The Hitsville UK Alternative Mercury Prize! Results!

Yes, I'm fairly late in posting this and yes, hardly anyone voted but I have a duty as a music blogger/nerd to do this sort of thing. And just so there are no complaints (not that there ever are), only British albums released in the last 12 months that weren't nominated for the actual Mercury could qualify. So here are the results of The Hitsville UK Alternative Mercury Prize or The Thermometer Award (Thermometer, mercury...geddit?)



VV Brown - Travelling Like The Light - 3/30%
Los Campesinos! - We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed - 3 votes/30%
Franz Ferdinand - Tonight: Franz Ferdinand - 2 votes/20%
The Maccabees - Wall Of Arms - 2 votes/20%
Metronomy - Nights Out - 2 votes/20%
We Were Promised Jetpacks - 2 votes/20%
Grammatics - Grammatics - 1 vote/10%
Jack Penate - Everything Is New - 1 vote/10%
Manic Street Preachers - Journal For Plague Lovers - 1 vote/10%
It Hugs Back - Inside Your Guitar - 0 votes
Late Of The Pier - Fantasy Black Channel - 0 votes
Sky Larkin - The Golden Spike - 0 votes

So congrats to both LC! and VV Brown on being joint winners. A well deserved victory for both, if fairly suprising (my money was on The Maccabees). "Travelling Like The Light" is a superb album, fusing parts of 50s/60s rock 'n' roll with soul and modern pop. If I was going to be lazy, I'd say she was the alternative to the hype storm of La Roux, Little Boots and Florence...alright, she basically is. It does have something for pretty much everyone, except death metal fans and that awful breed of human that drives around at 100mph at night listening to awful dance. Ok, "Crying Blood" is essentially a reworking of "The Monster Mash", but it doesn't stop it, or the album from being any less awesome.

LC! on the other hand, are a somewhat more acquired taste. But if you persevere with "We Are Beautiful, We Are Doomed", you're in for a treat. The band are probably most known for their painfully accurate lyrics ("As if I walked into the room to see my ex-girlfriend/Who by the way, I'm still in love with/Sucking the face of some pretty boy with my favourite band's most popular song in the background/Is it wrong that I can't decide which bothers me most?" is one that is now ingrained in my mind, and what indie guy hasn't felt like that?), that sum up angst in a way not seen since Morrissey. "WAB,WAD" is a massive step forward from their debut "Hold On Now, Youngster" both musically and lyrically, fully embracing the range of LC!'s influences (from the alt.pop of Kenickie and Bis to the punk rock of Fucked Up and Black Flag, as well as the noise of No Age and Xiu Xiu). Judging by the new track "The Sea Is A Good Place To Think Of The Future", things can only get better.