Mercury Prize Nominations - The Line Of Best Fit

The good people at The Line Of Best Fit were one of the first music websites to start thinking about this year's possible Mercury Prize nominees and have come up with a shortlist of their own favourites from the past twelve months.

The East Anglia based site offers interviews, reviews and a vibrant new music forum, with founders Richard Hughes and Richard Thane commanding a team of writers that is spread from Gothenburg to Colorado, via Stoke-on-Trent and Basingstoke.

Rich Hughes' article plucks out the impressive debut releases from the "child-like alternative universe" of hotly tipped 18 year old Alessi's Ark, the "soundtrack to the party that will end ALL parties" offered by Glasgow fight pop five piece Dananananaykroyd and joyfully "hard to pigeon hole" Phantom Band with their first long player Checkmate Savage.

But its not all about the new kids for The Line Of Best Fit. Rich remembers an early listen to Doves' Kingdom of Rust in the presence of the band and celebrates a return to the early career stylings of the Manic Street Preachers.

Folk also gets a look in on TLOBF's shortlist with Radio 2 Folk Award winning Lau finally channelling their live energy onto record and Brighton's The Leisure Society living up to their Ivor Novello nomination.

All said, Rich's top tip comes in the form of The Horrors' Primary Colours, which should get "the judges juices flowing" with their "amazingly atmospheric sound". While his hope for the top is the "30+ minutes of spite and aggression" delivered by a Future Of The Left that finally casts off the shadow of their past.

Read Rich's full article on The Line Of Best Fit.

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