http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/...-awesome-wave/

Personally I think Alt-J have been massively overhyped and overrated. I think there were far more deserving winners on that list.

Originally Posted by luvsickcatalyst

People that quote Pitchfork as indie rock gospel annoy the absolute fuck out of me.

This year's nominees were pretty fantastic, but it's good to see a fun album like Awesome Wave take it.

I generally disagree with Pitchfork frequently and don't follow it so please don't generalise me. However I do enjoy reading articles and reviews from Laura Snapes and I think she hits the nail on the head with her Alt J analysis.

I'm not aware of all the nominees but my picks would either be Jessie Ware, The Maccabees or Field Music. (Roller Trio too as they went to my college thus I'm slightly biased.)

Originally Posted by luvsickcatalyst

They definitely have a few quality articles (the interview Larry Fitzmaurice did with Michael from Passion Pit earlier this year...amazing), but I think the culture they represent of music being a fashion statement is tiring to no end.

Like I said though, this year's nominees were so good all in their own rights. Lianna La Havas, Michael Kiwanuka, Jessie Ware, Field Music, Plan B, or Alt J could've taken it and I would've gotten the reasoning. An Awesome Wave is just an album that took me a while to get behind, but once I did, I just ended up having so much fun listening to all the sounds they tried to cram into every song. I truly didn't know people were hyping it so much, so that never really fazed me as much as it did other people.

I agree with you. Although I did think some of the Mercury Prize nominees were hit and miss this year, more so than usual. It's probably due to my location in Leeds that I've been hearing no end to them as they're considered relatively native around here. It's great you can enjoy the album, but personally I think it's quite average and I felt the same when I saw them live. I thought the Pitchfork review made some very good points.

Originally Posted by luvsickcatalyst

My current location in northeast America only overhypes an artist if they release a shitty pop anthem with a by-the-numbers dance beat behind it. The fact that bands like alt-J get nationwide recognition in England is the reason why I'm studying in York next year. Indeed, the album isn't perfect and is nowhere near cohesive as a whole, but it's definitely something wonderfully different from a lot of sounds out there now.

You'll love York! It's such a lovely place, plus Leeds isn't too far either if you're after some city action and nightlife.

I'm not saying the album is bad by any means, but it's still incredible underwhelming when so many better and more interesting acts could have won or been nominated - particularly with such a vibrant (underground) music scene happening in the UK currently. The situation is comparable to the ridiculous success of Mumford and Sons, as the band could be considered incredibly mediocre and commercialised in comparison to their peers of the genre. On the other hand, an optimistic perspective of this is that at least it's shifting the attention away from generic chart fodder and towards styles of music that are usually less recognised ... which is essentiallly your point!

Phew. Slightly off topic, but if you haven't, check out the winners of the Welsh Music Prize this year - Future of the Left. It's a shame their album won't get as much attention as the Mercury Prize winners, because it is outstanding. (Although completely different and probably not suited for the Mercury Prize...)