UKNY for September 1: Mercury Prize
Mercury Prize 2024 Shortlisted Albums (collage by Laura Fedele for FUV)
Every year, twelve British and Irish albums of virtually all genres are nominated by a panel of musicians, journalists, broadcasters and industry types for the Mercury Prize, one of the UK's most prestigious music prizes. The winning album and artist gets £25,000 (about $32,800) and often a helpful boost in album sales and streams (although that's not always the case). Last year's winner, Ezra Collective, was the first jazz group to ever win the Mercury since it started in 1992.
On "UKNY" at 11 p.m., the show's annual look at all 12 nominated albums for the Mercury Prize this year — the 2024 winner will be announced in a broadcast ceremony from Abbey Road Studios on Thursday, September 5.
Three of this year's nominees — English Teacher, Corinne Bailey Rae, and The Last Dinner Party all had FUV Live sessions (and Q&As too) and chatted about these albums. The other nominees include self-described "emotional junglist" Nia Archives, Scottish producer Barry Can't Swim, and the woman who has gifted the world a neon green brat summer, Charli XCX. Beth Gibbons, who won the Mercury Prize with her Portishead bandmates in 1995 for their debut, Dummy, is nominated for her first solo debut album, Lives Outgrown. Trinidad-born, London-based Berwyn is nominated a second time for latest album, the harrowing Who Am I, which focuses on the UK's draconian immigration policies with his own painful perspective.
Also, the soulful Cat Burns, jazz multi-instrumentalist corto.alto, grime veteran Ghetts, and Dublin powerhouse CMAT.
That's "UKNY," Sundays 11 p.m.-midnight, on 90.7FM, streaming online, and in the Archives after broadcast.
Songs played:
1. Nia Archives, “So Tell Me …,” Silence is Loud
2. English Teacher, “Mastermind Specialism,” This Could Be Texas
3. Cat Burns feat. India.Arie, “healing,” early twenties
4. Charli XCX, “Talk talk,” brat
5. Barry Can’t Swim feat. Låpsley, “Woman,” When Will We Land
6. Ghetts feat. Muzi, “Blessings,” On Purpose, With Purpose
7. Corinne Bailey Rae, “Red Horse,” Black Rainbows
8. corto.alto, “Slope,” Bad with Names
9. (Dublin, IE) CMAT, “Can’t Make Up My Mind,” CrazyMad for Me
10. The Last Dinner Party, “Portrait of a Dead Girl,” Prelude to Ecstasy
11. Beth Gibbons, “Rewind,” Lives Outgrown
12. Berwyn, “I’m Drowning,” Who Am I
