Naim That Tune Jul 09: MERCURY PRIZE SPECIAL
Posted by: Simon Drake on 20 July 2009
Naim That Tune: July/August 2009
The shortlist for the coveted Mercury Prize 2009 is announced on Tuesday 21st July.
As opposed to the usual ‘playlist’ I thought I would compile my personal predictions on this years nominations (I’m cutting it a bit fine) for British independent music’s biggest ‘break’ for you all to deliberate upon – until the winner is announced in September!
Mercury’s panel put together 12 albums from a wealth of submissions from British record releases (August 08 – Jul 09).
Please discuss!
Speech Debelle - Speech Therapy (Big Dada)
Pragmatic south London emcee Debelle has fashioned an immediately unique brand of rap music. More mature in narrative and musical texture than her less subtle grimier counterparts, Speech’s jazz infused acoustic backdrop and anti-climactic raw social commentary aligns itself more with the Commons, Jurassic 5s and even Marvin Gayes of this world. An outside bet.
La Roux – La Roux (Universal)
It is hard not to respect music-marketing strategies that pay off. Universal’s clever acquisition of French electro label Kitsuné Music ahead of the synthpop revival (…only a matter of time until that bad hair do came around again really) and a dubstep remix by in favour DJ Skream of ‘In For The Kill’ granted La Roux passage through the specialist media into the mainstream. You can’t deny Elly Jackson and Ben Langmaid write quite harmless, infectious, post-modern pop songs. A strong front-runner.
Led Bib – Sensible Shoes (Cuneiform)
Time for the token jazz release! Despite the predictability, the exposure Mercury prize does a lot for young jazzers and sales of music in the genre (so a quick thank you for that!). This space could have easily been nabbed by Zed-U or the new Acoustic Ladyland project (Seb Rochford has won Mercury nominations before with Polar bear AND Basquiat Strings), but Led Bib have amassed a formidable arsenal of media support. In a nutshell, Led Bib possess a highly identifiable dual drone sax approach that has the muscularity of a rock five piece but the mentality of a jazz quintet. Alas the nomination is favour enough, but this is accessible stuff…for jazz…
Lily Allen – It’s Not Me, It’s You (EMI)
Lily was Britain’s favourite mock-chav for a bit, and hence bravely transcended music buying demographics; including fooling the chav’s themselves in a Sasha Baron Cohen like manor. INMIY is a fearsome anthology of choice pop cuts that rides abreast Ennio Morricone revivals, has a relevant air of electro pop nostalgia but also remains slapstick enough to prevent anyone from giving it a proper review. Everyone except the fellow celebrities she so regularly slates seems to like Lily, so maybe this is her moment? Probably not. It simply isn’t compelling enough to be taken as serious as such a prize should be.
Florence and the Machine – Lungs (Island)
As if oestrogen levels were not already impressively high on the potential shortlist, FATM’s debut album Lungs was released just in time for the prize’s eligibility and I have a sneaky feeling Island Records were planning ahead with some confidence! There is something highly compelling about the major’s latest offerings of alternative indie pop. Real fans of female incarnations of this facet of independent music should also check out Florence’s Rabbit Heart EP, as the Jamie T remix was arguably her way into the daytime radio that has won us all over!
Bat For Lashes – Two Suns (EMI)
BFL an artist whose 80s Kate Bush spiced girl with a keyboard has come on leaps and bounds. She got a Mercury nomination in 2007 for Fur and Gold, so maybe they’ll leaver her out this time? No! If the team at Mercury have any sense, they’ll let Florence and Natasha Khan go head to head! This could be the exciting sprint finish we were looking for!
Doves – Kingdom of Rust (Heavenly)
This is a dead cert for nomination. Every scrap of press described them as ‘doing an Elbow’ (last years winners). Admittedly, they have written some amazing songs for this, their fourth long player, but for we few who are concerned about sound quality…the album lacks sonic properties remotely comparable to Seldom Seen Kid. It would perhaps be too Elbow-like to let two grafting Manchester outfits win in back to back…but worth placing a few quid on the none the less!
Glasvegas – Glasvegas (Sony)
It has been uncool for Brit’s to sing in American accent for some time for fear of sounding like sounding like something from a Disney factory conveyor belt. So I often wonder why we are still praising bands for their honesty. Yes Glasvegas are definitively Scottish (and there is nothing wrong with Scotland), but the vernacular becomes contrived remarkably swiftly as it strikes you as simply a means by which to hit a gap in the market. For that very reason, you can’t rule this one out as a winner.
Duckworth Lewis Method – Duckworth Lewis Method (Divine Comedy)
Talking of gaps in the market, Pugwash’s Thomas Walsh and The Divine Comedy’s Neil Hannon have put together an album about Cricket. Confused? You won’t be when you hear it. You’ll be too busy enjoying it to stop to think about what possessed two Irishmen to put together an epic Ashe’s inspired omnibus about a definitively English game. These two talented writers, who aren’t exactly renowned for taking themselves too seriously, reference everything from 10CC to the Beatles. Maybe not serious enough to be a front-runner, but it deserves to be! It really depends whether the guys at the Mercury prize like Cricket as much as they do music!
Metronomy – Nights Out – (Because)
No list of Mercury nominee’s is complete without a chunk of angular dance-pop. So, unless Mercury chooses to move their goalposts, be sure to see Metronomy in the September Mercury party line up. It has been out for nearly a year already and the band have gathered a wealth of support in that time while they’ve been riding the Kraftwerk resurgence that has caught up with them. It will remain the token dance pick to liven up the party though, not a frontrunner. Metronomy are one to watch none the less.
But, you can’t write off: Little Boots, Friendly Fires, Gary Go, The Horrors, Micachu and the Shapes and White Lies
The shortlist for the coveted Mercury Prize 2009 is announced on Tuesday 21st July.
As opposed to the usual ‘playlist’ I thought I would compile my personal predictions on this years nominations (I’m cutting it a bit fine) for British independent music’s biggest ‘break’ for you all to deliberate upon – until the winner is announced in September!
Mercury’s panel put together 12 albums from a wealth of submissions from British record releases (August 08 – Jul 09).
Please discuss!
Speech Debelle - Speech Therapy (Big Dada)
Pragmatic south London emcee Debelle has fashioned an immediately unique brand of rap music. More mature in narrative and musical texture than her less subtle grimier counterparts, Speech’s jazz infused acoustic backdrop and anti-climactic raw social commentary aligns itself more with the Commons, Jurassic 5s and even Marvin Gayes of this world. An outside bet.
La Roux – La Roux (Universal)
It is hard not to respect music-marketing strategies that pay off. Universal’s clever acquisition of French electro label Kitsuné Music ahead of the synthpop revival (…only a matter of time until that bad hair do came around again really) and a dubstep remix by in favour DJ Skream of ‘In For The Kill’ granted La Roux passage through the specialist media into the mainstream. You can’t deny Elly Jackson and Ben Langmaid write quite harmless, infectious, post-modern pop songs. A strong front-runner.
Led Bib – Sensible Shoes (Cuneiform)
Time for the token jazz release! Despite the predictability, the exposure Mercury prize does a lot for young jazzers and sales of music in the genre (so a quick thank you for that!). This space could have easily been nabbed by Zed-U or the new Acoustic Ladyland project (Seb Rochford has won Mercury nominations before with Polar bear AND Basquiat Strings), but Led Bib have amassed a formidable arsenal of media support. In a nutshell, Led Bib possess a highly identifiable dual drone sax approach that has the muscularity of a rock five piece but the mentality of a jazz quintet. Alas the nomination is favour enough, but this is accessible stuff…for jazz…
Lily Allen – It’s Not Me, It’s You (EMI)
Lily was Britain’s favourite mock-chav for a bit, and hence bravely transcended music buying demographics; including fooling the chav’s themselves in a Sasha Baron Cohen like manor. INMIY is a fearsome anthology of choice pop cuts that rides abreast Ennio Morricone revivals, has a relevant air of electro pop nostalgia but also remains slapstick enough to prevent anyone from giving it a proper review. Everyone except the fellow celebrities she so regularly slates seems to like Lily, so maybe this is her moment? Probably not. It simply isn’t compelling enough to be taken as serious as such a prize should be.
Florence and the Machine – Lungs (Island)
As if oestrogen levels were not already impressively high on the potential shortlist, FATM’s debut album Lungs was released just in time for the prize’s eligibility and I have a sneaky feeling Island Records were planning ahead with some confidence! There is something highly compelling about the major’s latest offerings of alternative indie pop. Real fans of female incarnations of this facet of independent music should also check out Florence’s Rabbit Heart EP, as the Jamie T remix was arguably her way into the daytime radio that has won us all over!
Bat For Lashes – Two Suns (EMI)
BFL an artist whose 80s Kate Bush spiced girl with a keyboard has come on leaps and bounds. She got a Mercury nomination in 2007 for Fur and Gold, so maybe they’ll leaver her out this time? No! If the team at Mercury have any sense, they’ll let Florence and Natasha Khan go head to head! This could be the exciting sprint finish we were looking for!
Doves – Kingdom of Rust (Heavenly)
This is a dead cert for nomination. Every scrap of press described them as ‘doing an Elbow’ (last years winners). Admittedly, they have written some amazing songs for this, their fourth long player, but for we few who are concerned about sound quality…the album lacks sonic properties remotely comparable to Seldom Seen Kid. It would perhaps be too Elbow-like to let two grafting Manchester outfits win in back to back…but worth placing a few quid on the none the less!
Glasvegas – Glasvegas (Sony)
It has been uncool for Brit’s to sing in American accent for some time for fear of sounding like sounding like something from a Disney factory conveyor belt. So I often wonder why we are still praising bands for their honesty. Yes Glasvegas are definitively Scottish (and there is nothing wrong with Scotland), but the vernacular becomes contrived remarkably swiftly as it strikes you as simply a means by which to hit a gap in the market. For that very reason, you can’t rule this one out as a winner.
Duckworth Lewis Method – Duckworth Lewis Method (Divine Comedy)
Talking of gaps in the market, Pugwash’s Thomas Walsh and The Divine Comedy’s Neil Hannon have put together an album about Cricket. Confused? You won’t be when you hear it. You’ll be too busy enjoying it to stop to think about what possessed two Irishmen to put together an epic Ashe’s inspired omnibus about a definitively English game. These two talented writers, who aren’t exactly renowned for taking themselves too seriously, reference everything from 10CC to the Beatles. Maybe not serious enough to be a front-runner, but it deserves to be! It really depends whether the guys at the Mercury prize like Cricket as much as they do music!
Metronomy – Nights Out – (Because)
No list of Mercury nominee’s is complete without a chunk of angular dance-pop. So, unless Mercury chooses to move their goalposts, be sure to see Metronomy in the September Mercury party line up. It has been out for nearly a year already and the band have gathered a wealth of support in that time while they’ve been riding the Kraftwerk resurgence that has caught up with them. It will remain the token dance pick to liven up the party though, not a frontrunner. Metronomy are one to watch none the less.
But, you can’t write off: Little Boots, Friendly Fires, Gary Go, The Horrors, Micachu and the Shapes and White Lies
BFL gets my vote.
SBP gets my vote