🎤 Mercury Prize - The best of the rest (2009) 🎤

Music
1

Results so far:

2011 - Metronomy - The English Riviera

This is the second instalment in an ongoing series where we discuss and vote on a particular year from mercury prize history.

Today is 2009. In 2009 Speech Debelle won with her album speech therapy. But who made the best album worthy of the runner up prize?

You can vote for up to 3 albums

  • Bat for lashes - Two Suns
  • Florence & the machine - Lungs
  • Friendly Fires - S/T
  • Glasvegas - S/T
  • Lisa Hannigan - Sea Sew
  • The Horrors - Primary Colours
  • The Invisible - S/T
  • Kasabian - West Ryder Pauper lunatic asylum
  • La Roux - S/T
  • Led Bib - Sensible Shoes
  • Sweet Billy Pilgrim - Twice Born Men
0 voters
2

Bat for Lashes runaway winner for me there, she still feels weirdly underrated for such a great British artist

I remember liking Sweet Billy Pilgrim quite a lot on a few tracks though (and responsible for probs my fav band-in-a-show appearance on The IT Crowd)

3 Likes
3

I was not aware of their TV appearance?!

4

crappy videos and warning for IT Crowd, but yep

Summary

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xs4uM5OlofE

5

When does the vote close and is this the worst Mercury Prize list?

6

2009 was a real interesting time for music. You could tell the wheels were coming off of the 2000s indie scene. There was a lot off really good off beat, more experimental, stuff going on mostly in the US though

7

Put money on The Horrors winning this year :man_facepalming:

2 Likes
8

You would have to hope so!

1 Like
9

Speech Debelle winning was controversial and seen as an upset but I can in retrospect understand that choice. It was at least something a little bit different

10

That’s Great! Weirdly not the only band on this shortlist that featured in a TV comedy?!

1 Like
11

Kind of highlights how unadventurous and stale landfill indie had become that that Horrors record was made out to be really groundbreaking at the time. It’s good tho. Really like Faris’s vocals

6 Likes
12

Yeah, while I’d personally have gone for Bat For Lashes, I’d put Speech Debelle over the others (from those I remember anyway).

1 Like
13

Yeah, and there’s nice bops on Florence, Glasvegas and Friendly Fires but nothing really … noteworthy?

14

vote closes on Sunday late afternoon. Not sure. wait for the year I’ve got lined up next!!

15

Odds for that year…

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16

Bat For Lashes was good although I never paid as much attention to this album as I did to the debut (just because it was pre-Spotify and I never bought this one)

Lisa Hannigan album was nice although both follow ups were probably stronger (Sea Sew is the only one I own though)

Did not realise Kasabian were nominated for their third album

17

Yeah this knocked me back a bit too

It is the best BFL album though

18

Apparently Doves & Lily Allen were rumoured to be nailed on in 2009 for nominations but both got snubbed.

19

I think they’d shrunk to about 3rd favourite by the time I got involved. It still is the best album on that list. The other almost curious one is The Invisible, Dave Okumu pops up on so much stuff amazed he isn’t more well known and The Invisible weren’t that popular.

20

Odd makers must have been raking it with 12 acts and the longest odds being 10/1