This Monday, September 24, the winner of the second-annual Polaris Prize will be announced at a gala event at the Phoenix. There will be stars, musical performances, free food and drink, and, unfortunately, you are probably not invited. Given to the best Canadian album of the past year, and awarded solely on artistic merit, the $20,000 prize is getting handed to someone (probably Feist) at a media and invite-only event. (Torontoist was graciously invited, but......

Photo of Cadence Weapon by David Topping. Earlier this afternoon in the Drake Sky Yard, the shortlist for this year's Polaris Prize was announced. Established by Steve Jordan last year, the $20,000 prize "annually honours, celebrates and rewards creativity and diversity in Canadian recorded music by recognizing, then marketing the albums of the highest artistic integrity, without regard to musical genre, professional affiliation, or sales history, as judged by a panel of selected critics......

For the time, it seems, side-projects are here to stay. If you take a look at any of the large indie bands from Canada (Broken Social Scene, Stars, New Pornographers, The Arcade Fire and Wolf Parade, off the top of our head), they've got at least one offshoot, whether active or not. The surprising thing is that, for the most part, these side-projects have done a decent job of living up to the hype brought......

Toronto's condominium market isn't always a pretty one. Owen Pallett of Final Fantasy (also the strings arranger for The Arcade Fire and The Hidden Cameras, pictured above at left) decided to take an unorthodox approach to dealing with the problem: he wrote a song about it. Pallett's newly-released LP, He Poos Clouds, includes a song called "This Lamb Sells Condos." The phrase should be familiar to anyone who's seen this billboard, an advertisement for......

Torontoist enjoyed Stuart Berman's interview in this week's eye, pitting Max McCabe-Lokos (the Deadly Snakes) and Bry Webb (the Constantines).We're not taking sides in this little "tiff" but we'll gladly go and watch either band this weekend at the Horseshoe. But enough of the friendliness of Canada's indie scene, we think that underneath all this collegiality and 'pat-on-the back' we're all in this together joviality there's some real rage. 1) Sarah Slean vs. Sarah......

Toronto writer Sheila Heti waxes romantic about The Arcade Fire in the new issue of Walrus magazine. Her contribution to the summer "Love Letters" feature is addressed to Régine and makes reference to digging tunnels, naming babies and other activities held sacred by Montreal’s finest. The note, affectionately signed ‘W’, could or could not be inspired by the Fire’s spring show at the Danforth Music Hall. The magazine is on newsstands now and also features......

Yes, The Arcade Fire are playing their last of three sold out shows at the Danforth Music Hall tonight. And it's true concert reviews from the past two nights have been favourable. Tonight will be just as good, if not better. Like the past two nights, tonight’s show is sold out. If you have the money for it, scalped tickets are anywhere from $40 to $120. But don’t buy a scalped ticket from that jerk......

There were few surprises in the Torontoist Single of the Year list, and there are even fewer surprises in our album list. The record of the year spot, even before its release date of Sept. 14, is on lock down with those post-baroque screamo Montrealers, The Arcade Fire. Surprises abound in other lists, but here at Torontoist, we are strictly meat and potatoes, best of the best. Peace on Earth, ba-rump-abump-abump-bump. (P.S. Witness how Torontoist......

It's a very Sakamoto of us to put a cover song in this week's mixtape, but it's a nice cover and the two bands seem to be the subject of a lot of talk lately. Don't worry though; we'll stay away from any of those Strokes/Chingy mash-ups that Sakamoto likes so much. 1. The Arcade Fire - This Must Be The Place (Naive Melody) A clever cover of one of the Talking Heads' best singles.......