On Tuesday, the nominees will be announced for the 2009 Mercury Music Prize.
Last year, the ruddy fantastic Elbow took home the prize, beating artists such as Radiohead and Burial. But that was then, this is now! Every year, there are a few nominations that no-one will be surprised to see – we expect Lily Allen to be one of them.
But what about the people who aren't massively marketed by their record companies? Even though they're making music that is just as good? If we had any money to bet on a rank outsider, then we?d put it on Polly Scattergood.
The most famous Polly we knew of before discovering the music of Polly Scattergood was Polly Pocket. Strange really, when we used to play the toy when we were younger, people always gave us disapproving looks.
At the moment, there are plenty of ladies out doing their own thing in the charts. The utterly bonkers Lady Gaga combines her music with a warped fashion show. La Roux serves up accessible electro which everyone can dance to.
Like a lot of musicians who seem to pop up from nowhere, Polly Scattergood has been writing and recording since 2005. A lot of people might have given up after not making some sort of impact. But finally, after four years she has broken through with her self-titled debut album.
The album is a complete mixed bag. From the simple plucking of a guitar chord to swirling synths, there is something here for everyone. Despite being 22, it's clear that she isn't scared to attempt any style of song. However, while we've come across plenty of artists doing the same thing of mixing genres up, it's the lyrics that make Polly Scattergood stand out.
Describing herself as a ‘storyteller’ the various tracks do take us on a weird and complex journey that feature everything from reciting various memories and darker subjects such as drugs. There isn't a stand out song with an instant catchy chorus to annoy people with on the bus, thanks to the way she approaches a song – blending spoken word and singing – but we like it.
We?d very much like to see Polly Scattergood and recently trawled Micachu get some sort of nod from the bigwigs in the music world. Both of these artists are making very different sounding music, but ending up with the same results of having a record which remains a hidden treasure. Let's just hope the same indie guff doesn't get a mention. Their profiles are big enough, let’s expose some fresh talent to the masses.
shooty* says
It’s very charitable of you to say something nice about La Roux. Personally, I think it’s like a drunk Tilda Swinton and her painfully hip, androgynous fat male friend doing bad karaoke to the Eurythmics, and it makes me want to sratch my brain out through my ears. But there you go: diff’rent strokes, eh?
aunty-polly says
You mean people actually listen to monotonous boring redundant stupid idiotic insulting-to-my-intelligence crap like that?