In yet more awards news, the long list of Polaris Music prize nominees have been announced honoring the Canadian album of the year. Judged on artistic merit only, eschewing genre or sales the award is decided by a jury of over 200 members of the Canadian music media including writers, broadcasters and bloggers.

Among the musicians clamoring for the $30,000 prize (with hopeful donations to charity) is Leonard Cohen for Old Ideas, Feist with Metals (who shot to global fame when her track “1234” was featured in an Apple commercial) and Drake with Take Care. 

Also nominated are Japandroids, Fucked Up (2009 winners with The Chemistry of Common Life), Grimes, and many others not yet recognized by the world (with $30,000 sounding like retirement money); however this platform by Polaris should at least expose them to a wider Canadian audience. All the nominees can be found at http://www.polarismusicprize.ca/2012/ with links to their official sites.

Last year’s winners were little-known (pre-Grammy) indie band Arcade Fire, justifiably praised for their album The Suburbs.