andPOP - Pop Culture With Substance

Canadians: Want a quick 20 grand? Make an amazing album.

The Polaris Prize awards $20,000 to the Canadian artist or group that creates the best album of the year, based solely on artistic merit. Sales don’t count, marketing doesn’t count. The ten nominees – Elliot Brood, Fucked Up, Great Lake Swimmers, Hey Rosetta!, K’Naan, Metric, Joel Plaskett, Malajube, Patrick Watson, and Chad Vangaalen – all attended and performed at the Polaris Prize Gala, so I made sure to snag a few interviews before the award was given out.

The winner of the $20,000 prize? Well, check out the video and I’ll tell you.

Aux Music television is making their official television debut on October 1st with the Canadian premiere of Radiohead: From the Basement. The debut will preview what to look forward to in Aux programming: a celebration of domestic and international talent. Aux was launched in November 2008, and is the self-proclaimed, “Face of thriving music culture.” It contains a diverse, progressive selection of musical content. Radiohead: From The Basement focuses on the work of legendary musical act Radiohead as they perform live in the intimate studio basement of music producer and sound engineer, Nigel Godrich. The special performance includes music from the band’s final breakthrough album, In Rainbows, along with several other popular songs.

At 9: 30 p.m. EST, Aux will screen a preview of the new original series, AUX live, which will feature live performances from talented Canadian artists like The Stills and K’naan.
Raja Khanna, Founder & President of AUX, said that viewers tuning into to AUX will get their fix of tested musical acts like Radiohead and Billy Talent, along with new and upcoming artists like Grand Analog, Ohbijou, and Still Life Still. “Our roster of launch weekend programming sets the tone for everything to come,” says Khanna. Aux will also feature the film Dead Man Walking on Saturday, October 3 at 9 p.m. The 1995 cult classic directed by Jim Jarmusch, features Johnny Depp and Iggy Pop in the story summarized in the Aux press release as, “An accountant who embarks on a bloody journey through a twisted version of the American Old West.”

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Move aside indie-rock. This year’s Polaris Music Prize winners are a little different from the average Canadian alternative style. Toronto hardcore band Fucked Up took this year’s $20,000 award for the best Canadian album of the year on Monday, according to The Globe and Mail.

The band’s album, “The Chemistry of Common Life,” beat out nine other finalists including Metric, K’Naan, Joel Plaskett, and Great Lake Swimmers.

The Polaris Prize is an award decided by a jury made up of Canadian journalists, bloggers, broadcasters and programmers. The jury is determined by the Polaris Board of Directors and is made up of 185 members from both the local and national media.

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Having just hosted a Jazz and Comedy festival only a few weeks ago, Montreal was once again the pearl of Canada this past weekend with the undeniable success of the Osheaga Music and Arts festival- a two day event filled with performances beginning at 1:00pm all the way until 11:00pm.

As Saturday would feature notable acts such as Jason Mraz, The Roots, K’naan, The Stills, Girltalk and above all, the grandmaster Coldplay, andPOP decided to venture down to La Belle Province for day no. 1.

But something funny happened by the end of our trip. Not only did we go from being pale skinned to maple brown sunburned, but we also went from being a concert reviewer to a behind-the-scenes explorer.

With four different stages and acts scheduled at similar time slots, we had to pick and choose which musical path our day would lead towards.

This is our story.

2:30 pm- I begin my journey in Hell’s Kitchen. Beautiful sunny day in Montreal, but sweltering 30 degree Celsius heat. For some reason though, the crowd seems to want to stand through it for acoustic rock performer Donavon Frankenreiter at the Mountain Stage. The musician and also pro surfer gathers a trickling crowd with an immediate groovy set- reminiscent of longtime pal Jack Johnson.

Part of that next batch of sunshine tune-fellows like Johnson, Ben Harper, Matt Costa and G. Love,  Frankenreiter ignites the festival’s spirit with his variety of catchy soothing numbers- most notably It Don’t Matter, which leads fans into a massive chant. A laid-back Frankenreiter even lets a lucky fan help him belt out the chorus, sending the crowd into rave cheers.

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Kanye West may be soundtracking the NBA’s playoffs campaign, but the NFL has Canadian hip-hopper K’naan in its corner.

“Dreamer,” a track from K’naan’s recently-released ”Troubadour,” is being used in a 2009 NFL draft commercial, which also features an appearance by the performer himself.

Also featured in the ad – a number of the NFL’s top prospects for the draft that goes down April 25 and 26, including University of Georgia’s Matt Stafford and Texas Tech’s Michael Crabtree.

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Nas, Common, Damian Marley, the Roots and K’naan are among the acts featured in this summer’s Rock the Bells hip-hop festival, which will visit 10 North American cities including Toronto and Vancouver.

Each of the tour stops, which are scheduled to take place on consecutive weekends from June 27 to Aug. 9, will feature 25 artists on two stages, according to Billboard.

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Last May, K’naan spoke to andPOP about starting a new chapter in his musical career with the U.S. release of “The Dusty Foot Philosopher,” three years after the critically acclaimed debut album was released in Canada.

Now, the Toronto hip-hop artist is gearing up for even more exposure across the border after being tapped to open a string of shows for Snoop Dogg next month.

K’naan will join the rap superstar on the southeast leg of his U.S. tour, starting May 4 in Little Rock, AK and wrapping May 17 in Hilton Head, SC.

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New K’Naan material is coming in January.

That’s when the Canadian rapper will release his sophomore album, “Troubadour,” the followup to his 2005 debut, “The Dusty Foot Philosopher.”

The new album was recorded in part at Bob Marley’s home in Kingston, Jamaica last winter. Earlier this year, K’Naan spoke to andPOP about the experience.

“It was like you would expect. It was stereotypically magical,” he said.

“Whatever you thought Bob Marley’s house was going to be, it’s like that. It’s amazing. For three months, we recorded, and sat on the steps where we wrote songs, and recorded in his mic booth.”

First single “ABCs” can now be heard on K’Naan’s MySpace page and will also be used in the “Madden NFL 09″ video game.

K’Naan, along with Matisyahu, will play Toronto’s Phoenix Concert Theatre on Dec. 16 and Montreal’s Metropolis the next night.