This year’s Polaris Music Prize will be handed out this Monday, September 19. Normally in this space, for the past 16 years, I’ve devoted extensive digital ink to the shortlisters and album...
http://radiofreecanuckistan.blogspot.com/2022/09/polaris-prize-not-so-deep-dive.html
Voting for the Polaris Music Prize shortlist closed last week. Jurors had to vote for five records from a long list of 40. The shortlist will be announced on July 14. I voted. I have a sense of ...
http://radiofreecanuckistan.blogspot.com/2022/07/polaris-prize-long-list-2020-reviews.html
Joyful Joyful Nothing like a Polaris long list to break my hiatus. Speaking of which: Hearts on Fire: Six Years That Changed Canadian Music 2000-05 ! It came out in April! Go buy it ! L...
http://radiofreecanuckistan.blogspot.com/2022/06/moneyballing-2022-polaris-prize-long.html
I didn't review records this year; I was busy writing Hearts on Fire: Six Years That Changed Canadian Music 2000-05 (out in April 2022!). But I didn't stop listening to everything I could, and...
http://radiofreecanuckistan.blogspot.com/2021/12/best-of-2021.html
The Polaris Music Prize is always big deal to me, but this year, I don't have a lot of time to dive deep, for myriad reasons. Apparently neither does anyone else: with the exception of event...
http://radiofreecanuckistan.blogspot.com/2021/09/polaris-predictions-2021.html
Gord Downie's first solo record, Coke Machine Glow, came out 20 years ago. It's being treated to a deluxe double-vinyl release, with an extra disc of outtakes, and another disc of his friends ...
http://radiofreecanuckistan.blogspot.com/2021/08/coke-machine-glow-at-20.html
Well, this is quite the list . It's wild. I love it. I would understand if you don't: there are only two "names" on the list of 40 that most people who don't work in the music industry will ...
http://radiofreecanuckistan.blogspot.com/2021/06/moneyballing-polaris-longlist-2021.html
I’ve been inside dozens, possibly hundreds, of record stores in my life. Soundscapes is the only one where I’ve wanted to own every single thing on their shelves. The staple of Colleg...
http://radiofreecanuckistan.blogspot.com/2021/04/soundscapes-rip.html
Frank Loffredo photo by Brent Linton FIVE BUCKS AT THE DOOR The Story of Crocks N Rolls Directed by Kirsten Kosloski I once co-wrote a book about Canadian music from 1985-95. It talked ab...
http://radiofreecanuckistan.blogspot.com/2021/03/crocks-n-rolls-five-bucks-at-door.html
Yes, I'd like to forget 2020 as much as everyone else. But in the first two months of 2021, as I pored over various lists posted by my favourite writers and outlets (shout out to Bandcamp, the ...
http://radiofreecanuckistan.blogspot.com/2021/03/2020-catchup.html
My friend Aaron Brophy likes to revisit his year-end lists from at least a decade back , and alternately either boast about his amazing, timeless taste, or wonder what the heck he was thinking...
http://radiofreecanuckistan.blogspot.com/2021/01/best-of-2000-20-years-later.html
“Little works of wonder in a nostalgic mood” I’m not a betting man, but I’d wager my life savings that this will be the only piece celebrating the 20th anniversary of Bettie Serveert�...
http://radiofreecanuckistan.blogspot.com/2020/12/bettie-serveerts-private-suit.html
"Last Christmas I gave you my art / and the very next day you didn't press play / So this year I made a record for you / holy shit, from a secular Jew!" Yes, Jason "Chilly Gonzales" Be...
http://radiofreecanuckistan.blogspot.com/2020/12/gonzales-vs-enya-and-christmas.html
These records may or may not be "the best," art is not sports, I no longer have to review 250 new records a year (though I listen to at least that much), and so much of my listening this year wa...
http://radiofreecanuckistan.blogspot.com/2020/11/top-10-of-2020.html
My top 20 of 2020, numbers 11-20. 11 NIHILOXICA – KALOLI (Crammed Discs). Ugandan drumming through a techno lens. This project started when the Nilotika Cultural Ensemble in Kamapla, Ugand...
http://radiofreecanuckistan.blogspot.com/2020/11/top-20-of-2020-11-20.html
10 more records from the lower 20 of my Top 40 of 2020, in alphabetical order. 79RS GANG – EXPECT THE UNEXPECTED (independent). I can't claim to know a lot about New Orleans tradition...
http://radiofreecanuckistan.blogspot.com/2020/11/2020-top-40-pt-2-10-more-of-lower-20.html
10 records, alphabetically, from the lower 20 of my 2020 Top 40. That make sense? QUIN KIRCHNER – THE SHADOWS AND THE LIGHT (Astral Spirits). This Chicago drummer wants to blow your ...
http://radiofreecanuckistan.blogspot.com/2020/11/2020-top-40-pt-1-10-of-lower-20.html
When history is written about the New Pornographers’ 2000 debut Mass Romantic, it usually revolves some incredulity: how did this happen?! How did this band that wasn’t supposed to be a r...
http://radiofreecanuckistan.blogspot.com/2020/11/20-years-of-new-pornographers-mass.html
Before posting my top 40 of 2020, here are 10 other records I enjoyed this year that deserve to be in the time capsule: mostly either by promising newbies or vets who continue to surprise. DE...
http://radiofreecanuckistan.blogspot.com/2020/11/2020-odds-n-sods.html
BEVERLY GLENN-COPELAND – TRANSMISSIONS (Transgressions). Is it a comeback story if no one knew who you were? Are you a late bloomer if you've been performing for 50 years? No, the incredible...
http://radiofreecanuckistan.blogspot.com/2020/11/2020-best-reissue-beverly-glenn-copeland.html
Every year there are tons of records I miss, only to discover later—usually through the help of reading other people's year-end lists, or various wormholes I find myself falling into. Now that...
http://radiofreecanuckistan.blogspot.com/2020/11/2020-vision-on-2019s-missing-greats.html
Some lovely old friends put out lovely records in the not-so-lovely 2020, and flew under the radar. They each warm my heard for very different reasons. REGINA GENTLY – DON'T WAIT TO LOVE ME...
http://radiofreecanuckistan.blogspot.com/2020/11/2020-old-friends-regina-gently.html
Made this week during high anxiety. Much love to all my American friends, who fight the good fights every day. Spotify playlist is here . All YouTube links below. Mix, match, borrow, make you...
http://radiofreecanuckistan.blogspot.com/2020/10/flip-this-playlist-for-nov-3-2020.html
This man should be a household name Backxwash won the 2020 Polaris Music Prize for her album God Has Nothing to Do With This Leave Him Out of It. In doing so, the Montreal-based Zambian-Cana...
http://radiofreecanuckistan.blogspot.com/2020/10/samples-and-stifled-creativity.html
My annual five-part look at the shortlist examines two records a day, plus two personal picks from the qualifying period, and this year—as the prize gets older and still skews young—I’m inc...
http://radiofreecanuckistan.blogspot.com/2020/10/2020-polaris-music-prize-shortlist-day_17.html