Mercury Prize nominations – live!
Barclaycard Mercury Prize 2010
Hello! So, I’m here to oversee the announcement of the list of people in the running for the annual British music awards it’s OK to like and argue over and then dismiss when the ‘wrong’ person wins. It’s like a music Sports Day, with all the runners and riders in short shorts, ill-fitting vests and trainers your mum put in the washing machine especially for the occasion. You can have a read of who we think might be in the running and then obviously keep reading my rambles to find out who is on the shortlist. WARNING: I can’t spell and I’ve had very little sleep in the past few days, so pray for me.
2009′s winner Speech Debelle, as you’ll all know, went on to have hit after hit, selling millions of albums, touring the world and winning award after award…only she didn’t. She actually crashed into the charts at number 65, played a few barely attended gigs and then quit her label. This is what smug people like me call, “the curse of the Mercury Prize”. Let’s also not forget that previous winners include M People and Gomez, so all bets are off!
I can exclusively reveal that I know who one of the nominees is/are! I probably shouldn’t tell anyone yet as this place is full of security and I worry I’ll be whisked off to some bunker and forced to listen to said artist over and over and over again. Trust me, this is not a good thing. When this band/artist are announced later, I will make sure and make it clear I knew all along they were on the list, such is the power trip I’m starting right now.
Not right now. Right now I’m stuck in reception waiting to be let in…
10:52 - OK, I’m in. Well, I’m in a massive white room. The room has lights as bright as the sun, chairs, those big hoardings they make people stand in front of when they’re being interviewed and people with cameras and head-sets on. There are so many wires and technical looking stuff that lying around and it’s so bright white I’m imagining this is what a Dixons version of God’s waiting room looks like.
11:00 - There are LOADS of people here now! Including someone I know!! We’re laughing and giggling at the excitement of it all. It feels like something might be happening soon. Like, something might actually happen and not just seem like it might happen but probably won’t. There’s A LOT of ‘anging about going on in here.
11:06 – Erm, two things: Firstly, not sure why this is all coming out as one long paragrah. Secondly, I think I’m sat in the wrong bit.
11:12 - OK, so I’m in the basement now. This is a good thing apparently. This is where the magic happens. Unfortunately, I’m sat near a light that appears to be burning my bag…one sec.
11:15 – They’re playing Florence. I think this means her ubiquity has allowed her a nomination this year too, which seems only fair given last year’s debacle. I’m standing up to write this and I’m aware of my arm going dead.
11:20 – Lord, it’s Kasabian now. Also, there is so much smoke in this basement that I actually think this building is modelled on polar opposites; heaven is upstairs, hell is downstairs and right now, we’re in Hell. In a good way. I mean, i’m grateful to be here, but my lungs are feeling heavy and I swear I just coughed up smoke.
11:22 – I’m sat on the floor now, which is good for my arms, but I’m now being stood on and the smoke is actually encircling me. Can we turn the smoke off? Can someone give the Hospital Club a call ask them kindly to perhaps stop trying to gas us all, cheers.
11:26 – Seriously, not a great deal happens beforehand. There’s some milling about, some ‘networking’, the low hum of people talking about Twitter and Blackberrys, record company people (someone from XL is here! What does this MEAN!?) and free drink. I have yet to have any because I’m sat on the floor writing this for you good people.
11:30 – Bat For Lashes is playing now. It’s that one everyone loves from that album she released. Seriously, so much smoke, I can’t function…
11:31 – Lauren’s here!
Biffy Clyro
Villagers
Corinne Bailey Rae
Mumford & Sons
They’re the first four to be announced! Exciting times right here.
Paul Weller
Wild Beasts
Laura Marling
and someone else, hang on…Kit Downes Trio…LOVE THEM!
Dizzee Rascal
Foals
I Am Kloot
The xx
THAT’S IT! It’s so loud here I can’t think of what to say.
11:37 - OK, so whilst Corinne Bailey Rae plays a song (it was she I was talking about earlier and I feel bad now as her voice is amazeballs), let’s digest. There’s no Gorillaz, no These New Puritans, no Fuck Buttons and no Hot Chip. Also, my friend’s band’s album was in the running and it’s not on the final list either and it’s at least ten times better than that Foals album so there! They’re called Brigadier Ambrose by the way and this is their myspace.
11:40 -
Betting odds coming up!
6/1 – Laura, Mumford, Weller
4/1 – Dizzee and The xx
There was more but he speaks so fast! RUDE. Ohhh, Villagers is here (not his real name).
11:42 – So, what do you guys think of the list? It’s not exactly bursting with surprises. I guess it shows how much more folkier, rootsier (not words!) and, erm, earnest music is back, back, BACK! Three big folky albums in there and I’m enjoying this Villagers song but his album is a bit yawnsome. Now, Marling I like, it all seems genuine, but Mumford & Sons are folk for people who shop in Top Man. I’d rather they were not on this list and let’s just leave it there.
11:52 - OK, we’re in Heaven again now. It’s very bright. I have a bit of a headache, but that might be the smoke, the lack of a drink and then general ‘buzz’. I’m sitting with journos, hunting for a story about the list. Someone mentioned Weller being the oldest nominee, but he has no evidence. I think the story is the lack of dance acts (Dizzee aside, but he’s more ‘pop’ really) and obviously, the rise of ‘new folk’ or whatever we’re supposed to call it.
11:57 – Realised I didn’t write out the album titles before, so here we are:
Biffy Clyro – Only Revolutions – 8/1
I Am Kloot – Sky At Night – 10/1
Dizzee Rascal – Tongue N’ Cheek – 4/1
Paul Weller – Wake Up The Nation – 6/1
Corinne Bailey Rae – The Sea – 6/1
The xx – xx – 4/1
Villagers – Becoming A Jackal – 10/1
Kit Downes Trio – Golden – 10/1
Foals – Total Life Forever – 8/1
Laura Marling – I Speak Because I Can – 6/1
Wild Beasts – Two Dancers – 8/1
Mumford & Sons – Sigh No More – 6/1
12:03 - Corinne is now being shouted at by men who are trying to get her to turn this way and that. Is this how you should treat someone nominated for an award!? NO. I just took a picture of her, but she turned away so now I have a photo of the back of some bloke’s head. ‘Amazing’.
12:06 – We have a comment! And I agree with Greg, it’s not a list that makes me too excited about British music I have to say. It was all a bit predictable. Where’s Giggs? Where are the bands playing traditional folk in their bedrooms, recording all their songs using wisps of grass, tractors and tweed? Still, can I just say that I LOVE that Wild Beasts album and obviously The xx should win it because that album still makes me weep salty, 3am-on-the-bus-after-too-many-shandies type tears. I fear they may get over-looked as the album has been out for eleven months or so, but we’ll see.
12:10 - Paul Weller is here and he looks so unhappy. He’s also got very leathery skin and his hair is like snow. Nice suit though. “Is that Vogue calling? Yes, I would like to write about style for your publication, thank you”.
12:13 - Oh, I think I’ve figured out how to make these into paragraphs! Amazing. Bit late now, but still. Everyone else is mingling about and laughing about sales and release dates. I feel left out because those two things are genuinely what I enjoy talking about the most (ask my housemate…Duncan, you there? If so, can you get me some lunch, I’m proper starvin’).
12:16 - It’s Corinne AND Paul now. Er, why?
12: 17 - This is a bit of blurb about Kit Downes Trio:
After studying at both the Purcell School of Music and the Royal Academy of Music – Kit now plays regularly with his own trio, Stan Sulzman, Troyka, The Golden Age of Steam, Sam Crockatt and Clark Tracey – and has played with Joe Locke, Gilad Atzmon, Empirical, Gerard Presencer, Seb Rochford, Ian Ballamy, Peter Ind, Gwyneth Herbert, John Warren and Eugene Skeef. He has also performed with leading British bands Fraud, Asaf Sirkis’ Inner Noise, Gilad Atzmon’s Orient House Ensemble, Acoustic Ladyland, Nostalgia 77, 2000 Black, Silhouette Brown and Dennis Rollins’ Badbone and Co. He has also worked with up and coming Composer / Songwriter Micachu, with whome he recorded in Abbey Road for Matthew Herbert, recorded for BBC Radio 6 and played at the Sonar Music Festival ’07 in Barcelona. Kit’s work with Empirical has taken him to The North Sea Jazz Festival, The JVC Festivals in New York, Montreal and Newport, and Vancouver Jazz Festival. Empirical won ‘Best Album of the Year 2007’ in Jazzwise and the EBU Award at the North Sea Festival. Kit won the BBC ‘Rising Star’ Award in 2008 and was nominated for a British Jazz Award in both 2008 and 2009, he also won one of ‘Yamaha Jazz Scolarship’ Awards in 2009. Having been together since their first year at the Royal Academy of Music, the ‘Kit Downes Trio’ have been playing together since 2005. Their music concentrates on walking the fine line between improvisation and composition through an eclectic mix of influences. The band, featuring Calum Gourlay (Tommy Smith, Martin Speake, Tom Cawley) on bass and James Maddren (Marc Copland, Stan Sulzmann, Gwilym Simcock) on drums, has always been interested in making it’s music accessible, whilst not sacrificing any of it’s intellect – and doing so through new and original music. It has done this at the London Jazz Festival 2008 and 2009, Ronnie Scotts British Jazz Festival, BBC Radio 3 Live Broadcast, Glasgow Jazz Festival and Cheltenham Jazz Festival. Inspired by a wide range of influences, ranging from Bela Bartok to Keith Jarrett to Rufus Wainwright, the trio endeavors to both celebrate the classic piano trio tradition as well as develop it. They released their first album on Basho Records in November 2009. Kit is also a member of the F-IRE Collective.
12:19 – Clearly the best bit about this blurb is the fact that Kit is also a member of the F-IRE Collective, which makes him sound pretty dangerous. The poor Villagers lad, who is about 12, is now having his retinas burned by all the cameras. One woman just shrieked “LEFT” at him, like some crazed banshee woman.
12:20 - He’s so nervous and willing that if they all shouted “stick that award up your bottom” he clearly would.
12:24 - DIZZEE’S HERE! He did the whole paps thing with a massive smile on his face. As he should, this is his second nomination.
Sorry, that last bit didn’t make any sense. I’m too hungry to concentrate now. I meant, he should be happy, this is his second nomination and he’s won it before. Plus, he had some nice trainers on and we all know that can make the world seem a lot better can’t it?
12:28 – Now it’s Paul Weller and Dizzee! Why must Weller get a picture with every other artist? Does he just want them for his Facebook page?
I think that was there attempt at showing how diverse the whole thing is, like, “this is an old white man with a young black man and they genuinely respect each other’s music and have a common ground”. It’s like a warm hug, is it not?
12:35 - not a great deal happening now. I’m sat at a table by myself and there’s a pile of discarded Mercury press packs…OH HANG ON! The xx are here!
They’re all smiling and wearing neon tank tops and playful wigs! Amazeballs.
Of course they’re not. It’s all black, black, black and some more black, but there was a smile. Amusingly, someone from the photo hoard got told off for shouting.
12:41 - So, what have you guys been up to of late? Went to Latitude at the weekend, which was a lot of fun. Didn’t look in the mirror for four days and got home yesterday to find that my forehead and nose were bright pink! Proceeded to then fall asleep for a ‘nap’, only to wake up four hours later covered in drool and mouthing ‘help me’ to the wall.
12:44 - Three men in leather jackets and sensible denim have wondered into the photo bit by mistake…oh no, it’s I Am Kloot.
12:46 - Ladies and gentlemen, Duncan is in the building! Not this building, but the interweb building and you are wrong my friend, there is no food here. There is only drink and one toilet so if I have another drink I will probs have an accident. What do you make of this list Duncan my love?
12:51 - People near me have bags with free CDs in them. Pah! I don’t want any free CDs, you hear me!!! (Yes, yes I do).
12:55 - I’m actually checking my Facebook now…
12:58 - Two of Wild Beasts are here. One of them has some nice jeans on with no socks!
Poor lambs, they both staggered away as if they had just been blinded, which they probably had been. In other news, some people have BEER!
13:01 - I think I was supposed to Twitter this, but all this technology is doing my head in. Plus, you can all go there yourself and see what people are saying. The general consensus seems to be that The xx should win and that Mumford & Sons are a bunch of combine harvester driving, waistcoat wearing, weedy folk music making silly billies. Literally no-one is talking about Kit Downes Trio or I Am Kloot.
13:08 - Kit Downes Trio are here! AWWHHHOOOOOGGAAA! A lot less photos being taken it has to be said.
13:11 – I’m seriously going to need the loo soon. Should I blog from there? Is that weird?
13:16 - Foals are here now. Yannis is stood at the front as he’s the smallest, which is sweet. That woman is STILL shrieking.
13:17 - Villagers boy is sat at my table. He’s being very sweet, pretending he didn’t know there was a cash prize for this award. Oh darling innocent boy, welcome to the world of capitalism, money-making and cynical live bloggers.
13:19 - So, just to describe the scene. We’re on one side, then there’s the photo bit in the middle and then on the other side are all the interview people. The acts then have to walk around the interview bit doing, er, interviews. I swear down, Corinne Bailey Rae has only just left! She stared about fourteen hours ago.
13:24 – I’m waiting for Laura Marling to arrive but I have the sinking feeling she’s not here. This has made me sad. Although, I think she’d probably collapse in a beautiful heap in front of those nasty people and their long lenses. Villagers embryo is now signing posters. He’s so fresh and new, he just asked the press lady if his autograph was OK.
13:27 - Our uber-Lord/Lady Natalie Shaw has just posted a comment about the lack of synths on the list. It’s all about acoustic guitars, fiddles and straw hats Natalie, there’s no room for electricity or keyboards.
13:31 - Right, all the paps have left now, so I’m guessing Laura Marling isn’t turning up any time soon. Villagers man has left my table and I swear he just said “Thank you journalist” to the man doing to the interview. He realises all journalists have individual names, they don’t just exist under one banner, right? Maybe not. He’s my favourite of all the nominees in terms of accents by the way. In case you were keeping tabs.
13:34 - I’m Romeo done now! This has been a blast, thanks for reading it and baring with me. I’m going to buy a sandwich and go to the loo, but not in that order. Loo first, seriously.
HAVE A NICE REST OF YOUR DAY PEOPLE OF THE INTERNET.
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