Nationwide Mercury Prize Competition!

Nationwide Mercury Prize Albums of the Year revealed!

A rich year for musical excellence and creativity is highlighted by the 12 Albums of the Year shortlisted for the 2006 Nationwide Mercury Prize, announced on Tuesday 18 July. "Above all, this year’s shortlist for the Nationwide Mercury Prize is about the art of the songwriter – if you want to know what life is like in Britain today, listen to the country’s musicians!" says Chair of Judges, Simon Frith. "The list contains songs that are witty, sad, angry and reflective; songs exploring emotions and debating attitudes; songs about love lost and love found; songs both personal and political, happy and anxious; songs using a wonderful variety of genres, beats, sound and moods."

This year’s list draws special attention to the continuing musical importance and vitality of cities throughout the UK. Two of the artists, Arctic Monkeys with Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not and Richard Hawley with Coles Corner, continue to live and work in Sheffield. Editors, with The Back Room, and Guillemots with Through the Windowpane, are both based in Birmingham while Isobel Campbell, the former Belle & Sebastian singer and cellist whose Ballad of the Broken Seas album with Mark Lanegan is also shortlisted, works and records out of her hometown of Glasgow.

Among the debut albums on the list are This is My Demo by the brilliant young London urban artist, Sway, and Beloved One, on which former Lamb singer Lou Rhodes returns to her acoustic roots, while Thom Yorke’s The Eraser is his first album outside the context of Radiohead.

The shortlist is completed by Black Holes & Revelations, Muse’s UK number one album, The Warning by electropop five-piece Hot Chip, Melting Pot by the acclaimed jazz pianist Zoe Rahman and White Bread Black Beer which heralds the return of one of the most influential figures in UK music, Green Gartside, better known as Scritti Politti.

The 2006 Albums of the Year are:

Guillemots - Through the Windowpane

Richard Hawley - Coles Corner

Hot Chip - The Warning

Editors - The Back Room

Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan - Ballad of the Broken Seas

Thom Yorke - The Eraser

Lou Rhodes - Beloved One

Muse - Black Holes & Revelations

Sway - This is My Demo

Scritti Politti - White Bread Black Beer

Zoe Rahman - Melting Pot

Arctic Monkeys - Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not

To win one of five copies of the 2006 Nationwide Mercury Prize compliation cd, enter our competition at the bottom of the page!

Here's the tracklisting....

Editors – Munich

Muse – Supermassive Black Hole

Hot Chip – And I Was A Boy From School

Sway – Products

Arctic Monkeys – Red Light Indicates Doors Are Secure

Richard Hawley – Coles Corner

Isobel Campbell & Mark Lanegan – Honey Child What Can I Do

Thom Yorke – Analyse

Zoe Rahman – The Calling

Guillemots – Through The Window Pane

Lou Rhodes – Beloved One

Scritti Politti – The Boom Boom Bap

Antony and the Johnsons – You Are My Sister

The Nationwide Mercury Prize celebrates the year in music. The shortlist was chosen from an entry of over 200 albums by UK artists and announced at the Commonwealth Club in London. The winner of the 2006 Prize will be announced at the Nationwide Mercury Prize Show on Tuesday 5 September. There will be programmes on Radio 1, BBC 2 and BBC 4.

Nationwide’s long-term sponsorship of the Prize highlights their support of UK culture and has resulted in exciting new initiatives such as the Nationwide Mercury Prize student art competition and exhibition.

The nominees in full....

GUILLEMOTS ‘Through the Windowpane’

‘Through the Windowpane’ is the debut album by four-piece Guillemots. The band is based in Birmingham although their cosmopolitan line-up features members from England, Scotland, Brazil and Canada. Guillemots, centred around Fyfe Dangerfield’s songwriting, first came to attention with well-received independent singles before releasing ‘Through the Windowpane’ in July 2006

‘A superbly adventurous exploration of mood and melody - ambitious and imaginative’

The Judging Panel

RICHARD HAWLEY ‘Coles Corner’

This is the third album by Sheffield’s Richard Hawley – the title refers to a lovers’ meeting place, taking its name from a now demolished department store in the city. A stalwart of the city’s music scene throughout the Nineties, Hawley embarked on his solo career in 2001. ‘Coles Corner’ was released on the Mute label in September 2005 to great critical acclaim.

‘Richard Hawley is a wonderfully unapologetic romantic. This is a collection of instantly classic ballads’ The Judging Panel

ARCTIC MONKEYS ‘Whatever People

Say That I Am, That’s What I’m Not’

Sheffield’s Arctic Monkeys made music history when ‘Whatever People Say That I Am, That’s What I’m Not’ became the UK’s fastest-ever selling debut album on its release in January 2006. This success came as a consequence of the four-piece band’s already burgeoning reputation, built through live shows and online even before signing to Domino Records in June 2005

‘Great songs astonishingly performed. Essential’

The Judging Panel

HOT CHIP ‘The Warning’

‘The Warning’ is the second album by London-based five-piece band, Hot Chip. The album is essentially a home recording by the band, highlighting the contrasting vocal styles of Alexis Taylor and Joe Goddard combined with a beguiling synth wizardry. ‘The Warning’ was released in May 2006 and features the singles 'Over and Over' and 'Boy from School'

‘Irresistible DIY electropop - brilliantly realised’ – The Judging Panel

ISOBEL CAMPBELL & MARK LANEGAN ‘Ballad of the Broken Seas’

‘Ballad of the Broken Seas’ is the result of a collaboration between Scottish singer Isobel Campbell, formerly with Glasgow’s acclaimed Belle & Sebastian, and the American vocalist Mark Laneghan, who made his reputation with Screaming Trees and Queens of the Stone Age. The album - initiated, produced and primarily written by Campbell - was released by V2 in January 2006

‘Eerie and sensual, sweet and sinister, evocative and remarkable’ The Judging Panel

EDITORS ‘The Back Room’

The four-piece Editors were founded at Staffordshire University and are now based in Birmingham. Signed by Newcastle’s lauded Kitchenware label, Editors came to prominence with the single, ‘Bullets’, at the start of 2005. It was followed by their first Top 20 single ‘Blood’ and debut album ‘The Back Room’ in July 2005. The album reached No.2 in the UK album charts at the start of 2006.

‘Edgy, forceful and compelling – a hugely impressive debut’ The Judging Panel

THOM YORKE ‘The Eraser’

‘The Eraser’ is a collection of songs that Thom Yorke has decided to record himself, outside the context of Radiohead. Many of the tracks are built around beats and electronics alongside Yorke’s vocals. The album was produced and arranged by Nigel Godrich and released by XL Recordings in July 2006

‘A compelling new setting for Thom Yorke’s unique voice and lyrical vision’

The Judging Panel

ZOE RAHMAN ‘Melting Pot’

Brilliantly gifted jazz pianist Zoe Rahman was born in Chichester and studied music at Oxford University and America’s prestigious Berklee College of Music before becoming one of the most acclaimed artists on the UK jazz scene. ‘Melting Pot’, recorded with Rahman’s acoustic trio, was released in November 2005 on her own Manushi label.

‘One of the UK’s most distinctive jazz talents, pianist Zoe Rahman draws the listener in to her own absorbing world’ The Judging Panel

MUSE ‘Black Holes & Revelations’

Formed in Devon during 1997, Muse - Matt Bellamy, Dominic Howard and Chris Wolstenholme have released four albums, with ‘Absolution’ in 2003 selling over two million copies. ‘Black Holes & Revelations’ went straight to number one in the UK chart on the album’s release in July 2006 and features the hit single ‘Supermassive Black Hole’

‘Bold, brave and bright – Muse going stratospheric’ The Judging Panel

SCRITTI POLITTI ‘White Bread Black Beer’

Scritti Politti is Green Gartside, one of the most original and compelling artists since the late-Seventies, whose talents have been recognised in the past by such collaborators as Miles Davis, Robert Wyatt and Mos Def. ‘White Bread Black Beer’ is Gartside’s first album in seven years and reunites him with his original label Rough Trade. The album was released in May 2006

‘An album of sublime and uplifting pop that showcases one of Britain’s unique musical voices’ The Judging Panel

SWAY ‘This is My Demo’

Sway - 22-year-old Sway DaSafo from Haringey in North London - has put together a uniquely British pollination of hip-hop and grime, showcasing his distinctive delivery and rhymes. ‘This is My Demo’, Sway’s eagerly anticapted debut album, was released on his own label, Dcypha in February 2006.

‘Witty and mesmerising observations of everyday life in urban Britain, delivered with panache and passion ‘ The Judging Panel

LOU RHODES ‘Beloved One’

Lou Rhodes originally came to notice as one half of Lamb, the acclaimed duo she formed with Andrew Barlow in the mid-nineties. ‘Beloved One’ was recorded at a small Surrey commune which has become Rhodes’ home. The album was released in January 2006 on her own label Infinite Bloom.

‘A deeply personal acoustic album of elegant and affecting songs’

The Judging Panel