Polaris, designated α Ursae Minoris, commonly the North Star or Pole Star, is the brightest star in the constellation of Ursa Minor. It is very close to the north celestial pole, making it the current northern pole star. The revised Hipparcos parallax gives a distance to Polaris of about 433 light-years, while calculations by other methods derive distances around 30% closer.
Daniel Victor Snaith is a Canadian composer, musician, and recording artist who has performed under the stage names Caribou, Manitoba and Daphni.
Nortec Collective is a musical ensemble formed by various individual one- or two-man production projects. The group came together in Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico. Their genre mixes electronica with musical elements and instrumentation of tambora and norteño music, resulting in the nortec style. The various projects began producing and performing nortec music around 1999. In 2001, they were signed to a recording contract with Palm Pictures, and released their first album, Tijuana Session Volume 1, under the name Nortec Collective. The line-up for that album included Bostich, Clorofila, Fussible, Hiperboreal, Panoptica, Plankton Man and Terrestre. The latter two would leave Nortec Collective in 2002.
The Polaris Music Prize is a music award annually given to the best full-length Canadian album based on artistic merit, regardless of genre, sales, or record label. The award was established in 2006 with a $20,000 cash prize; the prize was increased to $30,000 for the 2011 award. In May 2015, it was announced the Polaris Music Prize winner will now receive $50,000, an additional $20,000, thanks to the sponsorship of Slaight Music. Additionally, second place prizes which go to the nine other acts on the Short List will increase from $2,000 to $3,000. Polaris officials also announced they will be creating The Slaight Family Polaris Heritage Prize, a sort of hall of fame award that "will annually honour five albums from the five decades before Polaris launched in 2006." Details about the selection process for this prize are still to be revealed.
Anna-Catherine Hartley, known professionally as Uffie, is an American singer, songwriter, rapper, DJ, and fashion designer formerly signed to French electronic music record label Ed Banger Records.
Shadrach Kabango, better known by his stage name Shad or Shad K., is a Canadian alternative hip hop recording artist and broadcaster. He hosted Q on CBC Radio One from 2015 to 2016, and hosts the Emmy and Peabody Award-winning series Hip-Hop Evolution.
Karkwa is an indie rock band from Montreal, Quebec, Canada, formed in 1998.
Oh, My Darling is the debut album by Canadian singer-songwriter Basia Bulat. It was recorded in Montreal and produced by Howard Bilerman, whom Bulat met in 2006 and asked to work with. It was originally released April 30, 2007 on Rough Trade Records in the United Kingdom. It then saw a Canadian release June 4, 2007 on Hardwood Records, the vanity label of fellow Canadian musician Hayden. On February 5, 2008, the album was released on Rough Trade Records in the United States.
The 2008 edition of the Canadian Polaris Music Prize was presented on September 30, 2008 at the Phoenix Concert Theatre in Toronto. The prize was won by Caribou for his album Andorra.
The 2009 edition of the Canadian Polaris Music Prize was presented on September 21, 2009 in Toronto at the Masonic Temple and broadcast live online for the first time in its short history. The award's eligibility period for 2009 covered albums released between June 1, 2008 and May 31, 2009.
XXXX is the third full-length album by Canadian dance-punk band You Say Party, released September 29, 2009. It was the last release featuring the band's original longer name and the last album with drummer Devon Clifford.
Sex Dreams and Denim Jeans is the debut studio album by French-American singer Uffie, released on June 14, 2010 by Ed Banger Records and Because Music. Produced by Feadz, J-Mat, Mr. Oizo, Mirwais and SebastiAn, the album features guest appearances by Pharrell Williams and Mattie Safer from indie rock band The Rapture, and includes a cover of Siouxsie and the Banshees' 1978 song "Hong Kong Garden", which Uffie said was one of her favorite songs.
The Suburbs is the third studio album by Canadian indie rock band Arcade Fire, released on August 2, 2010. Coinciding with its announcement, the band released a limited edition 12-inch single containing the title track and "Month of May". The album debuted at No. 1 on the Irish Albums Chart, the UK Albums Chart, the US Billboard 200 chart, and the Canadian Albums Chart. It won Album of the Year at the 2011 Grammy Awards, Best International Album at the 2011 BRIT Awards, Album of the Year at the 2011 Juno Awards, and the 2011 Polaris Music Prize for best Canadian album. Two weeks after winning Grammy's Album of the Year, the album jumped from No. 52 to No. 12 on the Billboard 200, the album's highest ranking since August 2010.
Wilderness Heart is the third album by Black Mountain, released on September 14, 2010.
La Patère Rose was a Canadian francophone electro-pop group formed in 2003 in Sherbrooke, Quebec. The band was composed of keyboardist Roboto, drummer Kilojules and singer-pianist Fanny Bloom.
Louis-Jean Cormier is a Canadian indie rock singer and songwriter. Formerly associated with the band Karkwa, since that band went on hiatus in 2012 he has released two albums as a solo artist and was a judge on the second season of the television singing competition La Voix.
Julia With Blue Jeans On is the third album by musician Spencer Krug as the moniker Moonface. It is the follow-up to 2012's With Siinai: Heartbreaking Bravery and features only Krug on vocals and piano. The album was released on 29 October 2013 by Jagjaguwar in the United States and by Paper Bag Records in Canada.
The 2014 edition of the Canadian Polaris Music Prize was presented on September 22, 2014 at The Carlu event theatre in Toronto, Ontario. Actor Jay Baruchel was the host of the ceremony.
La Papessa is the second album by Colombian-Canadian electronic musician Lido Pimienta, released in 2016. It was named the winner of the 2017 Polaris Music Prize.
