So the ten finalists for the inaugural Polaris Music Prize were announced yesterday and to no one’s surprise, the list is heavily indie rock-centric and Toronto/Ontario-centric, to say nothing of Toronto indie rock-centric.

Of my nominations, the only one I’m a little surprised about not making the list is Destroyer. I thought Destroyer’s Rubies would have been a critic’s pick shoo-in – guess not. What I am surprised about are the presence of Sarah Harmer and Metric, as I didn’t feel their latest efforts measured up the the benchmarks set by their earlier works. But, as I noticed when I was trying to make my picks, the pool of eligible acts was pretty slim this year.

But without further delay – the final 10:

Broken Social Scene / Broken Social Scene (Arts & Crafts/EMI)
Cadence Weapon / Breaking Kayfabe (Upper Class/EMI)
The Deadly Snakes / Porcella (Paper Bag/Universal)
Final Fantasy / He Poos Clouds (Blocks Recording Club/Sonic Unyon)
Sarah Harmer / I’m A Mountain (Cold Snap/Universal)
K’naan / The Dusty Foot Philosopher (Track & Field/Sony BMG)
Malajube / Trompe L’oeil (Dare to Care/Outside)
Metric / Live It Out (Last Gang/Universal)
The New Pornographers / Twin Cinema (Mint/Outside)
Wolf Parade / Apologies To The Queen Mary (Sub Pop/Outside)

Anyway, each of the nominated bands will contribute a track to a compilation CD to be released on August 22 and the winner of the $20,000 grand prize will be selected on September 18 from a final jury of 11 of the 120 original jurors. And for those looking for an angle by which to condemn this event, the main sponsors of the prize are evil conglomorate Rogers and Yahoo!. Boo, hiss! Chart talks to Polaris exec Steve Jordan about the short list while The Globe & Mail contemplates the list.

But for the record, I’m pulling for the New Pornograpers, which means I will have to fight Zoilus.

Exclaim!’s review of Mojave 3’s Puzzles Of You includes a brief interview with Neil Halstead.

The Los Angeles Times talks to members of the Los Angeles Philharmonic and Belle & Sebastian’s Mick Cooke about their collaboration/performance at the Hollywood Bowl tomorrow night.

The New Pollution asks Stuart Brathwaite of Mogwai if they’ve mellowed.

Glide counts off the buzz bands of 2006 so far and essentially wraps up the entire indie rock blogosphere in one tidy list.

The Sadies are holding a CD release party for In Concert Vol. 1 (out August 8) at the Horseshoe September 8 and 9. You know what they should do? They should record it and release it as Volume 2, then record the release party for THAT and put it out as Volume 3, and so forth and so forth. That’d be awesome. Elsewhere, Early Day Miners are at Club Tranzac on September 13, Lambchop and The Tosca String Quartet are at Mod Club September 24 ($20), Be Your Own Pet are at the Horseshoe September 25, blogger beloveds Beirut (see above) are at the ‘Shoe October 4 ($10), Hot Chip at Mod Club October November 6 ($15) and from the Britpop graveyard – The Bluetones – BLUETONES – are at Lee’s Palace on Oct 6. Seriously.

np – Gemma Hayes / The Roads Don’t Love You