FacebookA bit of a “wow” moment last night when I went archive digging and found that I Heart Music had been running his “Hottest Bands In Canada” poll for five years running already, making the 2010 edition – unveiled last week – the sixth one. An impressive feat that I’d like to salute Matthew for before proceeding. Okay, done.

As always, Matt put out the call to an assortment of Canadian and Canuckophile music writers and bloggers to submit their top ten acts with Canadian passports that they would declare to be “the hottest” by whatever standard they chose to use, the rankings weighted and enumerated and the top 33 artists tallied. Not nearly as mysterious or intensive as the Polaris process, but a good barometer of what folks are talking about approximately midway through that prize’s eligibility period. And, more importantly, it allows me to use my already-written ballot as the basis for a post, thus freeing up more time to watch television. Everybody wins. And off we go.

1. Arcade Fire – It was almost a scientifically controlled experiment with the three biggest indie bands in Canada releasing new albums in the span of three months, and as much attention as the New Pornographers and Broken Social Scene records got, it was nothing compared to the appetite for The Suburbs. Arcade Fire = hottest band in Canada. QED.

Video: Arcade Fire – “We Used To Wait”

2. K’Naan – There’s not much bigger stage than the World Cup and the only thing better than having your song used as its official anthem is having it be a song that remains uplifting even after being played a billion times over a month. K’Naan did this.

Video: K’Naan – “Waving Flag”

3. Diamond Rings – No one expected a D’Urbervilles solo project to get the attention that it did, but over the past year John O’Reagan’s electro-glam alter ego has become a bona fide phenomenon and his debut album Special Affections has somehow managed to live up to the hype.

MP3: Diamond Rings – “Something Else”

4. Karkwa – In terms of increased profile over the last year, no one can top Karkwa because before they surprised many by taking this year’s Polaris Music Prize, most of English Canada had never even heard of them. Can’t say that anymore.

Video: Karkwa – “Le pyromane”

5. Shad – The downside of being the presumptive best record in Canada for months and then not winning – for the second time – is perhaps being cast ast the Susan Lucci of the Polaris Prize. The upside is that TSOL was called the best record in Canada for months, and people heard it – the praise and the album. Not a bad consolation prize.

MP3: Shad – “Yaa I Get It”

6. Dan Mangan – Though some may argue that there’s nothing really special about Mangan’s everyman singer-songwriter, they can’t argue that there’s few who work or social network as hard as Mangan and its paid off in a huge and loyal fanbase.

MP3: Dan Mangan – “Road Regrets”

7. Land Of Talk – After a few false starts, Land Of Talk’s new record Cloak & Cipher should allow them to drop the “next” from their perpetual “next big thing” status, though if their career stays true to form they’ll blow up via the slow burn.

MP3: Land Of Talk – “Quarry Hymns”

8. Metric – They’ve always had their eyes set on the big time and what with getting tapped to record the new Twilight theme song and playing multi-night stands at theatres and outdoor amphitheatres, they might well have finally gotten there.

Video: Metric – “Black Sheep”

9. Broken Social Scene
This slot could have gone to any of BSS, Wolf Parade, Stars, New Pornographers or any other Canadian A-list band who released a solid but hardly game-changing record. But BSS managed to get a Polaris short-list spot out of theirs, so circle gets the square.

MP3: Broken Social Scene – “World Sick”

10. The Rural Alberta Advantage – Relatively quiet in 2010, but deserving of a mention if just for topping last year’s poll; their second album is in the can and there’s been enough touring to remind people of why they love this band so.

MP3: The Rural Alberta Advantage – “Don’t Haunt This Place”

Arcade Fire’s Will Butler talks to The Wall Street Journal and Win and R&eacute.gine to Clash.

Toronto’s Hooded Fang, who scored the #23 spot on the poll despite having just released their debut Album, will be promoting said record with an in-store at Sonic Boom this Saturday, November 13, at 6PM and then following an Ontario tour through November, play a hometown release show for the record at The Drake on December 9.

MP3: Hooded Fang – “Laughing”

Elliott Brood and The Sadies may not have been ranked, but that won’t stop them from continuing their New Year’s Eve traditions by ringing in 2011 at Lee’s Palace and The Horseshoe, respectively. Tickets for the Elliott Brood show are $20 in advance, Sadies ticket info forthcoming.

MP3: The Sadies – “Another Year Again”
Video: Elliott Brood – “Fingers & Tongues”

Julie Doiron, who didn’t place on the poll herself but whose Daniel Fred & Julie bandmate Daniel Romano tied for 27, has set a date at the Horseshoe for February 3, tickets $12 in advance.

MP3: Julie Doiron – “Consolation Prize”

Hannah Georgas (number 17) talks to QRO; she is at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre on November 26.

And though Feist is unsurprisingly nowhere to be found on the list – not releasing an album in three years does temper one’s hotness – expect her to be back at or near the top next year, as she’s getting back into action. Starting with the release of the Look At What The Light Did Now documentary film, which is coming out as a DVD/CD package on December 7 but will be screening at The Royal Ontario Museum on November 21, followed by a Q&A with Miss Leslie herself. Limited tickets are $20, on sale now.

Trailer: Look At What The Light Did Now

Pitch PerfectFor fans of a certain artfully raw and dramatic brand of indie rock, neither Jonathan Meiburg nor Jamie Stewart really needs an introduction. The former was a principal in Okkervil River and now fronts Shearwater, while the latter has been the creative force behind Xiu Xiu since 2002, and for the benefit of those familiar with one and not the other, their bands had toured together in recent years.

And now, they’ve made an album together. Over the course of a week earlier this year, Meiburg and Stewart came together in a studio to write and record and the result is Blue Water White Death – the name of both the project and the album. Presented in very spare sonic terms, it sounds very much like what you’d expect the offspring of Shearwater and Xiu Xiu to sound like, taking advantage of the fact that Meiburg and Stewarts voices are similar enough to sound like flip sides of the same emotional coin; Meiburg the powerful and Stewart the fragile. I didn’t really expect to like Blue Water White Death as much as I do, figuring my affection for Shearwater and disinterest in Xiu Xiu woulf cancel each other out, but these eight starkly beautiful and unsettlingly discordant songs are surprisingly compelling listening throughout.

Interview talks to Jonathan Meiburg about the origins of the project and working with Stewart.

MP3: Blue Water White Death – “Song For The Greater Jihad”
Video: Blue Water White Death – “Grunt Tube”

Grace Potter & The Nocturnals will bring their new self-titled album to town for a show at Lee’s Palace on December 7, tickets $15.

Video: Grace Potter & The Nocturals – “Paris (Ooh La La)”

Proving that there’s still no shortage of demand for things broken and/or social, Broken Social Scene have added a second show at the Sound Academy on December 10, tickets $30 in advance. Note that Superchunk don’t appear to be playing that second show, so they’ll only be performing on the 9th. The Courier-Journal talks to the ‘Chunk’s Mac McCaughan.

MP3: Broken Social Scene – “World Sick”

Former Beta Band frontman Steve Mason released his solo debut Boys Outside back in May and will be playing some select North American dates in mid-December to support; his tour wraps on December 20 at Wrongbar in Toronto. Wales Online has an interview and there’s a couple acoustic live tracks to download over at Domino.

MP3: Steve Mason – “All Come Down”
Video: Steve Mason – “Lost & Found”

Personal matters have forced Dum Dum Girls to cancel the remainder of their tour supporting The Vaselines, including Saturday night’s show at The Horseshoe.

eMusic and BBC have features on Warpaint. Their debut album The Fool was released this week.

Spinner talks to Rhett Miller of Old 97’s – he and bassist Murry Hammond will be playing songs from their new album The Grand Theatre Volume One when the pair play the El Mocambo on November 10.

Strange Powers, the documentary about Stephin Merritt and The Magnetic Fields, will be making its Canadian premiere at the TIFF Lightbox on November 4. No idea if it’s a one-off or limited run, but if you want to see it on the big screen, you best set the evening aside and finagle tickets.

Trailer: Strange Powers: Stephin Merritt and the Magnetic Fields

Joe FudaAnd now, a bunch of stuff that has nothing to do with a certain record label that is now old enough to drink in the US.

Starting locally, with The Rural Alberta Advantage. After one of the best and busiest 2009s on record, the trio has been relatively quiet through most of this year working on the follow-up to their debut Hometowns, as these photos (sort of) attest. But you can only keep road warriors in one place for so long and they’ll be on the road again starting at the end of this month with a pretty extensive Fall tour that takes them out across the prairies to the west coast of Canada, across the Atlantic for a slew of European and UK dates and then, finally, back home to Toronto for a show at Lee’s Palace on December 16 – their first proper local show in over a year. It’ll be good to hear some of the new material that will appear on album number two when it hits sometime next year, but mostly it’ll just be nice to see them again. Tickets for the show are $15 in advance.

MP3: The Rural Alberta Advantage – “Frank, AB”
MP3: The Rural Alberta Advantage – “Don’t Haunt This Place”

And more to the show announcements from the past week or so – Avi Buffalo will precede their October 18 show at the Horseshoe with an in-store at Soundscapes on October 17 at 7PM. It’ll be interesting to see if Avigdor Zahner-Isenberg can tear it up as fiercely on acoustic as he does electric. I am guessing yes.

MP3: Avi Buffalo – “Remember Last Time”
MP3: Avi Buffalo – “What’s In It For?”

Also doing it free for the kids is PS I Love You, whose just-released debut Meet Me At The Muster Station has been getting some impressive Pitchfork-love. They’ll be at Soundscapes on October 26 at 7PM before heading down to The Garrison to open up for Diamond Rings. The duo are profiled in The Province, National Post, Chart and Exclaim.

MP3: PS I Love You – “2012”
MP3: PS I Love You – “Butterflies & Boners”
MP3: PS I Love You – “Facelove”

Forest City Lovers have set a date at The Horseshoe for November 5, amidst a smattering of Fall dates. They’ve also just put out a new pensive-to-party video from Carriage.

MP3: Forest City Lovers – “Light You Up”
Video: Forest City Lovers – “Tell Me Cancer”

Horse Feathers and Anaïs Mitchell will team up for a show at the Drake Underground on November 8.

MP3: Horse Feathers – “Curs In The Weeds”
MP3: Anaïs Mitchell – “Flowers (Eurydice’s Song)”

The Balconies, who like The RAA were omni-present in 2009 but relatively quiet in 2010, are back for a show at The Horseshoe on November 9 – hopefully as a precursor to a second album.

MP3: The Balconies – “Serious Bedtime”

The Meligrove Band have put together both a North American tour for and a video from their just-released new record Shimmering Lights. They’re at The Great Hall on November 12 and there’s interviews at The National Post and dose.

MP3: The Meligrove Band – “Bones Attack!!!”
MP3: The Meligrove Band – “Halflight”
Video: The Meligrove Band – “Racing To Shimmering Lights”

Rufus Wainwright has a date at Massey Hall on December 4.

Video: Rufus Wainwright – “Zebulon”

Damon Gough, aka Badly Drawn Boy, has slated a North American tour in support of his new record It’s What I’m Thinking Pt.1 — Photographing Snowflakes. The record is out next Tuesday and will be available in a variety of deluxe and standard packages, as detailed at Exclaim. The Toronto date of the aforementioned tour is December 8 at The Great Hall, tickets $27.50 in advance.

Video: Badly Drawn Boy – “Too Many Miracles”

Interpol will be making good on the support slot for U2 this past Summer which was canceled along with the entire tour when Bono realized he was an old man. They’ll be at the Air Canada Centre on July 11 of next year.

MP3: Interpol – “Lights”

BeatRoute discusses The Age Of Adz with Sufjan Stevens. The record is out October 12 and he plays Massey Hall on October 13.

Murray Lightburn of The Dears talks to eye in advance of the band’s three-night residency at The Garrison next week, October 13 through 15, where they’ll play all of their new, as-yet untitled and release date-less album, start to finish.

The Oklahoma Daily and Austinist talk to members of Local Natives, who’ve put out a new video and have a sold-out show at the Mod Club on October 19.

Video: Local Natives – “Wide Eyes”

Spinner has an interview with Lissie, who brings her full-length debut Catching A Tiger to the El Mocambo on October 19. There’s also a new video from said record.

Video: Lissie – “Everywhere I Go”

Uptown and The Ottawa Citizen profile Rae Spoon, in town for a show at the Gladstone on October 21.

Stars, who are playing Massey Hall on October 26, are interviewed by BeatRoute and The Huffington Post.

Spinner talks to Black Mountain. They’ll be dressing up as a band playing The Phoenix on Hallowe’en.

Thanks Captain Obvious, The Village Voice and Spinner talk to Sharon Van Etten about her new record Epic. She is at Lee’s Palace on November 5 supporting Junip.

The Wooden Sky, who’ve got a date at Lee’s Palace on November 6, have just been featured in a Daytrotter session and a Gateway interview.

Wolf Parade have rolled out a new video from Expo 86. They’ll be at the Sound Academy on November 26.

Video: Wolf Parade – “Yulia”

NPR has a World Cafe session with Ra Ra Riot, in town for a show at the Mod Club on December 1. There’s also interviews at The Omaha World-Herald and Wall Street Journal.

Kevin Drew tells Spin why Broken Social Scene are called Broken Social Scene while Brendan Canning talks to The Georgia Straight and Andrew Whiteman to The Gateway. They are at the Sound Academy on December 9.

BeatRoute chats with Owen Pallett.

Pitchfork interviews Arcade Fire.

Spinner, The Gateway, See and BeatRoute talk to Holy Fuck.

Over at YouTube, Daniel Lanois offers a track-by-track analysis of Neil Young’s Le Noise from the view of the producer’s chair.

Didn’t The Flaming Lips just release a video from Embryonic last week? Yes they did. But here’s another one anyways.

Video: The Flaming Lips – “The Sparrow Looks Up At The Machine”

How do you know Of Montreal were just in the UK? Interviews with Kevin Barnes at Drowned In Sound, The Quietus and The Line Of Best Fit.

The Fly talks to the ladies of Warpaint about their forthcoming debut The Fool, hitting the streets on October 26.

MOVE talks to Mountain Goat Peter Hughes.

Craig Finn of The Hold Steady discusses the benefits of getting older with The Boston Globe.

And seriously, this isn’t even nearly everything I’ve had backlogged to post over the past week.

Frank YangThere’s been no secret about where, were I a betting man, my money would have gone in guessing who’d walk away with the 2010 Polaris Music Prize last night. From my first ballot through the announcement of the short list right up through yesterday, I’ve been pulling for Shad’s TSOL and amongst my informal polling, that seemed to be the consensus choice. Well if there’s one thing that I should have learned by now is that the Polaris will always surprise you. And surprised would be the best word to describe my reaction when Damian Abraham of Fucked Up – last year’s surprise winner – announced the $20,000 prize and accompanying year in the spotlight would go to Montreal’s Karkwa for their record Les Chemins De Verre.

It’s a record that I listened to a moderate amount in the course of my juror duties, but had only made it as far as my “I should listen to this more when I have the time” list. And since the members of this year’s grand jury obviously spent much more time with the record, it’s apparently an album that merits that further attention. It’s not as though it’s inaccessible, beyond the language thing (it’s all in French if that wasn’t clear) – it’s beautifully melodic, dynamic and expertly performed atmospheric rock that certainly doesn’t require a working knowledge of the language to enjoy. In fact, that aside, it’s probably one of the more conventional yet interesting records on the short list – but I had assumed that being virtually unknown outside of Francophone Canada before their Polaris nomination, they didn’t really stand a chance.

Well, I clearly underestimated both the record and the jury because after hours of deliberations, they came to a decision that should put to rest at least one of the complaints constantly leveled against the Polaris Prize – that it’s inherently biased towards English Canada and any Francophone artists included are there on a token basis. Well Karkwa just took twenty thousands tokens to the bank and the honour of having crafted the best album in Canada in the past year – congratulations to them. Yes, they’re still all white men who play guitars but one complaint at a time, alright?

As for the gala itself, it did a fine job of keeping the hundreds in attendance at the Masonic Temple in Toronto entertained whilst the 11 men and women of the grand jury went about their duties. For the second year, they had all ten nominees on hand to perform and though no one went as all-out with hijinks or antics as they did last year, all of them made splendid arguments for why they belonged on the short list and why after all the debate and discussion over who should and should not win the prize, it’s nice to just sit back and appreciate the depth of musical talent this country has to offer.

One of the big guns of the short list kicked things off, Broken Social Scene something like a dozen members strong opening the show with the rousing instrumental “Meet Me In The Basement”, which functioned as a sort of theme song to the evening. Their set was followed by The Sadies and a demonstration of why, powered by the Good brothers’ absurd guitar-slinging and spiritually bolstered by Dallas sporting Tommy Hunter’s suit borrowed from the CBC, they’re one of the country’s most fearsome live acts.

At this point, thing shifted both geographically (to Acadia), linguistically (regional dialect Chiac) and stylistically (hip-hop) with Radio Radio. I’ve made no secret that they were my least favourite of all of the shortlisters and I’d be dismayed if they actually won, but will freely admit that they delivered a good, fun and energetic performance with the three of them trading off MC duties whilst backed by a couple members of Karkwa. Entertaining? Sure. Best album in the country? No. The performance then swung out west for Dan Mangan, who couldn’t help but deliver one of the most understated performances of the night – his singer-songwriter fare is about intimacy, not grand gestures – not even when bolstered by strings, horns and handclappers. He did, however, stage the closest thing to an audience invasion the night would see when he pulled his mic stand into the audience and climbed onto a table to lead the singalong finale to “Robots”. At first I thought he had invaded another nominee’s table as a challenge, but it turned out to be his own. Which, I suppose, was the only nice thing to do.

It seemed as though Montreal’s The Besnard Lakes were the only act to play just one song but technically, “Like The Ocean, Like The Innocent” is a two-parter – it just happened to be an epic space-rock jam that gave Jace Lasek a chance to show off his guitar chops and guitar face. Karkwa – who would in less than an hour become the talk of the town, if not country – followed with a pair of songs that you didn’t need to understand to appreciate, showcasing their impressive musical chops and probably had more than a few people wondering, “who are these guys and why haven’t I heard of them before this?” – soon to be a moot question.

It was about this time that word began circulating a winner had been selected, just when Owen Pallett – winner of the inaugural Polaris Prize a half-decade ago – was up next. His horn-augmented performance that reaffirmed him as one of Canada’s premiere musicians in the pop music sphere, his two selections from Heartland veritably crackling with creativity and imagination. Shad’s performance also crackled and, featuring a guest spot from Broken Social Scene’s Lisa Lobsinger on “Rose Garden”, certainly looked like a champion up there, closing out with a freestyle that could have been cheesy but was instead wholly inspiring.

Though arguably the most successful act on the short list, Tegan & Sara kept their set intimate with just the two sisters backed up by Pallett, who continued the trend of nominees guesting with other nominees Canada, eh? I’d not paid much attention to Tegan & Sara since their debut arrived with no small amount of hype and didn’t do anything for me, but they really did sound great up there and their banter was as entertaining as advertised. And finally, there was Caribou who, along with his sizable band all dressed in white, closed things out with a well and proper disco party although no one actually got up to dance (there wasn’t a lot of room). Like every act before them, they presented a strong case for why they should be dubbed owners of the best album in Canada, even though it had already been decided by a group who saw none of their performances.

But in the end, it was Karkwa, who were stunned and humbled and gracious as they were declared the winners by last year’s prom queens Fucked Up – an unexpected but worthy choice which should make for some interesting debate and discussion in the coming days and months. I personally had no dog in this race, my part in the process was done with the submission of the second ballot months ago. What I mainly got out of it – besides an evening of entertainment and a late night of photo processing and writing – is the certainty that with the Polaris, the best strategy appears to be as unknown as possible, somehow sneak onto the short list, be hardly rated to win by anyone and then walk away with the cash while the heavily favoured stand around and shrug. I think the only year that a dark horse didn’t take the prize was Caribou, which means that I had the honour of being part of the most predictable grand jury so far… yay us?

Check out photos from the gala below and watchables and listenables from the shortlisted albums after the jump.

Photos: Polaris Music Prize Gala 2010 @ The Masonic Temple – September 20, 2010

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Deirdre O’CallaghanThe lines between Grinderman and Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds aren’t always very clear. Quantitatively, you’ve got a few less members (which must make for some awkward scenes at the rehearsal space – “oh, I thought it was a Bad Seeds day… I’ll show myself out…”) and Cave strapping on a guitar and avoiding the piano, and qualitatively, you’ve got an even rawer, darker sound than the Bad Seeds craft and they’re hardly all sunbeams and unicorns.

Their seedier-than-Seeds 2007 debut Grinderman was soaked in the blues and testosterone and was a welcome jolt of energy from a group of players whose works had become increasingly ornate, particularly relative to their more anarchic Birthday Party origins. And when the reawakening of their rocking, raunchier side carried over to the next Bad Seeds record, 2008’s scorching Dig, Lazarus Dig!!!, it would have been reasonable to think that Grinderman had served its purpose and run its course. But no, Cave’s not done with the six-string as a songwriting tool and so we get Grinderman 2, out today.

Though still noisy and guitar-driven, 2 dials down the front-to-back pelvic thrust of its predecessor in favour of a more fully-produced sound that feels less beholden to a rigid aesthetic. And while it’s hard to imagine a video as ridiculous (in a good way) as that for “Heathen Child” being released under the Bad Seeds marque, any one of these songs could easily pass as having come from that main project, particularly the glorious “Palaces Of Montezuma” which has to rank as one of Cave’s best pop compositions in years. I’m sure that in the heads of their creators, there’s a clear distinction between these songs and those, but from the listener’s point of view all that really matters is that there’s another set of intensely and inimitably Cave compositions to absorb. No matter what the band is called.

Spinner, The Australian, The Herald and The Courier-Mail have interviews with Cave and The Line Of Best Fit talks to drummer Jim Sclavunos while The Quietus and Montreal Gazette chat with them both. The New Yorker has a profile on both The Bad Seeds and Grinderman by Sasha Frere-Jones and Pile Of Vinyl has got demos fo the first album available to download. Their North American tour starts November 11 at the Phoenix in Toronto.

Grinderman 2 is available to stream this week at Spinner.

MP3: Grinderman – “Heathen Child”
Video: Grinderman – “Heathen Child”
Stream: Grinderman / Grinderman 2
MySpace: Grinderman

Last week I was bemoaning the fact that Superchunk were crossing the border next week for a show in Montreal but weren’t coming down the 401 to play their first Toronto show in some nine years. Turns out the reason why is they’ll be here on December 9 opening up for Broken Social Scene at the Sound Academy. Yay, Superchunk, boo Sound Academy. Tickets will be $30 and go on sale Friday. In other ‘Chunk news, they’ve taken the editorial reins at the Magnet website kicking off with a Q&A and there’s features on the band at The Daily Tarheel, Billboard, The Washington Post and Chicago Reader. Finally, Videogum has premiered the hilarious first video from Majesty Shredding, out today.

Video: Superchunk – “Digging For Something”

In other announcements, Johnny Flynn’s second record Been Listening has been given an October 25 release in North America and he’s doing some solo dates to support, including an October 18 date at Lee’s Palace. About. Time.

Video: Johnny Flynn – “Kentucky Pill”

Bruce Peninsula must be about done their second record as they’ve scheduled an October 28 date at the Horseshoe. Tickets $10 in advance.

MP3: Bruce Peninsula – “Crabapples”

John Stirratt and Pat Sansone of Wilco will bring their Autumn Defense project to the Drake Underground on November 9. Their new album Once Around is out November 2.

Oxford’s Stornoway, whose debut album Beachcomber’s Windowsill was enthused about in this space back in July, have put together their first North American tour and it includes a November 30 date at the El Mocambo. Former Hold Steady moustache Franz Nicolay supports. There’s a session with the band up at NPR’s World Cafe.

MP3: Stornoway – “Zorbing”
MP3: Franz Nicolay – “This Is Not A Pipe”

After a goodly number of supporting dates, Freelance Whales will be playing their own show at the El Mocambo on December 7, tickets $15. They’ve also just premiered a new video from their debut album Weathervanes.

MP3: Freelance Whales – “Generator Second Floor”
Video: Freelance Whales – “Hannah”

The Radio Dept. getting political? This new song is apparently “directed at the swedish election coming this sunday”. Of course, the salient point here is new. Radio. Dept. Their “Never Follow Suit” EP is out November 9 and a double-disc of rarities – of which this track qualifies, I think – is out in January.

MP3: The Radio Dept. – “The New Improved Hypocrisy”

The Fly, Clash and eMusic have interviews with Interpol.

The Georgia Straight talks to Matt Berninger of The National.

Another track from Sufjan Stevens’ new album The Age Of Adz is making the rounds. Stevens is at Massey Hall on October 13.

MP3: Sufjan Stevens – “Too Much”

The Irish Times interviews Joanna Newsom.