The nominees were released this morning for the 2002 Panasonic Mercury Music Prize, the UK award for actually decent music that the recently-spawned Shortlist Music Project here in the US was modeled after. Among the 12 albums in contention for this year’s award are Mancunian shoegazers Doves with The Last Broadcast, rock legend David Bowie’s latest effort, Heathen, hip-hoppers Roots Manuva and their Run Come Save Me and Birmingham ska/garage sensation The Streets, a.k.a. Mike Skinner, and his breakthrough debut, Original Pirate Material. The award ceremony will be held in London on September 17. The Mercury Music Prize is an annual award chosen by a judging panel that doesn’t base the award solely on sales, but on artistic merit. This year’s nominees are culled from the realms of indie, jazz, classical, garage, hip-hop, soul and rock. The past two winners were Badly Drawn Boy’s Hour of the Bewilderbeast in 2000 and Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea by PJ Harvey last year.
The shortlist for the 2002 Panasonic Mercury Music Prize:
Doves – The Last Broadcast
The Streets – Original Pirate Material
Miss Dynamite – A Little Deeper
David Bowie – Heathen
Beverley Knight – Who I Am
Roots Manuva – Run Come Save Me
The Coral – The Coral
Electric Soft Parade – Holes In The Wall
The Bees – Sunshine Hit Me
Gemma Hayes – Night On My Side
Joanna MacGregor – Play
Guy Barker – Soundtrack
