Polara and the work of Ed Ackerson

had met and chatted with Ed a few times, was a real staple of the MN music scene, continued to do interesting work with BNLX and other projects, from what I understand he smartly rolled his 90s alt rock boom advance money into a studio in Uptown when real estate there was still affordable, which was really world class and recorded I'm sure thousands of records over the years ... never heard a bad word said about him, seemed incredibly supportive and generally just a good presence in Minneapolis

those Polara records still sound great

There are great moments on every Polara album I've heard, but I really love that first album. One of the best albums of the decade for me

I missed this even though I'm friends with Ed on FB but this is really terrible news ;_;. My heart goes out to their family.

I'm positive I saw them at a show in SoCal at least once but the details are fuzzy.

The one time I saw Polara was when they opened up for Spiritualized on the Pure Phase tour in 1995. They were great - wish I talked with Ed more at the merch table.

THAT must have been it -- this was at the Whiskey? I remember attending a promo dinner beforehand...

John D. Strohm (Blake Babies etc, now running Rounder Records) knew Ed for decades -- hell of a remembrance:

https://www.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=10220222651774057&id=1160261224

More memories as well from a longtime friend/collaborator, Nick Tangborn.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10156133449876792&set=a.460532651791&type=3&theater

Some hometown coverage

https://blog.thecurrent.org/2019/10/ed-ackerson-pillar-of-the-minnesota-music-scene-dies-of-cancer/

http://m.startribune.com/minneapolis-music-wizard-ed-ackerson-54-loses-cancer-battle/562281532/

30 track tribute album released to Bandcamp last month: https://susstones.bandcamp.com/album/closer-to-heaven-a-tribute-to-ed-ackerson

Nice new Bandcamp release of a group of younger kids including Ed's daughter Annika; proceeds go to supporting music education in Minneapolis.

https://shesburgers.bandcamp.com/album/and-a-side-of-fries

Never saw this thread before.

I grabbed this a few months ago because it's a fun package and a great deal and the album is so good, as you may know. Fun to have it on vinyl.

https://polarampls.bandcamp.com/album/free-us-shipping-polara-90s-spaceman-pack-30-sale

27 Various included on this new comp of "Midwest shoegaze/dream pop/space rock":

https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/delivery.midheaven.com/s/145167/images/145167_main.jpg

https://thirdmanrecords.com/blogs/news/third-man-records-announces-southeast-of-saturn-vol-2-out-december-2-2022