Polaris Music Prize

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Better Know A Jury Member #9: Amanda Putz July 21 2009

Amanda Putz (Ottawa)
Producer, CBC Radio
Jury Member Since: 2006

Please share the Top 5 Canadian records you put on your final ballot.
Snailhouse Lies on the Prize
Elliott Brood Mountain Meadows
K'naan Troubadour
La Patere Rose La Patere Rose
Rae Spoon superioryouareinferior

Tell us about your top ranked choice. Why #1?

I think every music lover in the world has a band or person that they feel is consistently under-ballyhooed and should be world famous. (And if they ever become so you'd better be a true lover who will not turn on them because they are.) For years Snailhouse has been releasing exquisite art in the form of songs. If they were visual art they would be Tom Thompsons: clear impressions of real life fused with his own delicate touches of intricate guitar melodies and word play that forces thought and a knowing smile rather than a giggle. They are the kind of songs I turn to in any mood, at any time, under any circumstance. Lies on the Prizeis Snailhouse's best collection of songs to date. I still love it more with every listen.

Reaction to the Short List: Your most pleasant surprise? Shocked by
any omissions?

I'm most pleasantly surprise to see the fantastic record Into Your Lungs by Hey Rosetta! make the Short List. It's a truly lush and exciting album and they deserve to be on there. I'm still shocked that Jenn Grant didn't even make the Long List. That is a travesty beyond words. Echoes, like Lies on the Prize, is the kind of music you will find yourself pressing play on in 20 years and it's just as perfect, fitting, and true as it was in 2009.

Describe the state of Canadian music in five words:

I'll steal a phrase from a great (non) Canadian: "Same as it ever was."
(Only nowadays you don't have to work as hard to find the good stuff.)

Imagine the tables are turned and you are the nominee: What would
you do with the $20,000 prize money?

I would definitely invest, now's the time! RRSPs! We all know musicians don't have a pension plan!

Seriously though, I've actually already thought that if I came into money in my current position I would start a music "scholarship" type of thing (a prize, I suppose) for the debut artist / album of the year so that they could continue on the path of greatness they began. Everyone knows about the sophomore slump or jinx, so a little encouragement doesn't hurt! If I invested $15,000 and gave away $5000 each year I could re-prize with the interest--if I have a good investor. That might sound altruistic but considering I don't gamble or have any wealthy relatives, it's not likely to actually ever occur! (The CBC once overpaid me but they figured it out pretty quick and I didn't invest it because I figured they would. Dang.)

Related Link: CBC Bandwidth

RT @teganandsara: Home Recordings the bonus album from our vinyl box set is streaming at http://bit.ly/9mrMUN.
Jul 30 2010, 4:26pm from TweetDeck

@nicooooole in @torontoist on @TheSadies awesome summer .
Jul 30 2010, 4:25pm from TweetDeck

Cool. RT @CiTRradio: CRTC policy decision gives Community Radio Fund of Canada $775,000 in funding to support community and campus stations.
Jul 30 2010, 4:01pm from TweetDeck