Mercury Prize shortlist

It is time for a new entry and all my ideas for posts are, at best, half-baked drafts. So, here's a short post on music.

Last week the short list for the Nationwide Mercury Prize was announced. The Mercury prize is awarded yearly to the best British/Irish album. All genres all taken into account, and the selection is based only on the music of the album. Even if it's impossible to make everyone happy with an award (and this is especially true for music/movie awards), I find this selection scheme very interesting. Since the wonderful "Stories from the city, stories from the sea" by PJ Harvey in 2001, I have tried to follow the list of nominees and winner each year, as it's a safe way of finding quality music. This year's shortlist is as follows:

• Elbow - The Seldom Seen Kid

• Radiohead - In Rainbows

• British Sea Power - Do You Like Rock Music?

• Robert Plant and Alison Krauss - Raising Sand

• Burial - Untrue

• Estelle - Shine

• Adele - 19

• Laura Marling - Alas I Cannot Swim

• Rachel Unthank & The Winterset - The Bairns

• Neon Neon - Stainless Style

• Portico Quartet - Knee-Deep In The North Sea

• The Last Shadow Puppets - The Age Of The Understatement

Apart from "In Rainbows" and "The Age Of The Understatement" (two of my favorites), all the albums are strange to me. It is my objective to hear most of them before the awards ceremony in September. I am always curious to know to what extent my taste (musical taste, in this case) is in accordance with the selection of some expert jury.