Mercury Music Prize 2009

Yesterday NME and numerous others published a selection of odds for this years Mercury Music Prize, and the 'tipping' world went into meltdown. And who am I to buck the trend - there's something intriguing about the composition and perspective winners of said prize. View said list of odds HERE

Here's some thoughts from the whiskas camp. Check out my thoughts on the matter last year HERE

This year is the year of the female solo artist, with Little Boots, La Roux, Bat For Lashes, Lily Allen and Florence & The Machine all in with a shout for the overall prize

Florence seems to be the most media praised, so I'd expect that to get in, I also have a feeling Ms Allen may get in if she stays out of the media limelight. Her proximity to winning 2 years ago, may count against Bat For Lashes

It would be ace to see wild card Blue Roses (Shipley's Laura Groves) in the shortlist, but I suspect she would be one too many female solo artists, while I also expect her label to be too busy pushing Friendly Fires and The Horrors to give her the media 'face' time she'd need. Those later two though, should be among the strong favourites for my money

Other local potential wildcard Grammatics have been present on the latest list of odds, which I'd see as massively encouraging, Alongside Fanfarlo and The Leisure Society, they may provide one genuine independent act in the shortlist - the latter, Ivor Novello in hand, might have a real chance of making the short list. If Beggars didn't have so many priorities you could probably add Broken Records to that list

As for the winner, past form dictates that this year's winner will come from leftfield, and The Bug may be the one - although if you'd predict any band in Britain to "do an Elbow" it would be Doves

Other names worth a mention are The Noisettes, who I think will make the shortlist, as well as Pet Shop Boys for the well recieved 'come back' (did they actually go away?). Patrick Wolf would add to the eclectism of the list, while Red Light Company may make a less bombastic mainstream inconclusion than White Lies. Neither can obviously shake a stick at Kasabian who will bump up the mainstream quota in lieu of a Coldplay, Oasis etcetera. The Enemy better not be anywhere near the list

The Maccabees, Jack Penate, Marmaduke Duke would all be worthwhile inclusion of the list, but I suspect they will fall slightly between "genuinely exciting and different" and "mainstream and popular." Glasvegas? Maximo Park? Paulo Nutini? Prodigy? Bloc Party?

It's hard to predict the 12, as there's a few slots that could be filled by numerous capable artists - aka too many indentikit artists! There's no fun without a prediction though, so here's my 12, with a proviso that at least one band will come completely out of leftfield

Florence & The Machine

The Noisettes

Kasabian

The Bug

Doves

The Leisure Society

The Horrors

Friendly Fires

Lily Allen

A Seb Rochefort Jazz Band

An unheard of folk band (possibly the new Seth Lakeman)

A band with a classical tinge

Having changed that list numerous times, I concede - I've no idea. I find it hard to imagine no White Lies or La Roux / Little Boots. But the above seems to sit nicely

For the diary, nominee's are announced on July 21st, with the winner revealed on September 8th. As usual if we were in the US, the answer would be a simple two way tie between Grizzly Bear & Animal Collective. Alas, we are not

Soundtrack to this post: Sunset Rubdown