Buffy Sainte-Marie’s Power In The Blood Wins 2015 Polaris Music Prize

Buffy Sainte-Marie has won the 2015 Polaris Music Prize for the album Power In The Blood, besting the nine other albums on the Polaris Short List.

Sainte-Marie performed the songs “Power In The Blood” and “Carry It On” during her Polaris Gala set.

The Prize, which goes to the best Canadian album of the year based on “artistic merit without regard to genre, sales history or label affiliation,” was determined by a Grand Jury of 11 music media professionals drawn from the greater Polaris jury pool of roughly 200 writers, editors, broadcasters, DJs and personalities from across the country.

Polaris Music Prize announces 2015 short list

The 2015 Polaris Music Prize Short List was revealed this morning at The Carlu in Toronto.

Caribou (2008, 2010, 2015) and Drake (2012, 2014, 2015) now join Metric (2006, 2009, 2013), Shad (2008, 2010, 2014) and Owen Pallett (2006, 2010, 2014) as the only acts to be nominated for the Short List on three separate occasions. This is second time Braids (2011, 2015) and The New Pornographers (2006, 2015) have made the Short List. Alvvays, BADBADNOTGOOD, Jennifer Castle, Tobias Jesso Jr., Buffy Sainte-Marie and Viet Cong are all first-time nominees.

Polaris Music Prize announces 2015 long list

The 2015 Polaris Music Prize Long List has been announced.

The 40 Long List albums were unveiled earlier today at The Carleton in Halifax, NS in association with Halifax Pop Explosion, with the assistance of the Nova Scotia Department of Communities, Culture and Heritage, the City of Halifax, and the Downtown Halifax Business Commission.

In total 197 titles made the first ballots of the 196 member jury.

This year’s Long List features 18 returning and 22 new nominees, although four of those new Polaris people have been nominated for previous projects: Colin Stetson and Sarah Neufeld for his solo albums and her work with Arcade Fire respectively, Young Guv’s Ben Cook was previously nominated with Fucked Up, members of Viet Cong were previously nominated as Women, and Siskiyou used to play with Great Lake Swimmers.

Tanya Tagaq’s Animism Wins The 2014 Polaris Music Prize

Animism by Tanya Tagaq was voted as the winner of the 2014 Polaris Music Prize tonight at The Carlu in Toronto. The winner was decided and announced during the 9th annual gala event. Tanya Tagaq was awarded a cash prize of $30,000. The winner was announced by the gala host, actor Jay Baruchel.

“We've been doing it our own way without backing down artistically or conforming, so to be recognized in this way and have so many people latch on makes me feel the world is tolerable. There's so much hurt in the world and within indigenous cultures with colonialism,” said Tanya Tagaq. “Canada is in a desperate need for repair and I think a lot of people are tired of living this way and just to have people understand where we're coming from makes me have hope that we can move forward and expose the true history of Canada.”

Animism was produced by Jesse Zubot (Dan Mangan, Fond of Tigers) with additional production by Juan Hernandez. The record features Michael Red (Low Indigo), a live programmer whose wild northern field recordings often serve as Tagaq’s de facto backing band, percussionist Jean Martin and opera singer Anna Pardo Canedo.Slaight Music awarded $2,000.00 to each of the runners up – Arcade Fire, Basia Bulat, Drake, Mac DeMarco, Jessy Lanza, Owen Pallett, Shad, Timber Timbre and YAMANTAKA // SONIC TITAN. The gala was webcast live on AUX.tv and broadcast live on SiriusXM channels The Verge XM 173 and The Iceberg Sirius 161.

2014 Polaris Music Prize announces short list

The 10 albums on the 2014 Polaris Music Prize Short List were revealed at The Carlu‘s Round Room in Toronto earlier today.

Montreal actor, producer and writer Jay Baruchel will host the 2014 Polaris Gala being held September 22 at The Carlu in Toronto. Baruchel, who once played the role of obsessed Led Zeppelin fan Vic Munoz in Almost Famous, also helped unveil the 10 albums on the 2014 Short List earlier today in Toronto.

The actor is known for his roles in This Is The End, Goon, as well as the How To Train Your Dragon series, The Trotsky, Knocked Up and Tropic Thunder. His current projects include the FXX comedy series Man Seeking Woman and an adaptation of the book Baseballismo written by Dave Bidini.

2014 Polaris Music Prize announces long list

The Polaris Music Prize has announced the long list for the 2014 award. The 40 Long List albums were unveiled at the National Music Centre in Calgary in association with the Sled Island Music Festival.

In total 189 titles made the first ballots of the 190 member jury. Twenty-three of the 40 Long List titles are first-time Polaris Music Prize nominees. Of those, three have been in previously nominated groups.

“The city has been so welcome and after what happened last year we felt it was important to reveal this year’s list in one of the most musical places in Canada. We’d like to congratulate all of the inspiring artists who made the list and the people with the easiest/toughest job in the world of narrowing that 189 worthy records to just 40 – our jury,” said Jordan.