Mercury Prize 2016: Mercury Prize 2016 season approaches - here’s what we’d like to see
With this year’s nominees announced on Thursday (4th August), let the speculation begin.
How time flies. In just two days (Thursday 4th August), the Mercury Prize announces its twelve Albums Of The Year. This is the part where everyone who gets nominated gets told they’ve ‘already won’. But obviously that’s a complete lie. The eventual, actual winner is announced on Thursday 15th September.
This year’s bash is sponsored by Hyundai, so presumably we’ll see Kano zooming in to collect a gong from his newly-acquired sports car. Currently, the bookies have the grime godfather in the running for a 2016 award. But saying that, they’re also putting albums from Gorillaz (not recording until the end of this year), The Stone Roses (again, not out yet) and Wiley (the bloke who said it’s “pointless” releasing his latest record) in contention. So take current odds with a pinch of salt, because they don’t really point to any final outcome.
Here’s what we do know, though. There’s a whole new judging panel. Jessie Ware and Wolf Alice’s Ellie Rowsell get to have their say. As do fellow former nominees Kate Tempest and Jarvis Cocker, plus writers Harriet Gibsone and Will Hodgkinson. And Naughty Boy. He’s there too.
The process is complicated somewhat this year by the introduction of a new ‘finalists phase’. This consists of the twelve albums being whittled down, on 15th September, to a remaining six. The first is selected by the Brexit-approving general public via an online poll. The remaining five are selected by this year’s judges. If the Mercury Prize didn’t feel competitive before, it will now.
It all begins on Thursday, when BBC Radio 6 Music’s Shaun Keaveny reveals the nominees live on Lauren Laverne’s show. This is a process that took several hours last time, so you might want to freeze some meals in advance.
With Mercury Prize season well and truly running, here’s what we’d like to see, both in terms of nominees and the actual event.
Less chinstroking, more performances please - thanks in advance
Last year’s ceremony was, by all accounts, a bit boring. Benjamin Clementine’s acceptance speech was lovely and fraught with emotion. Isaac from Slaves broke his hand, so Joel Wolf Alice had to fill in. But besides that, not much actually happened. Performances were few and far between, whereas before all but one or two nominees turned up and did their thing. Live sets weren’t supposed to sway a final decision, but they almost definitely did. Spared of live music, the event itself didn’t contain any real excitement or defining moment.
Instead, we were left with a lot of deep analysis. Critical studies of albums that had already been written about, at length, many times before. At one point, Wolf Alice were sat behind 6 Music DJs discussing the ins and outs of their own album ‘My Love Is Cool’. You could see every member sinking into their seats. Yes, this event is all about deep appreciation of the best records, but poor bands weren’t previously forced to watch this analysis unfold before their eyes.
Coupled with endless ‘This is a BBC Music Event!’ branding, 2016’s bash barely compared to years gone by. We also have it on good authority that bands weren’t even allowed a tipple inside the BBC radio theatre, so the event felt more like a school assembly than a piss-up. Music awards need booze in order to get by. It’s obligatory, like football finals requiring a swarm of moths.
Thankfully, 2016’s awards take place in the Eventim Apollo, a gigantic space where drunken shenanigans triumph over comfy sofa chinstroking. Here’s hoping, at least.
This year’s nominees need to be on the money
It seems obvious to say as much, but we’re following a BRIT Awards that was forced to admit to its diversity problem. The Mercury Prize has always been less constrained by sales or the limits of its judging panel. Still, failing to acknowledge grime’s ascent, or at least give a nod to Skepta, would cause uproar.
There’s no real doubt about ‘Konnichiwa’ getting nominated. In fact, given who’s on the judging panel, it’s a surefire bet for reaching the final six. The same goes for ANOHNI’s unrelenting, no-prisoners ‘Hopelessness’ LP, a broad strokes portrayal of the world reaching breaking point that seems truly fitting for 2016.
Moving to the fringes, Anna Meredith’s smart spin on classical composition (debut album ‘Varmints’) ought to get its dues. We went 5 star-happy for Yak’s ‘Alas Salvation’ debut, and even though it does little to break the mould, it’s the best fuzzy, ear-breakingly noisy record of the last couple of years.
But don’t forget the big guns
A posthumous David Bowie nomination looks likely, too. The same applies to The 1975, who’ve matched chart dominance with one of the year’s most ambitious records. Radiohead will no doubt ignore the whole ceremony, but ‘A Moon Shaped Pool’ deserves a nod. Nao’s ‘For All We Know’ debut just made the 29th July cut-off point - it’s a smart spin on funk that’s just about bothering the charts. Michael Kiwanuka’s ‘Love & Hate’ is another late claim.
Looking back, the start of 2016 saw two dead cert nominees make an impression. Daughter’s ‘Not to Disappear’ is a bleak but brilliant step up from their head-turning debut. Savages, too, took every aspect of their biting post-punk and doubled the stakes with the superb ‘Adore Life’. If either of these get ignored, it’ll be a true musical travesty.
Don’t take anything for granted, though. Last year, the likes of The Maccabees and Everything Everything scored critical and chart hits but didn’t make the cut. There’s always room for a GoGo Penguin-type too, even if the ‘token jazz act’ joke has run its course.
The 2016 Mercury Prize nominees are announced on BBC Radio 6 Music from 11am, Thursday 4th August.
With Bob Vylan, St Vincent, girl in red, Lizzy McAlpine and more.