Mercury Prize 2013 - Shortlist announced

The 2013 Mercury Prize shortlist has been announced and it's no surprise to see David Bowie getting all the headlines. Even more surprising is that The Next Day isn't a very good album - challenging, yes, but not great, in the same way as PJ Harvey's Let England Shake. So Mercury continue to write their own headlines and put forward a shortlist of albums that stir up discussion and debate and in most cases, thankfully, lead the music fraternity to revisit and reassess albums from earlier in the year that had little or no impact the first time around. Several of these made it...Villagers, Savages and Foals to name three. But it's great to see real talent acknowledged: Laura Marling (again), Jake Bugg (firm favourite) and Jon Hopkins (a much more interesting album than Disclosure's Settle). Interestingly, this year there is no classical, no folk (Marling doesn't count) and no 'jazz'. James Blake and Laura Mvula are outside chances with strong records and Rudimental are the dark horses. (And it's too early to comment on Arctic Monkeys)

Here are the nominees:

Arctic Monkeys - AM
James Blake - Overgrown
David Bowie - The Next Day
Jake Bugg - Jake Bugg
Disclosure - Settle
Foals - Holy Fire
Jon Hopkins - Immunity
Laura Marling - Once I Was An Eagle
Laura Mvula - Sing To The Moon
Rudimental - Home
Savages - Silence Yourself
Villagers - {Awayland}

Read the BBC Website round-up here.