August 31, 2007

Bat For Lashes, Fionn Regan, Maps Cover Primal Scream

This meta-Mercury Prize moment brought to you by Radio 1 man Colin Murray’s radio show In The Company Of... The bewitching Bat For Lashes, Fionn, and Maps are all up for this year's Mercury Prize, and Colin hosted all three at Maida Vale studios to record their own tunes and, awesomely, to offer up a take on "Higher Than The Sun," from the inaugural Mercury Prize winning album Screamadelica. That melody's built for Natasha (can you tell who we want to win?), but Fionn and Mr. Maps (aka James Chapman) round it out in award winning, Primal fashion. Nothing's touching the Scream, naturally ... but it's a mercurial gesture that's sure to please the cover lovers.

Thanks for the heads up, Rich! Here's the full list of Mercury Prize nominees...

Arctic Monkeys - Favourite Worst Nightmare
Basquiat Strings with Seb Rochford - Basquiat Strings
Bat For Lashes - Fur And Gold
Dizzee Rascal - Maths And English
Klaxons - Myths Of The Near Future
Maps - We Can Create
New Young Pony Club - Fantastic Playroom
Fionn Regan - The End Of History
Jamie T - Panic Prevention
The View - Hats Off To The Buskers
Amy Winehouse - Back To Black
The Young Knives - Voices Of Animals And Men

Winner will be announced on September 4th. Betting? Here are the latest odds according to Ladbrokes...

Bat For Lashes - 9/4
Amy Winehouse - 11/4
Jamie T - 3/1
Klaxons - 8/1
Maps - 12/1
Arctic Monkeys - 16/1
The View - 16/1
Fionn Regan - 20/1
New Young Pony Club - 25/1
Basquiat Strings with Seb Rochford - 33/1
Dizzee Rascal - 33/1
The Young Knives - 33/1

And here's the latest B4L video, "What's A Girl To Do?"