Mercury Music Prize

Dizee Rascal is great and his album is fab. I'm very pleased he won.

Matthew

File in a "Break From the Norm" thread.

Howard

quote:

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Apparently, it's a critical prize awarded for originality and artistic merit as well as being accessible and consistently good as an album,

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This differs somewhat from what I heard. I heard the judges brief was to simply pick what they thought was the best album.

I think the short list is probably chosen with some view to originality etc. However given the above brief ('the best') you wonder whether the judges actaully abide by this. They seem to like to cause a few ripples by picking emerging/unknown artists. After all voting for Coldplay would not be cool and hip enough.

Its meant to be like the Booker but for music so the important point is that they do not just pick the most popular and/or commercial but what the panel of judges consider to be the best album. The use of a Booker style panel of independent and qualified judges is more important than the exact criteria they use.

I think they have a pretty good track record and the shortlists have been consistently good.

Matthew

*sigh*

Patrick - I think that Dizzee is unusual in that the backing tracks are his own.

Patrick - I can only guess that your opinion is based on the fact that there is so much 'crap rap' around.

I will now issue my first forum challenge:

Go out and buy Public Enemy's 'It takes a Nation of Millions...' or 'Fear of a Black Planet'.

I expect the first 10 times you listen to it you will think it is awful (like a lot of great albums?).

However, after that, I am confident that the sheer musical complexity and astounding originality (despite the use of other artist's tracks as backing) will leave you enjoying at least a few tracks.

If not I will send you the cash to cover the cost of the CD.

Yours,

Dave Brubeck

Personally I think most of the artists on the ninja label beat this guy.

I really like his stripped down production, his attitude, and his idiosyncratic rap style. But most of all I love the oddly disorientating and off-kilter ryhthms and the his full-on relentless grind down the listener with the shear bleakness (both lyrically and musically) of everything. It's just overflowing with invention and ideas angdgenerally kicks ass.

Musically its very sophisticated and mature especially for the genre (UK Garage is mostly formulaic) and overall its quite astonishing for someone of only 17. He's the Wayne Rooney of urban music.

Matthew

How come other people find it so easy to dismiss whole genres of music with a well turned phrase? It makes me so jealous - If I wasn't so indiscriminate in my interests I could really cut out the crap and catch up with all that good stuff on Sky that I never seem to have the time to get round to enjoy .....

throb

Watched the whole thing on TV on Saturday night (it's allowed when you're 45) and thought the Darkness were hilarious! Kind of like The Comic Strip doing their Bad News pastiche. At least they can play a bit and do their stuff live. Surely they can't be serious though. That voice?

Can't say I've heard Dizee Rascals album but I thought the look on his face when Jo (Smiley) Whiley asked him what he'd do with the prize money was pretty funny. Like "Well what do you think?"

Good luck to the kid. Keeps 'im off the streets. Innit!

P

The Darkness are brilliant, they have blown the cobwebs off an incresingly stale rock scene.

It is as if Nirvana never happened.