Now Hear This…The JUNOS Have Landed!

Happy JUNO week ya’ll! For those who appreciate the stellar music our many talented artists have put forth this past year, the time for their recognition is upon us! The 2011 JUNO Awards will air this Sunday, March 27 at 8pm on CTV.

To be perfectly honest, I use to watch award shows only for the performances, and even that was painful. In recent years I’ve pathetically committed to watching the full broadcasts and while most of them give you bedsores, the Junos will run only two-and-a-half hours including the “special extended broadcast”. It actually looks like it could be entertaining, not to mention easy on the eyes! Drake, our dapper host for the evening, will be joined by presenters Royal Wood, Buck 65, Metric, Classified, Feist and Shad to name a few.

The entertainment highlights for the evening include the heavily favoured Arcade Fire, Broken Social Scene (and if you consider who is also presenting, should be big), Chromeo and Down With Webster with Tokyo Police Club added to close out the night. I heard something about Chilly Gonzales and a special appearance with Drake, but who knows what that means! Also, in true Rita and Friends form, Blue Rodeo’s Jim Cuddy, City and Colour, Derek Miller, Greg Keelor, Justin Rutledge, Sarah Harmer, Sarah Slean and The Sadies will all team up in a tribute to some of Canada’s most talented artists.

For shits, I’ve guesstimated the winners for some of the night’s top awards below. (Full list of nominees here.)

ALBUM OF THE YEAR
Put your money on: Arcade Fire
‘The Suburbs’ just took home the Grammy for the same category, but it wouldn’t shock me one bit if the judges come down with a case of Bieber fever. The next serious contender would be Drake, but overall ‘Thank Me Later’ ranked lower with critics and in sales.

ARTIST OF THE YEAR
Put your money on: Arcade Fire
In my opinion Neil Young takes this award, but how hilarious would it be if Justin Bieber swooped in and won? Neil closed the Olympic winter games and performed on the final episode of The Tonight Show with Conan O’Brien last year but will that be enough to relieve the industry’s mega boner for Arcade Fire? Probably not.

GROUP OF THE YEAR
Put your money on: Arcade Fire
I find it amazing that Down With Webster was even nominated and sit in this category, but good on them! Really it is just a toss up between Broken Social Scene and Arcade Fire. Given the world-wide acclaim Arcade Fire has received over Broken Social Scene in the last year though it is sort of a no-brainer.

NEW GROUP OF THE YEAR
Put your money on: Hollerado
Seriously, who doesn’t love this band? 2010 was most definitely the year of the nacho. They’ve been featured on the Bravo! series Playlist Uncut, had their songs in various Rogers commercials and had that amazing “human 8-bit” video for ‘Americanarama’ – no, not the Dave Foley one, even though that one is hilarious.

ALTERNATIVE ALBUM OF THE YEAR
Put your money on: Broken Social Scene
I’d personally love to see Tokyo Police Club take home the prize for ‘Champ’ however they’re up against Polaris Prize winners Karkwa and Broken Social Scene and oh yeah, Arcade Fire. ‘Forgiveness Rock Record’ was more than just a solid addition to their discography and in the past years Broken Social Scene have proven they are far more than just a band inspiring film, literature and art.

ROCK ALBUM OF THE YEAR
Put your money on: Cancer Bats
How great will it be when Cancer Bats win this award? ‘Bears, Mayors, Scraps & Bones’ was a violently heavy listening alternative to the waves of indie/surf/stoner rock we were flooded with last year, plus their ‘Sabotage’ cover is guaranteed to make you smirk. I’ll be damned if Finger Eleven walks away the winner.

RAP RECORDING OF THE YEAR
As much as this pains me to write, put your money on: Drake
Strictly in terms of sales and critical acclaim (and causing a near riot upon the release of ‘Thank Me Later’), Drake definitely dominates over D-Sisive and Ghettosocks. If Santa Claus was real and there was an Easter Bunny this award would go to Shad.

DANCE RECORDING OF THE YEAR
Put your money on: Deadmau5
How did Keshia Chante even wiggle her way into this category? No matter, as one of the top-ranked DJs in the world, Deadmau5 has this category beat over performers Chromeo. The reaction I still get when I tell non-Canadians he’s from Toronto kills me.

VIDEO OF THE YEAR
Put your money on: Michael Maxxis
Michael Maxxis mixes rag-doll puppets with a Texas Chainsaw Massacre vibe in the nightmarish video for Billy Talent’s ‘Saint Veronika’. The lighting and the colour scheme is creepily brilliant! Shout out to my neighbour Chris Mills though.

MUSIC DVD OF THE YEAR
Put your money on: Scot McFadyen, Sam Dunn, Pegi Cecconi, Noah Segal, Shelley Nott, John Virant for Rush: Beyond The Lighted Stage
If you’ve been to my house in the past year and I’ve tried to send you home with Rush: Beyond the Lighted Stage, I’m so not sorry because it is absolutely amazing. In fact, I’m going to watch it again. Right now!

ELECTRONIC ALBUM OF THE YEAR
Put your money on: Caribou
I have a soft spot for Holy Fuck’s kitten video for ‘Red Lights’, but Caribou was in my top 10 for best albums of 2010 and I’m almost usually never wrong.

So, there you have it folks. Be sure the catch the awards on Sunday night and check back in with Pink Mafia for our coverage. Follow Kay Laser (@KayLaser) and Courtney Yip (@courtneyleeyip) and @pinkmafia4life for their live tweets from the red carpet and inside the awards where they’ll be rubbing elbows with the crème de la crème of Canadian music.

Words by Kate Masewich