Muse and the Mercury Music Awards

I'm writing this blog a bit earlier than usual as I have a period of several hours whilst I am attached to the PC via my headphones. I'm catching up on Radio 1's Muse Night that I missed yesterday and so far, it's pretty damn good!

I've got tickets to see them in November so this is a good chance to hear some of the new album and hear their performance at their homecoming gig. I've heard three of the tracks from the album now and only the fist single, Uprising was an instant hit. I found this with the previous album as well, the first few times I listened to the tracks I wasn't convinced, but the more I listen to them the more I love them. Notably I remember having to force myself to listen to Invincible and Soldier's Poem and not really enjoying them, as soon as Invincible was released on the radio however, I grew to love it so I'm hoping that will happen again this time. Uprising didn't follow this trend however and I have fallen completely in love with it, its bizarre and wonderful in so many ways which all adds to it's beauty.

From that to the Mercury music prize and I'm really spoiled for choice this year. I was so pleased last year when Elbow won as it opened me up to their music, having never even heard of the band let alone any of their songs meant that from the initial performance on the night of the awards of Loneliness of a Tower Crane Driver made me fall instantly in love. I'm not so fond of the earlier stuff but the Seldom Seen Kid (the winning album) is simply perfect and is totally different to anything I'd ever heard before.

This year 80% of the artists I have heard of and actively listen to and enjoy. Usually I may have only heard of one or two of the bands and although this makes a nice change, it makes picking a favourite even harder. At the moment I think I've narrowed it down to two people:- Florence and the Machine, the bookies favourite, and La Roux. A lot of people can't understand La Roux but ever since I heard In For The Kill and soon after Quicksand, I was hooked and I haven't looked back. Added to that the fact that La Roux's performance made the night at the Leeds Festival and she is a very strong contender in my eyes. Florence follows a very similar story and I became obsessed with Dog Days after I'd heard it and Howl is currently one of my favourite songs and seems to be played at least once a day. Both of the artists have very unique styles Florence's amazingly powerful voice and therefore the aptly named album - Lungs whilst La Roux's also amazingly high voice which doesn't sound at all unpleasant and she can recreate it live as well. I was slightly worried about that when I saw her live as I'd heard her playing at the ITunes festival and to be perfectly honest, it sounded slightly rough. Perhaps she was having an off day as she sounded amazing in Leeds.

I think overall, as it is based upon the album my vote has to go to Florence & The Machine. Almost every song on the album could be easily released as a single and there are only a couple of 'album tracks'. La Roux's album on the other hand contains several weaker tracks and therefore seals my vote.