PJ
Harvey, Primal Scream, Pulp, Suede, Portishead and The XX have all won Britain’s
favourite yearly award. It's the award that merits music quality above
popularity, and for that reason, we endorse the Mercury Prize. Nominations were
announced earlier in the year, picked by journalists, industry figures and musicians.
The album
with superior musical quality tends to be picked. It has been this way for the
past few years (with the exception of Speech Debelle in 2009; it should have
been given to Bat For Lashes). PJ Harvey did win the award in 2011, amidst the public’s
prediction and favouritism towards Adele. Let England Shake rightfully won, and the album is a good example of
a Mercury Prize winning album.
So here are the 12 nominees:
- Alt-J – An Awesome Wave
- Ben Howard – Every Kingdom
- Django Django – Django Django
- Field Music – Plumb
- Richard Hawley – Standing at the Sky's Edge
- Michael Kiwanuka – Home Again
- Lianne La Havas – Is Your Love Big Enough?
- Sam Lee – Ground of its Own
- The Maccabees – Given to the Wild
- Plan B – ill Manors
- Roller Trio – Roller Trio
- Jessie Ware – Devotion
Surprisingly,
Spiritualized didn’t receive a nomination for their album Sweet Heart, Sweet
Light. Nor did Trailer Trash Tracy’s debut Ester and 50 Words for
Snow by Kate Bush. How Kate Bush hasn't received a nomination is beyond me,
it's clearly the best British album since last year’s winner Let England
Shake. With both Spiritualized and Kate Bush being established artists; it
seems they have been snubbed because the Mercury Prize is attempting to be some
sort of discovery award. This goes against their principles of awarding the
best British album, which is slightly annoying.
Everyone
has their favourite two, three artists on this list. The Mercury Prize is an unpredictable
award, however when looking at these albums straight on, looking at the musical
quality, three to four albums stand out; and they're the ones that will
(should) win.
Alt-J,
Django Django, Field Music, Plan B and Jessie Ware are my picks for this year.
If I had to be more specific, then I would go for Jessie Ware, just nudging it
over Django Django. Alt-J are the current favourites, and it's not hard to see
why. Their debut album An Awesome Wave is a fantastic album with three /
four brilliant tracks. Quality wise, Django Django and Jessie Ware seem to have
something the others do not. They have musical quality, originality and a clear
unique style.
Some of
the albums that have been nominated are very poor. Given to the Wild by
The Maccabees is an average album at best. Home Again by Michael Kiwanuka, again, was average. These two
albums are the 'duds' of this year’s nomination. Both should be replaced by
Kate Bush and Spiritualized. Is Your Love Big Enough? By Lianne La Havas
didn't catch my attention, and I think the award givers will see that this
album isn't as 'good' as others. The same goes for Ben Howard and Sam Lee.
An outside 'bet' would be Richard
Hawley. Don't count this man out; his album Standing at the Sky's Edge is
generally a solid album. Roller Trio are complete outsiders with their contemporary
jazz debut, but you never know with the Mercury Prize who will win on the
night.
I will update this page with the winner
when it's announced. I've been listening to these albums, getting a feel of
their worth and upstanding qualities. This isn't the best nominations list, but
it's not the worst I've seen.
Alt-J are the winners for 2012! Thought?
~Eddie Alt-J are the winners for 2012! Thought?