Today's the deadline for my first ballot in the Polaris Prize process for 2011. If you've been a long time reader of this blog, you'll remember my recaps last year and the year before. Basically, Polaris has a jury of about 220 plus writers, critics, radio hosts, bloggers, other music types who are part of a monstrous list-serv where they debate the merits and faults of different Canadian albums all year long. They pick their 5 favourites in the first cut, and the 40 most voted on albums make up the ensuing long list. There's round of voting in about a month or so to determine the 10 albums for the short list.
We're told to pick albums based solely on quality and merit, dismissing things like genre, popularity, album sales, etc. Despite this lofty and admirable goal, stripping an album from its social context and judging it simply on music alone is next to impossible. We're never separate from the media attention (or lack of attention) that frames our reception of sounds and songs. We're also victims of history…every new album we hear is received and judged based on our previous listening experiences. It's impossible, for example, to judge Arcade Fire's The Suburbs on its own merits, at least for jurors familiar with the band's previous work and their rise from indie darlings to Grammy winners.
Every year I struggle to make picks based on "just the music" and every year I realize the futility of such an endeavour. Every song has its social context; good luck untangling the two.
So, on to the picks then…I seem to have been torn this year between indie pop and experimental excursions. I was particularly taken by albums that combined the two, like Braids. Here's my top 5, and just a few of the many others that just missed the ballot.
5. Colin Stetson - New History Warfare, Vol. 2: Judges
This is easily the most amazing, impressive, virtuosic, awe-inspiring album I've heard this year, if not this decade. I know that sounds insanely exaggerated. But it's an absolutely incredible collection of artworks, all created by one guy and his sizeable collection of saxophones (well, that's not totally true…credit has to go to the producers and engineers who placed the micas to capture the endless echoes and nuances). When you look into the process of "circular breathing" that underpins the album's sound, you realize it's not just a musical achievement, but a technical and physical one. Stetson is basically a human looping machine, building intricate rhythms by berating in and out simultaneously (check him out here, or, for fun, see Kenny G's description of the process).
4. Timber Timbre - Creep on Creepin' On
I've been into Timber Timbre's creepy, ghost-story infused folk since their last disc, and while the novelty of Taylor Kirk's freaky-crooner voice has worn off a bit, I'm impressed they were able to make an album that's spookier than their last one. The new disc has some stand out singles ("Bad Ritual", "Black Water") but it's also peppered with intermissions of scary-movie type soundtrack instrumentals ("Swamp Magic", "Souvenirs"). All in all it adds up to a pretty strange and different sounding album, one that builds on what was good about the last disc but is still unafraid to venture into a few new dark corners.
3. Arcade Fire - The Suburbs
Although it's not shocking that Arcade Fire are on my list, it is a bit surprising. Neon Bible left me a bit cold. With the exception of one or two songs, it lacked almost everything I loved about the band's debut. That's not to say it was bad; it just seemed the band was pursuing a different direction and it was one I wasn't particularly interested in following. So I'm happy that The Suburbs shows the band evolving and changing, but in ways I'm much more willing to spend time with. This is a big, killer album; one that cuts across genres and niches. This album will easily make the long list, definitely make the shortlist, and it will likely be the album to beat when the final prize is handed out.
2. Braids - Native Speaker
This hypnotic experimental pop album just keeps on giving. Layers of electronic glitches and sustaining sounds build upon layers of otherworldly vocals. And then everything washes out, and the process starts again. Lather, rinse, repeat. Or, as Robert Everett-Green of the Globe and Mail put it much more poetically, Braids "makes music the way the sea handles water, by overlapping simple elements to produce overwhelming effects." The stand out tracks on this album like "Lemonade" or "Plath Heart" were quick to garner attention, but the song that best encapsulates the band is "Lammicken". Go listen to it. Love it. Then listen again.
1. Hooded Fang - Hooded Fang Album
This album snuck up on me. Completely. Not that it's hard to get into. In fact, at first pass, it seems rather innocuous: happy cute melodies laced over pleasing instrumentation. It seemed so straightforward that I didn't think it would have any staying power. But, as I kept returning to it again and again, almost as if it was against my will, I realized how wonderfully crafted this collection of indie-pop songs is. The tracks are tight, succinct and beaming with romantic innocence. The band is like a more dialed-down, self-depricating version of Stars, but not as serious and moody as Belle and Sebastien. They wear their emotions on their sleeves but they've got jackets on.
Honourable Mentions
I'd be remiss if I didn't mention Sarah Harmer's Oh Little Fire. There's something about the way Sarah Harmer tells stories that makes my ears perk up. And while this has been true for all her solo albums (and her work with Weeping Tile), I've been disappointed, musically, by what her last few albums have had to offer. The songs seemed to blend into one another, hinting that maybe she was a bit stuck. Oh Little Fire shows how wrong that assumption was. Her signature catchy smart tracks are surrounded by hidden subtle gems, making for a wonderfully rich album experience. It seems weird to have had to decide between Sarah Harmer and Colin Stetson for the last spot; the two albums could not be further apart. I hope she makes the long list…so I can agonize over her album again.
After that, there were a lot of maybes. Christine Fellows, Jenn Grant, Tokyo Police Clube, Chad Van Gaalen, Miracle Fortress all had solid, but not great albums. D-Sisive's Jonestown was another dark, funny, self-reflexive album from the Toronto-based hip-hop maestro. I also had a tough time cutting Rural Alberta Advantage's Departing from the list. Stamp is probably my favourite all-out rock song by a Canadian act this year. But the rest of the album didn't cohere as well for me as some of the other picks.
And while I'm pretty sure the votes for Quebec/Franco acts will go to Malajube and Tigre et Diesel (both incredibly solid, fuzzy, dancey albums), I find myself going back to the quieter and moodier albums from Monogrenade and Peter Peter. If you're looking for reasons to learn French, be sure to check these last two out.
The long list of the top 40 albums is announced in about 10 days. The next round of voting happens in July. More news then…
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