Mercury Prize // Nominations are in, no suprises here (for me)

It's that time of the year where the ice-cool Mercury Prize panel crawl out of their presumably soundproof dwelling, and announce their "Albums of The Year". As the boring bunch would probably want, the nominations are:

The 2014 Albums of the Year are:

Anna Calvi // One Breath

Bombay Bicycle Club // So Long, See You Tomorrow

Damon Albarn // Everyday Robots

East India Youth // Total Strife Forever

FKA twigs // LP1

GoGo Penguin // v2.0

Get ready to see this plastered all over albums in HMV, like the girl/guy you don't want, but secretly do.
You know the one.

Jungle // Jungle

Kate Tempest // Everybody Down

Nick Mulvey // First Mind

Polar Bear // In Each and Every One

Royal Blood // Royal Blood

Young Fathers // Dead

After doing a bit of research on the left-field entries (sorry FKA twigs and GoGo Penguin), I can agree with this list as a whole. There is quite a wide range of music on show here - and I for one am massively relieved Ed Sheeran is not on here. I saw an article by a paper that I won't mention (The Independent) about how he deserved a place there. How does he? He's far too cool for this indie-filled list. No-one on this list was bossed around by their record label, that's for sure. Sorry Ed, try again next time.

My early favourites are... well, quite a few. I've reviewed 3 of them - Royal Blood, Damon Albarn and Bombay Bicycle club - and have listened to most of the others now. Nick Mulvey's album is excellent, but I personally feel Bombay Bicycle Club or Damon Albarn deserve it most. The first is organic indie music at it's finest, but I cannot help but feel the number one status landed its place on this list, as fantastic as it is. The latter, Albarn's first solo album after 783 other musical endeavors, is such a different album to others on the list, as it is quite self-indulgent in its percussive nature, quite clearly not aimed at the radio stations A-lists.

I have been very happy with the past few years, in particular alt-J and Elbow, and am determined to have backed a band and get it right again. 

So, I'm going to say Damon Albarn. It's just that bit different to win it. Sorry Royal Blood, as fantastic as you two are, it isn't mercury worthy.

H x