The shortlist of nominees for Canada’s Polaris Prize was rolled out yesterday; the winner gets a $20,000 check (Canadian, which is like $2.5 million here now, right?), , while bloggers get something to write about during the dog days of July. The nominees–other than the Weakerthans’ Reunion Tour, which includes “Civil Twilight” (above)–and as many representative YouTube clips as I could find are below the cut.
The Guardian points us to the Thurston Revival, a sleepy indiepop Canadian outfit that’s responding to the trend of free music by offering its debut single, “Somewhere There’s An Angel,” as a £100, limited-to-100-copies 12-inch record, complete with your choice of artwork by 10 different artists. (Pictures here; MySpace login required.) The single comes out Aug. 28, and Guardian writer Eamonn Forde is hailing the move as “a necessary antidote to an age when complete albums are being given away free with your Sunday newspaper.”
A contrarian take on Stars’ decision to digitally distribute its album In Our Bedroom After The War two months before its physical release date. Related: Bedroom scanned 2,700 copies in the U.S. and 1,500 copies in Canada during its first week of release. More »
The Montreal indiepop outfit Stars’ forthcoming album, In Our Bedroom After The War, may have atrocious cover art, but that fact probably wouldn’t stop leak-happy downloaders from trying to snag the album from some enterprising member of the media who decided to share his pre-release copy with his friends. So the band and its label, Arts & Crafts, decided to pre-empt the OiNK faithful with a legit digital release yesterday–four days after the album’s completion, and almost two and a half months before physical copies of the album will go on sale. From the band’s official site:
Time for another installment of the Coulda-Shoulda-Woulda Files, where we raid our archives in search of a lost gem. Artist: StarsSong: “Elevator Love Letter,” 2002What happened: Before finding indie-rock infamy with 2004’s Set Yourself On Fire, Canada’s Stars released the sparkling Heart. More »
