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Shortlist finalists announced

Cat Power and Hot Chip are up for 'US Mercury' prize

7 hours ago
Cat Power, Hot Chip and Regina Spektor are among the finalists up for this year's Shortlist Music Prize.

America's answer to the Mercury Prize is back to honour exceptional albums from the past year which have not yet sold 500,000 in the US.

The full list of finalists, whittled down from 61 nominations, is as follows:

The Band of Horses - 'Everything All The Time'
Beirut - 'Gulag Orkestrar'
Bonnie 'Prince' Billy - 'The Letting Go'
Cat Power - 'The Greatest'
Girl Talk - 'Night Ripper'
Hot Chip - 'The Warning'
Joanna Newsom - 'Ys'
Regina Spektor - 'Begin To Hope'
Spank Rock - 'YoYoYoYoYo'
Tom Waits - 'Orphans, Brawlers, Bawlers And Bastards'

This year's listmakers include Snow Patrol's Gary Lightbody, The Killers' Ronnie Vannucci, Franz Ferdinand, Panic! At The Disco and The Flaming Lips' Wayne Coyne, Billboard reports.

The Shortlist Prize was first launched in 2001, when it was won by Sigur Ros. Subsequent winners have included NERD and Damien Rice.

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I have heard the ones in bold:

The Band of Horses - 'Everything All The Time'
Beirut - 'Gulag Orkestrar'
Bonnie 'Prince' Billy - 'The Letting Go'
Cat Power - 'The Greatest'
Girl Talk - 'Night Ripper'
Hot Chip - 'The Warning'
Joanna Newsom - 'Ys'
Regina Spektor - 'Begin To Hope'
Spank Rock - 'YoYoYoYoYo'
Tom Waits - 'Orphans, Brawlers, Bawlers And Bastards'

I haven't listened to the Joanna Newsom record yet, I don't want to ruin her for me, I fear I don't have a long enough attention span for it. I haven't even heard of the other bands that aren't in bold, apart from her. So which is the token jazz/instrumental, and which is the token rap/urban?

The Bonnie Prince Billy & Regina Spektor albums are great, but Tom Wait's album isn't so much like an album, put together orignally as one, so it seems a bit strange for it to be on there. Not that it isn't great. I don't really get that bothered about awards, but obviously it'd be nice if Regina won. I hate how she's totally whored herself out in the past few months though; I mean, Loose Women? That was a low. It's a low for anyone, never mind a musician of her caliber. For shame, Regina! Plus the adverts EVERYWHERE for the single Fidelity..

They should just give it to Tom Waits, as he's the only one people will still be listening to ten years from now.

cat power deserves to win

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if she does, it will be on her name only. if her latest album was her debut, nobody would care about her.