Nu-rave banner-hoisters Klaxons win the Mercury Prize, the award given to the best British or Irish album of the last 12 months. Yes, really. OK, OK, “Golden Skans” is a pretty good song. But really? Klaxons? Did Natasha Khan run over someone’s bunny with her bike or something? [Guardian Music Blog / Photo: Getty Images]
Categories:
Uncategorized
Uncategorized
If the subtitle of the Mercury Prize is for the band that most successfully and indiscriminately whored itself to every remixer on the planet, then they certainly are the winners.
@mackro:
Honestly, the Soulwax remix of Gravity’s Rainbow is so good, that it’s worth any number of lesser efforts.
But, uh, yeah. Mercury Prize? For… Them?
All things being equal, awards are pretty subjective. While I wouldn’t put it in Mercury territory, my tastes would want Klaxons to win. The Bats for Lashes album doesn’t do a whole lot when it comes to ringing my personal bell. In fact, looking back at the list of past noms and wins, this would be the first year where someone I dug won. So, just goes to show, to each his/her own.
@Stafford: I’m kind of with you on this, although Maura did turn me on to the Bats for Lashes album, and it is really good.
Still: the Klaxons record is respectable and hardly the most embarrassing winner of this thing; Roni Size, for example, hasn’t aged very well.
I didn’t even know Irish albums were eligible until I read Fionn Regan was on the shortlist. The last year has been amazing for Irish music, but Regan’s album is a strange choice given the alternative.
I like Myths Of The Near Future, it’s a really good album, but I think Back To Black was the best of the albums chosen.
Yeah, I kind of hate to say this — the Klaxons record, which gave me a severe case of Spiritualized flashback itchy hives — was a smidge more “interesting” than the Bat for Lashes record, which is just kind of meh after the initial shine wears off.
Besides, the Merc. prize people need to mix it up a weensie bit — they can’t give the darn thing to a ruby-throated songstress EVERY year (hence explaining no win for Amy Winehouse, either, I guess).
And, I guess in the grand scheme of things, Klaxons aren’t totally as bad as the Arctic Monkeys; they are doing something approximating “forward-thinking,” even if they are dressing up corpses from the past 25 years of UK white boy dance musics. ANYWAY, my point here is that the Merc. prize always seems a bit odd to us Yanks because duh, it’s about what’s going on the in the UK market. They’re a bit bigger and have more recognition than just an annoying blog buzz band over there, yeah?
I know it was a long shot, but I was totes pulling for NYPC myself.
If not Klaxons, then Dizzee Rascal. Thank our stars that Winehouse didn’t win, assuring us one less picture to cringe at.
I’d argue that that first Roni Size album has aged just fine. It’s everything since that sounds embarassing.
If the Klaxons are “forward-thinking,” then Jesus Jones were merciful time trippers from a utopian future.
No thanks.