My Polaris Music Prize short list

I'm a little late to this (I've just finished university FOREVER, so I've been rather busy 'living up' the remaining student days whilst they lasted) but a little more than a week ago the long list for the Polaris Music Prize was announced (which you can find at a very cool website http://polarismusicprize.ca/ - why exactly they went for a robot theme, I too am not entirely sure). If you're not sure what the Polaris Music Prize is, it's basically the Canadian version of our Mercury Prize (hoping, of course, that given you are reading a predominantly music based blog you'll know what the Mercury Prize is). I know, I hear you. "Canadian?!", I hear you ask, "Who cares about Canada?". I appreciate that Canada tends to get a lot thrown at it, but I firmly believe a good 99% of it is unnecessary (why the remaining 1% is necessary you only need to go to the fourth word of this article http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nickelback to find out). Of course I joke (although admittedly I'm hardly going to say Nickelback are my favourite band of all time any time soon), but I feel Nickelback bashing has some parallels with Canada bashing - it seems that once upon time Nickelback/Canada were used as a scapegoat and what feels like everybody jumped on the bandwagon and simply haven't looked back since. When you come to think of it, though, it's hardly fair, is it? I just so happen to go against the grain and regard Canada very highly, both as a country and a producer of music; I spent an academic year at the University of Calgary and enjoyed every minute of it - some of their countryside (that is, of course, if you can still classify scenes like this (http://blog.cellep.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/the-rocky-mountains.jpg) as 'countryside') really is beautiful (trust me when I say you need to see it for your own eyes to really get what it's all about). And my surname's Beaver (handy) so my classmates over there were always going to have a natural inclination to like me, which I'm sure helped matters somewhat. Whilst I was over there, and as weird as this might sound, I also had a great time musically. For one, I met a girl from Leeds over there who had a very similar music taste to me (meaning I was introduced to a bunch of artists and bands who I now can't imagine living without), which is always nice (I am still very good friends with her almost two years later - coincidence?), and for another, Canada supplied me with one of my favourite gigs by one of my now favourite artists; the artist was, and still is, a man who goes by the name of Dan Mangan and the gig took place on a cold, snowy evening inside a big church. Warning: a sentence pretty much entirely made out of cliches incoming. Soft indie-folk on a crisp, cold Winter's evening, Tim Horton's in hand, inside a venue with acoustics from Heaven. Just perfect. As if to make use of the amazing acoustics availaible for all their worth, Mr. Mangan even finished with an entirely unplugged, a cappella version of this (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BwwfJ-oNMVs), using the couple hundred of us (the audience) as backing vocals - as cringeworthy as it is for me to say this, it really did provide me with a musical moment I'll (probably) never forget.
But onto the main purpose of this post! Although the official short list of the Polaris Music Prize isn't to be unveiled for a while yet (not until July 17th, anyway), I had a look at the artists and bands which made the long list and picked out the ones I liked - this post isn't about the ones who I think will win, it's about the ones who I personally liked. Once the shortlist is unveiled, I'll do a review of the album by the artist/band who I think will win (rather than who I think deserves to win), and, if my prediction is wrong, I'll review the album that wins. Which is annoying because it feels like I am the only person IN THE ENTIRE WORLD who doesn't really rate Grimes.
In no particular order, here's my short list. In brackets is a YouTube link to (in most cases) a fairly recent song that I feel represents the respective artist/band quite nicely. Yes, they might all be Canadian but there's some really good music here nonetheless (it'll be worth powering on through, I promise); some, if not most, of which I hadn't even heard of before I took many a musical adventure on YouTube prompted by the releasing of the long list, so do please take at least a quick look at all of them. And most importantly, enjoy!

Dan Mangan (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fzawkvDmERA)
Rich Aucoin (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xkuWgXhzxg4)
Bahamas (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A65BbJMCyA4)
Mark Davis (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kJmfBrtc5gY)
Great Lake Swimmers (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=doK3qHLyRsI&feature=plcp)
Sandro Perri (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G7AC3FgI1Aw)
Joel Plaskett Emergency (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vYnb4SmSafQ)
PS I Love You (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eHAOBhg9Ybo)
Bry Webb (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-kG5JoKSnpc)
Yukon Blonde (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BBA0f2lSB64)
The Barr Brothers (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1JU4T9iqNTo)
Parlovr (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=liiCvzRpU1w)
Cadence Weapon (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=74cyPQkSQ6s)

More on this when the short list is unveiled on July 17th.

Bleeding Heart Narrative

Now, this band wasn't going to be the subject of my first 'proper' post but I was writing a review of them recently and thought they deserved a post all of their own. And no, don't worry, they are not nearly as 'emo' as their name suggests, if at all. The review in question was of a recent gig in Oxford, the headlining act being a band called Jonquil (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AEbhF1Faar0 - the people are moving? MENTAL. Take a look at the video and you'll see what I mean), with Bleeding Heart Narrative supporting. I turned up a little late (I had been at the Summer Eights that afternoon, a rowing competition between all the colleges of Oxford. I know, how Oxford of me), just in time for the start of Bleeding Heart Narrative's set. A couple songs in, the singer reveals his band's name, but all I heard "Hmph Tmph Narrative". I thought to myself, 'Hmmm... 'Something Something Narrative', how intriguing. Well, sounds like they're into their literature, a good start!' I cannot begin to describe the feeling of disgust I felt when I found out the two words which alluded me earlier were 'bleeding' and 'heart' (which was made that much worse given that I only found this out upon buying their EP). Of all the words in the English Language, they somehow choose the two most 'emo'? I did have a little cry to myself when I realised I liked a band with the phrase 'bleeding heart' in their name. Ironic. But this is all beside the point (I didn't even write about any of this in the review). What is the point is that they truly are a spectacle to watch live. In the review (which will be available to read in about a weeks time in Nightshift http://nightshift.oxfordmusic.net/, along with my review of Tennis http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LsbXcJT8yfE), I mentioned how empty the place was and how this didn't affect the band at all and how if anything it seemed like an impetus for them to play that much louder and that much harder. And boy, did they play loud and boy, did they play hard! I think one of the reasons why I found their performance so engaging was because at several points during their set they had more than one drummer. I know this sounds far too simple to really have any plausible effect, but to me it really does, both visually and musically. I think this rather bizarre fascination came about a good few years back, when Foals headlined Brixton Academy. Their main support came in the form of multi-drumming Dananananananananaykroyd (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3WOIEdlfh7M), which was the first time I had ever considered the possibility of playing with more than one drummer, let alone witnessed it - a good start, then. Then Foals were absolutely amazing (it was back when they hadn't released their second album, Total Life Forever, and were consequently still good, after all), and then they did this: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aHTLw08wnRU (the party really starts around the two minute mark but do watch it all - it sounds exquisite and makes me realise how much I subconsciously pine for some good quality math rock); they finished their already unforgettable set by getting help from God knows how many drummers specifically for my favourite part for my now favourite album... Mind. Blown. Then a couple years later I saw Stomp (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mKa-pi577n0) and then a good few months back I saw Dananananaykroyd on their last ever tour (and had the time of my life), which all made my fascination that much deeper. So clearly what this long, somewhat unnecessary tangent shows is how multiple percussionists - quite rationally (?) - are quite close to my heart.
But do go and see Bleeding Heart Narrative should you get the chance; they really do create a wall of sound. I tried to find a video on YouTube which really captures what their live performance is all about, but just like all good live bands it is utterly impossible to transfer such energy into the recording studio. Instead I found this (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TU828ZDSk48) which, although I haven't had a chance to have a good listen to their discography quite yet, I feel at least represents what they're about musically. Plus, one of their songs was featured on, of all programmes, Top Gear (for those who don't know what Top Gear is, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lUF-N8BsBmU) recently! Can't say I expected a band with the phrase 'bleeding heart' in their name to feature on a motoring programme?

A little background information

Well hello!

There are several reasons why I've started this blog.

First, I used to have a radio show called, you've guessed it, 'With Guitar Strings Attached'. It was every week, an hour long, on Oxide (Oxford University's student radio station). It probably wasn't very good; I imagine I could count my total audience of the 16 shows I presented on my two hands. I blame the faulty microphones entirely; I was utterly flawless. Now that I've graduated (slight misuse of the past tense there, I'm actually to graduate in a couple of days - and don't worry, I didn't go to Oxford University; I went to the university 'up the hill', Oxford Brookes), my dear radio show is no longer. Consequently, I'm in need of a way of expressing my love for, for example, this rad new band I've found that absolutely everyone just has to know about, a way that isn't posting the video for their latest single on Facebook for all my 'friends' to see. Granted posting videos on Facebook could well be the answer to all my problems, but one cannot help but feel doing so would be the answer to my problems and my problems alone. Let's just say the feeling of undesirability would be mutual between the audience I would reach on Facebook and I. For example, on a recent holiday I was voted as 'The Person With The Worst Music Taste'; granted it was never looking good for me with such a vote taking place in as cultured of a holiday destination as Magaluf (see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L7GoFKzDC0Y), but you get the picture. Hence this blog!

Second, I simply can't live with keeping a really good band that I feel millions ought to know about - but don't - to myself. I'm like a Good (Music) Samaritan - I get such joy from reaping the rewards of finding a cool new artist or band, and merely want to spread that very same joy to others. I guess that basically makes me a modern-day Jesus? Well, there's certainly something I wasn't expecting to write when I started this blog entry. This is going to be fun.

And third, of course, I <3 MUSIC! Simples.

My blog's going to be comprised of a real mix of things, but essentially it's going to centre around what my now deceased radio show centred around - damn good (well, in my humble opinion anyway) indie music. So without further ado, my first proper blog post...!