Polaris Music Prize Finalists Vie For Honour And Cash

The 10 best Canadian albums of the past year have been chosen, and one of them will be rewarded with the inaugural Polaris Music Prize and $20,000.

A panel of more than 120 music journalists and broadcasters from across Canada were asked to choose their five favourite albums released by a homegrown artist between June 1, 2005 and May 31, 2006, and the initial list was comprised of 165 titles. Votes were then tallied up, and the top 10 made the short list that was revealed on Tuesday morning.

The 10 finalists, in alphabetical order, are:

Broken Social Scene — Broken Social Scene
Cadence Weapon — Breaking Kayfabe
The Deadly Snakes — Porcella
Final Fantasy — He Poos Clouds
Sarah Harmer — I'm A Mountain
K'naan — The Dusty Foot Philosopher
Malajube — Trompe L'oeil
Metric — Live It Out
The New Pornographers — Twin Cinema
Wolf Parade — Apologies To The Queen Mary

"We take the position that it's rather unimportant where the voting was from one to 10," says Polaris executive director Steve Jordan. "The short list is the short list and all titles are received equally.

"That said, it was close basically from number 10 to number 25. But these are still the 10 clear-cut most critically accepted records in the country."

Jordan credited the diversity of the judges' choices and believes that the short list offers an excellent cross-section of what Canadian music has to offer.

"There were different genres without us having to direct it that way. No two records sound alike in that whole group, and that's the most exciting thing for us."

One song from each finalist will appear on a Warner-distributed Polaris compilation that will arrive in stores on Aug. 22. The track list, which is being finalized, will be chosen after consultation among the acts, their labels and Polaris representatives.

"That's the most exciting part of this stage because we have the Retail Music Association Of Canada behind us, including HMV, Sunrise, Archambault and lots of mom and pop stores," says Jordan of the compilation and the push to get the short-listed discs on to shelves. "Helping get these records in stores and giving them a presence is a big part of our work.

"A representative group of 11 judges will be chosen to assemble at Toronto's Phoenix Concert Theatre on Sept. 18 to vote on a winner that will be announced that night at an invite-only gala concert event that Jordan hopes will feature performances by as many finalists as possible.

"None of the artists who show up will have prior knowledge of their chances of winning," he says of the unique process.

Rogers Wireless and Rogers Yahoo! Hi-Speed Internet are the supporting sponsors of the prize and will provide the $20,000 cash for the act with the winning album.More details on Polaris can be found here.