• News

• All

Jul 21, 2009 Friendly Fires By Mark Redfern Photography by Crackerfarm

Every year since 1992 The Mercury Prize has been awarded to the best album recorded by an artist from either the United Kingdom or Ireland. Last year Elbow won it and previous winners have included Pulp, Portishead, Suede, Primal Scream, Klaxons, Arctic Monkeys. Franz Ferdinand, Badly Drawn Boy, PJ Harvey, and Antony and the Johnsons (Antony was born in England, even though he mainly grew up outside of the U.K.).

This morning 2009’s nominees were announced. They include Bat For Lashes (who graced Under the Radar‘s Spring Issue cover), along with other artists Under the Radar has interviewed, including Florence and the Machine, The Horrors, Friendly Fires, and Glasvegas. One nice surprise was the nomination of The Invisible’s self-titled debut album, which has gone largely unnoticed and unreleased on this side of the pond, but is definitely one of the best debuts of the year. On the other hand, it’s a head-scratcher why Kasabian’s third album, West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum was honored when the band’s far superior debut wasn’t given a shot.

Even though she lost to Klaxons in 2007, our money is on Bat For Lashes’ Natasha Khan winning this thing; she certainly deserves it. Just please don’t give it to La Roux. The winner will be announced on September 8th and the winner will receive £20,000.

Here is the full list of nominees:

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

www.mercuryprize.com