It's that time of year again, and the nominees for this year's Mercury Music Prize have been announced, with the usual mixture of 'who the hell's that?' settling themselves in amongst the more expected bands coming through on the shortlist.
There is, as always, an overwhelming male dominance in the nominees chosen, with only Lou Rhodes, Zoe Rahmen and Isobel Campbell (as one half of a male and female duo) being put forward as female contributers to new music. This again highlights the need for more exposure of women in music, aswell as the lack of opportunities and recognition female musicians receive when compared to their male conterparts.
“Above all, this year’s shortlist for the Nationwide Mercury Prize is about the art of the songwriter – if you want to know what life is like in Britain today, listen to the country’s musicians!” says Chair of Judges, Simon Frith.
“The list contains songs that are witty, sad, angry and reflective; songs exploring emotions and debating attitudes; songs about love lost and love found; songs both personal and political, happy and anxious;
songs using a wonderful variety of genres, beats, sound and moods.”
This year’s list draws special attention to the continuing musical importance and vitality of cities throughout the UK, highlighting that not all bands need to be based in London in order to be recognised by the record industry. Two of the artists, Arctic Monkeys with Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not and Richard Hawley with Coles Corner, continue to live and work in Sheffield. Editors, with The Back Room, and Guillemots with Through the Windowpane, are both based in Birmingham while Isobel Campbell, the former Belle & Sebastian singer and cellist whose Ballad of the Broken Seas album with Mark Lanegan is also shortlisted, works and records out of her hometown of Glasgow.
Among the debut albums on the list are This is My Demo by the brilliant young London urban artist, Sway, and Beloved One, on which former Lamb singer Lou Rhodes returns to her acoustic roots, while Thom Yorke’s The Eraser is his first album outside the context of Radiohead.
The shortlist is completed by Black Holes & Revelations, Muse’s UK number one album, The Warning by electropop five-piece Hot Chip, Melting Pot by the acclaimed jazz pianist Zoe Rahman and White Bread Black Beer which heralds the return of one of the most influential figures in UK music, Green Gartside, better known as Scritti Politti.
The 2006 Albums of the Year are:
Guillemots Through the Windowpane
Richard Hawley Coles Corner
Hot Chip The Warning
Editors The Back Room
Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan Ballad of the Broken Seas
Thom Yorke The Eraser
Lou Rhodes Beloved One
Muse Black Holes & Revelations
Sway This is My Demo
Scritti Politti White Bread Black Beer
Zoe Rahman Melting Pot
Arctic Monkeys Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not
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