I noticed via Stereogum that a band named Elbow (new to me) has won England’s Mercury Prize for music for 
2008 for their album “The Seldom Seen Kid.” Here’s a blurb on the Mercury Prize if you’re not familiar with it:
The Mercury Prize has been awarded annually since 1992. While it is worth 20,000 pounds ($35,210), the increase in sales can add up to more. Sales of the nominated acts’ titles have increased fivefold in the weeks since the shortlist was announced.
…
The award focuses on the music — it does not take into account album sales, media exposure or live performances, according to a Nationwide Mercury fact sheet.
I cruised over to eMusic to see if the album was up, but no luck. What about Amazon? Well, I couldn’t really believe it, but they are selling it for $1.99. Yep, $1.99 for the full, 11-track album. Not sure if this is a promotional deal due to the Mercury Prize win (didn’t see that information anywhere), but it’s less then my morning Americano at Peet’s, and thus pretty close to free in my mind. Get your own copy here and let me know what you think of the band/album.
Also, here’s the full list of Mercury Prize nominees:
- Burial “Untrue”
- Elbow “The Seldom Seen Kid”
- Radiohead “In Rainbows”
- Laura Marling “Alas I Cannot Swim”
- Rachel Unthank & the Winterset “The Bairns”
- British Sea Power “Do You Like Rock Music?”
- The Last Shadow Puppets “The Age of the Understatement”
- Robert Plant & Alison Krauss “Raising Sand”
- Neon Neon “Stainless Style”
- Estelle “Shine”
- Adele “19”
- Portico Quartet “Knee-Deep in the North Sea”
Tough to see how Radiohead loses. “In Rainbows” is just an amazing album. And I really like the Burial LP. Seems like I need to dig around a bit to figure out the criteria for this prize a little better.