which is refreshing in hip-hop music. On the other hand, his raps about Twitter and Myspace sound strained. I feel like Shad is reaching too high on this album, or pushing himself too hard to make things have meaning- but the lyrics don't really deliver. The aesthetic is too pared down for me and the instrumentation is so simplified it feels boring. On the last track before the outro, Brendan Canning and Lisa Lobsinger contribute their musical talents to flesh out Shad's rapping, but I can only enjoy the song if I tune out the lyrics. For some reason, on the last listed track of the album in a 59 second bare-bones accapella rap track Shad finally hits the nail right on the head- but by then its too little too late.
09/23/10 >> go there
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