Mercury Music Prize Nominees Announced

One award, no surprises.
Feature by Finbarr Bermingham.
Published 25 July 2008

Whilst not all of the nominees just announced for this year's Mercury Music Prize are household names, there are no surprises in the nature of those put forward. Established indie staples, British Sea Power and Elbow are joined by Arctic Monkeys' side project The Last Shadow Puppets. The annual nod to the dance scene comes in the form of dubstep recluse Burial. And then there's Estelle: who has publicly lambasted and fled her UK roots.

Token “out there” nomination for 2008 goes to Portico Quartet, whose album Knee Deep in the North Sea was named Time Out's jazz album of the year 2007. The nomination of Neon Neon's Stainless Style is sure to tie with Plant and Krauss for the award for “Antony and the Johnsons Controversial Nomination Of The Year” given that one half of the the former, producer Boom Bip, is from Cincinnati, Ohio and half the latter is a renowned American bluegrass singer.

The prize of £20,000 to be bestowed upon the winner will no doubt come in handy for some of the up and coming acts included, like Robert Plant. And Radiohead, of course, in the aftermath of the financially crippling selflessness of In Rainbows, would surely benefit from the sizeable donation.

Whilst there's no doubt some of the nominees will benefit from the exposure, we're not sure the awards are staying true to what they initially set out to achieve, which was “to provide an alternative to the industry-dominated BRIT Awards.” The last time The Skinny checked, Adele won a BRIT Award almost exactly six months ago to the day.

The full list of nominees is below, but our forums are open and we'd like to know who you think should win, who should have been on the list (any local artists?) and if anyone would like to enlighten us as to what the point of the Mercury Music Prize is these days, that'd be great too:

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

Comments (5)

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  • This award is predictable, tokenistic and utterly pointless. Just one big back-slapping schmooze-fest. The Smash Hits are probably more meaningful.

    I'll get back to you about who should have been nominated. Not fucking Elbow anyway!

    Posted by Nick Mitchell | Saturday July 2008 @ 12:29

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  • you know what Nick, I'm actually going to argue that point (we can discuss this in person later!). Aren't 'predictable' and 'tokenistic' conflicting criticisms? I mean, I'll tell you what wasn't predictable - Neon Neon, BSP, Portico Quartet, Rachel Unthank, and the absences of Portishead and Duffy (among others). But then anyone can use the 'tokenistic' argument to criticise the selection of Portico Quartet, and even Estelle ('token black female'), Burial ('token edgy urban'), Robert Plant ('token classic rock legend') and all the rest. You can make up a 'token' excuse for every entry. You know, there's no Scots there - unless Portico? - so if Frightened Rabbit or Twilight Sad had been nominated, people would be saying "token Scottish entry". They so would! If Portishead and Duffy had been included, wouldn't everyone had gone "oh look how predictable the Mercury Prize is!"? Of course they would.

    I will agree that the point of the MMP has become a bit confused. It's about as worthwhile as any list any magazine will come up with - as in, its primary purpose now is just to get people to report it and discuss it, which increases awareness of the sponsors.

    Anyhow, Burial to win for me.

    Posted by Ally Brown | Saturday July 2008 @ 18:51

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  • Of those I've heard, it has got to be Burial for me too.

    Go! Team's rather ace Proof of Youth stands out as an omission - that was out late summer last year so I think makes the cut.

    Posted by RJ Thomson | Sunday July 2008 @ 22:30

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  • I am pretty surprised M.I.A has not been mentioned?
    Burial is sure to win this.
    ;-)

    Posted by Ema Johnson | Thursday July 2008 @ 11:32

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  • The lack of M.I.A. and Portishead makes this years prize an utter farce. A farce, I tell thee.

    Out of em all, I'm 100% behind lil Laura Marling.

    Posted by Anonymous | Monday August 2008 @ 08:43

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