Mercury Music Prize

I'm a bit late on this I know, but I had to write about this year's Mercury Music Prize nominees. They are:

Adele - 21
Anna Calvi - Anna Calvi
Elbow - Build A Rocket Boys!
Everything Everything - Man Alive
Ghostpoet - Peanut Butter Blues and Melancholy Jam
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
PJ Harvey - Let England Shake
Tinie Tempah - Disc-Overy

Whilst there are some good picks in there- James Blake and Metronomy for example-, along with the usual bands that noone has heard of, and the obvious choice- Adele (amazing album, but maybe a too obvious choice for the winner?), it's not the impressive list that many were hoping for. I know this has now been written a gazillion times, the prize this year seems to have steered away from boosting new talent, which has always been the great thing about the prize. I thought I'd add my opinion on what I think has been overlooked:

Friendly Fires- Pala
Hurts- HappinessJamie Woon-Mirrorwriting
Noah and the Whale- Last Night on Earth
White Lies- Ritual
The Vaccines- What Did You Expect from The Vaccines?

I'd also say The Horrors- Skying, and Patrick Wolf- Lupercalia, but I'm not entirely sure they were eligible as I don't know the cut off dates for the nominees. Another name which seems to be on every blog, tweet  and website is Wild Beasts. I've never really heard their music, but they seem to be the perfect nominees for the prize, and it is unusual for the Mercurys to overlook such a band. 

Whether they will choose an obvious winner or not we don't know, but perhaps the outcry over some poor decisions this year will be a message to improve things next year. The winner is announced on 6th September.