What started out as a great year for music still has the chance to end as one if people can remedy one minor detraction caused by the lackluster judgment of several respectfully lackluster individuals.
Yes, I am talking about the 2007 Shortlist Music Prize listmakers which comprised off representatives from well established sellouts Snow Patrol and the Killers as well as well known coke addict Chris Douridas of KCRW's respectable "Morning Becomes Eclectic" radio show. The other two listmakers were Hunnypot and Rev. Moose who unfortunately have no record of ever existing on the internet.
It seems that while they managed to select reasonable finalists amongst the standout nominees (Arcade Fire, Justice, LCD Soundsystem, Wilco) they found themselves unable to honor two-time nominees Arcade Fire, and Wilco, in favor of newcomer and self-proclaimed ipod sellout Feist, whose 'indie' status I find it hard not to question. It is important to note she still is officially signed to Cherrytree records which is a imprint of Interscope/UMG.
The winning album, Feist's respectable "The Reminder" still seems to pale in comparison to the collected works of several of the other artists which have yet to be honored.
From wikipedia: "Prior to the Apple iPod Nano commercial airing, The Reminder was selling at approximately 6,000 copies per week, and "1234" at 2,000 downloads per week. Following the commercial, the song passed 73,000 total downloads and reached No. 7 on Hot Digital Songs and No. 28 on the Billboard Hot 100."
Also the song was named one of the top 10 of 2007 by Time Magazine.
When I first came across the Shortlist organization early last year it appeared to me as a 'by the artist, for the artist' awards service aimed at recognizing standout works by relatively unknown artists who had not found major mainstream success. The previous honorees consisting of Sigur Ros, N*E*R*D, Damien Rice, TV on the Radio, Sufjan Stevens and Cat Power. While "The Reminder" is a very precious reminder of Feist's able songwriting skills it seems to acoustically struggle living up to the experimentalism and sheer originality of previous Shortlist winners.
Overall I have to say I'm disappointed with the results of this years Shortlist Prize, however, I do have hope for Feist's future endeavors and I will check out her work with Broken Social Scene which hopefully will be a little more eclectic and adventurous than her polished rhythmic vocal-oriented numbers.
Exclusive Feist "1 2 3 4" Clip
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Albums are eligible only if they have not been certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America by the time of nomination.
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