The Polaris Music Prize announced their "long list" today! This list of 40 albums nominated be media-types will be culled down to a short list of ten albums on July 6th, then a winner announced at a gala on Sept 19th, where they will get a $30,000 prize, up from the previous years 20 grand. And also new this year is $2,000 for each of the nine non-winning Short Listers.

The award is annually given to the "best full-length Canadian album based on artistic merit, regardless of genre, sales, or record label" and any album (more than 30 minutes/8 tracks long) out from June 1st 2010 to May 31 2011 is eligible.

Past winners include Final Fantasy, He Poos Clouds (2006) Patrick Watson, Close to Paradise (2007) Caribou, Andorra (2008) Fucked Up, The Chemistry of Common Life (2009) and Karkwa, Les Chemins De Verre (2010)

And so here is the 2011 Polaris Prize long list.

And as for my opinions: albums that I liked are italicized. Ones that I especially want to make the short list, are boldified. Ones I especially want to win, are boldified and italicized.

Arcade Fire - The Suburbs.
Austra - Feel It Break.
Braids - Native Speaker.
Black Mountain - Wilderness Heart.
Buck 65 - 20 Odd Years.
Louise Burns - Mellow Drama.
D-Sisive - Jonestown 2: Jimmy Go Bye Bye.
The Dears - Degeneration Street.
Destroyer - Kaputt.
Diamond Rings - Special Affections.
Dirty Beaches – Badlands.
Luke Doucet and The White Falcon - Steel City Trawler.
Eternia & MoSS - At Last.
Galaxie - Tigre Et Diesel.
Jenn Grant - Honeymoon Punch.
Tim Hecker – Ravedeath, 1972.
Hey Rosetta - Seeds.
Hooded Fang - Album.
Imaginary Cities - Temporary Resident.
Land Of Talk - Cloak and Cipher.
Little Scream - The Golden Record.
The Luyas - Too Beautiful to Work.
Malajube - La Caverne.
Miracle Fortress – Was I The Wave?.
One Hundred Dollars - Songs Of Man.
Doug Paisley - Constant Companion.
PS I Love You - Meet Me At The Muster Station.
Daniel Romano - Sleep Beneath the Willow.
The Rural Alberta Advantage - Departing.
Ron Sexsmith - Long Player Late Bloomer.
Shotgun Jimmie - Transistor Sister.
Sloan - The Double Cross.
Frederick Squire - March 12.
Stars - The Five Ghosts.
Colin Stetson - New History Warfare Vol. 2: Judges.
Timber Timbre - Creep On Creepin' On.
The Weeknd - House Of Balloons.
Women - Public Strain.
Neil Young - Le Noise.
Young Galaxy – Shapeshifting.

And now some albums that I feel should be on the list, but were overlooked:
Kathryn Calder - Are You My Mother?
Matthew Good - Lights of Endangered Species.
The Liptonians - Let's All Mach Back Into The Sea.
Rah Rah - Breaking Hearts.
Chad VanGaalen - Diaper Island.
David Vertesi - Cardiography.