The Mercury Rises Yet Again

Oh dear, is it that time of year again already? Here are the NME’s possible shortlisted albums, many of them predictably ghastly:

Adele – '19'
Babyshambles – 'Shotter's Nation'
British Sea Power – 'Do You Like Rock Music?'
Burial – 'Untrue'
Coldplay – 'Viva La Vida Or Death And All His Friends'
Duffy – 'Rockferry'
Elbow – 'The Seldom Seen Kid'
The Enemy – 'We'll Live And Die In These Towns'
Estelle – 'Shine'
Foals – 'Antidotes'
Future Of The Left – 'Curses'
The Futureheads – 'This Is Not The World'
Hot Chip – 'Made In The Dark'
Jamie Lidell – 'Jim'
Johnny Flynn – 'A Larum'
Kate Nash – 'Made Of Bricks'
Kids In Glass Houses – 'Smart Casual'
The Kills – 'Midnight Boom'
The Last Shadow Puppets – 'The Age Of The Understatement'
Laura Marling – 'Alas I Cannot Swim'
Lightspeed Champion – 'Falling Off The Lavender Bridge'
Los Campesinos! – 'Hold On Now Youngster'
MIA – 'Kala'
Mystery Jets – '21'
Neon Neon – 'Stainless Style'
The Pigeon Detectives – 'Emergency'
Portishead – 'Third'
Radiohead – 'In Rainbows'
Spiritualized – 'Songs In A&E'
These New Puritans – 'Beat Pyramid'
The Ting Tings – 'We Started Nothing'
Tricky – 'Knowle West Boy'
Wiley – 'Grime Wave'
The Wombats – 'The Wombats Proudly Present... A Guide To Love, Loss And Desperation'

Some albums I wouldn’t object to seeing nominated:

Outhouse – Outhouse (have Loop paid the entry fee?)
Finn Peters – Butterflies
James Blackshaw – Litany of Echoes
Portishead – Third
Radiohead – In Rainbows
Neon Neon – Stainless Style
Robert Plant and Alison Krauss (this and the above are one half British!)
Hot Chip – Made In The Dark
Burial – Untrue
Leila – Blood, Looms and Blooms
The Bug – London Zoo
Elbow – The Seldom Seen Kid
Polar Bear – Polar Bear (not released until 28th July so possibly ineligible)
Django Bates – Spring is Here, Shall We Dance (he’s based in Copenhagen, but still British!)
Wild Beasts – Limbo, Panto
Alexander Tucker – Portal
Gwilym Simcock – Perception
Chris T-T – Capital
Neil Cowley Trio – Loud…Louder…Stop!
Robert Wyatt – Comicopera (I think this was too late for last year….)
Sylvie Lewis – Translations
Boxcutter – Glyphic
Empirical – Empirical
Paris Motel – In The Salpetriere
Kevin Ayers – The Unfairground
PJ Harvey – White Chalk
Voice of the Seven Woods – Voice of the Seven Woods
Acoustic Triangle – 3 Dimensions

Updated: Some other albums I should have mentioned

Autechre - Quaristice
Benga - Diary of an Afro Warrior (the less predictable but equally worthy dubstep option)
Jonny Greenwood - There Will Be Blood (would be intriguing if this were nominated over Radiohead!)
Philip Jeck - Sand
The Long Blondes - Couples
Sian Alice Group - 59.59 (go on, nominate this over Spiritualized!)
Super Furry Animals - Hey Venus (bit underrated, this, I reckon)
John Surman/Howard Moody - Rain on the Window
School of Language - Sea From Shore (no-one has noticed this!)

Unfortunately, I’m predicting that the token jazz nod might go to the vastly overrated Portico Quartet.

Things I definitely do not wish to see nominated: Predictable bland indie tripe (hello Wombats, Pigeon Detectives, The Enemy, Babyshambles, even Foals), disappointing comebacks (Spiritualized), overrated singers (Adele, Kate Nash).

If the list is inevitably going to reflect the mainstream primarily, then I would happily back Portishead or Radiohead as worthy winners.

Here are the albums I think are most likely to be nominated: Laura Marling, Duffy,
Burial (if kode 9 entered it), Portishead, Radiohead, MIA, Ting Tings, Foals, Last Shadow Puppets, Adele, Portico Quartet or Empirical