Nuit Blanche 2010: Part 1 > Fly By Night

Considering this is only its 5th year, Nuit Blanche has become a Toronto mainstay in a relatively short time. I think it's the romance of the concept: 12 hours from sunset to sunrise when the city is teeming with people until the wee hours, roaming the streets in search of art and spectacle. And like any romance, there's good (witnessing a city at play, seeing the gleam of discovery in people's eyes) and the bad (the drunks, navigating the crowds, not every installation connects with me). But every year, the streets are thriving and alive at 4am and I want to be a part of that.

This year I served as one of the Nuit Narrators for the event, sharing the night as I went. It proved to be a great motivator for staying out for the whole event. Also, it helped piece together the next afternoon after 4 hours sleep.

If you want a few tips for getting through the night: wear good walking shoes, dress in layers, and pack some supplies. On the supply side, packing light is good as you're on the move and need to maneuver through the crowds.

6:51pm all signed in at the Scotiabank Nuit Blanche centre at Yonge and Dundas. One of the changes this year was Yonge Street being closed to traffic from Bloor to Front Street, and it proved to be a highlight, walking down the middle of the road at 7pm. Pedestrians turned out in the thousands to take advantage of the festivities. Woe unto any drivers who didn't get the memo.

By 7:15PM I've met up with my partner in Nuit, Ms Rita, and we're off into the night. It takes a little while to come up with a plan of action: the challenges are 1) don't miss anything cool; and 2) avoid those areas that get clogged with crowds. You'll see later I forget about #2.

We decide to plunge south into Zone C, curated by Christof Migone. When the exhibition is named "SHOULD I STAY OR SHOULD I GO", how can I resist.

Auto Lamp, C1 shining into the night. Ms Rita wants to make it into a Lite Brite

by the2scoops via iPhone at Saturday, October 02, 2010 8:00:51 PM

7:45PM we reach Yonge and Queen and the sun's gone down. The twilight is all the better to take in Auto Lamp by Kim Adams.

A van turned into a landlocked lighthouse, it's skin punctured with holes and insides filled with light. It shines out into the night:



"The vehicle's consistency is compromised, it's barely there, it's more holes than whole. "

C2 scape with 6 and 7 sound installation sounds like it's stalking us, the sound of breathing altered into something menacing

by the2scoops via iPhone at Saturday, October 02, 2010 8:31:46 PM

We walk further and find ourselves at the Cloud Gardens on Richmond. We're drawn to the noise of Annie Onyi Cheung's installation "_scape with 6 and 7".

C14 The Task at 8:32pm moving bricks back and forth all night without building anything. An endurance test?

by the2scoops via iPhone at Saturday, October 02, 2010 8:34:25 PM

South of Adelaide we find one of the open call projects selected by the curator. The Task by Chris Shepherd proves to be one of the most fascinating projects I saw that night. A man stacks and unstacks cement blocks all night. It's not in the effort of building anything, but simply the task. Nothing will be built, nothing destroyed.

We talked with the artist, Chris Shepherd, about how the repetition of the task is a meditative thing, as much mental as physical. He found the murmer of the crowds akin to white noise, nice and comforting. Chris wasn't doing the task for a purpose, "I'm just doing it because I want to do it."

C13 Wait Until You See ... I can't spoil what's behind the curtain
by the2scoops via iPhone at Saturday, October 02, 2010 8:46:40 PM

As a perk of my role as Nuit Narrator, I was given a media pass that allowed us to bypass any lines and head straight in to an installation. At "Wait Until You See This", my "skip the line" media pass was my undoing. This installation was based on the idea of lining up, the anticipation. And when you line up for 5, 10, 30 minutes, and finally peek behind the curtain?

Well, I skipped the line and wait straight in, to see what everyone else would eventually see: nothing.

My reaction was amusement, but what would my reaction be if I had waited like the piece intended me to?

Wedged between two buildings, three enormous inflatable clown heads.

Creepy but satisfyingly held at a distance, stuck with no place to go. One of the most popularly photographed installations at Nuit Blanche.

C8 Endgame squishing your fears

by the2scoops via iPhone at Saturday, October 02, 2010 8:55:24 PM

C10 1850 where the waters of Lake Ont reached
by the2scoops via iPhone at Saturday, October 02, 2010 9:08:25 PM

At the southern tip of Zone C, we arrive at the point where Lake Ontario once reached. The water once stretched inland to Front. Those days are gone, but the shimmer of blue lights creates a ghost of that long gone time.

C9 Vexations the cycle continues song, sculpture, song ,sculpture
by the2scoops via iPhone at Saturday, October 02, 2010 9:18:16 PM

I seemed drawn to these installations themed around repetition and time. Vexations was a remarkable project. Built around a composition which instructs the player to play 840 repetitions, this installation had to accomplish the task in 12 hours. 2 pianists, 12 hours, each of the 840 repetitions printed on an individual sheets which, after playing, were taken and transformed into a paper sculpture.

The dancing clock of The Endless Pace (C7)

by the2scoops at Saturday, October 02, 2010 9:34:28 PM

In the Bay Adelaide Centre we found what was one of my favourite installations, Big O by Žilvinas Kempinas. Like The Task, it was beautiful in its simple concept: a loop of magnetic tape precariously balanced between a series of fans. It wavers, it flows, but still remains aloft. It's like some simple game we played as children, growing anxious every time it touches the floor that the game will be over.

Area around Ryerson is crowded, prob a good time to check out The Distillery District by the2scoops via iPhone at 12:16 AM Sunday, October 03, 2010

Greatly pleased by the pieces we found in Zone C, we take a break for food, and that's when we're struck by indecision: it's 10:30pm, either we head back into the main zones where it's likely the crowds are out, or head to one of the outlying areas like Liberty Village or The Distillery District. We decided to check out the exhibits around Ryerson University, which in retrospect was a wrong turn.

Nuit Blanche 2010: Nuit Narrating and Navigating

It's the 5th Annual Scotiabank Nuit Blanche tonight, with Toronto awash in public art and people from 7pm Saturday until 7am Sunday. As I have done for the 3 previous Nuit Blanche events, I'll be out and about. What's new this year is that I've been selected by the City of Toronto to be one of their Nuit Narrators, providing live updates, tweets, photos and commentary throughout the night. I'm one of 10 narrators, with all our content pulled up under the dedicated Nuit Narrator stream.

To follow the Nuit Narrator stream, either while you're on the streets or from home, go to:

http://www.scotiabanknuitblanche.ca/share

and my content will be streaming through the Nuit Narrators section.

I'll also be tweeting all night http://twitter.com/the2scoops so come check it out.



SHARING

You can be a part of the action to with the Nuit Nation stream. This is the moderated stream where the public provides the content from various avenues:

TWEET: use #snbTO (other Nuit events are happening around the world, so this is the hashtag to identify the Toronto event) and the tweet will enter the moderated stream

EMAIL: send messages and photos to share@scribblelive.com

LINK: share directly at http://www.scotiabanknuitblanche.ca/share

UPLOAD: send photos through the Night Navigator app

FOLLOW

Four ways to follow:

MOBILE: visit http://www.scotiabanknuitblanche.ca/share on your mobile device

APP: download the sweet little Night Navigator app for Blackberry, iPhone, and Android devices

ON SITE: check out the SHARE YOUR NIGHT screens set up at the Scotiabank Information Centres around the city tonight

AT HOME: during the event or the morning after, check out http://www.scotiabanknuitblanche.ca/share

Night Navigator App

I'm looking forward to using the terrific Night Navigator app on my iPhone tonight. It's a wonderful tool to enhance your night:

• Scan complete project details and public transit routes
• Locate the most active and closest projects
• Recommend your favourites with a "thumbs up"
• Find out which projects are creating a buzz
• Share Your Night and send real-time photos and comments
• View the photo gallery submissions
• Access My Night, your personal itinerary planner
• Vote for Scotiabank People's Choice and enter to win an iPad or pre-paid Visa card
  

Makes you with some other big Toronto events that have you running all over would get something like this. (Toronto International Film Festival, I'm looking at you.)

You Used To Be Alright, What Happened?

So a little housekeeping before I dive back into this blog. I know I've been off for a bit, and that's just life getting higher priority for a bit. But I think I'm back for a while here now. I'm going to keep blogging newer things, but also dive back a bit and fill in some blank spots that I missed during my absence. Anyway, for those that stuck around, thanks. For all those newbies, welcome.

Nuit Blanche 2009

I neglected to put up my pictures on the blog last year, so here's the link to the my Flickr set:

Nuit Blanche 2009

http://www.flickr.com/photos/the2scoops/sets/72157622520445026/

Les Coquettes warm you up with a Love Story this weekend

It's chilly out there this Valentine's weekend. What better way to warm up with your sweetie this Saturday night then taking in the newest show from Toronto's premiere cabaret burlesque troupe, Les Coquettes, in a show they call Love Story.

With the ladies and gentlemen of Les Coquettes, your guaranteed to be tantalized. I was first swayed by their charms at the Spiegel show at Harbourfront in summer 2007, where I described the troupe as "playful, bawdy, lusty, and glamorous performance; choreographed titillation in beautiful costumes, with the women (and guy) enticing the audience with the old “you give them a little bit, you take it back; you show them a little more, you take it back”. They put the tease in striptease".

Can you think of any group better suited to tell you a Love Story?

On Valentines’ weekend, Toronto’s premiere cabaret burlesque troupe weaves together some of history’s greatest tales of love. Experience the triumph and heartache in an evening of song, dance, striptease and cirque.

One night only! Two spectacular shows! Bring your sweetie! Meet your soul mate! Sit between your wife and... girlfriend and hope they hit it off!

credit Ryan Visima for the above 2 photos

Saturday February 13th
The LOT
100A Ossington Avenue
Early Show - 7:00 pm
Lounge open at 6:00
Late Show – 9:30 pm
Tickets - $25-50*
To order tickets please visit http://www.lescoquettes.com

* $50 VIP tickets for this fundraiser include priority seating at a cabaret table and a complimentary specialty cocktail. Tax receipts for $25 available upon request.

A few tickets remain so hit http://lescoquetteslovestory.eventbrite.com/ quick!

The Andy Kim Christmas Show 2009

Last Wednesday I was lucky enough to score a ticket to Andy Kim's annual Christmas show at the Mod Club. It's a great event to get that sense of the holidays - musicians giving their time to come together, play some music, all for the sake of charity and friendship. This year, the proceeds were going to the Regent Park School of Music, "one of Toronto's foremost independent non-profit community music school with a mandate to provide a safe and secure environment where inner-city young people can participate in an affordable after-school music program. "

And what a great mix of a line-up. Andy Kim, iconic Canadian singer-songwriter, known best for writing "Sugar Sugar' for The Archies and singing his own hits like "Rock Me Gently". He was joined by a great band, including Derek Downham, a local musican who's immense talent is only surpassed by his willingness to give of himself. Andy Kim hosted and sang all night, and damned if it wasn't fun to sing along with him at the top of your lungs.

Andy Kim's show always manages to draw together a collection of local indie musicians and Canadian musical stalwarts. Among the performers that night were The Beauties, Broken Social Scene, Gentleman Reg, and Kim Mitchell. A lot of talented folks there. Most turned in 2 or 3 song sets, with Andy and the band coming out to play a few songs between sets. A highlight was a moving tribute video to the recently passed Haydain Neale that had the room enraptured and more than a few in tears.

Here are some highlight videos:

The Beauties cover the classic Pogues tune "Fairytale of New York", with Samantha Martin playing Kirsty MacColl to Shawn Creamer's Shane MacGowan.

Broken Social Scene grooving on "Love Is New".

Broken Social Scene opened their 3-song set wanting to give the crowd a holiday tune, so they rolled out the new tune "Sweetest Kill". It was fun to see them rock a room full of CFRB listeners and staffers.

The finale saw Andy Kim leading the crowd in "Rock Me Gently", joined by members of Broken Social Scene and The Beauties. Everyone was just having a blast



Created with flickr slideshow.

Pictures from the night, credit the2scoops.

I usually grumble at this time of year at how slow I seem to gather my holiday spirit, but the Andy Kim show was the tonic for that. The good will, charity, and energy of the musicians and the fans who made it out that night was infectious. Hopefully that'll rub off on the crowd as they go out into their lives, giving a little more of themselves than usual.

No trick, just treat: get theTimber Timbre album free

Wow! Canadian record label Arts & Crafts is handing out a treat. Until Halloween, you can download Timber Timbre's ridiculously good self-titled album Timber Timbre for free.

From now until midnight on Saturday October 31, 2009, you can download the entire breakthrough, critically acclaimed, self-titled album Timber Timbre for FREE.

We encourage you to listen to the album that KCRW (where you can hear them live this Wednesday October 28) raves, "Timber Timbre takes on the topic of love but presents it in a cloak of macabre beauty that is perfect for the Halloween season. Songs full of eerie sounds, dark imagery and ghoulish lyrics will make for a spellbinding session on Morning Becomes Eclectic."

A long-list nominee for the 2009 Polaris Music Prize, Timber Timbre was heralded by the Canadian press since its release this summer on Arts & Crafts. Playing CMJ last week, Time Out New York wrote that Timber Timbre was "the standout act" describing their set as "powerfully dark, even eerie folk tracks (which) managed to keep the crowd positively awed.” The Village Voice called them a "uniquely creepy beauty".

Click the link above to discover (for free!!) the album Toronto's Eye Weekly has already called, "The Album Of the Year".

Just in time for fall, and definitely an album that serves as a ideal soundtrack for this time of year.

When the Polaris Prize shortlist was announced, one of the most glaring omissions, at least from the folks I talk to, was Timber Timbre's album. Just follow this link to the Timber Timbre's site and download one of the most acclaimed Canadian albums of the past year: FREE Timber Timbre album

Timber Timbre's touring around a bit right now. The next Toronto date is part of the up and coming "Make Some Noise" festival at the North York Central Library, part of a terrific movement to place more Canadian music into public libraries. Timber Timbre and Bruce Peninsula play at North York Central Library, 5120 Yonge St. (North York Centre subway) on Saturday, November 7, at 8 p.m.

The rest of the tour dates are here, with stops in Los Angeles, New York and the Black Sheep Inn in Wakefield QC.

Timber Timbre @ MySpace

Tom Fun tonight

The Tom Fun Orchestra hit Toronto on Thursday night for a show at the Horseshoe Tavern. Get into the mood for their raucous live show with this charming animated video for "Throw Me To The Rats". If you need more of a Tom Fun fix (or can't manage to part with the $8 cover), you can also see the Tom Fun Orchestra play a game of "how many musicians can we fit on a stage" tomorrow as the band perform at a free in-store gig at Criminal Records on Queen Street West at 6pm.

Tom Fun Orchestra - Throw Me To The Rats from Alasdair Brotherston on Vimeo.

Director - Alasdair Brotherston

Art Director - Jock Mooney

Producer - Shot On Site Media

Compositer - Dylan White

Puppeteers - Jenni Nylander, Natalie Ryde

CONTEST - The Tom Fun Orchestra @ The Horseshoe on August 6, 2009

"I’ve got my rum & I’ve got my tequila, I’ve got somewhere to be"

If your last name is Fun, you better live up to it. And if you're fronting an eight-piece gang of musicians from Cape Breton, you best know how to get the feet movin' boy. A couple tracks into their debut album You Will Land With A Thud and I knew I wanted to be in any live venue where The Tom Fun Orchestra was holding court.

The Tom Fun Orchestra hail from Canada's east coast, and you can hear the Celtic-Maritimer heart pounding a beat through every song, a mix of camaraderie, pride, and joy. The TFO seems on the brink of a musical riot, with this banjo, trumpet, violin, accordion and guitars. But it just lends itself to this feeling like being at a kitchen party where everyone's brought an instrument. Everything seem nice and civil at first. There's the slow exhale of an accordion, the harmonic pairing of a violin and trumpet. Banjos and guitar join in, picking up locomotive speed, things get more boisterous, and by the time singer Tom Fun's whiskey and sandpaper voice leads the charge, the party's in full swing, you're spinning a dance with your new best friends, and barely notice nor care that your dining room set ended up in the street.

The TFO has developed a bit of a rep for a raucous live show, and you can hear that joyous din on You Will Land With A Thud. The opening track is a slow lament, “When You Were Mine”, but by the second track “Rum & Tequila”, you've turned your back on your troubles and found music to drive the feet and choruses that will have you singing back at the band. It's an album of bold music that's best heard loudly, and in good company. The song lyrics read like poetry scrawled in a yellowed note book, sometimes a rallying shout, sometimes warm comfort against cold regrets.

Mp3 LAST OF THE CURIOUS THIEVES - The Tom Fun Orchestra

The Tom Fun Orchestra is closing out their summer tour with a number of dates in Southern Ontario and Montreal:

31 Jul 2009 - Montreal House - Peterborough, Ontario
1 Aug 2009 - Phog Lounge - Windsor, Ontario
3 Aug 2009 - The Casbah - Hamilton, Ontario
4 Aug 2009 - Vinyl - Guelph, Ontario
6 Aug 2009 - The Horseshoe Tavern - Toronto, Ontario
7 Aug 2009 - Merritt Park - Welland, Ontario
8 Aug 2009 - Divan Orange - Montreal, Quebec

Contest: I have a 2 tickets to The Tom Fun Orchestra at The Horseshoe Tavern, Toronto on Thursday August 6th, plus a CD copy of You Will Land With A Thud.

To enter, email me at the2scoops.contests AT gmail.com with the subject line: “I want some Tom Fun”, along with your full name and email in the body. Deadline is 11:59 pm on Monday, August 3rd. Please be sure you're able to be in Toronto that night. It promises to be a great night of music with Toronto band The Coast opening – I'm always glad for a chance to hear those guys play live.

If you're a fan of kitchen parties, The Pogues, Spirit of The West or The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, or ever wondered what would have happened if Tom Waits grew up as an East Coast Canadian, check out The Tom Fun Orchestra.

Official Website: The Tom Fun Orchestra (check it out, it's pretty snazzy)

MySpace: The Tom Fun Orchestra

Mp3: Last of the Curious Thieves - The Tom Fun Orchestra

Mp3: Highway Siren Song Breakdown - The Tom Fun Orchestra

Official Website: The Coast

MySpace: The Coast

This Music Is Broken - Broken Social Scene at Harbourfront

Broken Social Scene has always been my Toronto soundtrack. Their music intersects with a lot of positive memories and stories of my life in Toronto. And the band has always shown a little extra love for the place many of them call home. When Broken Social Scene canceled their Toronto Island gig for various logistical reasons, they immediately offered up a free show as compensation. A pretty sweet treat, and the location threw me back to the last time I saw them at Harbourfront in 2004. As covered in The Book Is Broken, that show was rumoured that it was going to be their final gig, even announced as such by the band. Fortunately it was just the moment they needed to take a time-out and, though the future wasn't clear for the band at the end of that 2004 summer show, it's come back into focus in recent years.

Created with flickr slideshow.

The day of the gig, word got out that director, Bruce McDonald (Hard Core Logo, The Tracey Fragments), in collaboration with Arts & Crafts, would be filming the show for a new feature film called THIS MOVIE IS BROKEN starring Broken Social Scene. Written by Don McKellar (Last Night, the series Twitch City) the film looks to be that centers around a couple who attend a Broken Social Scene show, but the heart of the film would appear to be the concert at Harbourfront on Saturday night. I'm picturing the concert and love story playing out simultaneously on screen, with the multiple split screens like McDonald used in The Tracey Fragments. So okay, Bruce McDonald, Don McKellar, and Broken Social Scene are a personal trifecta of Canadian content brilliance. I can't be biased, this was going to be pretty damned good.

By the time I arrived, the venue was already full and I claimed a spot around the perimeter of the Sirius stage. Decent sightlines, and they crowds kept coming. I had found out through the band's Twitter feed that Metric was in town, so I'm thinking "all right, Jimmy Shaw and Emily Haines are likely to play tonight, going to be a good show".

The Rattlesnake Choir warmed up the show, a favourite band of Kevin's who regualrly play The Dakota Tavern. And then the show started, and it was all Broken Social Scene at their best, with the founding line-up on stage.

My first surprise came when Feist came out on the 3rd song, 7/4 Shoreline, and she was pumped to be there. I don't think she stopped the whole show, a whirling dervish of Muppety singing and energy.

Amy Millan (Stars) came out shortly after, and by the time Emily Haines (Metric) came out, we had the 3 original women of Broken Social Scene. And given each of them is in the midst of either touring or prepping a new release, it's a special night to see all 3 singing on stage together like the old days.

So even though I expected Emily Haines to appear, I was still knocked out when she led Broken Social Scene through this slowed down version of Metric's big hit “Give Me Sympathy”

YouTube: Give Me Sympathy - Metric/Broken Social Scene

Finally, Jason Collett, fresh from opening at for Steve Earle at Massey Hall earlier that evening, arrived. Here he was playing one of my favourite summer songs, 5 years after I first heard him play it at Harbourfront 2004.

YouTube: I'll Bring The Sun - Broken Social Scene,

I put the camera down long enough to take it in. This was the full damned line-up of Broken Social Scene out in full force. There was Andrew Whiteman, Brendan Canning, Justin Peroff, Kevin Drew, Jimmy Shaw and Evan Cranley jamming away. Lisa Lobsinger was singing, Julie Penner on violin. Jason, Emily, Feist, Amy were all there. So many others, and brass and drums and guitars, more guitars. This was a pretty special night, and it surely was the largest collection of Broken Social Scene members in one place at one time. And I'd seen a number of Broken Social Scene concerts, but there was something extra out there Saturday night. And then they dog piled onto this classic from their album “You Forgot It In People”, effortlessly passing the ball back and forth through the song with a riotous joy.

YouTube: Almost Crimes - Broken Social Scene, Harbourfront

(I love it when Feist can't stop herself and starts air guitaring. I mean, the bands been playing this song for 7 years, and it still gets them charged up)

Speaking of classics, there is a new rule as suggested by the blog It's Not The Band I Hate, It's The Fans. No offence to any singers in Broken Social Scene, but “Anthems for A Seventeen Year Old Girl” shouldn't be performed without Emily Haines present. I can't imaging anyone but Emily singing this song.

YouTube: Anthems for a 17 Year Old Girl - Broken Social Scene, Harbourfront

And just when you thought we reached the finale, the band continued into the endless encore (Kevin: “We finished 20 minutes early. I owe Brendan $20”). And man, it was moving to hear Brendan Canning dedicate an encore song to Martin Streek, the legendary Toronto DJ who took his own life earlier that week. What followed was a repeating cycle of “Meet Me In The Basement” that saw Broken Social Scene play each refrain louder and louder, celebratory and defiant.

Encore for Martin Streek - Broken Social Scene, Harbourfront

By the end, it seemed like they hit every favourite in the catalogue. Two hours of music, and what struck me was that, seeing up to 19 players on stage at once, many of whom have played together for years and some at least a decade, Broken Social Scene looked like they were having the time of their lives. And the crowd was urged to shout their lungs out and scream apologies and declarations of love into the Toronto summer night. The screams echo into the night, as Broken Social Scene said thank-you and good-night farewell, until we meet again in the streets, in the market, in the bars, in the city.

Broken Social Scene are currently recording their new album in Chicago.

This Movie Is Broken is currently in production. There's a call for submissions of footage of summertime in Toronto, with film credits and invitations to screenings as prizes. Click here to check out the details.

Pictures: the2scoops on Flickr - Broken Social Scene at Harbourfront 07/11/09

Setlist:
Kevy Key Jam/ Fire Eye'd Boy / 7/4 (Shoreline) /Love Is New/Chameleon / Amy's Song / Feist & Kev's Song Medley / Gimme Sympathy / I'll Bring the Sun / Soul Unwind /Almost Crimes / MTV Jam / New Country /Anthems For a 17 Year Old Girl / Bandwitch / Frightening Lives

Encore:
Pacific Theme/ Meet Me In The Basement / KC Accidental / Major Label Debut

Polaris Prize Shortlist picks

I'm a fan of the Polaris Music Prize. It's Canadian, it rewards musicians for artistic merit regardless of sales numbers, and it draws attention to music that isn't usually regarded as commercial. In addition to the $20,000 prize, nominated bands benefit from the exposure this national contest garners. Tuesday morning, the jury selected long-list of 40 albums will be cut to 10 albums vying for the prize.

Tune in to CBC Radio 3 online or on Sirius 86, as host Grant Lawrence broadcasts Tuesday morning from 7:00am - 9:00am PST/ 10:00am - 12:00pm EST with the shortlist announcement live from the Drake Hotel in Toronto.

This is only the 4th year, but we already have a number of artists who've been nominated previously, like Junior Boys and Metric. And anybody has a shot at this, regardless of genre. Past winners like Final Fantasy and Caribou defy any one classification as it is.

I can only base my picks on what I've heard this year, so just because it's not one of my picks doesn't mean it isn't an amazing artists you should check out. I'm annoyed I haven't gotten to check out the albums from $100 or Hey Rosetta's yet. Here's my best guess picks, based on merit and the impression these artists have made live and on record:

1. Coeur De Pirate - Coeur De Pirate (Website MySpace)
2. Great Lake Swimmers - Lost Channels (Website MySpace)
3. Handsome Furs - Face Control (Website MySpace)
4. K'NAAN - Troubadour (Website MySpace)
5. Metric - Fantasies (Website MySpace)
6. Joel Plaskett - Three (Website MySpace)
7. Charles Spearin - The Happiness Project (Website MySpace)
8. Chad VanGaalen - Soft Airplane (Website MySpace)
9. Patrick Watson - Wooden Arms (Website)
10. Woodpigeon - Treasury Library Canada C/W Houndstooth Europa (Website MySpace)

Honorary mention: Elliott BROOD - Mountain Meadows (Website MySpace)

This year my money's on K'Naan to win it. His new album is drumming up lots of well-deserved praise, with a stirring performance at NPR's Showcase at the SXSW festival. Feels like it's his year to be critic's choice. My own pick would be Joel Plaskett. Putting out 3 albums worth of music in one shot is an impressive feat, but putting out 3 albums worth of well written songs music is award worthy.

Updated: The list is out

The 2009 Polaris Music Prize Short List.:

Elliott BROOD - Mountain Meadows (Toronto, ON)
Fucked Up - The Chemistry Of Common Life (Toronto, ON)
Great Lake Swimmers - Lost Channels (Toronto, ON)
Hey Rosetta! - Into Your Lungs (and around in your heart and on through your blood) (St. John's, NF)
K'NAAN – Troubadour (Toronto, ON)
Malajube – Labyrinthes (Montréal, QC)
Metric – Fantasies (Toronto, ON)
Joel Plaskett – Three (Halifax, NS)
Chad VanGaalen - Soft Airplane (Calgary, AB)
Patrick Watson - Wooden Arms (Montréal, QC)

I managed to get 6 out of 10, plus my honourary mention in there. Congratulations to all the competitors. More later.

The winner will be voted on by the jury and announced at the Polaris Prize gala on September 21st.

Past winners:
2008 Caribou for "Andorra"

Links: Website MySpace

2007 Patrick Watson for "Close To Paradise"

Links: Website MySpace

2006 Final Fantasy for "Poos Clouds"

Links: MySpace