Mercury Prize 2012 shortlist

The shortlist nominations for this year's Mercury Prize has been announced and I have to admit I've not heard a single album on this list.

The Maccabees - Given To The Wild

Jessie Ware - Devotion

Roller Trio - Roller Trio

Django Django - Django Django

Field Music - Plumb

Michael Kiwanuka - Home Again

Sam Lee - Ground of its Own

Richard Hawley - Standing at the Sky's Edge

Ben Howard - Every Kingdom

Alt-J - An Awesome Wave

Plan B - ill Manors

Lianne La Havas - Is Your Love Big Enough?

But this is what I love about the award. Born as an alternative to the anti-music awards known as the Brits, Mercury Prize covers a wide range of music genres of British based artists and groups. It isn't without its own set of controversial, of course. An artist have to pay a nominal fee to be even considered a chance for a shot on the shortlist, so there will be plenty of struggling indie artists who will be missing out. And don't forget Arctic Monkeys winning. Still, it's a nice alternative to the Brits and has led me to discover plenty of great music from genres outside of what I would normally purchase.

I am in the process of listening through the shortlisted albums slowly, but so far I am loving Standing at the Sky's Edge by far by Richard Hawley. Sheffield based Hawley, who I confess isn't a massive fan of his previous albums, is amazing here. You can listen to Hawley's Standing at the Sky's Edge, along with the other albums from Spotify's own Murcury Award 2012 shortlist playlist. There's not a single bad album here other than Plan B's, but that's me hating on the rap genre again.