2009 Polaris Music Prize Shortlist Nominees Announced

When turgid corporate-rock embarrassments Nickelback started cleaning up Canada's Grammy-equivalent, the Juno Awards, in the '00s, something needed to be done. Taking inspiration from the UK's long-running Mercury Music Prize, in 2006, a crew of enterprising Canadians established the Polaris Music Prize; an award given to the best Canadian album based on artistic merit alone.

Putting their money with their mouths were, the Polaris peeps handed over their first-ever oversize-novelty-cheque ($20,000 cash!) to Final Fantasy's wondrous He Poos Clouds. With the Prize having grown in size and scope since then, the 2009 'Shortlist' nominees have been revealed, setting a field of 10 to be in the running for that fat wad of filthy lucre.

2009's field is headlined by Metric's shiny radio-pop pleaser Fantasies, Chad VanGaalen's junkyard death poem Soft Airplane, Great Lake Swimmers' alt-country oil painting Lost Channels, F**ked Up's noxious hardcore mess The Chemistry of Common Life, the Jeff Buckley-ish balladry of '07 winner Patrick Watson's Wooden Arms, and Somali ex-pat rapper K'Naan's major-label debut, Troubadour.

Arcade Fire-wannabes Hey Rosetta! already won the fan-voted fake Polaris, the 'Verge,' last year for Into Your Lungs (and around in your heart and on through your blood), and they're definite contenders to add more cash to their band coffers. There's also albums by people named Elliott Brood, Joel Haskett, and Malajube, who you probably have to be Canadian to have heard of.

Taking a look at the 40-strong 'Long List' that the Short List was whittled down from reveals that voters, for reasons known only to themselves ignored albums by Japandroids, Land of Talk, Women, and Wolf Parade. Not to mention Handsome Furs' secretly great and wildly-underrated Face Control, the work of Wolf Parade co-songsmith, Dan Boeckner.

The winner will be unveiled at a gala ceremony on September 21. Let's hope the winner's name is VanGaalen.

• Interview: Chad VanGaalen
• Interview: Metric
• Introducing: Japandroids
• Interview: Land of Talk
• Interview: Women