Filed under: Lists
Call us cynical, but we believe the most interesting part of the Mercury Music Prize isn't so much the quixotic effort to anoint a single British album the best, from all genres, of the previous year or so. Rather what fascinates us is the construction of the 12-record shortlist: a deep and representative survey of UK's musical highways and byways, or the biggest exercise in box ticking since the great cardboard packaging census of 1987, depending on your viewpoint.
It really is a quite impressive effort, the shortlist: a complex algorithm that ensures a healthy, but not oppressive, representation of the sort of white-boys-with-vaguely-wonky-guitars tuneage that makes up the bulk of what gets considered 'serious' music in this country (not more than 8 such albums, but not less than 5), a small sampling from the dinner-party-friendly wing of the electronic and hip-hop worlds, plus a singer-songwriter you've never heard of, and a trad folk and jazz representative who won't ever win.
In honour of the sterling work of the Mercury panel, we've pored over previous years' selections, plugged what we reckon is their top secret formula into our computers, and come up with a fantasy shortlist that, we believe, fulfils all of the stringent criteria for a balanced Mercury 'top twelve'.
Have a look at our picks (not what we think should be nominated, mind, what we think will be) and tell us why we're idiots in the comments below. Or maybe just check back in a week's time when the real shortlist is revealed and laugh at how wrong we were.
THE FAVOURITE
PJ Harvey - 'Let England Shake'
The Platonic ideal of a Mercury winner. A beloved and enduring indie-rock figure finally getting her critical dues (hello, Elbow '08), a strong female role model to off-set the bloke-iness elsewhere, a serious, conceptually satisfying record about big themes. Ms. Harvey also has previous with the Mercury judges, having been shortlisted three times before, and, best of all, has made a genuinely brilliant, surprising album. The only problem is, Mercury has already shot its bolt and given her the 2001 award for the inferior 'Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea'. So, close but no cigar this time around, we bet.THE ONE WITH A GUITAR WHO ISN'T A BLOKE
Anna Calvi - 'Anna Calvi'
Theatrical, female-fronted art-rock seems to go down well with the Mercury panel (Bat for Lashes have two past nominations, Florence and her Machine nabbed one in '09) and Anna Calvi can bellow, whisper and emote with the best of them. Peej's inevitable presence may slightly hamper her chances of snagging the neo-Kate Bush slot, but we still have Ms. Calvi down as a shoo-in.
THE HEDGING OUR BETS OPTION
The Horrors - 'Skying'
Faris Badwan has got a few things going for him, Mercury-wise. Firstly there's the always-appealing edgy -> serious -> epic trajectory of his main band's albums to date (plus the fact the prize panel were early adopters of the hey-actually-the-Horrors-are-pretty-good storyline with their '09 nod for 'Primary Colours'), then there's the equally attractive genre-bending-crossover option of his side-project with classical composer Rachel Zeffira, Cat's Eyes. We're leaning toward the raved-about 'Skying' purely because it's newer and thus fresher in the judges' collective mind.THE LEFTFIELD INDIE OPTION NO. 1
Metronomy - 'The English Riviera'
If there's one thing Mercury likes more than wonky, leftfield indie bands, it's wonky, leftfield indie bands getting more serious and critically acclaimed by the album (see the Horrors).
THE LEFTFIELD INDIE OPTION NO. 2
Wild Beasts - 'Smother'
If there's one thing Mercury likes more than... You get the picture. Not only have they already gotten shortlist love (for last year's 'Two Dancers') Wild Beasts' excellent 'Smother' has the added advantage of ticking the literary, theatrical, neo-Kate Bush box, in case Mesdames Harvey and Calvi somehow get overlooked. Outside bet for the big prize?
THE LANDFILL INDIE HEROES
The Vaccines - 'What Did You Expect From...'
Mercury has a weakness for NME-approved, next-big-thing-in-bloke-rock guitar slingers. Sometimes it's hard to argue too vehemently with their choices (Franz Ferdinand in '04, the Arctic Monkeys in '06 and '07); other times they're a little more eyebrow raising (Glasvegas's '09 nom, The View's '07 nod, the baffling Kaiser-Chiefs-Hard-Fi-Maxïmo-Park trifecta of the '05 shortlist). You decide which side of the fence we fall when it comes to the Vaccines.
THE NON-THREATENING HIP-HOP ONE
Ghostpoet - 'Peanut Butter Blues and the Melancholy Jam'
Rap music comes in two delicious flavours at the Mercury awards: huge and crossover-y (Dizzee, The Streets) or earnest and worthy (Speech Debelle). Ghostpoet falls into the second category, so don't expect any massive sales boosts, but his bloopy beats and soothing, Roots-Manuva-on-a-sleepy-day flow should ensure at least a deserved nod for Mr. Poet.
THE NON-THREATENING DANCE ONE
James Blake - 'James Blake'
Mercury occasionally keeps a spot open for electronic music (albeit the chin-stroking, rather than shape-throwing kind), and loves nothing more than a dance-rock crossover (two boxes ticked for the price of one!). Mr. Blake's dubstep-acquainted opus may have to fight off Katy B's 'On a Mission' for its position on the shortlist but should be there or thereabouts come the big day.
THE CRITICALLY ACCEPTABLE MAINSTREAM CROSSOVER OPTION NO. 1
Adele - '21'
Is there anyone who thinks that Adele's rock hack adored, commercially unstoppable second album won't make the shortlist? We didn't think so. The only question is, will the judges have the brass to make the 'obvious', mainstream record the big winner and give it some totally unneeded extra publicity? They've gone low-key the last two years (the xx and Speech Debelle) so maybe.THE CRITICALLY ACCEPTABLE MAINSTREAM CROSSOVER OPTION NO. 2
Tinie Tempah - 'Disc-Overy'
The Dizzee Rascal 'down with the kids' choice. The Mercury panel aren't just a bunch of overly earnest music geeks, you know. They'll happily throw the shiny world of pop a bone every now and again, provided it comes with a patina of artistic credibility. The impossible-to-dislike Tinie Tempah may be this year's beneficiary.
THE FOLK ONE
Eliza Carthy - 'Neptune'
Neo-folk royalty Eliza Carthy is a two-time past nominee (in '98 for 'Red Rice' and '03 for 'Anglicana') and has the advantage of having produced the most remarkable work of her career in 'Neptune'. A big, brassy, capricious statement album that covers vaguely similar thematic ground to PJ Harvey's 'Let England Shake', and pulls from all manner of interesting places far removed from the trad template. It won't win, but, you know what, maybe it should.
THE JAZZ ONE
Finn Peters - 'Music of the Mind'
Last but not least, Finn Peters' acclaimed jazz odyssey has '1000-1 Mercury shortlist outsider' written all over it. A semi-improvised concept album that takes as its inspiration a scientific study of human brainwave patterns, it's a bold work that's all the more impressive for actually being pretty good. It still won't win though. Obviously.
THE SUBSTITUTES BENCH
Mercury seems to have ditched its tokenistic 'world music' shortlist slot sometime in the late '90s, which is a shame because former-nominee Cornershop's fantastic 'Cornershop and the Double-O Groove Of...', featuring Punjabi vocalist Bubbly Kaur, is more than deserving of a bit of slightly patronising attention. The judges also appear to have cooled on pure electronic music of late, '08's nod for Burial's stunning 'Untrue' notwithstanding, but we reckon the self-titled debut from excellent dubstep supergroup Magnetic Man or Gold Panda's charmingly homemade-sounding glitch opus 'Lucky Shiner' would be in with a shout otherwise. Finally, we can see Everything Everything's 'Man Alive' sneaking onboard if one of our indie-rock favourites falls at the final hurdle.
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John Singleton Bill Condon Salman Rusdhie Ken Howard Will Rothharr