Mercury Music Prize 2013

It's that time of year when even your dad has an opinion on Frightened Rabbit.

Shortlist announced today, who should be on it?

hitler

King Krule?

Wire

can't imagine hitler turning up to the ceremony tbh, he was never one to suffer foals gladly

damn son

was this whole thread just an excuse to crack that joke? Either way I take off my hat you you!

Don't do that on my account, it's pretty cold out this morning.

Don't do that on my trousers, either.

So, about to be announced then?

Arctic Monkeys – AM
David Bowie – The Next Day
Disclosure – Settle
Foals – Holy Fire
Jake Bugg – Jake Bugg
James Blake – Overgrown
Jon Hopkins – Immunity
Laura Marling – Once I Was an Eagle
Laura Mvula – Sing to the Moon
Rudimental – Home
Savages – Silence Yourself
Villagers – Awayland

No tokenism? "It's an outrage!!"

These New Puritans got stiffed again

even worse than usual (did i say this last year?)

probably. but it's actually significantly better than usual.

Arctic Monkeys – everything they've ever done has been worthless
David Bowie – i accidentally heard the single on the radio and it was like dreadful c-list britpop
Disclosure – this is aight but haven't even gone back to it much, three stars
Foals – this terrible band continues to exist? fuck off
Jake Bugg – this dude is the worst
James Blake – fuck off fuck off fuck off, absolutely dire artist
Jon Hopkins – i have not heard of him
Laura Marling – as a genuine fan of laura marling i have to say this album was a massive snoozey disappointment
Laura Mvula – so tastefully boring
Rudimental – my pick, if i had to pick one; its highs are some of the best tracks of 2013 (esp "baby"). but honestly it's pretty patchy
Savages – i found this unlistenable not because of the music but because of the total lack of character
Villagers – never heard of this

haha

Feels like quite a boring list, partly cos it's lots of the same names cropping up again and they're artists whose latest records aren't really any better than previous efforts.

Jon Hopkins album is nice but also seems it could be a smoothly Mercury-ish alternative to, say, the (hardly extremely challenging) James Holden album.

I hadn't heard of Villagers and assumed they were the token folk pick, but a quick google suggests they're more of an Irish Mumfords?

the Jon Hopkins is by far the best for me. lots of utter boredom in there.

what kind of music is jon hopkins/would i like it

always stymied when i try to think of "albums that should have been nominated" by having to look up a) release dates b) where the artist comes from and then c) not caring enough, but chucking some names into the pot

vatican shadow - ghosts of chechnya
maya jane coles - comfort
ikonika - aerotropolis
royal-t - rinse presents royal-t
andy stott - luxury problems
gwyneth herbert - the sea cabinet
emika - dva
charli xcx - true romance
ghostpoet - some say i so i say light

Jon Hopkins is quite pretty, kind of along the same lines as Four Tet or something but a little more compelling imo. I like that one and and the Savages record the best of these. Enjoyed the Rudimental and Disclosure albums but not really that fussed about them and found most of the rest of them either hard going or actively horrible.

vatican shadow - ghosts of chechnya

^ this guy's american btw

Savages street team over here

i was SURE vatican shadow was from like the north of england or something. oh well getting overly fussed about nationality is reason #948729320 why the mercury prize is shit

also while the good Rudimental songs are indeed very good, there's no way the entire album is better than the Disclosure album

oh i think it is but i prioritise higher highs over something more consistent that never quite stuck and seemed kinda redundant in some ways, if not actually bad

The first half of Jon Hopkins reminds me strongly of mid-00s Border Community releases, maybe some early Areal as well. Certainly Holden's The Sky Was Pink remix is a key template. The second half moves into a more 'ambient' atmospheric register, which is slightly more interesting, but very cleanly produced and still feels quite safe. Overall, I feel like it's a record created by an engineer, a bit uninspired somehow.

Arctic Monkeys – everything they've ever done has been worthless

next album title

Once I Was an Eagle is well above the rest here.

everything i'm reading about jon hopkins screaming "safer/more boring version of stuff i already love"

at least when they used to do the token jazz/folk/classical picks you knew those records wd be better than most of the actual contenders

The Barclaycard Mercury Prize exists solely to champion music in the UK, mainly through the ‘Albums of the Year’ competition, which celebrates recorded music of all genres by British or Irish artists. The music on the album is the only thing taken into account.

http://static.nme.com/images/gallery/2012JakeBuggEB080712.jpg

"solely"!
"all"!
"only"!

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-zzk2dPGwCls/UKbTLpQjPsI/AAAAAAAABCY/NW2RXioqLrY/s1600/jake+b.JPG

I hadn't heard of Villagers and assumed they were the token folk pick, but a quick google suggests they're more of an Irish Mumfords?

Nah this is very unfair on Villagers. They are (or he is) pretty straight in a 6music-on-a-Sunday fashion - so unlikely to excite ilm much - but it's a very good record.

Mark Savage BBC News entertainment reporter

Right now, the single is the dominant format in the music industry - making the Mercury Prize crucial for those newer, fringe artists who have no hope of making the Top 40.

So it's strange that so many of this year's artists are already successful.

There are seven former nominees and four number one albums on the list (five if Arctic Monkeys hit the top slot this weekend, as expected). Last year, there was one chart-topper. In 2010, there were none.

But the selection is still surprisingly diverse - from Laura Marling's naked folk confessionals to the rave-funk of Rudimental.

Resurrected rock colossus David Bowie is the headline-grabber but the Mercury panel traditionally prefer debut albums to grand dames - five of the last seven winners were first-timers.

The smart money is on dance duo Disclosure. Music fans would do well to check out all of the nominees.

Laura Marling's naked folk confessionals

The shortlist, however, did not reflect the widespread perception that dance music is the dominant force in British music at the moment, reflected by the change in emphasis in bookings at even the rockiest of festivals, such as Reading and Leeds. Only two out-and-out dance acts, Disclosure and Rudimental, featured on the 12-strong shortlist, with the dance-influenced sepulchral electronica of James Blake joining them.

Instead, traditional guitar music dominates the list – with albums from Savages, Foals, Jake Bugg, Laura Marling and Villagers on the list, which is completed by Laura Mvula and Jon Hopkins.

"This year's Barclaycard Mercury prize shortlist celebrates a fascinating year for British and Irish music, marked by a wonderful range of musical voices – urgent, reflective, upbeat and tender, acoustic and electronic, and all with something intriguing to say," said Simon Frith, who has chaired the judging panel since the award was launched in 1992.

Just as interesting as what is included, perhaps, is what is omitted. Commercial big-hitters such as Mumford & Sons and Bastille, both of whose albums topped the chart, didn't make the cut. For the first time since 2004, what is traditionally referred to by observers as "the token jazzer" fails to appear, with Hopkins's widely admired electronica album Immunity representing the more experimental end of the musical spectrum. And, as ever, there is no room for one of the most enduringly popular musical genres in Britain, metal.

"The thing is, within the rock music industry there's a bit of debate about how bothered people are with an award like the Mercuries," said James McMahon, editor of the rock bible Kerrang! "The other year we were pushing the idea of Bring Me the Horizon being nominated as an innovative, exciting British rock band who want to be seen out in the world – but then they didn't enter.

"If the rock industry doesn't have any belief in its relevance, what can the Mercuries do? But if it were genuinely the 12 best records of the year, it would be blinkered to ignore metal."

Personally I'm glad that utter shite metalcore like Bring Me The Horizon don't get nominated as there's so much better metal around (like lex I cba checking release dates for examples) but I dont suppose BMTH are any worse than what gets nominated.

Maybe one day some middlebrow metal that appeals to Guardian critics/readers might get nominated?

Music fans would do well to check out

AG, i think worrying about what "deserves" to be on this list is pointless, it's the thing itself that deserves ridicule - other music is out there doing fine

like i'm pretty sure your fave hipster metal bands don't really want to be interviewed on Breakfast Time about their Mercury nomination ;-)

haha very true but I just wanted to line up this -

Imago you love that stuff what do you think could have been nominated? ;)

Laura Marling's naked folk confessionals

thought they said they were only judging the music

I honestly would have loved a band like Electric Wizard or Jesu to have been nominated in the past. Even if it was just a Token metal act like the jazz noms were. But you can bet if metal were to get a nomination it would be an incredibly shite band that gets it.

so yeah fuck the mercuries.

matherd1

11 September 2013 6:03pm
Recommend - 2

Metal isn't generally included in things like this because it's almost always massively, massively kitsch. (Far more than some of the pop music than the more annoying metal fans look down on, like Beyoncé or Justin Timberlake.) It also usually is either standard issue vague cliché angst or fantasy concept nerd rubbish (geek 'culture' must die!).

ugh.

I've heard Bowie, Disclosure, Blake, Marling, Mvula, and Savages.

Would vote Marling.

idiot dismisses straw man's dismissiveness of straw man's dismissive version of thing he hasn't listened to. looks like the internet's still working then.

xp!

There are bits on that Foals album that get kinda loud and RAWKlike but unfortunately it's not quite enough to drown out the braying donkey they've got for a singer

well the bands name is MUTation but yeah its up imagos alley

I think Nick would puke if he heard this

This place makes much more sense when I remember who Imago is.

Wouldn't go that far, Imago. Doubt he would give it a listen however.
xp

Imago have you heard the Colin Stetson?

Yes, it's great! Possibly even better than New Warfare 2

*New History Warfare 2

The Colin Stetson and Holden do very similar things to my ears, in terms of texture and scale and chaos.

The Redeemer is my favourite album of the year by a mile

What you choose to seek out is a massive part of this; I simply don't have the time or energy to check out everything I'd like to, even if I have the tools (if I want them)

I know, it's always a bit frustrating to see you put these lists up and for them to be pretty much a load of artists you already liked in the first place, like your listening habits are so much more conservative than your tastes. Hostility/ambivalence to "the tools" (if by which you mean free access to digital music) is all well and good but it's not as if you can't buy things if you like them.

I've bought about 50-ish new albums released this year, and maybe another 30 back catalog records, too, which is about average compared to the last five years or so, and there are few of them that I feel I've listened to as much as I'd like (for various reasons to do with work and other hobbies - road cycling and 5-a-side not being conducive to listening to music).

Imago Sun Of White Leg sounds like blur

Best track is Innocentes in Morte

Sun Of White Leg is a pretty obvious tribute to a band which Damon Albarn also liked. I shan't say any more :)

sky news just reporting James Blake won

Because he did.

Great to see Hacker Farm getting a mention in that Guardian shortlist.

what even did that boring twat release

let us hope this hastens the moment when we can burn this prize down forever

yep

i thought no one listened to that james blake album. though that one jools holland performance was quite nice.

re nick's list, nik colk is as much of a creative force in factory floor as either of the guys, if not more, right? so nick can get a pass for now, with a 'must do better next time' proviso.

lol hands up who even knew jLLLLLames blake put out an album this year

iirc it was notable for having this 'just got dumped while visiting the local natural history museum' album cover and little more:

http://images.contactmusic.com/images/press/james-blake-overgrown2.jpg

ahaaaa amazing

lolll

that hand is compelling

mercury earned

music for sly armpit scratches

totally pleased for james, i've known his label ppl for years and they are great dudes, deserve this recognition from the british music community for a rare independent voice in a world drowned out by scenesters and dickheads

let us hope this hastens the moment when we can burn this prize down forever

― lex pretend, Wednesday, October 30, 2013 10:19 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

delighted to be proved rong on this point but it feels more like the natural mnstrm reaction to an album like this winning this stupid fucking prize is 'o shi best figure out what we missed abt this thing' as opposed to 'look at these clowns, giving a prize to a not terribly well received album'

ps delighted to confirm that was my first post itt

Luckily that's not the actual album cover, at least not in the UK.

He's going out with the guitarist from Warpaint.

Judges called his record "inventive, poetic and poignant", adding "James Blake makes music like no-one else".

Does he?

Think Lewis Taylor might have a thing or two to say about that...

Lewis Taylor says nowt about nowt tho.

"Blake beat off David Bowie, Arctic Monkeys and Laura Mvula"

some people will do anything to win

True dat...he needs to come back tho...then everyone can say who is this bloke ripping off James Blunt (sic)...

lol that's such an insult to taylor xps

pished thom yorke covering jamie woon more like

hopefully it'll be back to normal next year and Elbow / Hawley / Marling / James Blake will be nominated and win

I love Overgrown and thought it was unfairly slept on so for me this is a rare example of the Mercury boosting an album that deserved more attention. On the shortlist only Hopkins, Savages and Villagers have sold less so far.

He doesn't sound much like Lewis Taylor. Jamie Woon does though.

hating on soulboys, that's the problem with this country

progressive values, new sounds

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3aNRCoOsWb8

how does anyone keep a straight face to this, srs q

Racism
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(Redirected from Anti-White Racism)

James Blake
Music Producer
James Blake is an English electronic music producer and singer-songwriter from London. Blake was the runner-up in BBC's Sound of 2011 poll. Wikipedia
Born: September 26, 1988 (age 25), London Borough of Enfield
Height: 1.96 m
Parents: James Litherland

I wish they put those heights in feet and inches...

I stood next to him once and he was def v tall

"you're really overgrown, James," I said to him as a twinkle formed in his eye

parthenogenesis

parthenogenesis
james blake nemesis
no one move a muscle as they laud Overgrown