On a Quest for Glory, On a Quest for Glory

I've definitely mentioned Shad a number of times, sang the praises of the Polaris Jury for including the Old Prince on the 10 album short list, and complained when Andorra won over it. Not that I necessarily thought that it was the most deserving album, at the time... I suspect you see where I'm going with this...

I'm not sure that I'd quite go as far as arguing that it was the album with the most "artistic merit", although I typically equate artistic merit with weirdness or least conventional, but tOP was definitely creative (e.g. his Fresh Prince parody (725,000 views!) where, of course, he stops the beat halfway through the track). But I think anyone who's going to really try and sell you on Shad, and that he deserved the 2008 Polaris, is going to point to how clever his rhymes are (see the header above), while really saying something about his place in the world.

And to me, its not so much what he says, but how he says it. He's bright, but he understands that he doesn't have all the answers; and he's clever, but seems secure enough that he doesn't need you to laugh or reassure him. Its heartfelt, and just so friggin' catchy.

In short, its climbing my all time list and probably one of my 3-4 favourite rap albums... ever... and if you haven't heard it, stop what you're doing and go pick it up.

[mp3] Shad - Intro/Quest for Glory
[mp3] Shad - Compromise

Shad Freestyle

A Final Thought on the Polaris Prize

There have been some luke warm reactions to Caribou winning the 2008 Polaris Prize (see: here, here, and here). And, really, I find its pretty tough to disagree with that pick particularly when the word 'artistic' as in "the albums of highest artistic integrity" is the criteria used to pick the prize. To me, what this 'artistic integrity' means is that the winning album should push some kind of boundaries... so with that in mind, albums by Basia Bulat, Two Hours Traffic, Stars, etc. should be struck from the group. Great albums? Yes (except for Stars). But, challenging, genre-stretching albums? Not exactly.

In my mind, given the criteria, there were three artists that are serious contenders: Plants and Animals, Holy F--k, and, well, Caribou. Plants and Animals gets bumped because Secret City Records can't win 3 prizes in a row, Holy F--k probably was a pick that was a little too political, and so Caribou wins by default, which, I think is kind of a shame. A shame if only because Caribou counts as artistic because he makes electronic music - which is outside the norm of mainstream radio - and not because he's made a real genre bending album.

I've said it before, and I realize I'm a huge homer, but it really would've been great to see Shad win. His album doesn't exactly blow everyone else away in the 'artistic' category... I mean, he's not the first guy to rap about social problems, but the more I listen to that album, the more I like it. And, the more I think I'm going to include it on my 2008 year end list despite the fact that it was released last year.

And one more reason to love Shad. The Fresh Prince themed video for:

Shad - The Old Prince Still Lives At Home

I'm back, Baby!

I'm back, I've moved, etc...

I'm hoping to get to see a few more shows, which, I suspect will be much easier considering Toronto is, well, not half dead; also, I'm not working 60 hours a week. So, if you live in London (Ontario) and were following the site for London show listings you probably stopped a while ago, but, I'll start posting some Toronto shows I'm thinking about seeing. Starting with:

Shad @ the Mod Club September 17

Plants and Animals @ the Horseshoe September 18

Two Hours Traffic @ Lee's Palace September 26

Land of Talk @ Lee's Palace September 27

Common/NERD @ Kool Haus September 28

Chad VanGaalen, Women @ the Mod Club October 4

Lykke Li @ Mod Club October 24

Hayden @ Massey Hall November 1

The Acorn/Ohbijou @ Lee's Palace November 27

The odds of me getting to all these shows, of course, is somewhere between slim and none, but we can all dream can't we...

Also, you can expect me to pick up the posting pace a little bit now that the weather is getting shittier, and I'm back at school meaning back near the ole femputer...

The Polaris Music Prize 2008 - My Top 5

From www.polarismusicprize.ca:

The Long List consists of the top 40 full-length Canadian records released from June 1, 2007 to May 31, 2008, selected by the 185 members of the Polaris Music Prize jury:

The Acorn - Glory Hope Mountain
Attack In Black - Marriage
Black Mountain - In The Future
Born Ruffians - Red, Yellow and Blue
Buck 65 - Situation
Basia Bulat - Oh, My Darling
Cadence Weapon - Afterparty Babies
Cancer Bats - Hail Destroyer
Caribou - Andorra
City And Colour - Bring Me Your Love
Constantines - Kensington Heights
Crystal Castles - Crystal Castles
Destroyer - Trouble In Dreams
Fred Eaglesmith - Tinderbox
Kathleen Edwards - Asking For Flowers
Christine Fellows - Nevertheless
Gatineau - Gatineau
Hayden - In Field And Town
Veda Hille - This Riot Life
HILOTRONS - Happymatic
Holy Fuck - LP
Islands - Arm's Way
Karkwa - Le volume du vent
Corb Lund - Horse Solider! Horse Soldier!
The New Pornographers - Challengers
Pas Chic Chic - Au Contraire
Sandro Perri - Tiny Mirrors
Plants And Animals - Parc Avenue
Ghislain Poirier - No Ground Under
Protest The Hero - Fortress
Justin Rutledge - Man Descending
Sadies - New Seasons
Shad - The Old Prince
Socalled - Ghetto Blaster
Stars - In Our Bedroom After The War
Tegan And Sara - The Con
Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra and Tra-La-La Band – 13 Blues for Thirteen Moons
Two Hours Traffic - Little Jabs
The Weakerthans - Reunion Tour
Wintersleep - Welcome To The Night Sky

Now, I haven't heard everything on the list, but my top 5 is:

Shad The Old Prince
[mp3] I don't really like to

Plants and Animals Parc Avenue
[mp3] Good Friend

Hayden In Field & Town
[mp3] In Field & Town

The Acorn Hope Glory Mountain
[mp3] The Flood pt.1

Sunparlour Players Hymns for the Happy *not sure how come this isn't on the list.
[mp3] Point Pelee is the Place to Be

There really isn't an album on that list that really stands out as a heads and shoulders favourite to me, but, as I've said before, with Secret City's track record its hard to believe that Plants and Animals won't be sitting in the winners circle...

The Junos 2008: Gangy Returns...

Here's the reason people complain about CanCon:




The Junos (for non-Canadians, these are essentially the Canadian Grammys) are tonight and Celine Dion is nominated nominated twice for album of the year.

If anyone has any explanation as to why the albums that are up for best alternative album (the Arcade Fire, Neon Bible; Holy Fuck, Holy Fuck LP; Patrick Watson, Close to Paradise; Tegan and Sara, The Con; Wintersleep, Welcome to the Night Sky) are not up for album of the year is beyond me.

Anyone wondering why record sales are down, maybe its partly because of illegal downloading, but its also because record labels push this kind of crap. Now, you may find this hard to believe, I haven't heard either of Celine's nominated records, but I have a hard time believing that .... I'm not even sure why I'm writing this. This is a waste of time.

Some CanCon that is worth listening to:

[mp3] Shad K - Brother (Watching) from the Old Prince [2007]
[mp3] Born Ruffians - Knife (Grizzly Bear Cover)
[mp3] Plants and Animals - Good Friend from Parc Avenue [2008]

PS - Liz has just made wonder if there is any possible way Holy Fuck can win given that you can't say their name on the broadcast, or the ensuring news reports that will follow?

Wednesday Bullets: A Hip-hop Themed Kind of Day

Been away for a little while, so a few quick, or possibly not so quick, notes:

• I'm pretty excited about the second half of the NBA season. Lots of intriguing story lines with all the deals that have gone down in the last couple of weeks: Bibby to the Hawks - possibly putting them in contention to be a playoff team in the East - although they would've been out of it in the West ages ago; almost 35 year old J-Kidd to the Mavs; whether LBJ can make the conference finals again with literally no help; how the Lakers will fare without Andrew Bynum, and possibly Kobe if he opts, or is forced, into having surgery on his pinky; and, of course, how the Diesel will fit in with the Suns and how Steve Kerr will manage to fit his enormous testicles into his pants. The later of the two storylines begin with the Lakers/Suns tonight 9:30pmET on the Score. An interesting ESPN writers round table on the Lakers/Suns. Also, a looming Raptors post-season storyline - what they'll do after they get thumped in the first round of the playoffs by the Cavs/Magic.
  

• I've been listening to Shad K (of London, On)'s The Old Prince in the last couple of days, courtesy of my friend Jacob (who is apparently, so he says, friends with Shad). He is (Shad, not Jacob) nominated for a Juno for the album, which without hearing any of the other albums I assume he deserves. If K'naan winning the 2006 Juno in the same category tells us nothing else, it says that the voters are happy to give the award to someone who has been inspired by an awful experience in a war torn nation (K'naan - Somalia, Shad - Rwanda). Hopefully, I'll be able to put together some more thoughts on Shad in the next couple of weeks.
  

• After a little bit of a legal struggle, AmpLive was able to release its Radiohead RainyDayz Remixes, which, is pretty cool especially since includes guest spots from some of the best in the Bay Area - Del the Funky Homosapien, Chali2Na of Jurassic 5, among others. The best part is that its a free download on AmpLive's myspace. My pick:
  

[mp3] Video Tapez (ft. Del the Funky Homosapien).mp3

• Lastly, a couple of Kanye West remixes of, probably the best track on my favourite album of '07, 'Flashing Lights'. I'm not sure either of them are any better, but I think the track was so good in the first place, it would be pretty hard to screw up.

[mp3]Flashing Lights (R. Kelly remix).mp3
[mp3] Colin Munroe - I Want Those Flashing Lights.mp3

Also, if you haven't seen the video for the actual song... it might be the Fargo of music videos... kind of horrifying.