Mercury Music Award Shortlist Announced

The shortlist for the Mercury Music Award--Britain's prestigious music award--was announced today. For those that don't know, the Mercury Music Award is an annual award given to one album selected from a list of 12 finalists. The nominees tend to be considered more critically acclaimed than the other major British music award, the Brit Awards, which tend to honor popular work. Mercury nominees run the gamut from the well-known to the unknown, and a typical year's shortlist usually has a good mix of rock, alternative, hip-hop, electronic, and folk. Last year, the award went to Antony & the Johnsons.

This year's list of nominees:

1. Arctic Monkeys - Whatever People Say I Am, That's What I'm Not
2. Editors - The Back Room
3. Guillemots - Through the Windowpain
4. Hot Chip - The Warning
5. Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan - Ballad of the Broken Seas
6. Lou Rhodes - Beloved One
7. Muse - Black Holes & Revelations
8. Richard Hawley - Coles Corner
9. Scritti Politti - White Bread Black Beer
10. Sway - This is my Demo
11. Thom York - The Eraser
12. Zoe Rahman - Melting Pot

Arctic Monkeys may appear to be the front-runner, but the Mercurys doesn't usually go to the obvious choice. Take last year, where Antony & the Johnsons took home the prize over front-running Kaiser Chiefs (the award was also controversial since Antony is based in New York, although he was born in Britain).

There's few popular choices this year. Muse's album has become a major hit and Thom York (of Radiohead) is certainly well-known, but the rest of the group is mostly newcomers and unknowns. Besides Arctic Monkeys, the only other album on this list I have is Isobel Campbell and Mark Lanegan's, which is a really cool record of dark country/folk/rock. The Editors interest me, as do the Guillemots. Hot Chip is mildly intriguing. I haven't been able to hear anything from jazz pianist Zoe Rahman or the Scritti Politti albums. The rest are either boring or as the Brits would say, not my cuppa tea. So my money's on the Guillemots, but my heart is currently with Campbell & Lanegan.