CityLife

Mercury Prize shortlist: a drubbing for clubbing

FLORENCE WELCH: Mercury Prize favourite

SO, the nominations for the Mercury Prize (note to readers with Better Things To Do: the Mercury Prize is a highly relevant and not-at-all arbitrary award handed out every year by a shadowy panel that may or may not contain such luminaries as Jools Holland and ‘Jo Whiley’, to the British album they think is the best of the last 12 months) are out, and it’s not good news for dance music.

Of the 12 records to make the shortlist, only two – La Roux’s self-titled debut and Friendly Fires’, er, self-titled debut – contain tracks that would sit comfortably in any sort of electronic playlist and none of them is the sort of pure excursion in dance you could imagine filling floors universally.

Past Mercury Prize shortlists have seen album by the likes of Bassment Jaxx, Hot Chip, MIA and the Chemical Brothers given the nod by the indier-than-thou panel, so why the lack of computer love this year? Were there really no dance music releases in the last 12 months that were better than Kasabian’s heinous West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum? (And don’t mention the Prodigy, everyone really ought to stop pretending their last disc was anything less than terrible.)

Toddla T, Erol Alkan and dozens of others have contributed thrilling releases to the world of dance music since this time last year. The trouble is, none of these has the major label backing or long player mentality needed to cosy up to the Mercury Prize judges.

The next 12 months will see releases by big hitters such as Bassment Jaxx, Simian Mobile Disco, Calvin Harris, Dizzee Rascal and several others who might spark the attention of the Mercury Prize judges (although you’d have to think that Harris’ effort will probably be far too commercial to enthuse the sockless hippies that comprise the panel).

Perhaps one of these – or something out of Leftfield – will blast its way across dancefloors and into next year’s Mercury Prize shortlist. Or, as is more likely, the judges might just nominate a load of old jazz music that no one has heard of.

The full Mercury Prize shortlist

Florence and the Machine – Lungs
Kasabian – West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum
Bat for Lashes – Two Suns
La Roux – La Roux
Glasvegas – Glasvegas
Speech Debelle – Speech Therapy
Friendly Fires – Friendly Fires
The Horrors – Primary Colours
Lisa Hannigan – Sea Sew
The Invisible – The Invisible
Led Bib – Sensible Shoes
Sweet Billy Pilgrim – Twice Born Men

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