Each and every year I look through the Mercury Prize list and tally it up with the list I have in my head. Sometimes the list is good and includes virtually everything that I too considered to be the best of that period. Other times, and particularly in recent years, the list seems to consist of two groups: the year’s big financial hitters and some seemingly willful curve balls. This year’s list falls between the two stalls. There’s a lot on the list that seems to be dictated by popularity; Adele, Tinie Tempah, Elbow and also a smattering of albums that seem to defy the sales figures; Gwilym Simcock, Ghostpoet and King Creosote & Jon Hopkins. I actually think that this years list is pretty decent, the more mainstream choices are generally far from poor albums – I rate the Anna Calvi album particularly highly – and the descriptions of the lesser-known picks pique my interest enough to check them out.

Fact remains though, that there’s only one choice common to both my selection below and the 12 nominations. And that album is (for me) the obvious winner -  PJ Harvey’s sublime Let England Shake. Installed already as the bookie’s joint favourite to scoop the prize for the second time, the album is one of the albums of the last decade let alone 2011. So, even though my selection is almost completely different to that of the judging panel, I’d call the 2011 nomination list a cautious success. There are choices that recognise success, sales (here and overseas) and innovation – and the downright best album of the year is there. It does highlight the best of all sorts of British music.

Here’s my 12 picks from the judging period of July 2010 – July 2011. I was a bit surprised at how conservative this list appears at first glance, a split of the dubbier side of electronica and the best of the indie brigade, but that’s my taste. And yes, I know, Gorillaz wouldn’t want to be on the list – never mind, they won’t read this. The ones I’m most surprised didn’t make the real list? Start off with Wild Beasts – I think that’s a big miss, and an album of true quality. I think the Jamie Woon album deserved the nod, perhaps it was one or the other between him and James Blake. Personally, I find Blake’s album has a lot less charm and a bit less variety. Without further ado, I give you…

The Stereo Jealousy Alternative Mercury Shortlist

British Sea Power – Valhalla Dancehall

Engineers – In Praise of More

Gorillaz – Plastic Beach

PJ Harvey – Let England Shake

Kode9 & The Spaceape – Black Sun

Mogwai – Hardcore Will Never Die, But You Will

Mount Kimbie – Crooks and Lovers

Sons & Daughters – Mirror Mirror

Tom Vek – Leisure Seizure

Wild Beasts – Smother

Jamie Woon – Mirrorwriting

Yuck – Yuck

The Wireless event (still loathe to call it a festival…!) has attracted some big names over the past few years, even coaxing some back together and out of hiding. Two of their biggest draws have been the reformed Britpop behemoths Blur in 2009 and just this last weekend, Pulp continued their comeback with a blistering show.

Can they continue to pull in these big comebacks every few years? Will the nostalgia for the era of Britpop and beyond continue for much longer? Certainly Wireless has consistently succeeded in pulling the most varied line-up together this side of Glastonbury, stranding their days into broadly pop, dance and rock groupings. The mix of acts and the superb location make the event an attractive proposition to the more casual gig-goer, and the undercard often plays host to acts that’ll entice the more picky. It is the event’s penchant for huge comebacks or exclusives that keeps pulling me back though.

So who is still out there, spitting venomous snippets at each other via the media? What are the chances that money (and of course, the joy of performing together again…) can heal the wounds – and would they be able to draw the kind of crowds that Blur and Pulp have enjoyed?

The Stone Roses

The seemingly obvious next choice, with the red-tops consistently regurgitating the same story at the start of every festival silly season, is The Stone Roses. The animosity of old seemed to soften a little in April this year, with all concerned attending the funeral of bassist Mani’s mother and apparently not tearing chunks out of each other. As quickly as the rumour grew, Mani swiftly put it down – “Please fuck off and leave it alone. It isn’t true and isn’t happening” was what he had to say on the matter. There’s no doubt they’d pull the crowd, but whether it would attract the acclaim that has surrounded the other comebacks is up for debate – Ian Brown’s live voice is notoriously hit and miss.

Likelihood: 7/10

Oasis

Barely in the ground two years and with regular sniping from both Gallaghers, you’d have thought this one dead in the water. However, with no sign of Noel’s solo record and the turgid debut from Beady Eye, the lure of getting back together may gather pace. Again, it would be an almost guaranteed sell-out ticket wise– but you’d imagine that a Manchester date would be first on the cards.  Maybe not next year, but this is an inevitability I reckon.

Likelihood (2012: 2/10, future: 9/10)

The Smiths

The big one? Can you imagine the hordes of gladioli brandishing fans descending on any live date should the Mancunian legends get it together? Relations cool and warm along with the seasons, the latest shots in one of the longest firefights came from drummer Mike Joyce over Mozza’s performance of Smiths classics at Glastonbury – claiming Morrissey was merely the lyricist and singer, and not ‘in the band’. Marr and Morrissey seem more cordial these days, and both have mooted a reunion in the past. Money doesn’t seem to be the problem, at least not for those two. Whether Joyce and Rourke get anywhere near it… well, that’s another matter. I’m feeling optimistic about this one…

Likelihood: 6/10

If I could choose any Britpop or earlier reunion, I’d have to go for Elastica. I know, they’d be a very odd choice to headline an event like Wireless. But to see them together again, and to finally get to see them live – yes please.

Is there anyone I’ve missed? Are you longing for The Longpigs? Searching for Sleeper? Who would you like to see get back together and hit the comeback trail, whether at Wireless or elsewhere?

Photo by Tim Welbourn

I’ve been away for a while. Now I’m back to bring the blogging back to this here blog. I’m going to try and take a different approach to this in 2011, make it a bit more flexible, give it some variation beyond reviews of gigs and albums. Have some fun. Sure, there’ll be shows and records. I’m not buying a t-shirt though, I’m a bit past music t-shirts. We’ll see how it goes. One things for sure, I’m excited about what the year has to bring to my ears, and here’s my Top 5 things that are tickling my fancy.

1. PJ Harvey returns

White Chalk didn’t hit all the spots, A Man A Woman Walked By wasn’t her alone – I’m hoping this year sees Polly Jean Harvey return to the fray in fine solo form. Her new record, Let England Shake, lands on February 14 and already the hype is starting to build. Themes of violence and disillusionment are not exactly new ground for PJ, but this time it seems to be a wider commentary on the state of a nation than the state of a person’s relationships. Can Polly do politicking? I’d wager that she’ll smash it, and already her live performances are the peak of my 2011 anticipation. There’s plenty of chances to catch her; a short tour after the album release and then again at ATP’s I’ll Be Your Mirror event, curated by Portishead.

Listen – PJ Harvey: “Written On The Forehead”

2. The Pulp reunion

Oh yes. Oh yes indeed. Pulp graced my first ever Reading Festival with a stunning set, and it proved to be one of their last ever shows. Never did I think I’d see them reform – even though the band never really officially split, so you can imagine my joy when up popped that strange little email and the simple but effective website – Do You Remember The First Time? Just to make it all a bit more thrilling there’s a promise to plunder their glorious back catalogue during the sets, so casual fans and Pulp geeks should all rejoice. I’m down for the Hyde Park show, they’re making the festival rounds and so I’m also expecting them to pop up here…

Watch – Pulp performing “I Spy” on Jools Holland back in the mid 90s

3. Glastonbury

2011 will see my first visit to Worthy Farm. Unbelievable, I know. After a festival-less 2010 I felt I needed a change from a decade of Reading, and having looked on enviously at the BBC coverage for years thought I’d dip my toe in that hallowed Somerset water. Headliners? Well, supposedly that’s a little secondary to the event itself but I’d love to think that I might get to see Prince, or Kylie, or The Chemical Brothers. A killer line-up all round is virtually guaranteed however, if only the same could be said for the weather…

Watch – Pet Shop Boys owning last year’s Glastonbury, performing “It’s A Sin” and “West End Girls”

4. More Vivian Girls related projects

2010 couldn’t bring enough of that glorious girl racket. I loved the albums by Best Coast, Frankie Rose & The Outs and Dum Dum Girls, and yet still I don’t find myself sated for that lovely lo-fi, surf punk, noise pop. 2011 shouldn’t disappoint – the original NYC Vivian Girls trio are still spawning side projects. La Sera, headed up by Katy Goodman is perhaps the most promising, with the two 7″ singles bobbing around the blogosphere hitting the spot sweetly and a full length isn’t too far away. Catch her on a short tour in mid February. Also due is the album by the Cassie Ramone featuring The Babies, also hitting London stages in February. Musically a bit more rattling than her bandmate, it still tweaks the ears in a oh-so-good way.

Listen – La Sera: “Devils Hearts Grow Gold”

5. WILD FLAG

Coming hot on the tails of this new wave of girl bands comes a revival of some of the originals. 2010 saw a largely triumphant return from ex-Sleater-Kinney voice Corin Tucker, as her solo debut 1,000 Years beat a restrained path back into my mind. 2011 will see the return of her former bandmates Carrie Brownstein and Janet Weiss in their new guise WILD FLAG, and they could, just could, reach the heights of Sleater-Kinney’s glorious goodbye, The Woods. If it does, then undoubtedly 2011 will be theirs, in my eyes and ears at least.

Listen - WILD FLAG: “Dirty Water”

So those are mine – what are yours?

Sat in the sunshine at my local station this morning, listening to my ‘new favourite band’, Washed Out, I got to thinking about how I got into music. I still remember, as I’m sure many of you who read this post will, what my first album was. Now, I’m going to hit you straight – no lies to retrospectively cool-up myself, no altering of history. Boss Drum by The Shamen.

It was on tape, bought from the Longton branch of Woolworths. I was 10. I was a pretty naive ten year old too, for I’d wanted the album due to the amazing performance they’d given of Ebeneezer Goode on Top of the Pops featuring a crazy man in a cape – a band miming to a track about ecstasy. My parents did not approve, my mum tried several times to change my mind, and I wasn’t allowed to listen to it in the car home. I’d only got my own tape player the Christmas before, along with a copy of Now 23. Boy did that tape get hammered.

I remember taking in each track of the album, being utterly bewildered by the last track – an eight minute spoken word epic about, well, I’m still not entirely sure. I was also confused by the long sleigh bell infested intro to Ebeneezer Goode – it didn’t sound like the version on telly – or the version I’ve now got on CD (wikipedia suggests it’s a different mix). I listened to it over and over again; bounced around to Phorever People and Comin’ On. I was slightly bemused when my older cousin told me about the meaning of Ebeneezer Goode one day, and even now I relate the track to odd men dancing round in top hats rather than drug culture – maybe I’m still naive.

Whether or not this was a great bearing on my future musical tastes is easy – no. Although I remained partial to mainstream dance until it became intolerable (or I grew up) in about 2000, it never became my thing entirely – Britpop and the indie boys were but two years away. I do however still pull Boss Drum out from time to time, watch the awful videos to later Shamen singles (Check out Destination Eschaton for a prime example) on Youtube. I still like it. Allmusic certainly do; they give 4.5/5!

With today’s music consumption less about the ‘album’ and more about tracks I wonder if this piece of memory will still apply in ten, fifteen year’s time – it’d be a shame if not. It’s a memory that so many of us share in our own way, like your first kiss or favourite t-shirt as a kid. Or maybe it doesn’t matter, another rose tinted nostalgia trip, designed in one’s mind to escape the present and reinvent the past.

So readers, share yours – embarassing or cool.

The Shamen – Phorever People (mp3)

It was Record Store Day this Saturday. A serious lack of moolah in the Jealousy wallet meant no new purchases for me this year, but there was some great stuff available; Blur, MGMT, Foals, Black Keys etc. Most of it you can probably find for a fortune on Ebay, not that it was that cheap to start with! Not that this is going to be a rant about the somewhat backwards nature of RSD, it being backed by major labels and such…

There is however, something you can get for free! Pitchfork are showing, for a solitary week only, the documentary film I Need That Record. Subtitled ‘The death (or possible survival) of the independent record store’ it deals with the usual suspects; chain stores, the internet, record store owners being twats, apathy – but it does it with a fair wash of charm and some big names. You’ll find Thurston Moore, Ian Mackaye, Mike Watt, Glenn Branca and even Noam Chomsky alongside record store owners, past and present.

Go watch it, but remember – the future isn’t as bleak as this film makes out, at least not here in London. Our record shops are making a defiant stand against the high street hegemony of HMV! I really hope that when you hear about great music on this and other blogs that you head out to your local shop and support them – mine is Banquet Records down in Kingston and not only do they rock but they had their busiest day of trade in over ten years on RSD. The thing just might work…

Watch I Need That Record on Pitchfork

Buy I Need That Record on DVD – with added Thurston!

Saint Etienne – I Buy American Records (mp3)

Funny thing is, the songs that ran constantly through my mind whilst getting ready, jostling my way through the crowded streets or clambering up the nearest peak weren’t my top tracks. They were an odd selection of either things that were related to what I was looking at – Supergrass’ Moving whilst watching the shadows of clouds roll across the hills for example – or more often than not uber-catchy pop tunes from the eighties. What I find odd about this is that you’d think when deprived of music your mind would relate back to the songs you class as your favourites, instead it reverts to base values. I realise this has the potential to ruin my credentials (pah! – what credentials!) as a purveyor of music taste, but I found the strains of tracks like Roxette’s The Look blasting through the alleys of my brain. Why?!

I’m guessing it is just the catchiness of these pop nuggets that has lodged in there; after all that was the kind of pap that my folks would listen to in the car when travelling, they were the songs on the radio when I was growing up. Of course, there was some great pop from that decade – can you beat the Pet Shop Boys, The Human League, Frankie? – but why wasn’t I remembering that? Does our memory have a default setting to fill the aural void with songs from our earliest years? If so, surely it can’t have such bad taste – I want to remember the good stuff my folks brought me up on! To make it worse since I’ve got back I’m finding it hard to listen to music for any consistent period of time, almost like I’m having to re-train my mind into hearing recorded audio again.

Sorry for the ramble, back to the music next post – and trying to finish my best of ’09!

Supergrass – Moving (mp3)

Roxette – The Look (mp3)

Star Find: Less of a record, more the experience of first seeing Los Campesinos! for the first time. The sound in New Slang’s old venue, decrepid Kingston hole The Works, was dreadful but the Welsh whizzkids really lit the place up. I’d been keen to see them since the release of You! Me! Dancing but was a bit suspect they’d be a one trick pony – not at all. My first trip to New Slang, despite being a local for years – the first of many!

Los Campesinos! – Sweet Dreams, Sweet Cheeks

Streets ahead though was Rebel Rebel Records. Take a gander at the picture above – total chaos. I’d have quite happily spent hours browsing away in here, but we had sights to see and galleries to muse through. The chap poking out through the piles littering the counter quite happily chatted away to me about the London scene, how Burial records were difficult to get hold of and how good it was for us Brits shopping in the Big Apple. The kind of interaction you’d expect from your own local record shop, only I was thousands of miles away. I turned away to rummage through a few likely looking boxes, randomly picking the ones that might hold a gem…

Star Find: In the end I found pretty much exactly what I wanted, the latest Blonde Redhead LP, 23.  A New York record by a New York band, and one of the very finest albums of 2007.

Blonde Redhead – 23

Photo: ChrisB

Star Find: Back in 2004 when The Killers weren’t a band of language manglers (or maybe they were, but I was younger then…) there was a limited edition light blue vinyl of Hot Fuss that I had trawled most of London’s stores for, chain and independent. I’d driven my lady insane with this wild wax chase, and we’d probably escaped to Brighton to get away from record shops. Wandering past Rounder I couldn’t help but notice that they’d assigned LCD’s seminal Yeah one of their singles of ’03 – I had to go in, and there it was, no. 2919. Done.

The Killers – Mr Brightside

Photo: Brighton Photo Daily

This coming Saturday sees International Record Store Day, a chance to celebrate the culture of the independent record shop. Started in 2007 the celebration mainly focuses on the US but this year sees two of the biggest London indies joining in the shindig. Rough Trade East is hosting a free all-dayer featuring Betty & The Werewolves, Wave Machines and many more. Pure Groove hosts Graham Coxon and Patrick Wolf in their bash. Not only this but there are some exclusive releases floating around too – with two free compilations being given out, one featuring the guitar-led style of indie, one the beats-led dance stuff.

Here on Stereo Jealousy, I’ll be running a week-long rundown of my five favourite record shops. I’ve come up with a pretty lengthy shortlist, so whittling it down to five will be tricky. Sadly, there won’t be a mention for two of the shops that shaped my young musical taste – Andy’s Records and Mike Lloyd Music, both former shops in my glorious home town of Stoke.  The latter brought me my first experience of record shop snobbery – being told that my Lightning Seeds best of wasn’t worth squat as a trade!

I think Damon Albarn sums up my feelings pretty well: “I think independent record shops will outlive the music industry as we know it because long term their value to people is far greater, because even in our era of file-sharing and blogs, you cant replace the actual look on someone’s face when they are playing something they really rate and think you should listen to it too. It’s special.“

I’d love to see comments from you too – what’s your favourite record shop? Have you got music that you treasure, solely bought on the strength of a record-shop recommendation? Have you abandoned the local store and now raid the racks online? I wanna see some comments!

Saint Etienne – I Buy American Records