What Are the Best Canadian Albums Ever?

So, it's still Polaris Music Prize day and just a few hours ago I announced that Julie Doiron won our Shadow Polaris Prize for 2009. Now we're moving straight on to the next question:

What are the best Canadian albums ever?

We'd like your nominations for the Canadian albums you've liked the best but we're taking out any 'flavor of the month' possibilities. Here's how it's going to go. You can nominate any albums that you like in the comments section, Facebook, by emailing northbyeastwest@gmail.com or via Twitter @NxEW.

Nominated albums

1) Must be Canadian

2) Must be a full album (not an EP or a single)

3) Cannot be 'greatest hits' collections although live albums that revisit past material are eligible.

4) The album must be from 2004 or previous - so anything from the dawn of recording until 2004 is acceptable.

It doesn't matter how well the album sold, we're only looking for quality but in order to weed out any albums that are only momentarily popular we want to put a few years between the prize and the recording. So we're looking for the albums that, looking back five years or more, still resonate - the ones that you still listen to, that haven't been relegated to the back of the closet or sold at a used CD place.

Nominations will be open from now until October 10, 2009. After that the voting will begin and the nominees will be whittled down to 50 and then a second round of voting will begin (if your favorite didn't make the top 50 you get a second chance to pick a winner.) The short list, of 5 albums, will ALL be inducted into our album Hall of Fame.

So, let the nominations begin: Nominate your favorites in the comments section, via Facebook, by emailing northbyeastwest@gmail.com or via Twitter @NxEW.

Nominated albums to date (alot more to come)
please don't nominate these again, they can't be more nominated.

Alanis Morissette - 'Jagged Little Pill'
Alexander 'Skip' Spence - Oar
Apostle of Hustle - Folkloric Feel
Arcade Fire - Funeral
The Band - Self Titled
The Band - Music From Big Pink
Barenaked Ladies - Gordon
Barenaked Ladies - Maroon
Blue Rodeo - Five Days In July
Blue Rodeo - Nowhere To Here
Bran Van 3000 - Discosis
Broken Social Scene - You Forgot it in People
Bruce Cockburn - Stealing Fire
By Divine Right - Bless This Mess
Constantines - Constantines
Constantines - Shine a Light
Cuff the Duke - Life Stories for Minimum Wage
Dan-e-o - The Book of Daniel
Daniel Lanois - For The Beauty Of Wynona
Dears - No Cities Left
Death From Above 1979 - You're a Woman, I'm a Machine
Do Make Say Think - & Yet & Yet
Eric's Trip - Love Tara
Eric's Trip - Purple Blue
Esthero - Breath From Another
Feist: Let It Die
Godspeed You! Black Emporor - Lift Your Skinny Fists Like Antennas to
Godspeed You! Black Emperor - F♯A♯∞
Hayden - The Closer I Get
Hayden - Everything I Long For
Hidden Cameras - Mississauga Goddam
The High Dials - A New Devotion
Inbreds - Kombinator
Ivana Santilli - Brown
Joel Plaskett - In Need of Medical Attention
Joel Plaskett Emergency - Truthfully, Truthfully
Joni Mitchell - Blue
Joni Mitchell - For The Roses
Joni Mitchell - Court and Spark
Junior Boys - Last Exit
Julie Doiron - Goodnight Nobody
Kardinal Offishall - Quest for Fire: Firestarter, vol. 1
K-Os - Exit
Leonard Cohen - Songs From A Room
Leonard Cohen - Various Positions
Limblifter - Self Titled
Matthew Good Band - Audio of Being
Mecca Normal - Mecca Normal
Metric - Old World Underground, Where Are You Now?
Moist - 'Silver'
Neil Young - Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere
Neil Young - Harvest
New Pornographers - Mass Romantic
New Pornographers - Electric Version
North of America - Brothers, Sisters
A Northern Chorus - Before We All Go to Pieces
Our Lady Peace - Naveed
Our Lady Peace - Clumsy
Our Lady Peace - Spiritual Machines
Pilate - Caught By The Window
Raising the Fawn - The North Sea
Rascalz- Cash Crop
Rheostatics - Whale Music
Royal City - Alone At The Microphone
A Silver Mt. Zion - He Has Left Us Alone but Shafts of Light Sometimes
Grace the Corner of Our Rooms…
Skinny Puppy - Bites
Sky - Piece of Paradise
Sloan - Smeared
Sloan - Twice Removed
Stars - Set Yourself on Fire
Stills - Logic Will Break Your Heart
The Super Friendz - Mock Up, Scale Down
Tegan and Sara - If It Was You
Tagan and Sara - So Jealous
Thrush Hermit - Clayton Park
Tragically Hip - Road Apples
Tragically Hip - Fully Completely
The Unicorns - Who Will Cut Our Hair When We're Gone?
Venetian Snares - Huge Chrome Cylinder Box Unfolding
The Weakerthans - Left & Leaving
The Weakerthans - 'Reconstruction Site'

NxEW.ca's 2009 Shadow Polaris Short List

We started asking back in May who you thought should win the Polaris Music Prize, We started out with a list of almost 100 artists and asked you to vote. We had a "Long List", narrowed it to 20 and now there are 10. Five of these agree with the real Polaris Short List, five do not. Amanda Ash and Ladysound will be pleased to hear that four of those five are solo albums by women.

Now we'll need you to vote again (see the bottom of this page) but the 2009 NxEW Shadow Polaris Short List goes:

Chad Van Gaalen - Soft Airplane



Elliott Brood - Mountain Meadows



Great Lake Swimmers - Lost Channels



Hey Rosetta! - Into Your Lungs



Laura Barrett -Victory Garden



Jenn Grant - Echoes



Jill Barber - Chances



Joel Plaskett - Three



Julie Doiron - I Can Wonder What You Did With Your Day



Timber Timbre - self titled



Keep Voting
(poll closes at midnight on Sept. 20)

Polaris Poll Update

Over 2,200 votes are in so far in our Shadow Polaris poll and our list is pretty good and very different from the official one. If your favorite album isn't on the list don't let that discourage you, there are other albums who were only a few votes shy of making this list:

Keep Voting

The Top 40 Right Now
(alphabetical order - an artists place on this list has nothing to do with their actual place in the poll.)

AC Newman - Get Guilty
Andrew Vincent - Rotten Pear
the Arkells - Jackson Square
Bell Orchestre - As Seen Through Windows
Bend Sinister - Stories of Brothers - Tales of Lovers
Black Hat Brigade - Fathers
Bruce Peninsula - AMIAM
the Burning Hell - Baby
the CFL Sessions
Chad Van Gaalen - Soft Airplane
Cour de Pirate - Self Titled
The Dears - Missiles
Deep Dark Woods - Winter Hours
Dog is Blue - Makes Ghost Noise
Elliot Brood - Mountain Meadows
Gentleman Reg - Jet Black
Great Lake Swimmers - Lost Channels
Handsome Furs - Face Control
Hey Rosetta! - Into Your Lungs
Hot Panda - Volcano Bloody Volcano
Jenn Grant - Echoes
Jill Barber - Chances
Joel Plaskett - Three
Jon-Rae Fletcher - Oh Maria
Julie Doiron - I Can Wonder What You Did With Your Day
Kara Keith - Visions Fugitives
Laura Barrett -Victory Garden
Land Of Talk - Some Are Lakes
Metric - Fantasies
Mother Mother - O My
Olenka and the Autumn Lovers - self titled
One Hundred Dollars - Forest of Tears
Patrick Watson - Wooden Arms
Rock Plaza Central - At The Moment Of Our Most Needing ...
Said The Whale - Howe Sounds/Taking Abalonia
Sebastien Granger and the Mountains - self titled
Sunparlour Players - Wave North
Timbre Timbre - self titled
Women - Self Titled
Woodpigeon - Treasury Library Canada

Who Should Win Polaris?

Are you a Polaris Juror? Neither am I. Let's play pretend though. If you were a polaris juror who would you be looking at for the prize? You don't have to pick just one (yet). Make a list in the comments section, or reply on Twitter, or send an email to NorthbyEastWest@gmail.com - from that I'll make a long, long list and then we'll work at shortening it down as the actual Polaris Music Prize draws closer.

We'll skip the full list of Rules (cause it's not the real thing) but we'll stick with the following:

The winner will be judged on artistic merit.

The artist must be Canadian.

They must have released a full length album between June 1, 2008 to May 31, 2009.

So, who do you think?

On Edit: Below is the list of albums that have been mentioned to date (either in the comments section, via email, on twitter, or via facebook.) A few were left off because they did not qualify (came out too early, not Canadian etc). Anything to add?

AC Newman - Get Guilty
Adam & the Amethysts - Amethyst Amulet
Aidan Baker and Tim Hecker - Fantasma Parastasie
Andre Ethier - Born of Blue Fog
Andrew Vincent - Rotten Pear
the Arkells - Jackson Square
Attack in Black - Years (By One Thousand Fingertips)
Azeda Booth - In Flesh Tones
Bell Orchestre - As Seen Through Windows
Bison BC - Quiet Earth
Black Hat Brigade - Fathers
Blackout Beach - Skin of Evil
Brian Borcherdt - Coyotes
Bruce Peninsula - AMIAM
the Burning Hell - Baby
the CFL Sessions
Chad Van Gaalen - Soft Airplane
Charles Spearin - the Happiness Project
The Constantines - Kensington Heights
Cour de Pirate - Self Titled
Dance Yourself to Death - Ready for Love
Dog Day - Concentration
Dog is Blue - Makes Ghost Noises
Doug Paisley - Self Titled
Elliot Brood - Mountain Meadows
Final Fantasy - Spectrum, 14th Century
the Free Press - Half Truths & Whole Lies
the Grass Mountain Hobos - Self Titled
the Great Bloomers - Speak of Trouble
Great Lake Swimmers - Lost Channels
Handsome Furs - Face Control
Human Highway - Moody Motorcycle
Gentleman Reg - Jet Black
Hey Rosetta! - Into Your Lungs
Jason Bajada - Loveshit
Jenn Grant - Echoes
Joel Plaskett - Three
Jon-Rae Fletcher - Oh Maria
Julie Doiron - I Can Wonder What You Did With Your Day
Junior Boys - Begone Dull Care
K'naan - Troubador
Kyrie Kristmanson - Pagan Love
Laura Barrett -Victory Garden
Mantrakid - Palmflowerblack
Metric - Fantasies
Mother Mother - O My
NQ Arbuckle - XOK
One Hundred Dolars - Forest of Tears
Patrick Watson - Wooden Arms
Pink Mountaintops - Outside Love
Rah Rah - Going Steady
Rock Plaza Central - At The Moment Of Our Most Needing, Or If Only They Could Turn Around, They Would Know They Weren’t Alone
Said The Whale - Howe Sounds/Taking Abalonia
Sebastien Grainger and the Mountains - self titled
Shotgun Jimmie - Still Jimmie
Smothered in Hugs - the Healing Power of Injury
Snailhouse - Lies On The Prize
Sunparlour Players - Wave North
Swan Lake - Enemy Mine
Timbre Timbre - self titled
Torngat - La Petite Nicole
Years - self titled