Barclaycard Mercury Music Prize 2012 - thread.

I think the central diagnosis is something like what Jeff Lynne's dad said to his son in the early days of ELO: "The trouble with your tunes is that they have no tunes."

yeah actress is the ultimate in-one-ear-out-the-other. unbothered

RIP tunes

can't believe kate bush didn't make it on. she slept with a snowman ffs.

I thought maybe neglecting to shortlist Aerial would have shamed them into making amends. Still, she's no Ben Howard.

Yes, each track on the Actress album is pretty static, but I like the sensatiion of being stuck in one place at a time, and the track sequencing offers a meaningful progression.

I quite like the Actress record, it's not hugely sticky, but it is original and has some good moments, I've come back to it a few times after the initial enjoyment which is more than I can say for 99 per cent of new things I listen to.

I can't really see how the Kate Bush album isn't worth a nomination, at the risk of sounding like the Mercury Prize matters.

The other factor with Mercury is the "will the artist turn up?" factor. Presumably they wouldn't expect Kate Bush or Kevin Rowland to come within a mile of the ceremony, hence no 50 Words For Snow or One Day I'm Going To Soar.

or, like Damon Albarn, they didn't submit their albums for consideration.

Did Mala in Cuba come out in time to be considered? It would have been a good choice. Not too scary anyway

The other factor with Mercury is the "will the artist turn up?" factor. Presumably they wouldn't expect Kate Bush or Kevin Rowland to come within a mile of the ceremony

oh yeah, i always forget this. sadly true

hasn't mala in cuba JUST come out? like, last week? it's in the guardian alternative shortlist so presumably in the qualifying period, still seems a bit recent though

The other factor with Mercury is the "will the artist turn up?" factor

Didn't stop Burial being nommed

Burial has an ~exciting mystique~ whereas K Rowland is just a bit difficult

that's probably the rationale anyway

and isn't 'too old' either.
Dexys album is fantastic btw

Eh, too old - Burial could have turned out to be a 53-yr old living in a bungalow in Clacton

Besides, Paul Weller still gets nommed on the reg.

Ah, but he wasn't. Had he been, I doubt he would have been listed. The Mercury people have a way of finding out these things. Particularly when his record company sent in the £150 registration fee for his album to be considered.

(Burial xpost there)

Yeah I could see that it would have blown the game if Burial had sent them a cheque from his Woolwich account with a covering letter on personalised Basildon Bond.

If he had won, there would have been an empty chair on stage, and Jools Holland would have lectured him.

The Barclaycard Mercury Prize exists solely to champion music in the UK

you see, fuck "music in the UK" and fuck the album as the unit of measurement is how i break it down tbh

yeah, i hate it when people insist on listening solely to music from their country or even local scenes when there's better music in the rest of the world. Always felt this way what with growing up in Scotland and the daily record/rest of scots media bumming up shite like deacon blue/love and money/simple minds/hue and cry etc

the lex has always been right w/r/t all this

it's difficult to justify "championing" music based on some nation state unless you get into the whole Brits music INDUSTRY queen's award for exports shite and the Mercury also wants to distance itself from the filthy commerce aspects of popular music so

i guess "what the hell is the point of this tawdry bauble other than lazy friday zings?" is my basic point

There's no point in the MMP apart from trying to sell some units then hoping the winner goes on to be huge so they can say they "broke" the album.
Then when they win The Brits later they can still claim firsties.
NME operates in this vacuum too. "We covered Coldplay and Oasis first"

Once it was the UK and Ireland. I remember Achtung Baby being on the first shortlist.

Former colleague of mine worked for whichever bank sponsored the Mercury when Anthony won; apparently the bank were NOT happy.

― Sick Mouthy (Scik Mouthy)

Antony winning was my favourite Mercury moment, not just because the album is stunning but because it made the Kaiser Chiefs cry when they clearly thought they had won it.

Agree with various people on here saying Dexys, Hot Chip, Cher Lloyd, Beak> and Paul Buchanan should have been on the list.

yeah, i hate it when people insist on listening solely to music from their country or even local scenes when there's better music in the rest of the world. Always felt this way what with growing up in Scotland and the daily record/rest of scots media bumming up shite like deacon blue/love and money/simple minds/hue and cry etc

haha whatever became of Billy Sloan?

Once it was the UK and Ireland. I remember Achtung Baby being on the first shortlist.

And who could possibly forget The Thrills?

Lisa Hannigan too

haha whatever became of Billy Sloan?

I'm not even sure if he has a Sunday Mail column now.

xps

Once it was the UK and Ireland.

Still is, according to Wikipedia. Lisa Hannigan was nominated in 2009.

I had been hitherto successful at forgetting The Thrills.

He's probably pissed off that he was never asked to be a judge. (Remember when he called Kevin Rowland the least talented man ever to have a musical career?)

Perhaps Bill Padley and Andrea Miller are on the panel ("Oh my DEARS Billy MacKenzie is such a NUTCASE here's HIPSWAY")

yeah, i hate it when people insist on listening solely to music from their country or even local scenes when there's better music in the rest of the world. Always felt this way what with growing up in Scotland and the daily record/rest of scots media bumming up shite like deacon blue/love and money/simple minds/hue and cry etc

the lex has always been right w/r/t all this

― VOTE in the 1980's ROCK POLL PLEASE! (Algerian Goalkeeper)

Still goes on. I'd love to see some dissenting voices in the Scottish media on all the god-awful beardy anthemic 'sensitive' and phoney accented jock rock pish like Frightened Rabbit, Meursault, Broken Records, Admiral Fallow et al. The Scottish music blogs love this shite and the press have followed suit. I suppose I could be mischievious and pitch a review of one of these bands to my editor, but I don't want to go in as a hatchet man.

We had the first Scottish Album of the Year awards recently, which had some good stuff in there. Bill Wells & Aidan Moffat a worthy winner, even if it's not my favourite work of either artist. It seemed to be fairly credible as it had labels, promoters, journos etc behind it. Hope it doesn't turn into some boring Mercury type affair, although it's clearly modeled on it.

I quite often see Billy Sloan in my local Waitrose. Also Paul Buchanan. Which is much more exciting. Billy Sloan still has a show on Clyde 2. http://www.clyde2.com/on-air/billy-sloan-sessions/

Was Paul Buchanan in the balloon aisle?

My barber bumps into Paul Buchanan all the time. Get to hear lots of stories. Cant listen to Radio Clyde, hate everything about that station.

there's a Welsh one as well, as of last year. tbqf there really aren't enough albums released to make it a terribly worthwhile exercise but it's not hurting anyone so w/e. I was one of about 100 people on a voting 'panel' and had this awesome album by The Lowland Hundred as my no.1 but I doubt hardly any other fucker heard it

http://sickmouthy.com/2012/09/14/better-winners-for-mercury/

surely it's only a question of time before the English Mercury Prize turns up

Sponsored by whom?

Bristol, Devon and Dorset Music Prize, sponsored by Rodda's Dairy.

London Music Prize 2013 Sponsored by Boris.

Simon Frith is a British sociomusicologist, and former rock critic. He is the brother of guitarist and composer Fred Frith and neuroscientist Chris Frith.

― Ward Fowler, Friday, September 14, 2012 8:15 AM (7 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Whooooaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa.

I have a feeling that this might be something I learn every year when the Mercury Prize rolls round and then forget as soon as it's over. But still.

Oi! Rodda's are CORNISH, Devon-boy.

So nick isn't a cornish indie fuxor then?

That was DELIBERATE!

in every town an album prize

mostly awarded by John Robb

if only Sid James was still alive i think a remake of Carry On Girls set around a bunch of aspiring album prize winners at a run-down seaside resort wd be a winner

catfight between the token jazzers and the hilariously coifed "future of indie sounds surprisingly similar to the past of indie" boyband