Only two days to go till the Mercury Music Prize verdict and the tension is almost...non-existent. reallyrather has a small wager resting on the outcome, however, and is thinking of little else, oh yes. So who's it to be? Back in May this blog put up Athlete's Vehicles & animals as a shortlist dead-cert and so it proved. 9-1 shots originally, they've been backed down to 5-1 in recent days. It's smartly produced, eminently radio-friendly but still under-exposed, yet they must not win. 2 or 3 mildy catchy chorsues and a few stick-on bloops and beats do not a great album make. There's a dispiriting lassitude across most of the album, like being battered to death with pillows. Pale & polite young chaps singing of maybe going to El Salvador or perhaps Dungeness? No. If it's coffee-table Britpop the judges are looking for this time round then Coldplay ought to prevail. However...
...given this jury's tendency to favour newcomers, they might not. On this count also scratch the chances of Radiohead's 3rd or 4th best album, Hail to the thief. The other hot tip has been Dizzee Rascal whose Boy in da corner apparently pushes the bounds of UK garage, well according to lots and lots of white middle-class rock scribes at least. But can the prize go to a blend of urban beats and black street sociology two years running? rr thinks maybe not. And so to The Darkness and their debut Permission to land. Undeniably, this album carries echoes of some of the most overblown excesses ever committed in the name of R-O-C-K rock. Meatloaf, Rush, Queen, Yes, they're all here. And yet, and yet... For the swagger, the humour and energy, for the sheer trend-defying effrontery of it all, The Darkness it surely has to be (and the tunes ain't bad, either)...

Meanwhile, in a parallel universe...
'Easily one of the best albums released this year,' says Splendid having recently caught up with Sufjan Stevens' Greetings from Michigan. Here here, says reallyrather. Hear here, actually. Stevens' claims that the record is part one of a monster project, namely writing and recording an album inspired by each and every State in America. If the other places prove as inspiring as his home state we'd better start setting aside funds...

As the new Nadine album finally appears - well, Trampoline Records claim it was released Sept 2 but it's not yet available through any of the usual e-vendors - an early (hometown) review. And this week's Riverfront Times marks the release with a big feature on the band, which now includes 'slashing, flashing guitar player' Jimmy Griffin and latest drummer Brian Zielie who tells the Times, 'It's true that they had a fan base and a certain sound, and then Jimmy and I come in and we're wrecking it. Sometimes I wonder if people can handle what's happening." You have been warned...