A good day for EMI – Radiohead and Coldplay, both Parlophone artists, are joint favourites to take this year's Panasonic Mercury Music Prize, the former for their 'Hail to the Thief' LP and the latter for their 'A Rush of Blood to the Head'. Both are 4-1 to win at the William Hill bookmaker.
As for the rest of the list - eight are debut albums, including South London duo Floetry, nominated for their debut 'Floetic'; 18 year old East London leftfield garage MC Dizzee Rascal, up for his debut 'Boy in Da Corner'; current media darlings The Darkness; and Martina Topley-Bird and her 'Quixotic' debut – though Martina has technically been nominated before given that she appears on Tricky's 'Maxinquaye' album which was shortlisted in 1995.
Of course being favourites means nothing in the Mercury Music Prize so who knows who will win on the 9 Sep. Half the CMU office has their fingers crossed for The Darkness, the other half for The Thrills, and one deluded publisher guy hopes its Lemon Jelly.
The full list is:
Radiohead - 'Hail to the Thief'
Dizzee Rascal - 'Boy in Da Corner'
The Thrills - 'So Much for the City'
Soweto Kinch - 'Conversations with the Unseen'
Floetry - 'Floetic'
The Darkness - 'Permission To Land'
Coldplay - 'A Rush of Blood to the Head'
Martina Topley-Bird - 'Quixotic'
Eliza Carthy - 'Anglicana'
Athlete - 'Vehicles and Animals'
Terri Walker - 'Untitled'
Lemon Jelly - 'Lost Horizons'