Hamilton's Caribou shortlisted for Polaris Prize
Dundas' Caribou made the cut, and is on the 2015 Polaris Prize shortlist for best Canadian album.
Caribou (known by some as Dan Snaith) has garnered widespread acclaim in electronic circles for Our Love, his sixth album. Wednesday's 10 finalists were whittled down from the 40 longlisted nominees announced in June.
Snaith's sound tends to change on each release, but Our Love really sounds like a logical progression from his last record, 2010's Swim. It features a kind of simplicity that evokes memories of early techno and house music, but still sounds contemporary.
Each year, the Polaris Prize is awarded to the artist or band that creates the best Canadian full-length album, regardless of genre, label or sales.
First-time nominees this year include 74-year-old Buffy Sainte-Marie as well as Calgary post-punk band Viet Cong.
The 2014 finalists are:
- Alvvays for Alvvays
- BADBADNOTGOOD & Ghostface Killah for Sour Soul
- Braids for Deep In The Iris
- Caribou for Our Love
- Jennifer Castle for Pink City
- Drake for If You're Reading This It's Too Late
- Tobias Jesso Jr. for Goon
- The New Pornographers for Brill Bruisers
- Buffy Sainte-Marie for Power In The Blood
- Viet Cong for Viet Cong
The award is chosen each year by an 11-member jury of Canadian music journalists, broadcasters and bloggers. This year's winner will take home a new, larger cash prize of $50,000, up from the previous year's $30,000.
The nine runners-up will each receive $3,000.
The finalists will be celebrated and the winner announced at a gala in Toronto on Sept. 21.