If you’re not familiar with the Mercury Prize, it’s essentially the UK’s version of Canada’s Polaris Music Prize. The Mercury Prize celebrates and recognizes the most amazing records to come from the UK each year. Previous winners include Franz Ferdinand, Arctic Monkeys, The xx, James Blake, alt-J and many more.
Today they announced the 2014 shortlist. Check out the 12 albums in the running for this year’s Mercury Prize below:
Damon Albarn – Everyday Robots
Bombay Bicycle Club – So Long, See You Tomorrow
Anna Calvi – One Breath
East India Youth – Total Strife Forever
FKA twigs – LP1
GoGo Penguin – v2.0
Jungle – Jungle
Nick Mulvey – First Mind
Polar Bear – Each and Every One
Royal Blood – Royal Blood
Kate Tempest – Everybody Down
Young Fathers – Dead
The winner will receive £20,000 and hefty bragging rights (if they so choose).
Who do you think deserves to win? Let us know in the comments.