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The Barclaycard Mercury Prize - winner to be announced on 7th September 2010

The Barclaycard Mercury Prize was originally established in 1992 (as the Mercury Prize) to support British and Irish music and is an annual award for the best album from any genre. The shortlist is decided by a group of panellists, who are all involved in the music industry, and only the music itself is taken into account in the judging. Last year's winner, scooping the £20,000 prize, was Speech Debelle with her album "Speech Therapy". This year's nominations were announced on 20th July 2010 at the Hospital Club in Covent Garden by Lauren Laverne and the overall winner will be chosen and awarded the prize at the Awards show, hosted by Jools Holland, on Tuesday 7th September 2010. The show will be broadcast live on BBC2 and will be presented by Lauren Laverne. Twelve albums have made it to the shortlist and they include examples from a wide variety of musical styles.

The nominations, in no particular order, are;

Foals – Total Life Forever
Foals, a group of five Oxford University drop outs, led by Yannis Philippakis (vocals, guitar) with Walter Gervers (bass), Jack Bevan (drums), Jimmy Smith (guitar) and Edwin Congreave (samplers), was formed in 2008. The Indie/Math Rock band have had one previous album "Antidotes" which was released in 2008 and reached number 3 in the UK album charts on release. "Total Life Forever" was released in May 2010 on the Transgressive Records label.

Paul Weller – Wake Up the Nation
This is Paul Weller's second nomination for the Mercury Music Prize. The first one was in 1994 for "The Wild Wood". "Wake Up The Nation" (genre – rock) consists of 16 short tracks, spanning a range of musical styles, and is his tenth album in his 18 year solo career after leaving the Jam in the eighties.

Corrine Bailey Rae – The Sea
Corrine Bailey Rae released her debut album "Corrine Bailey Rae" in 2006 while still unsigned. She became an international hit instantly and now four years later has produced her second album "The Sea" (soul/pop/jazz). The singer/songwriter from Leeds was co-producer of the album and it was released on the Capitol Record label in January 2010. Bailey Rae's husband died in 2008 and this tragedy seems to pervade some of her music on this album at times.

The XX – XX
The XX formed in 2005 and are from London, England. Now a three membered band (after Baria Qureshi (keyboards) left in 2009) the band consists of Romy Madley Croft (vocals/lead guitar), Oliver Sim (vocals/bass guitar) and Jamie Smith (sampling). Their debut album, XX, was released in August 2009 and was enthusiastically received universally. Four singles have been released from the album; "VCR", "Basic Space", "Crystallised" and "Islands".

Mumford and Sons – Sigh No More
"Sigh No More" is the debut album (released in October 2009) from Folk/Rock band Mumford and Sons who originate from London, England. The band consists of Marcus Mumford (vocals/guitar/drums/mandolin), Winston Marshall (vocals/banjo/dobro), Ben Lovett (vocals/keyboard/accordion) and Ted Dwane (vocals/double bass). Mumford and Sons have often supported Laura Marling on tour and the musically versatile band members frequently switch instruments during live performances.

Dizzee Rascal – Tongue n' Cheek
The British rapper, Dizzee Rascal, with his musical mixture of UK garage, grime, hip hop, house, dance and more, has already won one Mercury prize (2003). His latest album "Tongue n' Cheek" is his fourth studio album (released in September 2009) and it incorporates all four of his recent number one hit singles; "Holiday", "Dirtee Disco", "Dance Wiv Me" and "Bonkers".

Villagers – Becoming a Jackal
Conor J O'Brien (vocals/guitar), Tommy McLaughlin (guitar), James Byrne (drums), David Crean (keyboards), Danny Snow (bass) and Cormac Curran (piano/organ) make up the Folk/Indie band Villagers. The group formed in 2002 and are from Dublin in Ireland. "Becoming a Jackal" is their eleven track debut album and they are starting their UK tour in October 2010.

 

Wild Beasts – Two Dancers
"Two Dancers" was released on Domino Records in August 2009 and is the second album from Wild Beasts (Genre – Indie Rock) who hail from Kendal in the Lake District (now living in Leeds). "Hooting and Howling" from the album was released as a single in July 2010. The band members consist of Hayden Thorpe (vocals/guitar), Ben Little (lead guitar), Chris Talbot (drums) and Tom Fleming (bass) and the band originally formed in 2002 as a duo (Fauvre).

Kit Downes – Golden
Kit Downes is a 23 year old Jazz pianist from Norfolk, England and plays with Calum Gourlay (bass) and James Maddren (drums/percussion) to form the Kit Downes Trio. The three met in their first year at the Royal Academy of Music in 2005 and have been together ever since. They released their first album, "Golden", in their own name in November 2009 on Basho Records. Kit, who used to be in the Jazz ensemble Empirical, won the BBC Jazz Award for Rising Star in 2008.

Biffy Clyro – Only Revolutions
This is the fifth album from energetic Scottish rock band Biffy Clyro. "Only Revolutions" has been preceded by the release of three singles from the album two of which ("Mountains" and "That Golden Rule") made it into the top 10 of the UK singles chart. Biffy Clyro was formed in 1995 and comprises Simon Neil (lead vocals and guitar), James Johnston (vocals and bass guitar) and Ben Johnston (vocals and drums).

I Am Kloot – Sky at Night
"The Sky at Night" is the fifth studio album from this Indie/Acoustic Rock band from Manchester and was released in July 2010. I Am Kloot formed in 1999 and are John Bramwell on vocals and guitar, Peter Jobson on bass guitar and Andy Hargreaves on drums. John Bramwell, one of the more exceptional songwriters around at the moment, wrote all the lyrics and the album contains some particularly inspiring instrumentals.

Laura Marling – I Speak Because I Can
This is 20 year old singer/songwriter Laura Marling's second album. Her first album "Alas I Cannot Swim"  was also nominated for a Mercury Music prize (in 2008). The album's sound is predominantly Indie/Folk and it went into the UK Album's chart at number 4 in March 2010. The singles "Goodbye England (Covered in Snow)" and "Devil's Spoke" paved the way for this 10 track album.


The winner of last years Mercury Prize was; Speech Debelle, the British rapper with album 'Speech Therapy'