Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.David Bowie’s first new album for a decade is leading the field for this year’s Barclaycard Mercury Prize, which has returned to the mainstream after 2012’s shortlist was dubbed the “most obscure” in recent history.
The 12-strong shortlist for the album of the year in 2013 includes Bowie’s The Next Day, which the bookies installed as favourite alongside the new Arctic Monkeys album AM.
The Mercury Prize 2013 nominees, as reviewed by The Independent's critics:
- Arctic Monkeys, AM
****
“A sassy self-overhaul, AM issues lubricious R&B come-ons over a self-assured narrative arc with personality and open potential cannily spliced.”
- David Bowie, The Next Day
*****
“Rarely has a comeback been effected with such panache as David Bowie displays on The Next Day.”
- Disclosure, Settle
*
“Track after track of drab, methodical beats plodding along laboriously behind finicky little hihat moves and quacking synth lines.”
- Foals, Holy Fire
***
“on Holy Fire, Foals move further away from their nerdy math-rock origins to a more muscular rock'n'roll style.”
- Jake Bugg, Jake Bugg
****
“A youthful troubadour following in Ed Sheeran's footsteps, Jake Bugg brings a scrappily engaging rockabilly intensity to catchy folk rants.”
- James Blake, Overgrown
****
“He sculpts his skeletal pulses and ghostly palimpsests of piano chords into more persuasive structures that allow his airy, melismatic falsetto to soar freely.”
- Jon Hopkins, Immunity
Not reviewed
- Laura Marling, Once I Was an Eagle
*****
“Even in a career already marked by unusual precocity, Once I Was an Eagle is an extraordinary achievement.”
- Laura Mvula, Sing to the Moon
*****
“We've got a special one here... May be the soundtrack of the summer.”
- Rudimental, Home
****
“Just when you think it's done, it finds another gear through the kind of sly, brilliant touch that suggests Rudimental are worthy heirs to the likes of Soul II Soul and Basement Jaxx.”
- Savages, Silence Yourself
****
“Post-millennial indie boy-rock has taken a savage beating here. And it may prove the best it’s ever had.”
- Villagers, Awayland
*****
“With results both as pleasurable, as inventive and as absorbing as these, there seems no danger that the impact of {Awayland} will be merely momentary."
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments