It’s that time of year again – the Barclaycard Mercury Prize nominees have been announced, with the winner to be awarded the prize at a separate ceremony at London’s Roundhouse on 1st November. As they announced earlier this year, more fanfare is to be made of the Mercurys this year, with increased TV coverage on Channel 4, as well as a series of gigs featuring artists on the shortlist. So without further ado, the shortlist of what they consider to be the top 12 albums of 2012 runs as follows:
The Maccabees – Given To The Wild
Jessie Ware – Devotion
Roller Trio – Roller Trio
Django Django – Django Django
Field Music – Plumb
Michael Kiwanuka – Home Again
Richard Hawley – Standing At The Sky’s Edge
Ben Howard – Every Kingdom
Sam Lee – Ground Of Its Own
Lianne La Havas – Is Your Love Big Enough?
Alt -J – An Awesome Wave
Plan B – Ill Manors
Disappointed? Surprised? Or feeling that a load of good stuff’s been missed out that wouldn’t make it near Channel 4 coverage? For an alternative list to the actual Mercurys, we’ve just announced our nominations for the Quietus Jovian Bow Shock Prize – to find out what we reckon are the top 12 British albums of the last 12 months, click here.
