19.15 Tonight's the Mercury Music Prize- still the UK's most credible music award ceremony. We'll be blogging live about the event right from here, as it's broadcast on Channel 4. Come back when it kicks off at 21.45 and get stuck in with your own comments below...
Just as a recap, here are the acts in the running-
- Alt-J – An Awesome Wave
- Ben Howard – Every Kingdom
- Django Django – Django Django
- Field Music – Plumb
- Richard Hawley – Standing at the Sky's Edge
- Michael Kiwanuka – Home Again
- Lianne La Havas – Is Your Love Big Enough?
- Sam Lee – Ground of its Own
- The Maccabees – Given to the Wild
- Plan B – ill Manors
- Roller Trio – Roller Trio
- Jessie Ware – Devotion
Preferences people?
21.43 Right. I'm in front of the telly, sweating it out for my favourite. Which is anyone that's not Jesse Ware. And now the first big question: has anyone, anywhere heard of Roller Trio? Can anyone tell me owt about em? Please?
21.49 So some blasts of the acts live. Jesus, Plan B looks like he was having a spitting fit. Django Django sound like the Mr Muscle man after. Doesn't bode well for them. Hmmm. Hawley sounded majestic, and Alt-J sounding croaky, but it's almost impossible to get any idea from the 5 seconds or so Channel 4 give us for each act. Where were Field Music? Did I blink?
21.55 The bland niceness of Rob Da Bank and Corrinne Bailey Whatever is making me hanker after a really vicious bastard to step up and say something, anything interesting. I never thought I'd say this, but where's Cowell when you need him ?
21.57 HA! Roller Trio are on! And they make music that... is it music? I don't get it. Must be jazz.
21.58 Based on the last 6 tracks they've played, I'm downloading the Sam Hill album tonight. I've not heard the man at all before, and it sounded enchantingly bizarre. Now Corrinne's saying that one of the tracks on it is a 900 year old song. Im sold. Give him the prize!
22.02 OK, my money is going on Alt-J. I've said it.
22.03 BOOOM! HAAA I got it right !!
22.04 Hmmm. Should have put some -actual- money on that. A fair win I'd say, they sounded great on Jools Holland last week - check it out - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mV_v-03eQJM
22.06 So what next for Alt-J? I suspect that unlike the bands that have struggled to come back from the Mercury, your Gomez's and Klaxon's, Alt-J are more likely to stick around. They've got a quiet confidence, and they're not too caught up in a trend. They may even pull a PJ Harvey and be back to win again in a decade.
22.27 Go on then. Here's a blast of Tessalate. And I swear to God I didn't realise they were the favourites. Time to pack up and go home til next year.
