Yamantaka // Sonic Titan (photo: Derrick Belcham)

As a former Polaris Music Prize juror, I still get phantom pain whenever the award shortlist is announced and the inevitable backlash begins (for well thought-out criticism read Josiah Hughes and Mark Teo’s essay, “Canadian Music is Boring,” in FFWD.)

But I’m guilty of award bashing, too. After reading the shortlist, I immediately grumbled about the exclusion of Rich Aucoin’s euphoric We’re All Dying to Live, rather than congratulating the bands on the list I do admire. And just this morning, I shook my fist (Twitter-style) on the streetcar when I read that Louis CK didn’t receive an Emmy nom for his brilliant writing on the comedy Louie. A crime, that is.

But back to the Polaris. If you want a broad idea of what’s happening in Canadian music – regionally and sonically – the award’s longlist of 40 albums is probably as close as you’ll get in any sort of official way. It’s when the 200-plus jurors pick their five favourites for the 10-album shortlist that it all gets watered down, as Hughes and Teo suggest. (Have you ever tried to herd 200 cats? They’re never going to move together, unless maybe there’s milk involved).

And yet each year without fail, there’s at least one album on the shortlist that surprises. Not because of artistic merit, but because enough jurors heard something so special it made them want to use one of their five votes over, say, Leonard Cohen. Arguably, this year’s dark horse is Yamantaka // Sonic Titan’s album YT // ST.

Founded by performance artists alaskaB and Ruby Kato Attwood, the Montreal/Toronto band touts itself as an “Asian, Indigenous and Diasporic Art Collective” that performs “Noh-wave,” a sly reference to underground No Wave and traditional Japanese musical drama. YT // ST is a fantastic, percussive explosion, as much inspired by Buddhism and Chinese opera as it is death metal and 1960s psych rock.

What I love about Yamantaka // Sonic Titan, beside its dramatic live performances (one of the best shows at this year’s NXNE), Kiss makeup and the spectacle of it all, is that they’re musically inclined artists who see no need to extract their artistic practices from their music. It’s a strong tradition in this country, one that includes art stars such experimental filmmaker and sculptor Michael Snow, who recorded numerous jazz and improvisation records over the years, to lesser known talents like Halifax artist Mitchell Wiebe, whose various bands are as much a part of his practice as his paintings and his performance art as the alien-like creature Dweebo. Then there’s the Cedar Tavern Singers AKA Les Phonoréalistes, an Alberta duo who were nominated for the Sobey Art Award for their songs about conceptual art and art history (look for a feature in the Sept./Oct. issue of This).

When it comes down to it, I’ve realized, is that any time you give the general public a dose of conceptual art wrapped in an established music award, there’s really nothing to complain about.

VIDEO: Hoshi Neko – Yamantaka // Sonic Titan

Karkwa, photographed by Marie-Claude Hamel.

Last night was the gala for the fifth annual Polaris Prize, Canada’s “increasingly distinguished” music award that shuns commercial success in favour artistic merit.

This year’s winner is — surprise! — Karkwa, a band that few predicted in advance. But really, no one should be surprised. The Polaris Grand Jury likes to pull their choices out of left field and of the four previous awards given, three were handed to Ontarians, so someone else was due. Of course, none of this is an attempt to explain away the merit of Karkwa or Les Chemin de Verre, the album that won them the prize.

In this edition of Tuesday Tracks we’re going to take another look at Karkwa and see why they’re so deserving of the prize. Then we’re going to look at two other short listers that missed the Tuesday Tracks spotlight over the course of the past few months, (although they both certainly had the attention of the rest of the music press).

First! your 2010 Polaris Prize winners, the underdogs—Karkwa. Formed in 1998, Karkwa are fairly well known in Quebec, but less so in Anglo Canada. Their music is dense and dramatic, I’d like to speak on themes, but frankly I’m one of those unilingual heathens. It’s beautiful, but don’t take my word for it. Here’s “Marie Tu Pleures” off their Polaris winning album.

Next up is Tegan and Sara, the identical twin duo who have released several award worthy albums over the course of the past ten years. Their latest – Sainthood – might not have won the big prize last night, but they did take everyone by surprise by being perhaps the funniest nominees, joking about the potential length of their acceptance speech. They performed “Alligator” (sorry, it can’t be embedded, but you can watch it on YouTube) with the help of Owen Pallett.

Speaking of Owen Pallett — previous winner of the award under the moniker Final Fantasy, and again a nominee in his own right — somehow he too was overlooked by Tuesday Tracks leading up to the big night. In reality, already having a Polaris Prize, his chances of winning were pretty much zilch, but his new album, Heartland, his first under his own name, is a lush, delicate piece of music, complicated yet accessibly and rewarding. Possibly his finest, here’s “Lewis Takes Off His Shirt.”

First: The Slew began as a one off project between turntable acrobat Kid Koala, and Dynomite D to create a soundtrack to a feature length documentary. Unfortunately, the documentary went bust, but rather than kill the project all together, D and Koala decided to take their music on the road. The result of their collaboration is the album 100%. Check out the title track here:

Second: Lee Harvey Osmond is comprised of former Junkhouse and Blackie and the Rodeo Kings‘ Tom Wilson as well as, according to their website, “some Cowboy Junkies and Skydiggers.” Not too shabby. Their first album, A Quiet Evil, is held together tight with a restrained tension that runs the course of the record. Punctuated by Wilson’s raspy vocal whispers, “Queen Bee” ushers in enough atmosphere and suspense to make Hitchcock proud.

Finally: The lone jazz performer on the list is vocalist Elizabeth Shepherd. While the Polaris Prize likes to pride itself on ignoring financial success or radio ubiquity when making its selections, the contest generally leans heavy in the direction of guitar based bands with lots of hooky choruses. Not that that is a bad thing, but when a jazz vocalist manages to sneak her way in amongst all the guitar heroes, it makes us smile. Listen to “Seven Bucks” off her new album Heavy Falls the Night.

For the full list, check out the Polaris website here.

Fucked Up, winners of the 2009 Polaris Prize, this week released their cover of the seminal 1984 Bob Geldof/Midge Ure song “Do They Know It’s Christmas?,” and it’s pretty great. The band used part of their $20,000 Polaris cheque to bankroll the recording, and are donating the proceeds to three important Canadian charities: Justice for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women in Montreal, DTES Power of Women Group in Vancouver, and Sisters in Spirit in Ottawa. The three groups together advocate for and agitate about the hundreds of murdered or missing Aboriginal women across the country; the song is 99 cents on iTunes and will be released as a 7″ vinyl single in February, apparently.

I bought mine, and Fucked Up’s cover version of the song definitely captures some of the campy charm of the original, which has lately become a bit of a punchline because of its maudlin message, the assemblage of crazy music personae out-caterwauling one another, and the tone-deaf paternalistic/neocolonialist thrust of the whole exercise. The tongue-in-cheek approach is clearly on display, with a WTF-inducing grab-bag of guest singers including Canada’s Tegan & Sara, Broken Social Scene’s Kevin Drew, Yo La Tengo, Andrew W.K., comedian David Cross, and Wu Tang Clan’s RZA. “Jingle Bell Rock” this ain’t, thank goodness. Here’s wishing everyone Happy Hardcore Holidays.

Buy it: “Do They Know It’s Christmas” by Fucked Up