Mercury Music Prize Shortlist

The Mercury Music Prize shortlist was announced yesterday and I have none of these albums, not a single one. So I am now going to go away and listen to them all and come back in a new post with a yes/no opinion on all of them, because I can,  here is the list:

alt-j – ‘Relaxer’ – Maybe
Blossoms – ‘Blossoms’
Dinosaur – ‘Together, As One’
Ed Sheeran – ‘÷’
Glass Animals – ‘How to Be a Human Being’
J Hus – ‘Common Sense’
Kate Tempest – ‘Let Them Eat Chaos’
Loyle Carner – ‘Yesterday’s Gone’
Sampha – ‘Process’
Stormzy – ‘Gang Signs & Prayer’
The Big Moon – ‘Love in the 4th Dimension’
The xx – ‘I See You’

Last years list is below, actually no, let’s go crazy, all the past winners and nominees are below and I’ve marked in brackets who I would have chosen to win, like this (1):

1992 Primal Scream – Screamadelica (1)
Barry Adamson – Soul Murder
Erasure – Chorus
Jah Wobble’s Invaders of the Heart – Rising Above Bedlam
The Jesus and Mary Chain – Honey’s Dead
Bheki Mseleku – Celebration
Saint Etienne – Foxbase Alpha
Simply Red – Stars
U2 – Achtung Baby
John Tavener & Steven Isserlis – The Protecting Veil
Young Disciples – Road to Freedom

1993 Suede – Suede (1)
Apache Indian – No Reservations
The Auteurs – New Wave
Gavin Bryars – Jesus’ Blood Never Failed Me Yet
Dina Carroll – So Close
East 17 – Walthamstow
PJ Harvey – Rid of Me
New Order – Republic
Stereo MCs – Connected
Sting – Ten Summoner’s Tales
Stan Tracey – Portraits Plus

1994 M People – Elegant Slumming
Blur – Parklife (1)
Ian McNabb – Head Like a Rock
Shara Nelson – What Silence Knows
Michael Nyman – The Piano Concerto/MGV
Primal Scream – Give Out But Don’t Give Up
The Prodigy – Music for the Jilted Generation
Pulp – His ‘n’ Hers
Take That – Everything Changes
Therapy? – Troublegum
Paul Weller – Wild Wood

1995 Portishead – Dummy (1 joint)
Guy Barker – Into the Blue
The Boo Radleys – Wake Up!
Elastica – Elastica
PJ Harvey – To Bring You My Love
Leftfield – Leftism
James MacMillan – Seven Last Words from the Cross
Van Morrison – Days Like This
Oasis – Definitely Maybe
Supergrass – I Should Coco
Tricky – Maxinquaye (1 Joint, I couldn’t possibly choose one over the other)

1996 Pulp – Different Class
Artists for War Child – Help
Black Grape – It’s Great When You’re Straight… Yeah
Peter Maxwell Davies/BBC Philharmonic – The Beltane Fire / Caroline Mathilde
Manic Street Preachers – Everything Must Go (1)
Mark Morrison – Return of the Mack
Oasis – (What’s the Story) Morning Glory?
Courtney Pine – Modern Day Jazz Stories
Underworld – Second Toughest in the Infants
Norma Waterson – Norma Waterson

1997 Roni Size/Reprazent – New Forms
The Chemical Brothers – Dig Your Own Hole
Beth Orton – Trailer Park
Primal Scream – Vanishing Point
The Prodigy – The Fat of the Land
Radiohead – OK Computer (1)
Spice Girls – Spice
Suede – Coming Up
John Tavener – Svyati
Mark-Anthony Turnage – Your Rockaby

1998 Gomez – Bring It On
4hero – Two Pages
Asian Dub Foundation – Rafi’s Revenge
Eliza Carthy – Red Rice
Catatonia – International Velvet
Cornershop – When I Was Born for the 7th Time
Massive Attack – Mezzanine (1)
Propellerheads – Decksandrumsandrockandroll
Pulp – This Is Hardcore
John Surman – Proverbs & Songs
The Verve – Urban Hymns
Robbie Williams – Life thru a Lens

1999 Talvin Singh – Ok
Thomas Adès – Asyla
Denys Baptiste – Be Where You Are
Black Star Liner – Bengali Bantam Youth Experience!
Blur – 13
The Chemical Brothers – Surrender
Faithless – Sunday 8PM
Manic Street Preachers – This Is My Truth Tell Me Yours
Beth Orton – Central Reservation (1)
Kate Rusby – Sleepless
Stereophonics – Performance and Cocktails
Underworld – Beaucoup Fish

2000 Badly Drawn Boy – The Hour of Bewilderbeast
Richard Ashcroft – Alone with Everybody
Coldplay – Parachutes
M. J. Cole – Sincere
Death in Vegas – The Contino Sessions (1)
The Delgados – The Great Eastern
Doves – Lost Souls
Helicopter Girl – How to Steal the World
Leftfield – Rhythm and Stealth
Nicholas Maw – Violin Concerto
Nitin Sawhney – Beyond Skin
Kathryn Williams – Little Black Numbers

2001 PJ Harvey – Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea (2, yes, a completely different numbering system all of a sudden)
Basement Jaxx – Rooty
Elbow – Asleep in the Back
Goldfrapp – Felt Mountain
Gorillaz – Gorillaz (nomination withdrawn at the request of the band)
Ed Harcourt – Here Be Monsters
Tom McRae – Tom McRae
Radiohead – Amnesiac (1)
Susheela Raman – Salt Rain
Super Furry Animals – Rings Around the World
Turin Brakes – The Optimist LP
Zero 7 – Simple Things

2002 Ms. Dynamite – A Little Deeper
Guy Barker – Soundtrack
The Bees – Sunshine Hit Me
David Bowie – Heathen
The Coral – The Coral
Doves – The Last Broadcast
The Electric Soft Parade – Holes in the Wall
Gemma Hayes – Night on My Side
Beverley Knight – Who I Am
Roots Manuva – Run Come Save Me (1)
Joanna MacGregor – Play
The Streets – Original Pirate Material

2003 Dizzee Rascal – Boy in da Corner
Athlete – Vehicles and Animals
Eliza Carthy – Anglicana
Coldplay – A Rush of Blood to the Head
The Darkness – Permission to Land
Floetry – Floetic
Soweto Kinch – Conversations with the Unseen
Lemon Jelly – Lost Horizons
The Thrills – So Much for the City
Martina Topley-Bird – Quixotic (1)
Radiohead – Hail to the Thief
Terri Walker – Untitled

2004 Franz Ferdinand – Franz Ferdinand
Basement Jaxx – Kish Kash
Belle & Sebastian – Dear Catastrophe Waitress (1)
Jamelia – Thank You
Keane – Hopes and Fears
Snow Patrol – Final Straw
Joss Stone – The Soul Sessions
The Streets – A Grand Don’t Come for Free
Ty – Upwards
Amy Winehouse – Frank
Robert Wyatt – Cuckooland
The Zutons – Who Killed…… The Zutons?

2005 Antony and the Johnsons – I Am a Bird Now
Bloc Party – Silent Alarm
Coldplay – X&Y
Hard-Fi – Stars of CCTV
Kaiser Chiefs – Employment
KT Tunstall – Eye to the Telescope
M.I.A. – Arular (1)
Maxïmo Park – A Certain Trigger
Polar Bear – Held on the Tips of Fingers
Seth Lakeman – Kitty Jay
The Go! Team – Thunder, Lightning, Strike
The Magic Numbers – The Magic Numbers

2006 Arctic Monkeys – Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not (1)
Isobel Campbell and Mark Lanegan – Ballad of the Broken Seas
Editors – The Back Room
Guillemots – Through the Windowpane
Richard Hawley – Coles Corner
Hot Chip – The Warning
Muse – Black Holes & Revelations
Zoe Rahman – Melting Pot
Lou Rhodes – Beloved One
Scritti Politti – White Bread Black Beer
Sway – This Is My Demo
Thom Yorke – The Eraser

2007 Klaxons – Myths of the Near Future
Arctic Monkeys – Favourite Worst Nightmare
Basquiat Strings with Seb Rochford – Basquiat Strings
Bat for Lashes – Fur and Gold
Dizzee Rascal – Maths + English
Maps – We Can Create
New Young Pony Club – Fantastic Playroom
Fionn Regan – The End of History
Jamie T – Panic Prevention
The View – Hats Off to the Buskers
Amy Winehouse – Back to Black (1)
Young Knives – Voices of Animals and Men

2008 Elbow – The Seldom Seen Kid
Adele – 19
British Sea Power – Do You Like Rock Music?
Burial – Untrue
Estelle – Shine
The Last Shadow Puppets – The Age of the Understatement
Laura Marling – Alas, I Cannot Swim
Neon Neon – Stainless Style
Robert Plant & Alison Krauss – Raising Sand
Portico Quartet – Knee Deep in the North Sea
Radiohead – In Rainbows (1)
Rachel Unthank and the Winterset – The Bairns

2009 Speech Debelle – Speech Therapy (1)
Bat for Lashes – Two Suns
Florence and the Machine – Lungs
Friendly Fires – Friendly Fires
Glasvegas – Glasvegas
Lisa Hannigan – Sea Sew
The Horrors – Primary Colours
The Invisible – The Invisible
Kasabian – West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum
La Roux – La Roux
Led Bib – Sensible Shoes
Sweet Billy Pilgrim – Twice Born Men

2010 The xx – xx
Biffy Clyro – Only Revolutions
Corinne Bailey Rae – The Sea
Dizzee Rascal – Tongue n’ Cheek
Foals – Total Life Forever
I Am Kloot – Sky at Night (1)
Kit Downes Trio – Golden
Laura Marling – I Speak Because I Can
Mumford & Sons – Sigh No More
Paul Weller – Wake Up the Nation
Villagers – Becoming a Jackal
Wild Beasts – Two Dancers

2011 PJ Harvey – Let England Shake
Adele – 21
Anna Calvi – Anna Calvi
Elbow – Build a Rocket Boys!
Everything Everything – Man Alive
Ghostpoet – Peanut Butter Blues & Melancholy Jam (1)
Gwilym Simcock – Good Days at Schloss Elmau
James Blake – James Blake
Katy B – On a Mission
King Creosote & Jon Hopkins – Diamond Mine
Metronomy – The English Riviera
Tinie Tempah – Disc-Overy

2012 Alt-J – An Awesome Wave (? Dunno?)
Ben Howard – Every Kingdom
Django Django – Django Django
Field Music – Plumb
Richard Hawley – Standing at the Sky’s Edge
Michael Kiwanuka – Home Again
Lianne La Havas – Is Your Love Big Enough?
Sam Lee – Ground of its Own
The Maccabees – Given to the Wild
Plan B – ill Manors
Roller Trio – Roller Trio
Jessie Ware – Devotion

2013 James Blake – Overgrown
Arctic Monkeys – AM
David Bowie – The Next Day (1)
Disclosure – Settle
Foals – Holy Fire
Jake Bugg – Jake Bugg
Jon Hopkins – Immunity
Laura Marling – Once I Was an Eagle
Laura Mvula – Sing to the Moon
Rudimental – Home
Savages – Silence Yourself
Villagers – {Awayland}

2014 Young Fathers – Dead
Anna Calvi – One Breath
Bombay Bicycle Club – So Long, See You Tomorrow
Damon Albarn – Everyday Robots
East India Youth – Total Strife Forever
FKA twigs – LP1 (1)
GoGo Penguin – V2.0
Jungle – Jungle
Kate Tempest – Everybody Down
Nick Mulvey – First Mind
Polar Bear – In Each and Every One
Royal Blood – Royal Blood

2015 Benjamin Clementine – At Least for Now
Aphex Twin – Syro (1)
Gaz Coombes – Matador
C Duncan – Architect
Eska – Eska
Florence and the Machine – How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful
Ghostpoet – Shedding Skin
Róisín Murphy – Hairless Toys
Slaves – Are You Satisfied?
SOAK – Before We Forgot How to Dream
Wolf Alice – My Love Is Cool
Jamie xx – In Colour

2016 Skepta – Konnichiwa
Anohni – Hopelessness
Bat for Lashes – The Bride
David Bowie – Blackstar
Jamie Woon – Making Time
Kano – Made in the Manor
Laura Mvula – The Dreaming Room
Michael Kiwanuka – Love & Hate
Radiohead – A Moon Shaped Pool (1)
Savages – Adore Life
The 1975 – I Like It When You Sleep, for You Are So Beautiful yet So Unaware of It
The Comet Is Coming – Channel the Spirits