Long List for 2012 Polaris Music Prize Announced

The Long List for the prestigious 2012 Polaris Music Prize has been announced. Polaris is a not-for-profit organization that “honors, celebrates and rewards creativity and diversity in Canadian recorded music.” More than 200 writers, editors, producers and media figures make up the Polaris Music Prize jury pool. They submit nominations for the Long List that was announced Thursday in order to recognize music excellence of “the highest artistic integrity, without regard to musical genre, professional affiliation, or sales history.”

The 2012 Polaris Prize Long List is comprised of 40 nominees hand-selected by the jury pool. The jury will return to the ballot boxes to submit their individual Top 5 albums in order to compile the Short List announcement in Toronto on July 17. The Polaris Gala, being held in Toronto on September 24, will recognize one album of the 10 Short List nominees as the best Canadian album of 2012.

Recent Polaris Music Prize Winners include Arcade Fire in 2011 for The Suburbs, Karkwa in 2010 for  Les Chemins De Verre, and Fucked Up in 2009 for The Chemistry of Common Life.

Polaris Founder and Executive Director Steve Jordan had this to say about the Long List nominees:

“The year’s list deliciously illustrates the burgeoning sense of community in our jury,” he said. “Almost half of the selections on this list were the direct result of passionate recommendations made by individual members to their peers. We hope the ultimate result of this dialogue will likewise inform the taste of adventurous music lovers from Canada and the world.”

The 2012 Polaris Music Prize Long List is (in alphabetical order):

A Tribe Called Red – A Tribe Called Red

Marie-Pierre Arthur – Aux alentours

Rich Aucoin – We’re All Dying To Live

Avec pas d’casque – Astronomie

Azari & III – Azari & III

Bahamas – Barchords

The Barr Brothers – The Barr Brothers

Blackie And The Rodeo Kings – Kings And Queens

Cadence Weapon – Hope In Dirt City

Kathryn Calder – Bright And Vivid

Cannon Bros – Firecracker / Cloudglow

Coeur de pirate – Blonde

Leonard Cohen – Old Ideas

Cold Specks – I Predict A Graceful Expulsion

Rose Cousins – We Have Made A Spark

Mark Davis – Eliminate The Toxins

Drake – Take Care

Kathleen Edwards – Voyageur

Feist – Metals

Fucked Up – David Comes To Life

Great Lake Swimmers – New Wild Everywhere

Grimes – Visions

Handsome Furs – Sound Kapital

Japandroids – Celebration Rock

Dan Mangan – Oh Fortune

Mares Of Thrace – The Pilgrimage

Ariane Moffatt – MA

Lindi Ortega – Little Red Boots

Parlovr – Kook Soul

Sandro Perri – Impossible Spaces

Joel Plaskett Emergency – Scrappy Happiness

PS I Love You – Death Dreams

John K. Samson – Provincial

Shooting Guns – Born To Deal In Magic: 1952-1976

The Slakadeliqs – The Other Side of Tomorrow

Patrick Watson – Adventures In Your Own Backyard

Bry Webb – Provider

The Weeknd – Echoes of Silence

Yamantaka // Sonic Titan – YT//ST

Yukon Blonde – Tiger Talk

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