The "ah, fuck it"" 2011 Mercury Music Prize shortlist POLL

Calvi for me.

Oh god, how many polls on this do we need?

Gwilym Simcock - Good Days At Schloss Elmau

the what?

Oh god, how many polls on this do we need?

― jon /via/ chi 2.0, Tuesday, 19 July 2011 14:52

There are others? Where?

Shit, found it, sorry everyone. Mods pls get ridda this.

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

lol @ system pathos

Ghostpoet - Peanut Butter Blues and Melancholy Jam

lol what the fuck is this

mad tempted to have 5 quid on it but i recognise y're not a winning gambler whines

katy b to win

Why not 'Let England Shake'?

Katy B is value tbf

tks, i'll check her out

PJ, Katy or Calvi I reckon.

i was talking purely about betting btw, the correct answer is "lol who gives one?"

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

I'm seeing Jon Hopkins and King Creosote on Friday night. Be so so good if they won. Never gonna happen though.

i liked that pj harvey album on first listen but never went back to it, really need to rectify this

king creosote did a song that went "no clue do you" in some just-passable indie drawl. that song was a good summer. what else is good by him/them?

katy b has a few good songs i guess

james blake is very talented. also boring and shit

elbow still make music?

my gf has a metronomy poster in her room, it looks nice, ppl seem to hate them because they got famous. i want them to sound like stereolab and electralene and ladytron

king creosote did a song that went "no clue do you" in some just-passable indie drawl. that song was a good summer. what else is good by him/them?

Well, you could try Diamond Mine. It's helped along if you read some of the interviews the pair did recently where they explain the songwriting and composition processes. It's more than just-passable indie.

call me old-fashioned but i like stuff that sounds good whether or not i understand the songwriting and composition process.

It sounds good too.

I loved it the first time I heard it, but there are some pretty striking stories behind a lot of the songs. http://thequietus.com/articles/05976-king-creosote-jon-hopkins-diamond-mine-interview

i never ever read interviews now even with peeps whose music i like, in case the interview makes me stop liking it. ime it's best not to know what an artist thinks about their own work.

fair dos - i like the album just fine on its own.

halfway through diamond mine.

it's quite pretty. nice recording and atmosphere, acoustic guitar is a bit distant and wank tho. not feeling like it's going to get much of a response from me. it's. just. too. pleasant.

i like music like this to have something else going on. dark lyrics, sick musicianship, something witty, something like that. so far everything sounds "right". yep well done mr king creosote that's a solid piece of music 10/10

king creosote did a song that went "no clue do you" in some just-passable indie drawl. that song was a good summer. what else is good by him/them?

Check out Not One Bit Ashamed. Fantastic song.

the version of "you've no clue do you" that i liked was a pilooski remix, i think

i like music like this to have something else going on. dark lyrics, sick musicianship, something witty, something like that. so far everything sounds "right". yep well done mr king creosote that's a solid piece of music 10/10

― Crackle Box, Tuesday, 6 September 2011 11:30 (34 minutes ago) Bookmark

Well, as I say if you read a bit about the lyrical context (the article I linked to is particularly good) these are not so much dark as whimsical, melancholy lyrics. A kind of rye celebration of mundanity in a Scottish coastal town. I love the story about the alcoholic sailor in the song that begins: "I love to look out at the sea/From the swing park here at Roome Bay beach". It makes me want to visit Fife and walk around in the rain breathing in car fumes and sighing glumly at the enormity of the Glenrothes Amazon depot. This is only a superficially pleasant record. It's a testament to solitude, motor traffic, biting cold, desolate tearooms.
That last song - a piano piece that repeats "And it's your young voice that's keeping me holding on/to my dull life/to my dull life" is one of the most emotive bits of music I've heard all year. It being about the time of Creosote's separation, spiralling depression and how deeply he missed his young daughter, masochistically playing tapes of her first words over and over again in his flat while waiting for the weekend to come.

Gives me the pinpricks just thinking about it to be honest. I played the whole CD to my girlfriend and by the end we were nearly in tears. Had to watch three episodes of Bottom reruns just to snap out of it. Very few records have that kind of visceral effect on me.

Credit also due to Jon Hopkins' subtle production work. I love the field recordings and the delicate reverence with which he treats the source material.

Damnit DL you so perfectly describe my feelings when listening to this record. Hell, you got me hooked on it in the first place. Please write this albums' 33 1/3 book.

ty lbi :-)

will try this again on a sunday w/hangover, wonky emotions and a cup of tea

perfect. hopefully it'll piss it down.

Diamond Mine's odds have gone from 40/1 to 4/1.

(It's currently second favourite after PJ).

promoting fresh young talent then

http://pitchfork.com/news/43909-tk-wins-the-mercury-prize/

lol @ tk

"PJ Harvey Wins the Mercury Prize"

I saw a few tweets about PJ Harvey and googled, came up with this: http://celebrity-gossip.net/adele/adele-wins-2011-barclaycard-mercury-prize-540416

Curiously *awful* TV prog.

Any idea why Corinne Bailey Rae was on the voting panel?

My good god isn't Miranda Sawyer a pig

I thought CBR came over well - nice, concise analysis of Let England Shake, which isn't easy on TV. It's standard to have a former nominee on the panel afaik.

My good god isn't Miranda Sawyer a pig

― lambchopelbow, Tuesday, September 6, 2011 10:13 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

the fuck is a post like this? gtfo, cunt

what did CBR say about PJH, dorian?

YOU might not be able to pick her out of a police line-up but there’s no lack of respect for English singer-songwriter PJ Harvey.

This album moves away from her usual sound but let’s just say it’s not our bag.

EXPRESS CASINO: GET A FREE BONUS OF UP TO £150 NOW!

Verdict: 2/5

xp Nothing revelatory - just a smart, eloquent summary of its themes and ideas. You could tell she was a fan, and an insightful one. Better than the usual "good tunes, innit"/"the sound of young Britain" blather you usually get at the end.

I ignored lambchopelbow's shitty post but I'm glad you didn't.

I find Miranda Sawyer massively attractive. Always have.

Agree with you there pal. Miranda is a smart and attractive northern lass, certainly not a pig. Ugly and pointless comment to make on a music discussion board. Is it ok for an ordinary woman to work as journalist without meeting your Nuts magazine criteria Lamb?

Maybe he knows her, and she lives in a muddy yard?

I doubt that though, so I vote down lambchopelbow's comment.

sugbans all round IMO

We've nailed that one now, yes?

I thought she did really well in what otherwise was quite a sad "show". Only 30 minutes, way too short for it to make a nice programme, and 10% of the time reserved for Jools' shenanigans with the envelope.

Didn't see it, how on earth did Holland manage to mess up the most important thing he was supposed to do?

Too busy playing boogie woogie piano to learn how to handle an envelope.

Boogie Woogie envelope?

- Ha! xpost-

how on earth did Holland manage to mess up the most important thing he was supposed to do?

^^^ hasn't seen Later

ha XP "Shiftiest man in rock" fucks up again.

how on earth did Holland manage to mess up the most important thing he was supposed to do?

^^^ hasn't seen Later

― placeholder for weak pun (Noodle Vague), Wednesday, 7 September 2011 13:52 (20 minutes ago) Bookmark

Ya, this

where was McCoy Tyner when we needed him?

ya PJ, that is one of my favorite albums of the year