Interview: Polaris Music Prize Founder Talks Short List
Today, at the swanky Carlu Round Room in Toronto, the 2014 Polaris Music Prize Short List was announced. Featuring the likes of Arcade 
Fire, Shad, Basia Bulat, Drake, Mac Demarco, and others, a diverse roster of artists succeeding at home and abroad were given added recognition from their fellow countrymen.
“Every year I struggle coming up with a quote for our press release that binds all of these albums together – so I just gave up this year. There is no thread that ties them together except for their passports,” offers Steve Jordan (seen on the right), the Founder and Executive Director of the PMP in a post-announcement interview with Riffyou.com.
He adds: “[The list] says what we’ve been trying to say since the very start: that the diversity and the quality [of Canadian music] is just unparalleled, I think, around the world. We’re certainly comparable to Britain, the US, and other cultural machines. We definitely compete.”
Originating in 2006, the Polaris Music Prize has been given out to “the artist who creates the Canadian album of the year.” Final Fantasy (Owen Pallett) took home the honour in the inaugural year, while last year Godspeed You! Black Emperor infamously refused to accept it. Turning down a top prize of $30,000 really takes some stones.
When asked if he’s concerned if one of this year’s nominees would pull the same stunt, Jordan laughed boldly, simply saying they’d roll with it.
Despite that glitch of 2013, Jordan agrees with Riffyou.com when we offer the opinion that artists appear to appreciate the nature of the PMP perhaps more than other trophy and cheque presentations they encounter.
“I see that, and we’re really happy and proud of that,” says Jordan. “A lot of that comes down to the fact that there’s no bullshit. I mean, there’s always bullshit when you try to do something like this, but we try to limit it as much as possible. And, [artists] know the objective is just to recognize great music. There is no stacking votes…there’s no way to manipulate the system to get a nomination.”
What arguably adds to the credibility of the PMP is that the jury is made up entirely of an array of Canadian music journalists from different walks of life. Jordan notes that he wants those who “eat, sleep, and breathe” music to be the ones who sit in the jury box. To him, you have to be completely engaged in music, the culture, and the exercise of making strong opinions on albums.
Needless to say, not everyone is always happy with what these jurors come up with, but at the end of the day, that just helps the PMP folks accomplish part of what they set out to do: get people talking about Canadian music.
“Polaris is about the whole conversation,” explains Jordan. “It’s not just about the stuff that we pick for our list. It’s about people arguing with themselves about what they think is great. When people Tweet their anger about what did or didn’t make the list, we’ll re-Tweet that, because they’re all just records, and that’s awesome!”
For the complete list of the 2014 Polaris Music Prize nominees, and to see who Jordan has appointed the host of the September 22 awards gala, have a look at the video below:
-Adam Grant
2014 Polaris Music Prize Short List:
Arcade Fire – Reflektor
Basia Bulat – Tall Tall Shadow
Mac DeMarco – Salad Days
Drake – Nothing Was The Same
Jessy Lanza – Pull My Hair Back
Owen Pallett – In Conflict
Shad – Flying Colours
Tanya Tagaq – Animism
Timber Timbre – Hot Dreams
YAMANTAKA // SONIC TITAN – UZU
Please be sure to follow us on Twitter @riffyou and at Facebook.com/riffyou.
