The 2013 nominees for the prestigious Mercury Prize have been announced, with the award that seeks to recognise “recorded music of all genres by British or Irish artists” shortlisting David Bowie, Arctic Monkeys and Laura Marling among its 12 finalists.
The award, which has been running since 1992 as an alternative to the Brit Awards, copped criticism last year for the obscurity of its shortlist, ignoring acts like Coldplay and Florence & The Machine and awarding the top nod to Leeds quartet Alt J for their debut An Awesome Wave.
This year, the list has recognised some more mainstream acts, like killer dance duo Disclosure for their album Settle and drum and bass tinged quartet Rudimental for their debut Home. Also nominated are nu folk songstress Laura Marling, Oxford rockers Foals, rising indie star James Blake and teenage ’60s revivalist Jake Bugg.
But the bookies say that David Bowie or Arctic Monkeys are most likely to take out the 2013 prize, both at odds of 4 to 1 – the former for his highly-acclaimed comeback record The Next Day and the latter for their slinky fifth studio effort AM.
William Hill, the official bookies for the event, say the quality of this year’s shortlist is high:
“There are 12 strong albums here – representing a diverse range of styles from UK artists – all of which stand a good chance of winning. This quality is reflected in the closeness of the odds we’ve given to the 2013 Barclaycard Mercury Prize Albums of the Year.”
The Mercury Prize takes place at the Roundhouse in London on 30th October.
(via NME)
Mercury Prize nominees 2013 – Bookies Odds
4/1 David Bowie – The Next Day
4/1 Arctic Monkeys – AM
5/1 Laura Marling – Once I Was An Eagle
5/1 Foals – Holy Fire
7/1 Disclosure – Settle
7/1 James Blake – Overgrown
8/1 Rudimental – Home
8/1 Jake Bugg – Jake Bugg
8/1 Laura Mvula – Sing To The Moon
10/1 Villagers – {Awayland}
10/1 Jon Hopkins – Immunity
10/1 Savages – Silence Yourself
