Mercury Music Prize Nominees

The nominees for the Barclaycard Mercury Music Prize 2010 have been announced, including The xx, Foals and more.

Music awards are totally meaningless and will be forgotten after about two weeks. But the run in provides enough intrigue and water cooler speculation to keep music fans across the country occupied.

The nominations for this year's Mercury Music Prize was announced earlier today (July 20th). The event provides a huge boost to the music industry, with even rank outsiders experiencing massive sales uplifts.

Elbow famously scooped the prize amid emotional circumstances in 2008, turning the Bury band from cult heroes into household names. Soon 'One Day Like This' was an advert mainstay, pushing the band to ever higher levels of fame.

This year's shortlist is slightly more pedestrian than usual, with no real outlandish choices. Last year's winner Speech Debelle was an almost total unknown, but it is difficult to locate a similar talent on the new shortlist.

The nominees are as follows:

Biffy Clyro – 'Only Revolutions'
Corinne Bailey Rae – 'The Sea'
Dizzee Rascal – 'Tongue N' Cheek'
Kit Downes Trio – 'Golden'
Foals – 'Total Life Forever'
I Am Kloot – 'Sky At Night'
Laura Marling – 'I Speak Because I Can'
Mumford And Sons – 'Sigh No More'
Paul Weller – 'Wake Up The Nation'
Villagers – 'Becoming A Jackal'
Wild Beasts – 'Two Dancers'
The xx – 'XX'

Amongst the nominees, it should be noted that the glut of British female talent continues. Corinne Bailey Rae and Laura Marling are both nominated, with The xx containing a female lead singer.

The indie-folk scene is represented by Marling and Mumford & Sons, while Biffy Clyro's commercial rise is matched by a nomination.

Paul Weller earns his first Mercury nomination with 'Wake Up The Nation' while Kendal outcasts Wild Beasts also gain a nod.

The winner of the Mercury Music Prize will be announced on September 7th.