Winner of the Polaris Music Prize – Caribou

The winner of the Polaris Music Prize was chosen and announced yesterday. After months of narrowing the nominees and the journalists down, they finally came to the conclusion that Ontario’s Caribou is the worthiest of them all.

I wrote about the short list nominees back in July and I really thought Plants and Animals would take the prize. I’m not disappointed or angry that Caribou won. They deserve it or should I say, he deserves it. Caribou is essentially Daniel Snaith who used to perform under the name Manitoba but was forced to change his name because of Handsome Dick Manitoba from the band, The Dictators. Complicated story but in the end, Manitoba turned into Caribou.

So what did Caribou win? He won the title, Polaris Music Prize Winner, and $20,000 that he may save for space travel in the future.

The album that won him the prize was Andorra; an album full of psychedelic instrumental euphony and soft vocals. Overall, it’s a fairly unique and creative album.

Check out as much as you can below.

Caribou – Melody Day

Caribou – She’s the One

Caribou’s Official website
Caribou’s Myspace

Polaris Music Prize Finalists

The Polaris Music Prize is a $20,000 reward to the best Canadian album of the year (disregarding record sales). The jury consists of 178 people who are either journalists, broadcasters, programmers or bloggers (how I wish I was on that jury). They started with a long list of 40 artists and have narrowed it down to 10 finalists. The finalists seem to mainly come from the East but there is one band from Vancouver (Black Mountain) and one from Winnipeg (The Weakerthans). I have comprised an ordered list of who I think is the worthiest.

1. Plants and Animals – Parc Avenue (Montréal, QC)
2. Basia Bulat – Oh, My Darling (London, ON)
3. Stars – In Our Bedroom after the War (Montréal, QC)
4. Caribou – Andorra (Dundas, ON)
5. Kathleen Edwards – Asking for Flowers (Ottawa, ON)
6. Black Mountain – In the Future (Vancouver, BC)
7. Shad – The Old Prince (London, ON) <– This is hip-hop (omg)
8. Holy Fuck – LP (Toronto, ON)
9. The Weakerthans – Reunion Tour (Winnipeg, MB)
10. Two Hours of Traffic – Little Jabs (Charlottetown, PEI)

Ok, so Plants and Animals win it in my books.

But you should check out these artists. I’ve posted a song from each of the top five albums I’ve chosen

Plants and Animals – Bye Bye Bye
Basia Bulat – Snakes and Ladders
Stars – Take me to the riot
Caribou – Melody Day
Kathleen Edwards – Buffalo