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The Mercury Music Prize shortlist

62 votes
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by hello_dave

Here it is:

Adele - '19'
British Sea Power - 'Do You Like Rock Music?'
Burial - 'Untrue'
Elbow - 'The Seldom Seen Kid'
Estelle - 'Shine'
The Last Shadow Puppets - 'The Age Of The Understatement'
Laura Marling - 'Alas I Cannot Swim'
Neon Neon - 'Stainless Style'
Portico Quartet - 'Knee-Deep In The North Sea'
Robert Plant And Alison Krauss – 'Raising Sand'
Radiohead - 'In Rainbows'
Rachel Unthank And The Winterset – 'The Bairns'

hello_dave | 22 Jul '08, 11:47 | Send note | Report this | Reply

Well

That looks all a bit boring, doesn't it.


hhaahahaheahaha


Is this actually it?

Or just a guess?


It's the official one.

Well, NME are reporting it as such...


Not on the website yet

so I don't know.


Could be worse

Estelle and no Portishead jumps out on first look.


C'mon the Sea Power!

yeah.


It'd be great if Burial won

but he won't as there'd be no-one there for Jo Whiley to sycophantically fawn over in the post-match interview

would be good if Elbow won

Adele but no M.I.A. - wtf?


my dollar

is on Adele


no portishead!

bonkers


I really thought

Johnny Flynn would be the token-folk attempt that's actually very good-album


Eugh, Radiohead will win :(

Fucking predictable.

Laura Marling or Burial (probably Burial) should win though.


You say predictable

but Radiohead have been nominated 3 times previously and not won.


which increases their chances of winning

Every single magazine and website is bumming them now, and I don't see the mercury prize will be any different.


They were among the favourites

if not THE favourites the other times as well.

They deserve it anyway, I've heard most of the albums in that list and In Rainbows is the strongest.


For Fuck's Sake.

What the hell are British Sea Power doing on there? How does releasing a disappointing, mediocre album with none of the eccentricity, charm or indeed tunes of your previous work qualify you as one of the albums of the year?

The only logical reason I could ever see for its conclusion on the shortlist were if only 12 albums were entered...


I liked it!


Sea Power - its a very good album...

cloaked in awful production, but the songs hit the mark perfectly. Good stuff.


Surely we're not talking about the same album?

Aside from the first song it has literally no tunes whatsoever.

It's the sound of a band settling for mediocrity. Which is a particular shame when it's a band that could do much, much better.


So you dont even like....

Down on the Ground
No Lucifer
Waving Flags
Atom
A Trip Out

Yeah there are a 2-3 pretty pointless filler type tracks but overall i think its excellent. Just horrible horrible production.


I certainly think none of those songs

stand up to the best parts of Open Season or The Decline of...

And, having not listened to the album for a couple of months, I couldn't tell you how Down on the Ground, Atom or A Trip Out go, which sort of backs of my lack of tunes point.

I mean I don't listen to Open Season with any regularity and haven't since about a year since it came out but I could still sing most of the songs on it but I can't even recollect large parts of DYLRM?


What are you on about?

The first song is your usual "negligable lead in track" that a lot of bands use these days. The rest of the album is great. You spanner.


I'm not saying the opening track is anything wonderful.

But it beats anything that follows hands down.


can i weigh in

and say that british sea power is the biggest load of shite that i have ever seen nominated for a mercury prize


Burial for teh win!

I wonder if he'd actually collect the award, or get someone to do it for him?


Sooooo predictable

Does anybody else think Neon Neon is just dead boring?


^

yes i do

and i hope either the shadow puppets win or Laura Marling


and neon neon are boring, eh?

glad you have your ears and I have mine, hope neon neon or elbow win it.


"Burial, they're a dubstep band"

Well done, Radio 1 entertainment woman. Well done.


Yep

5Live guy referred to Burial as a "dubstep collective." Basic research is apparently beyond BBC journalists.


just heard that as well :D

"Unsurprisingly they're not here."


LOLZ


I swear Radio 1 journalist are all

mentally retarded


One year

I'd have listened to all 12 albums before the list comes out. going to keep an eye on Last.fm for Portico Quartet which I will try and find in HMV now.

Aside from Portishead and Duffy being on there for Adele and Estelle it's pretty close to expectations, I don't think that's as it's a bad year just it was obvious the likes of Elbow, Radiohead, Burial, Last Shadow Puppets would be there and you can fill the gaps around the rest.


portico quartet

are the token white-guys-do-world-music thing. it is very very good though.


Yeah pretty boring

the Rachel Unthank album is very good won't win though!


^

To most people this will be seen as the 'token folk' record on the list (see postings below).
To my mind, the truly greatest record I bought last year.
Seriously great live. Lovely people. I hope they win.


frrrightened rabbit

:(((
bsp ftw


No Frightened Rabbit is ridiculous.

If the shadow puppets one is half as good as 'Midnight Organ Fight' i'll be amazed.


Predictably dull

Although I am suprised that Foals didn't make the list. Laura Marling deserves to win it.


isn't the maercury music prize all a bit shit anyway?

that said Gomez did win it once :D


as did

M People


bad comparison


M People won

the year OK Computer was nominated.


oh wait

thats wrong. nevermind.


on the plus side

NO KATE NASH!
NO TING TINGS!


Very good point ^

That is!


likewise

No Pigeon Detectives / Kooks / Blunt / Coldplay nomination either.


surely those bands

except coldplay, wouldn't realistically ever stand a chance of getting on though?!
they tend to go for fairly.. 'innovative', or at least half decent, stuff.
saying that, Hard Fi did get a nomination once.


...

Adele 19 - Young female British 'soul' hope
British Sea Power Do You Like Rock Music? - Maturing indie band now writing 6+ minute songs
Burial Untrue - Token edgy urban nomination
Elbow The Seldom Seen Kid - Mature Britrock stalwarts
Estelle Shine - Token unedgy urban nomination
Laura Marling Alas I Cannot Swim - British non-soul femme debut
Neon Neon Stainless Style - Indie rockers do 'serious' electro/dance
Portico Quartet Knee-Deep In The North Sea - Token jazzers
Rachel Unthank & The Winterset The Bairns - Token folkers
Radiohead In Rainbows - Hoary old rock lords, potential "it's about time' winners
Robert Plant & Alison Krauss Raising Sand - Aged icon makes acclaimed comeback (Collaboration Division)
The Last Shadow Puppets The Age Of The Understatement


...

Shadow Puppets = Token Wildcard.


That's completely wrong.

Leave it out.


hmm

nothing there to get excited about


Hmmm, Burial will probably win

or radiohead, though i'd like to see robert plant+allison kraus win.


My vote

Is for Neon Neon


Not that

I have a vote


weird theres

no Foals..i thought they'd be a dead cert


Kate Nash & Hot Chip

were my dead certs. This is the worse list in... ever?


it will be radiohead

but that's awesome BSP are there, I'd love them to win


Radiohead wont win

People always say that the Radioheads, the Coldplays who seem to get nominated often will win but usually its a more unpredictable winner. Id love to see Neon Neon win it but my money is on Burial.


errr

why are there no American artists?
xenophobic central!


Alison Krauss?


Because its for British acts

Radiohead to win!


that

Estelle record will kick your ass. under rated.


I agree, listened to it a week ago and

It's pretty decent, like. Worth a nomination.


Adele - '19', Estelle - 'Shine'

Complete and utter bollocks.

This is probably the last thing Burial would've wanted.


Got to be Radiohead for me

Think it is quite a poor list. I did really enjoy Laura Marling's album although it’s not solid enough all the way through to win the mercury. Also think Burial's debut is better than Untrue so i wouldn't have him in the list.


Yes, but picking Burial's debut would've meant the judges new about music

and didn't just follow trends and hype.


*knew


Too true

It's always a bit of a let down the mercury but at least it gets us all complaining.


I'm surprised at no MIA

Kala is almost as good as Arular was. Shame there's no Frightened Rabbit.

If Elbow win I'll be delighted, Radiohead, BSP and Burial would be good too.

I'm going to say Radiohead or Laura Marling to win.


^ this

MIA is a frickin genius, she's british, she's smart, she's doing something different which is all her own - why is it not nominated? Very odd.


see... i look at this list and think about picking winners..

And i can see the story behind a Radiohead win or that the Robert Plant Record could easily do it.

But then i think about last year. Klaxons winning is a joke. Im not just moaning because my fav ablum (BFL) didnt win but the klaxons album is really rather bad. No tunes at all and nothing remotely intersting happening to counteract this lack of tunes. Why anyone would pick that as a winner is a mystery. A mystery that makes trying to pick a winner from this lot impossible.

Saying that, Burial def wont win!!


is it just me

or does the shortlist seem to get worse every year?

Maybe when i was younger i was a bit less informed, a bit more naive, but it seemed like a lot of people on the shortlist would have been given a major boost by the prize both in terms of the marketing push and the prize money. Here we have a bunch of ubiquitous media mainstays, the self-fulfilling hype prophecies, 3(!) artists who are a part of another massively successful act (and so are hardly in need of patronage) and The Biggest Band In The World

hardly seems to be for the little guy, or even the vaguely less than mainstream guy

Radiohead will probably win it (so that the meeja can start creaming themselves over the "digital revolutions" again). LAME


Its defo

not getting worse - M People won all those years ago! I don't think they'd make that mistake again but they do make the shortlist mistakes every year, in my opinion at least.


go

neon neon!

# cos i see my reflection, in michael douglass' mirrored sunglasses. #

that album is full of tunes!

'trick for treat' is my track of the year so far.


it's better than last years

But not as good as the couple of years prior to that.


Not getting worse.

Frustrating yes as it has missed some very good albums, but check out some of the names in 1999, 2000, 2003, 2004.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mercury_Music_Prize

Or a few of the earlier ones. I know there are a few that often get mentioned (M people, Take that, spice girls) but I really couldn't believe this:

1996:
Mark Morrison – Return of the Mack !!!


MIA

should definitely be in this list

I can't believe the number of people who still don't know that the Mercury's are Brit's only

I hope Burial wins, seems longer than a year that 'Untrue' has been around though


^

"I can't believe the number of people who still don't know that the Mercury's are Brit's only"

I KNOW! Bloody philistines.


I'm so fucking relieved that Foals aren't on this

It doesn't quite make up for no MIA though :(

I hope Elbow win it.


I doubt this list means much

to us geeky lot, I think the Mercury is meant to give sunday suplement readers a chance to catch up on a little music...


Agreed-

there's no point in moaning that Adele etc is on it - it's people like her who get publicity for the whole thing. If it was a DIS-oriented list, no one in the wider media would give a shit.


Everyone texted

into five live saying they couldn't get any of these albums anywhere. Someone had to get the Burial album imported from the USA. Eh?


you can get the Burial album

in one minute by downloading it. What's the deal five livers?

Speaking of Burial - I hope he wins just to see what happens. Maybe he'll appear with a huge puffa jacket and cap covering his face and speak through a ventriloquist's dummy.


Burial will win

methinks


They didn't look hard

I saw The Seldom Seen Kid on the Tesco chart tonight.

It's the fucking best album on that list too!